I’m guessing this is just a rhetorical flourish from David Ignatius, but… The “laws of war” may sound like an antiquated concept in this age of robo-weapons. But, in truth, a clear international legal regime has never been more needed: It is a fact of modern life that people in conflict zones live in the [...]

Ben Smith rounds up some recent failures of the Obama administration to convince its friends to do it some favors, like Jalal Talabani’s refusal to step aside as Iraqi president for Iyad Allawi or Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to stop settlement activity in East Jerusalem. Ben writes: These allies’ willingness to snub Obama may reflect the [...]

This pre-Lisbon Conference video from my favorite Danish politician, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, glides past an important point, as does this New York Times piece. Yes, NATO will meet next week to build political consensus across the alliance for the post-2011 phase of “gradually” handing over security responsibilities to the Afghan forces. “The [...]

Spin and selective leaking! Carter Ham and Jeh Johnson’s year-long study of how repealing the ban on open gay military service isn’t due until December 1. According to Ed O’Keefe and Greg Jaffe’s sources, the military’s already pretty open to getting rid of the ban. With some significant exceptions: 40 percent of Marine Corps respondents [...]

I’m just seeing this now, but Creigh Deeds, the Virginia Democrat who lost a gubernatorial bid last year, got through the Democratic decimation with the tonic of Operation Ivy and NOFX. And why not, right? Dude’s 52. He would have been about the age that I am now when both of those bands came out. [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1039-10 November 10, 2010 DOD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Lance Cpl. Dakota R. Huse, 19, of Greenwood, La., died Nov. 9 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 9th [...]

The Catfood Commission might have done you an unkind turn today, but here we celebrate and honor all that you’ve done for us. Just watch this video (h/t SWJ) and try to imagine, even slightly, what it must have been like to be a Marine on a frozen hill in Korea. Or what it’s like [...]

I don’t really have anything to do with what my FDL colleagues call the Catfood Commission, as it’s out of my lane. Until it’s not! Check out this post I did for my day job about what Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson want chopped out of the defense budget. The F-35 gets cut (for the [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1033-10 November 10, 2010 DOD Identifies Marine Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. 2nd Lt. Robert M. Kelly, 29, of Tallahassee, Fla., died Nov. 9 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, [...]

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1031-10 November 09, 2010 DOD Identifies Army Casualty The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. Spc. Andrew L. Hutchins, 20, of New Portland, Maine, died Nov. 8 at Khost province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms [...]