And If You Keep Giving Me Those Looks I’m Gonna Poke You In The Eye»

Jonah Goldberg — no longer journalism’s worst Goldberg! — has an open call that I think you should answer:

About a month ago, I called Ramesh in a panic because I’d forgotten that I was slated to do a Close-Up Foundation interview on the Bush legacy and I hadn’t thought too much about it. Fortunately, not only did Ramesh have some great thoughts, but I was wrong about the date — by a month (I’d entered it into my PDA wrong). Anyway, I’m doing the interview this Thursday and while I have my thoughts far better organized, I thought it’d be interesting to know what NRO readers think Bush’s legacy will be. Please send thoughts — hopefully constructive — to JonahResearch@AOL.com.

Sadly No!, which I think should be this blog’s boyfriend — its girlfriend is totally Jezebel, but it’s cheating with both Erica and Joy — remarks, brilliantly:

Why should anybody ask for your opinion on anything, dude? You have less credibility than a 9/11 Truther. Because, say what you will about the Truthers, they don’t abandon their crazy and insane delusions just because they suddenly become politically inconvenient.

Oh snap dude!

We Can Work It Out»

Dave Dilegge at Small Wars Journal reads Inside Defense so you don’t have to. (Or, rather, so you don’t have to buy a subscription.) And what does he find contained in its august pages? A bon-voyage effort by the Gates Pentagon at reorganization. Good luck with that!

Check out the COIN goodness:

The fourth issue group will focus on irregular warfare. It will be led by Michael Vickers, assistant secretary of defense for special operations / low-intensity conflict and interdependent capabilities; Marine Corps General James Mattis, commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command; and Lieutenant General John Sattler of the Joint Staff, also a Marine.

This group will examine irregular warfare capabilities that are common to special operations forces and general purpose forces in order to explore opportunities to forge greater integration and interoperability between the two, according to the draft document.

“What DOD organizational structure would provide the best oversight for irregular warfare, maximize efficiencies across DOD components, better balance risk and investment priorities, enhance future capabilities development and ensure effective operations?” asks the draft document.

Kind of a perennial question, but Vickers — he was the nerd/deathray-guru in Charlie Wilson’s War — Sattler, and Mattis bring a lot of COIN-mojo to the task.

Take A Look At The Sky Just Before You Die»

I write a lot about counterinsurgency. In fact, by the time this post appears, I’m going to be on my way to a Pentagon roundtable about the subject. And it’s a complicated one, with something of a slippery definition. For instance, the host of this particular roundtable has been the subject of much criticism as to whether he actually buys into counterinsurgency, or whether he’s trying to pour the old vintage Cote Du Conventional Warfare into new COIN bottles. It’s all very confusing.

In that spirit, check out this Small Wars Journal piece that suggests what we need to do more of in counterinsurgency is… kill people.