That Wacky, Wacky Max Boot Posted by Michael Cohen

Some of you may have noticed that it's been a while since I wrote one of my Wacky, Wacky Krauthammer posts and I apologize to all the loyal DA readers who miss this weekly feature. It's just that Charles seems to be talking less about foreign policy these days (no doubt cowed by my insightful and lacerating posts).

But rest assured DA readers, a new bete noire has entered my blogging crosshairs - Max Boot. Did you know that Max Boot has a blog ?!?!?! Seriously, this is the greatest development since ABC starting showing repeats of Lost with those pop-up features! Truly the blogging gods are smiling on me! (BTW, am I the only person who wonders if Max has a brother named "Das"?)

Since I'm a bit new to this blog, which is called Contentions (a deeply ironic, but still fantastic name), I'm a bit late in highlighting what Boot had to say about the fighting in Basra last week.  First, he approvingly cites this quote from the Financial Times:

“If the prime minister succeeds, the pay-off would deliver a big boost to the credibility of a shaky government, proving that the growing national army is capable of taking on powerful militia.”

So what happens, if the prime minister fails miserably . . . will it be a devastating blow to  the credibility of a shaky government proving that the growing national army is incapable of taking on a powerful militia? Surprisingly Max is silent on this issue.

But then there is this:

If Maliki is now getting serious about asserting the supremacy of the Iraqi state over the militias, that is a development to be cheered. I only hope he does not lose his nerve in this hour of crisis: if well-led, the Iraqi Security Forces have the power to defeat any militia on the battlefield.

Well every militia but one it seems. Sometimes I wish I was a neo-con: I could be consistently wrong and yet operate with complete and total impunity (and what's more serve as a key foreign policy adviser to the GOP nominee for President). Sorry Chuck, you've been replaced.

Comments

[Don Bacon]

Max: "If well-led, the Iraqi Security Forces have the power to defeat any militia on the battlefield."

MAX BOOT -- Expertise: Defense policy; defense budget; proliferation; nation-building and peacekeeping; democracy and human rights; U.S. grand strategy; national security; military technology; military history; U.S. foreign policy; terrorism and guerilla warfare; terrorism; media.

BAGHDAD — More than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen either refused to fight or simply abandoned their posts during the inconclusive assault against Shiite militias in Basra last week, a senior Iraqi government official said Thursday. Iraqi military officials said the group included dozens of officers, including at least two senior field commanders in the battle. The desertions in the heat of a major battle cast fresh doubt on the effectiveness of the American-trained Iraqi security forces. --NYT

WHO IS MAX BOOT? -- "A one line bio at the bottom of his bloodcurdling piece gives no details regarding Boot's credentials except to note that he is "The Wall Street Journal's editorial features editor." Thanks to the miracle of Google, however, we learn that Boot is a 32-year-old punk who was snapped up by the Wall Street Journal to rule over their editorial page features at the tender age of 28. In a lengthy 1998 interview Boot gave to Brian Lamb, for Booknotes, we learn that Boot's profile is that of the perfect armchair warrior: instead of boot camp, this guy went to Yale and Berkeley. If he's so gung ho, why doesn't he volunteer? – I'm sure with a few hundred hours of training he could (barely) pass the physical, and, in his case, we'll make an exception and skip the psychological testing…."--Justin Raimondo

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