William D. Hartung: All Publications, Events and Press

Lessons From Iraq

Ron Tang — Fri, 30 May 2008 01:45:00 -0400

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 seems, given the group of writers represented here. They include a Nobel Prize-winning economist; the former chief UN weapons inspector;… more

NYC Event: Forceful Engagement

Communications — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:00:00 -0400

A New America Event
04/10/2008 - 1:00pm

What have we learned? Panelists will discuss lessons for the next administration.

Please RSVP to Emily at rsvp.meet08@gmail.com

Sponsored by The Graduate Program in International Affairs, New School University, and The Security Policy Working Group (SPWG)*

*Security Policy Working Group: Arms & Security Initiative, New America Foundation; Economists for Peace and Security; Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments; enter for War, Peace, and the News Media, Boston University; David Gold, Graduate Program in International Affairs, New School; National Priorities Project; roject on Defense Alternatives, Commonwealth Institute; Straus Military Reform Project, Center for Defense Information; Cindy Williams, Security Studies Program, MIT

Nuclear Bailout

Ron Tang — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:10:00 -0400

The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to undertake an extensive, multi-billion dollar investment in new nuclear weapons facilities and new nuclear warhead designs. The initiative, known as “Complex Transformation,” is unnecessary on strategic and technical grounds, not to mention exorbitantly expensive. The various plans being considered by the DOE have more to do with bailing out the nuclear weapons industry than they do with determining what size complex makes sense in an era of nuclear arms reductions. At a minimum, current proposals should be put on hold until the new president taking office in January 2009 has a chance to… more

War is Hell, But What the Hell Does it Cost?

Ron Tang — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

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 matters much, nor does estimating how many times we could paper over every square inch of Rhode Island with it.… more

Dems: What About the Military Budget?

Ron Tang — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

One issue that will not be discussed in tonight's presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is our nation's burgeoning military budget. Earlier this month, the Bush administration announced a proposed military budget of $614 billion, not counting the full cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This represents the highest level of spending since World War II, even though our most dangerous adversary is a dispersed terrorist network measured in the tens of thousands, not a nuclear-armed Soviet Union whose armed forces were measured in the millions.

If Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of… more

Plan for a New Missouri Nuclear Weapons Plant is Premature

adminn — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 10:23:00 -0500

Late in October, plans by the U.S. Department of Energy to construct a new, $500 million nuclear weapons plant in Kansas City came closer to fruition: The White House Office of Management and Budget signed off on a novel private financing arrangement for the deal.

The plant would replace an existing facility, known as the Kansas City Plant, that makes roughly 85 percent of the components that go into building a nuclear warhead. Key members of the Missouri congressional delegation -- from Sens. Kit Bond and Claire McCaskill to Rep. Ike Skelton -- applauded the decision on the grounds… more

Avoiding the Toughness Trap

Articles — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:23:00 -0500

There is a surreal quality to many of the foreign policy arguments being put forward in the 2008 presidential campaign, particularly among Republican presidential hopefuls. The Bush Administration’s fiasco in Iraq is a transformative event that calls for a fundamental re-thinking of US security strategy. The policies of "preventive" war, forward basing of US troops aimed at intimidating designated adversaries and unbridled support for missile defense and new nuclear weapons should all be cast aside in search of a new approach.

While scrupulously avoiding reference to George W. Bush by name, the top Republican candidates have embraced the worst aspects… more

To Build or Not to Build?

American Strategy — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:25:00 -0400

Periodically the United States government reviews its doctrine on the strategic purpose and potential use of nuclear weapons. In keeping with its most recent Nuclear Posture Review, released in 2002, the Bush administration has proposed a revision of the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. foreign policy. In place of the Cold War “triad” of nuclear delivery vehicles based on land, at sea, and in the air, the review proposed a “new triad” consisting of offensive strike systems, an expansion of missile defense initiatives, and the construction of a “revitalized infrastructure” designed to develop and produce new nuclear weapons as… more

Don't Militarize U.S.-Africa Ties

Articles — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:05:00 -0400

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have left little room for news coverage or informed discussion of what is going on in the rest of the world and how it relates to U.S. security interests. This goes double for Africa, which was largely ignored in policymaking circles even before Iraq and 9/11 began to dominate the foreign policy agenda.

Thus, few Americans are likely aware that the U.S. relationship with Africa has become increasingly militarized. In the long run, such a focus is not beneficial for either Africa or the United States.

When most Americans think of U.S. relations with… more

William Hartung Discusses Arms Sales in Iraq on NPR

Communications — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:46:00 -0400

New America in the News:

"The United States is one of the biggest weapons dealers in the world, with client countries on every continent, including government's accused of human rights violations.

U.S. officials have sold weapons and military systems to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Columbia. Iraq, alone, has ordered $2.3 billion worth of military equipment.

Bill Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation, says Iraq plans to pay for its purchases — small arms, ammunition and armored vehicles — from its oil revenues, despite the numerous other needs facing the nation..."

For the complete story, please visit the NPR website.

William Hartung in the Grand Rapids Press on Iraq Arms Deal with China

Communications — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 04:55:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Iraq has ordered $100 million worth of light military equipment from China for its police force, contending the United States was unable to provide the material and is too slow to deliver arms shipments, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday [Oct. 3, 2007]....

