August 2007

"We've killed over 400,000 of their citizens." That's what actor Tim Robbins thinks U.S. troops have been doing in Iraq. He made the claim last week in an appearance on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.

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From the Times: Ramadi Returning to Normal, by Martin Fletcher. From the Wall Street Journal: Pyongyang's Upper Hand, by John Bolton. From the New York Post: Back From Hell, by Ralph Peters. From Powerline: Just Read the Headline, Don't Ask Any Questions, by John Hinderaker. From Flight: Israel…

From the Australian: General Petraeus told The Australian during a face-to-face interview at his Baghdad headquarters there had been a 75 per cent reduction in religious and ethnic killings since last year, a doubling in the seizure of insurgents' weapons caches between January and August, a rise…

If you've not yet bookmarked In From the Cold, take a moment to do so. 'Former Spook' often has excellent insights on intelligence and national security issues. Today he looks at the data for U.S. casualties in Iraq in August. He looks both at what the media are likely to claim, and what the…

It is, to my recollection, the absolute worst, cheesiest, most preposterous Vietnam war movie ever made, but feel free to send in any titles you think rival the flick for that prize. In fact, the movie was so bad it was impossible to take seriously as an indictment of the Vietnam-era American…

The Washington Post reports this morning that several lawmakers visiting Baghdad were angry to discover that soldiers and others had been provided with brief 'bio cards' summarizing the lawmakers' views and votes on Iraq: In the soldier's hand was a thumbnail biography, distributed before each of…

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WHEN JOHN SWEENEY was elected president of the AFL-CIO in 1995, he promised a different kind of labor federation. Instead of antagonizing environmentalists, feminists, anti-war protestors, and others on the left, Sweeney pledged to build alliances and coalitions with groups that he considered…

Recruits make their way through the 'shoot-house.'

Congressman Thaddeus McCotter, Chairman of the Republican House Policy Committee, pens a piece worth reading at RedState today. McCotter argues that the Iraqi national Parliament is not a leading indicator of progress on political reconciliation, but a lagging one: This Iraqi "election for freedom"…

From the Danger Room: Tactical Pharmacology, by David Hambling. From Brussels Journal: Will France Annex Wallonia? by Paul Belien. From Captain's Quarters: An Interview with Fred Thompson, by Ed Morrissey. From the AP: Pentagon Disputes Parts of Iraq Report, by Matthew Lee and Robert Burns. From…

Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) has returned from Iraq and given an interview to a liberal blog site--Think Progress--in which she complains about a 'Green Zone Fog' that clouds the minds of Members of Congress. She is to be congratulated on getting so close to the truth; we have identified it here as a…

I don't know how I missed this story, now almost a week old, but it is priceless: MOSCOW (Reuters) - A wealthy Russian tried to buy a U.S. B-52 bomber from a group of shocked American pilots at an airshow near Moscow, a Russian newspaper reported Friday. The unidentified Russian, wearing sunglasses…

Instapundit is cataloging the responses to today's wacky editorial from the New York Times in which the paper's editors expose their complete ignorance of the United States Constitution--mainly that they think it somewhere guarantees the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."…

Just posted at THE DAILY STANDARD, William Kristol on the Washington Post's "Pathetic Preemptive Strike": The Washington Post, working hand-in-glove with Democrats in Congress, has gotten out front in preparing the domestic battlefield for September's fight over the war in Iraq. The Post led…

The Washington Post, working hand-in-glove with Democrats in Congress, has gotten out front in preparing the domestic battlefield for September's fight over the war in Iraq. The Post led today's paper with an account of a leaked draft report from the Congressionally-controlled Government…

WWS pal Christian Lowe has an interesting post up at Defense Tech on the Active Denial System, aka the Pain Ray. The system got a fair bit of play in the news early this year when the Pentagon invited camera crews to witness an Army test of the device and "almost cooked an AP reporter." Christian…

Just one day after major clashes between Iraqi Security Forces and the Mahdi Army during a Shia religious celebration in Najaf, Muqtada al Sadr has ordered the Mahdi Army to halt all attacks in Iraq, including attacks against Coalition forces. The fighting in Najaf resulted in 52 killed and over…

David Kilcullen, who was the chief counterinsurgency adviser to General David Petraeus, has posted another item over at the Small Wars Journal. Kilcullen always makes for interesting reading, and he doesn't disappoint with this latest. Kilcullen offers some deep insight into al Qaeda's current…

Against my better judgment, I'm going to offer my two cents on the pressing question of whether the Bourne Ultimatum is anti-American, and only because in the pre-Labor Day doldrums, the dust up between Mickey Kaus and Christopher Orr spurred me to take an afternoon off yesterday and go see the…

Congressional Quarterly reports today that 67 Democrats who voted to slash the defense budget by more than 20 percent have won earmarks for home-district projects, totaling about half a billion dollars. Nine of the 12 Democrats who voted against funding defense completely were among those who…

Newsweek runs the piece from Cpl. Mark Finelli, a noncommissioned Marine Corps officer who served in Iraq from July 2005 to February 2006. Finelli bemoans the failure of the Bush administration to institute a draft in the months after 9/11, or more generally to ask Americans to make any kind of…

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From the Atlantic: Rereading Vietnam, by Robert D. Kaplan. From Slate: Should We Be Worried About Russia and China Ganging Up on the West? by Ian Bremmer. From the New York Daily News: Front-line Lessons from the Iraq Surge, by Michael Totten. From the Mudville Gazette: Wearing the Black Flag, by…

