March 15, 2010

More on Petraeus

Paul Woodward of 'War in Context' has a good post, "Israel is putting American lives at risk", that expands on the info that Mark Perry blogged Saturday, about the briefers...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:39 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

March 10, 2010

U.S.'s extra-judicial killings in Pakistan

Joshua Foust had a really thoughtful post at Registan today, in which he started to assess the "effectiveness" of the drone-implemented, extra-judicial killings that the U.S. military has undertaken against...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:14 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

September 21, 2009

Long knives, Washington, Afghanistan, part 2

I've been thinking more about the timing of the WaPo's publication of Woodward's bombshell and the accompanying materials this morning. It seems clear to me Woodward must have had the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:39 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

Long knives out in Washington over Afghanistan

You can criticize Bob Woodward-- and I have-- for the insidery, back-scratching nature of most of his recent journalism. But he still manages to pull out a significant number of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:39 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

Amal Saad-Ghorayeb responds

[In a follow-up to the exchange that I blogged here yesterday, Dr Amal Saad-Ghorayeb has written the response that follows. I will be happy to publish, in full, any further...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:34 AM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

September 19, 2009

NATO and Lebanon

Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:20 PM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

September 09, 2009

American power has limits? Who knew?

Steve Clemons tells us today that Afghanistan, like Iraq, is sending the impression to the rest of the world that America is at a "limit" point in its military and...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:44 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

September 03, 2009

Pat Lang on the dangerous, continued rise of 'COIN'-mania

Lang makes some important points here about the distortion of what should be a rational, nationwide discussion about the US military's massive and troubled engagement in Afghanistan. He writes, The...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:13 AM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

May 08, 2009

Advancing Security and Opportunity -- US Style

The military effort to "advance security and opportunity, so that Pakistanis and Afghans can pursue the promise of a better life" is accelerating in both countries. It sounded good when...
Posted by Don Bacon at 07:28 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

May 01, 2009

The Year of the Ox II

First, going back to the year of the Golden Snake (nothing personal, George) -- April 26, 2001: REPORTER: Do we have an obligation to defend the Taiwanese? GEORGE W. BUSH:...
Posted by Don Bacon at 01:07 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

April 16, 2009

Recuerda Los Niños Héroes

Remember the boy heroes -- Mexicans do. Who were the boy heroes? Los Niños Héroes (the "Boy Heroes") were six teenage military cadets who died defending Mexico at Mexico City's...
Posted by Don Bacon at 06:45 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

April 15, 2009

Who's In Charge?

In Iraq, that is. Under a security agreement signed between Washington and Baghdad last November during president George Bush's tenure, U.S. troops will withdraw from towns and cities by June...
Posted by Don Bacon at 12:53 AM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

April 12, 2009

Give Us Nine Leaders More

Let me explain: from the Pakistan press: Lahore, Pakistan: Of the 60 cross-border predator strikes carried out by the Afghanistan-based American drones in Pakistan between January 14, 2006 and April...
Posted by Don Bacon at 11:54 PM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

April 11, 2009

Why A Military?

Government programs normally have an objective, a goal. There are funded programs to educate children, help the elderly, provide housing for the poor, build bridges and highways, etc. These programs...
Posted by Don Bacon at 11:37 AM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

March 28, 2009

Play It Again, Barry

I thought it might be interesting to look at two speeches, comparing President Obama's speech on Afghanistan Friday to President Nixon's Vietnamization speech on November 3, 1969. Comparative excerpts follow....
Posted by Don Bacon at 11:55 AM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

March 27, 2009

Problems of the west's extreme casualty aversion, Afghanistan and Gaza

The extreme aversion of the US and Israeli armies to own-soldier casualties has huge and often unintended consequences in the realms of both strategic effectiveness and ethics. This is now...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:15 PM | Fulltext link (37 comments)

March 08, 2009

An officer home from Iraq: his thoughts

I enjoyed an extended chat with a jr. US Army officer, on furlough from Iraq, about the time that Phyllis Bennis here gave a stimulating guest comment that questioned the...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 02:35 AM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

March 04, 2009

Divide and Conquer

Success in foreign affairs, where domination is the goal, is often accomplished withn a divide-and-conquer strategy. Conn Hallinan, 2004: It was "divide and conquer" that made it possible for an...
Posted by Don Bacon at 03:35 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

February 27, 2009

Climate of Change?

