IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 580-10 July 06, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Pfc. David Jefferson, 23, of Philadelphia, died July 2 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was [...]

It’s been out for a few weeks now, but I’ve just now heard and loved the new Against Me! record White Crosses. To call it unsentimental would be to diminish how bleak it is –”There’s just no future left to dream of,” “The revolution was a lie,”* “This is the only voice I have,” are [...]

Turkey is threatening to cut off ties to Israel over the flotilla raid. (Apparently back-channel talks aimed at repairing the breach in the Israel-Turkey relationship didn’t get very far.) But through Marc Lynch’s twitter feed, we learn: Bashar al-Asad: Turkey cutting ties with Israel would harm stability, peace in the region Marc’s source for that is [...]

CLUTCH YOUR PEARLS!!!! A Pakistani man approached CIA officers in Islamabad last year, offering to give up secrets of his country’s closely guarded nuclear program. To prove he was a trustworthy source, he claimed to possess spent nuclear fuel rods. But the CIA had its doubts. Before long, the suspicious officers had concluded that Pakistan’s [...]

If you’re inclined to view Army generals as an insidious anti-constitutional cult intent on dragging the U.S into endless wars for some amorphous glory, by all means, read this New Statesman piece that people have been sending me. It occasionally makes good points about the vacuum created by an absence of U.S. grand strategy — [...]

No spoilers, I promise. So The A-Team is as good as Amanda Mattos told you it is. I had my doubts: rather than recast all the original roles, why not bring back Mr. T — the guy most people associate with The A-Team — and place him in the Hannibal role, assembling his own cast [...]

I always thought of George Schultz as a decent fellow — on the right side of the Philippines democratization movement and nuclear disarmament; uninvolved in Iran-Contra — but this is a repugnant thing to say about the Iraq war: It’s been seven years since we invaded Iraq, and there is so much sorrow in the [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 576-10 July 03, 2010 DOD Identifies Air Force Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of an airman who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Capt David A. Wisniewski, 31, of Moville, Iowa, died July 2 of wounds sustained June 9 in a helicopter crash near Forward Operating Base Jackson, Afghanistan. [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 575-10 July 03, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Pfc. Ryan J. Grady, 25, of Bristow, Okla., died July 1 at Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised-explosive device. He [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 574-10 July 03, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Johnny W. Lumpkin, 38, of Columbus, Ga., died July 2 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds sustained July 1 in a non-combat related equipment incident in Taji, [...]