IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 926-09 November 24, 2009 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Spc. Jason A. McLeod, 22, of Crystal Lake, Ill., died Nov. 23, west of Pashmul, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with mortar fire. [...]

Josh Rogin introduces us to the secret nightlife of National Security Council spokesman Ben Chang, spinner of “Dancefloor jazz, funky breaks, old school & classic hip hop, indie pop/rock, new wave, dance punk, mutant disco…” Michael Goldfarb kind of laughs at Ben for, basically, being human and having the same kinds of interests of a [...]

More childhood dreams die. 99x is closing, and I never even bought anything from there. If you were a sharpdressed New York punk rocker in the 1990s and, I suppose, the 2000s, 99x was where you spent every style-devoted dollar you had. Trash & Vaudeville, another place I never actually shopped, was kind of juvenile [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 925-09 November 24, 2009 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Staff Sgt. Matthew A. Pucino, 34, of Cockeysville, Md., died Nov. 23 in Pashay Kala, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 923-09 November 24, 2009 DoD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Briand T. Williams, 25, of Sparks, Ga., died Nov. 22, in Numaniyah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire. He [...]

For what will be my last pre-Thanksgiving TV appearance, I’ll be on al-Jazeera at 9 p.m. to discuss the steaming heap of international mess the Obama administration will have to confront just after the holiday ends. Iraq! Iran! Afghanistan! Pakistan! Copenhagen! It’s the arc of instability coming further unstable. Or something. I will have some [...]

So reports Jeremy Scahill in a monster piece. This is one of those occasions when I wonder if there’s really anything I can add because the piece is so massive and the reporter knows his subject better than any competitor. But there is one thing I think I can say, and it’s about this: One [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 922-09 November 23, 2009 DOD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Lance Cpl. Nicholas J. Hand, 20, of Kansas City, Mo., died Nov. 22 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, [...]

I never really know what to make of these establishment think tanks that don’t really come out and make normative judgments about the desirability of certain policies, but it seems fairly significant that the branch of the Council on Foreign Relations that tries to preempt conflicts takes on the question of Israel bombing Iran. Steven [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 920-09 November 23, 2009 DoD Identifies Army Casualties The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died Nov. 19 in Zabul province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when a suicide car-bomber attacked their unit. They were assigned to the 782d Brigade Support Battalion, [...]