As in “blind” and “crazy”: Instead of “the hammer,” in the words of John O. Brennan, President Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, America will rely on the “scalpel.” In a speech in May, Mr. Brennan, an architect of the White House strategy, used this analogy while pledging a “multigenerational” campaign against Al Qaeda and its extremist [...]

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Awright! We got Osama! Or, really, his cook. But how’s he gonna get his lamb kabobs now, huh? Anyway, the cook will get two years, wherever the military decides to finally put him. The judge, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Nancy Paul, said an assistant defense secretary ordered two years ago that the Army and the [...]

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Two suicide bombings in Dagestan kill twelve people. As BBCNews reports, the bombings are likely linked to the same group responsible for the Lubyanka bombings two days ago — that is, militants from the North Caucasus region that includes Ingushetia and Chechnya, where Russia, as the Soviet Union and in its post-Soviet mode has waged [...]

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Roger Cohen observes that “the current accountability void for U.S. targeted killing is unacceptable.” Where to begin? For one thing, the “accountability void” for U.S. violence in general is pretty unacceptable, too. Like, say, Gitmo. Or torture. Or illegal wars. Or the hiring of mercenaries. The mercenaries themselves. I could go on… So really, Roger [...]

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“So, if the President wants to crush the testicles of a terror suspect’s child, waterboard the dude, then kill everyone in his home town because they might be full of hostile insurgents, that’s cool with you?” “Sure. What the fuck.” “Is there a legal theory behind all this?” “Well…yeah. I just told you.” “…?” “What [...]

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Click it to read it! This should have appeared on Tuesday as part of my promise two or three months ago to resume twice weekly posting in January. But that promise was made before a) I got a stomach virus, b) my oven caught fire, c) I got a head cold and d) I lost [...]

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This woman was paid real U.S. currency to write these words: By staying in Hawaii, the president has sent the message that the situation really isn’t all that serious, that things can proceed just fine until he’s back. And isn’t it that kind of reasoning that emboldens our never-vacationing enemies into thinking Christmas Day is [...]

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