It's great to see high level officials reaching out to the public. Afghanistan's Ambassador to the U.S., Said T. Jawad, has been exceptional in that regard. The Ambassador spoke to a group of us a few months at a YPFP discussion, and he'll be joining an online discussion tomorrow at Huffington Post. Ambassador Jawad offered frank and insightful comments when he met with YPFP, and I'm sure the discussion at HuffPo tomorrow will be fascinating as well.

Updated: The conversation with Ambassador Jawad has been posted.

Is anyone else feeling like the narrative from Bush's speech last night sounded like it came straight from 1984?

We should be able to agree that we must defeat al Qaeda, counter Iran, help the Afghan government, work for peace in the Holy Land, and strengthen our military so we can prevail in the struggle against terrorists and extremists.

Unfortunately, the war in Iraq is counter productive in every single goal Bush cited. I'm not sure of many who would agree that the war in Iraq is strengthening our military, for instance. Foreign Policy Passport notes that Bush's "new" strategy would

As technology creates more porous borders between nations, containment policies are becoming more and more difficult to effectively implement.

The Council on Emerging National Security Affairs recently compiled a set of frameworks proposed by some of the most influential foreign policy professionals of our time. Are containment strategies no longer effective, and if so, which alternatives do you think we should employ instead?

Most scholars accept that Iran is a threat to world peace. With their development of nuclear weapons, support of terrorist groups against Israel, and efforts to destabilize Iraq, most Americans would accept that the US should work to bring about a more moderate government in Iran. The question, then, is how to accomplish that change.

Yesterday the House Foreign Affairs Committee marked up a bill to tighten sanctions on Iran. According to inside sources, the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act of 2007 is expected to come up for a floor vote in the next week or so.

The Washington Post describes the new vanguard of researchers documenting international atrocities using satellite imagery:

Representative Kucinich expressed concern last month over whether the Iraq Hydrocarbon Law would allow Iraqi oil proceeds to be subverted by foreign oil companies. Yesterday the US Institute of Peace came out with a summary of a discussion of the issue that I found quite insightful. (h/t CRS)

While the law makes room for foreign investors, it has not done so to the detriment of national interests, as many press reports have asserted.

Several organizations have recently begun using maps to tell their stories. Senator Ben Nelson recently created a Google Map to show people what he saw on a trip to Iraq. Other organizations have also been doing fascinating work. Nten documented several of the most interesting ways that organizations are telling stories with maps.

Approximately 50% of the US military deaths in Iraq have been caused by Improvised Explosive Devices, or IEDs. The rate of IED usage by insurgents has been growing rapidly, and in order to address the threat the DoD has been collaborating with the academic, commercial, and international partners.

The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, or JIEDDO, was created by the DoD to develop strategies to combat the threat of IEDs. They held a briefing on the Hill today to discuss their work, and I was thoroughly impressed. In particular, I was glad to hear about their collaboration with academic and commercial groups. As they explain on their website, "The Joint IED Defeat Organization is spearheading an effort to engage industry, academia and national labs in order to solicit proactive solutions and encourage teaming among the institutions to address the issue of defeating IEDs."

The horrors in Darfur have been continuing an unconscionably long time. The US Holocaust museum has repeatedly worked to try to highlight the tragedy. A few months ago they projected scenes from Darfur onto the walls of the building overlooking a major thoroughfare in DC. Now they've teamed up with Google on an innovative project to display the carnage on a series of Google Earth maps.

You can see an image of what it looks like here, or find more information on the project from CNN or the Times of London. The Holocaust Museum also put up a video describing the project.

A few months before the start of the war in Iraq a friend of mine asked me if I was in favor of invading Iraq. I didn't have a firm answer for him. I was concerned about the potential repercussions of military action, but I also drew hope from President Bush's vision for a democratized Iraq revitalizing a new Middle East.

It was a hopeful time, in some ways. People were speaking of the potential for Iraqis to throw off their tyrannical ties, and use their status as one of the best educated countries in the Middle East to create a new democratic society that would stand as an idol to surrounding countries. The would instigate a new paradigm for the 'domino effect'. Today the domino effect we are beginning to think about moves in the opposite direction. According to a book published at Brooking Earlier this year (Combating Islamic Extremist Terrorism) wrote: