rssPosts by Spencer Ackerman
What the U.N. Reports About Governance in Afghanistan
The rising tide of violence in Afghanistan identified in the United Nations’ most recent quarterly country report got the lion’s share of the press attention this weekend. But check out what it says about governance in the country. Given that out-governing the insurgency is central to NATO strategy More…
Nagl: We Can Pull This Afghanistan Thing Off
The president of the Center for a New American Security, John Nagl, has an op-ed in the New York Daily News arguing against despair for the Afghanistan war. “[I]t is possible over the next five years to build an Afghan government that can outperform the Taliban and an Afghan Army More…
Military Task Force Tackles Thorny Issue of Contractors in Afghanistan
It has an uncertain budget, a team of fewer than two dozen military officers and civilians, and barely a year to make its mark on counterinsurgency in Afghanistan before the U.S. begins its transfer of security responsibilities to Afghans. In that time, a new military task force will attempt to More…
CIA Indictments: Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t
Ryan Reilly reports:
Assistant United States Attorney John Durham is close to completing a preliminary review of whether there is evidence that CIA agents violated the law when they used brutal methods to interrogate terror detainees, Attorney General Eric Holder said in speech Thursday night.
Holder, speaking in a question and answer session
The $12,000 Times Square Bombing Attempt
The salient paragraph from the indictment of Faisal Shahzad in May’s attempted bombing in Times Square:
In December 2009, Shahzad received explosives training in Waziristan, Pakistan, from explosive trainers affiliated with Tehrik-e-Taliban, a militant extremist group based in Pakistan. On Feb. 25, 2010, Shahzad received approximately $5,000 in cash
GAO Exposes Cynicism of Mexico Border Fence
The idea of creating an impermeable high-tech fence that doubles as a panopticon to keep out illegal immigrants has always been the triumph of paranoia over technology, security and pragmatism. According to Jeff Stein, the Government Accountability Office finds that the fence is the Star Wars of border security: More…
Poll Reveals Growing Muslim Antipathy to Obama Foreign Policy
A year after President Obama’s speech in Cairo vowing to reset relations with the Muslim world, Muslims worldwide are telling pollsters about their disillusionment with what they consider unfulfilled expectations.
According to the Pew Center’s new survey of global attitudes (PDF), released Thursday morning, citizens of Muslim nations report More…
John Brennan’s Counterterrorism Vision vs. American Muslim Reality
John Brennan, President Obama’s chief counterterrorism, intelligence and homeland security adviser, is probably the foremost advocate of the proposition that domestic counterterrorism efforts will fail if they don’t treat American Muslims as partners. That attitude informed the National Security Strategy’s pledge to “clearly communicate our policies and intentions, listening More…
Muslim Disillusionment With Obama Accelerates
From the brand-new Pew poll of international attitudes (PDF), just released half an hour ago:
Among Muslim publics – except in Indonesia where Obama lived for several years as a child – the modest levels of confidence and approval observed in 2009 have slipped markedly. In Egypt the percentage of
Petraeus: ‘Double Digits’ of al-Qaeda Fighters in Afghanistan
Something that couldn’t fit into my piece yesterday but bears mentioning: Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, told a Senate panel that al-Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan numbered in the “double digits.”
In a somewhat heated exchange with Sen. Lindsey Graham More…
