I got rid of Goldstone for you. Ante the fuck up.

Reporters love to quote the Iraqi legislator Mahmoud Othman. Here’s an example of why. From a piece about a parliamentary impasse possibly delaying January’s national election: Mr. Othman said going beyond Jan. 31 would not necessarily make the elections illegitimate. “Nothing in Iraq is very legitimate,” he said. “We have violated a lot of things [...]

Steve Clemons obtains a letter the Kadima leader — and sane voice for peace and two states now that Labor has cravenly backed Netanyahu — wrote to Jeremy Ben Ami about the J Street gathering next week. Josh Marshall comments: Quite apart from the policy disputes behind the J Street controversy (and Livni makes clear [...]

Richard Holbrooke tells Josh Rogin that he isn’t being marginalized by Kerry’s diplomatic intervention in Kabul. OK. What follows is absolutely not any kind of disrespect to Josh, who’s a good reporter, it’s just me venting. My God, do I hate doing in-the-loop-out-of-the-loop stories. So rarely do they actually signify anything. Just Washington parlor game [...]

I’ve seen Joe Torre falter and I’ve seen him soar. I’ve seen him outmanage and I’ve seen him be outmanaged. I’ve seen him refuse, with Churchillian steadfastness, to give up, down to an 11th-inning Game 7 home run. And I’ve seen him squander as big a postseason series lead as any manager ever has. Torre’s [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 822-09 October 21, 2009 DoD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Staff Sgt. Bradley Espinoza, 26, of Mission, Texas, died Oct. 19 in Qwest, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive [...]

Not that I expect you to, but there’s a new Neil Sheehan history of the intercontinental ballistic missile and I’m just saying. (Apologies for the slow and less-than-sufficiently-substantive blogging today. Crashing on a piece and whatnot.)

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 821-09 October 21, 2009 DoD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Lance Cpl. David R. Baker, 22, of Painesville, Ohio, died Oct. 20 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th [...]

The Windy offices are momentarily out of plastic spoons. I presume there will be counterinsurgency lessons to take away from this.

Interested? How I hoped you’d be.