Unqualified Offerings

comes from Laura Rozen:
Iran – 65 to 70 million people. Pakistan — 170 million people. And Pakistan is the one with the precipitous situation for its military government, widespread sympathies for the Taliban and Islamic jihadis, and the historical relationship with the UK whose citizens have easier access to US visas and entry. Oh yeah, [...]

By Mona
Sooo. McQ thinks thinks neocon Kimberly Kagan — whom he either does not know or fails to acknowledge — is the wife of neocon surge architect Fred Kagan (of the American Enterprise Institute), is a reliable voice to assess the “success” her husband’s lethal folly, which she does today [...]

By Mona
Why does Jim Webb the Republicans hate the troops?

By Mona
Balko shows Michael Chertoff is doing the terrorists’ work for them, my emphasis:

In this sense, the very people who are supposed to be protecting us from terrorists are playing right into the terrorists’ hands. Despite the absence of any specific information, and despite the fact that his saying as much [...]

About that Machiaveli quote: it’s a pretty obvious mistake to treat “loved” and “feared” as exhausting a ruler’s or nation’s options. Is Costa Rica loved or feared? Portugal? (Look! I’m not even mentioning Switzerland!) Nations can get by just fine without inspiring either devotion or terror.

Avedon’s right. The tone that 26%er politicians and their fanboys use when anticipating a possible terror attack is creepy. And it has perverse incentives – why would you let people who seem to crave a massive terror strike anywhere near the levers of power?
I also suspect they’re wrong, actually. I don’t think they’d get nearly [...]

Step Two of the Underpants Gnome business plan is lurking in here somewhere.
Via Sullivan.