Derrick Crowe

I'm convinced that when we look back on the key events on the road out of Afghanistan, we'll mark Matthew Hoh's resignation as one of the milestones. Hoh's resignation letter is a devastating four-page indictment of the misguided U.S. policy in that country, and his experience in Anbar, Iraq gave his views heft in the debate about whether an Iraq-style "surge" provided a template for "success" in Afghanistan. Do yourself a favor: if you haven't yet read the letter, do so.

James Vega--writing for The Democratic Strategist, co-edited by William Galston, Stan Greenberg and Ruy Teixeira--just published a 2,600+ word memo arguing that "Obama’s final decision" to "approve a significant increase in the number of troops" would not be a "betrayal" of the Democratic base. You know, that Democratic base that overwhelmingly opposes sending more troops. What utter garbage.

The Progressive Caucus just sent a letter to President Obama asking for a meeting to discuss "a comprehensive rethinking of our military mission, a complete redesign of our reconstruction and stabilization strategy and a courageous reconciliation strategy for Afghanistan."

Specialist Hutchison's child was placed with CPS so she could go help shore up a regime heavily populated with predators that would love to get their hands on her little boy.

Veterans for Rethinking Afghanistan is gathering signatures for a simple message they plan to deliver to the White House: Don't escalate.

Two very hopeful stories broke this evening that show that the non-escalation factions in the Obama Administration can play the leaking game, too.

Yesterday, October officially became the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since the war began. The death toll was pushed over that grim marker by improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the single deadliest weapon used against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. IED deaths have increased alongside U.S. troop increases every year since the U.S. invaded.

Senator John Kerry came back from Afghanistan calling President Hamid Karzai a "patriot" and supportive of a plan "closer to McChrystal than to Biden," meaning he loves him some counterinsurgency, just not in the doses prescribed by Gen. McChrystal. Kerry's Monday speech to the Council on Foreign Relations shows that in sipping the COIN Kool-Aid, he's beginning to display the worst habits of internal contradiction prevalent among the counterinsurgency glitterati.