Not With A Bang

The New Republic launches chaff to attempt to "resolve" the Scott Thomas Beauchamp issue. Hot Air calls it a "14 page, 10,000 word essay that puts up more smoke than a forest fire". Instapundit says "Amidst a cloud of ink, TNR retracts and flees the scene." (They shoulda retracted a long time ago, but never mind.) Patterico told them so, too. And CY, which has owned this story, says "stay tuned". Don Surber appears in the comments there and says:

After 30+ years in the newspaper business it still amazes me how childishly peevish journalists are when caught fictionalizing their accounts. His homophobic epithet thrown at Matt Sanchez is the sign of another lib who never graduated, emotionally, from 4th grade.

My own read of the kiloword mea minima culpa is that TNR has no one, no one, there who really understands the military. There are reasons, for example, that the investigating officer wouldn't be volunteering to talk via Public Affairs, or why that officer would be doing what he did, for instance. It's also not as though there are no military people in journalism or anything.

Getting Schooled

The long arm of the Nagl reaches into Afghanistan.

Army officials say they've made great strides this year providing troops with Afghanistan-specific training before they reach the combat zone -- including counterinsurgency seminars for officers and scenario exercises for foot soldiers. But the Army acknowledges that some troops fall through the cracks. "There isn't enough time between being told that they're going and getting them through the training," says Lou Gelling, deputy commander of the Army's battle command training program. "That's the reality of it."

The public worm turns

Have you read about the latest in the long running Pew poll? Well, after reading a few scattered reports - my puzzler started itching. Thunk I to me, "Why are they so quick to go to the death toll numbers and a series of 'yea, buts....."

Well, the chart on the right tells the story - but I recommend reading the full report.

'THE LAST DAY'

My good buddy Paul just made it back from a truly hellacious Iraq tour with our old Alaska airborne unit. He's a sporadic blogger at best, but a prodigious writer and one seriously awesome human being.

Check him out, welcome him home, and be sure to tell him I said hello from the lower 48.

Just for grins, here's a shot of him from the bad old days in the 'Stan. I love that picture...