The announcement that Leon Panetta, former Democratic congressman and White House chief of staff during the Clinton years, is President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to head the CIA has caused significant consternation.

Our country would be infinitely better off after sequestration than it is now. $500 billion could easily come out of the military budget without compromising our security in any way.

At a time when budgets are tight, and programs and services in our community are being cut back, the Pentagon budget keeps getting bigger.

I am a former Army Officer and combat veteran. I was commissioned from the University of Arizona’s Army ROTC Program. As a Cadet and as a young Lieutenant I believed that women should not serve in combat units for all of the same reasons we are used to hearing; physical ability, unit cohesion, rape, capture, etc. However, as most of us know, actual experience vs theory often changes one’s opinion. Once in combat my opinion changed as I witnessed all of my seemingly legitimate reasons fall to pieces one by one; they just never materialized. I expected to see combat units fall apart once a woman was attached, I expected to see women fail physically on the combat field and get men killed, I expected to see women raped when captured, I expected to see men flee a post or duty because a woman was in danger ... none of it happened, none of it. Experience trumps theory every time, and when it does intelligent humans must begin to change their mind.

“I read where a financial officer for Dixon, Ill., (population of 16,000 people) allegedly stole $53 million over 20 years. Nobody in this tiny town wondered where over $2 million a year was disappearing? Can you imagine how much gets ‘overlooked’ in our federal government?”

ISLAMABAD - The new director of the CIA held high-level talks in Pakistan on Saturday after a provincial leader warned against expanding U.S. missile strikes on al-Qaida and Taliban targets inside the country's thinly policed border with Afghanistan.

Gov. Jan Brewer, in her first trip to Afghanistan, said the war in real life is “unimaginable.''

"I recently bought a bicycle to ride to work and for local errands and shopping. It creates no polution and, instead of four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline, it burns fat. A quick glance about the Valley will tell you that human butt lard is cheap and plentiful!"

Looks like Leon Panetta is headed from the CIA to the Pentagon and General Patraeus is headed from Afghanistan to the CIA. Lucky them! Wonder who gets stuck with Afghanistan?

Forgiveness is a discipline that transcends cultures and bridges many divides when words fail. Without it, the world would look like the chaotic mess that is Afghanistan these days, where an alleged Quran burning by the U.S. military supposedly inspired deadly riots and the murder of U.S. troops.

Surrounded by the protection of barbed-wire fences and cement barricades, the United States Forces — Iraq flag was furled for the last time during an unpretentious ceremony in Baghdad on Dec. 15. It has been a long nine years. At the war’s onset in 2003, troops were promised the only way to return home was through Baghdad. Nine years, two administrations, and multiple tours later — with mission finally accomplished — troops are headed home to celebrate Christmas.

By now, everyone's seen at least a still picture of the four American soldiers urinating on dead Taliban.

It was Sunday, Sept. 10, 2001. Our family was at McCormick Railroad Park in Scottsdale for our daughter's third birthday party. I remember that it was really hot that day.

It was Sunday, Sept. 10, 2001. Our family was at McCormick Railroad Park in Scottsdale for our daughter's third birthday party. I remember that it was really hot that day.

Back in 1996 when President Clinton was pushing for an increase in the federal minimum wage, his chief of staff Leon Panetta went on “This Week” with David Brinkley and complained that “we’re talking about a lousy 90 cents.”

WASHINGTON  — The nation's two intelligence chiefs are locked in a turf battle over overseas posts, forcing National Security Adviser James L. Jones to mediate, according to current and former government officials.

Guest commentary by Jon Beydler

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. combat troops patrol dusty pathways in Afghanistan, look for hidden roadside bombs, load and fire mortar shells at insurgents' positions. So when they come home, how will that help them land a civilian job?

U.S. forces killed the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks Sunday in a Pakistan firefight.

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