Random Shots

I am SO glad that the Marines are in Afghanistan, spreading our good name around.

Stephen Biddle says that if we don't stay in Afghanistan, al Qaeda will get nuclear weapons. Has he always leaned toward the neocons?

I ask because John Yoo justifies warrantless wiretapping and torture because he is also afraid of al Qaeda's nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. But he's a huge asshat.

People who want to lock in the defense budget as a percentage of GDP are liars, morons, or both.

I think the Brits are finally getting tired of doing Afghanistan on the cheap and watching the war spin on. 

Pat Lang sets us straight on the ridiculous noise about "CIA assassinations."

Comments

[Ray]

The UK article sums up exactly what we UK people think about this war; we ought therefore to look at it's writer:
Name Edward Richard Holmes
Age 58
Job:Director of Security Studies Institute, Cranfield University.
Formerly, Colonel in Chief, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment.
Previously Head of War Studies Department, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst
Books Firing Line (1985), Riding the Retreat (1995), War Walks (1996), War Walks 2 (1997), Redcoat (2001), Tommy (2004)...and more recent.
TV various documentaries, including (on site) War Walks, The Western Front and Battlefields.
I say this because from time-to-time, I like some others, forget that we are civilians now, and yet like to know that articles which could influence decision makers in these present wars, are written by people who know what they're talking about. Professor Holmes' military books and television series (BBC) are well worth the reader's and watcher,s energy. Sounds like a commercial, I know, but the authority and reliability of military experience and scholarship is there. There is no doubt at all that British politicians will have taken note of his comments.

[Peter]

Love that photo of the cannon, J. Could be useful in Afghanistan. I'd live to see those US marines hauling it.

[Ray]

BBC today-

"The US Army will "temporarily" increase its size by 22,000 soldiers for the next three years, Defence Secretary Robert Gates has announced."

Does this mean that the Brits can come home now? We are fighting and losing people, just as America is; dreadful.

However, it seems superfluous for the Brits to continue and look to add to it's military presence in Afghanistan, in the light of the US increased resources.