James Jeffrey, the new US Ambassador to Iraq, told reporters that the US would consider a request to keep troops in Iraq beyond the December 2011 deadline for withdrawal. He added that, if the United States does stay, the Iraqis would have to help with security of the troops on the bases. The only thing missing from this transaction is any actual request from the Iraqi government.

The announcement of John Durham’s decision to investigate two CIA detainee murders prompts a reexamination at how the different torture techniques were developed, and how they were propagated across governmental institutional boundaries between the Department of Defense and the CIA. If the press did their job, perhaps we could get a better picture of how torture was implemented, who was responsible, leading the public to demand the accountability that otherwise, without significant public outcry, is not going to happen.

When people who’ve worked in sensitive intelligence positions want to write their memoirs, they typically submit their manuscripts to their parent agency; there’s a back-and-forth about what can be revealed; it’s resolved; and the book goes to the printer. For Shaffer, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer — and someone in the rare position of being both an operations guy and an analyst — something different happened. The Pentagon bought the entire 10,000-copy first printing of Shaffer’s memoir, Operation Dark Heart, and destroyed it.

We all know how 11 dimensional chess works: President Obama claims he supports something easily acceptable and mainstream, like removing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell or closing the illegal prison at Guantanamo Bay. His plan for doing so however, involves an ethereal, un-named bill making its way through both the House and Senate, which have almost [...]

War is not politics, it is violence – murder – on an enormous scale. It does not lead to democracy, security, or good governance, it leads to anger, humiliation, and above all else, more violence.

A response to Spencer Ackerman’s opening gambit on Pakistan diplomacy.

Nouns give an essay substance, and verbs give it motion. Adjectives transform it from black and white into color.

Consider Carol Rosenberg’s comments on the rules at the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Like Ansel Adams, she works with black and white, giving us a picture of the administration of justice, such as it is, at Gitmo. Even if she doesn’t use adjectives, they come through on their own. Words like “silly” and “vengeful” and “clueless.”

Holder and Gates give the US a black eye with the way Gitmo represents our system of justice to the world. Rosenberg, on the other hand, does the constitution proud.

The government is banning journalists for using a name they’ve used in reports in the past, a name that is publicly known. Is this an attempt to prevent the public from making the connection between two Afghans who died in 2002 and Khadr’s treatment? And/or just an attempt to intimidate the press so the people who know the most about the Gitmo show trials (and particularly Khadr) don’t bring that knowledge to bear on their reporting?

  I agree with Spencer Ackerman that this is a big deal–Matthew Hoh, a Foreign Service officer with previous experience in the Marines, has resigned his post in Afghanistan, specifically in protest over the war, which he claims “fuels the insurgency.”   “I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United [...]