I didn't see Obama's address last night, but I read the text.  I couldn't find anything really objectionable about it.  I do find Robert Gibbs objectionable, which is Obama's fault because he hired Gibbs.  On the Today show, Gibbs said:

• Bird Dog's blog
• 31 comments
• Read more

A Norwegian journalist was able to get himself embedded with a Taliban unit. Unfortunately, the 26-minute tape was removed from YouTube and this is the best I substitute I could find. The longer tape showed the foot soldiers as funny and likable. The one below is longer but tThere's no guarantee that the following excerpt will work.

There are really two questions involved here:  (1) did the counterinsurgency strategy--led by General Petraeus--succeed, and (2) has our venture in Iraq succeeded.  To the first question, my answer is "yes", but it took the help of Sunni tribes and the standing down of Shiite militias led by Muqtada al Sadr to make it happen.  A degree of battle fatigue contributed to the situation, and al Maliki made some strong moves to quell Shiite intransigence.  Although American forces tried to maintain continuity of its operations after the Strategic Framework Agreement was signed

You know a group is a cancer on society when they murder international aid workers.

• Bird Dog's blog
• 46 comments
• Read more

[Update:] According to CBS News, Julian Assange endangered hundreds of Afghans who were working with ISAF, and there could very well be blood on Assange's hands when he published their names.  There is no doubt that the Talibaners and other militant Islamists who can read English (granted, a small number) will be poring through those documents with interest.  Nice job, Julian.

The latest wikileaks leak turns its eye on Pakistan's intelligence service and their aiding and abetting the Taliban and al Qaeda.  Those who have been following AfPak affairs closely already know about their culpability.  The wikileaks effort just provides more confirmation.  More here, and below is some of the new stuff.

With a title like The Myth of Modern Jihad, I was expecting to be edified by Robert Wright but came away mostly disappointed.  The nut of it below:

• Bird Dog's blog
• 89 comments
• Read more

Bing West has seen a few counterinsurgencies over the decades and he has some fair points:

The Rolling Stone article should be unrecoverable for General McChrystal's career.  Obama picked him, and now he should unpick him.  In the spirit of the World Cup, redcard him.  The piss-poor judgment that McChrystal displayed is a firing offense.  It is plainly stupid that the general would dis-embed one of the best war journalists out there (Michael Yon) and then allow an obviously&

Anthony Cordesman started the quest for The Wring with this article, and it is relevant because he was one of the key supporters of a counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan.  A key paragraph:

• Bird Dog's blog
• 21 comments
• Read more