Tuesday, January 11, 2005

More Dissent in Pentagon Ranks Over Iraq War. For the second time in as many months, a report by a key Pentagon advisory group has implicitly taken the administration of President George W. Bush to task for major failures in pre-war planning, particularly with respect to Iraq. A 220-page report [.pdf], quietly released late last month by the Defense Science Board (DSB), concludes that the administration clearly underestimated the number of troops and cost required to achieve its political objectives in Iraq. The report, entitled "Transition to and From Hostilities," explicitly contradicts another key assumption of top Pentagon officials before the Iraq war that Washington could quickly reduce its troop presence after ousting the regime of President Saddam Hussein. "[W]e believe that more people are needed in-theater for stabilization and reconstruction operations than for combat operations," asserts the report, which based its conclusions on a study of U.S. military interventions over the last 15 years. (link) Yes, it's that Defense Science Board again. They're really getting out of hand! [Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs] I expect the membership of the Defense Science Board will be changing dramatically in the near future. 1:22:26 PM    comment () "Give your driver your 9mm, and carry their M16/M4". The New Yorker offers must-read detail on just how the Army's officer corps is dealing with Iraq. No surprise that... [Hit and Run] I agree, it is "must-read." One of the most noteworthy parts is this: At that moment, an American officer stepped through the crowd holding his rifle high over his head with the barrel pointed to the ground. Against the backdrop of the seething crowd, it was a striking gesture--almost Biblical. "Take a knee," the officer said, impassive behind surfer sunglasses. The soldiers looked at him as if he were crazy. Then, one after another, swaying in their bulky body armor and gear, they knelt before the boiling crowd and pointed their guns at the ground. The Iraqis fell silent, and their anger subsided. The officer ordered his men to withdraw. If there were more officers like this, maybe the Feds wouldn't have made themselves so unpopular so quickly in Iraq. 12:57:37 PM    comment () The Beloved TR. Neocon "godfather" Irving Kristol cites Teddy Roosevelt as the prototypical neocon icon. Billy Kristol and the rest of the boys at The Weakly-Argued Standard are just wild about Teddy, along with Franklin, Abe, and Dubya. Mark Twain, who met "TR"... By Thomas DiLorenzo. [LewRockwell.com Blog] War, taxation, mass killing, regulatory strangulation, class envy, lies, and bluster. That was TR, and that's why the neocons love him so much. Indeed. Theodore Roosevelt is one of those presidents who's praised in glowing (and exceedingly vague) terms in public school history classes, but as soon as you look at the details of what he really did, he starts to looks very bad. 10:32:01 AM    comment ()

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