Iraq
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54 entries. 15,653 words.
2005-12
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How To Read Op-Ed Articles.
2005-12-30.
I’ve recently added some “controversial” feeds to my news reader (by which, I mean political and religious-themed topics) to broaden my knowledge base. I’m intentionally trying to add feeds that give arguments from opposing viewpoints (ie. conservative vs. liberal, intelligent design vs. science, etc) in the hope that some median truth might come forth.
- Blog
2006-02
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Saddam\’s Trial.
2006-02-14.
This is only tangentially related to the culture war, but how much longer will Saddam be allowed these ridiculous childish outbursts? (See Hussein throws tantrum on return to court and Hussein: I am on hunger strike.) I can’t recall a more laughable “trial” in my lifetime. Does anyone actually think Saddam–the same guy who always did anything to save his own skin–will starve himself to death?
- Commentary
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Abuse Photos.
2006-02-16.
Another tough day to find anything to comment on. Muslim protesters continued to protest, and “journalists” kept trying to uncover a Cheney scandal.
- Commentary
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Quick, Grab A Thesaurus.
2006-02-24.
One thing I find amusing about the media, and now the blogosphere, is the number of different ways that writers say the same thing. No writer wants to sound like he’s plagerizing someone else, so the result is often a hilarious variety of randomly mixed-up words from a thesaurus. Here’s a selection from bloggers talking about the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Iraq.
- Blog
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The Terminology War.
2006-02-28.
By Thomas Krehbiel
- Commentary
2006-03
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Zogby Poll.
2006-03-02.
This isn’t really cultural, but Mrs. Krehbiel wanted to make sure I didn’t miss Zogby’s survey of U.S. troops: A Letter From The Troops.
- Commentary
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Eskow and Hitchens Have It Backwards.
2006-03-16.
Part 3 in a Special 4-Part Series: Random Thoughts Of Thursday
- Commentary
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Civil War or No Civil War?.
2006-03-28.
With everyone trying to define exactly whether Iraq is in a “civil war” or not, as if the label should somehow affect our opinion of what goes on there, I thought it would be a fun project to see how many Americans are murdered every day in our country. I think we can all agree that there is currently no civil war in America, but most people recently have been citing “dozens of Iraqis” dying every day as an irrefutable measure of a civil war. So let’s see how the numbers stack up.
- Commentary
2006-04
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On Kerry\’s Iraq Plan.
2006-04-05.
HuffPo’s been awash with celebrity bloggers today: John Kerry: A Plan for Getting Iraq Up on Its Own Two Feet.
- Commentary
2006-05
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Atwar Bahjat.
2006-05-08.
(See Atwar Bahjat, Revision 2 above.)
- Commentary
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Atwar Bahjat (Revision 2).
2006-05-09.
(Forgive me while I experiment with different ways to revise blog entries.)
- Commentary
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The Week In Counterterrorism.
2006-05-12.
Mrs. Krehbiel seemed surprised the other night when I mentioned there was evidence that the insurgency was losing in Iraq. In the conservative blogosphere, these types of news bits are reported all the time, along with the obligatory snarking that the liberal, pro-terrorist media is “suppressing” it. Personally, I just think that television media doesn’t consider anything news unless there is eye-popping video to go along with it.
- Commentary
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Today In Counterterrorism (15 May 2006).
2006-05-15.
A step toward the return of U.S. troops. Since last summer, 39 more Iraqi combat battalions have been rated “Level 2,” for a total of 75 battalions. “Level 2 units gather their own intelligence, conduct their own planning and are deemed ‘in the lead’ during combat operations.” Independent Operations and the Iraqi Army.
- Commentary
2006-06
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Zarqawi Mania.
2006-06-08.
As I begin typing this, it’s only 8:06 AM in Virginia. Since I’m sure that Zarqawi will still be leading the news at 8:06 PM and beyond, let me be among the first to say… omg I am sick of hearing about Zarqawi already! Can’t we leave the job of making him a martyr to the jihadists??
- Commentary
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Why I Don\’t Think We Invaded Iraq Just For Oil.
2006-06-15.
Someone recently asked me how I could possibly believe we didn’t invade Iraq just for their oil. (You know who you are!) At the time I didn’t have a ready answer, but here’s some reasons.
- Commentary
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Cut-and-Run Iraqis?.
2006-06-27.
