Washington, D.C. is one of those cities where it seems nearly everyone grew up somewhere else. And, since Sept. 11, 2001, most of those people hear the same question from their friends and relatives back home: "Aren't you scared to live there?" The Sept. 11 attacks drove home a point Washington residents have lived with for decades. When terrorists want to…

With our troops apparently on the verge of what has long been billed as the penultimate struggle of Gulf War II - the battle for Baghdad - the question naturally arises: Will they have to face weapons of mass destruction? At the end of last week American troops found thousands of boxes of an unknown white power (later tested and believed to be an explosive),…

President Bush and his detractors may not agree on the answer to the problems posed by Iraq and its genocidal leader, Saddam Hussein. But at least they agree on the question: Where is the smoking gun? The detractors mean that, unless United Nations inspectors defy all odds, overcome a near-complete lack of cooperation by Iraq and find weapons that threaten the…

It sounds like -- and could be -- a plot from a James Bond movie. The dictator of a hermetic kingdom amasses a weapons stockpile that makes his otherwise desperately poor country the scourge of its region. The dictator finances his extravagant lifestyle and relentless weapons research and development by selling previous generations of weapons to many of the…

Perhaps, like most Americans, you believe you're entitled to your own opinions and no one can dictate your thoughts. Wrong. We now know, thanks to Harry Belafonte, that this isn't the case. If you want to know what to think, check your skin color. If, like me, you're black, it seems that it's your duty, among other things, to disagree with the Bush…

Even before the New England Patriots had arrived home to celebrate their Super Bowl victory, the pro-drug forces were swinging into action. They didn't like the TV ad that debuted during the Super Bowl -- one noting how Americans who buy illegal drugs unwittingly subsidize terrorism. So the Libertarian Party raced into production an ad designed to parody…

Truth, honor, and integrity have always been the cornerstone of the United States armed force's core values. The Pentagon did the best it could have done to salvage any remaining credibility in the world community by disbanding the newly formed Office of Strategic Influence (OSI). OSI has been getting a lot of attention lately. It was reported that one of the many…

China is so obsessed with making the United States apologize for the recent collision between a Chinese fighter jet and a U.S. Navy plane, one would think it was the Miss Manners of international diplomacy. But the situation involving 24 American servicemen held on China's Hainan Island isn't about diplomatic "pleases," "thank yous" and when to use the salad…

In the military, we had a saying: "Rules are written in blood." That means that when a tragic incident occurs, such as the fatal collision of the U.S.S. Greeneville and a Japanese fishing boat, Pentagon bosses change the rules so it doesn't happen again. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld did just that when he recently declared a moratorium on civilians at the…

Most people know by now that morale in the U.S. armed forces has dropped to a level not seen since the days of the Carter administration. Not to worry, say Army officials, we have a quick fix we're implementing later this year--allowing our troops to wear the black beret previously reserved for the elite Rangers. Like most quick fixes, though, this one won't…