Updated at 12:45 a.m. EST, Feb. 6, 2008A mass grave containing dozens of bodies was discovered west of Samarra. Elsewhere, a small but deadly U.S. raid on a civilian residence was reported for the second day in a row. Overall, 90 Iraqis were reported killed or found dead, and seven were wounded across Iraq. Three … Continue reading “Tuesday: 3 GIs, 90 Iraqis Killed; 7 Iraqis Wounded; Mass Grave Found”

The biggest threat to the success of the Beijing Olympics this coming August is China itself. Come August, the world will see China for what it truly is, many for the first time. Although China’s human rights record, environmental issues, and recent export scandals are both widely reported and known, it will be the theatrical … Continue reading “The Dragon or the Snake?”

MoveOn.org is mobilizing. The “antiwar” group’s Political Action members across the country voted overwhelmingly to endorse the Democratic candidacy of Barack Obama last week. MoveOn claims to have 1.7 million members in states that vote in Tuesday’s primaries. “[Our] endorsement means a fresh infusion of people-power for Obama in the critical days before Super Tuesday,” … Continue reading “MoveOn’s Obama Endorsement”

The new 2009 defense budget has just been released. The more you look into the numbers, the more things become unclear, very unclear. Most of the numbers being released are inaccurate or incomplete, or both. Other numbers will change as the year progresses, but we do not know if they will go up or down. … Continue reading “The Chaos in America’s Vast Security Budget”

For some days, the country looked like the Place de la Concorde in 1793. The entire public sat expectantly facing the guillotine, waiting for the tumbrel to bring the marquis, for the marquis to lie down, for the blade to fall on his neck, and for a soldier to hold up the bloody, severed head … Continue reading “From Stalingrad to Winograd”

One of the more intriguing questions Clio poses is the degree to which great military victories were the fruit of smart plans as opposed to dumb luck. Did the North Vietnamese expect the Tet Offensive to be a tactical defeat but an operational victory? They now claim they did, but we will not know until … Continue reading “Die and Win”