I don’t really feel like writing today (it’s been raining like crazy here on the East Coast, which sucks all the life out of me), but here’s a quick observation: Watching the politics of Iraq is amusing sometimes. I’m pretty sure that Republicans and Democrats and all of America want the exact same thing – for the Iraqi army to defend their own country – yet somehow it’s a divisive, partisan issue. Lately, it looks like the Iraqis might trump everyone by kicking us out.
- Commentary
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Senate Debating The Wrong Metric?.
2006-06-28.
The war in the Senate over the “war” in Iraq was about timetables – Democrats wanted a timetable, but Republicans didn’t. I think “time” was the wrong metric, though. Democrats should have been questioning Iraq in terms of “deliverables.” Ie., what exactly constitutes “victory” in Iraq?
- Commentary
2006-07
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Thursday’s Informative Links.
2006-07-13.
Oh, lovely: Israel: Hezbollah plans to move abducted IDF soldiers to Iran. And: Hezbollah escalates the war in Lebanon, launches rocket attacks in Haifa. Now Bush is giving up secret wiretapping? Specter touts deal on eavesdropping review. Have aliens replaced the president? As Israel and Lebanon meltdown, there’s progress in Iraq: Transfer of Security Responsibility in Muthanna Province. A general’s review of Gitmo: McCaffery on Guantanamo, which summarizes McCaffery’s full memo. The preceding links have been deemed “not to completely suck” by Thomas Krehbiel’s patent-pending content rating system. The system rates the relative merit of Internet content in terms of originality, non-partisanship, grammar, and educational or research value.
- Commentary
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ADD Media And Belligerentive Bloggers.
2006-07-18.
Apparently an outbreak of war between two countries only warrants a few days of major media coverage. The CNN feed today mainly covered Bush’s un-newsworthy epithet and details of Westerners “fleeing” Lebanon. Pretty much nothing from CNN about the fighting itself or any of the politics surrounding it.
- Commentary
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Mathematically, Still On The Brink.
2006-07-21.
Back in March, I mathematically concluded that 117 Iraqis would have to die every day for the situation in Iraq to be correctly labeled a “civil war.” The numbers are getting close, but they aren’t there yet. According to a recent report, 14,000 Iraqis have died in the first half of 2006. That works out to an average of around, say, 75 deaths every day.
- Commentary
2006-08
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Presidential Semantics.
2006-08-04.
The local feud between SLANTblog and Skeptical Observer has inspired me to remove the following “big name” feud blogs from my newsreader: Daily Kos, GOP Bloggers, Hot Air, Little Green Footballs, Michelle Malkin, and RedState. Daily Kos has been living in a vacuum-sealed Leiberman/Lamont bubble for months now. The other four pour out non-stop snarkiness, day after day after day after day, and it’s gotten pretty tiresome.
- Commentary
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A Look At Iraq, Part 1.
2006-08-23.
I’ve been thinking about Iraq lately. For some reason, this week seems like a good time to re-evaluate what’s going on there.
- Commentary
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A Look At Iraq, Part 2.
2006-08-25.
Last time, we learned that, for our own interests and those of the civilians in Iraq, we can’t leave until the Iraqi government can function on its own. Otherwise, we leave Iraq ripe for takeover, just like Somalia is now.
- Commentary
2006-09
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Same Propaganda, Different Week.
2006-09-05.
It’s still hard to find anything meaningful to write about in all this political blather over Iraq. Republicans say we have to stay in Iraq to stabilize the region and fight the growing terrorist threat, blah, blah blah. Democrats say we have to leave Iraq to stabilize the region and the terrorists will die out, blah, blah blah (and, by the way, fire Rumsfeld).
- Commentary
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Aw, Leave The Poor Guy Alone.
2006-09-06.
It seems like everyone thinks Donald Rumsfeld is single-handedly responsible for everything bad that’s happened over the last 5 years, and simply removing him from office will immediately restore the world to the happy Utopian paradise it was before 2001. Personally I think people are giving him a little too much credit. It’s like an owner firing the head coach of a losing football team in the middle of the season in the hope that it will “spark” the team to win more.
- Commentary
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The Fronts Are Everywhere.
2006-09-08.
President Bush has been pouring on the rhetoric lately and claiming that Iraq is The Front in the global war on terror, or something to that effect. I think that’s a bit misleading. I agree that it’s one of the fronts in “the war,” but I think there are quite a few other fronts, too.
