Vietnam then: With these troops in place, U.S. officials instituted an “enclave” strategy under which U.S. forces would try to maintain only those areas of Vietnam already under Saigon’s control. General Westmoreland, opposing the enclave strategy, called for more and more U.S. forces and advocated “taking the battle to the enemy.” Indeed, in July 1965, Johnson sent 100,000 more troops … Read More
A War Casualty That Doesn’t Get Tallied
Editor & Publisher Her name doesn’t show on any official list of American military deaths in the Iraq war, by hostile or non-hostile fire, who died in that country or in hospitals in Europe or back home in the USA. But Iraq killed her just as certainly.She is Jeanne "Linda" Michel, a Navy medic. She came home last month to … Read More
What Failure Looks Like
This says it all: BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Baghdad’s morgues are full. With no space to store bodies, some victims of the sectarian slaughter are not being kept for relatives to claim, but photographed, numbered and quickly interred in government cemeteries. Men fearful of an anonymous burial are tattooing their thighs with names and phone numbers. In October, a particularly … Read More
Anti-Rumsfeld Editorial
Newspaper editorials calling for Rumsfeld’s resignation are pretty common. What makes this one unique? It’s an editorial that is running jointly in the Army Times, the Air Force Times, and the Navy Times: Time for Rumsfeld to go "So long as our government requires the backing of an aroused and informed public opinion … it is necessary to tell the … Read More
No. What’s Your Plan?
The president was campaigning today in one of the few places where he’s still welcome, and he rolled out his final campaign pitch of the season. Bush said Democrats calling for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq aren’t unpatriotic, just wrong. […] "If they say they want to win the war on terror, but call for America to pull out of … Read More
Iraq As Art
Huh? A senior U.S. general compared Iraq on Thursday to a "work of art" in progress, saying it was too soon to judge the outcome and playing down violence and friction with Iraqi leaders as "speed bumps" on the road. "A lump of clay can become a sculpture, blobs of paint become paintings which inspire," Major General William Caldwell, chief … Read More
Iraq: Edging Toward Chaos
The New York Times obtained this classifed Powerpoint slide, prepared by the U.S. Central Command two weeks ago. Bottom line — our miiltary says thinks are getting worse in Iraq.
Iraq Getting Messier
More bad news: U.S. soldier death toll passes the 100 mark (up to 105, if you include "unconfirmed") for October, making this the deadliest month since January 2005, and the fourth deadliest since the war started. Grand total no 2,815. And the quagmire worsens: Thousands of weapons the United States has provided Iraqi security forces cannot be accounted for, and … Read More
Who Supports The Troops? Republicans Or Democrats?
The answer is Democrats. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America — a non-partisan veterans’ group — took a look at 324 legislative votes in the last five years which affected American troops and veterans. Legislative proposals included veterans’ benefits, healthcare, and medical research dedicated towards injured soldiers. Based on these votes, IAVA calculated which senators and congressmen had a … Read More
“Hurry Up, He’s Dead”
That’s the title of the funniest TV show on Iraq television, says the NY Times. And it’s quite popular. What’s it about? Well, it’s kind of like The Daily Show, I guess. The newscast opens with an explanation of the show’s underlying premise: it is the year 2017 and the main character, Saaed, is the last Iraqi alive. He is … Read More
Bush Administration Has Had 9 Plans For Iraq
Chuck Schumer put this together: WHITE HOUSE HAS UNVEILED NEW “NEW IRAQ” PLANS AT LEAST NINE TIMES ALREADY 10/22/06: “The Bush administration is drafting a timetable for the Iraqi government to address sectarian divisions and assume a larger role in securing the country, senior American officials said.” [New York Times, 10/22/06] 7/25/06: “President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki … Read More
Active U.S. Soldiers Seek End To Iraqi Occupation
It may take 24-48 hours, but I think people will start talking about this soon: Sixty five active duty service members are officially asking Congress to end the war in Iraq — the first time active troops have done so since U.S. invasion began in 2003. Three of the service members will hold a press conference Wednesday explaining their decision … Read More
Short Bites
Barring some miracle, blogging will be light to non-existent for the next few days. But that won’t stop be from pointing to things I find amusing, like (1) the fact that robots think humans taste like bacon (2) What hath John Hodgman wrought? He wrote a book in which he listed 700 hobo names. Now, illustrators are providing drawings for … Read More
Bush: “We’ve Never Said ‘Stay The Course'”
In his interview with George Stephanopolouskowaskiwitz, the President said — and I quote — ‘We’ve never been stay the course, George!’. Man, that’s an easily debunked lie: BUSH: We will stay the course. [8/30/06] BUSH: We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq. [8/4/05] BUSH: We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. … Read More