tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-111837832011-04-21T17:32:49.081-04:00It's Security, Stupid!Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.comBlogger761100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1118067030526838422005-06-06T10:08:00.000-04:002005-06-06T10:10:50.596-04:00

I finally took the time this weekend to setup a new home for Draft Zinni! The new civicspace site can be found at http://www.draftzinni.com. Please update your bookmarks and stop by the site!

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1117741989906109792005-06-02T15:53:00.000-04:002005-06-02T16:23:16.500-04:00

Kos pointed today to an article on Defense Tech (quoting from Defense news), which noted that due to budget cuts and bloated pet projects the Air Force is severely cutting back on pilot training time.Air Combat Command (ACC), the primary provider of combat airpower, is cutting 32,000 flying hours to help compensate for its $825 million operations and maintenance shortfall.The cuts come as Air

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1117672720560538842005-06-01T20:38:00.000-04:002005-06-01T20:38:40.573-04:00

Today must be Thomas Friedman smackdown day. Paul Kerr at ArmsControlWonk takes Friedman to task for his "ridiculously obvious" answer to the WMD proliferation problems the world faces. As Kerr notes: Just more evidence that those who supported the Iraq fiasco really need to STFU, stop lecturing the rest of us about foreign policy, sit in a corner, and think about what they did.

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1117649639750479522005-06-01T14:13:00.000-04:002005-06-01T17:56:09.540-04:00

Bobby Bran of Bobby's World! recently commented on a TNR article dealing with attempts by Conservatives to push more conservative voices within academia, comparing this to liberal attempts, such as the Civic Soldier Forum, to encourage more interaction between progressives and military personnel.My perception is that the so-called left-wing bias of American universities is prevalent, but I don't

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1117647019197773422005-06-01T13:30:00.000-04:002005-06-01T13:32:25.850-04:00

Check out this smackdown of neocon and intellectual wannabe Thomas Friedman over at Baghdad Burning.The Arab world's spiritual and media leaders have their hands tied right now. Friedman better hope Islamic spiritual leaders don't get involved in this mess because the first thing they'd have to do is remind the Islamic world that according to the Quran, the Islamic world may not be under the

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1117122861383372452005-05-26T11:48:00.000-04:002005-05-26T11:54:21.450-04:00

The following is a response to the comments in the Transformation And Networked Organizations post below. The comment went too long, so I'm putting it here...Having said that, more troops on the ground is not necessarily a panacea. Ambassador Khalilzad and LTG Barno demonstrated that with a force *one-ninth* that of OIF, in a country the *same* size and population as Iraq, they could nonetheless

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1117039564108577142005-05-25T10:57:00.000-04:002005-05-25T12:51:35.233-04:00

Today, Alexander the Average posted a blog entry commenting on a CAP report on needed transformations of the intelligence agencies. The main thrust of both the report and Alexander's comments, is the need for more investment in "human capital," something which I have been thinking a lot about over the past year as I look around for the investment in human capital that I expect to be made within

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1116872156607555212005-05-23T14:06:00.000-04:002005-05-23T14:19:28.380-04:00

I just happened across a free hosting service for PDF files, and I've been meaning to post my final paper from one of my International Relations classes online, so here it goes...The paper is titled Cyber Threats to the Critical Infrastructure of the United States and can be viewed here (PDF). At the very least I think that the sources can provide a good starting point for anyone interested in

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1116869528295119792005-05-23T12:55:00.000-04:002005-05-23T13:32:08.300-04:00

Last weeks top-ten list on Democracy Arsenal posed a series of questions that Democrats should be prepared to answer. The list is quite good, and I'm in full agreement that any progressive that wants to be taken seriously on national security issues should be ready to answer each of these: 1. Isn’t it the case that had a progressive been in the White House, Saddam Hussein would still be in

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1116605160798279382005-05-20T11:37:00.000-04:002005-05-20T12:25:20.646-04:00

In my original Draft Zinni! piece I pushed the idea of drafting Gen. Zinni to run against Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania. I've obviously found little support, so far, for this from other Pennsylvanians, and it now appears that Bob Casey Jr. will be Santorum's opponent. My reasons for choosing the US Senate race in PA where probably a little self-centered- I wanted to fight the Right in my beloved

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1116426779915298022005-05-18T10:28:00.000-04:002005-05-18T10:40:10.580-04:00

One of my favorite political groups- Operation Truth- is having a benefit concert in New York City this weekend. I'll definitely be going, and if anyone who happens on this blog wants to join, please leave a comment on this forum- you'll be supporting a great cause and you'll get to see some good live music at the same time!If you came to this blog via Music for America (the political outreach

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1116356605183879372005-05-17T14:38:00.000-04:002005-05-20T14:43:53.856-04:00

Sometimes it's really hard to get a good idea of just how good someone is at something by just reading about them. This week I've been beginning to apply for field operations jobs at various political organizations and I've been having a hell of a time trying to put my skill set, much of which has to do with how I work in the field, into words.Well, trying to get across what is so great about Gen

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1116353424385962082005-05-17T11:45:00.000-04:002005-05-17T14:28:58.606-04:00

Yesterday I received an e-mail from Wes Clark asking his supporters to join him in a virtual march to stop global warming. Here's part of whatthe message:Global warming and environmental policy are indeed important issues when considering national security policy.Here's why: Evidence shows that global warming brings with it harsher weather conditions that could lead to drought and food shortages.

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1116174036773166662005-05-15T12:20:00.000-04:002005-05-15T13:49:08.043-04:00

Is Operation Truth part of a vast-Leftwing conspiracy to paint our soldiers as murdering psychopaths? After reading this piece of sophist garbage at Soldier's for Truth you might think so. You see, Operation Truth is going to Washington this week to talk with Congressional leaders about, amongst other troubling issues, the extremely high prevalence of PTSD and other mental disorders amongst our

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1116172356095704532005-05-15T11:46:00.000-04:002005-05-15T11:52:36.100-04:00

For those who missed this on Kos, Carl Nyberg had an amazing diary on Kos this week dealing with questions about military recruitment.This is why Carl has some authority on the subject:My last two years as a Navy officer I was assigned to Navy Recruiting District Chicago. I investigated misconduct by enlisted recruiters. At the end of my tour I was a whistle-blower about extensive corruption in

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1115744843453162162005-05-10T13:07:00.000-04:002005-05-10T15:24:04.430-04:00

In last weeks Marine Corps Times there was an article about a speech that Gen. Anthony Zinni (ret.) gave at the Marine Corps Association's Ground Dinner, where he outlined what in my eyes are a few of the basic tenets of a Progressive foreign policy.The most basic tenet of a progressive foreign policy should be, in my eyes, that military force is only one of the tools we posses to achieve our

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1115646555568314992005-05-09T09:49:00.000-04:002005-05-09T10:25:27.806-04:00

An editorial in last Friday's LA Times pointed to yet another disturbing sign of the Bush Administration's disdain for non-traditional security issues. In this case the area being neglected is Cyber Security.The Pentagon fumble in which military officials essentially published on the Web the full version of a supposedly censored report was news last week. But occurring beneath the news radar is a

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1115327257737781862005-05-05T17:07:00.000-04:002005-05-05T17:08:04.213-04:00

Today our nation lost a great soldier and patriot. Col. David H. Hackworth has passed away.Washington, D.C., May 5, 2005 – Col. David H. Hackworth, the United States Army's legendary, highly decorated guerrilla fighter and lifelong champion of the doughboy and dogface, ground-pounder and grunt, died Wednesday in Mexico. He was 74 years old. The cause of death was a form of cancer now appearing

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1115215393085614572005-05-04T10:03:00.000-04:002005-05-04T10:09:38.103-04:00

The pressure continues to mount on our armed forces as the Army misses April recruiting goal by 42 percent.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army missed its April recruiting goal by a whopping 42 percent and the Army Reserve fell short by 37 percent, officials said on Tuesday, showing the depth of the military's wartime recruiting woes.With the Iraq war straining the U.S. military, the active-duty

