After too many months on hiatus from The Black Rod's weekly War in Afghanistan feature, we were still playing catch-up last week, but already we were shocked and dismayed by what we found. The only sign of a real war is the drone war in Pakistan. Unmanned U.S. aircraft delivered a rain of missiles Tuesday on insurgents in North Waziristan, a section of Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The single attack saw 18 missiles launched on a car or truck and into tents containing armed men. At least 14 insurgents were killed. It was the second strike in 3 days. More than 30 drone attacks have been recorded this year, almost all in North Waziristan, the stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban. The intense air attacks have killed many of the Taliban leadership and cast a pall of terror over the insugents. They have stopped using cell phones, because they fear their location can be pinpointed, which has disrupted communication between members who hav...
The origin of the Usher of the Black Rod goes back to early fourteenth century England . Today, with no royal duties to perform, the Usher knocks on the doors of the House of Commons with the Black Rod at the start of Parliament to summon the members. The rod is a symbol for the authority of debate in the upper house. We of The Black Rod adopted the symbol to knock some sense and the right questions into the heads of Legislators, pundits, and other opinion makers.