Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Share

For the last month I've been almost as quiet as Clarence Thomas. No more! And no, I did not give up blogging for Ramadan.

Let's review the month:

--My condolences to the families of the SEALs lost on Aug. 5. Oddly, I think I know the valley where they went down -- I remember going to a picnic near there in the spring of 1971. We also used to go skiing about 15 or 20 miles NE of the crash site. Even had a rope tow, and nice views of the Koh-i-Baba range.  

--I'm not fed up with President Obama. I agree with the observation I saw that he is less reckless than his political opponents. I don't think he has been given sufficient credit for that.  

--But I am fed up with Obama's Lincoln imitation. Here he is in Iowa in mid-August: "First of all, democracy is always a messy business in a big country like this. We're diverse, got a lot of points of view. We kind of romanticize sometimes what democracy used to be like. But when you listen to what the Federalists said about the anti- Federalists and the names that Jefferson called Hamilton and back and forth -- I mean, those guys were tough. Lincoln, they used to talk about him almost as bad as they talk about me." Actually, they talked much worse about Lincoln, and the country was in a much worse situation.

--Nice job wrapping up the Libyan war. This strikes me as a victory for the Libyan rebels, for NATO and for Obama. Turned out leading from the rear worked -- the United States achieved its aim, yet is not on the hook for the aftermath. Let the Libyans figure it out. Not one American died in this fight, as that is a good thing, in many ways. Was this Suez '56 in reverse?

--The Syrian military may be showing signs of splitting. It would be nice to see Assad go the way of Qaddafi. Iran worries about this happening and advises Assad to lighten up.

--Commentary on the British youff riots struck me as a mirror in which everyone blamed it on whatever they didn't like. Col. Blimp types blamed multiculturalism. (I actually think Europe doesn't have a multi-culture--we Americans do have one, and it works, generally. The UK and the Euros simply have societies that generally tolerate the presence of other minority cultures.) My favorite column blamed the Americanization of Britain, as if we invented riots.  

-If corporations are people, as candidate Romney asserts, why can't they be sentenced to jail, like regular people? Or even executed, like they do in Texas?

--And then there was this headline of the day:

Liberia's General Butt Naked seeks redemption

Maybe first, put on some pants.

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EXPLORE:THUMBS, HISTORY, MILITARY
 

MICHAEL VREDENBURG

3:23 PM ET

September 1, 2011

How was Provence?

Welcome back, Mr. Ricks.

 

TYRTAIOS

3:50 PM ET

September 1, 2011

Jeffersonian democracy established in Libya. . .soon. . .maybe

Wrapping-up the Libyan civil war, or just assisting in creating a new one as tribalism continues to surface ?

Now I read in the Italian newspaper "Il Sole 24 Ore" that one rebel leader admits to using individuals affiliated with Al-Qa'idah. . .Can a Yemeni type American footprint be far behind since we do have a bad habit of trying too hard with offers of assistance.

As for Iran's change in tone toward Al-Assad? That may have more to do with the fact that w/o the eye doctor's support, Tehran recognizes their support for Hizballah in Lebanon might be in jeopardy since they too recognizes the Syrian army is becoming worn down.

I would rant on about matters big and small, but Ricks has only been back less than a day and I must finish reading Cheney's new book I picked-up at COSTCO, along with a small marvel from Karup. . .a coffee bean grinder.

 

RBB

7:31 PM ET

September 6, 2011

So who does own the aftermath in Libya?

One would like to say "the Libyans".

But call me cynical if I don't believe it will play out this way once we start reading columns about "Libya: the Unraveling" -- though that would presume it was at some point "raveled".

As Libya remains dysfunctional and increasingly problematic (awaiting the first human rights report on starving child victims of war) our NATO partners and friends in the international community will start playing pin the tail on the donkey. And I have a pretty good sense of who the jackass will be.

Why does the pottery barn rule not apply?

No doubt our...err...NATO's "phase IV" plan was just as wired as the post-ops plan for Iraq.

 

RPM

4:56 PM ET

September 1, 2011

Thank god.

I thought the month would never end... Ricks was on hiatus and my SF Giants lost 19 games.

And there was an earthquake.

And a hurricane.