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1115136342132422562005-05-03T11:54:00.000-04:002005-05-03T17:18:35.856-04:00

Within the comments of the Armchair Generalist post that I listed below Bobby Bran and I disagreed about whether you could call Iraq a strategic mistake. While Bobby admits to many of the tactical and/or operational errors made by the Pentagon's civilian leadership, he stated that only history will tell whether the war was a strategic success or not.I couldn't disagree more with those who say

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1114441456775933752005-04-29T11:04:00.000-04:002005-04-29T13:14:42.300-04:00

Over at ArmchairGeneralist I just posted a long rant in the comments of a post llooking at Charles Duelfer's Final report, which basically made official what everyone should know by now- Iraq posed little threat to the U.S. and had no WMD. My rant was in response to Bobby Bran, who's blog is one of my daily reads, on why the ends don't justify the means when it comes to Bush's lies surrounding

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1114720933473847182005-04-28T16:32:00.000-04:002005-04-28T16:42:13.473-04:00

For those few folks who stop by here on a semi-regular basis, you may have noticed a lull in posts over the past two weeks. I have been working on my Master's thesis, which will be completed in two-three weeks.The thesis is titled The Keys To A Future Majority and the first two pieces are already posted on Music for America, the group that helped reel me into a life in politics. The first post,

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1114180477896551322005-04-22T10:34:00.000-04:002005-04-22T10:53:10.600-04:00

Armchair Generalist pointed earlier in the week to an organization dedicated to building a bridge between civilian and military progressives. The group is called Civic Soldier Forum, and this is what they hope to accomplish: We are building a progressive community within the military and bridging the gap that exists between civilian and military progressives.By exchanging ideas and through

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1113580222966799832005-04-22T10:15:00.000-04:002005-04-22T10:30:45.226-04:00

Intel Dump's Phil Carter, who wrote "The Case for the Draft", had a guest blog last week on Operation Truth looking at a RAND study that suggests options for shoring up our military other than the draft. This is from the summary:Recruiting is expensive. On average, it costs the U.S. Army about $15,000 to recruit one soldier,1 and it must recruit 80,000 to 90,000 each year. If a soldier fails to

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1114106273616269942005-04-21T13:57:00.000-04:002005-04-21T14:20:19.093-04:00

The Armchair Generalist has a great response to many of my questions in a post titledWhat Defines a WMD?.He gives a short, but very interesting, history of the term, beginning with Franco's bombings of Guernica, and continuing with Zhukov's usage (whom many credit with saving the Soviet Union in World War II, after he took command of the Soviet Army at Stalingrad), as well as some more

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1113936215154993172005-04-19T14:43:00.000-04:002005-04-20T10:21:22.123-04:00

J. at ArmchairGeneralist had a post yesterday dealing with one of his favorite topics, the ways in which CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) threats are overblown by both the media and security experts. In this case J was focused on the "threat" of a Ricin attack by terrorists group, which as he explains is not a WMD.I'm not trying to downplay the fact that the guy in question was

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1113578933712394172005-04-15T11:23:00.000-04:002005-04-15T19:29:37.300-04:00

In case you missed it, John Stewart covered the Bolton Nomination the other night. As usual it's both informing and hilarious. And seriously, when someone asks you whether you would have stopped the genocide in Rwanda, just say yes. As Stewart notes, nobody is going to send you back in a time machine to see if you're telling the truth.

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1113571492642444392005-04-15T09:24:00.000-04:002005-04-15T10:36:41.723-04:00

Chan Lowe, The South Florida Sun SentinelYesterday the Washington Post (via Laura Rozen) noted a third attempt by John Bolton to purge a deputy who disagreed with him. This time the accusation is directly related to the leadup to the current Iraq War. In 2003, John R. Bolton, President Bush's choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, ordered a young official working closely with

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1113325747918959502005-04-12T13:09:00.000-04:002005-04-12T14:05:28.803-04:00

