Don’t tell me we can’t change. Yes we can! Defense contractor KBR Inc. has been awarded a $35 million Pentagon contract involving major electrical work, even as it is under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of at least two U.S. soldiers in Iraq. As Glenn Reynolds might say, “They told me if I voted [...]

Today seems to be my day for being inspired by other people’s ideas. Inspired by Russ Stewart, who writes a column for my small local newspaper and who seems to be a pretty savvy guy, I’d like to solicit the answers to some questions about what’s likely to happen in the fairly near future from [...]

Inspired by Pat Lang, I’d like to propose a thought problem. A hypothetical. Despite the post hoc mandate we received from the United Nations Security Council and the status of forces arrangement we’ve arrived at with the Iraqi government, the U. S. continues to be the “occupying power” in Iraq in the eyes of many. [...]

The Army is shutting down its entire recruiting operation in the wake of four suicides, Army Times reports. Army Secretary Pete Geren has ordered a stand-down of the Army’s entire recruiting force and a review of almost every aspect of the job is underway in the wake of a wide-ranging investigation of four suicides in [...]

Andrew Sullivan is bemused to find himself on Forbes‘ list of “The 25 Most Influential Liberals In The U.S. Media” since he considers himself a conservative.  He posts a reader email that muses on this fact: Did you notice how many people on the list were seemingly chosen not for their writing or their politics, [...]

Barack Obama has been president for more than 24 hours now.  America is once again beloved by one and all.  Hubris and overreach are things of the past, as the inmates of Gitmo have been freed and the troops are all home from Iraq, participating in rebuilding the infrastructure at home.   Or, certainly, change is [...]

The Iraqi government has indicated that it is ready to assume security over the country in the event that U.S. troops are withdrawn prior to the 2011 date agreed to by the Bush Administration. Obama promised during the campaign to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office. The new [...]

There’s an op-ed in the New York Review of Books from William Luers, Thomas R. Pickering, and Jim Walsh giving advice on how to make some progress in dealing with Iran that I can only deem incoherent. Their suggestions rest on three legs. First, three of the most pressing security issues that face the incoming [...]

Tony Blankley, former press secretary to Newt Gingrich and editorial page editor of the Washington Times, has a new book out that, among other things, argues for reinstatement of the military draft.  Unlike liberals like Charlie Rangel or even centrist Phil Carter, he doesn’t do so on the basis of “fairness” or spreading the burden [...]

The Defense Department has ruled that service members who wish to be awarded the Purple Heart will continue to have to get themselves shot, just like in the old days. The Pentagon has decided that it will not award the Purple Heart, the hallowed medal given to those wounded or killed by enemy action, to [...]

In an op-ed in the Washington Post this morning, former ambassador from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States Turk al-Faisal proposed an approach to achieving peace in the Middle East with five action items for the incoming Obama Administration: Call for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Shebaa Farms in Lebanon. [...]

Dave Schuler’s arguments and his responses to my cross-examination questions highlight three critical failings in his argument. These flaws are his preference for inertia over strategic assessment, overweighing ambiguous evidence that marginally supports his case while ignoring compelling evidence that refutes it, and a failure to account for what might be called “conditions on the [...]

On January 23, 1980 President Jimmy Carter enunciated what became known as the Carter Doctrine. He stated, “An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by [...]

A forthcoming government history on Iraq War reconstruction depicts an inept process marred by politics and bureaucratic infighting, NYT reports. An unpublished 513-page federal history of the American-led reconstruction of Iraq depicts an effort crippled before the invasion by Pentagon planners who were hostile to the idea of rebuilding a foreign country, and then molded [...]

John Cole has come up with “A Bailout Plan the GOP Can Support.”  After years of having it pointed out to him that violence in Iraq is comparable to that in Detroit and other American metro areas — and noting that Michigan has a large Muslim population — he put two and two together. We [...]

After a three month experiment and some discussions with regular readers, we’ve decided to suspend operations on the Atlantic Council’s breaking news blog, Atlantic Update, and to consolidate it into New Atlanticist.  The result, I hope, will be one, livelier blog that becomes a hub of discussion about transatlantic issues. While I’d still prefer that [...]

Steve Bainbridge thinks the Republican Party should kick out Bill Kristol and others like him: “The USA does need at least one Daddy party. It needs at least one party that believes in individual freedom and limited government.” There is a large contingent that wants to kick out RINOs, with rather widely diverging beliefs as [...]

