I took the British foreign secretary's recent remarks on an Iran strike as reassuring, but Simon Jenkins at the Guardian has a different view:

This week's most terrifying remark came from the foreign secretary, Jack Straw. He declared that a nuclear attack on Iran would be "completely nuts" and an assault of any sort "inconceivable". In Straw-speak, "nuts" means he's just heard it is going to happen and "inconceivable" means certain.

The outlook for Iraq is increasingly grim. Not only is violence surging, but the country itself seems in danger. Patrick Cockburn (of The Independent) writes:

I have been visiting Iraq since 1978, but for the first time, I am becoming convinced that the country will not survive.

From the New York Times

Young Army officers, including growing numbers of captains who leave as soon as their initial commitment is fulfilled, are bailing out of active-duty service at rates that have alarmed senior officers. Last year, more than a third of the West Point class of 2000 left active duty at the earliest possible moment, after completing their five-year obligation.

To counter the problem, the military is forced to offer greater incentives to officers to remain in the service -- for example, graduate school at government expense.

The obvious cause of the problem is the war in Iraq. But of all the ways that money has been spent on the war, providing educational incentives seems to be the most positive.

x-post: Drawing Political

Three years ago, as American forces encountered unexpected resistance from paramilitaries on the drive toward Bagdad, a keen political observer said to me:

In the Pentagon, there are guys running up and down the halls right now, shouting "I told you so, I told you so!"

This comment reflects the sense that top U.S. military leaders had been tricked into thinking they would fight a conventional war against the Iraqi military, but instead were faced with a classic guerrilla-style resistance from the beginning -- something anyone familiar with the concept of "asymmetrical warfare" should have predicted. . .