The Good People, Then and Now
As we commemorate Martin Luther King's life today, here is what I think may be the most important passage from his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, written to the clergy of Birmingham who counseled against the SCLC’s protests in that city in 1963: I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 21, 2008 22:33
Reid and Pelosi Threaten Iraq $ Cutoff. Again.
Harry Reid is threatening to cut off funds if President Bush doesn't start bringing the troops home from Iraq. And this time he means it! Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday that Democrats won't approve more money for the Iraq war this year unless President Bush agrees to begin bringing troops home. By the end of the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 13, 2007 17:20
North Korea Agrees to Disable Nuclear Reactor
North Korea has agreed to disable its main nuclear reactor and allow intrusive verification measures. North Korea will provide a complete list of its nuclear programs and disable its facilities at its main reactor complex by Dec. 31, actions that will be overseen by a U.S.-led team, the six nations involved in disarmament talks said Wednesday. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on October 3, 2007 10:44
Public Opinion Unchanged by Petraeus Testimony
The American public's views on Iraq policy are within the margin of error of where they were before the highly publicized testimony of General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker before Congress, two recent surveys show. A Gallup/USA Today poll compares views right after the testimony to right before: In the days before Petraeus' appearances and President Bush's speech to the nation ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on September 19, 2007 11:27
Moving the Goalposts in Iraq?
In an Analysis piece fronting today's WaPo, Karen DeYoung and Thomas Ricks argue that yesterday's testimony by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker may well have succeeded in buying more time for the mission in Iraq. Petraeus and Crocker have long complained that the Washington clock -- with congressional demands that the time has come for Iraqis to take over ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on September 11, 2007 07:40
General Betray Us?
According to numerous published sources, the liberal activist group MoveOn.org is running a full page ad in today's New York Times under the banner, "General Petraeus or General Betray us? Cooking the books for the White House." (I haven't seen the ad, which isn't yet up at the NYT, MoveOn, or various sites commenting on it.) MoveOn.org isn't known for ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on September 10, 2007 06:58
Iraqi Police Should Be Scrapped, Army Far From Ready
A blue ribbon commission chaired by former Supreme Allied Commander James Jones* has concluded that the Iraqi national police are so corrupt that they should be disbanded and recreated from scratch and that the Iraqi army is still more than a year away from being able to operate independently. Karen DeYoung's report on A1 of today's WaPo: Iraq's army, despite measurable ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on September 6, 2007 08:33
Iraq Withdrawal Logistics (Updated)
Phil Carter draws my attention to a report by Lawrence Korb and colleagues on the logistics of troop withdrawal from Iraq. The study's working assumption, that the Surge will inevitably fail and that withdrawal must commence immediately, is a political question that's hotly contested. The military-logistical questions, though, are interesting in their own right. Those who argue for a rapid and ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 30, 2007 07:34
Maliki Threatens to Take His Ball and Go Home
Everyone is picking on Iraqi Prime Minister Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. In the latest insult, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said that, "The progress on the national level issues has been extremely disappointing and frustrating to all concerned — to us, to Iraqis, to the Iraqi leadership itself. We do expect results, as do the Iraqi people, and our ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 22, 2007 16:05
Surge Working, Still Losing
AP's Robert Burns left his "base" in Washington for a two week tour of Iraq and pronounces the Surge a great success. The all-important political reconciliation, on the other hand .... The new U.S. military strategy in Iraq, unveiled six months ago to little acclaim, is working. In two weeks of observing the U.S. military on the ground and interviewing commanders, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 7, 2007 08:36
