Rich's Tongfamily (Richtong.net add-on)

The Command Post: Pentagon sees end of combat. More units are moving in, notably the 4th ID and the 3rd ACR, but the 82nd Airborne’s one brigade goes home. The 1st Armored will rotate in and the 3rd ID will rotate out.

End of ‘Major’ Combat, Fall of Tikrit, Anxiety Over Syria. Wow, what a difference a week makes. We went on vacation to Hawaii and it looked like a long hard conflict and we’re back this week and it is all over. Gives someone much to think about. I still think…

Interesting pieces to read: * Bernard Lewis on Iraq. An incredibly smart guy. He points out that the “The kind of regime represented by Saddam Hussein has no roots in either the Arab or Islamic past. Rather, it is an ideological importation from Europe — the only one that worked…

Daily Kos: “A Lack of Character”. I have no idea who Officer X is, but, it sounds all too real to me. The way a big corporation would work. Hopefully, it will all work out in the end. Will be interesting to see who really controls the Iraq reconstruction/occupation in…

Times OnlineA US official told The Times that Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, was resisting State Department appointments to the administration-in-waiting, at least one of whom is already in Kuwait. He said that the Pentagon had ruled that Mr Rumsfeld should personally approve appointments to the temporary US-British administration, ?and…

Heard on blogs around the world: * The Command Post: CNN: Rebpublican Guard Withdrawing Into Baghdad Proper. Michael closed by saying that the lead reported all day … that the US was pushing hard to Baghdad, was in essence a misinterpretation. The Iraqi forces were, in fact, trying to get…

The topsy turvy world of ware. Some interesting pieces: * Iraq Curtails Arab TV’s RoleAl Jazeera, the most-watched Arab language news network in the Middle East, said yesterday that the Iraqis had barred its two correspondents in Baghdad from reporting. It said that it would respond by suspending coverage of…