Obama and the Brass

It's intriguing to watch Barack Obama's evolving relationship with the U.S. military. Have a look at Fred Kaplan's piece ("It's Obama's War Now") in Slate on the ouster of Gen. David McKiernan, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, and the naming of his replacement, Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Consider, too, Obama's U-turn on the release of photographs showing abuse of American detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq. One week, the President signals that the Pentagon will release them as part of a new era of transparency; the next he announces that the White House will block their release and will defend that decision in court on national security grounds.

Here's a fascinating BBC Radio Today program interview on the subject with Melvin A. Goodman, a former CIA analyst who is now a fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington (to put Goodman's remarks in context, note the CIP's "about us" page).