RECOMMENDED READING<\/b><\/p>\n
Starting off as an ” on the ground” edition.<\/p>\n
Top Billing!:<\/span><\/strong> Steve DeAngelis<\/strong> <\/a>blogs from Kurdistan “An Overview of Kurdistan <\/a>” and “Resilience in Kurdistan<\/a>“. Steve’s observations of ” the other Iraq” mesh well with similar firsthand reports from Chirol<\/a><\/strong> who recently spent an extended time in Northeastern Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan and the Caucasus <\/a>( yea, verily, up to the very border of Iran).<\/p>\n SWJ Blog<\/strong> <\/a>has LTC. Dave Kilcullen<\/strong> on “Religion and Insurgency<\/a>” and Bing West’s<\/strong> <\/a>response “A Quick Note on Religion and Insurgency<\/a>” ( Note: West is a former Reagan administration Assist. SecDef and correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly<\/em><\/strong>, recently returned from Iraq. Dr. Kilcullen is a State Department official, Australian counterinsurgency expert and an adviser to General Petraeus<\/strong>).<\/p>\n Also from SWJ Blog<\/strong>, blogfriend Josh Manchester<\/strong> (formerly of “The Adventures of Chester” and TCS<\/strong>) has his first post up “The Strategic Corporal vs. The Strategic Cameraman<\/a>“.<\/p>\n Fabius Maximus<\/strong> at DNI<\/a> <\/strong>has started a new series “What if bin Laden were smart, like Dr. No or Ernest Blofeld? or 28 Articles: a guide to a successful insurgency against America<\/a>“<\/p>\n It’s not so much that Bin Laden is a dope, clearly he isn’t; it’s that he and his insular cohorts have no real grasp on America, beyond what they read on the internet and get from American Islamists in al Qaida ( who converted because they were alientated and rootless individuals, seeking a lodestone by which to organize their lives). Bin Laden understands the U.S. almost as poorly as Bush officials understand intra-Islamic divisions.<\/p>\n