Iraq War

The FOBbit: How the Army Turns Warriors Into PowerPoint-Slinging Indoor Cats

by

The Army has a remarkable ability to take a perfectly functional warrior, promote him a few times, hand him three computer monitors, and turn him into a PowerPoint-slinging indoor cat. Thus begins the evolution of the FOBbit: that mysterious creature who once went outside the wire but now survives on RFIs, synchronization meetings, Green Beans coffee, and Baskin-Robbins. The real horror comes when you finally look down at your ice cream, look at your clean uniform, hit “Send” on another 1600 suspense, and realize the terrible truth: Oh, $h!tt! I’m the FOBbit.

The Kurds – The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend (Until Tuesday)

by

For many Americans, the story is simple. Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurds in the 1980s—most infamously at Halabja. They suffered horribly. When the United States eventually removed Saddam from power in 2003, the Kurds were portrayed as natural allies: brave fighters, pro-Western, reliable partners in a messy region.

We’re Great at Regime Change… It’s the Aftermath We Keep Screwing Up

by

Every time the United States gets involved in a foreign conflict, the opening act is usually impressive. Precision strikes, shock-and-awe, special operations raids, satellites, drones, cyber, carrier groups—the whole high-tech orchestra. When it comes to breaking things, the U.S. military is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Regimes fall, palaces empty, statues get pulled down, and cable news runs dramatic graphics about “the end of an era.”