Marcy hit this too, but I can’t see Joint Task Force-Guantanamo officers going in for the Taliban’s request to free their detainees to participate in peace talks with Karzai. Why wouldn’t the Taliban just claim all Afghan detainees are big-time Taliban operatives and demand their freedom? But it’s a savvy strategy for the Taliban: make [...]

Hard not to be cynical about this, especially considering this: According to Peace Now’s count, since the end of the [settlement] freeze in October 26th, the settlers managed to start to build 1,629 housing units, and even to dig the foundations for 1,116 of them. The works started in 63 settlements, 46 of them east [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1047-10 November 13, 2010 DoD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Cpl. Shawn D. Fannin, 32, of Wheelersburg, Ohio, died Nov. 12 in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan in a non-combat related incident. He was assigned to the 404th Aviation [...]

Somehow I missed the Obama administration insisting that except for the KSM non-de-trial de-trial (Come on, you can give me that one, can’t you?), it’s come a long way from the Bush era: Officials said Mohammed’s uncertain future should not obscure what they see as significant and aggressive changes in national security policy, including banning [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1046-10 November 13, 2010 DOD Identifies Air Force Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of an Airman who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Senior Airman Andrew S. Bubacz, 23, of Dalzell, S. C., died Nov. 12 in Nuristan, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 97th Communications Squadron, Altus Air [...]

Tom Ricks went from being a better old-school reporter than I am to being a better blogger than I am. But it takes posts like this one to make me feel like I’m still in the game. In the course of soliciting a playlist for Combat Rock circa 2010, he confesses: 5) Manowar shows up [...]

So can the Obama administration manage to reach a decision more craven than this one? According to the Washington Post, the months-long internal administration deadlock over trying Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the other 9/11 co-conspirators has resulted in a decision: apoplexy. No trying them in federal courts in New York; no trying them at Guantanamo [...]

Details here.

Want to read something heartwarming/breaking? My friend Kriston has an early-morning musing on his aging dog Wreck. Wreck is a wonderful guy, and the years that he and my own not-such-a-pup-anymore Kingsley formed a pack — and fought, as brothers do, and got into trouble, as brothers do — enriched me. Every so often when [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1042-10 November 11, 2010 DOD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Lance Cpl. James B. Stack, 20, of Arlington Heights, Ill., died Nov. 10 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd [...]