It’s crazy, but after all these years none of this really matters. Those who said it was oil all along are probably too tired and depressed to feel vindicated. And those who accused others of being paranoid are probably still too stupid to comprehend the enormity of this folly. (While Iraq’s oil was being secured, [...]
Archive for June, 2008
Oil
Posted in Iraq on June 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
On a More Personal Note…
Posted in Iraq on June 30, 2008 | 2 Comments »
We’ve just had a baby boy. (* Lights cigar… *) The 2005 RAND monograph I mentioned is here.
Afghanistan: A View from an ISAF Freeloader
Posted in Afghanistan on June 29, 2008 | 5 Comments »
A new Pentagon report lays out the U.S. COIN strategy in Afghanistan: The U.S. operational approach to the security component of counterinsurgency in Afghanistan is to build Afghan security capacity while degrading the capacity of the Taliban. U.S. forces work to root out insurgents while increasing the ability of the Afghans to do so on [...]
Fallon: “Did I Bitch? You Bet”
Posted in Iran on June 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh, always a good read even when he’s wrong, has another scoop on Iran, this time detailing the escalation of American covert operations there. As usual, most of Hersh’s sources are anonymous, but he has also spoken to former CENTCOM head Adm. William Fallon: Admiral Fallon acknowledged, when I spoke to [...]
The U.S. Army Finally Details Post-2003 Mistakes
Posted in Iraq on June 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The U.S. Army has released the second part of its history of the Iraq conflict, titled “On Point II”. According to Michael Gordon of NYT, which scooped the story before the 720-page paper went online last night, “publication was delayed six months so that Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the current Army chief of staff [...]
The Pentagon Reports on Afghanistan
Posted in Afghanistan on June 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I’m not sure when I have time to read the two new DoD reports published yesterday, but here they are, enjoy: “Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan” “United States Plan for Sustaining the Afghanistan National Security Forces”
Janaja: A Raid Gone Wrong
Posted in Iraq, SOFA on June 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Iraqi officials are demanding an investigation into a U.S. raid on the town of Janaja, in the southern Karbala Province, according to McClatchy. Janaja happens to be the birthplace of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and because the province has been officially handed over to Iraqi security forces, the Iraqis are talking about a violation of [...]
Iraq: Reinforcements Heading the Wrong Way?
Posted in Afghanistan, Iraq on June 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The U.S. will send some 30,000 soldiers to Iraq early next year to maintain its troop strength there, AP reports. As LTC Hall pointed out earlier, I’m definitely no expert, but I can imagine what could be accomplished in Helmand or Kandahar with an influx of 30,000 troops. Talk about surge.
Iraq: Dr. Awakening and Mr. Sahwat
Posted in Iraq on June 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Neither Abu Aardvark nor Dr. iRack profess to know what’s going on with the Sahwat and the SoI in Iraq, but both are offering valuable analysis. Aardvark: One well-established contributor to al-Qaeda’s al-Ekhlaas forum wrote the other day that a stream of Awakenings members have been making contacts with the ‘mujahideen’ about rejoining the Islamic [...]
‘Awakening’ in Pashtu: ‘Bugger Off’
Posted in Afghanistan, COIN on June 27, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The Washington Independent’s hard-working Spencer Ackerman has attended a bloggers’ roundtable with LTC Richard Hall, commander of the 2-7 Marines in Afghanistan, and comes back with quote-worthy stuff: Hall is confident, [...] largely because the Taliban, he said, has alienated the population through its graft and brutality. When the 2-7 returns home in a few [...]
