Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Travels with Patton: Visiting Sicily

This is General Patton, writing to his wife about the people of Sicily in July 1943. The inventive spellings are his: Poor things, I feel sorry for them. They make tomato catchup in the streets and let all the filth settle on it and then eat it with spagattey. All the children beg for food ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
U.S. Army
U.S. Army
U.S. Army

This is General Patton, writing to his wife about the people of Sicily in July 1943. The inventive spellings are his:

This is General Patton, writing to his wife about the people of Sicily in July 1943. The inventive spellings are his:

Poor things, I feel sorry for them. They make tomato catchup in the streets and let all the filth settle on it and then eat it with spagattey. All the children beg for food all the time and one could buy any woman on the island for a can of beans, but there are not many purchasers." 

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.