Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

The top 10 Best Defense guest columns

  There were tons of great guest columns this year, including several that sparked several weeks of good discussions, such as Jorg Muth’s essay on command philosophy. But here are some of the individual columns that stood out as I reviewed all those good contributions:   10. Nora Bensahel did a good job of reminding people ...

Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons

 

 

There were tons of great guest columns this year, including several that sparked several weeks of good discussions, such as Jorg Muth’s essay on command philosophy. But here are some of the individual columns that stood out as I reviewed all those good contributions:  

10. Nora Bensahel did a good job of reminding people that a lot of the critics were wrong about gays in the military.

9. How to understand China.

8. Here are 66 ways to fix the Army. This series provoked a rollicking, sprawling discussion that I learned a lot from.

7.  Lewis Sorley explained how Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam.

6. Why shooting at airplanes is different from shooting at targets on the ground.

5. A female officer discusses wearing a headscarf in Afghanistan.

4. It is always nice to see events prove someone correct, especially about Iraq.

3. The travels of Lady Emma — especially jet skiing through the Triangle of Death.

2. Eric Hammel asked if our biggest national security challenge is climate change. I fear he may be proven correct.

1. Travels with Paula certainly got a lot of notice. It also led to a couple of weeks of good debate among several people. Here’s one of them.

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Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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