If you’ve never read a profile of Gen. Petraeus and you don’t mind really purple, sycophantic prose — “[W]hen Petraeus tests himself, he usually wins” is a line that survived the editing process — then by all means check out Mark Bowden’s thing in Vanity Fair. But that’s not going to describe anyone who reads [...]

Congratulations to Tom Ricks, whose Best Defense blog won the National Magazine Award for blogging. I’ve noticed some people have a problem with Ricks’ award. What’s the point? Everyone can relitigate the winners of every commendation, and I suppose there’s fun in it, but after a certain point it just looks like jealousy. Just congratulate [...]

Anthony Shadid, who saw the rise of the Sadrists in 2003-4 clearer than anyone, has a great piece about their political return in Iraq’s parliamentary election. Shadid reports that the Sadrists will win “more than 40 seats,” a figure even Sadr’s Shiite rivals concede is true, thereby tipping the balance of the Shiite coalition in [...]

Still chewing over Tom Ricks’ let’s-stay-in-Iraq proposal, I remembered that in July I asked Prime Minister Maliki if he thought the Status of Forces Agreement that stipulates a total U.S. withdrawal by 2011 ought to be renegotiated, and he gave a no-but answer. (That being: “If Iraqi forces required further training and further support, we [...]

Tom Ricks responding to Andrew Sullivan on Iraq: Friends, I ask you: What could be more imperialistic than invading a country pre-emptively on false premises and then leaving many years later in a selfish, callous and clumsy manner? Well, staying, particularly after signing a high-profile diplomatic accord with the country to leave in a responsible, [...]