Kimberly Kagan has a dossier on the acts of war (mostly by proxie) that Iran has been committing against the US for at least the past five years. We may not be at war with Iran, but they’re certainly at war with us, regardless of how much many choose to ignore it.
[Update late morning]
Here’s a book that seems timely: Iranian Time Bomb: The Mullah Zealots Quest For Destruction
Michael Totten visits Al Qaeda’s newest lair in Iraq, because they’ve been chased out of their preferred locales.
Robert Spencer says that CAIR is having a bad week. Unfortunately, I doubt if the MSM will notice.
Robert Spencer says that CAIR is having a bad week. Unfortunately, I doubt if the MSM will notice.
Robert Spencer says that CAIR is having a bad week. Unfortunately, I doubt if the MSM will notice.
Michael Yon has a second installment of his “Ghosts of Anbar” series:
Some of these men will admit they were insurgents who switched sides because they realized that they are more likely to get what they want with a stable government. Al Qaeda promised them everything under the baking sun, yet al Qaeda killed people who smoked
Of the two simultaneous missions under way – maturing a responsible government and advancing our own strategic interests – the latter is far more important. In fact, it’s vital. And on that track, we’re making stunning progress.
Out here in Anbar Province, al Qaeda did what religion-driven extremists always do eventually – they over-reached, setting the bar so high that nonfanatics couldn’t measure up (nor did they want to). The terrorists responded with a campaign of slaughter against their fellow Muslims.
Now the Sunni Arabs who were fighting so bitterly against us are fighting beside us to destroy al Qaeda in Iraq. And the terrorists are going down.
Out here in Anbar Province – long the most troubled in Iraq – the change has come so swiftly and thoroughly that it’s dazzling. Marines who were under fire routinely just months ago are now directing their former enemies in battle.
Although this trend has been reported, our battlefield leaders here agree that the magnitude of the shift hasn’t registered back home: Al Qaeda is on the verge of a humiliating, devastating strategic defeat – rejected by their fellow Sunni Muslims.
If we don’t quit, this will not only be a huge practical win – it’ll be the information victory we’ve been aching for.
No matter what the Middle Eastern media might say, everyone in the Arab and greater Sunni Muslim world will know that al Qaeda was driven out of Iraq by a combination of Muslims and Americans.
Think that would help al Qaeda’s recruitment efforts? Even now, the terrorists have to resort to lies about their prospective missions to gain recruits.
As the British are learning, on the verge of losing Basra.
Col Anderson said British troops “did the best they could”, but added: “I’m not sure they did as good a job as they did traditionally. This isn’t Northern Ireland. They thought they had a pretty good model but Iraq is a different culture.”
Michael O’Hanlon, of the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, added: “Basra is a mess, and the exit strategy attempted there has failed. It is, for the purposes of future Iraq policymaking, an example of what not to do.
“Basra has gone far towards revising the common American image of British soldiers as perhaps the world’s best at counter-insurgency.”
I think that Petraeus has rewritten the book.
In further comments on the insanity of our dual and incompatible wars in Afghanistan, Ilya Somin has a suggestion as to how Congress could actually do something constructive:
Congressional Democrats say that they are serious about fighting the War on Terror, and have repeatedly emphasized (with some justification) that the Bush Administration has dropped the ball in Afghanistan. If you truly are serious about improving the conduct of the war in Afghanistan, why not start by denying the use of US government funds for poppy eradication campaigns in that country? Why not instead devote those funds (at least $600 million for last year alone) to military operations and infrastructure development? You can simultaneously improve the conduct of the war and repudiate a failed Bush Administration policy. What’s not to like?
Unfortunately, I don’t think they have the political guts.