The Manchester Union Leader ran an embed piece earlier this week by Nathan S. Webster, a freelance photojournalist and creative writing instructor. Webster was embedded with the 82nd airborne, though a different brigade from the seven Sergeants who penned the recent op-ed for the Times. Webster's…

One of the key issues that Congress will need to address when it returns in September is legislation to restrict energy production in the U.S. It's not framed that way, of course. The legislation being considered is ostensibly supposed to help produce more energy, but that's not the effect it will…

Iran, and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, have been actively involved in supporting Shia militias and encouraging sectarian violence in Iraq since the invasion of 2003-and Iranian planning and preparation for that effort began as early as 2002. The precise purposes of this support are unclear and may…

Fallujah, Iraq

Yesterday I pointed out that the lefty bloggers seem to regard Congressman Jerry McNerney as a weak-minded victim of General David Petraeus's 'Jedi Mind Trick'. Today it seems that Brian Baird was also seduced by the Dark Side: It's becoming apparent that these people are being bombarded with such…

The Bush administration will soon deliver its September assessment on progress in Iraq. It's clear that in addition to reviewing the challenges to reconciliation at the national level, officials will consider 'bottom-up' progress. NBC's First Read carries a report on progress in Ramadi: Since then,…

From the Middle East Journal: The Future of Iraq, by Michael J. Totten. From Contentions: Syria Hysteria, by Max Boot. From the Wall Street Journal: A Denier's Confession, by Bret Stephens. From the Sacramento Bee: England is Vanishing, by Cal Thomas. From Defense Tech: Japan Launches…

As U.S. and Iraqi Security Forces continue to push out into the Belts surrounding Baghdad, al Qaeda and insurgent groups are attempting to push back. Two significant attacks occurred in Salahadin and Diyala province, while U.S. and Iraqi forces press the raids on al Qaeda's network and the…

The New York Post's Ralph Peters scored an interview with Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of Multinational Force Iraq. ASKED about Muqtada al-Sadr, Odierno responded: "He's a figurehead . . . erratic in his behavior . . . unpredictable. . . but he's the individual who reaches out to the Shia nobody…

BE OF GOOD cheer. Relief might be in sight for those of you who must, absolutely must, subject yourselves to the tender mercies of our airlines.

Democrats and war opponents have for months argued for a withdrawal from Iraq, partly on the grounds that neither the people of Iraq nor its government would seriously attempt reconciliation so long as the U.S. commitment there seemed open-ended. Some Democrats went so far as to say that by…

A truly special example of left wing idiocy popped up over the weekend. It came from the Huffington Post (where else), which allowed "humorist" Martin Lewis space to request that General Pace arrest the commander-in-chief for conduct unbecoming. To be crystal clear - I am NOT advocating or inciting…

We haven't had a Beauchamp update for a while now, mostly because there isn't much to say. Beauchamp's stories were a mix of exaggeration and outright fiction, and none of the tales has been corroborated by anyone other than TNR's anonymous sources, at least one of whom has refuted TNR's…

From the OC Register: They Wait for Us to Run Again, by Mark Steyn. From the Providence Journal: The Obama Doctrine, by James Kirchick. From Policy Review: Three Centuries of American Declinism, by Alan Dowd. From the New York Post: Bear Chooses Chill, by Peter Brookes. From Newsweek: Deadly…

Will Waddell has posted a report at the Institute for the Study of War on the grassroots fight against al Qaeda in Iraq. What began in Anbar as a local movement of tribes is developing into a national phenomenon. In Baqouba, the erstwhile capital of al Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq, between 40 and…

Spiegel reports that Chinese hackers have targeted computer networks operated by the German government. "German security officials managed to stop the theft of 160 gigabytes of data which were in the process of being siphoned off German government computers," the magazine reports. And Chancellor…

Chinese media do not typically devote much effort to covering developments in India. In recent weeks, however, they have produced numerous reports on the U.S.-India civilian nuclear deal known as the "123 Agreement." The August 13th issue of Study Times, the official journal of the Chinese…

Over at Meet the Press, Michael Gordon talked about the progress that has been made since the beginning of the surge. The Cobra II author was somewhat optimistic about conditions as they stand now, telling Tim Russert MR. GORDON: Well, I spent most of the summer in Iraq in Diyala province and then…

EACH NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE Estimate offers a snapshot of the current situation with prognostications for the future. One way to assess the significance of the most recent NIE is to compare its language on key points with that of the January 2007 NIE. Many of the problems remain, of course, but much…

Al Qaeda in Iraq has ramped up its attacks against Iraqi civilians and Iraqi and U.S. security forces over the past 48 hours. The effort demonstrates that al Qaeda in Iraq still possesses the capacity to launch a counteroffensive to the ongoing U.S. and Iraqi operations and is seeking to influence…

John Edwards takes his turn in Foreign Affairs, explaining his foreign policy and showing how it differs from that of President Bush and his rivals for the Democratic nomination. On the critically important questions of how to deal with Iraq, and how to respond to international crises, Edwards is…

Kristol had a back and forth with Matt Lauer on the Today Show this morning. Pretty good stuff. Don Surber has the video here and the transcript: KRISTOL: "There is no question that security is better in much of the country and there's no question that from the ground up, there is political…

The Washington Post reports on comments by Virginia senator John Warner: Sen. John W. Warner, one of the most influential Republican voices in Congress on national security, called on President Bush yesterday to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq in time for Christmas as a new intelligence…

From the Seattle Times: Our Troops Have Earned More Time, by Rep. Brian Baird. From the Wall Street Journal: Another Vietnam?, by Max Boot. From the Washington Post: The Iraqi Convergence, by Charles Krauthammer. From the Spectator: Now, more than ever, Britain must stay in Iraq, by William…

The Congressional Budget Office has released its August update of economic and fiscal data. Due to surging income tax receipts, the federal deficit for 2007 is expected to be $158 billion--a decline of $19 billion from the March projection, and $90 billion less than 2006. It's unclear right now…

On Tuesday this week, Chancellor Merkel's cabinet voted to extend for another year what has arguably been Germany's most controversial military operation since the end of WWII, namely the 2006 deployment of Bundeswehr naval forces off the Lebanese coast to interdict arms shipments to Hezbollah…

ON SUNDAY, seven soldiers from the 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division stationed in Iraq penned a passionate opinion piece in the New York Times that further illustrates the complexity of what is "really" happening in Iraq. Of the almost 3,000 soldiers from the Army's storied 82nd Airborne…

THE SUMMARY OF the findings of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq released today is the predictable product of the process that created it. The consensus report of 16 intelligence agencies is full of on-the-one-hand-on-the-other-hand paragraphs that allow partisans of either side to make…

The "Key Judgments" section of a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), titled "Prospects for Iraq's Stability: Some Security Progress but Political Reconciliation Elusive," was released today. I am generally skeptical about the merits of NIE's since it is often not clear what their judgments…

As usual, the Aviation Week blog scoops the competition with what I believe are the first pictures of the MiG's Unmanned Aerial Combat Vehicle. This comes as the Moscow air show kicks into high gear. The WWS will have plenty more coverage from Moscow as our own correspondent, Reuben Johnson, is at…

One of the lessons of 9/11 is the danger of 'stovepiping' in our law enforcement and intelligence agencies. It's not enough for agencies to collect the data they need to piece together and disrupt a plot; the analysts who 'own' those critical nuggets must be able to find others with relevant…

That's the story over at Military.com: An Iraqi man saved the lives of four U.S. Soldiers and eight civilians when he intercepted a suicide bomber during a Concerned Citizens meeting in the town of al-Arafia Aug. 18. The incident occurred while Soldiers from 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, were…

Peter Wehner has a must-read post up at the contentions blog. Wehner, quoting from the memoir of Henry Kissinger, recounts the story of Cambodian prime minister Sirik Matak. The United States had offered to evacuate Matak and other Cambodian political leaders following a decision by Congress to cut…

Senator Lieberman had harsh words for his Democratic colleagues who seem to have focused their rhetorical attacks on our allies in Iraq rather than our enemies: "As even many critics of the Iraq war now acknowledge, General Petraeus' counterinsurgency strategy is making real and significant…

Baghdad, Iraq

SEVERAL DOZEN PROMINENT evangelicals have released a letter to President Bush in an effort to distinguish themselves from ardent pro-Israel evangelicals and to urge evenhandedness between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Autoblog reports that the Chinese military, in conjunction with Dongfeng, has developed a copycat version of AM General's iconic Humvee. But it seems that the PLA, perhaps as a result of having glimpsed the Humvee's vulnerability in Iraq, is no longer interested in the vehicle, opting instead…

A number of supporters of victory in Iraq have come together to create Freedom's Watch, which is launching "a nationwide grassroots campaign...to ensure a strong national defense and a powerful effort to confront and defeat global terrorism." That advertising campaign will be a sharp contrast to…

It seems it was just a few months ago that liberal activists were talking proudly about their ability to put litmus tests aside and search for Democrats who could win marginal seats and bring a majority. When Democrats reclaimed control of the House of Representatives, these…

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President Bush used "the V-word" in his speech to the VFW today: Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left. There's no debate in my mind that the veterans from Vietnam deserve the high praise of the United States of America. (Applause.)…

From the New York Post: Iraq's Re-Liberation, by Ralph Peters. From the New York Sun: The New War, by the editors. From Contentions: Friedman's Folly, by Peter Wehner. From ynetnews: Arabs Surf Israeli Porn, by Adar Shalev. From Self-Promotion: Freedom Fuel, by Bill Roggio and Michael Goldfarb.

The Washington Post reports today on a phenomenon that's been clear to most of us for a while now: the improvement in security that has accompanied the surge has forced Democrats to change their rhetoric: Democratic leaders in Congress had planned to use August recess to raise the heat on…

Col. Richard Simcock (USMC), Commander of Regimental Combat Team-6, spoke with bloggers this morning to disucss operations in eastern al Anbar--specifically operation Alljah in the city of Fallujah--as well as the implementation of new technologies such as the MRAP. Simcock was optimistic about the…

From adnkronosinternational (AKI) we learn that the Iraqi Baathists, led by Saddam's former righthand man Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, have decided to "disown al-Qaeda." It is in an interesting development in the insurgency since Saddam's Baathists have fought alongside al Qaeda since the beginning of…

IT'S NOT PARTICULARLY visible at the moment, but there is a road to political recovery for Republicans. Chances are they won't get far enough down it to recapture the House or Senate or even hold the White House in 2008. But they might.

WE KNOW A LOT more about financial conditions than we did a few days ago. First, it is clear that the Fed's decision to make the discount window more accessible succeeded in calming the financial waters. But no more than that: it has not sufficiently eased the liquidity problem to allow money to…

Boeing employees at the red-white-and-blue rally in Everett.

