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Sentinel-2 imagery taken over the past 10 days in southern Lebanon shows continued mass demolitions in villages in IDF-occupied territory. Haddatha, Beit Yahoun & Kounine, north of Bint Jbeil, all show signs of large-scale demolitions between July 18 & July 28 (in addition to previous demolitions).

This—from Wes Moore on the things he’s said about his military service that turned out not to be true—is the same logic Tim Kennedy used to suggest that because his book went through Army *security* review, it had an Army seal of *factual* approval. But that’s not something the Army does!

From the title I would assume these children do *not* have any skin, muscle, or organs. What is keeping the blood contained around the bone, I’d be interested to know!

I had one recently where I was a kid and there was a hidden entrance to a room behind my bedroom closet that was all dark and weird and you couldn’t easily get out of, but which contained a treasure trove of thousands of Vietnam War books (both real and dream-only ones)

This—from Wes Moore on the things he’s said about his military service that turned out not to be true—is the same logic Tim Kennedy used to suggest that because his book went through Army *security* review, it had an Army seal of *factual* approval. But that’s not something the Army does!

In trying to explain her CST service attached to SOF, she played word games that seemed to erase the role of women who’d served in similar ad hoc roles attached to conventional combat units earlier in the GWOT like FETs. I recall I had to mute the made-up phrase “deliberate combat” because of her.

Ok ok I’m downloading it for Kindle again

@hoosierhomer.bsky.social lol at your new profile name…I’ve been *meaning* to read Crucible of War literally since it came out, when I was a kid and my dad read. My big unaccomplished 2020 covid goal.

I’m told by someone who spent a long time helping hunt for Farouq that this photo of him is better than any the CIA or JSOC had when he was alive (best they had was his Qatari passport photo).

Fascinating case where because AQ was so quiet about him, there was a huge gulf in knowledge/understanding about him between the IC/DOD, who viewed him as a top target, and academic scholars studying AQ, who’d never heard of him except the brief references in the Abbottabad DOCEX.

Al-Qahtani was largely unknown to most everyone outside of Afghanistan or those hunting for him, but his successful targeting is arguably among the most important kills of the entire war. His potential impact as leader of a future Al-Qaeda or related movement will (thankfully) never be known

Extremely niche, but kind of mind-blowing for me to see a photo of Farouq. I was obsessed with him for several years when there was very little public to go on. AQ kept info about him extremely close to the chest. I’d be asking Waygali elders visiting Kabul for the latest they’d heard about him.

Missed this last fall: in al-Qaida’s 9/11 24th anniversary video, it released what I think is the only publicly available photo of Farouq al-Qahtani, who the CIA and JSOC viewed as the top AQ figure in Afg and its no. 2 most dangerous figure (after Ibrahim al-Asiri) between 2011 and 2016.

Every single time I see the JBL logo, for a split second I think it says UBL

"What am I reading lately" hmm uhh. Wikipedia entry list of Mesopotamian deities. Wikipedia entry list of fire deities. Wikipedia entry list of wind deities. Wikipedia entry Cambrian explosion. Wikipedia entry Greek primordial deities. That's the main stuff right now. And lots of their hyperlinks

“Ah, an email from the Secretary in the inbox, I wonder what important strategic guidan— oh. Okay.” (made by nine line, because of course it is)

Also, as we were nearing publication, the LA Times reported that boat strikes have killed at least 13 citizens of Mexico, many from a village in Nayarit who were at the bottom of the trafficking chain: running gas to the boats that actually had the drugs.

The Guardian reported that at least 16 fishers from Colombia’s Caribbean island department of San Andrés and Providence have gone missing since January. “Some of them might have been carrying drugs, but ‘certainly’ not all.”