Andrew Olmsted Killed in Iraq

Major Andrew Olmsted, a longtime blogger and Army Reservist, was killed in action yesterday when his unit was ambushed. His Obsidian Wings colleague Hilzoy had the sad honor of posting his final blog missive. Her lead-in: Andrew Olmsted, who also posted here as G'Kar, was killed yesterday in Iraq. Andy gave me a post to publish in the event of his ...

Army Retreats on Milblogging

The Army has quickly backtracked on its new policy that would have effectively killed milblogging. In an official (yet, oddly, not-for-attribution) release, the military explains: In no way will every blog post/update a Soldier makes on his or her blog need to be monitored or first approved by an immediate supervisor and Operations Security (OPSEC) officer. After receiving guidance ...

Al Qaeda in Iraq Leader Wounded, Deputy Killed

The number two man in al Qaeda in Iraq has been killed. Again. The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq has been wounded and his top aide killed in a clash with police, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman told CNN Thursday. Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf said Iraqi police got into a firefight with insurgents on the road between Falluja, ...

Amanda Marcotte Resigns from Edwards Campaign

Amanda Marcotte has resigned as John Edwards' blogger, on the basis that she was creating a distraction for the campaign. Rather than stop there, though, she plays the victim. Unfortunately, Bill Donohue and his calvacade of right wing shills don’t respect that a mere woman like me could be hired for my skills... What in the world does gender have to ...

Our Mercenary Troops

William Arkin has created quite a stir with a blog post reacting to a recent NBC report on troops' frustrations with criticism from the public. He starts off with a reasonable premise: I'm all for everyone expressing their opinion, even those who wear the uniform of the United States Army. But I also hope that military commanders took the ...

Pentagon Ends Reserve Call-up Limit

The Defense Department has removed the limits on the active duty call-up period for Reserve Component soldiers. The Pentagon has abandoned its limit on the time a citizen-soldier can be required to serve on active duty, officials said Thursday, a major change that reflects an Army stretched thin by longer-than-expected combat in Iraq. The day after President Bush announced his ...

Andrew of Arabia

Andrew Olmsted is headed to Iraq: It seems that the situation in Iraq is worse than I thought. The Army has accepted my application to active duty and is sending me to Iraq as commander of a battalion MiTT team. That means I'll embed with an Iraqi battalion and I and my team will attempt to train and assist that battalion ...

Hamdan Lawyer’s Navy Career Could be Ending

LCDR Charles Swift, the Navy JAG who defended Salim Ahmed Hamdan and just won his client's case before the U.S. Supreme Court, is apparently about to be put out of the Navy. The LAT reported Friday: The U.S. Navy lawyer who challenged the Bush administration's efforts to try terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, walked a professional tightrope between fellow officers trying ...

If Necessary, Strike and Destroy

Ashton Carter and William Perry, assistant secretary of defense and SECDEF respectively, under President Bill Clinton, are take a surprisingly hawkish line on the North Korean missile test in an op-ed in today's WaPo. Should the United States allow a country openly hostile to it and armed with nuclear weapons to perfect an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering nuclear weapons ...

What to Do About North Korean Missile Test?

James Robbins has an interesting idea of how the U.S. could respond to the promised DPRK test of their long range Taepodong-2 missile: If the North Koreans follow tradition, they will test their new long range missile by firing it through the air space of another country, probably Japan, maybe the U.S. too if they can reach Alaska. Sounds like a ...