I'm thinking that he must be. How else could he deal with the cognitive dissonance of this:US defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned Iraq's new leaders against political purges and cronyism that could create "lack of confidence or corruption in government".But the most unwittingly ironic part of his speech was this:"It's important that the new government be attentive to the competence of the

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1113230392040634792005-04-11T10:39:00.000-04:002005-04-11T12:35:52.936-04:00

If you've read my original Draft Zinni plea, you know that I've been pondering why Zinni has labeled himself a "Luger-Hagel Republican." I guessed in that piece that Zinni was one of the "security voters" who switched parties under Nixon and Reagan because they saw the Democrats as weak on defense.Today I found the first clue that Zinni may well have been Democrat. In this editorial discussing a

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112734685257006572005-04-07T17:58:00.000-04:002005-04-07T18:13:00.200-04:00

"progressive foreign policy expert?" "someone with a grip on reality?" "a rational thinker?" a "smart person?"Martin Peretz displays once again that being an editor of a magazine and an eloquent writer has absolutely no bearing on one's reasoning abilities. In his recent article The Politics of Churlishness Peretz has the gall to compare Bush's crusade through the Middle East with finding a cure

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112908272112126142005-04-07T17:10:00.000-04:002005-04-12T13:49:56.876-04:00

According to Neo-Con dilettante Bill Luti he is.Karen Kwiatkowski reported in Salon last year (thanks to ArmsControlWonk for the reminder):I was present at a staff meeting when Bill Luti called Marine Gen. and former Chief of Central Command Anthony Zinni a "traitor," because Zinni had publicly expressed reservations about the rush to war.So, what do you get for calling a four-star general who

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112735562582769772005-04-05T17:12:00.000-04:002005-04-05T17:25:23.166-04:00

This is, by far, the best eulogy of George Keenan that I have read since he died last week, both for its short but precise description of Keenan's acheivmants and for its discussion of how we seem to have lost teh ability or desire to put forth an official doctrine to deal with the threats we face.Today, we live in what might be called a "post-doctrine" era. Our new global conflict does not have

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112649141657000222005-04-04T17:06:00.000-04:002005-04-05T12:35:23.163-04:00

I got my laugh of the day from the end of a post on Arms Control Wonk which disccussed how 'Curveball' had been discredited before Powel's infamous speech at the UN.No word yet on whether the President plans to give Curveball the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112648052351104682005-04-04T16:54:00.000-04:002005-04-04T17:13:18.380-04:00

Democracy Arsenal provides 10 good reasonsWhy John Bolton Should Not Be Confirmed As U.S. Ambassador to the UN. Including:9. He doesn’t believe in paying U.S. dues to the UN. And has said so. A big part of the job of UN envoy is working with the Hill to get U.S. contributions paid. Withholding dues in the ‘80s and ‘90s led to a diplomatic debacle that took years to put right. We don’t have the

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112647585380304342005-04-04T16:46:00.000-04:002005-04-04T16:53:07.376-04:00

Larry C. Johnson has a good followup to his whitewash piece at The Counterterrorism Blog.The unfortunate impression left by the recent report on intelligence failures submitted by the Robb/Silbermann commission suggests that the CIA in general failed. Yet, as noted in a previous post on this site, we need to go beyond the generalities and look for the specifics of who failed. We need to look at

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112378196163822142005-04-01T12:56:00.000-05:002005-04-01T17:15:15.006-05:00

Larry Johnson, at the Counterterrorism Blog provides the best analysis of the sorry ass report on Iraq's supposed WMD program. Really increadible read, and definitely worth reading the entire thing.Yes the analysts were wrong. They believed that Iraq was reconstituting the nuke program. But there were important caveats. First, Iraq would only have a nuke if left "unmolested" to develop such a

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112302451042665002005-03-31T15:54:00.000-05:002005-03-31T16:05:38.543-05:00

Might Pakistan place nuclear weapons On F-16s? That's the question that ArmsControlWonk asks. Aircraft, however, are easier to keep on alert than liquid-fueled ballistic missiles. I worry Pakistan may assign some F-16s a “quick reaction” nuclear delivery role—a decision that might compromise the safety and security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. The Ghauri is a liquid-propellant,

