Scott Wedman writes the first essay Andrew Exum posts at Abu Muqawama, the first salvo in his Afghanistan Strategy Debate. It is an astonishingly weak first choice, considering that Exum appears to support the war. I have inserted rebuttals. The war in Afghanistan is in the interests of the United States for four reasons. First, increasing stability …
The first salvo in the Afghanistan Strategy Debate Read More »
A powerful challenge by Andrew Exum:Â “Introducing the Afghanistan Strategy Dialogue“, posted at Abu Muqawama, 7 August 2009 — The reply I submitted appears after this excerpt. Upon returning from Afghanistan, one of the things I have noticed is how quickly support for the war in Afghanistan has diminished in the United States (especially in …
Exum: “Introducing the Afghanistan Strategy Dialogue” Read More »
Summary:  The experts at its major think-tanks and NGO’s act as the sheepdogs guiding the American public. In general they are reliable servants of our ruling elites and protectors of the status quo, their opinions (like Opera) represent money in motion. But some causes are too extreme, too bizarre, for real experts to advocate — like the Afghanistan …
Who are the experts advising our generals? We know what they’ll say. Read More »
I enjoyed Ian Fleming’s books about James Bond, and some of the movies too (esp. Casino Royale). But should we base our geopolitical strategyon fielding teams of “00” agents (and special operators) to kill our enemies? Will this make us safer, or make more likely what we most wish to avoid? Consider this: Many (most?) nations …
James Bond is not just our hero, but the model for our geopolitical strategy Read More »
Summary: The Iraq government has been unable to arrange for scheduled elections this Fall. While significant in itself, this is evidence of a larger and more important lesson going to the heart of out ability to successfully execute modern COIN theory as set forth in FM 3-24. “Iraq parliament fails to pass elections bill“, Los …
A larger lesson from the delayed elections in Iraq Read More »
