If all goes according to plan, the 2010 Iraqi Parliamentary elections will take place on March 7th. Elections were previously scheduled to be held in January, but Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi forced a delay by vetoing the election law in November 2009. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s State of Law party is expected to win a [...]

In his column featured in this month’s Armed Forces Journal, American Security Project (ASP) Senior Fellow Bernard Finel makes a convincing argument for the use of conventional military operations over counterinsurgency (COIN) operations to defeat threats. For a military designed to enact quick, decisive military operations, Finel explains that counterinsurgency operations do not reflect the [...]

The Cable | FOREIGN POLICY
The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is planning to double its ranks as it takes over a host of missions for the military there, according to America’s No. 2 diplomat in Iraq.
“If Congress gives us the money we are asking for, this embassy is going to be twice the size it is [...]

The whole post is excellent, and the conclusions a very nice summary of the key problems with COIN:
Sic Semper Tyrannis : Counterinsurgency – a much failed strategy?
COIN is a badly flawed instrument of statecraft: Why?
- The locals ultimately own the country being fought over. If they do not want the “reforms” you [...]

Stephen Biddle is the single best defense analyst working today. His arguments are usually carefully considered and well supported empirically. For a generation of younger defense intellectuals, he is very much the gold standard, the model to emulate.
His recent essay in the American Interest (Is It Worth It? The Difficult Case for War in Afghanistan) [...]

Iraq May Hold Vote on Early U.S. Withdrawal – washingtonpost.com
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s move appeared to disregard the wishes of the U.S. government, which has quietly lobbied against the plebiscite. American officials fear it could lead to the annulment of an agreement allowing U.S. troops to stay until the end of 2011, and instead force [...]

From the NYT: U.S. Adviser’s Blunt Memo on Iraq – Time ‘to Go Home’
Prepared by Col. Timothy R. Reese, an adviser to the Iraqi military’s Baghdad command, the memorandum details Iraqi military weaknesses in scathing language, including corruption, poor management and the inability to resist Shiite political pressure. Extending the American military presence beyond August [...]

I’m a big fan of Tom Ricks the reporter. I am much less enamored with Tom Ricks the blogger/pundit. So, on one hand, he’s writing this endless series of posts on Iraq, the unraveling, he’s up to entry 19 on this topic.  So, you’d think that implies that he has a very skeptical perspective on [...]

On March 20, 2003, the United States invaded Iraq. On April 9, Baghdad fell, ending Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical rule.
The effect of this victory seemed to transform the globe. In August 2003, Libya accepted responsibility for past terrorism and offered restitution as well as agreeing to conform with non-proliferation commitments. In 2003, the Iranians also suspended [...]

The New York Times has been reporting about concerns about developments in Iraq focusing particularly on the current state of the Awakening Councils and Sons of Iraq (many of them former insurgents who switched sides) (Troops Arrest an Awakening Council Leader in Iraq, Setting Off Fighting) and the ability of Iraqi security forces to deal [...]