I mostly agree with what Ezra says here, here, and here about David Brooks Surge column. I would diverge slightly in regards to his discussion of the four trends that have led to a decrease in violence; Ezra lists the Sadrist truce, the Awakening strategy,...
Iraq war
I've been off in some kind of alternate universe for the past several days, so forgive me for being quite probably the last person on the planet to drop his.
If Hillary comes out with a proposal for a Department of Anti-Robot Affairs, I'll switch my support. More seriously, the overall effect of "robot surges" seems to be to shift.
This seems like kind of a big deal:Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric has been quietly issuing religious edicts declaring that armed resistance against U.S.-led foreign troops is permissible — a potentially significant shift by a key supporter of the Washington-backed government in Baghdad.The edicts, or...
Like the President, I gave up golf in order to honor the sacrifice of our soldiers in Iraq. Last year, I gave up non-diet pop to honor our soldiers in.
And so it goes:U.S. forces are holding nearly all of these [24,000] persons indefinitely, without an arrest warrant, without charge, and with no opportunity for those held to defend themselves.
Via Phil Carter and Eli Lake, Paul Wolfowitz on the mistakes of the occupation:"One was enough troops for the major combat. A lot of people said we didn't have it, and obviously we did. There was a very difficult balance that had to be struck...
Fantastic:When Specialist Jeremy Hall held a meeting last July for atheists and freethinkers at Camp Speicher in Iraq, he was excited, he said, to see an officer attending.But minutes into.
Phil Carter and Eli Lake, in reference to the article discussed here:Does it look to anyone else as if Eli is smoking a joint? One of the interesting things about.
This article by Major Niel Smith and Colonel Seth MacFarland on the foundations of the "Anbar Awakening" strategy is a must read. Smith and MacFarland detail how they helped bring a new set of methods to Ramadi in 2006, methods which played a key role...
I guess that "purge" of the Iraqi Army wasn't as efficient as Mickey Kaus suggested...A company of Iraqi soldiers abandoned their positions on Tuesday night in Sadr City, defying American.
Congressional Budget Office, The Long-Term Implications of Current Defense Plans: Summary Update for Fiscal Year 2005In its cost-risk projections, CBO assumes that activities in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere could cost.