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112297379318451692005-03-31T14:28:00.000-05:002005-03-31T14:29:39.320-05:00

Armchair Generalist had a post yesterday about the 30th birthday of the Biological Weapons Convention. He notes that John "the screaming diplomat" Bolton had a hand in killing the verification process for the convention.For those of you who think that the biothreat isn't real, I highly recommend taking a look at this NOVA special on Bioterrorism. If you really want to scare yourself check out the

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112287516985848912005-03-31T11:04:00.000-05:002005-03-31T11:45:16.990-05:00

Mathew Iglesias reports today on a new, really incredible, Democratic Security Blog, Democracy Arsenal, a joint venture of the Center for American Progress and the Century FoundationThere's a recent post on their site which strikes very close to home for me, the famous Matt Bai NY Times Magazine article Wiring the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy. This article strikes close to home for me partly because

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112279460087039502005-03-31T09:31:00.000-05:002005-03-31T09:31:00.086-05:00

There are two blog posts and an interesting conversation going on at Operation Truth about the prevelance of PTSD in Iraq right now. The conversation was sparked by this article in the Marine Times, in which a Marine General questions the actual levels of PTSD in Iraq. CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — A top Marine commander has dismissed a study by The New England Journal of Medicine that estimated 17

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112231432386525032005-03-30T19:54:00.000-05:002005-03-30T20:10:32.386-05:00

(via Operation Truth)Want to know what an IED explosion looks like? Check out this video (Windows Media Player) of an Humvee getting blown up by an IED. Luckily, nobody was hurt, but you can get an idea of the threat that our soldiers face every day in Iraq. Still have any doubts about why our soldiers desperately need armored Humvees? I would guess that the Marine who survived this blast would

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112223955620330862005-03-30T17:32:00.000-05:002005-03-31T13:32:51.680-05:00

Got the chance to catch the second half of the panel addressing "The Draft: Inevitable, Avoidable or Preferable?" hosted by the Center for American Progress and the Washington Monthly on C-Span today.. The talk dealt with the article of the same name, which I linked to earlier this week.There's a link to the video on the C-Span site, but so far I haven't been able to get it to work. Give it a try

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112139188227135172005-03-29T16:16:00.000-05:002005-03-29T20:59:39.480-05:00

The Armchair Generalist and Laura at War and Peace each have posts today about the the soon-to-be released presidential commission study on American intelligence failures regarding Iraq's missing WMD, and both have a similar reaction- "So what?" Now, I'm a little confused as to what they mean by their lack of surprise. On the one hand they could be saying that they're not surprised that the

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111767653202449042005-03-28T12:55:00.000-05:002005-03-28T12:56:17.913-05:00

Phillip Carter and Paul Glastris, the authors of the great blog Intel Dump, had an article in this past month's Washigton Monthly, titled "The Case for the Draft"The United States has occupied many foreign lands over the last half century—Germany and Japan in World War II, and, on a much smaller scale, Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo in the 1990s. In all these cases, we sponsored elections and

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1112031138430357312005-03-28T12:32:00.000-05:002005-03-28T14:13:22.226-05:00

The New York Times has an article today dealing with the support Troops are getting from credit companies, in the form of illegal attempts to foreclose on their houses while they're deployed.A longstanding federal law strictly limits the ability of his mortgage company and other lenders to foreclose against active-duty service members.But Sergeant Savage's experience was not unusual. Though

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111784118568506222005-03-25T15:55:00.000-05:002005-03-25T15:55:18.566-05:00

CAP posted a good piece on its site this week on Bush's nominations of Wolfowitz and Bolton.With the back-to-back nominations of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz as president of the World Bank and John Bolton as United States ambassador to the United Nations, President Bush has emphatically returned to his peculiar brand of "stick a hot poker in your eye" foreign policy and done so with

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111781150029340072005-03-25T14:05:00.000-05:002005-03-25T15:42:58.440-05:00

