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

Life goes on

While Tom Ricks is away from his blog, he has selected a few of his favorite posts to re-run. We will be posting a few every day until he returns. This originally ran on May 21, 2009. Longtime readers may recall my quoting the blog of Dena Yllescas several months ago. Her husband, Capt. Rob ...

By
Dena Yllescas
Dena Yllescas
Dena Yllescas

While Tom Ricks is away from his blog, he has selected a few of his favorite posts to re-run. We will be posting a few every day until he returns. This originally ran on May 21, 2009.

While Tom Ricks is away from his blog, he has selected a few of his favorite posts to re-run. We will be posting a few every day until he returns. This originally ran on May 21, 2009.

Longtime readers may recall my quoting the blog of Dena Yllescas several months ago. Her husband, Capt. Rob Yllescas, was killed late last year in Afghanistan. I happened to check back on her blog yesterday. She had been visiting her husband’s grave:

As I was sitting there next to him, I couldn’t help but think: ‘This is so messed up that I’m visiting my husband in a cemetery.’"  

If I could I would make everyone in Washington read her blog.

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
Tags: Afghanistan, Military, North America

latest

U.S. Defense Secretary Tours Africa

Israel Reopens Gaza Border Crossing

Attention-Seekers and Autocrats Are a Combustible Mix

Green Hydrogen Isn’t a Silver Bullet 

Why the Iraq War AUMF Is Still Dangerous
See All Stories

Editors’ Picks

  1. 1
    The Morality of Ukraine’s War Is Very Murky
  2. 2
    The Scrambled Spectrum of U.S. Foreign-Policy Thinking
  3. 3
    Washington Is Losing Credibility Over the Canada-India Spat
  4. 4
    America Can’t Stop China’s Rise
  5. 5
    How the U.S. Created Its Own Reality
  6. 6
    The U.S. Shouldn’t Worry About the India-Canada Rift

More from Foreign Policy

A photo illustration shows Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden posing on pedestals atop the bipolar world order, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Russian President Vladamir Putin standing below on a gridded floor.
A photo illustration shows Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden posing on pedestals atop the bipolar world order, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Russian President Vladamir Putin standing below on a gridded floor.

No, the World Is Not Multipolar

The idea of emerging power centers is popular but wrong—and could lead to serious policy mistakes.

A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.
A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.

America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want

Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.

The Chinese flag is raised during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics at Beijing National Stadium on Feb. 4, 2022.
The Chinese flag is raised during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics at Beijing National Stadium on Feb. 4, 2022.

America Can’t Stop China’s Rise

And it should stop trying.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on prior a meeting with European Union leaders in Mariinsky Palace, in Kyiv, on June 16, 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on prior a meeting with European Union leaders in Mariinsky Palace, in Kyiv, on June 16, 2022.

The Morality of Ukraine’s War Is Very Murky

The ethical calculations are less clear than you might think.

Trending

  1. Washington Is Losing Credibility Over the Canada-India Spat
    Analysis
    Howard W. French

  2. The Morality of Ukraine’s War Is Very Murky
    Argument
    Stephen M. Walt

  3. The Scrambled Spectrum of U.S. Foreign-Policy Thinking
    Analysis
    Ash Jain

  4. America Can’t Stop China’s Rise
    Essay
    Tony Chan, Ben Harburg, Kishore Mahbubani

  5. How the U.S. Created Its Own Reality
    Excerpt
    Heather Cox Richardson