 

JOHN DAVID SPENCER

3:08 AM ET

September 2, 2011

10 points for Obama

Personally, I don't care for Obama. He's been a patsy since day one, but I agree he is the best thing going. And to take down Libya without a single local boy shot, that is more than commendable...it's down right cunning.

Now, where I can shoot holes in Obama (he wants to be compared to Lincoln, right?) is his war on unemployment. More Americans than ever are unemployed, there is no great initiative to retrain and realign these citizens, and the salary levels are at the very best flat since he took office.

Isn't being president about bringing out the best things in America and Americans? Isn't it time he looks at the land, and figure out what the country really needs to do now?

 

PAUL KOCH JR.

5:32 AM ET

September 2, 2011

More of the Same from Obama

Doing more of the same and expecting something different to happen... Obama tried spreading around the wealth to create more jobs, didn't work then won't work now. As soon as the government stops trying to fix the economy we can start making more jobs. Stop propping up the banks and stop "helping" underwater homeowners, and the economy can start healing itself. Otherwise we can expect more uncontrollable problems to continue popping up out of the woodwork . Obama's frustration level will continue to rise as long as he can't admit his policies aren't working and he tries something different.

 

JIM GOURLEY

5:33 AM ET

September 2, 2011

No comments about Anonymous/Lulz?

Scotland Yard and the FBI rolled up four kids (two teens and two twenty-somethings) who'd spent more time watching "V for Vendetta" than talking to girls. I think this says quite a few things about an existential threat to national security :

- Forget about China, our national intelligence and law enforcement networks (to say nothing of the NATO mainframe, apparently) are susceptible to attack by people who aren't even old enough to buy beer.

- In some cases, they're also not even old enough to be drafted yet. Given the rhetoric extolled by Anonymous, they suddenly appear a great deal less legitimate. Not that their incoherent attempts at a manifesto ever lent themselves to legitimacy in the first place.

- Given the juxtaposition of technical expertise and immaturity of their political discourse, the network structure that eschews hierarchy or even identities and the globalized ring of contributors, is it just me or is it entirely possible that a savvy state actor could infiltrate the group and influence its behavior against the target(s) of its choice?

- Based on all that, am I the only one who believes that groups such as these, while not as dangerous as Al Qaeda, are potentially more dangerous?

 

TYRTAIOS

12:46 PM ET

September 2, 2011

Sure. . .

Black Hats, the future Jarheads of cyber warfare: we talk about recuiting for various cyber commands to meet the threat you describe. . .and it is already a threat. . .but my bet is we aren't attracting and focusing to our advantage those you describe.

We need a different kind of individual in this domain and to change our attitude toward recruitment and service. . .obviously this isn't the march'em to chow in the morning crowd.

 

SILENTSHWAN

3:51 PM ET

September 2, 2011

Heck

The Army would actually have to start marching to chow in the morning again to scare them away. Just show how bad standards have gotten as of late and give them all shaving and haircut profiles, they'll come around.

I wonder if the Army Times is still running they're weekly "We're going back to old school, seriously" articles.

 

JIM GOURLEY

5:37 AM ET

September 2, 2011

Also, please make Perry the BD comment of the day

I'm dying to know what everyone thinks of "multilateral debating societies."

Additionally, maybe corporations ARE people. Have you seen how many of them are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq?

 

JIM GOURLEY

5:41 AM ET

September 2, 2011

Ending on a more somber note...

Last observation. This was the first month that there were no American combat deaths in Iraq. So we can say with certainty that more veterans of that war died as a result of PTSD/depression at home than they did of direct enemy action in country. I imagine it won't be much longer until we're saying the same about Afghanistan, as well.

Regardless of when the troops leave, these wars will continue for at least another decade. Let's see what everyone's still doing with their yellow ribbons then.

 

KIM6789

7:08 AM ET

September 2, 2011

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CARSON

3:04 PM ET

September 30, 2011

As soon as the government

As soon as the government stops trying to fix the economy we can start making more jobs. Stop propping up the banks and stop "helping" underwater homeowners, and the economy can start healing itself. Otherwise easy home projects we can expect more uncontrollable problems to continue popping up out of the woodwork . Obama's frustration level will continue to rise as long as he can't admit his policies aren't working and he tries something different.

 

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military for the Washington Post from 2000 through 2008.

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