- Commentary
2006-10
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New Study Hard To Believe.
2006-10-11.
There’s this new study out that claims 655,000 Iraqis have died because of the war, where it was previously estimated to be somewhere around 50,000. I find it rather hard to believe, especially considering their method of research: Walking around to private homes and asking the people that live there. Human nature dictates that people always exaggerate, and I’m quite sure that the average person doesn’t keep accurate records of the number of people dying around them anyway.
- Commentary
2006-11
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Kerry’s Unfortunate Misstatement.
2006-11-02.
This is old news now (or should be, at least), but I couldn’t post yesterday.
- Commentary
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Random Post-Election Thoughts.
2006-11-13.
Thank God it’s over.
- Commentary
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A Dissertation On The State Of Iraq.
2006-11-21.
It’s almost impossible to imagine a satisfying result in Iraq anymore.
- Commentary
2006-12
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More Republican Distractions.
2006-12-06.
Perhaps this is another example of the Bush administration trying to distract attention away from Iraq: On the same day that the Iraq Study Group is releasing its uber-hyped report advising a withdrawal from Iraq by 2008, CNN is spamming the news that Vice President Cheney’s lesbian daughter is pregnant. Oh, those tricksy Republicans.
- Commentary
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Crooks and Liars and Elves and Unicorns.
2006-12-30.
The occasion of Saddam’s largely meaningless demise gives us at least one colorful example of extreme partisan blogging from the left: The Farce Goes On.
- Commentary
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On Riverbend.
2006-12-30.
Alice and Mrs. Krehbiel both took me to task for criticizing Iraqi blogger Riverbend, so I went and read over some of her blog today. I have to somewhat shamefully admit that I haven’t read her work in a while.
- Commentary
2007-01
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Year End Loose Ends: Haditha.
2007-01-01.
I’ve been meaning to write about this for some time, since it was a story I was following with some interest throughout the year. I read recently that four Marines involved in the alleged killing of 24 civilians at Haditha are now being charged with murder.
- Commentary
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Iraq versus Highways.
2007-01-08.
I keep telling people that serving in Iraq is probably safer than driving to work on Interstate 95 every day, but nobody seems to believe me.
- Commentary
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Something Less Confrontational: The Speech.
2007-01-11.
I was sick of hearing about the President’s stinkin’ speech several days before it was even delivered, and the speech blogstorm is mostly over by now anyway (that speech was soooo 12 hours ago!), so I’m not going to add much more about it.
- Commentary
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Theories About Bush’s New Way Forward.
2007-01-13.
The pundit shows have been hammering the same message over and over again, which is basically, “Bush must be insane to threaten Iran and Syria.” Democrats and even some Republicans appear to be conveying the same message.
- Commentary
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Semantics Over Candles And Signs.
2007-01-20.
I’ve criticized the CASTLE bloggers (aka. oasis + launchpad) a lot lately so I figure it’s only fair that I also say I approve of their campaign to use candles and signs to show support for the troops, as reported in the Staunton News Leader: Candles support troops; signs call for victory. There’s not a thing wrong with it, and I applaud their conviction.
- Commentary
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Civilian Reserve Corps?.
2007-01-25.
One other part of the State of the Union address that jumped out at me was the president’s call for a Civilian Reserve Corps.
- Commentary
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Virginia Guardsmen Fall.
2007-01-25.
It’s been reported in the local news a lot, but it’s well worth noting again that two of the twelve soldiers who died in the Black Hawk helicopter crash near Baghdad this past weekend were Virginia Guardsmen: Va. copter-crash victims recalled.
- Commentary
2007-02
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Virginia Marine Falls: Lance Cpl. Daniel Morris.
2007-02-22.
I’m embarrassed at how late I am to mention this, but here goes: This year I’m trying to do what little I can to honor fallen soldiers from Virginia by making a brief note about their passing. It’s not nearly as much as they deserve.
- Commentary
2007-03
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Virginia Fallen: Staff Sgt. Robert Stanley and Sgt. Michael C. Peek.
2007-03-08.
I’m continuing to briefly mention fallen soldiers from Virginia as my own personal homage. I heard about these on the radio this morning.
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Roggio’s Daily Reports.
2007-03-16.
