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Many on this forum have correctly identified that it is lazy thinking, not PowerPoint, that is the problem. PowerPoint is the symptom. The underlying problem is the way we train commanders to sit...

We have to do both, push the governments that restrict human rights and opportunity (pick any gov't in the Middle East as a prime example) to change as well as deradicalize the environment. Radical...

Tequila,

I feel about IO like Ghandi felt about Christianity: [it is] a good thing but it needed people to try it. We don't even make the attempt at pointing out the inhumanity of our enemies and...

I've never thought that these decisions are either save lives or save image. The actions and words should be integrated so as to reinforce each other and do both.

We know that AQ has been trying...

Bill,

I would agree on the security issue before 1983, but since then the Embassies have become more and more like fortresses. There are ways for the Ambassador to protect his folks without...

No troops for Yemen: White House aide (AFP) 3 January 2010, http://tinyurl.com/y8d459z

Do we really need to announce this? Might be the right answer if YM can defeat AQ with only indirect support...

Not saying that the YM government is worth backing. If they have truly had enough of AQ and take up arms against it, it's a good start, however. My point is that we should think through the impact...

Sure seems like it when we close our Embassy in Yemen and announce that it was due to fears of AQ retaliation for our support of the Yemeni government (http://tinyurl.com/y9mhuxb).

Strategic...

Sure seems like it when we close our Embassy in Yemen and announce that it was due to fears of AQ retaliation for our support of the Yemeni government (http://tinyurl.com/y9mhuxb).

Strategic...

Wish I could be more optimistic, but the Iranian regime will lash out violently at any hint of real rebellion. Our best course is to support democracy against tyranny and let the world draw their...

Absolutely agree. We'll see if other sources confirm.

PJMedia is reporting that a letter of support for the protesters signed by Commanders in the Iranian Army. The text of the report can be found at:...

I never ascribe to guile that which can be written off to ignorance. That said, the only way to stop this sort of idiocy is to do more to educate the media. However, most military officers have an...

Saying that all cultures are morally equivalent is to not think about the underlying question at all. There are God-given rights that, if violated, make a culture less worthy than others that...

The writer's woolly-headedness is evident when he uses the "supposed success of the surge [in Iraq]" to denigrate GEN P's previous accomplishments then argues that previous success are not indicative...

This is the DoS press release that explains that the State Department is going to use military reservists because it can't fill the 250 slots it has in Afghanistan. It says it is "essential" to have...

The S/G/J-3's coordinate Eng, Arty, Avn, AD, etc, but we take what is their most important tool in COIN and place it in a parallel staff section -- the 7. If we really believe that information ops...

Let's hope that I am. When the non-military agencies start flowing in to fix what the President says is the most important challenge we face as a nation, I will be the happiest guy around. Just...

Bruce,

The career FSOs bleating about being sent "to their deaths" in Iraq when it looked like volunteers wouldn't fill the numbers weren't media hype. There are lots of skills that FSOs have...

Looked at the new plan for Afghanistan and there is lots of rhetoric about rebuilding, governance, rule of law, etc, but the latest DoS statements indicate that very few civilians are actually being...