View From The Top, 10 October 2008

-- From time to time, I forget just how rapid the expansion of the Afghanistan National Army is happening. Then I read in press releases like this one that report:

The Afghan army is set to grow to 134,000 soldiers. It now has about 70,000 troops, a number projected to grow to 90,000 by the end of the year. In Macedonia yesterday, Gates urged southeastern European nations to consider sending military trainers to Afghanistan.

and I'm amazed. 20,000 more people by the end of the year?! Remembering the slow road for much of the Iraqi army training, it's safe to say that this undertaking by the coalition is one of a kind, historically speaking.

-- I saw this report from the BBC, and can I say it's one of the least-informative and rambling newsreports I've ever seen? If you read it, what do you take away from it? Coalition plane blows up house? Is that newsworthy? This is the kind of thing that comes to mind when I talk about the over-reporting of conflicts. It's not a public disservice to keep this story from the public, because it says nothing anyway.
/oldmangrumbling

-- Here's a good article from the Washington Post, in contrast with the above, that brings fresh info to reader. Pakistani celebrities are speaking out against terrorism. This might be waaay off, but I take this story quite positively. It seems like many Pakistanis semi-ignored the fight happening in the western regions, writing it off as Not My Problem stuff, like how many Americans ignore the U.S. border or inner-city crime. Once there's a riot in Detroit, though, everyone starts to pay a little more attention. Same in Pakistan. Terrorist attacks are making it a more immediate issue. Greater public scrutiny could be a great disinfectant to the diseased intelligence service and military leadership of Pakistan.

-- WSJ op-ed on the real-world effects of the legal-world SCOTUS shenanigans in Boumedienne.

-- In an almost comical farce of lame-duck presidential politics, it looks like the U.S. State Dept. is thinking of de-listing North Korea as a sponsor of terrorism. It looks like this is just another nosebleedingly idiotic moment from the Bush administration, but wait! North Korea responds by saying Whatever, I'll Do What I Want!:

"We neither wish nor expect to be delisted as a 'state sponsor of terrorism,' " the North's state-run news agency, KCNA, quoted a ministry spokesman as saying. "We can go our own way."

Well played Pyongyang, well played.