In a recent NYTimes article entitled "Climate of Change" Paul Krugman wrote: Elections have consequences. President Obama’s new budget represents a huge break, not just with the policies of the...
Posted by Don Bacon at 12:32 PM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

February 22, 2009

Black is Black, I Want My Barry Back

NOTE: Helena and I have been thinking quite independently along similar lines, which is not an isolated occurrence. Approximately half of the CIA budget is reportedly devoted not to intelligence...
Posted by Don Bacon at 12:01 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

January 12, 2009

From Specialst Armer to Obama: Actions vs. Words

The WaPo today informs us that US troops are increasingly "uneasy" in Iraq. No mention is made of the carnage being inflicted on Gaza as a concern. Instead, journo Ernesto...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 10:52 AM | Fulltext link (43 comments)

January 11, 2009

Counter Recruitment

This is the third and final installment in the American Warrior trilogy. Previous articles were on the need and recruitment of "warriors" into the US military ground forces. Counter-recruitment is...
Posted by Don Bacon at 10:12 AM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

December 29, 2008

Recruiting More Warriors

During the past fiscal year, with our nation at war, 170,000 men and women raised their hands and said: "Send me." Still, increasing US military aggression and occupation has created...
Posted by Don Bacon at 11:19 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

December 26, 2008

More Warriors Needed

The US Army is currently on track to increase 65,000 people to a total of 547,000 active-duty soldiers next year, up from 482,000 before the current conflicts. There is a...
Posted by Don Bacon at 05:34 PM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

December 20, 2008

Is there an Islamic Charlie Wilson?

As the US and NATO lose control of surface roads in Afghanistan they are more and more dependent upon air transport and air cargo delivery. According to USA Today: Afghanistan's...
Posted by Don Bacon at 04:16 PM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

December 07, 2008

Recruiting for the Enemy

The US occupation forces in Iraq have, from the beginning of the occupation more than five years ago, engaged in the arbitrary imprisonment ("detaining") of Iraqi citizens. As one former...
Posted by Don Bacon at 02:19 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

December 05, 2008

Counterinsurgency 101

WARNING: There will be a test. The US Department of Defense and its representatives continually use the word Counterinsurgency, or its acronym COIN, to describe the US efforts to secure,...
Posted by Don Bacon at 05:12 PM | Fulltext link (20 comments)

November 11, 2008

Neglected Veterans Day

It's Neglected Veterans Day, and our vets need help. from a Pentagon press release: NEW YORK, Nov. 9, 2008 – The United States will remember the servicemembers who have made...
Posted by Don Bacon at 12:32 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

November 10, 2008

The Syria raid and a whole White House gone rogue

As I argued here October 27, the raid that US Special Forces undertook against Syria Oct. 26 had indeed been authorized by the White House. In fact, by President Bush...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:12 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

November 07, 2008

'China Hand' on extrajudicial killings

The excellent (though sporadic) blogger China Hand has a great new post today tracking the degree to which extensive use of extra-judicial killings has been incorporated into the "standard operating...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:14 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

October 03, 2008

Wall St. bailout passes, military budget bulge is next

The House of Representatives passed the Wall Street bailout bill this afternoon. So since the Senate passed it earlier, it will now shortly become enacted into law. (Update: The President...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:43 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

August 20, 2008

NATO's crisis

... Hint: It isn't just the organization's massively long over-reach in Afghanistan, as revealed in the ever-mounting casualties among western forces and the continuing, dire crises of insecurity and pauperization...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:02 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

August 02, 2008

The Gates Doctrine: US as Globo-Cop

Yesterday, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates issued a 'National Defense Strategy' document (PDF of the text here), that provides what Gates describes as in the Foreword as a "blueprint to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:25 PM | Fulltext link (14 comments)

April 28, 2008

Iraq-Afghanistan: The crunch approaching?

George Bush's general approach to dealing with the problems of Iraq and Afghanistan-- as to the many other rapidly mounting challenges that confront Washington both globally and domestically-- has been...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:31 AM | Fulltext link (11 comments)