National Security Online Resource Center

The Washington Post has kept up it’s excellent Iraq coverage for the past couple days, bringing a follow-up article from the Odierno story of a couple days ago that focuses on GEN Petraeus’ challenges going forward and a retrospective on the extent to which The Surge could be considered a success.  Both are by Thomas Ricks, of Fiasco fame, so there are definitely no punches pulled in his analysis of the war.  He falls a bit on the pessimistic side of likely outcomes, though it is interesting to read his thoughts (which tend to be quite objective) and analysis.  While I may not agree with all his conclusions, he is unquestionably an expert in his field and it goes without saying that it is vital to read analysis from all different positions.

Ricks also has a new book coming out, The General’s Insurgency, which looks like it will be an extremely interesting read.  It’s advocated by Small Wars Journal which is a good reason to read it in and of itself.