July 2009
34 posts
Jealousy and envy are powerful emotions and, if... →
A comparable failure of imagination besets... →
An Anecdote →
savagemike:
Three years into my military career, I switched from the US Air Force to the US Army. One of the inprocessing actions was to meet with the unit Chaplain. So, I did. We had a perfectly congenial conversation. On my way out the door, his assistant asked me if I was religious. I replied that I was not. He told me “You will be, the first time you get IED’d” He was wrong. I never sought...
Afghan Civility (An Example)
From: •••••••••••• [mailto:•••••••••••••••••••••••••••] Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 10:45 PM To: •••••••••••••••••••••• Subject: Hello Dear Sir, I hope this email finds in a good health, since I heard from you that your team will leave soon and I request that if you can come to my office and have Mantoo your favorite food with us and since we have a very good freindship so I want...
We must fight the insurgents, and will use the... →
Gen. McChrystal’s new Tactical Directive for Afghanistan.
Chateaubriand hit the nail on the head when he... →
The Obscenity of War →
Read this.
“The most fundamental incompetence in the Vietnam War was the misapplication of...”
– Jonathan Shay, “Achilles in Vietnam” (via jakelodwick) (via mikehudack)
“The number of female service members who have become homeless after leaving the...”
– Bryan Bender | The Boston Globe (via retropolitics) (via mikehudack)
“People are hostages of the Taliban, but they look... →
Listen Aggressively – Leaders don't simply listen,... →
“It’s not religion that keeps women back. It’s poverty; it’s war-torn chaos like...”
– Sumbul Ali-Karamali: Stoning Soraya, Murdering Neda, and the Hope of Muslim Women (via igather)
Celebrity vs. Soldier Deaths
dailycow:
It’s unfortunate that we mourn a celebrity with such an outpouring of affection that you would think they gave their lives for us.Too bad we didn’t memoralize each and every one of the soldiers who died in our tragic misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan in the same manner. Perhaps then the murder of war could be exposed for what it is and another solution could be found to prevent it....
As my tour in Afghanistan wraps up, I’m reflecting on what I’ve learned. Looking through my notes, I am reminded that many of those lessons had already been encapsulated by CPT Thompson. Here’s a taste of the frustration of a company-grade that wants his work to be meaningful:
The US military has become more attached to procedures than it is to outcomes. This mindset has the...
"So this is all doomed?" Not exactly. The fact... →
In sum, General McChrystal faces a full plate. His... →
The presence of Americans on Asian soil turned a... →
"We're doing this very differently," Nicholson... →
The most encouraging Afghanistan news. All in on this strategy.
I spent 20 months in Iraq, including 2006 as the... →
U.S. forces are being increased, top aides to President Obama are said to be advocating a “civilian surge,” just as in Iraq, and counterinsurgency doctrine is again the proposed answer. But to what question? Washington’s ultimate objectives in Afghanistan remain unclear. The United States has spent six years, more than 4,000 American lives, mass quantities of psychic and...
June 2009
137 posts
“No, we are not jeopardizing any “victory” by withdrawing...”
– Tom Ricks
“Spraying the [poppy] crops just penalizes the... →
With a nationwide election only weeks away, the... →
The American military doctors watched in horror as... →
[via Bouhammer]
Unfortunately, I doubt the election here will... →
The taliban claim to have killed 103 and wounded... →
“The problem is that the Surge succeeded tactically and improved security, but...”
– Tom Ricks, on Charlie Rose
[via SWJ]
Proceeding with the presidential and provincial... →
Is the critical factor not the volume of violence,... →
Why not fix Mexico, which has much more strategic... →
I post a lot of links I mean to be thought-provoking, and not necessarily representative of my opinions (which tend to be rather fluid). This time, however, I’ll follow Bacevich out of the shadows and finally declare that I think COIN sucks.
“Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.”
– Mohandas Ghandi