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Last December, Mark Danner took a piercing look back at our Presidential election in Florida, “How Bush Really Won,” printed up in the New York Review of Books and posted on line at Tomdispatch. In the aftermath of another election, closely linked to our own and to the well being of our President, Danner returns … Continue reading “The Real Iraqi Election”

I‘m typing as mortars are blasting away in the nearby "Green Zone." Mortars are easy to tell – the higher pitched thunk of their launch, then a pause, then a loud boom that echoes through the still night. Blaring sirens wail in the distance, along with the random cracking of gunfire. Nightfall always seems to … Continue reading “What Calm Looks Like in Iraq”

You come out of the subway at Times Square across the street from the Gap and catty-corner to ESPN Zone, walk past the Drug Enforcement Agency’s temporary museum (“Freedom is … Drug Free!”) with its “Target America: Drug Traffickers, Terrorists, and You” show, stroll past the New York Police Department’s office, its name outlined in … Continue reading “In the Zone With GI Joe”

A while back in 2003, there was a lot of commentary and partisan whining on the lack of an "exit strategy" for Iraq. Bush got us into a quagmire, and we can’t get out! In May of this year, William Pfaff suggested playing to Iraqi "nationalism," as well as a complicated list of immunities and … Continue reading “Another Iraq Exit Strategy”

The other day I happened to notice a little piece from the Washington Times headlined, "Pentagon seeks ideas to fight ‘urban’ wars." Journalist Jennifer Harper had come across a “solicitation” from the Pentagon’s futuristic research arm, DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), calling on researchers to develop, among other things, “on-demand, infantry-operated, ultra-precision, beyond … Continue reading “Are We in Saidad or Baghgon?”

Rather than commenting on the specifics of the war with Iraq, I thought it might be a good time to lay out a framework for understanding that and other conflicts. The framework is the Four Generations of Modern War. I developed the framework of the first three generations (“generation” is shorthand for dialectically qualitative shift) … Continue reading “Understanding Fourth Generation War”

Of all places for the U.S. to intervene militarily, why oh why does it have to be Liberia? I’ll tell you why: political correctness. Liberia, you see, gives us a chance to “liberate” a country populated by blacks, and, furthermore, one that was supposedly founded by “freed slaves.” So, you see, America is the “mother … Continue reading “TO HECK WITH LIBERIA!”

The film had barely stopped rolling over at CBS before the Kerrey spin machine started cranking out apologias: “I think this war’s not over,” warbled Kerrey after the broadcast. “I think they’re not going to leave us alone until we’re all dead. It’s always possible to dig up one more horrible night.” But who, pray … Continue reading “The Spin Begins”