Healing PTSD in virtual Iraq

McCain implies Iraq war was for oil

Oh btw, Iraq wasn’t over WMD

Dough Feith, one of the principal architects of the war in Iraq, is pushing his new book. He’s assigning blame for all the blunders to everyone else in the administration. One of the things he disagrees with was the need to make the WMD case in order to justify the invasion. Yes, the administration’s [obviously [...]

Iraqis quiz Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff

Al Jazeera gave Iraqis a chance to question America’s most senior military officer — CJCS Admiral Mike Mullen — on the current situation in their country.
I particularly enjoy the following exchange on freedom:
Iraqi: Where is the freedom you promised us?
Adm Mullen: ‘You are free.’

Afghan soldiers smoking spliffs before battle

[via DANGER ROOM]

Air Force trying to stay relevant - Part 2

As I concluded in Part 1, the Air Force doesn’t have a role in dealing with a rogue leader “who wants to flex his muscles.” So why then are they running an ad suggesting that they do?
I’m sure you’ve seen other variations of the Air Force’s new ad campaign. There’s one where a satellite is [...]

Air Force trying to stay relevant - Part 1

While reading Newsweek yesterday, I came across a rather interesting photo with the question “How do you discourage a rogue leader who wants to flex his muscles?” At first I thought it was a lead into a bad-ass story. As such, you can imagine how disappointed I was when I spotted the word ‘advertisement’ on [...]

US troop deaths in Pakistan?

Passport posted today on NATO troop commitments in Afghanistan by the numbers. Instead of listing the exact troop numbers, they used a ratio of the members’ population between 20-39/troops. Included in this was the death count:
The Top 5 (troop fatalities per 1,000 people 20-39 years old):

Denmark — 0.0099
Canada — 0.0090
Britain — 0.0056 (includes Ministry of [...]

DoD, Afghan security services get hosed by a 22 year old in Miami

NY Times has the scoop:
With the award last January of a federal contract worth as much as nearly $300 million, the company, AEY Inc., which operates out of an unmarked office in Miami Beach, became the main supplier of munitions to Afghanistan’s army and police forces.
Since then, the company has provided ammunition that is more [...]

Bush’s War

Tonight Fronline begins its devastating 2 part, 4 ½ hour look into the origins of the Iraq war. It airs at 9 on your local PBS station — watch it on TV or online.

5 years ago tonight…

Iraq: the IED

[This post is part of a series leading up to the 5 year anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq on Thursday.]

Iraq: Welcome to Ramadi

This post is part of a series leading up to the 5 year anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq on Thursday. It was written by Pat Dollard for Maxim magazine. He blogs at www.patdollard.com.
Dollard says of the invasion of Iraq: “I could give two fucks about WMDs. There were much more important reasons to [...]

5 years in Iraq…

This Thursday is the 5 year anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. Over the next 5 days I’ll be posting pictures, videos, and thoughts of our involvement there.

How much? [updated]

The Department of Defense quietly published this press release at 5pm EST yesterday. In it we learn that the DoD’s Wal Mart, the Defense Logistics Agency, will spend $130 million on oil alone in 2008:
Shell Chemical Yabucoa, Inc., Yabucoa, Puerto Rico is being awarded a maximum $129,917,372 fixed price with economic price adjustment, partial set [...]

Ethics of Blackwater

Michael Walzer postulates in The New Republic that private armies — such as Blackwater — are a liability, not only for the USA, but for the nation-state system.
If we want to maintain accountability in war, then, we had best take a statist view of military activity. I don’t want to argue that private armies run [...]

Zoom

We’re on the verge of being able to faster than ever before in aerospace. The US military is developing hypersonic missiles capable of traveling at Mach 5. They are being created for use in a program called ‘Prompt Global Strike.’ Popular Mechanics wrote an article about PGS last year:
If Pentagon strategists get their way, there [...]

Air power in a counterinsurgency

The New York Times Magazine has a revealing article about Americas use of air power in Afghanistan. It tells one particularly striking story which I’ve posted below.
This article once again levels the charge that the US military knows two ways of operating: war and peace and that there is no in between. Obviously there is [...]

Dem plans for Iraq neglect permanent bases

Time to pour cold water on the Democratic hopefuls plans for Iraq.
I disagree with both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton who have promised to precipitously end the war in Iraq. In a perfect world we could end the war today. But if we lived in a perfect world we wouldn’t have invaded Iraq in the [...]

Doomsday Clock

It is 5 minutes to midnight.