THE DAILY STANDARD welcomes letters to the editor.

Muqtada al Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army militia, has been on the defensive over two recent reports in the media. Just one day after Britain's Independent published excerpts of an interview with Sadr, Sheikh Ahmed al-Shibani, Sadr's spokesman in Najaf, claimed the interview never happened.…

At first, Democrats argued that Iraq was no safer because of the surge, then, when evidence of progress mounted, they shifted to arguing that even though the security situation has improved, it has not led to political reconciliation. Senator Carl Levin seems to have shifted his stance faster than…

Nuclear power is poised for a comeback, as consumers and electric utilities look for ways to meet the rising demand for energy in the U.S. According to the Department of Energy, Americans will use 41 percent more electricity in 2030 than they did in 2005, and hydrocarbons like coal and gas are not…

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From RealClearPolitics: AFP Takes Lessons From TNR, by Jack Kelly. From Slate: TNR Says 'Cease & Desist', by Mickey Kaus. From the Los Angeles Times: Popping the left's Internet bubble, by Jonah Goldberg. From Defense News: USAF Struggles With Budget Shortfall, by Vago Muradian. From the New York…

LAAD 2007-017.JPG Bulgarian-produced weapons of Russian design, like this one

The hidden world of arms trafficking was in the spotlight last weekend with an Associated Press report uncovering a $40 million weapons deal that would have sent more than 100,000 automatic weapons of Russian design to Iraq. But, before the contract could be completed and shipments put into motion,…

MILLIONS GATHERED LAST week to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Pakistan's emergence as an independent state. It was difficult for many, however, to ignore the massive problems that afflict this Islamic republic--from its string of military dictatorships to its rising levels of religious…

Iraqi Security Forces and Multinational Forces Iraq are pressing hard with Operation Phantom Strike, targeting al Qaeda in Iraq, the Shia terror cells of the Special Groups, and "rogue" elements of the Mahdi Army throughout Iraq. Over the past 24 hours, U.S. and Iraq security forces conducted…

Michael Korda has a piece in today's Los Angeles Times that accuses President Bush of "a total lack of interest in the past." The problem, as Korda sees it, is that there is an obvious parallel between the "unwinnable" Korean War and the current "unwinnable" war in Iraq. If only President Bush…

The Veterans of Foreign Wars is holding its 108th annual convention in Kansas City this week. Senators Clinton, McCain, Obama, and Thompson will be addressing the group today and tomorrow. With both Democratic contenders opposing the new Baghdad security plan, and its accompanying surge of forces,…

From the Wall Street Journal: Al Qaeda's Travel Agent, by Joseph Lieberman. From the City Journal: Why Study War? by Victor Davis Hanson. From the Chicago Tribune: Gitmo plan has Kansans uneasy, by Kirsten Scharnberg. From Ares: Su-35 to Debut in Moscow, by Bill Sweetman. From Ace of Spades: Slight…

Senator McCain spoke with bloggers this morning regarding his speech today to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the current state of his campaign, the war in Iraq, and a host of other issues. Here are some of the highlights. He said that when the Iraq debate returns to the Senate floor in the middle of…

In the brilliant BBC comedy series 'Yes Minister,' we learn that the best way to dissuade a politician from a certain course of action is to describe it as 'courageous.' Think of that when you read the comments of Representative Brian Baird (D-WA) upon his return from Iraq: "I believe that the…

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When the inability of a relatively few overstretched homeowners to meet their mortgage obligations results in the firing of the president of Bear Stearns, the forced bailout of a German lender, the suspension of three asset-backed funds by France's largest bank, and the cancellation of several…

At almost any given hour on any given day, a food show is being aired on your television. It could be a reality-based series in which very qualified executive and sous-chefs compete for $100,000, or a reality-based series in which mildly talented cooks vie for the prize of their own cooking show,…

If a catastrophic Katrina-like hurricane sweeps through the state of Florida, it may leave behind more than wrecked houses, damaged shops, and ruined roads: There's a real chance that Governor Charlie Crist's recent insurance reforms could bankrupt the state.

Superbad

Chaucer and Langland

Hiroshima in History

Americans might be pardoned for thinking that the presidential race is an out-of-control, ever-lengthening marathon. But defects in our presidential selection process are trivial in comparison with the sinister pantomime that is the March 2008 Russian presidential election.

The sideburns and ducktail haircut, the flashy clothes, the curled lip, the unnerving body language--the deathless image of Elvis Presley in the 1950s was no public relations stunt.

On the stump in Iowa last week, Mitt Romney tried to portray himself as the conservative in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and the man best able to sink national frontrunner Rudolph Giuliani. Romney attacked the former mayor of New York for running a "sanctuary city" for…

My 10-year-old grandson Nick is in town for a month or so this summer, and I wanted to give him a gift. As with many middle-class kids his age, his play is almost entirely electronified--Wii-ed, XBoxed, and computerfied--and I haven't a clue as to what he might still want in this high-tech line.…

Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan

Among certain Arab elites, there is considerable interest in how a Democratic administration would differ from the eight years of George W. Bush. It's a good question. Most Democrats, at least those running for president or sitting in Congress, have spent more time attacking Bush than explaining…

The Fabulous Pvt. Beauchamp

Copenhagen

In late July, Cambridge University Press announced it was destroying all its remaining copies of Alms for Jihad, a 2006 book exploring the nexus of Islamic charities and Islamic radicalism. At the same time, Cambridge asked libraries around the world to stop carrying the book on their shelves. The…

Even by the scandal-pocked history of New York politics, Eliot Spitzer's fall from grace is extraordinary. A mere seven months into his term after a landslide victory, the Empire State's brash new governor is openly ridiculed as a liar and worse. An astonishing 80 percent of respondents tell…

On Chesil Beach

The Feminine Mistake

Marcus.jpg SFC Marcus checks a young Iraqi girl's throat for strep in Wuerdiya, Iraq.

