Quickhits
Marines in Ramadi "stormed" a hospital.
Brigadier Ed Butler, who is in overall command of the UK troops in Afghanistan, has put in a request for "a "significant" increase in resources."
If you haven't seen it already today, the WaPo had a blistering page A01 analysis piece on the disaster that has been the Bush administration's foreign policy. (Or perhaps you prefer the more partisan Kevin Drum, "the Bush administration literally seems to have no foreign policy at all anymore....")
A court ordered that Tom Delay's name will remain on the ballot in Texas' 22nd district. That's really good news for Lampson. It's being appealed.
The right wing hits are beginning against McCain.
And, there's a little possible rumor/confirmation for my theory yesterday, "Multiple sources have also said that McCain has a practice of leaking stories on those he doesn't get along with -- and is believed by several reporters and Senate aides to have been behind a series of leaks in the Jack Abramoff scandal."
I just find it hard to believe that McCain, as head of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, really cares about Indian affairs enough to warrant the amount of "investigation" he's been doing on his potential political enemies.
Brigadier Ed Butler, who is in overall command of the UK troops in Afghanistan, has put in a request for "a "significant" increase in resources."
If you haven't seen it already today, the WaPo had a blistering page A01 analysis piece on the disaster that has been the Bush administration's foreign policy. (Or perhaps you prefer the more partisan Kevin Drum, "the Bush administration literally seems to have no foreign policy at all anymore....")
A court ordered that Tom Delay's name will remain on the ballot in Texas' 22nd district. That's really good news for Lampson. It's being appealed.
The right wing hits are beginning against McCain.
And, there's a little possible rumor/confirmation for my theory yesterday, "Multiple sources have also said that McCain has a practice of leaking stories on those he doesn't get along with -- and is believed by several reporters and Senate aides to have been behind a series of leaks in the Jack Abramoff scandal."
I just find it hard to believe that McCain, as head of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, really cares about Indian affairs enough to warrant the amount of "investigation" he's been doing on his potential political enemies.
posted by mikevotes at
2:11 PM
4 Comments:
Brigadier Ed Butler, who is in overall command of the UK troops in Afghanistan, has put in a request for "a "significant" increase in resources."
I noticed that, to great political chest thumping, the request was for material resources only, giving Blair the cover he needs domestically to keep the troop headcount as low as possible. One wonders what sort of backroom arm twisting was going in between the PMs people and the Brigadier ...
By
-epm, at 3:18 PM
Yeah. That's what I thought as well.
But exactly what "material resources" would make a difference? Equipment for the Afghani forces?
And the BBC article cites Des Browne receiving advice on "additional deployments."
My guess is the initial request was for troops and as that started to leak, the politicos tried to turn it into something more politically palatable.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 3:29 PM
The Brits are fairly badly outfitted. One of the big complaints is around the second hand, lightly armoured, Land Rovers - Snatches - which were used in Northern Ireland.
These are extremely inadequate in Afghanistan and Iraq and have resulted in a number of needless deaths.
Like the Australians, Brits are puting the bulk of military spending into big ticket items. The troops are expected to make do.
The need for better equipment is a very serious one.
By
Cartledge, at 7:14 PM
There's somebody who actually knows what's going on. Thanks, Cartledge.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 8:41 PM
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