Bernard Finel, to say the least a fan of neither the Bush Administration nor the Iraq War, throws cold water on the Bush Lied, People Died meme that refuses to die: I’d like to urge folks to think through what standards should be applied to inherently ambiguous information. Here is what we knew in 2002: [...]

It was inevitable:  As it becomes harder to find work in the civilian sector, more people are turning to their local military recruiter. The economic downturn and rising unemployment rate are making the military a more attractive option, Pentagon officials say. In some cases, the peace of mind that comes with good benefits and a [...]

Yesterday’s New York Times featured a collection of seven columns on the challenges the incipient Obama Administration faces in managing the transition between administrations in two ongoing wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Contributors cover a wide spectrum of opinion and expertise from journalists (Linda Robinson, Rory Stewart) to scholars (Anthony Cordeman) to military officers (Peter [...]

The Iraqi Cabinet has approved a status of forces agreement with the United States: BAGHDAD — The Iraqi cabinet voted overwhelmingly Sunday to approve the security agreement that sets the conditions for the Americans’ continued presence in Iraq from Jan. 1 until the end of 2011. All but one of the 28 cabinet ministers who [...]

A new Rasmussen poll finds that voters trust John McCain more than Barack Obama on taxes (47%to 45%) and on “economic issues” more generally (48% to 47%).  These numbers are, of course, within the margin of error.  They do, however, represent a reversal of a trend and may indicate that the “Joe the Plumber” and [...]

U. S. government sources have confirmed last week’s raid into Syrian territory by American special forces against terrorist havens across the Iraqi border: A U.S. military official in Washington confirmed that special forces had conducted a raid in Syria that targeted the network of al Qaeda-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq. The Syrian [...]

I don’t know how I missed it but yesterday in the New York Times Michael Gordon had what I think was a very fair and balanced assessment of the differences between Sen. Barack Obama’s and Sen. John McCain’s current positions on Iraq which I commend to your attention. In the article Mr. Gordon clears up [...]

Forty minutes into the first presidential debate of the 2008 general election season, which was supposed to be about foreign policy, we have had precisely no discussion of foreign policy thanks to moderator Jim Lehrer’s asking the same three domestic policy questions repeatedly.   Granting that there’s an emergency in the financial sector, most of the [...]

It’s going to take more than Amir Taheri’s quotation of the statements of the Iraqi foreign minister about what Sen. Barack Obama said when he was in Baghdad in July to have much impact on the senator’s presidential campaign: WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama [...]

Juan Cole had an interesting post on yesterday’s seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in which he made a bold declaration: “The original al-Qaeda is defeated.”   No, he’s not saying there aren’t Muslim terrorists calling themselves “al Qaeda” ready and able to kill us. I mean the original al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda as a historical, concrete movement [...]

There’s an obesity epidemic in Iraq that’s been fueled by the war, Tina Susman reports for the LAT. For most of the last five years, sectarian violence has drastically altered Iraqis’ lifestyles. Most retreated to the safety of their homes and became increasingly sedentary, rarely venturing out of their neighborhoods. To go out was to [...]

There’s been an interesting conversation going on, prompted by this guest post by Gregory Gause, professor of political science at University of Vermont and director of its Middle East Studies Program. In his post Dr. Gause notes that in recent months Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has taken a number of steps which, considered together, [...]

Yesterday formal responsibility for security in Iraq’s western Anbar province was turned over to Iraqi forces: Baghdad – The US military handed over control of Anbar Province Monday, marking a significant milestone in the Iraq war. Anbar was the deadliest Iraqi province for US troops, with nearly 1 in every 3 Americans killed there. It [...]

Jonathan Kolieb is upset that Americans don’t pronounce foreign names in the other country’s mother tongue. I was flipping through the cable news channels the other night, and there were several segments on developments in Iraq.  I found myself getting irritated, then angry:  Why, five years after occupying a country, do we still not know [...]

Robert Kaplan often refers to the “Iron Majors,” the mid-career officers who have chosen the Army as a career and serve in its key staff positions.  Ann Scott Tyson reports that we’re running low. The Army’s growth plans and the demands of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are contributing to a shortfall of thousands [...]

Georgian forces have been routed and have retreated from their South Ossetia province after being outmatched by the Russians.  Now, many Georgians are wondering where their Western allies are. Tony Halpin for The Times of London: As a Russian jet bombed fields around his village, Djimali Avago, a Georgian farmer, asked me: “Why won’t America [...]

Marine Corporal Garrett Jones is back serving as a combat infantryman in Afghanistan, only a year after losing most of his left leg in Iraq. On July 23, 2007, Jones was on foot patrol near the Iraqi city of Fallouja when he was injured by a roadside bomb. After the attack, his left leg was [...]

