Low Earth Orbit

1. General Taguba: No Evidence Abusive Techniques Were Part of Policy.
2. Red Cross Says US Officials Were Making Progress on Prison Concerns.

If you have any information as to the whereabouts of these headlines, please contact the ombudsmen of the media outlets who are missing them.

Do not attempt to apprehend the copy editors yourself, as they are highly volatile, and subject to wild hormonal swings when “in heat” over a story.

Note that I’m not necessarily complaining that they’re not showing the video [of Nicholas Berg’s decapitation]. But some of those same media outlets should be asking themselves to what degree showing all of the Abu Ghraib photos may have resulted in this, and why they considered that necessary. After all, couldn’t the viewers have understood what went on in the prison without the graphic images?

To achieve its vital war aims, in other words, America must abandon its dream of victory and accept the appearance of defeat. What does this mean in practice? Quite simply, the United States must take a cold, analytical look at the forces arrayed against us in Iraq and decide which leader should be allowed the glorious destiny of redeeming his country from foreign occupation. Once the United States has fixed on a credible resistance leader, our goal should be to cede him tactical, positional victories while denying them to his competitors. The U.S. military might be able to find and disable any resistance large enough to be a military threat, but this leader’s movement we should allow to grow. We should open a communications channel, and enforce a set of rules to limit the battlefield and minimize casualties.