I have lifted this comment by B Swiger on my article about War porn into its own post because he cogently and from the heart expresses views I have heard dozens of times while writing 38 articles on the war over the past five years. Thank you, Swiger, for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.  Here is what he says; my …
A rebuttal to “War Porn” (it takes 2 sides to have a discussion) Read More »
This post links to reports on events in Basra by bloggers, in addition to those I posted yesterday. In the first post today, I – IV are links to what seem to me expert opinions. This post, #V gives examples of what looks to me like simplistic speculation. The last post, VI and VII, links to valuable background …
More views of the events at Basra (2) – bloggers and war-bloggers Read More »
A fascinating development of the Iraq War are the “war bloggers”, like Michael Yon and Bill Roggio, providing disintermediated news — non-journalists reporting directly from Iraq. Free from the commercial and political entanglements of the major media, war bloggers can precisely target their audience. Many of them report events using the narrative that brought Tom Clancy fame and fortune. It …
In Surrender in Al Anbar province I described the tactical retreat we made in Anbar, and why it may prove a wise move. History shows that apt tactical retreats have ocassionaly led to strategic gains, and often ended fruitless and expensive engagements. While a big step backwards in terms of our strategic goals — to establish a strong, friendly Iraq State — this …
Part V of this series provoked many emails requesting more symptoms showing the decline of the State (DOTS) in America. I wish all the questions I received were so easy to answer. This essay will give some general background and a specific example. The ur-text for DOTS is Martin van Creveld’s The Rise and Decline …
