Spencer Ackerman has it on very good authority that Cheney's put out the word to right-wing think tanks to start selling a war with Iran. Ackerman's source is solid, as... [More]
September 4, 2007
More About Iran
If my previous post didn't get you excited, this surely will. Once again its Spencer Ackerman with the goods: Throughout 2005, when U.S. military commanders met for talks with Sunni... [More]
September 5, 2007
A Radical Revolutionary Force?
BRIAN BEUTLER: Perhaps it's a "radical revolutionary" idea not to want a fairly large country on your western border to be shaped by the guidance of an extremely foreign enemy... [More]
September 6, 2007
Rumor and Speculation: The Nuclear Edition
Oh dear. UPDATE: It appears this may have all been a mishap. A nuclear mishap, but a mishap nonetheless.... [More]
Switching Sides
One of the problems with being a blogger / political junkie is that sometimes you get so close to the whole process that you lose perspective. If you spend all... [More]
Apparently Even Bush Knew...
Maybe "knew" is too strong a word. He was told, but he didn't listen. We - our government - knew, but the men making the decisions either didn't care or... [More]
Bury the Lede
Once again the Washington Post buries a critical story in the back pages of its paper: Experts Doubt Drop In Violence in Iraq Military Statistics Called Into Question Reductions in... [More]
Quick Hits
A few loose ends at the end of a long day: + The Myth of AQI is an absolute must read. Andrew Tilghman was an Iraq correspondent for the Stars... [More]
September 7, 2007
Friday Quick Hits
I don't have time to blog today - I'm way behind on my reading for my comps in October - so here are a few links to tide you over... [More]
September 8, 2007
The Dog That Did Not Bark
Via Kevin Drum, a great piece on Iraq from Slate's Fred Kaplan. Forgive the long excerpt, but I want to make sure everyone reads this: The dispute concerns what many... [More]
September 11, 2007
About the General and His Testimony
I didn't have time to watch Gen. Petraeus' testimony yesterday afternoon, and I refused outright to watch him sing and dance on Fox, so I'm not sure I have much... [More]
When Will They Learn?
One other thing about the Petraeus testimony. Like so many before him, the General trotted out the "no one could have predicted" line during his testimony. Only one problem -... [More]
I Wasn't Going To Say This, But...
...not only did Matt Yglesias beat me to it, he published it both on his blog and in the Guardian: Increasingly, I think Republicans are shooting themselves in the foot... [More]
What Happens When the Pentagon and Petraeus Don't Agree
Oh my. It looks like we are about to find out.... [More]
Know Thyself
Andrew Sullivan, less than one week after 9/11: The middle part of the country - the great red zone that voted for Bush - is clearly ready for war. The... [More]
Lieberman Is Insane
If it wasn't official before, it is now.... [More]
September 12, 2007
Quote of the Day II
"What is the way forward? What are we buying time for?" -Sen. Olympia Snowe, reacting to the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker yesterday on Capitol Hill... [More]
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes!
Tim takes the usual blogosphere gripe about the lack of accountability for failed predictions one step further: One of the striking things about the Washington foreign policy world is how... [More]
September 13, 2007
Adm. Fallon on Petraeus: "an ass-kissing little chickensh*t”
Oh my - via ThinkProgress: Fallon told Petraeus [in March] that he considered him to be “an ass-kissing little chickensh*t” and added, “I hate people like that”, the sources say.... [More]
A Very Bad Day In Iraq
I don't do day-to-day updates on Iraq, but today's news is so bad that it cannot be ignored. First comes news of an assassination in Anbar province. Abu Risha, the... [More]
Where's The Anti-War Vote?
Steve Benen has an interesting take on the support Clinton - the most hawkish of all of the Democratic candidates - seems to be getting from anti-war Democrats: If you... [More]
September 14, 2007
I Agree With Bush! Wow!
About one thing, at least! Here are the first two lines from last night's speech: "In the life of all free nations, there come moments that decide the direction of... [More]
Enlarging the Sphere
Steve Bennen and Kos highlight today an example of one of the worst tendencies in modern journalism. In the interest of time and space, journalists paraphrase politicians. And that would... [More]
September 15, 2007
Un-Bothered By Ignorance Of His Own Past Decisions
NBC News Brian Williams, reporting after a luncheon with President Bush Notably, when asked about Robert Draper's new book, "Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush" -- a portion... [More]
Time to Beat Up on Broder Again
Right out of the gate he makes a major and entirely avoidable mistake: Now that the president has endorsed the Petraeus-Crocker plan for Iraq, it is worth noting one exchange... [More]
September 17, 2007
The Webb Amendment
Greg Sargent has big news on the status of Sen. Webb's troops readiness amendment. It looks like Democrats may in fact be rapidly approaching the magical 60 votes needed to... [More]
September 19, 2007
The House Of Wisdom
This is ridiculous: The U.S. military has introduced "religious enlightenment" and other education programs for Iraqi detainees, some of whom are as young as 11, Marine Maj. Gen. Douglas M.... [More]
Embarrassing and Sad
Not all that long ago, the US Marine Corps was responsible for protecting US diplomats in our embassies around the world. But thanks to the geniuses who brought us the... [More]
Troop Cuts? Hardly
I've wondered how military families were going to react to the spin. Here's a first look from Newsweek: Sept. 14, 2007 - In endorsing Gen. David Petraeus's recommendations on Iraq,... [More]
Warner Disappoints Again
In case you haven't been following the twists and turns over the Webb Amendment, until the last day or so it looked like Sen. John Warner (R-VA) was going to... [More]
September 20, 2007
$2 Trilion
That's the projections for the cost of the president's new "Korea model" for Iraq. And that's on top of the $500 billion we have already spent. Josh Marshall has more... [More]
Returning to Reality
I was planning on commenting today on David Brook's latest love letter to SecDef Gates, but it looks like Greg D beat me to it. First, Brooks: Robert Gates has... [More]
September 25, 2007
Ms. Moneypenny? Are You For Real?
Spencer Ackerman has an important story about Blakcwater in Iraq over at TPM. But I'm sorry...I can't get past the fact that there's actually someone in the Dept. of State... [More]
September 26, 2007
"No Matter What"
File this one under "things we've long suspected but lacked hard evidence for": In a revelation reminiscent of the Downing Street memo, the Spanish newspaper El Pais has obtained and... [More]
Speaking of National Nightmares...
This is very, very, very not good. In high-level meetings over the past several days, U.S. military officials have pressed State Department officials to assert more control over Blackwater, which... [More]
Another General Dissents...Will Anyone Notice?
This time it is Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq from mid-2003 to mid-2004. Scott Horton over at Harpers has more: For three months now, Sanchez has... [More]
But What About Rudy? [Updated: And Norm?!?]
George Will spends his entire column today excoriating the NYT for giving MoveOn.org an illegal discount for its recent controversial ad. Amazingly, Will makes it through the entire article without... [More]
September 27, 2007
Privatizing War
Josh Marshall is pledging to make it a major focus for TPM over the coming months, a project that he's kicked off with a series of posts outlining the problems... [More]
September 28, 2007
BU's Bacevich Throws Down
In The American Conservative, no less Sycophant Savior General Petraeus wins a battle in Washington—if not in Baghdad. by Andrew J. Bacevich In common parlance, the phrase “political general” is... [More]
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