LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST: By Saagar Enjeti Secretary of Defense James Mattis declared that the U.S. would not be taking any oil from Iraq prior to departing for Baghdad Monday, contrary to past statements by President Donald Trump. Trump reiterated his declaration that the U.S. should take Iraq’s oil on his first day as…
LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST: By: Elias J. Atienza Secretary of Defense James Mattis said that Iran is the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in a press conference in Tokyo yesterday, Russia Today reported. “As far as Iran goes, this is the single biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world,” Mattis said at a press…
LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST: By: Elias J. Atienza President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Army, businessman Vincent Viola, has withdrawn his name from consideration due to Defense Department rules concerning family businesses. The Military Times reports that “he had planned to transfer ownership to other family members but turn over operations responsibilities…
h3>LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST: By: Ryan Pickrell The new secretary of defense reassured allies in Asia this week that the U.S. will honor its commitments, but drew China’s ire in the process. Much to Beijing’s displeasure, General James Mattis assured South Korea and Japan that the U.S. will uphold its commitments and stand by its…
LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST: By: Elias J. Atienza Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul drew a sharp distinction between him and President Donald Trump on the issue of torture, which the president says he believes “absolutely works.” “I’m alarmed by anybody that wants to go back to torture,” Paul told CNN. “The people in the Senate…
LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST: By Elias J. Atienza President Donald Trump was expected to sign an executive order which would ask for a review of CIA ‘black site’ prisons. These prisons, which are held overseas, hold terror suspects according to Reuters. The sites are often used to engage in enhanced interrogation techniques, some of which have been condemned…
LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST: By Saagar Enjeti President Donald Trump’s repeated pledge to try and work with Russia to defeat the Islamic State in Syria may be dead on arrival due to a 2014 act of Congress. The 2014 National Defense Authorization Act prohibits coordination with the Russian government, as a response to Russia’s…
By Saagar Enjeti Newly designated Secretary of Defense James Mattis reportedly assured U.S. senators of his commitment to move forward with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, which President-elect Donald Trump previously suggested had problems. Trump tweeted Dec. 22 that he was asking the Boeing corporation to offer a competitively priced alternative to the F-35…
By Russ Read Future Secretary of Defense Gen. James Mattis removed former Army Lt. Gen. and future National Security Advisor Mike Flynn from his intelligence role in Afghanistan, according to Army documents obtained by the Washington Post. Mattis removed Flynn from his position in 2010 after Flynn was investigated by Central Command (CENTCOM) for sharing classified…
By Russ Read Waterboarding may be a harsh interrogation method, but it is not torture and it does work in rare occasions, according to a former Central Intelligence Agency interrogator. James Mitchell was contracted by the CIA in 2002 to develop so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” to be used on captured terrorists, which included waterboarding. The technique…