Washington Post – Thomas Ricks notes that the growing chorus of official voices blaming Iraqis for continuing violence may mark the beginning of the end of U.S. involvement.more…
Monthly Archives:: November 2006
Iraq – Algeria was worse than Iraq ñ so far
Daily Telegraph – John Keegan says that Sir Alistair Horne, the great historian of modern war, believes that the war in Iraq most resembles the Algerian war against the French of 1954-62, of which he wrote a celebrated history, just reissued.more…
US Navy – Missions of Mercy keep ship in service
San Diego Union Tribune – The USNS Mercy’s hugely popular humanitarian missions to Asia in the past two years may have saved the San Diego-based hospital ship and its East Coast sister vessel, the Comfort, from a trip to the scrap yard.more…
Iraq – Anbar Picture Grows Clearer, and Bleaker
Washington Post – Thomas Ricks gives a more detailed look at the problems faced by the Marines in Anbar province.more…
Fourth Generation Warfare – The Way to Win a Guerrilla War
Washington Post – Thomas A. Hammes on how to win in Iraq and Afghanistan.more…
Ground Warfare – Weapon Of Mass Destruction
Washington Post – The AK-47 has become the world’s most prolific and effective combat weapon, a device so cheap and simple that it can be bought in many countries for less than the cost of a live chicken.more…
Transformation – Jets or GIs? How Best to Address the Military's Manpower Shortage
Foreign Affairs – The U.S. military needs more manpower, badly. And this means reordering budgets, putting troops over technology. Or does it?more…
History – Suez 1956: A Successful Naval Operation Compromised by Inept Political Leadership
Naval War College Review – The British and French forces that saw action during the abortive Suez invasion of 1956 produced a “copybook” performance in military terms. But flawed political decisions are likely to lead to flawed operational strategy, and today the entire episode is remembered as an embarrassing failure.more…
Iraq – Flaws Cited in Effort To Train Iraqi Forces
Washington Post – Thomas Ricks on how the U.S. military’s effort to train Iraqi forces has been rife with problems, from officers being sent in with poor preparation to a lack of basic necessities such as interpreters and office materials, according to internal Army documents.more…
US Navy – Davy Jones's Locker
Defense and the National Interest – William Lind comments on the recently reported Chinese submarine tracking of US aircraft carriers.more…
Geopolitics – Interventionism's Realistic Future
Washignton Post – Robert Kaplan comments on the future of US intervention abroad.more…
US Marines – Under fire, US marines hand off battered Fallujah
Christian Science Monitor – Just 300 marines now patrol Fallujah as the Iraqi military takes over.more…
US Marines – Top Marine: Troops under too much strain
CNN – The new Marine Corps commandant said Wednesday that the longer than anticipated pace of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan is putting an unacceptable strain on his troops. Gen. James Conway said the service is unable to meet its goal of giving Marines twice as much time at home as in a war zone. [...]
Iran – The Next Act
New Yorker – Seymour Hersch asks if a damaged Administration less likely to attack Iran, or more?more…
Iraq – Pentagon May Suggest Short-Term Buildup Leading to Iraq Exit
Washington Post – Thomas Ricks writes that the Pentagon’s closely guarded review of how to improve the situation in Iraq has outlined three basic options: Send in more troops, shrink the force but stay longer, or pull out, according to senior defense officials.more…
Royal Navy – New Trident to go ahead
The Times – The government will signal within the next two to three weeks that it wants to continue with the submarine-based Trident missile system as the UKís nuclear deterrent.more…
Royal Marines – Meet the air-conditioned Marines at Camp Do-Nothing in Afghanistan.
Daily Mail – With 42 Commando in Afghanistan.more…
US Navy – U.S. Navy says it will replace frigate with Aegis destroyer in Japan
Associated Press – The U.S. Navy will deploy its guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell at Japan’s Yokosuka naval base, taking over from frigate USS Gary as the navy moves to replace some of its aging fleet. The deployment of McCampbell is to increase missile defense capabilities around Japan. The U.S. Navy will have nine Aegis-equipped vessels [...]
Chinese Navy – China, U.S. stage search-and-rescue drill
Xinhua – The navies of China and the United States held a search-and-rescue exercise on the South China Sea on Sunday morning. more…
Geopolitics / Rules of War – How We Fight
Foreign Affairs – Reports that U.S. troops may have killed 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, last November have renewed fears that the U.S. military routinely violates the laws of war. But is the Haditha incident the exception or the rule? In fact, U.S. compliance with noncombatant immunity in Iraq has been relatively high by historical [...]
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