Strategic Toolbox: Latest Articles

How to Stay in Iraq for 1,000 Years

Articles — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:46:00 -0400

Few Americans had ever heard of a SOFA until earlier this year, when the Internet lit up with a revelation many observers of US foreign policy had long predicted. Despite repeated claims to the contrary, US officials were pressing the Iraqi government to accept an indefinite US military presence, including--and here was the shocker--up to 58 American bases on Iraqi turf.

The term SOFA, shorthand for Status of Forces Agreement, was suddenly all over the news. The countries have been bargaining feverishly over this and a related pact called a Strategic Framework Agreement. The separate pacts have been conflated and… more

The Pentagon's New Strategy: Show Us the Money

Articles — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 07:48:00 -0400

At first glance, the new national defense strategy released by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently looks like a new start, with much talk of working with allies and -- heaven forbid -- even other US government agencies.

Gates comes across as the "anti-Rumsfeld," replacing his predecessor's bluster with quiet diplomacy, and an overreliance on military force with a more pragmatic, balanced approach to security. The new strategy document reflects these differences.

This is not the first time that Gates has embraced the themes set out in the new strategy document. In a speech this year at Kansas State University, he called for substantial increases in spending for the State… more

Avoiding Brinksmanship with Iran

Articles — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:33:00 -0400

As the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki approaches, the world continues to face a litany of nuclear concerns. There is the failure to safeguard all the nuclear material lying loose around the globe. And proponents of nuclear power have gained ground as a result of the current energy crisis.

But the radioactive rhetoric printed on newspaper opinion pages and proclaimed from would-be presidential podiums puts Iran at the top of the nuclear list.

"Bomb, Bomb Iran," sang John McCain -- the man running for President of the United States on a record of foreign policy experience, military know-how, and gravitas -- to the tune of The Beach… more

Patriot Games

Ron Tang — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:48:00 -0400

Last week, Barack Obama traveled to Independence, Mo., to talk about patriotism, a perennial campaign topic that has taken on added relevance this year. Mr. Obama’s earlier refusal to wear a flag lapel pin, his failure to put a hand over his heart during the playing of the national anthem, his supposed Muslim lineage have all been seized upon by his opponents to make the case that Mr. Obama is somehow “not one of us.”

Unfortunately, in his remarks, Mr. Obama missed an opportunity to move beyond this nonsense. By focusing largely on his own personal definition of patriotism… more

Obama Should Emulate FDR

Ron Tang — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 09:20:00 -0400

During his historic run for the White House, Barack Obama has been compared to an impressive range of Presidents. His oratory reminds some of Kennedy, his paeans to national greatness evoke Reagan and the postpartisan themes of his campaign bring to mind Bill Clinton.

But if one looks at Obama's campaign in a larger historical context, the most apt comparison may be Franklin Roosevelt. At a time when the nation was hungry for real solutions to serious national challenges, FDR understood what too few Democratic presidential contenders have since: At moments of profound discontent, the nation craves not a policymaker in… more

The New Colonialists

Ron Tang — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:32:00 -0400

Even on their best days, the world’s failed states are difficult to mistake for anything but tragic examples of countries gone wrong. A few routinely make the headlines -- Somalia, Iraq, Congo. But alongside their brand of extreme state dysfunction exists an entirely separate, easily missed class of states teetering on the edge. In dozens of countries, corrupt or feeble governments are proving themselves dangerously incapable of carrying out the most basic responsibilities of statehood. These countries -- nations such as Botswana, Cambodia, Georgia, and Kenya -- might appear to be recovering, even thriving, developing countries, but like their failed-state… more

McCain’s Misguided Strategy?

Ron Tang — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:29:00 -0400

As the 2008 general election heats up, one of John McCain’s strongest political advantages is his opponent Barack Obama’s lack of political experience. No surprise there: when Mr. McCain began his political career, Mr. Obama was still a college student.

But lately, Mr. McCain seems to be taking the experience argument in an extreme direction: intimating that Mr. Obama doesn’t actually know, well, much of anything.

Here, for example, is Mr. McCain in a recent op-ed in The Detroit Free Press: “Those who would lead our countries must work to ensure that the benefits of NAFTA are understood throughout our… more

Time To End Waste At the Pentagon

Ron Tang — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:54:00 -0400

As Congress prepares to consider the annual Department of Defense authorization bill and other military spending legislation totaling more than $700 billion, the need for more aggressive scrutiny is abundantly clear. At a time when we have a $9.3 trillion national debt and large unmet social needs, oversight of these enormous and ever-increasing sums has failed to keep up.