AS EVERY REPUBLICAN knows, Democrats are short-sighted in their views on national security, pursuing antiwar arguments that are bound to come back and haunt them politically. This was the case with the clamor among Democrats to pull out of Vietnam and may be the case now as well with their calls…

LIKE THE CAVALRY coming over the hill just as the Indians were about to overwhelm the wagon train, Ben Bernanke rode to the rescue of beleaguered investors. He opened the discount window, making it possible for those desperate for liquidity to show up, hand over some assets that no one seems…

size1-army.mil-2007-08-16-082845.jpg 2nd Lt. Jacob Becker observes the streets of

U.S. Embassy, Baghdad

Blog readers are today treated to a stunning display of hypocrisy among opponents of the Iraq war. Blogs on the left have spent the last few months tearing David Petraeus down, and expressing concern that come September, President Bush and his senior advisers would leave the limelight to the…

It must be WEEKLY STANDARD week on the Daily Show. On Monday, Jon Stewart interviewed Kristol (see the video here) and last night he interviewed Steven Hayes, discussing his latest book and his op-ed in yesterday's Wall Street Journal...

The August recess is a time when many members of Congress go on fact-finding missions to luxurious locales. This year some Members are choosing to spend their time in Iraq, to see for themselves how things are going there, and to prepare for the report from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker.…

SSG Matt Jemison (2).jpg SSG Matt Jemison, a squad leader in Baker Company 1-15's first platoon,

U.S. and Iraqi security forces are pushing forward on two fronts against al Qaeda in Iraq and the Shia terror groups. In the regions north and east of Baqubah in Diyala province, Operation Lightning Hammer is in its third day. Nationwide, U.S. and Iraqi security forces continue intelligence-driven…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD's Stephen Hayes has a must-read piece in today's Wall Street Journal on the the vice president's preoccupation--"When is the next attack? And what can I do to prevent it?" He still awakens each day asking the same questions he asked on Sept. 12, 2001. Then, as he sips his…

One of the last things Congress did before adjourning for the August recess was to pass the Protect America Act, which clarifies the authority of the Executive Branch to intercept without a court order the communications of suspected terrorists who are foreign nationals, located abroad. It…

I recently joined several other bloggers in a discussion with a senior administration official familiar with the ongoing effort in Iraq. The conversation reflected the changed dynamic on the ground--one where the improving security situation focuses greater attention on political progress and…

SOMETIMES I'M SO stupid I amaze even myself.

Men of MiTT.jpg The Rogues of the 3-5/6.

Yesterday, Multinational Forces Iraq announced the start of two major operations--Phantom Strike and Lightning Hammer. Operation Phantom Strike "consists of simultaneous operations throughout Iraq focused on pursuing remaining AQI terrorists and Iranian-supported extremist elements," while…

Rowan Scarborough of the Washington Examiner spoke today about his new book, Sabotage: America's Enemies Within the CIA, at the Heritage Foundation. The book focuses on what Scarborough characterizes as a campaign by some at the CIA to undermine the conduct of the war on terror, spread…

David Axe has an interesting post on F-22 over at Ares. We posted the picture at right a few days ago showing the arrival of the F-22 at Elmendorf, Alaska, where some 40 Raptors will ultimately be deployed. The aircraft will be split between two squadrons--the 90th and the 525th Fighter…

The boss appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night...worth watching, if only for the last line. Update: If the video isn't working, click here.

KARL ROVE IS the first to admit it: he's become a myth, a man from whom political magic is expected. Last fall, for instance, Republicans around the country and even in the White House waited for Rove to devise a campaign strategy that would keep Republicans from losing the House and Senate and…

IN THE LONG VOYAGE that is the race for the Republican presidential nomination, the media have adopted a new approach: women and children first.

Salman Pak, Iraq

The New York Times expresses its disappointment that the United States has not ratified the Law of the Sea Treaty, which would allow the U.S. to contend with Denmark, Russia, and others for the rights to minerals under the North Pole: The United States does not find itself in a strong position.…

Bob Owens, the Confederate Yankee, has debunked another claim made by Private Beauchamp in his columns for the New Republic. This is from Beauchamp's second dispatch, titled "Dead of Night": As we slowly started moving back toward the Humvee, we could hear the dogs filling in the space behind us. I…

Glenn Greenwald, president of the WWS fan club, spends an extraordinary amount of ink today trying to debunk the credentials of Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack as critics of the war in Iraq. He also argues that because their visit to Iraq was coordinated by the U.S. military, with the military…

Max Boot is interviewed in this video put together by contentions, Commentary magazine's blog, where Boot is also a contributor.

Official Chinese media have given extensive coverage to the August 2nd planting of a Russian flag on the ocean floor beneath the ice at the North Pole. russia_sub_3807_wideweb__470x329,0.jpg Russia plants the flag, or a scene from Titanic?

