The Best Counterinsurgency: Unentangle

Retired Air Force Colonel Chet Richards has published another short, good book: If We Keep It: A National Security Manifesto for the Next Administration. The "it" in question is a republic, which we are unlikely to keep since republics require a virtuous citizenry....

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A New Force Called Sahwa Shows Its Muscle

BAQUBA - The Awakening Councils in Diyala province are stepping up their protests against the government in Baghdad. The Awakening Councils, or the Sahwa as they are called, are a mostly Sunni Muslim force set up by the US to draw in resistance fighters into their...

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Thursday: 41 Iraqis Killed, 56 Wounded

Updated at 1:35 a.m. EST, Feb. 15, 2008At least 41 people were killed or found dead and 56 more were wounded during the latest attacks, which included a serious bombing in Sadr City. No Coalition deaths were reported, but two foreign security contractors were injured...

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Hobbled in Kabul

Speaking to a friendly crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last week, President Bush declared: "The Taliban, al-Qaeda, and their allies are on the run." Although he wasn't declaring victory ("Afghanistan has a long road...

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The Growing Military-Industrial Complex in Asia

Often what is hidden in our world is so simply because no cares or thinks to look. Yes, a fair amount of attention has recently been given to the staggering new Pentagon budget request, the largest since World War II, that the Bush administration has just submitted to...

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The Monster That Wouldn’t Die

As the ugly reality of what we had gotten ourselves into in Iraq settled on the national consciousness, like a viral infection settling on the lungs, the conventional wisdom was that the authors of this war – the political tendency known as the neoconservatives...

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Wednesday: 19 Iraqis Killed, 12 Wounded

Updated at 7:20 p.m. EST, Feb. 13, 2008During light violence, at least 19 Iraqis were killed and 12 more were wounded. No Coalition troops were reported killed. In other news, the speaker of the Iraqi parliament is threatening to disband it over issues of distrust and...

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SecDef Torn Between Bush and Military Over Iraq

As the man responsible for the health and strength of the U.S. military, Pentagon chief Robert Gates is increasingly finding himself between the devil and the deep blue sea. On the one hand, there's the devil in his Iraq-obsessed boss, President George W. Bush, who...

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In Iraq, Learning Can Be Dangerous

BAQUBA - University professors now enjoy increased pay, but in the face of threats and isolation, there is little they are able to do in the world of academics. All that has gotten better is the pay. Under the regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein – and...

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