VOA reports that the oil skimming ships are gone. The booms protecting islands and marshes have been torn from their anchors. Sand bags have been overwhelmed. The headline is that Hurricane Alex is delaying the clean-up. But what is really going on is that Hurricane Alex is making a real clean-up unlikely. Reuters has more, […]
June Deadliest Month for NATO in Afghanistan;
Congress cuts Civilian Aid by $4 bn.
As the Senate confirmed Gen. David Petraeus as commander of US troops in Afghanistan, CNN estimated that 101 NATO troops (including Americans) were killed in June, the highest total ever since the NATO presence began in 2001. The Pentagon maintains that such a spike in troop deaths is to be expected given the counter-insurgency push […]
Petraeus confirmed Quickly by Committee;
Seminary rioting, Jalabad Airport Bombings
The LAT reports on the lightning speed with which the Senate Armed Forces Committee confirmed the appointment of Gen. David Petraeus as commander of US troops in Afghanistan. The full senate votes on Wednesday. I was talking to an Afghan hand today who observed that in his view someone among the senators should have asked […]
Turkey Forbids Israeli Military Overflights
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday in Toronto in the wake of the G20 conference that Turkey will no longer routinely give Israeli military aircraft permission to fly in Turkish airspace. The announcement came as Turkey forbade an Israeli military airplane (taking officers on a visit to the sites of Nazi death camps […]
Walthen: I saw 100 Dolphins in the Oil, some Dying
John L. Walthen and companions take a helicopter trip out over the Gulf of Mexico. “This was the most emotionally disturbing video I have ever done! A flight over the BP Slick Source where I saw at least 100 Dolphins in the oil, some dying. I also photographed a Sperm Whale covered in oil all […]
7 NATO Troops Killed;
as Karzai is Said to Dicker with Insurgents;
and Panetta Scoffs
Taliban Rejoice in McChrystal Firing
Radio Azadi reports that from early Sunday morning in the Marawara District of Kunar Province, a vigorous firefight has been pursued by the Taliban on the one hand and on the other, joint NATO and Afghanistan National Army troops. At least three NATO troops were killed, including 2 Americans, in the fighting. Those tribesmen who […]
Public Souring on the Afghanistan War
If you’ve lost Rory Stewart, you’ve lost the war. Rory Stewart is a young British conservative, who once walked Afghanistan and later governed the Iraqi province of Maysan in 2003-2004 under Paul Bremer’s Coalition Provisional Government. He is now a Tory Member of Parliament and a junior member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in […]
Jindal idles National Guardsmen He Demanded
CBS reports that after jumping up and down demanding Federal government resources for Louisiana to deal with the BP Gulf oil gusher, Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal has only put to work about 1,000 of the 6,000 national guardsman provided by the Pentagon in response. CBS also has a video report: Watch CBS News Videos Online […]
Blue Planet
Sam Lardner, “Blue Planet”:
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