Category: Foreign Policy

Beyond Iraq?

 Gov. Huckabee,  Thank you for taking time to respond to my concerns re. your position on the war in Iraq.  I saw you this morning on MSNBC and when asked what you are currently reading, you mentioned “Beyond Iraq” by Mike Evans. Very disappointing. An excerpt from Publishers Weekly says this: With the Bible’s various …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/06/20/beyond-iraq/

Small minds, big snowballs

 “Did the U.S. Incite Iran’s Crackdown?” Let me start by making it clear that I have absolutely no specific evidence to support the following assertions.  My views are based purely on intuition, developed I suppose over several decades of experience in observing and participating in covert actions of every imaginable variety. There is an obnoxious …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/06/11/small-minds-big-snowballs/

Expert testimony

 Dear Friends: (1) General Charles Krulak is a former Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, and his fellow Marine General Joseph Hoar was Commander of CENTCOM (1991-94) and Chief of Staff of the USMC during the 1991 first Gulf War. ALst week, these two old leathernecks co-authored a powerful op-ed piece that appeared in the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/05/18/expert-testimony/

Mercenaries?

 Dear Mr. Spencer: I am tardy in responding to your interesting comments about the historical role of Gurkha units in the British Indian Army. In referring to the Gurkha as “mercenaries”, I most assuredly did not intend to impugn their honor or integrity in the slightest — or, in particular, the steadfast loyalty that they …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/05/04/750/

Woolsey disgraces himself again

 Dear Friends: Former CIA Director James Woolsey gave a talk at Princeton University last week.  I decided not to attend, fearing that I might be unable to restrain myself from causing an ugly scene.  But I am extremely pleased and proud to forward to you a letter written to the campus newspaper the next morning …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/04/30/woolsey-disgraces-himself-again/

War games

 Fisk on the death of journalism: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-we-are-now-in-the-firing-line-sadly-446522.html or http://bit.ly/bnqdXg or http://tinyurl.com/38h6k57 And here’s one on how surgingly swell things are for the British in Basra: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/serving-british-soldier-exposes-horror-of-war-in-crazy-basra-446395.html or http://bit.ly/bA4W72 or http://tinyurl.com/32duxzw  And, if you can find it, the farewell telegram from Sir Ivor Roberts as he left his job as Rome ambassador is quite interesting.  Sir Ivor got in trouble …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/04/28/war-games/

The real meaning of “surge”

 I have noted from several recent newspaper and TV accounts covering the “surge” in Iraq that a significant percentage of the “Iraqi Army” soldiers engaged in joint operations with the US Army are actually members of Kurdish units — presumably peshmerga militia forces assigned temporarily to Baghdad and the surrounding area as part of the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/04/26/the-real-meaning-of-surge/