1. Kind of a mishmash. Obama tries to go from the theme of ending one war (slowly, gradually, cautiously) to the broader theme of national and global renewal. It doesn’t really work, in my opinion. First because there’s still over a year’s worth of war, if a twilight and diminishing war, to be waged in [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 760-10 August 24, 2010 DOD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Sgt. Jason D. Calo, 23, of Lexington, Ky., died Aug. 22 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th [...]

You can parse this in such a way that it’s not totally ironclad, but Ben Rhodes, one of President Obama’s most senior advisers, told me that there’s not going to be a renegotiation of the Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq to keep U.S. troops there beyond 2011. Even if the Iraqis decide that their [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 761-10 August 24, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Spc. Pedro A. Millet Meletiche, 20, of Elizabeth, N.J., died Aug. 22 at Arghandab River Valley, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an [...]

Whoa, Paul Wolfowitz is writing about Iraq again? You get credit for audacity, man. For the argument — sorry. So Iraq is like Korea — how? We remain in South Korea because of the unsettled Korean War and the continued threat of North Korea. I suppose you could argue that the Iranians could stream into [...]

So, as we discussed, among the contentions President Obama will offer in his speech tonight is that the end of the Iraq war represents an opportunity to re-focus on the multifaceted struggle against al-Qaeda. I have mixed feelings! It’s a matter of historical fact that the Bush administration spent the resources, time, and bureaucratic attention [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 759-10 August 24, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Brandon E. Maggart, 24, of Kirksville, Mo., died Aug. 22 at Basrah, Iraq, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using indirect fire. He was [...]

John Bolton’s publicist at AEI just sent me a column that I might be interested in: Daily Beast Obama Wrecked Iraq August 31, 2010 By John Bolton It gets better from there.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 762-10 August 24, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualties The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died Aug. 22 at Paktika, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked their unit with small arms and rocket propelled grenade fire. Killed were: Sgt. Steven [...]

There’s a lot of tendentious material in this Washington Post piece about the alleged post-combat phase of the Iraq war. But Paul Rieckhoff asks a central question: “If the war is ‘over,’ what happens if a Black Hawk goes down next week, God forbid?” asked Paul Rieckhoff, a veterans advocate. While combat troops have departed, [...]