links for 2009-07-27

links for 2009-07-26

More Video of David Kilcullen

George Packer, the New Yorker journalist who introduced me to David Kilcullen in 2006, wrote the 12 May on General David McKiernan’s sacking (which occured the day before), outlining the politics behind the change of commander in Afghanistan.
He also praises David Kilcullen’s book. There is a lot of promotion going on there, as he interviewed David Kilcullen the day before, (video there).
Mind you, Packer makes the same joke on ‘ze funny accent’ as the guy who interviewed David Kilcullen for Google.
Additionally, Packer praised another soldier-intellectual (his words), McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP (MLA) attorney Phillip Carter, often quoted at SWJ who stopped blogging in April, when he was apointed to the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs.

While with MLA, Carter has written extensively on legal and military issues for a variety of publications including Slate, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He has also been a leading advocate for veterans, and helped found the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, playing a central role in the organization’s efforts to fully fund veterans healthcare, increase funding for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injuries, and pass a new GI Bill. During the 2008 election, Carter served as a policy adviser to the Obama campaign, and later as the Obama-Biden campaign’s national veterans director.
Prior to joining MLA, Carter served as an officer in the United States Army, including nine years of active and reserve service with military police and civil affairs units. In 2005-06, he took a leave of absence from MLA to deploy to Iraq with the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, where he served as an adviser to the Iraqi police [x]