The Mahdi Army might soon be the Iraqi equivalent of the Salvation Army, Gina Chon reports for the Wall Street Journal. Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr — long a thorn in the side of the U.S. military and Iraqi government — intends to disarm his once-dominant Mahdi Army militia and remake it as a social-services organization. [...]

The leader of a US-allied Sunni group was killed yesterday, along with six of his men: Unknown gunmen attacked the convoy of Sheik Ibrahim al-Karbouli in Youssifiyah on Monday, said the group member who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fears for his own security. The sheik was a senior leader of the so-called [...]

Ezra Klein and his summer intern have compiled ten expert responses to the question “How Important Was the Surge?” Not surprisingly, those from Center for American Progress answered “Not all that important” whereas Michael O’Hanlon and others who supported the Surge to begin with though it was “undoubtedly very important.” Or, as Marc Danziger puts [...]

Via the BBC: Iraq suicide blasts cause carnage Suicide bombers have killed at least 53 people and wounded about 240 in attacks on crowds in the Iraqi capital Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk. Three blasts in Baghdad killed at least 28 Shia Muslim pilgrims heading for the city’s Kadhimiya shrine. [...] In Kirkuk, [...]

Two things to follow up on my post on The Dark Knight and foreign/security policy. First, in thinking more about the movie, I will say that there are two scenes/actions by Batman that could be seen to mirror part of the GWoT debate (and I will be vague so as not to spoil anything). There [...]

Readers may be familiar with the Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics (short version: the US can do whatever it wants if it just has even willpower). Now, it appears we can add another member of the Justice League to our understanding of foreign policy. On Friday, author Andrew Klavan had a piece in the WSJ [...]

John McCain said today that the Middle East would be in far worse shape had we succumbed to Barack Obama’s “audacity of hopelessness.” Republican presidential candidate John McCain, ridiculing Barack Obama for “the audacity of hopelessness” in his policies on Iraq, said Friday that the entire Middle East could have plunged into war had U.S. [...]

Remember the feel-good story from the end of this April’s NFL draft when West Point’s Caleb Campbell was selected by the Detroit Lions? (If not, click the link.)  Well, the Army has changed its mind: Caleb Campbell will not get a chance to play for the Detroit Lions because of a change in military policy. [...]

John McCain trotted out a new sound byte yesterday: This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a [...]

We’ve done the “Have we won in Iraq?” thing a couple of times recently, without ever really answering the question.  The problem is that there’s no clear definion of “victory” given the vagueness of our objectives. Weblog pioneer Dave Winer, though, thinks it blindingly obvious:  “We won in Iraq, a long time ago.” Remember when [...]

The Iraqi government is claiming Der Spiegel mistranslated earlier reports that they were supporting a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops.  The magazine stands by its story. Ali al-Dabbagh, the chief spokesman for al-Maliki, said in a statement Sunday that the prime minister’s comments were “not conveyed accurately” by Der Spiegel.   Al-Dabbagh said al-Maliki [...]

Michael J. Totten weighs in on the  Iraq War is Over and We Won argument and decides that, while he’s “reluctant” to answer that question in the affirmative, “The war in Iraq is all but over right now, and it will be officially over if the current trends in violence continue their downward slide. ” [...]

The next episode of OTB Radio, our BlogTalkRadio program, will record and air live tonight from 7-8 Eastern. Dave Schuler will be joining me tonight to talk about recent events in the news.  Possible topics include: The New Yorker cover flap McCain and Obama’s evolving Iraq and Afghanistan plans Freddie and Fannie bailout Alternative energy [...]

MoveOn has unveiled a new anti-McCain ad titled, simply, “Timeline.” CNN’s Emily Sherman has a summary. The opener: In Chicago, in Saint Louis and Seattle, the American people are demanding a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. In Baghdad and Basra and Tikrit, the Iraqi people……and now the Iraqi Prime minister are also demanding a timetable. [...]

Dean Barnett wins my Head Scratcher of the Day award for this: If we had a “Most Offensive Quote of the Day” every day, Joe Biden would probably come to own the prize. But even by the senator’s lofty standards of chronic obtuseness, he outdid himself this afternoon:  “If John (McCain) wants to know where [...]

William Arkin contends that recent political maneuvering has put Barack Obama and President Bush in almost identical positions vis-à-vis Iraq: The Bush administration’s potential Iraq withdrawal plan, floated in The New York Times over the weekend, to draw down brigades further before September of this year and to accelerate withdrawals in 2009, has collided with [...]