Membership in the United Nations is supposed to be "open to all . . . peace-loving states which accept the obligations contained" in the U.N. Charter, as the selfsame charter puts it. In a rational world, a country with the world's 18th largest economy, which is formally and diplomatically…

The Septembers of Shiraz

As if we were back in eighteenth-century France, atheist tracts are abroad in our land, their flamboyant titles defiant. The God Delusion, God Is Not Great, Letter to a Christian Nation, Atheist Manifesto, Atheist Universe: These are not subtle insinuations against God, requiring inferences from…

THE BRAVE BOOMERS

There's no obvious way to measure such a thing, but as a matter of intuition, you'd have to say that the most hated people in America today are sensible Democrats. The hard-core partisans of the Democratic left have never had a bigger megaphone than they now have on the Internet, and while they are…

Hillary vs. the Pentagon

A market spasm. Repricing of credit risk. Liquidity crunch. Those are some of the terms traders are using to describe the turmoil in financial markets. Frank Sinatra said it better, "The party's over." Note: Normal life resumes after a party, so Frank had it right.

During the fourth season of HBO's hit comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm, one of the subplots centered on the bumbling attempts of the show's star, Larry David, to take advantage of a rather unusual anniversary gift given to him by his wife: He can have an affair with any woman he wants, as long as…

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The Grand Surprise

Until last week, I had been going to A.V. Ristorante, a modest Italian restaurant on New York Avenue, for as long as I'd been in Washington--longer even. During my college years in Baltimore, my friends and I would sometimes escape to D.C. for the evening. We would eat dinner at A.V. Afterwards, we…

This year, many truckloads of small arms and explosives direct from Chinese government-owned factories to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have been transshipped to Iraq and Afghanistan, where they are used against American soldiers and Marines and NATO forces. Since April, according to a…

A unique chapter in White House history came to a conclusion last week. Call it the Wehner era, as in Peter Wehner, the director of the office of strategic initiatives. The title is misleading. Wehner ran a one-man think tank inside the White House (with a few young research assistants) that…

Last week, when the New York Times published an op-ed arguing that Gen. David Petraeus should be allowed more time to pursue his counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, supporters of President Bush's "surge" got excited. The political momentum seemed to shift in their direction. But Bush's supporters…

Camelot and the Cultural Revolution

Muscatine, Iowa

School House to White House: The Education of the Presidents

Hot July brings cooling showers, / Apricots and gillyflowers, as Sara Coleridge's doggerel has it. But for the American antiwar movement, this July brought only a cold drizzle, wilted blossoms, and bitter fruit.

Selected Poems

I recently emailed Col. Steve Boylan asking for whatever information he could provide regarding the status of the investigation of Scott Thomas Beauchamp. Here is his response: His command's investigation is complete. At this time, there is no formal what we call Uniform Code of Military Justice…

This afternoon's response from the New Republic to the serious and widely reported doubts about the credibility of their Baghdad Diarist--the magazine avoided entirely the doubts about its own investigation--has spurred some insightful commentary from the blogs that have been tracking this story…

Diyala province, once the stronghold of al Qaeda in Iraq, remains a major focus of Operation Phantom Thunder, the overarching security operation to eject al Qaeda from the Baghdad Belts. As operations in Baqubah, once the capital of al Qaeda in Iraq's puppet state, have "shifted from combat…

TNR has posted another "statement" that barely requires a response. If you want to read one anyway, Bryan does a good job at Hot Air. From the Philadelphia Inquirer: Iraq works slowly on developing a process, by Kevin Ferris. From McClatchy: Cheney urging strikes on Iran, by Warren P. Strobel. From…

When a New York Times reporter called me earlier in the week to ask some follow-up questions about Scott Thomas Beauchamp, she started off by saying that "this is a story that just won't die." Indeed, it won't, if only because the editors at TNR refuse to kill it, preferring instead to stonewall…

...and all I got was some lousy Post Office naming bills. With Congress off on its August recess (after ending session with a huge floor fight over a vote whose outcome shifted after the gavel came down), this is a good time to assess progress. To date, there have been 56 bills signed into law by…

If you weren't already aware, the boss recently returned from Iraq where he spent time meeting with American commanders, troops, diplomats, etc., and generally getting a better sense of the situation on the ground there. His latest column for Time is now available and includes his impressions from…

JSF.jpg

MICHAEL MOORE IS AT the top of his game. Audiences have made his latest project, Sicko, the fourth most successful documentary ever released. Critics are calling it his most impressive work yet. And he's basking in the life-giving glow of TV lights while calling his interviewers tools of Big…

The Missile Defense Agency has released a report entitled 'Proposed Missile Defense Assets in Europe.' The document is a handy guide that explains why we're pursuing the system and how it will enhance the security of the U.S. and its allies. It's full of nifty charts and graphs, which point mostly…

I don't know if this soldier would qualify as an expert by TNR's standards (whatever they might be), but via Michelle Malkin, a video by Matt Sanchez:

From Confederate Yankee: When Hidden Experts Are Found, by Bob Owens. From the Washington Post: Sunni Fighters Find Benefits in Tentative Alliance With U.S., by Ann Scott Tyson. From the New York Times: Generals Don't Need a Watchdog, by Jack Jacobs. From FP Passport: China Threatens the Nuclear…

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT it couldn't get worse for the New Republic, Bob Owens reveals what can only be described as a serious deception by the magazine's editors in their statement corroborating Beauchamp's "Shock Troops" article.

