Military

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

Thank God for Sgt. Kimberly Munley.

The civilian officer at Fort Hood brought down Maj. Nidal M. Hasan with "an amazing and an aggressive performance."

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

The murders of 12 soldiers and one civilian at Fort Hood are horrifying. They show us once again that the casualties of war aren't confined to overseas battlefields.

The Star's Saturday editorial

There were warning signs that U.S. Army Major Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, was unstable long before he allegedly shouted “God is great” in Arabic and opened fire at Fort Hood Thursday.

Frank Morris of KCUR, (our local public radio station at 89.3) interviewed General Casey, the Chief of Staff of the Army, on Wednesday. Frank’s story aired yesterday morning…

By Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Nuclear disarmament may be closer than we think. While beltway defense “experts” perpetuate warfare, the actual trend seems to be moving toward “outsourcing” the limited war that Henry Kissinger wrote about in his book “Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy” (1957).

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial board columnist

Here's a central problem with the notion of accountability in the matter of CIA interrogations:

It's never going to come. Not really.

It's easy for President Barack Obama and his Attorney General Eric Holder to note that the facts of these practices were worse than first thought, and need further scrutiny.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star editorial columnist

Closing Guantanamo is a no brainer. It has to be done.

Now, how do it, that's a problem.

Earlier this week, I pointed out some problems the British legal and human rights group Reprieve had found with the terror prison in regards to complying with the Geneva Conventions.

By Matt Schofield. Kansas City Star Editorial Board columnist

The United States continues to violate the Geneva Conventions at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

By Grant Martin, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist

Many people who follow the current conflict in Afghanistan are familiar with what happened in the Orgun Valley in 2004: The CIA decided there were no high value targets in the valley anymore and promptly cut off funding of the U.S. Army Special Forces-advised militia. The SF soldiers then lost their local security and most of their hard-fought gains in influence in the Orgun area. The old warlord and instability were soon back.

By Matthew Schofield, a member of The Kansas City Star's editorial board

Here's a scary thought: Spies can listen to you type through your power outlet.

The BBC today reported on the findings by Andrea Barisani and Daniele Bianco, of Inverse Path, a security company. They're getting ready to discuss their findings at a conference in Las Vegas.

By Grant Martin, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist 2009

A buddy of mine is going to run 50 miles in under 12 hours while deployed to Afghanistan. That may not attract as much media coverage as a story about some self-obsessed people who put their 8 kids on TV or that new show about self-obsessed teens in NYC- but the reason he is doing it should trigger more contemplation about the sacrifice some make in our country.

by Grant Martin, Midwest Voices Columnist, 2009

Federal Law PL 103-160 (10 U.S.C. § 654) is the U.S. Code that prohibits anyone who "demonstrate(s) a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" from serving in the armed forces of the United States

By The Kansas City Star Editorial Board

Today, millions of Americans will fire up their barbeque grills. Swimming pools will open across the nation. Today’s paper will announce big savings at special holiday sales.

A group from The Star’s Reader Advisory Panel, along with several Midwest Voices writers and two Star editorial writers, met last week with a class of mid-career officers at Fort Leavenworth’s Command and General Staff College and, later, at the School of Advanced Military Studies. Here are some impressions from that visit.

From a different perspective

By The Kansas City Star Editorial Page Board

These are very tough economic times. Still, there’s no good excuse for U.S. military reserves to come back from assignments to find their jobs have vanished. As The Star reported recently, last year that happened an estimated 2,500 times.

By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

Gen. David H. Petraeus arrived in Manhattan, Kan., Monday to talk about Afghanistan and Iraq. Potentially explosive topics, though not in the strongly military audience packed into a section of the K-State basketball arena (Bramlage Coliseum).

In his recent recommendations for Pentagon spending, Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to shift more money to dealing with irregular warfare, and away from preparations for conventional fights.

The Pentagon has announced it will phase out the controversial “stop loss” program, which kept thousands of troops in uniform beyond their contractual enlistments.

It’s a welcome move. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was right in characterizing the policy as a breach of faith.

By Grant Martin, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist 2009

In September 1990, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf and tens of thousands of coalition troops stared across the northern border of Saudi Arabia. The forces formed what was then called Desert Shield, but the U.S. Central Command was already planning offensive operations to oust the Iraqis from Kuwait.

Talk about a non-starter: The White House plan to bill the private insurance of veterans for service-connected injuries ran into a political buzz saw. This strident opposition should have been expected by those who dreamed up the proposal.

It was patently unfair, and President Obama has wisely backed away.

Amy Brian served courageously in Iraq as a member of the Kansas Army National Guard. Back in the states, she was honored for her work reorganizing the Kansas National Guard’s government purchase card program.

Her record and numerous commendations reveal her to be smart, dedicated and ambitious — just the sort of person the nation needs in the armed forces.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

Need another reason to get rid of the clumsy and demeaning "don't ask-don't tell" policy?

Here it is.

Amy Brian served honorably for nine years in the Kansas Army National Guard, did a stint in Iraq and was commended for her work with the Guard and with the U.S. Property and Fiscal Office.

By Lt. Col. Phillip Mead, Special to The Kansas City Star

The iconic symbols of freedom, prosperity and hope are the American soldier, sailor, airman and Marine.

For more than 200 years, brave men and women in uniform have confronted tyranny and in every instance afforded hope to people regardless of culture, ethnicity or religious belief.

By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star editorial page columnist

Bill Clinton's efforts to enable gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military cost him a lot of political capital in the first year of his administration.

Denise Tiller, Midwest Voices Panelist 2008

I just got back from Air Force Week in Omaha and I wish more people would have the opportunity to experience events like this.

The airshow is thrilling and you get to tour some interesting aircraft. The Tops in Blue musical group also gave a fantastic performance. But more importantly, you get to see the men and women who serve our country up close.

The curious trial of Osama bin Laden's driver raises still more doubts about the Bush administration's handling of terrorism-related cases.

Bush personally approved the idea of sending the driver, Salim Hamdan, to trial under the controversial military commission system that gives big advantages to the prosecution.

By Nick Mangiaracina, Kansas City Star Contributing Writer

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the more than 700 U.S. military bases in more than 125 countries have pushed the military budget to levels not scene since WWII (with inflation).

By Steven O'Hern, Reader Advisory Panel 2008

As a retired Air Force officer and an Iraq War vet, I am disgusted and embarrassed about two stories showing how our tax dollars are wasted and the safety of troops in Iraq is jeopardized.

The United States and NATO appear to be losing ground in Afghanistan, where the Bush administration has failed to focus on the fight against the terrorist forces responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

The central problem is clear, as explained last week by our nation’s highest military officer.

A plan to shrink the number of electricity companies in the Kansas City area deserves a full, public discussion by state regulators.

Yet Great Plains Energy twice has tried to prevent the public from getting information about how the company operates, even while the company — the parent of Kansas City Power & Light — seeks regulatory approval to buy debt-ridden Aquila.