What we’re reading
Patrick O'Callahan | December 10, 2009
This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.
Just when it looks like Barack Obama is getting dragged under for the third time by angry domestic politics, he bounces back up – in Norway, of all places – and reminds us why Americans elected him in the first place.
The president’s remarks while accepting the Nobel Peace [...]
Patrick O'Callahan | December 2, 2009
This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.
Big decisions are risky decisions. President Obama took the right risks at West Point on Tuesday when he outlined his plans for a troop surge in Afghanistan.
The obvious gamble is that any military venture in Afghanistan can turn out well. There’s a long history of foreign interventions coming [...]
Michael Allen | December 2, 2009
Last night, many media outlets showed film footage of our soldiers watching President Obama’s address on the U.S.’s Afghanistan troop surge. The looks on our men’s and women’s faces told it all: They were happy Obama had at last made up his mind to support them by sending 30,000 more troops. But they could not comprehend why he [...]
Patrick O'Callahan | November 3, 2009
This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.
President Obama’s decision on deploying more troops to Afghanistan has been complicated by an ugly reality: suicide.
In recent years, the Army has struggled with growing numbers of soldiers who’ve taken their own lives. The numbers spell out the problem starkly. In 2005, the Army’s suicide rate per 100,000 [...]
Cheryl Tucker | October 29, 2009
For many Americans, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are far off in the distance, with little impact on their own lives. But here in the South Sound, they resonate as clearly as the sound of artillery during training exercises and as visibly as the transport planes that fly overhead.
Because of the presence of Fort [...]
Patrick O'Callahan | September 1, 2009
This editorial will appear in Wednesday's print edition.
For Fort Lewis, it’s been a heart-breaking two weeks. In that short time, at least seven of its soldiers have been killed by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.
Their deaths are part of a much larger picture. The war in Afghanistan – long a sideshow to Iraq – has become [...]
Kim Bradford | September 1, 2009
One of the major blunders in Iraq was the failure to deploy enough troops to secure the country. NATO commanders appear to have learned that lesson and are asking for more boots on the ground.
A change at the top at Boeing Commercial Airplanes is a good chance to push the reset button on labor problems, [...]
