Unqualified Offerings

By Thoreau
Forget about the pesky details regarding events in Anbar. Forget, even, the issue of accuracy. Instead, focus on the soundbite narrative.
Do the people trying to claim “success” in Iraq really want a narrative in which things get better after we stop trying to manage events on the ground and let the Iraqis [...]

Matt Welch on the politics of perpetual war.
Jack Balkin on the failed constitution.
Charles Goodenough on the economics, in the larger sense, of quagmire. (Via logjam.)

It’s a game. It’s real life too. In addition to AQI and holdout insurgent groups, the Shiite factions who hate the recent American pro-Sunni tilt, rival sheiks within the Anbar Salvation Council and Iranian intelligence fill out the list of obvious suspects. I anticipated Rishawi’s murder clear back in June, but it may be a [...]

Yglesias and Ilan Goldenberg present strong graphical evidence that Baghdad violence has indeed declined because the Shiites have successfully conquered most of the city. This kind of analysis is political blogging at its best.
I mean, it beats making fun of warbloggers running to the FEC like little girls. Which is already pretty satisfying.

Big, tough so-called milblogger runs crying to the Federal Election Committee because a newspaper ad killed his kitten. And he’s proud of it! Naturally he’s written against campaign finance reform, as anyone should, but principles are for suckers. Or grownups, maybe.
Via Balloon Juice.

By Thoreau
Faculty orientation is over. The presentations ranged from useless platitudes to incomplete but somewhat useful information. The important part was the networking that went on outside the presentations. I’ve got ideas and potential partners for new classes that I want to design, some research funding sources, useful friends in the math [...]