The capabilities of Iraqi security forces are pivotal to the U.S. exit strategy in Iraq, with the creation of a viable police force critical to reconciliation. Talabani said only one in five Iraqi police officers is armed and called for faster weapons delivery from the United States to beef up Iraq's fledgling army.

Iraq's police force is noted for infiltration by militias and insurgents out to use national resources for their own ends, said William Hartung, director of the New America Foundation Arms and Security Initiative.

"Besides, aside from possibly wanting newer models, there are piles of arms and weapons floating around in Iraq," he said...

For the complete article, please visit www.MLive.com.

William Hartung in The Washington Post on Arms in Iraq

Communications — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 03:32:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Iraq has ordered $100 million worth of light military equipment from China for its police force, contending that the United States was unable to provide the materiel and is too slow to deliver arms shipments, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said yesterday.

The China deal, not previously made public, has alarmed military analysts who note that Iraq's security forces already are unable to account for more than 190,000 weapons supplied by the United States, many of which are believed to be in the hands of Shiite and Sunni militias, insurgents and other forces seeking to destabilize Iraq and target U.S. troops....

Iraq's police force is noted for infiltration by militias and insurgents out to use national resources for their own ends, said William D. Hartung, director of the New America Foundation Arms and Security Initiative. "Besides, aside from possibly wanting newer models, there are piles of arms and weapons floating around in Iraq," he said...

For the complete article, please visit WashingtonPost.com.

William Hartung in The Kansas City Star on Contracting and the Iraq War

Communications — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 08:15:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Civilian Corps Plays Big Role in Iraq War. It's the other army. The private one, perhaps 160,000 strong in Iraq alone, armed, sometimes dangerous, often sloppy with tax dollars, and without which U.S. troops would represent a far less formidable force.

The coalition of willing contractors has swallowed more than $100 billion of U.S. spending on the Iraq war. More than 1,000 of its ranks have been killed since the 2003 invasion. Today, there is a U.S.-paid contractor doing everything from manning a machine gun to cleaning toilets for virtually every soldier tromping around the country.

Like never before in modern conflicts, military analysts say, war has become a corporate affair.

***

"To some degree, having these companies makes it easier to go to war," said William Hartung, a military analyst at the New America Foundation. "Without massively increasing the size of the (uniformed) force, you couldn't do a conflict like Iraq without these guys..."

William Hartung is Director of the Arms and Security Initiative, a part of New America's American Strategy Program. For the complete article, please visit The Kansas City Star web site.

Exporting Instability

Articles — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 08:44:00 -0400

Under the guise of promoting a "security dialogue" in the Persian Gulf, the Bush Administration has proposed $63 billion in arms transfers to the Middle East over the next ten years. As is so often the case, team Bush seems to prefer to let the weapons do the talking, even when it claims to be engaging in diplomacy. The foundation of the deal is a pledge to sell $20 billion worth of high-tech arms to Saudi Arabia and the other oil-producing states in the Gulf. Items in the package reportedly include upgrades to Riyadh’s US-supplied fighter planes, satellite-guided bombs and… more

Defense Vision MIA?

Articles — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 12:33:00 -0400

Recent Democratic debates on national security have focused on charges and countercharges over who is better prepared to be commander in chief. Not enough attention has been paid to whether any of the major Democratic candidates offers a vision of U.S. foreign policy substantially different from that set out by the Bush administration.

While Barack Obama has criticized Hillary Clinton for promoting a "Bush lite" foreign policy, his own advocacy of preventive strikes against al Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan is uncomfortably close to the Bush doctrine of striking first and asking questions later.

And Mrs. Clinton’s insistence on keeping "all… more

William D. Hartung to Direct the Arms and Security Initiative at New America Foundation

Communications — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 06:51:00 -0400

The New America Foundation today announced that William D. Hartung will direct the new Arms and Security Initiative, a component of the Foundation’s American Strategy Program. The project will serve as a resource on weapons proliferation, the politics and economics of military spending, and alternative approaches to national security strategy for journalists, policymakers, and citizens’ organizations. It is the successor project to the Arms Trade Resource Center at the World Policy Institute.

“William Hartung and The Arms and Security Initiative are invaluable additions to our foreign policy team that is trying to conceptualize innovative approaches to America’s 21st century security… more

Did We Miss the Lesson of Nagasaki?

Articles — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:12:00 -0400

It has been 62 years since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but the moral and strategic lessons of those devastating acts have still not been fully learned.

Despite the efforts of scientists like Leo Szilard and diplomats like John McCloy to promote alternative means for ending the war, the bombings went forward. There are still debates among historians and the public at large about the primary rationale for the use of the weapons. Some interpretations accept the official claim that it was done as a way of ending the war as soon as possible, on allied terms. Others… more

Myths of Mideast Arms Sales

Articles — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 14:24:00 -0400

The Bush administration’s proposal to send $20 billion worth of arms and $43 billion in military aid to U.S. allies in the Middle East has been promoted by repeating a series of time-worn myths that should have long since been abandoned. With a shooting war in Iraq and a war of words with Iran well under way, the last thing the region needs is a new influx of high tech weaponry.

The suggestions of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that this flood of armaments will be “stabilizing” in the short term while underscoring the U.S.… more