US Marines – Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, aboard the USS Wasp Expeditionary Strike Group in the Gulf, will soon go ashore in Afghanistan to join the search for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.

• Virginian Pilot: Marines, Norfolk ships to join U.S.-led offensive in Afghanistan
• New York Times: Up to 2,000 Marines to Go to Afghanistan From Gulf

Canadian Navy – Canada will do more to enforce its sovereignty over its northern territories.

• National Post: Canada’s troops to reclaim Arctic

US Navy – More on the Littoral Combat Ship.

• Copley News Service: Navy sails into untested waters

Background – Port Security – How the US is trying to push its borders back to prevent seaborne terrorism.

• New York Times: U.S. Law Puts World Ports on Notice
  

Background – Operations Other Than War – The U.S. occupation of Iraq is a debacle not because the government did no planning but because a vast amount of expert planning was willfully ignored by the people in charge. The inside story of a historic failure by James Fallows.

• The Atlantic: Blind into Baghdad