America is now fighting the Iraq War for the third time, somehow madly expecting different results, while guaranteeing only failure.
The Only Way to Win in Iraq Is Not to Play
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Behind Door Number Three in Iraq
Obama has few good options in Iraq, but the worst choice would be emulating George W. Bush.
Afghanistan Mission Stuck in “Little America”
The 12-year U.S. occupation of Afghanistan is slowly coming to a close, with most U.S. troops slated to leave the country by 2014. Since 2001, over 2,200 U.S. soldiers have been killed occupying the country, and nearly 18,000 have been wounded. By some estimates the...
The Fall of the American Empire (Writ Small)
It couldn’t be clearer now that, from the shirtless FBI agent to the “embedded” biographer and the “other other woman,” the “fall” of David Petraeus is playing out as farce of the first order. What’s less obvious is that Petraeus, America’s military golden boy and Caesar of celebrity, was always smoke and mirrors, always the farce, even if the denizens of Washington didn’t know it.
The Urge to Surge: Washington’s 30-Year High
Just as 2010 ended, the American military’s urge to surge resurfaced in a significant way. It seems that “leaders” in the Obama administration and “senior American military commanders” in Afghanistan were acting as a veritable WikiLeaks machine. They slipped information to New York Times reporters Mark Mazzetti and Dexter Filkins about secret planning to increase pressure in the Pakistani tribal borderlands, possibly on the tinderbox province of Baluchistan, and undoubtedly on the Pakistani government and military via cross-border raids by U.S. Special Operations forces in the new year.
Bacevich Held Over Another Week!
By habitually responding to threats with the military instead of diplomacy, the U.S. makes itself weaker, not stronger.
Biden Embraces Myth That Surge Turned Iraq Into Good War
Willful ignorance about the real history of the Iraq War helps the Democratic foreign policy leadership uphold the narrative that the U.S. belongs in Muslim countries.
Withdrawal from Iraq: Remembering the Quaker’s Colonel
Will Obama’s speech tonight echo Bush’s endless declarations of success in Iraq?
A Confirmation for Petraeus Is a Confirmation of the Surge Narrative
Ever since the surge narrative took root, there has been little public debate about the situation in Iraq. Thus, it is no surprise that, instead of an ongoing conflict, Iraq figured into the Petraeus confirmation hearings as an historical event.
The Surge of Ideas
In recent years, there has been a growing tendency for think tanks and military brass to jointly pursue policy objectives, some of which are opposed by the public or the White House—take, for example, the campaigns to build support for the troop “surges” in both Iraq and Afghanistan. This trend, say critics, raises important questions about the appropriate role of the military in promoting particular policies and whether there is enough transparency and accountability in the work of policy groups. And, just as importantly, will there be a new joint campaign aimed at pressuring the Obama administration to delay troop withdrawal from Afghanistan?