“Everything old is new again,” assesses Michael Bruno of Ares after checking out the Hadley/Perry alterna-QDR. Its principal criticism of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review is that the document didn’t invest significantly enough in the Navy and the Air Force. And it’s not wrong. After all, the 2010 QDR recommended cuts to both services’ program [...]

You get the strong sense reading through the Anti-Defamation League’s objection to the Ground Zero Mosque Cordoba House that they know better than to object. They’re not cool with “appeals to bigotry on the basis of religion, and condemn those whose opposition to this proposed Islamic Center is a manifestation of such bigotry.” They say [...]

So you’ve heard about Holy Terror, Batman!, right? If not: Frank Miller has been promising for years that he’ll pen a Batman story that pits the Caped Crusader on a single-minded mission against al-Qaeda after a terrorist attack on Gotham. Miller’s up front about it being “a piece of propaganda,” but nevertheless makes a good [...]

I didn’t expect Admiral Mullen and Secretary Gates to go as hard after WikiLeaks as they did in their presser yesterday. Read Josh Foust for a continued emphasis on the danger posed to Afghans who dealt with NATO now that their unredacted names are out there. Adam Serwer has a judicious take as well: If [...]

Eli Lake reports that officials in Brazil, Burma, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Sudan and Syria are quietly reaching out to veterans of A.Q. Khan’s old nuclear proliferation network to see if they can be coaxed out of retirement like Buck Showalter. It’s a reminder that there’s so much we still don’t know about the extent [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 678-10 July 29, 2010 DOD Identifies Navy Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was previously listed as duty status whereabouts unknown while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, 25, of Renton, Wash., died from wounds sustained from an incident in Logar [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 677-10 July 29, 2010 DOD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Lance Cpl. Abram L. Howard, 21, of Williamsport, Pa., died July 27 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to Headquarters and Service [...]

I’ll have a longer post at Danger Room imminently about the new Pew poll on Pakistani attitudes (PDF), but one thing quickly caught my eye: About six-in-ten Pakistanis (59%) see the U.S. as an enemy of their country, down slightly from 64% in 2009. Only 11% now consider the U.S. a partner and 16% say [...]

Via the Duck of Minerva, the United Nations General Assembly declares access to potable water to be a fundamental human right. (It’s a non-binding resolution.) I have no particularly intelligent thoughts on this, but it reminds me that I need to get smarter on natural security and resource-conflict questions. Anyway, check out my friend Mark [...]

I’ve been consumed for the past few weeks with finalizing my travel and embed plans to Afghanistan, so much so that I’ve a) neglected this blog and b) found myself so deep in the weeds it can be hard to find the horizon when it comes to the war. Yesterday I caught myself in a [...]