So this Petraeus/Flournoy hearing so far has been dominated by a very politicized parsing of what the July 2011 “inflection point” is and isn’t. You can read about that here. We’re at a 10 minute break two hours in — there’s a Senate vote — and I haven’t heard anything substantial about Kandahar. But another [...]

Eli Lake reports that Pakistan desires more helicopters than, apparently the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Contingency Fund the U.S. established last year. The helicopters, they say, will support a “silent surge” of “more than 100,000 troops into the mountain lairs of al Qaeda’s senior leadership in the country’s Northwest Frontier Province.” In other words, exactly what the [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 497-10 June 15, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Spc. Brian M. Anderson, 24, of Harrisonburg, Va., died June 12 in Za Khel, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his vehicle using an improvised explosive [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 496-10 June 15, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Sgt. Mario Rodriguez, 24, of Smithville, Texas, died June 11 in Powrak, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms and rocket-propelled grenade [...]

Man, Marc, I dunno about this: When was the last time a U.S. war effort was so tied to one man? An Army friend likes to say, “if there’s one thing the Army taught me, it’s that we’re all replaceable.” Minds wandered there today when Gen. David Petraeus briefly fell ill during his Senate hearing [...]

“The Diamond Church Street Choir” from the Gaslight Anthem’s just-released-today record American Slang has been my song of the week. Sadly, I can’t seem to embed it, so here you go. It’s a pretty and pride-filled ode to New Brunswick of the sort you get from the city’s better punk bands (Sticks & Stones, Lifetime). [...]

So, quite a morning: Gen. Petraeus and Undersecretary Flournoy cited progress in training and equipping Afghan security forces to a Senate panel. Then Petraeus briefly passed out and, halfway around the world, insurgents murdered a Kandahar district governor. Something else worth highlighting from the Petraeus/Flournoy testimony are some rather supportive statements about reconciliation with the [...]

Slow blogging today, or at least this morning. I’ve been putting up these kinds of disclaimers with increasing frequency, but I’ll soon have my schedule re-stabilize for more consistent blogging. Please bear with; much appreciated; thanks.

It’s difficult enough finding your footing when discussing Israel when you come up through Jewish publications. Emotions run high and people like to argue in bad faith. Someone who doesn’t often write about the issue can suddenly find himself caught in a briar patch of inscrutable hostility. Hence: Choire Sicha got an email some asshole from [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 489-10 June 14, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualties The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died June 11 in Jalula, Iraq, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device. They were assigned to the 5th [...]