In the ArenaUncategorized
Eight CIA officers killed by a suicide bomber wearing an Afghan army uniform near Khost? Stunning. The CIA operators, especially those operating in the border areas, are usually, well, covert. This is an amazing breach of security…and the real concern is this one:
The use of an official army uniform could mean any one of three things:
…
Try as I might to keep my string going, I could find no photos of Richard Nixon celebrating the New Year. Except for this one, which really doesn’t count, because it’s Chinese New Year.
But we do have this one of how the shamans of Peru are marking the occasion. (For more of an explanation, go to our White House Photo Blog.)
Lynn Sweet has identified a new verb (gerund? participle?) to enter the official lexicon. At moments like this, we miss William Safire.
In the ArenaUncategorized
Josh Gerstein has a very good piece, comparing the Obama Administration’s reaction to Undiebomber to the Bush Administration’s reaction to the shoe-bomber, Richard Reid. But I’d go a step further–and this is very important to remember: The Cheney-Bush Administration, lost in a prior paradigm, refused to take seriously warnings from the …
In the ArenaUncategorized
On the extremists opposing health care reform.
President Obama is now calling what happened on Christmas Day a “systemic failure.” In the cover story of the new issue of dead-tree TIME, Michael Duffy and Mark Thompson tell us what we can learn from Flight 253. And Amanda Ripley explores how regular people turn into heroes at times like this.
UPDATE: A number of Swampland …
It’s becoming clear that, assuming it passes, Democratic health care reform will be a major issue in the 2010 congressional races. Several prominent Republicans – including Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey – are already advising GOP candidates to call for full repeal of the legislation. Democrats, meanwhile, are expected to campaign on …
Once lost, credibility is a difficult thing to get back. Especially when you hold a position where the public’s safety rides on your instincts and reflexes in a crisis.
The Homeland Security Secretary this morning is trying to walk back yesterday’s bone-headed assertion that the “system worked” in the near-miss that allowed a bomber …
In the ArenaUncategorized
The latest from the New York Times. This part may be a turning point:
There were scattered reports of police officers surrendering, or refusing to fight. Several videos posted online show officers holding up their helmets and walking away from the melee, as protesters pat them on the back in appreciation. In one photograph, a police
…
In the ArenaUncategorized
Ashura is a holiday for the celebration of martyrs: it commemorates the death of Mohammed’s grandson Hussein during the battle of Karbala in 680, which led to the Sunni-Shi’a split. Martyrdom is the signal condition at the heart of Shi’a Islam, and on this Ashura Iran’s military dictatorship is recreating the Karbala massacre in the …
Our friends over at FactCheck.org have come up with this list of the biggest lies of 2009. So tell us, Swampland commenters, what would make your list?
In the ArenaUncategorized
There’s a very important piece in the Washington Post today about the military’s passive resistance to President Obama’s Afghanistan war plans. This could be a huge problem going forward. The success of the President’s plan–as a true test of what can be accomplished in Afghanistan–is entirely dependent on two qualities: speed of …
Merry Christmas to all our Swampland readers!
And for your own Christmas reading, here’s some new insight into Dickens.
