military
Petraeus On Afghanistan
The last time I heard Gen. David Petraeus, commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, talk about Afghanistan, he was endorsing the Karzai government’s efforts to explore negotiations with reconcilable elements of the Taliban. Now the Central Command chief is putting together a massive strategy review for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, [...]
Counterinsurgents Like the CAP Report
Remember how I said in my piece this morning that the Center for American Progress’s new defense report “largely embraces the tenets about the future of warfare put forth by a rising generation of counterinsurgency theorist-practitioners emerging from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars”? Or how on Tuesday afternoon, I was like, “I have a feeling [...]
The Gates Defense Cuts Cometh
In my piece on Friday about Bob Gates’ agenda in the Obama administration, Larry Korb raised the question of what outmoded programs he’s going to ax. After all, anyone can posture about defense reform. Budgetary priorities are where the adults distinguish themselves from the children.
So it’s fortuitous that Julian Barnes — no, not the novelist, [...]
Coming Tomorrow: A Blueprint for Rebuilding the Military
So let’s just say for the sake of argument that you’ve got a military severely overtaxed by multiple combat deployments and practically certain to experience at least some degree of imposed budgetary constraint as the result of economic upheaval. Add to that the pressures of leaving one occupied country over the next three years and [...]
More on the Obama-Military Relationship
I suppose it’s not really surprising that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — technically a two-year appointment, though frequently re-upp’d — would say nice things on the record about his incoming commander-in-chief, but Karen DeYoung’s Washington Post piece displays a noteworthy calm among the brass about Obama. (I wrote about the difficulties [...]
Military Challenges Obama On Weapons Systems
So later today I’ll have a piece up about Obama’s relationship with the military and the challenges and opportunities it presents. But, like R. Kelly, I want to break you off with a little taste of the remix.
McCain Urges Surge to Fix What Ails U.S.
The GOP nominee would send troops to Wall Street, to national forests to protect oil drilling and to Chicago to guard against Obama’s terrorist cronies.
Back To The Future
Peter Spiegel has a really good piece in The Los Angeles Times today about Special Forces in the Philippines:
Bob Gates vs. Dick Cheney
Blink and you’ll miss Secretary of Defense Bob Gates giving the back of his hand to Vice President Dick Cheney during a Q&A session yesterday at the National Defense University:
Q: Captain Stevewright (ph), United States Navy. Do you think that the mid- and long-term economic challenges, domestic economic challenges, will result in significant downward pressure [...]
New Iraq Deployments
Just announced by the Pentagon. The following units will head to Iraq beginning this winter:
