@wesleymorgan.bsky.social
Writing about America’s post-9/11 wars
https://linktr.ee/wesleysmorgan
Author of THE HARDEST PLACE (2021)
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/227894/the-hardest-place-by-wesley-morgan/
Signal: https://tinyurl.com/kzmejtaw
@wesleymorgan.bsky.socialI’m pretty proud that I *don’t* have one of those things, given the circumstances
@wesleymorgan.bsky.socialMy answer for the category “fiction not by Tom Clancy”
@wesleymorgan.bsky.socialA joke??
@wesleymorgan.bsky.socialNo!
@wesleymorgan.bsky.social
@abujamajem.comReposted by @wesleymorgan.bsky.socialFor anyone who has 40 minutes left on a flight and wants to watch "The Dark Knight Rises: Only the Bane Parts": *1:30 *24:20 41:10 53:55 *1:03:35 *1:11:25 1:17:55 1:20:40 1:23:15 *1:27:40 *1:36:40 1:52:35 2:07:15 2:11:25 2:14:45 2:21:40 2:22:35 (* denotes essential Bane)
@godin.bsky.socialReposted by @wesleymorgan.bsky.socialImportant to note that these bases are built on the cleared ruins of a densely populated area where people lived. Same thing has happened in Swedish Village, Bani Suheila, Al-Qarara, Shujaiya and Jabaliya.
@wesleymorgan.bsky.social“Israel is removing essentially every structure its troops encounter, military officials said. During a recent visit, The Wall Street Journal didn’t see any buildings remaining on the Israeli side of the line.”
@alansiegella.bsky.socialReposted by @wesleymorgan.bsky.social"The apotheosis of insanity.”
For the 20th anniversary of 30 Rock, I went deep on my favorite thing about it: all the fake shows, movies, and songs. With help from Tina Fey.
@godin.bsky.socialReposted by @wesleymorgan.bsky.socialHelped a bit with satellite imagery analysis for this new piece from WSJ's Anat Peled covering IDF outpost construction in Gaza. Currently, there are 32 active IDF bases throughout Gaza with 9 of them being newly-built since the ceasefire last year.
@wesleymorgan.bsky.socialJust an alternative to think about: instead of this healthy and productive vision, you could go chase the dragon in various ugly conflicts around the globe that you have no moral stake in at all, like Tim Kennedy
@wesleymorgan.bsky.socialWhat
@bafriedman.bsky.socialReposted by @wesleymorgan.bsky.socialI really don’t think a public execution by firing squad of a guy in a wheel chair is going to look how they expect it to look.
@wesleymorgan.bsky.social(2/7 went on to have a crazy suicide epidemic among veterans of that tour)
@wesleymorgan.bsky.socialYeah this was probably the craziest example of the whole war outside of SOF
@wesleymorgan.bsky.socialHere is an interesting paper comparing 2/7’s terrible experience in northern Helmand and Farah in 2008 as an orphan battalion under CSTC-A to BLT 1/6’s in southern Helmand at the same time as part of a MEU. I think that had a big effect on MARCENT’s behavior in 2009. web.archive.org/web/20220215...
@wesleymorgan.bsky.socialIn fairness to MARCENT, they had sent 2/7 as an orphan battalion in 2008 and it went terribly. No logistical support, no nothing, terrible casualties. But the insane thing that caused that was that 2/7 was placed under *CSTC-A,* the ANSF training command, rather than under RC-S or TFH Helmand.
@wesleymorgan.bsky.socialHere is a relevant excerpt from LITTLE AMERICA about the Marines-to-Helmand issue www.washingtonpost.com/world/war-zo...
@wesleymorgan.bsky.social…Basra and felt they needed to demonstrate to the Bush admin that they were willing to take on a bigger mission in Afg, and between the UK, Canada, and the Dutch divvying up RC-S, Helmand was the province available and didn’t seem very violent.
@wesleymorgan.bsky.socialThis whole arrangement also kind of echoed the nothing-to-do-with-actual-conditions logic that brought the Brits to Helmand in the first place in 2006: it wasn’t because they were needed there or understood at all what they were getting into, it was because they knew they’d screwed the pooch in…