Soldiers for the Truth has an amazing article about the brutal nature of war titled War – and Warriors – Are about Killing.Somewhere along the way to the vicious conflict in Iraq, it seems a lot of people forgot that war is about killing. They forgot that warfare, by its very nature, is about the absolute, resolute application of death-dealing power against an enemy until that opponent either

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111694435870287462005-03-24T14:54:00.000-05:002005-03-24T15:26:34.266-05:00

According to today's New York Times, the Army is likely to miss its recruiting goals for March and April.The secretary, Francis J. Harvey, said internal Army studies predicted that the service would not meet its goals this month and the next.Those internal Army forecasts follow the official release of statistics for February, when the active-duty Army was 27 percent below its recruiting goal of

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111681158333757962005-03-24T11:19:00.000-05:002005-03-24T11:19:18.333-05:00

Just found someone hosting the full 60 Minutes segment on Anthony Zinni from last May. If you haven't seen the video yet, and want an idea of the type of speaker and thinker that Zinni is, this is a great place to start. undergroundclips: Anthony Zinni

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111361568852729422005-03-23T12:15:00.000-05:002005-03-23T23:39:51.226-05:00

The second comparison (between the Vietnam and Iraq wars)is trying to draw the American people into support of the war by cooking the books. We did it with the Gulf of Tonkin situation, where we were led to believe there was an attack on our destroyers while they were innocently in international waters, when they weren't. They were in North Vietnam territorial waters supporting an ongoing

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111550091218841172005-03-22T22:51:00.000-05:002005-03-22T22:54:51.220-05:00

Just put up a post over at Young Philly Poltics about the PA race...Here's a part:I personally could care less what any of these polls say. PA is going to be hotly contested and anyone out there who found comfort in the polls where Casey was shown to be way ahead is fooling themselves. Underestimating Santorum and the Republicans is suicide.That's why I really can't believe that the PA Dems are

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111430690175589942005-03-21T13:44:00.000-05:002005-03-25T10:47:45.106-05:00

In my original Draft Zinni post, I noted how health care had become a national security issue. In response to this, AlexC at pstupidonymous (his friends just call him stupid) wrote:Defending against a bio-weapon IS NO REASON for National Health Care. Spend money on bio weapon research. On vaccinations and on intelligence to find them before their used.Are there really no sound arguments for

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111421167132983892005-03-21T11:06:00.000-05:002005-03-21T11:32:12.173-05:00

Well, we found out yesterday who's really to blame for our problems in Iraq. No, it wasn't Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld who went into battle with far fewer troops than his Generals said he needed to secure the country. No, it wasn't the Bush Administration officials who "forgot" about General Zinni's plans for an Iraq invasion, which anticipated many of the problems that we're seeing

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111350290595575492005-03-20T15:24:00.000-05:002005-03-20T16:12:05.310-05:00

Ed Rendell slammed the Bush Administration this weekend over Bush's proposal to cut Veteran Health Benefits.HARRISBURG, Pa. - While states are spending more to extend benefits to their National Guardsmen called to duty, the Bush administration is reducing benefits, Pennsylvania's Democratic governor said Saturday."While we the governors do all we can for our vets and our returning soldiers, our

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111097149017360232005-03-17T17:05:00.000-05:002005-03-17T17:36:19.090-05:00

This is from an article on a speech that Gen. Zinni gave yesterday at Beloit University. Most Americans now respect the military even if they disagree with the political decision to go to war, he said.But magnetic yellow ribbons are not enough, the retired general said.'This is your military. This is your security; this is your protection. It is the image you project overseas,' Zinni said. 'You

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111093968178662912005-03-17T16:12:00.000-05:002005-03-17T16:12:48.180-05:00

The Army is continuing to look for ways to make up for shortfalls in enlistment, especially amongst the national guard and reserves. This is the latest. US Army asks for longer enlistments as recruitment numbers fall WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Army has asked Congress to allow it to extend enlistment contracts offered to future soldiers by two years in order to "stabilize the force," as top defense

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111081121898172242005-03-17T12:38:00.000-05:002005-03-17T12:38:41.900-05:00

Why any soldier or their family would vote Republican is beyond me. Yesterday, Republicans voted "No" to expanding veteran health benefits. These are the same people who pushed for the war in Iraq, and now they're abandoning our soldiers who fight those wars. How lovely.

