Iraq

If what is shaping up to be the worst foreign policy disaster in U.S. history has an upside, it is that the current war in Iraq should definitively, permanently settle a handful of critical questions about American conduct in the world. This book provides a list of those questions and even ventures some answers in the form of key lessons from Iraq.

The idea of assembling lessons as tools for avoiding the next war is less of a stretch than it… more

There's the war in Iraq and then there is the war over the war in Iraq. The first is about gaining ground against the sectarian militias and terrorists who plague that country. The second is about storytelling.

Advocates of staying and fighting in Iraq are at a distinct disadvantage in the second war. The burden of the Iraq fighting falls on such a small number of military families that it is easy to portray the troops in the field as victims.… more

General Richard A. Cody graduated from West Point in 1972, flew helicopters, ascended to command the storied 101st Airborne Division, and then, toward the end of his career, settled into management; now, at fifty-seven, he wears four stars as the Army Vice-Chief of Staff. This summer, he will retire from military service.

In 2004, in a little-noted speech, Cody described the Army’s efforts to adapt to its new commitments. (It was attempting to fight terrorism, quell the Taliban, invade and pacify… more

Listen carefully when a new president is inaugurated next January for the sigh of relief coming from most of those Middle Easterners whom President Bush embraced as allies. Conversely, Bush’s rivals in the region are likely to tune in to the occasion in a disgruntled mood. For them the Bush years have been good for business. The menu of grievances on which they’ve fed has become a veritable feast. Opposition to American designs in the region -- deployed with different… more

$3 Trillion Is Just a Part of the Cost (Toronto Star)

. . . "There seems to be a political taboo about questioning levels of military spending," says William Hartung, director of the arms and security initiative of the Washington-based New America Foundation.

"The Democrats, who might raise questions, fear that they'll be labelled soft on defence. The Republicans aren't going to ask. And if the candidates don't tackle the military budget before the election race begins, it won't… more

It's a cold, gray day in December, and I'm walking down Sixtieth Street in the Dora district of Baghdad, one of the most violent and fearsome of the city's no-go zones. Devastated by five years of clashes between American forces, Shiite militias, Sunni resistance groups and Al Qaeda, much of Dora is now a ghost town. This is what "victory" looks like in a once upscale neighborhood of Iraq: Lakes of mud and sewage fill the streets. Mountains of trash… more

This article also appears in Star-Telegram.

War is hell -- deadly, dangerous, and expensive. But just how expensive is it?

In a recent interview, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz asserted that the costs of the Iraq war -- budgetary, economic, and societal -- could reach $5 trillion.

That's a hard number to comprehend. Figuring out how many times $5 trillion would circle the globe (if we took it all in one dollar bills) doesn't really help… more

This article also appears in The Baltimore Sun. 

In the week that oil prices once again crested above $100 a barrel and more Americans than at any time since the Great Depression owed more on their homes than the homes were worth; in the year that the subprime market crashed, global markets shuddered, the previously unnoticed credit-default swap market threatened to go into the tank, stagflation returned, unemployment rose,… more

As George W. Bush enters his final year as president, the struggle to succeed him has revealed deep disagreements about the definition of post-Bush conservatism. Two new books by former members of the Bush administration contribute to this debate.

In “Heroic Conservatism,” Michael Gerson, a former Bush speechwriter now at the Council on Foreign Relations, has written both a memoir and a manifesto, though he adds little to what is already known about Bush. According to Gerson, “Christian faith lies close… more

Juan Cole and McGuire Gibson will speak on the U.S. government and its faltering efforts to mobilize sufficient expertise while planning the incursion into Iraq and its reconstruction. Cole and McGuire have a deep knowledge of Iraq and the surrounding region and have advised the U.S. or the U.N. in various capacities.

Lunch will be provided.