IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 934-09 November 30, 2009 DoD Announces Change-In-Status of Army Soldier The Department of Defense today announced the death of a soldier supporting Operation Enduring Freedom who was previously listed as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown. Sgt. Brandon T. Islip, 23, of Richmond, Va., had been listed as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown. His status [...]

1. Jamelle Bouie on Tapped. He’ll be here all week folks! 2. Maj. Niel Smith on Small Wars Journal. I strongly recommend you read this. “Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are [...]

This certainly makes me feel like an asshole for the previous post. No disrespect intended. RIP IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 933-09 November 30, 2009 DoD Identifies Navy Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Petty Officer 3rd Class David M. Mudge, 22, of Sutherlin, Ore., [...]

So I wrote this to one of the (too many) listservs I’m on, in response to a question about whether the Afghanistan war — or escalating it — is justifiably seen as a progressive goal. My reply was that I see the case for continuing the war and progressivism as two ships passing in the [...]

Adding to the concerns expressed earlier by Maj. Gen. Dunlap over the Air Force’s unclear role in Afghanistan, here’s a smart post from Christopher Albon at the U.S. Naval Institute AwesomeBlog asking what the role of the Navy is in the war. The main obstacle to a major Navy role in Afghanistan is not material, [...]

Fred Barnes takes a break from penning a sequel to Rebel-In-Chief to exercise his Professor X-like mutant power: Obama comes from the antiwar wing of the Democratic party that opposes the use of force in almost all instances. If he were still a senator and a Republican president were proposing a troop buildup in Afghanistan, [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 932-09 November 30, 2009 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Pfc. Michael A. Rogers, 23, of White Sulphur Springs, Mont., died Nov. 27, at Forward Operating Base Hammer, east of Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained from a [...]

All y’all can save your Peter Beinart hatred. The man gave me a job right out of college, promoted me twice and gave me tons of opportunities. I would probably not be here if not for him. So I remain loyal, as I will ever be. That said, this Daily Beast piece from Peter misses [...]

A new Charlie Dunlap article! I’m excited. First, some backstory. The Air Force is trying to figure out what its role is in an era of ground conflict, close air support and unmanned aerial vehicles. For a quick and probably incomplete overview, see this post of mine, which contrasted a widely-read monographed penned by Dunlap, [...]

Juan Cole writes aptly and plainly about a Swiss decision to ban minarets. Imagine being told your congregation couldn’t build a steeple or display a cross. Not to get all Lee Greenwood on you, but I never feel more American than when Matthew Yglesias returns from one or another of his European vacations and tells [...]