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111079068743078332005-03-17T12:04:00.000-05:002005-03-17T12:40:54.133-05:00

In this week's New Yorker Samantha Powers takes a look at George W. Bush's latest one-finger salute to the world- the nomination of John Bolton to become abassador to the U.N. (via the Gadflyer)Barring a sudden and improbable outbreak of independent judgment in the Senate, John Bolton will soon be confirmed as President Bush’s Ambassador to the United Nations, an institution he openly disdains. “

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111073630593038682005-03-17T10:17:00.000-05:002005-03-17T10:33:50.606-05:00

Spencer Ackerman notes in the New Republic that the Senate has decided to put questions about who was really responsible for the WMD intelligence failure on "the back burner".Last July, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a 511-page report into how the intelligence community erroneously assessed Saddam Hussein's nonexistent weapons of mass production programs and relationship to

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111015606355542772005-03-16T18:26:00.000-05:002005-03-16T18:34:51.270-05:00

Pat Buchanan has an article on World News Daily about Democracy in the Middle East that points to the question I raised in my post about the New Yorker article on making the Democrats look tough.: "With his enthusiasm for mass demonstrations, free elections and majority rule, President Bush has unleashed a whirlwind from which Hamas and Hezbollah may be the beneficiaries. Nor does the president

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111013117481389192005-03-16T17:45:00.000-05:002005-03-16T17:45:17.480-05:00

Operation Truth has a post today about a planned protest near Fort Bragg, in North Carolina. Here's the press release:NEW YORK -- In observation of the second anniversary of the Iraq War, a number of national and local antiwar groups are planning to protest this weekend in Fayetteville, N.C., the home of Fort Bragg. Iraq Veteran and Operation Truth Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff issued the

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1111011996205414282005-03-16T17:26:00.000-05:002005-03-16T17:34:05.196-05:00

Wes Clark, the reason why I registered as a Democrat during the 2004 primaries, has a new website- Securing America. Obviously I'm very siked by the title that Gen. Clark chose for the site- it's a very simple frame that I believe should be one of the centerpieces of the Democratic message to America. The website also includes the new WesBlog.This is from the initial post:America today is at a

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1110923518867035692005-03-15T16:51:00.000-05:002005-03-15T16:57:14.526-05:00

The coalition of the willing is about to get smaller.Italy will start to withdraw its soldiers from Iraq (news - web sites) this September, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Tuesday, adding to the list of U.S. allies looking to cut their troop levels.Italy isn't the only country pulling out: Earlier on Tuesday, Bulgaria's president said his country should withdraw its 450 troops

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1110923375256914162005-03-15T15:52:00.000-05:002005-03-23T15:04:14.910-05:00

Jeffrey Goldberg has an article in this week's New Yorker asking whether Democrats can make themselves look tough, that covers a lot of my sentiments and my reasons for starting this site and campaign (a generous term for a site that currently receives about 3 visitors per day).The article begins around an interview with Joe Biden. Here's when Biden said he realized Kerry would lose the election:

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1110649523207145262005-03-12T12:45:00.000-05:002005-03-23T15:06:41.656-05:00

Greg Anrig, in the American Journal, advocates for just the sort of framing of the Democrats and Republicans that I am arguing for here. While I usually focus on the military side, Anrig proposes using the Social Security debate for the same purpose.the much more lasting and important opportunity that the privatization push offers to liberals, should they choose to recognize it, is the chance to

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1110557242342807582005-03-11T11:07:00.000-05:002005-03-11T14:21:53.076-05:00

One of the reasons that I have become so enamored with Gen. Zinni is his pretty constant insistence that Americans often pay little to no attention to the cultures we are trying to influence. So when the celebrations began last week over the Anti-Syrian push made in Lebanon I warned friends of mine to damper their elation, because Lebanon is a seriously fractured society that has been fighting an

