I always feel a bit guilty for subscribing to the New York Review of Books.  Pulling it out of the mailbox, impressed by its authoritative headlines, I step inside and put it on the front left corner of my desk, confident that I'll tackle it in a day or two and finally become a smart, thoughtful person with unassailable knowledge and intellectual confidence.  A month later, when my desktop copy is half-covered with bills and other unread magazines and the cover has taken on a slightly yellowed tinge, I realize that I may not be fated to be a true member of the intelligentsia. 

But I keep the Review around, not just to see colorful ads for all the amazing books I'll never get to read, but also because it has reporting that is different from so much else we all consume in one form or another.  Take a look at Michael Massing's excellent travelogue from today's Iraq (with most stops inside the Green Zone) and you'll realize how much we don't know about our government's continuing failures in Iraq -- the country we've been occupying for five years.  You'll also realize just how difficult it will be to extricate ourselves in the next five.

In America's foreign policy, free market rhetoric often goes hand-in-hand with calls for the protection of human rights.  So it would seem like Iraq and Afghanistan, where we've been installing liberty for quite a few years now, should be prime targets for major economic projects.  But when Iraqi state coffers are filling up with unspent oil revenues and American soldiers are on the front lines of economic development with small cash payments, there is a disconnect that could use a few quick fixes.  After all, major infrastructure projects still need building in the countries we are supposed to be rebuilding, and Iraq continues to expand its government bureaucracy instead of its private sector.  So here's a shot at what needs trying:

Three months after a Congressional deadline—and more than six years after the war started—the White House has appointed an inspector general for Afghanistan. The Washington Post’s Karen DeYoung reports that, pending Senate confirmation, Maj. Gen. Arnold Fields were be in charge of rooting out ...

New Pentagon data shows that twice as many troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD than the previous year. The Washington Post’s Ann Scott Tyson reports that there are now 40,000 cases of PTSD. The ...

Can an allegedly unprovoked and fatal shooting of 17 civilians be grounds for criminal prosecution? That’s what a Washington, D.C. district court was trying to decide yesterday—whether State Dept. contractor Blackwater could be charged under U.S. law for its employees killing Iraqi civilians last September. ...

The Taliban sheltered Al-Qaeda, and Al-Qaeda organized the massacres on 9/11.  Taliban forces are still strong in Afghanistan, and have taken over entire towns and significant regions.  Carlotta Gall of the New York Times reports that the U.S. Marines have successfully pushed back Taliban forces six miles from an Afghan ...

The New York Times’ James Glanz goes through a gruesome Pentagon audit that finds payments to private contractors in Iraq going toward…well, we have no idea what they’re going toward. In a sample of 802 war-related Dept. of Defense contracts worth $8.2 billion, 95 percent don’t have proper ...

The Washington Post’s Thomas E. Ricks and Karen DeYoung report on the muted Senate confirmation hearing yesterday of David Petraeus to the position of U.S. Central Command. Also testifying before the Armed Services committee was Raymond Odierno, who will take over the position held by ...

The New York Times’ Conrad Mulcahy reports that Iraqis who have worked as interpreters for the U.S. military continue have trouble immigrating to the United States. Translators are not only in the line of fire but face particular dangers from Iraqi insurgents who ...

And eventually everything calms down and you can get back to business as usual.  Based on James Risen's report in the New York Times, that's what appears to have happened with Blackwater USA, the private security contractor with the largest role in protecting U.S. personnel and resources in Iraq.  Eight ...