I completely agree with Abu Muqawama: Abu Muqawama has always been a big fan of the late French intellectual Raymond Aron. Aron, writing in his newspaper column for Le Figaro, believed it was the responsibility of the public intellectual to make a careful study of the issues at hand — economics, military strategy, etc. — [...]

I have to pass this along from The Torch: “They look at us like dimwits,” he said. “I don’t want to be looked at like that. … I’ve once had a woman tell me, ‘If there weren’t people like you, there wouldn’t be any wars.’ That’s angering.” – Private Francis Archambault It may be angering, [...]

The Tank has posted an editorial photograph from The New York Post making fun of Barack Obama’s discussion of sending troops to rout al-Qaeda in Pakistan: I suppose no one remembers Bush’s inability to name Pakistan’s president before he was elected: Andy Hiller, a political reporter for WHDH-TV in Boston . . . asked Bush [...]

FYI: (Source: The Gallup Poll) [Hotel Tango: Air Force Magazine Daily Report]

Great column by John Noonan at The Daily Standard: FOR NEARLY 200 years, cadets at the United States Military Academy have been guided by the “Thayer System,” a rigid structure of unyielding regulation, austere discipline, fierce loyalty, and strong emphasis on math, science, and engineering. The method is calculated to produce Army officers of the [...]

Samantha Power, of “A Problem from Hell:” America and the Age of Genocide fame, an insightful book studying America’s indifference to various genocides throughout the 20th Century, had a great book review in last Sunday’s The New York Times. While I started reading her review just because I respected her and wanted to read her [...]

Now this is what I’m talkin’ ’bout. Great guest post over at The Gunner’s World by Col. Michael Visconage explaining the role of field historians. He then goes into the current situation in Iraq, from his unique perspective. My job as the Multi-National Corps Iraq Historian is to collect as much data for the military [...]

Well, no wonder Karen Hughes has sucked as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs: Threatened abroad, U.S. diplomats have been hit with unprecedented security restrictions, confining many to fortress-like compounds and frustrating Bush administration efforts to get out and counter anti-U.S. sentiment. Lockdowns and prohibitions on travel now apply to Americans [...]

The New York Times: G.O.P. Support for Iraq Policy Erodes Further Support among Republicans for President Bush’s Iraq policy eroded further on Thursday as another senior lawmaker, Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, broke with the White House just as Congressional Democrats prepared to renew their challenge to the war. “We cannot continue asking [...]

Oooh, here’s an interesting local Austin story just put out by Central Command that connects with Iraq: In order to help Iraqi local governments move to self-sufficiency, the 1st “Ironhorse” Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalary Division is utilizing expertise from the Austin, Texas city manager’s office to examine concepts of governance from the standpoint of [...]