As I watch the news, there is a constant parade of threats to our country- Some real, some imagined, or hyped, but others represent truly existential dangers to the homeland. And some are threats that I have dramatized in my novels over the past ten years. Maybe coincidence, maybe prescience. Published in the mystery, thriller, […]
ZACHOR- Coincidence or prescience in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?
The recent Hamas’ barrage of rockets attacking Israel from Gaza has ignited a conflict reminiscent of the July/August war that occurred in 2014. That’s actually how that seven-week war started. The rocket attacks ignited a massive Israel Defense Forces (IDF) response resulting in collateral and more deaths. Seven years have passed with sporadic hostile incidents, […]
The Vietnam War Revisited- Part XIV – It Starts Hitting the Fan
The decisions made by the LBJ administration in 1964 discussed in my last blog cast the die. Much like Julius Caesar in 49 BC, LBJ crossed his Rubicon metaphorically. Once crossing the Mekong River and Delta, there was no going back. Operation Rolling Thunder was an irrevocable act that failed for the reasons chronicled in […]
Politics and the Vietnam War – The Chennault Affair
– Vietnam War Politics -The Chennault Affair Over three decades ago the famous Pulitzer Prize winning historian, Barbara W. Tuchman made cogent observations on the role of political influence regarding the decisions to go to war, the strategy to conduct the war and how to end the war. In her book The March of Folly: […]
Vietnam Recollections
A good friend who flew close combat missions in A-4’s out of Chu Lai in 1967 and 1968 recently sent me a copy of a fellow Marine’s recollections of Vietnam which I wanted to pass along to you with my recall of that experience. His descriptions offer a capsule summary of an aspect of the […]
North Korea Ups the Threat- What are our options?
The “Rocket Man,” Kim Jong-un, continues to saber rattle, firing another missile over Japan and making threats. What is the best way to deal with a personality like that? It’s a dicey situation considering the proximity of South Korea and Japan and our troops stationed there. The UN voted to increase sanctions, once again, despite […]
