A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

Iraq

  • The latest from Wikileaks

    From the Guardian, which received the latest batch of documents: The new logs detail how: • US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct appears to be systematic and normally unpunished. • A US helicopter gunship involved in a notorious Baghdad Read more

  • This is your country on war

    I don’t usually describe things as “must read,” but this article on returning Iraq vets (via Jim Henley) surely qualifies. Read more

  • Torture, truth, and the war

    Jonathan Schell connects the dots and makes some observations about the use of torture as a characteristic of declining powers. Read more

  • A two-phase Iraq withdrawal

    That’s what it looks like anyway, based on Obama’s speech and the analysis I’ve seen. “Combat troops” will withdraw in 2010 with “residual” forces engaged in training and counter-terrorism activities (which, make no mistake, will involve at least some combat). But full withdrawal is supposed to occur by the end of 2011. Not ideal, by Read more

  • Remember Iraq?

    Patrick Cockburn reports on the situation there in the wake of the recently concluded “status of forces” agreement that’s supposed to have US troops out by 2011. Read more

  • Conscience of a torturer

    I’ve really been enjoying the subscription to Mother Jones my in-laws got me for my birthday. They do exactly what you’d want a monthly magazine to do: run long, in-depth investigative articles that go beyond the surface coverage you tend to get in weeklies or dailies. I used to subcribe to half a dozen or Read more

  • Did the surge work?

    Michael Kinsley says nuh-uh. Read more

  • The case for Obama

    Chris Hayes makes it at the Nation. Not being a progressive in good standing myself, I can’t go along with everything he says, but this, for me, is key: But while domestic policy will ultimately be determined through a complicated and fraught interplay with legislators, foreign policy is where the President’s agenda is implemented more Read more

  • The surge a success?

    Andrew Bacevich is skeptical. Read more

  • Where’s the anti-war mojo on the Left?

    With all the hype around the Ron Paul candidacy (admittedly still a long shot), I’ve wondered why there hasn’t been a comparable anti-war insurgency on the Left. Why, for instance, hasn’t Dennis Kucinich‘s campaign taken off? Is it that Democratic voters aren’t motivated primarily by the war, or is it that they regard the top Read more