Those who refuse to give this plan a chance to work have an obligation to offer an alternative that has a better chance for success.

You've got the guy who runs all of the guys who understand how to deal with problems like this demanding that legislators develop an alternative military strategy. Legislators are not military strategists. Part of taking responsibility for your mistakes involves being able to defend your proposals! There are hard questions that ought to have good answers before we escalate this conflict. As far as I can see those questions have not been answered.

1. What does domestic politics have to do with your troop levels. If more troops were all thats needed why weren't they being deployed months ago?
2. What does domestic politics have to do with sectarian barriers to entering neighborhoods? (Malaki is scared because the possibility of our leaving is on the table might be an acceptable answer.)
3. Do you actually have a way to get more troops?
4. Are those troops appropriately trained and equipped to handle the mission? How is that possible when you are deploying them on such an aggressive schedule?
5. Can that mission succeed.... To a point, is there a military solution to quelling the violence in Iraq? Will the sectarian groups back down in the face of more American military presence, or does a solution require a diplomatic agreement between the political leaders of the various factions? Is there any reason to beleive that Iran, now quite emboldened, has any interest at all in doing anything but continuing to instigate trouble? Is there any reason to beleive that operating a crackdown can have anything more than a cosmetic impact on the levels of violence if the fundamental interersts driving the conflict are not resolved?

Bush defends new Iraq strategy against strong opposition on Capitol Hill - International Herald Tribune

MOST AMERICANS understand that legal representation for the accused is one of the core principles of the American way. Not, it seems, Cully Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs.

In a repellent interview yesterday with Federal News Radio, Mr. Stimson brought up, unprompted, the number of major U.S. law firms that have helped represent detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Mr. Stimson proceeded to reel off the names of these firms, adding, "I think, quite honestly, when corporate CEOs see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those CEOs are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms, and I think that is going to have major play in the next few weeks. And we want to watch that play out."

Jesus. It is wholly inappropriate for a Government employee operating in an official capacity to call publicly for private reprisals against lawyers for defending people accused of commiting crimes. These people are not trying to help terrorists. They are trying to ensure that the rule of law is protected. The administration has established a pattern of targetting these lawyers, and with them, our system of justice.

Unveiled Threats - washingtonpost.com

This desk calendar provides information on terrorist incidents throughout recent history along with information on key groups and people.

Now available for download from the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) website. I wish you could buy a printed copy. I imagine Kinkos would ask for a suicide bombing in exchange for printing this.

2007 Counterterrorism Calendar (PDF)

School headmaster Chamnong Chupatpong and Mano Sonkaew were driving a pickup truck on their way to Ban Baedo school in Yala province when they were shot, dragged out of the vehicle and burned to death, according to a witness, Lt. Tatsapol Suwannabul said.

And here we're worried about textbook stickers.

Muslim rebels in southern Thailand target school teachers

Decided to spend the evening combing the War Nerd's archives. This post from the summer of 2002 is, in a sense, a far more accurate perspective on Iraq than anything that anyone else, including Stratfor, had to say.

So we're gonna go back into Iraq now, to clean up the malpractices from our first cool, clean, surgical operation. And of course that's gonna fuck things up about a hundred times worse. This time they have to get rid of Saddam...

No Saddam means crazy Kurds, crazy Shiites, scared Saudis, angry Wahhabi loonies, desperate Palestinians...it means we go right up close to the ol' hornets' nest and hit it again with a big, big stick.

Boy, it sure is hard to predict what'll happen then, huh?

That's IF the abu Cheney clan of the desert oil wells is dumb enough to really do it, really send in 250,000 troops to take Iraq. Militarily it'll be a joke. You could do it with a battalion of SAS. Those Iraqi soldiers were surrendering to camera crews. That's the easy part.

The hard part is making up a new happy Western Iraq. Won't happen; can't happen. Anybody who ain't thick as two planks knows that. So will they do it? Are they really that dumb?
...
Bush Sr. was head of the CIA, man -- he was a serious person. Bush Jr. is like the Second Coming as comedy. He isn't somebody you have to take seriously.

eXile - Issue #145 - War Nerd - Iraq 2: Here Comes the Dumb-Ass Sequel - By Gary Brecher

In a federal courtroom today, nine former prisoners at U.S. military prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan will seek through an unusual lawsuit to hold outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and top military commanders personally responsible for the torture they say they endured.

Ex-Detainees Seek to Sue U.S. Officials - washingtonpost.com

The TSA has sent Soghoian a letter confirming its investigation of civil charges that he violated air safety laws. The fines can be up to $11,000 per violation.

Soghoian update

Stephen A. Cambone, the Pentagon's top intelligence official and a close ally of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, will step down at the end of the year, becoming the first key department member to leave in the wake of Rumsfeld's resignation.

Pentagon intelligence chief resigns - CNN.com

terratogen wrote:
If you don't allow open rebellion through speech, then you end up with dissatisfied masses which have no other outlet to change things other than violence.

I strongly agree. Its just that in this environment, there is an inevitable interface between speech and organization, which is similar to the interface between the civilian and the solider, which is discussed in the linked article:

A prisoner of war, for example, does not have a constitutional right to counsel. Conversely, an accused in the criminal context does have a right to counsel and a host of procedural and substantive protections.

When wars were fought with muskets on designated battlefields, the division between these two spheres was clear. Today, the distinction is increasingly blurred.

We have to figure out where the line ought to be. The discussion is one of the most important ones going on today.

Time to Take Rights Seriously

In Louisville, Kentucky -- home to Louisville Slugger, America's most famous baseball bat manufacturer -- TSA has a special warning display near the security screening area at the airport.

Sadly, this is the closest thing to "local flavor" that I've seen at any of the otherwise uniformly-grim TSA outposts around the country.

What Happens When Local Industry Crosses Paths with the TSA in Lousiville on Flickr - Photo Sharing!