Incoming

It's been a while. I don't mean since I last wrote here; much more significantly, it's been over four years since 11 September, 2001. It's been four years, not since we had war declared on us, but since we finally declared it back. In one sense, four years can sometimes still feel like yesterday, but in another, it's all too far away. With a journey so bold and difficult as this one, it's easy to take for granted the path we've been down as a whole: where we've been, where we are, and where we're going.

Because of that, what will follow will be a series of four essays, each concerned with a different aspect of this arduous quest, from single issues to grand scale, big picture ideas. Though they are separate pieces, each is part of the past four years, and of the larger puzzle of where our country stands today.

A Land War in Asia will consider the very real worries many had in accepting so great an undertaking as fighting a war in Afghanistan, and take a look at the wisdom and/or folly of the concept of fighting a land war in Asia from a strategic and historical perspective.

The Sandwich Doctrine explains the fallacies many have fallen prey to in criticizing (and continuing to criticize) the war in Iraq, from the WMD issue to the Bush Doctrine.

Sacrifice and Victory will take a hard philosophical and moral look at what defines the price of victory and the cost of defeat in a Post-Modern America.

Finally, Exsurgency will be a look at the trends shaping Iraq today, how the war is changing before our eyes, and how the world is changing as a result.

To Note: I'm posting this by email, so link tags will probably not work. As a result, when I refer to current news and historical documents, rather than linking directly, I'll do the incredbly non-web-savvy thing and use a form of endnote to document sources(1). Further, I'm going to attempt to get a solid schedule down for when updates will be posted, to hopefully deliver a better quality of work over a longer time frame. Expect weekly updates each Wednesday.

Last, but not least, I'll be playing historian, philosopher, strategist, and political scientist, none of which I get paid for. So, if you, dear reader, have any notes, points, or corrections, lay them out there. It's been an interesting and complex four years, and no one as all the knowledge and insight from the duration.

Next Week: A Land War in Asia...

1. Like this, I hope it's not too annoying