I’ve always enjoyed Bill Roggio’s counterterrorism blogging efforts–he’s one of the very few bloggers I would actually consider calling a journalist. He’s now writing daily Iraq reports for The Weekly Standard blog. I recommend reading them; his reports are always full of good nuts-and-bolts information that you hardly ever hear from the more sensationalistic, sound-bite-oriented news outlets.
- Commentary
2007-04
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Virginia Fallen: Staff Sgt. Jason Arnette.
2007-04-09.
As usual, I’m very late on this, but I wanted to briefly mention: Amelia County native Staff Sgt. Jason Arnette was killed by an improved explosive device in Iraq on Sunday, April 1, 2007. From the Times-Dispatch: ‘“He not only gave his life for his country, he died doing what he wanted to do,” his mother, Michelle Arnette, said last night from her home in Amelia.’
- Commentary
2007-05
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Partisan Bickering Stinks.
2007-05-02.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m weary of all the partisan games over the Iraq “war” funding bill. Both Republican and Democratic legislators alike are acting thoroughly childish, imho.
- Commentary
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Virginia Fallen: PFC Murphy, SSG Kiernan, SGT Cauthorn, SGT Frazier.
2007-05-16.
I heard on the radio this morning that a soldier from Lynchburg, Private 1st Class Chris Murphy, was killed in the ambush that also resulted in 3 kidnapped American soldiers. From the Times-Dispatch: “He was very dedicated to this,” she said. “He said he had made the right decision and was thinking of making a career of [the military].”
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Virginia Fallen: PFC Gautier, CWO Moore.
2007-05-25.
I’m not quite sure why I keep doing this. It’s actually quite depressing, but it feels wrong not to make an effort to shine a little bit of light on the people getting killed over there in Iraq, regardless of one’s political views about the situation.
- Commentary
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Early Retirement.
2007-05-30.
Cindy Sheehan has “resigned” as the face of the anti-war movement, two days after announcing that she left the Democratic Party.
- Commentary
2007-07
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Media Accidentally Reports Fiction In Iraq.
2007-07-03.
QandO has an important observation about terrorist propaganda and the news media. A few days back there was a story about 20 beheaded men found near Baghdad. QandO reports that the MNF-I (Multi-National Forces in Iraq – that’s the good guys) investigated and found the story was completely false, yet several news outlets reported it anyway (including CNN, as you can see from the link).
- Commentary
2007-08
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Regarding The Surge.
2007-08-07.
Regarding the recent surge in good news about the surge that I keep hearing about, how will we know it was the surge that worked and not simply the passage of time? The answer, I suspect, is that politicians and pundits will tell us so, which is not much of an answer. But if that will allow us to finally declare victory in the “war” that we decisively won over four years ago, I’m all for it.
- Commentary
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What If The Surge Is Working?.
2007-08-28.
I didn’t think the surge would do much good, but there is growing momentum for thinking that it is. And believe it or not that’s a Good Thing. Whether it’s real progress or just the media saying it’s progress, the results are basically the same (for us): We win the information war, America looks good, the terrorists look bad, our soldiers are winners instead of losers, etc., etc. I have little doubt that Petraeus’ September report will show that the surge is working, because really, what other report would he give?
- Commentary
2007-09
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Redacted.
2007-09-06.
I have mixed feelings about this upcoming Brian De Palma movie Redacted that everyone’s talking about (by everyone I mean some pro-war activists, who are raving about how De Palma should be locked up for treason). The film supposedly dramatizes the real-life incident of former Pfc. Steven Green planning the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl.
- Commentary
2008-04
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The Post-Surge Plan.
2008-04-10.
A BBC headline (“US ‘must suspend’ Iraq withdrawal”) reminded me that we have yet to hear the most important part of the surge plan: What’s the plan now that the surge succeeded and the extra troops are leaving again? What have we gained if Iraq descends back into violence again? At that point, withdrawal isn’t a question of surrendering to terrorists, it’s a question of surrendering to incompetence in the Iraqi leadership.
- Commentary
2008-07
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NanoPost: Commanders On The Ground.
2008-07-31.
It occurs to me that there is a serious flaw with politicians deferring to military commanders on the ground when it comes to Iraq: It undermines the principle that the U.S. is a civilian government. This isn’t Burma, after all. Obviously you want military commanders leading military campaigns… but foreign policy?
- Commentary