Our colleague Rob Bluey notes that in an apparent response to a challenge by Glenn Greenwald, General David Petraeus has had an interview with Alan Colmes. (It's unfortunate that Greenwald was apparently unaware of the interview, as he's failed to note it on his blog--either to alert readers in…

Earlier this week, President Bush spoke by phone with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who has supported the Iraq war more robustly and consistently than any foreign leader save Tony Blair. (Australia dispatched around 2,000 troops for the initial invasion.) In a subsequent radio interview,…

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse for the New Republic, Bob Owens reveals what can only be described as a serious deception by the magazine's editors in their statement corroborating Beauchamp's "Shock Troops" article. In delivering the findings of the magazine's investigation, the…

Rambo2.jpg From Der Spiegel: "Die Bushkrieger" 8/2002

That's what the AP reports: The Army said this week it had concluded an investigation of Beauchamp's claims and found them false. "During that investigation, all the soldiers from his unit refuted all claims that Pvt. Beauchamp made in his blog," Sgt. 1st Class Robert Timmons, a spokesman in…

West Harlem

army.mil-2007-08-08-090827.jpg Sgt. Christopher Burke provides security during

It was a bad week for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, one of America's most important allies. First his party took a "thumping" (as George W. Bush might say) in upper house elections on Sunday, July 29th. Then, a day later, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution urging Tokyo to…

From Robert Burns, a pretty upbeat piece on the military situation in Iraq and the effect of the surge: BAGHDAD - The new U.S. military strategy in Iraq, unveiled six months ago to little acclaim, is working. In two weeks of observing the U.S. military on the ground and interviewing commanders,…

From Contentions: Rational Optimism on Iraq, by Max Boot. From the New York Times: U.S. Says Iran-Supplied Bomb Kills More Troops, by Michael Gordon. From the Fourth Rail: US, Iraqi forces kill 30 Iranian-back Special Groups operatives, by Bill Roggio. From Defense Tech: British Sign Carrier…

A Russian defense analyst with close ties to the country's state-run arms export agency has denounced recent reports of a large upcoming sale of Russian weaponry to Iran, describing them as part of a U.S.-U.K.-Israeli conspiracy to disrupt Russia's attempts to sell arms to other Middle Eastern…

It appears that today is a watershed day with regard to US policy in Iraq. Democratic leaders now acknowledge that the surge is working. The only catch is, they say it's no surprise, they've known it for a while, and it's nothing significant. Senators Durbin and Casey are in Iraq, and were…

Democrats in Congress reacted quickly to the request by the Bush administration for clarification of their authority to listen in on the communications of foreign terrorists located abroad, passing legislation to modernize FISA. President Bush has since signed the measure into law. But while…

The New York Times reports today that An Army investigation into the Baghdad Diarist, a soldier in Iraq who wrote anonymous columns for The New Republic, has concluded that the sometimes shockingly cruel reports were false. "We are not going into the details of the investigation," Maj. Steven F.…

WITH INVESTORS HAVING lost the odd billion in recent weeks (but remember: share prices are still 14 percent higher than they were at this time last year), the hunt for a scapegoat is on. Washington pundits are not famous for their kindness to politicians, regulators and other out-of-power figures…

The editors of the New Republic have responded here. Three points: (1) They neglected to report that the Army has concluded its investigation and found Beauchamp's stories to be false. As Major Lamb, the very officer they quote, has said in an authorized statement: "An investigation has been…

UPDATED 4:53 PM

THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned from a military source close to the investigation that Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp--author of the much-disputed "Shock Troops" article in the New Republic's July 23 issue as well as two previous "Baghdad Diarist" columns--signed a sworn statement admitting that all…

Is Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama, the self-declared "new face" of American politics, nothing but a unilateralist, trigger happy, national security hard-liner--the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing? That's probably the reaction that German political observers (as well as…

The official website of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) has been featuring a "hot topic of concern" on cultural diplomacy. Running concurrently on the website of People's Daily under the title Cultural Diplomacy Propagates China's True Image," it is a collection of…

This Sunday ABC's This Week featured the first debate in Iowa among all of the Republican candidates. As with every other similar event so far in the presidential campaign, this was less a debate than parallel press conferences; very few moments of interaction occurred between the candidates, and…

Warm Springs

The Clinton Cleavage Clamor

The Simpsons Movie

Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945

Greenville, South Carolina

For the first half of the 20th century, an ordinary row house in a quiet Baltimore neighborhood was the castle of American intellectual culture. From its book-lined second-story office, the man on the throne canonized F. Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce, paralyzed perceptions of Franklin D.…

Gordon Brown bears no physical resemblance to the lanky Jimmy Stewart who starred in the 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. But when he makes his first trip to the United States as prime minister this week, Mr. Brown's hosts are not likely to find his version of naiveté any more endearing than…

February 1977

I can understand why somebody would want to live in Manhattan. And I can understand why somebody would want to live in Moscow, Idaho. It's all the places in between that remain a mystery. A great city excites your senses. A small town calms your nerves. A suburb eats your soul.

