IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 816-10 September 09, 2010 DOD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Cpl. John C. Bishop, 25, of Columbus, Ind., died Sept. 8 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine [...]

But while I was out earlier, Gates’s spokesman, Geoff Morrell, released the following statement: “Secretary Gates reached out to Pastor Jones this afternoon. They had a very brief phone conversation during which the Secretary expressed his grave concern that going forward with the Quran burning would put at risk the lives of our forces around [...]

And so it begins: the first “post-combat” Iraq troop deaths. At least the Defense Department didn’t say they died in a “non-combat” incident. RIP IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 815-10 September 09, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualties The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation New Dawn. They died Sept. [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 814-10 September 09, 2010 DOD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Sgt. Jesse M. Balthaser, 23, of Columbus, Ohio, died Sept. 4 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Combat Engineer [...]

Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop.

The Iraqi defense minister wants a return on his investment. As Abdul Qader Obeidi tells the Los Angeles Times‘ Liz Sly, Iraq’s purchases of American weapons platforms compel an advisory presence beyond 2011, SOFA or no SOFA: “It’s inevitable,” he said. “We have equipment such as tanks, aircraft, naval equipment, and it’s all coming from [...]

And may it be a sweet New Year to you, the one that coincides with back-to-school and other habit-based forms of marking the march of time. Courtesy of my friend Joy Engel, here’s a suburban New York congregation explaining the meaning of Rosh Hashanah. I’m going to give blogging a rest for the next day. [...]

A couple days ago I was on the phone with my friend and occasional Afghanistan sparring partner, Michael Cohen, and the subject of corruption came up. Michael pointed me to a really pungent quote I had missed, from an anonymous Obama official in a Times story: “Fighting corruption is the very definition of mission creep.” [...]

If, as Mona Eltahawy points out, Muslims are no strangers to the American experience and anti-Muslim sentiment burns hotter in 2010 than in the weeks after September 11, can we judge that this current outburst of Islamophobia is a form of Forgetting Nine Eleven?

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 810-10 September 08, 2010 DOD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Cpl. Philip G. E. Charte, 22, of Goffstown, N.H., died Sept. 7 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, [...]