I’m watching Rory Stewart’s narration of the life of Lawrence (yes, that Lawrence). On difficult terrain: can’t patrol it with small units, because those units can then be ambushed; can’t garrison it, because units there couldn’t be resupplied. So much of it remains empty, most of the time, “and an empty space on the map is a dangerous thing.”
Categories: Monkwire • Tags: Afghanistan, insurgency, Iraq, Lawrence of Arabia
I’ve been following with interest some of the discussion of MGen Michael Flynn’s views on intelligence reform for the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. It revisits the debate on civil-military relations that came up back in September when Flynn’s ISAF boss, General Stanley McChrystal, was publicly lobbying for his population-centric campaign plan before the White House had approved it. It also gets into some of the finer points of intelligence procedures and analysis. Much of the punditry, though, is simply missing […]
Categories: Monkwire • Tags: Afghanistan, insurgency, intelligence
A Sobering Statistic For Aspiring Academics // Savage Minds On the Gulf Between Academia and Journalism // Daniel Bennett Journalism Academics Must Learn From Multimedia Reporters // Tim Luckhurst Measuring the Impact of Charisma // (via) MIT Media Lab Google Applies to Become Power Marketer // NYT Crisis? What Crisis? // Abu Muqawama
Categories: Datadump • Tags: academia, Afghanistan, intelligence, journalism, media
A little over a week ago, I made a return visit to the ISAF webpages to poke around. It looks like some changes have been in the works. The website, which was pretty static before, is all swish now, and comes equipped with a social media dashboard in the footer where readers can subscribe to Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr (but no Twitter) feeds. It’s also got a new Afghan Hands blog, which carries “updates from Leaders and Troops across Afghanistan”. So far, […]
Categories: Monkwire • Tags: Afghanistan, ISAF, media, NATO, publishing
If you haven’t already read Peter Bergen’s TNR piece on the late 2001 battle for Tora Bora, Afghanistan, you should. It’s a page turner, and offers a “definitive account” of “how Osama bin Laden slipped from our grasp.” It definitely lives up to the strapline. In my opinion, it’s also a fine example of good use of source material, as Bergen plumbs the wealth of memoirs published since then by key players. Excerpt: What really happened at Tora Bora? Not […]
Categories: Monkwire • Tags: 9/11, Afghanistan, bin Laden, terrorism, Tora Bora Mountains