Sioux City, Iowa

ALASKA'S SWEETHEART

On July 17, the Congressional Gold Medal (the nation's highest civilian award) was bestowed on Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution that brought modern agricultural methods to much of the developing world. Borlaug's work, for which he won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, averted malnutrition,…

Unlike its more upscale neighbors of Scarsdale and Larchmont, the village of Port Chester, New York (pop. 28,000), is a modest bedroom community in wealthy Westchester County, a 35-minute rail commute from midtown Manhattan. Since 1868, the village has been governed by a six-member board of…

The Prince of Darkness

An ambitious private initiative to help American Internet service providers (ISPs) identify jihadist websites they are unwittingly hosting was unveiled the other day in Washington. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) will lend its translation capabilities and the expertise of its…

The Confederate Yankee has posted an email from Col. Steven Boylan, Public Affairs Officer for General David Petraeus, announcing the results of the Army's investigation into the allegations made by Scott Thomas Beauchamp: To your question: Were there any truth to what was being said by Thomas?…

Another day of digging into Scott Thomas Beauchamp's story reveals, as always, another reason or two to doubt the private's claims. First off, there's the report from FOB Falcon, courtesy of Matt Sanchez, that the Army's investigation into the claims made by TNR's Baghdad Diarist has now concluded.…

It's tradition that before each Congressional recess, House Republican leaders prepare recess briefing packets for their Members. The goal is to ensure that they're up-to-date when they head home, and have a quick summary of any important issues they may hear about while conducting events in their…

Senators Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) spoke today to a group of bloggers about the Senate's passage of an ethics reform bill that omits transparency and disclosure of earmarks. The measure approved by the Senate today (and the House yesterday) left out provisions previously approved to:…

We now know that, at the very least, the New Republic's Scott Beauchamp lied about the timing and location of the ridiculing of a disfigured woman in a U.S. mess hall--the incident, if it happened, took place in Kuwait, Beauchamp now says, before he had the opportunity to experience the "morally…

In an interview with the New York Observer earlier today, New Republic editor Frank Foer singles out THE WEEKLY STANDARD for recklessness in raising questions about a pseudonymous column by a soldier in Iraq, Scott Thomas Beauchamp, published two weeks ago in the New Republic. Foer's accusation is…

The New Republic has published the results of their investigation into the events described by Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp. The editors say, we spoke with five other members of Beauchamp's company, and all corroborated Beauchamp's anecdotes, which they witnessed or, in the case of one solider,…

From the Washington Times: The Hinge of Fate in Iraq, by Tony Blankley. From the New York Post: Barack's Blunder, by Peter Brookes. From Ares: GMLRS aka Hand of Allah, by Sean Meade. From Blackfive: The Blackfive Challenge. From the AP: Obama Takes Nukes Off the Table.

I wrote a piece last week for THE WEEKLY STANDARD about American internet service providers who host websites for jihadists. In the course of reporting the piece I came across an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Texas called The Planet. According to both MEMRI and a whois search, The Planet hosts…

On the heels of Majority Whip Jim Clyburn's comments the other day that a positive progress report from General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker might be "a big problem" for Democrats, there are more signs today of disagreement among House Democrats about how to proceed on Iraq. The Hill reports a…

The ability of Iranian agents to walk out the front door of U.S. Government boneyards and used equipment depots with spare parts for the F-14 in hand has created a spate of negative publicity for the DoD's Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released…

IN HIS FIRST MEETING with President Bush as Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown confounded many this week when he unambiguously affirmed "the historic partnership of shared purpose" between Great Britain and the United States. Indeed, when it comes to national security issues such as Iraq,…

Coral Gables, Florida

THE JOINT CAMPAIGN PLAN was developed and has been approved by the U.S. Embassy in Iraq and Multinational Force-Iraq as a top-level strategic planning document for both the Embassy and Multinational Force-Iraq missions. The Joint Campaign Plan certainly does not contain all the answers for the U.S.…

Representative Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) forcefully tells a moonbat that he opposes the effort to impeach the president:

Barack Obama says that he will order the military to go after Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, and step up our effort in Afghanistan: I understand that President Musharraf has his own challenges. But let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans.…

The Washington Times runs a piece today by Robert Goldberg that does a lot to put the commotion over the YearlyKos convention--which will see appearances by all the Dem candidates with the exception of Joe Biden--into perspective. Eyal Rosenberg [...] resigned as a diarist for the DailyKos on May 9…

From the Financial Times: Britain can't have two best friends, by John Bolton. From the Politico: Bloggers unleash fury on optimistic op-ed, by Mike Allen and Avi Zenilman. From THE DAILY STANDARD: The Thayer System, by John Noonan. From National Review: Defeatism Defeated?, by Thomas Sowell. From…

Al Qaeda has weighed in on the Pakistani government's military assault on the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in Islamabad last month. Sahab productions, the media outlet for al Qaeda's central leadership, released a 21 minute tape by Abu Yahya al Libi, a senior al Qaeda leader who has served as a…

In an interview with the New York Observer earlier today, New Republic editor Frank Foer singles out THE WEEKLY STANDARD for recklessness in raising questions about a pseudonymous column by a soldier in Iraq, Scott Thomas Beauchamp, published two weeks ago in the New Republic. Foer's accusation is…

HERE'S A QUICK test to determine if you're a high brow or a low brow. Two men died recently. Both were described as geniuses in their field. Which one meant the most to you? Was it Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish director of gloomy, arty movies? Or Bill Walsh, one of the greatest football coaches of…

FOR NEARLY 200 years, cadets at the United States Military Academy have been guided by the "Thayer System," a rigid structure of unyielding regulation, austere discipline, fierce loyalty, and strong emphasis on math, science, and engineering. The method is calculated to produce Army officers of the…