What to Take Away From Iraq

…I mean, seeing as how we ignored the main lessons from Vietnam. Paul Pillar’s take: Learning from this blunder does not simply mean not using force overseas rather than using it. There may be an Iraq syndrome that echoes the Vietnam syndrome of an earlier generation, but just accepting that would be a crude response and [...]

Gender Socialization and Toys

Lane Moore takes special satisfaction in the recent video of a little girl protesting all-pink female-gendered toys: I was into action figures and superheroes at a young age but I remember that confused/nearly angry feeling I had upon realizing that no one had even considered that I might want anything other than pink toys or “girl [...]

How Should America Prepare Its Senior Citizens for Retirement?

Matt Yglesias thinks that private investment is alright as it goes but not the best way to insure a national population against insecurity in retirement: The kind of “savings” that it makes sense for typical working and middle class households to engage in is the sort that banks offer with demand deposit accounts…But the best way [...]

The Psychological Toll of War at Joint Base Lewis-McChord

A local veterans group calls it “a base on the brink”: Over the last two years, an Iraq veteran pleaded guilty to assault after being accused of waterboarding his 7-year-old foster son in the bathtub. Another was accused of pouring lighter fluid over his wife and setting her on fire; one was charged with torturing [...]

Iraqiya Politicians Warn of Maliki’s Authoritarianism

In a NYT OpEd: For years, we have sought a strategic partnership with America to help us build the Iraq of our dreams: a nationalist, liberal, secular country, with democratic institutions and a democratic culture. But the American withdrawal may leave us with the Iraq of our nightmares: a country in which a partisan military protects a [...]

Arms Sales to Iraq Continue Despite Political Concerns

via NYT: The Americans warned Iraqi officials that if they wanted to continue receiving military aid, Mr. Maliki had to fulfill an agreement from 2010 that required the Sunni bloc in Parliament to have a say in who ran the Defense and Interior Ministries. But despite a pledge to do so, the ministries remain under Mr. [...]

America!

I was too busy with finals to post on this when it came out.  But a great cultural day for America:

Broken Record Alert: The Surge Didn’t Work.

Andrew Sullivan, who’s not an expert in such matters but who is very adult about examining and reexamining his assumptions based on the evidence at hand, states it frankly: “The surge only worked as a face-saving device to get out of Iraq. It never worked as it was designed to, to bring Iraq’s sects and factions [...]

WSCIGOOMHT?

I cannot believe I just heard some lady’s sorry remake of Sarah Maclachlan’s River on iTunes.  Whoever is responsible better rectify this instantly and forever.  This is the only performer you will listen to sing the song.

Today We Are All A Rittle Ronery

Kim Jong Il is dead, says the internet.  Those field inspections can be rough… I’m already seeing this video getting posted all over Facebook.  Let’s see if it goes viral: