2008-07-14T10:12:58Z Phillip Carter on national security and the military. tag:blog.washingtonpost.com,2008:/inteldump/385 Copyright (c) 2008, WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive 2008-07-14T10:12:58Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-14:/inteldump2008/07/on_leave_1.html

Last week I began working for the Obama campaign as its national veterans director. Although I have been open on this blog about my support for Obama, my new job requires me to recuse myself from blogging for the duration of the campaign. Intel Dump will continue to reside here at washingtonpost.com, with one or more guest-bloggers filling my shoes for the next four months. More details to come soon....Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-12T21:12:12Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-11:/inteldump2008/07/x.html

Politico has a great profile of Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) today that covers everything from her marriage to Navy officer and astronaut Mark Kelly to the last time she changed a tire in Arizona. I've met Rep. Giffords on a couple of occasions, including a military readiness roundtable in her district last year -- her office asked me to talk on the state of America's ground forces. She's one of the sharpest members in Congress,...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-25T07:57:01Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-10:/inteldump2008/07/trained_and_ready.html

In testimony before Congress yesterday, Army Lt. Gen. James Dubik became the latest general to stake his reputation and integrity on the readiness of the Iraqi security forces. He expressed an optimistic view that the Iraqis would be ready to lead the fight for Iraq in as little as 12 to 18 months. From today's Post: Asked when Iraqi ground forces could handle security so U.S. troops would not have to, Lt. Gen. James Dubik...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-25T07:57:01Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-09:/inteldump2008/07/war_dames.html

Spencer Ackerman's got an interesting piece in the Washington Independent about several leading female counterinsurgency theorists and practitioners. I know most of the women in the piece and think quite highly of them. Spencer's right that we'll likely see a number of them take top positions in the next Pentagon, at the State Department or on the next NSC staff -- regardless of who's elected in November. Spencer speculates about why women have done so...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-25T07:57:01Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-08:/inteldump2008/07/force_and_counterinsurgency.html

This month's Military Review -- the in-house journal for the Army's leadership and staff college at Fort Leavenworth -- contains a bunch of great stuff. One of the best articles comes from Andrew Birtle, a senior military historian who has authored two of the better books on the subject of counterinsurgency. In his article, titled "Persuasion and Coercion in Counterinsurgency Warfare," Birtle examines the role that force plays in "winning hearts and minds," and comes...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-25T07:57:01Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-08:/inteldump2008/07/he_was_a_very_good_and_caring.html

Photo: Warren Zinn Combat sears the mind and body in ways we can only begin to understand. Everyone comes home from war changed. Tragically, many troops have come home from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from chronic combat stress, and many have gone on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder. Army Spec. Joe Dwyer was one of those soldiers. He went to war as a combat medic with the 3rd Infantry Division, serving with 3rd Squadron,...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-25T07:57:01Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-07:/inteldump2008/07/csi_iraq.html

Yesterday's Post featured a really interesting story about how many detainees captured abroad in the war on terrorism have a forensic trail that leads to criminal activity inside the United States. There was the suspected militant fleeing Somalia who had been arrested on a drug charge in New Jersey. And the man stopped at a checkpoint in Tikrit who claimed to be a dirt farmer but had 11 felony charges in the United States, including...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-25T07:57:01Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-07:/inteldump2008/07/the_battle_for_mosul.html

Marie Colvin reported in the Times of London this weekend about the intense fighting in Mosul between an amalgam of U.S. and Iraqi forces and al-Qaeda-in-Mesopotamia fighters. The assault appears to be unfolding similarly to other initiatives: cordon of the city, followed by the establishment of movement control measures like checkpoints, followed by raids on insurgent strongholds and targeted individuals. Colvin reported the tactics are working and that the U.S.-Iraqi coalition has scored a number...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-25T07:57:01Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-03:/inteldump2008/07/getting_realistic_about_iraq.html

Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, is no shrinking violet. Like his boss, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, he has worked hard over the past several months to demonstrate that he takes an independent, fact-based approach to the problems of the day, whether the issue is Iraq force levels or dissent within the force. Yesterday, Mullen continued that tradition with comments at a Pentagon press conference spelling out the tradeoffs between...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-25T07:57:01Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-02:/inteldump2008/07/stupid_is_as_hitchens_does.html

Columnist Christopher Hitchens decided to try out for a Darwin Award (or whatever the equivalent honor is when you survive an incredibly dumb act) by recruiting a team of special operations troops to waterboard him. He then wrote an article about what it felt like for Vanity Fair. Hitch's verdict? "If waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture." Honestly, I thought we learned in grade school to be a...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-17T00:44:52Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-07-01:/inteldump2008/07/the_law_and_the_war.html

In an important Guantanamo Bay habeas corpus case last week, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a stunning blow to the federal government, ordering it to release, transfer or hold a new hearing for a detainee whose case had been percolating through the courts for years. Huzaifa Parhat, a Chinese Uighur detainee, had been held by the Pentagon as an enemy combatant, and his detention had been reviewed by the Pentagon's administrative tribunals. But...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-17T00:44:52Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-06-29:/inteldump2008/06/taps_for_chief_hammett.html

I was saddened yesterday to read a press release from the Pentagon announcing the death of Chief Warrant Officer Robert Hammett, who was killed in action on Tuesday in Sadr City along with Maj. Dwayne Kelley of the 432nd Civil Affairs Battalion. I knew Chief Hammett and served with him in Baqubah, Iraq, during my tour in 2005-06. He was the air defense chief for the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, at FOB Warhorse. I...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-17T00:44:52Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-06-27:/inteldump2008/06/hostile_witness.html

"Democracy dies behind closed doors," Judge Damon Keith wrote in an opinion for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals regarding media and public access to terrorism cases. Our theory of government also dies in hearings like this one, featuring David Addington and John Yoo -- memorably described by Dana Milbank and Emily Bazelon in a pair of columns. Calling Addington and Yoo hostile witnesses doesn't begin to describe the level of their contempt for Congress,...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-17T00:44:52Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-06-27:/inteldump2008/06/boondoggle_in_paradise.html

In today's Post, Al Kamen rightly fires a few shots of moral approbation at the senior leaders of the National Guard for holding their annual conference in the Virgin Islands. No doubt so they could conduct a feasibility study of snorkeling for the new Army physical fitness test. Kamen writes: Hundreds of their top state and national leaders were also away from home this week, deployed to protect the Eastern Caribbean from infiltration by our...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter 2008-07-17T00:44:52Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-06-26:/inteldump2008/06/not_a_bang_but_a_whimper.html

Big news from the Supreme Court today. A 5-4 majority decided to strike down the D.C. gun control law as an unconstitutional violation of Dick Heller's right to bear arms under the 2nd Amendment. I'm going through Justice Antonin Scalia's opinion now, and one thing that leaps out at me is the careful way he limits the scope of the court's decision. He carves out two very important limitations on the 2nd Amendment's firearms right...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Phillip Carter