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1110298489820202322005-03-08T11:14:00.000-05:002005-03-08T11:22:11.186-05:00

The ACLU and Human Rights First, along with two retired military lawyers, have a filed a lawsuit against Defense Secretary Rumsfeld for his role in the use of torture against prisoners held by the U.S. armed forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.Mr. Rumsfeld's policies have stained our military.... We want to remove that stain," said retired Army General James Cullen, one of two retired military lawyers

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1110293400957405382005-03-08T09:50:00.000-05:002005-03-08T10:29:59.366-05:00

Paul Rieckhoff, founder and executive director of Operation Truth, posted a very powerful piece last week about the Army missing it's recruitment goals.From USA Today:"In what could be a troubling sign for the military, the active-duty Army missed its February recruiting goal by more than 27%. It was the first time in almost five years that the Army has failed to meet a monthly target.'It's just

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1110292216768282152005-03-08T09:20:00.000-05:002005-03-08T09:30:16.770-05:00

African-Americans and women apparently don't want to be part of the march of freedom through the middle east.WASHINGTON - Young blacks have grown markedly less willing to join the Army, citing fear of being sent to fight a war in Iraq they don't believe in, according to unpublicized studies for the military that suggest the Army is entering a prolonged recruiting slump.Fear of combat also is a

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1110210539620687592005-03-07T10:48:00.000-05:002005-03-07T11:51:35.930-05:00

When people ask why a progressive activist would want to bring a lifelong republican, four-star General into the big-tent of the Democratic Party, I tell them: "General Zinni embodies many of the principles of a progressive national security strategy."But what exactly are the principles upon which progressives base their national security agenda? Well, a large group of progressives have just

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1109948553110670412005-03-04T10:02:00.000-05:002005-03-04T13:02:48.223-05:00

During General Zinni's keynote speech at the "The Middle East: Compromise or Conflagration?" conference in Maine this past weekend, Zinni touched upon the fundemental flaw in the neo-con international agenda. I touched upon some of this in an earlier post:Zinni's keynote speech gave the audience grounding in conceptions and misconceptions that affected what he believes was an inappropriate

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1109946201288654232005-03-04T09:23:00.000-05:002005-03-04T09:59:20.266-05:00

In my initial Draft Zinni post I suggested that the defining characteristic of modern conservative politics is their deceit. Zinni spoke up against one area of the lies- the ones which led us to invade and occupy Iraq- but this behavior can be seen in just about every area where they push their radical agenda.In today's New York Times, Paul Krugman illustrates the ploys that the Republicans, and

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1109795928360420412005-03-02T14:33:00.000-05:002005-03-04T10:18:32.840-05:00

Wow, day two and I've already attracted the ire of a conservative.AlexC at pstupidonymous responded to my Draft Zinni posting today. Let me go through some of his comments and questions.AlexC doesn'tunderstand the rationale of how drafting a Republican to run as a Democrat is going to do anything for progressive/democratic issues beyond addressing the "I'm sick of losing" argument.Well, there are

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1109780032484736022005-03-02T11:13:00.000-05:002005-03-04T10:08:39.586-05:00

This weekend Gen Zinni was in Camden, Maine, this weekend speaking at a conference titled "The Middle East: Compromise or Conflagration?": "CAMDEN - The general who commanded U.S. forces in the Middle East from 1997 to 2000 says the nation's policy in Iraq has been characterized by a series of compounding mistakes and that too often Americans infer that the region's Islamic residents hate the

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11183783.post-1109771703433768632005-03-02T08:53:00.000-05:002005-03-31T13:20:04.656-05:00

This was originally posted at Young Philly Politics, I am posting it here to get this blog started.In the United States Army you never have a party, at least most of us didn't as far as I know. You just voted for people that were strong for national security. When Bill Clinton ran in '92 and I listened to him and I had of course known of his record from Arkansas, I found him extraordinarily

Alex Urevick-Ackelsberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03625472176533667379noreply@blogger.com0