'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America

Remember when President Obama used to warn Syria's Bashar Assad to stop his mass killing and step down?

A leading member of Congress is accusing the Iraqi government of failing to protect unarmed Iranian dissidents from terrorist attacks in a refugee camp near Baghdad.

Analysts agree that the erosion of the Syrian regime’s capabilities is accelerating, that it continues to retreat, making a rebel breakthrough and an Islamist victory increasingly likely.
Analysts agree that the erosion of the Syrian regime's capabilities is accelerating, that it continues to retreat, making a rebel breakthrough and an Islamist victory increasingly likely. In response, I am changing my policy recommendation from neutrality to something that causes me, as a humanitarian and decades-long foe of the Assad dynasty, to pause before writing: Western governments should support the malign dictatorship of Bashar Assad.

Just when America and the West needed a shot of testosterone, with Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard settling in to swallow Kuwait's oil, Margaret Thatcher stepped up with a word from the warrior queen. "Don't go wobbly on us, George," she told President George H.W. Bush. He didn't, and the West won.

It's the question asked by Gold Star families -- the loved ones of our fallen -- when I meet them at funerals or public events. It's spoken quietly by the spouses of grievously wounded soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardsmen and Marines when I visit military and veterans' hospitals.

The United States invaded Iraq 10 years ago this week. It will be remembered as our ill-fated war, a strategic blunder that ushered in the decline of America as a superpower. It was then-President George W. Bush's greatest mistake -- one that will permanently stain his reputation.

Some holidays are unforgettable. If I sit down and think about it, I can recall where and with whom I celebrated nearly every Christmas of my life. That's not the case with St. Patrick's Day -- an inexcusable lapse, given my maternal Irish heritage. But wait.

Iranian dissidents in the U.S. are preparing for the Persian New Year with a major push in Washington for the removal of the brutal, theocratic regime in Iran and for the relocation of 3,000 Iranian refugees confined to a squalid camp in Iraq where they are targeted by pro-Iranian terrorists.

After Iraq was liberated from Saddam Hussein's despotic misrule, critics denounced the then-incumbent president with the charge that "Bush lied, people died."

Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf with the no-nonsense nickname "Stormin' Norman" will be buried at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, next to his father, following a Thursday memorial service.

The Obama administration and other Western governments ignored early warnings about small arms and explosives being smuggled out of Libya — weapons that now have fallen into the hands of al Qaeda-linked militants waging war across North Africa.

Last year, the Obama administration announced to the world that it was planning to pursue a new Asia/Pacific-oriented national security strategy. Since then, North Korea has countered with a strategy of its own. In December, Pyongyang successfully launched a multistage intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a warhead-sized payload to the U.S. mainland.
An Iranian dissident group says Iraq's government had a hand in a rocket and mortar attack on its refugee camp north of Baghdad where seven people were killed and dozens injured earlier this month.

It's been 22 years, but Iraqi Airways is resuming its commercial flights to Kuwait, said one Kuwaiti transportation official.
Incitement could be coming from inside or outside the country, he added.
All this "mother power" reminds me that a decade ago, Saddam Hussein promised the mother of all battles when we crossed into Iraq from Kuwait.