Curtis Bowman

NIE on Jihadism and the War in Iraq

Perhaps you've been reading about the National Intelligence Estimate from April 2006 that claims that the war in Iraq has made matters worse for the United States in its war on terror. If you haven't heard about it yet, I recommend this round-up of articles by Tom Regan of The Christian Science Monitor as well as this daily analysis by Eben Kaplan of the Council on Foreign Relations.

When the story broke, the NIE was still classified. The key judgments of the report are now declassified. If you go to this page on the CFR website, you'll see a link to a PDF (66 KB).

Erika Kinetz on Brain Imaging and Hysteria

According to Erika Kinetz of The New York Times, recent brain imaging studies are providing insight into the nature of hysteria.

William Grimes Reviews Christopher Clark's "Iron Kingdom"

William Grimes reviews Christopher Clark's Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947.

Thomas B. Edsall Responds to George Will

Thomas B. Edsall responds to George Will's dismissive column about Edsall's Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive for Permanent Power.

U.S. Health-Care System Gets a Barely Passing Grade

Catherine Arnst of BusinessWeek reports that The Commonwealth Fund has given the U.S. health-care system a "D," that is, a barely passing grade.

Arnst's article sent me in search of the fund's study. I found it here.

Michael Johnson on the White House and Château de Rastignac

I recently read this column by Michael Johnson on the remarkable resemblance between the White House and the Château de Rastignac. The two are so similar in outward appearance that there had to be some sort of influence of one on the other. Apparently, however, it's a bit of a mystery as to which is the original and which is the replica.

Since the column, which appeared in the International Herald Tribune, isn't accompanied by a photograph of the chateau, I went searching and found another column by Mr. Johnson that contains a photograph. There's no denying the resemblance.

Roundtable Discussion of John Mueller's "Is There Still a Terrorist Threat?"

Three weeks ago I blogged an article by John Mueller entitled "Is There Still a Terrorist Threat?" It's definitely worth a close reading.

In short, Mueller argues that if al-Qaeda wanted to strike the United States in some fashion, it could have done so fairly easily by now. So the absence of an attack is an indication that there are no foreign terrorists in the United States, and that they aren't inclined (or perhaps aren't able) to make their way here to carry out attacks.

Anyway, I see that Foreign Affairs, which published Mueller's article, is sponsoring a roundtable discussion of Mueller's views.

Theodore Dalrymple on Efraim Karsh's "Islamic Imperialism"

I haven't posted anything about Theodore Dalrymple for a while. I was mousing around a bit this afternoon, and I came across — I can't quite figure out how I missed this one — Dalrymple's review of Efraim Karsh's Islamic Imperialism: A History.

A few months ago I blogged an article that Karsh wrote for Commentary in which he summarized some of the claims made in his book. But don't bother to read my old post: unfortunately, the links are dead. Instead, go to this page on OpinionJournal. There you'll find Karsh's article in its entirety. I haven't yet read the book, but it's on my list.

"Just Say 'No' to Us"

The Washington Monthly rounded up a gaggle of disaffected conservatives and asked them to explain why they want their party to lose in the coming elections.

If you have time to read only one of these articles, then I recommend the one by Christopher Buckley, which is the funniest of the bunch.

Raising the Enlistment Age

I missed the news that in June the U.S. Army raised its enlistment age from 35 to 42. Here's a story about Pfc. Russell Dilling, who, according to Patrik Jonsson of The Christian Science Monitor, is the oldest-ever recruit in the modern Army.