By L C Johnson (blog/bio)

George W. Bush and his neocon buddies love to hype the "WAR" on terrorism and talk tough.  Their basic premise is that we must "fight" terrorists using military force rather than that wimpy law enforcement stuff.  This is neither new nor news.  John Kerry made this point, unsuccessfully, during his ill-fated 2004 Presidential campaign.  Opening a can of military whoop ass on terrorists resonates in the hearts of red blooded Americans, but it is largely patent nonsense.  Once you get past the rhetorical excess and political posturing, it turns out that the U.S. military really does not have much of a role to play in combating terrorism.

It is not a lack of desire.  The problem is that the capabilities inherent in the military do not match up with organization and behavior of terrorists.  The U.S. military, even the most highly classified special operations forces, are not good at precise, limited use of force.

A response to Reuel Marc Gerecht's The Audacity of Shallowness in Weakly Standard.  Herein, Barack Obama and his recent intemperate remarks are parsed at length.  Thus it is with Republican policy and Reuel Marc Gerecht:  the dangerous hubris of their conventional wisdom has brought us to this sorry pass, and yet again, the Democrats are called on to clean up after the Elephant.

Laura Rozen has a rather remarkable post about the genesis of the Iraq War, which has gotten virtually no attention. That's all the more surprising because she's discussing allegations made in Bob Woodward's new book, which people have been pawing over frantically for inside information about how and why the White House has failed in Iraq.

Cross-posted at Penndit.

WAC is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization. There are branches all over the US. Your city may have one. They hold events like this all the time, and I got to go to one on Thursday night in Philly.

Topic: 9/11: Are We More Secure Five Years Later?
Primary Speaker:
Former Sec. of Defense William Cohen

Panel:
* 9/11 Widow Kristen Breitweiser
* Center for American Progress' Joseph Cirincione
* AEI's Reuel Marc Gerecht

Forwarded from WesPAC| Securing America

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In this week's Time, General Clark, Reuel Marc Gerecht, Gary Solis, and Philip Caputo discuss the reported massacre of civilians in Haditha, "explore when combat becomes a massacre--especially in a guerrilla war--and who shares the blame."

Below are excerpts of the article in Time, : "Rules of Engagement":

   WESLEY CLARK

    If the Haditha reports are true, there can be no excuse. Not stress. Not anger. Not frustration. But this incident raises more disturbing questions. Have there been other such incidents? Does it indicate progressive decay in the standards of discipline in our forces? On top of Abu Ghraib, what moral authority do our forces retain? Can we recover our standing in the eyes of the Iraqis? And what will the ramifications of this incident be for U.S. power worldwide? ..."

National Public Radio continued its slide into uselessness this evening with an analysis of President Bush's "strategy" speech today on "All Things Considered."

Joining host Robert Siegel in the analysis was the Weekly Standard's Reuel Marc Gerecht, who some of you may remember from last summer on Meet the Press when he said "women's social rights are not critical to the evolution of democracy."

There to "balance" the discussion was George Packer of the New Yorker, who -- while critical of the administration's execution of the war -- has been a proponent of the invasion of Iraq from before the beginning.

That's the limits of the realistic debate about war strategy for NPR. Two guys who both support the war talking about whether staying the course is the way to go. Basically, they agreed that it was. Big surprise.

From darrelplant.com

Been keeping up with the revolution, sisters?  No?  Thought all that bullshit was over and done with and you didn't have to contribute?  Girls!!!  Don't tell me you actually thought you could stand on the shoulders of us old broads and it would be enough to keep your mascara dry?  Au contraire, my dears!  So sorry!  Putting old Susie B. on a coin almost a dozen years back just didn't cut it.  You might have to get offa that pretty little ass and punt after all.  Huh?  Still no ringy-dingy?  The Fat Lady's cheese has slipped off its collective cracker?  OKaaaay!  Let's try this one again.  Been watching any MTV lately?  Strrrike!  All right - we'll try this from another angle.  How's about --- listened to your daughter's boyfriend in the last 10 days?  Still a wash?  Good god - talk about having the native intelligence of a medium-sized eggplant!  OK - it seems you have selected curtain number three - blind, deaf and dumb!  Don't take this personally, but you really need to add fish to your diet.