If it turns out that 70 (or more) civilians were killed in a recent airstrike in western Afghanistan, then it is an indicator that the U.S.-led NATO command in Afghanistan is pursuing a flawed strategy. Coalition forces lack sufficient force projection on the ground, and it looks like there's an overreliance on air support.

I was prepared to be impressed with this assessment on the state of al Qaeda, but it just didn't happen. Richard Barrett is a former counter-terrorism official for the British, and now with the UN Security Council. Actually, I think his assessments are cogent...

At the moment, Nouri al-Maliki's policy, if one can be discerned, seems to be "double cross everyone." It was the Sadrists in parliament who provided him with the votes he needed to become PM in the first place--early in 2008, he repaid them by sending the tanks into Basra and, with the help of American artillery and air support, gutted the armed power of the JAM.

From the AP:

Iraqi and U.S. negotiators have finished work on a draft security agreement that would see all American troops leave Iraqi cities by June 30 and the rest of the country by the end of 2011, Iraqi officials said Wednesday.

The security deal is to govern the status of the more than 140,000-strong U.S. military force after the U.N. Security Council mandate for its mission expires at the end of this year.

Also from the article:

In my previous post, I made reference to Bing West in an update. I first read his writings a couple of years ago and wrote about his take on Haditha "massacre" here, which to me encapsulated how badly we were screwing up in Iraq and it affirmed to me the strategy we needed to turn things around.

UPDATE: FOX NEWS and official Georgian sources were incorrect.

Reported by Lawyers, Gun & Money citing FOX News:

That's a tough question. To me, it's pretty clear that the situation has stabilized and that the surge strategy is working. Peter Mansoor does a good job explaining why. Also, civilian casualties are about as low as I've seen (hat tip to Engram),

and same goes for military casualties.

Earlier today, the Georgian national assembly overwhelmingly voted to declare war against Russia and to impose martial law. 15 days of martial law, for those of you who believe that Georgia's President Saakashvili is using this as a pretext to make himself dictator. This seems to indicate that the Georgians view this situation, win or lose, as a two week-long affair. But to me, the oddest aspect of all to this situation is the calmness and near-unanimity with which the Georgians have taken this momentous step.

That is Douglas Muir's "half-informed, amateur war analysis" of what Georgian leader Saakashvili has done by attempting to seize South Ossetia.

I don't really expect anyone to be as upset by the sight of real Russian Tanks on the Move to crush Georgian Troops, but the blood does rise, the muscles tighten...give me an anti-tank rocket and a clear field of fire....!

Prague, the Prague Spring that was bringing liberal humanism to the crushed spirit of the peoples of Eastern Europe, throwing off the boot of the Russian on the neck of the people....to arms, to arms...to the barricades, let this not be a bloody repeat of the crushing of the Hungarians in Budapest by the Russian Monster!