Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks’ daily take on national security.
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32351721173_56048f84a4_k Mid-career thoughts: After a decade or so, of war, you begin to wonder if it’s worth it
We lack confidence in the continuing mission and in whether all our efforts over the last decade make any difference.
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101st-Airborne-Soldiers-build-elite-Iraqi-force-with-Ranger-Training-7-480x319 Inside ‘Blackhearts’ (IV): Problems with task organization also hurt us badly
The MiTTs became a pick-up team within a pick-up team in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Bagdad.
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Screen Shot 2017-05-08 at 9.42.18 AM Timely Monday book review: Gilles Kepel’s lively study of ‘Terror in France’
This book offers a surprisingly lively account of where France is at.
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4218923753_be962d0014_o The diaries of Trump’s handler (4): Ok, as instructed I put microphone in cat
As instructed, put microphone in tuna filet (not inexpensive!), fed to my cat Behemoth, and watched it swallow said device.
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Police officers stand by after Greenpeace activists unveiled a banner reading "liberty, equality, fraternity" on the Eiffel Tower in Paris early on May 5, 2017, to protest against the far-right Front National (FN) party, two days before the second round of the presidential election. / AFP PHOTO / Jacques DEMARTHON (Photo credit should read JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images) Best Defense’s special report from Paris: Security feels solid but not suffocating
My wife and I are in Paris for a quick break before my next book is published later this month.
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Screen Shot 2017-05-05 at 9.50.37 AM Inside ‘Blackhearts’ (III): With different units holding very different views of the fight, we stepped off into the abyss
Adding to the friction involving the Blackhearts Brigade was the nature of the fight.
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Rip_Dicken_Medal_Dog_IWM_D_5945 Rip the Air Raid Dog helps find victims following a bombing in eastern London, 1941
A lot of people underestimate the number of British civilians killed in World War II.
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U.S. Air Force Airmen from the 720th Special Tactics Group out of Hurlburt Field, Fla., jump out of a C-130J Hercules aircraft during water rescue training over the Destin coastline in Florida Oct. 3, 2007. The training is designed to enhance aerial zodiac deployment and personnel recovery. The aircraft belongs to the 41st Airlift Squadron out of Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas. DoD photo by Senior Airman Julianne Showalter, U.S. Air Force. (Released) Jack McCain is right that the Air Force has big problems — but he’s wrong about why officers are bailing out so much
Navy Lt. Jack McCain’s commentary on the pilot crisis is insightful and should catch the attention of Air Force leadership.
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Screen Shot 2017-05-04 at 9.57.00 AM Book excerpt: Obama’s drone war in Pakistan was bigger than people think
Clearly the incoming Obama administration had come to see these drone strikes as a vital component of its war against terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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2bct Inside ‘Blackhearts’ (II): Our lousy command relations frayed badly in Iraq
As discussed my the previous post, relationships — be they inside of a marriage or between military units — are built upon trust.
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Kent_State_massacre May 4, 1970: 4 dead in Ohio
They fired 67 bullets into the crowds of students.
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1-502 ‘Blackhearts’ (I): A view from the inside
There is more to the story that has remained in the shadows for too long.
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DSCF3016 War? North of the Korean DMZ, it’s all about the Kims, all about the Kims
Talk of a renewed Korean War has been in the news lately.
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Topographic map of North Korea. (Wikimedia Commons) Why ‘5027’ is a number you should know: How war in Korea might unfold
If there is one problem the U.S. military has studied and thought about, it is war on the Korean peninsula.
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slack-imgs H.R. McMaster’s quiet professionalism
I thought it was wrong of Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, to go on TV to praise the president.
