Vietnam Not Winnable

Gary Farber continues his look at the latest document release from President Nixon's archives and finds corroboration for his long held belief that Nixon and Henry Kissinger believed the war in Vietnam was unwinnable and "simply wanted to punt the issue until after the 1972 elections, after which they expected South Vietnam to collapse."  And, of course, we learned not ...

Robert McNamara Dead at 93

Breaking news from CNN: "Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, architect of U.S. war in Vietnam, has died at 93, according to his family." I click the link and get: Seriously? AP has a more fitting obituary: [caption id="attachment_39010" align="alignright" width="318" caption="In a Nov. 17, 1961 file photo, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara holds a news conference at the Pentagon. Former Defense Secretary Robert S. ...

Manus eBay Auction Ends, USA Lucky Bidder

Until yesterday, it seemed a fait accompli that the vital NATO supply base in Krygyzstan was closing, owing to a combination of geopolitics and a strong bid by Russia.  Thanks to an eleventh hour deal, Manus Air Base will stay open after all. I analyze this in some detail at the link.  The short story, though, is that Dave Schuler's February ...

Boxer to General: It’s “Senator” Not “Ma’am”

Senator Barbara Boxer upbraids a polite general for addressing her as "Ma'am." "Do me a favor," she said. "Could say senator instead of Ma'am It's just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I'd appreciate it, thank you." It may be a pet peeve of hers but a rather unclassy exchange.  Subordinates tend to address generals as "general" ...

McCain: I Would Have Ordered DADT Review

Ana Marie Cox interviewed John McCain this afternoon and reports via Twitter that "if he were POTUS, he would have already ordered Joint Chiefs of staff to investigate efficacy of DADT." DADT is, of course, the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on gays in the military that has been in place since the early days of the Clinton administration, replacing the ...

Stephen Colbert in Iraq

Stephen Colbert takes a lot of grief from my side of the aisle for his partisanship but his USO trip to Camp Victory in Iraq deserves nothing but praise. Here's Campbell Robertson's NYT writeup from a couple days back: War, as things go, is a fairly unironic exercise. Sure, there are endless incongruities to be found and parodied in the ...

A Tale of Two Murders

DrewM. passes on Michelle Malkin's post and column noting that the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller by a white "Christian" got scads more media commentary and more intense presidential attention than did the murder of Private William Long and maiming and attempted murder of Private Quinton Ezeagwula by a black "Muslim." It's a fair point and very much worth noting ...

Military Recruiting Shootings

One soldier was killed and another seriously injured in a shooting at an Army-Navy Recruiting Center in west Little Rock, Arkansas.  Thankfully, the second's injuries are not considered life-threatening.  Contrary to earlier reports, both victims were "just out of basic training," participating in the "Hometown Recruiting Assistance" program, and not Army Recruiters.  An arrest has been made but no names ...

Memorial Day v. Veterans Day

I've seen a few gripes on Twitter and elsewhere about President Obama and others seeming not to understand the difference between Memorial Day, which is set aside to honor those who died in combat, and Veterans Day, which honors those who served in the military. This has long been a pet peeve of mine but the conflation of the two is ...

Memorial Day - Canuck Edition

Richard Florida passes along this snippet from The illustrated History of Canada: American draft dodgers in Canada were far outnumbered by the young Canadians who joined U.S. forces to fight in Vietnam. This factoid may be in that category Stephen Colbert would call "truthy" and Dan Rather would call "false but true." Canada did not participate in the Vietnam War for a ...

Rumsfeld Bible Quotes

Apparently, a lot of people who use Yahoo! are searching for "Rumsfeld bible quotes" today. This rather odd happenstance is apparently a function of a story that circulated earlier in the week about Rumsfeld putting bible verses on the cover sheets of "Worldwide Intelligence Updates" intended for President Bush.  Apparently, the story is largely untrue.

Preventative Detention

Hilzoy pronounces herself "happy as a clam" with President Obama's speech yesterday on national security issues, with one glaring exception: But even when this process is complete, there may be a number of people who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, in some cases because evidence may be tainted, but who nonetheless pose a threat to the security of the United ...

Lt. Choi Refuses to (Continue) Lie

Andrew Sullivan gives Quote For the Day honors to gay Army 1st Lieutenant Dan Choi for this excerpt from his Open Letter to President Obama and Every Member of Congress: I have learned many lessons in the ten years since I first raised my right hand at the United States Military Academy at West Point and committed to fighting for my ...

SACEUR: NATO Leadership AWOL

Supreme Allied Commander John Craddock told the Atlantic Council that "the political leadership of NATO is AWOL" and that fixing the "imbalance" between an enormous strategic ambition and modest political will is vital for success in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Asked in the Q&A about today's replacement of David McKiernan with Stanley McChrystal as ISAF commander, he twice demurred, calling it a ...

Afghanistan Commander Replaced (Updated)

The United States is making a shocking shake-up in the leadership of the Afghanistan mission, replacing General David McKiernan with Lt. General Stanley McChrystal.  McKiernan has been in his post less than a year. This is very much a breaking story but my preliminary account is at New Atlanticist:  "Afghanistan Commander Replaced."  A brief excerpt: I don't pretend to be privy to ...