Washington Post – Thomas Ricks on the demise of Donald Rumsfeld.
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Iraq – The Defense Secretary We Had – Tough and Unaccountable
Washington Post – David Ignatius on the demise of Donald Rumsfeld.
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Iraq – Fighting spirit of the Donald I knew
Daily Telegraph – John Keegan on the demise of Donald Rumsfeld.
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Iraq – The Lost Year in Iraq
PBS Frontline – They came to rebuild and bring democracy, but soon were hardened by the postwar realities. When it came time to leave, they left behind lawlessness, insurgency, and economic collapse.
Read the Transcript and look at the excellent Interviews.
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Canadian Navy – Dispute Over NW Passage Revived
Washington Post – A long-standing legal wrangle between the United States and Canada could complicate future shipping through the Arctic as global warming melts the ice in the Northwest Passage.
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Iraq – Third and Final Act
Defense and the National Interest – William Lind points out how an attack on Iran will endanger US troops in Iraq.
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Iraq – Post Saddam Iraq: The War Game
National Security Archive – The Desert Crossing wargame for how to manage a post-Saddam Iraq, performed by CENTCOM in 1999 when General Zinni was its chief, has been declassified. Fascinating in how presecient it was. A pity General Franks, General Zinni’s successor, was not interested in it???
Associated Press – 1999 War Games Foresaw Problems in Iraq
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Miscellaneous – Pentagon targets Kim's nuclear sites
The Times – Is the US planning a raid on North Korean nuclear facilities?
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Geopolitics / Middle East – The New Middle East
Daily Telegraph – John Keegan on why Israel will attack Hezbollah again, soon.
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Geopolitics / Civil-Military Relations – Rumsfeld, the Generals, and the State of U.S. Civil-Military Relations
Naval War College Review – Uniformed officers have an obligation to stand up to civilian leaders if they think a policy is flawed. But once a policy decision is made, soldiers are obligated to carry it out. The idea that a general or admiral should publicly attack government policy and its civilian authors in time of war is dangerous.
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Iraq – Last Gasps in Iraq
USA Today – Yet another tipping point? Ralph Peters checks out on Iraq.
See also: FrontPageMag – A Military Solution for Iraq.
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History – The Early Career of a Marine Legend: General Eddie Craig
Leatherneck – “A hard-boiled crowd” of old Corps warriors in Santo Domingo broke in the new lieutenant.
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Iraq – Military Charts Movement of Conflict in Iraq Toward Chaos
New York Times – Michael Gordon reports that a classified briefing prepared two weeks ago by the United States Central Command portrays Iraq as edging toward chaos, in a chart that the military is using as a barometer of civil conflict.
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Taiwanese Navy – Taiwan takes delivery of last two of four US destroyers
BBC – Taiwan has formally commissioned into service two US-built naval destroyers aimed at boosting the island’s defences against any attack from rival China.
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Royal Australian Navy – Australian warships bound for Fiji
Radio New Zealand – Australian warships are sailing towards Fiji amid speculation of another coup. The amphibious support ship HMAS Kanimbla left Townsville last night and HMAS Newcastle, a frigate, began its journey to the area on Wednesday night.
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US Marines – Tending a Fallen Marine, With Skill, Prayer and Fury
New York Times – A look at the corpsman’s job in Iraq.
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US Navy – Atlantic Fleet gets new name, more work
Virginian Pilot – The Atlantic Fleet has been disestablished for want of another name: the U.S. Fleet Forces Command. The command has new responsibilities for more than just the Atlantic Fleet. It is responsible for the training, maintenance and operation of ships, planes and people on the East Coast and West Coast, where the Pacific Fleet will retain its name.
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Geopolitics – In Troubled Times
Defense and the National Interest – Martin van Creveld addresses how European countries should accommodate or otherwise deal with their Muslim minorities. Five hundred years ago, Spain faced exactly the same issue.
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Nuclear Warfare – Islam, Terror and the Second Nuclear Age
New York Times Magazine – If Iran gets the bomb, what will it do with it? Does Islamic law justify the use of weapons of mass destruction? Is there a Shiite urge for apocalypse? Is atomic warfare suicide bombing writ large?
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Royal Navy – Gulf ships on alert over al-Qaeda threat
The Scotsman – The Royal Navy has warned merchant ships in the Gulf to be on their guard after an al-Qaeda threat to target oil terminals in the area.
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Afghanistan – Taking the Fight to the Taliban
New York Times Magazine – The experience of American soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan shows what a counterinsurgency can, and cannot, do.
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Royal Marines – Marines to 'seek and destroy' Taliban insurgents
Daily Telegraph – A look at the activities of 42 Commando in Afghanistan. Hundreds of British soldiers in southern Afghanistan are unable to venture outside their fortified bases because of a “critical” threat from suicide bombers.
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Iraq – Tipping Point for War's Supporters?
Washington Post – Thomas Ricks writes that this October may be remembered as tipping point for U.S. policy in Iraq, militarily and politically.
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Fourth Generation Warfare – Army is training advisors for Iraq
Los Angeles Times – Within the Army’s tightly knit community of counterinsurgency experts, Lt. Col. John Nagl is something of a star.
When the Army and Marine Corps decided to rewrite their field manual on how to fight insurgents last year, Nagl was chosen as one of its authors. His doctoral thesis on guerrilla wars was just republished in paperback with an approving foreword by the Army’s chief of staff.
But when Nagl’s two-year stint in the Pentagon ended this month, he did not, like most accomplished soldiers of his rank, take command of an armored battalion headed back to Iraq. Instead, he shipped out to this sprawling base in rural Kansas where the Army is attempting what some consider its most ambitious structural change since the Vietnam War.
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Terrorism – Is There Still a Terrorist Threat?
Foreign Affairs – Despite all the ominous warnings of wily terrorists and imminent attacks, there has been neither a successful strike nor a close call in the United States since 9/11. The reasonable — but rarely heard — explanation is that there are no terrorists within the United States, and few have the means or the inclination to strike from abroad.
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