The Pentagon’s procurement and budgeting processes are rife with problems. For example, the Government Accountability Office has identified $295 billion in cost overruns on 72 major weapons systems, even as the Pentagon can’t balance its books or keep track of its vast… more

The Souljah Legacy

Ron Tang — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:37:00 -0400

Sixteen years ago, the most influential campaign speech of the last two decades was delivered at a hotel ballroom in Washington. It wasn’t broadcast on television and only a few hundred Americans heard it in its entirety. But when presidential candidate Bill Clinton appeared at the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition on June 13, 1992, and attacked an obscure rapper named Sister Souljah it fundamentally changed the popular perception of the Democratic Party.

Standing only a few feet from Mr. Jackson, Mr. Clinton excoriated the young rapper, who had said: “If black people kill black people every day, why… more

Trouble at the Pentagon

Ron Tang — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:03:00 -0400

The Pentagon is in crisis: The war in Iraq is entering its fifth hot summer. And while U.S. troop casualties are down, the light at the end of the occupation tunnel is no closer and no brighter.

Headaches mount on the home front as well. The head of the Air Force was recently embarrassed and forced from the cockpit. Billions of dollars have been misplaced or misspent. Huge cost overruns bedevil weapons contractors. And, private contractors have formed a cubicle mercenary force, outnumbering uniformed personnel and federal employees in many DoD agencies.

The Government Accountability Office has issued… more

Obama's Adversity Creates Opportunity

Ron Tang — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:47:00 -0400

After months of bruising political battles, the matchup for the November election is now almost set. It’s clear that one of the two presumptive nominees has been badly hurt by his party’s nominating fight. Barack Obama?

No. John McCain.

Certainly, Obama has faced the tougher primary battle. But in adversity has come opportunity. The presumptive Democratic nominee has been able to confront difficult questions about his candidacy that would normally arise during the general election. And he was able to test out an affirmative message of change with independent voters in nearly every state of the country.

McCain, on the other hand, won… more

Invitation To Steal

Ron Tang — Wed, 28 May 2008 09:39:00 -0400

This article is drawn from Lessons From Iraq: Avoiding the Next War edited by William D. Hartung and Miriam Pemberton, a research fellow at Institute for Policy Studies.

The heavy reliance on private contractors to do everything from serving meals and doing laundry to protecting oil pipelines and interrogating prisoners has been a major factor in the immense costs of the Iraq war. By one measure, there may be more employees of private firms and their subcontractors on the ground in Iraq than there are U.S. military personnel.

One of the main rationales for using private companies to carry… more

Entrenched, Embedded, And Here To Stay

Ron Tang — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:20:00 -0400

A full-fledged cottage industry is already focused on those who eagerly await the end of the Bush administration, offering calendars, magnets, and t-shirts for sale as well as counters and graphics to download onto blogs and websites. But when the countdown ends and George W. Bush vacates the Oval Office, he will leave a legacy to contend with. Certainly, he wills to his successor a world marred by war and battered by deprivation, but perhaps his most enduring legacy is now deeply embedded in Washington-area politics -- a Pentagon metastasized almost beyond recognition.

The Pentagon's massive bulk-up… more

Dems, Beware Electability Trap

Ron Tang — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:04:00 -0400

With her campaign on life support, Hillary Clinton is making the one political argument that could hold the greatest sway with national Democrats: She is more electable.

It's hardly a surprising approach. Convinced of the party's vulnerabilities with the electorate and intimidated by opponents seen as masters of the black art of negative campaigning, Democrats are long accustomed to making electability their political lodestar.

But history shows that this is a shallow and counterproductive game -- one that can and should finally be put to rest in this election cycle.

Electability took on heightened significance for Democrats after the disastrous 1984 (Mondale) and… more

The U.S. Senate: Stalling Hemispheric Arms Control

Ron Tang — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:31:00 -0400

In 1997, President Bill Clinton, standing beside Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo in the Organization of American States’ flag-bedecked Hall of the Americas, declared: “Gun trafficking is an issue of national security for our governments, and a matter of neighborhood security for all of us in the Americas.” The presidents had joined together to sign an OAS treaty known as the Firearms Convention, or by its Spanish initials as CIFTA, designed to end the illicit manufacture and trafficking of guns, ammunition, explosives, and related materials. It requires that ratifying nations create laws (if they do not already exist) that establish procedures… more

It's No Longer 1968 For Dems

Ron Tang — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:58:00 -0400

In May 2004, as the presidential campaign was beginning to gather steam, an unnamed senior Bush administration official was asked to comment on the dilemma John F. Kerry faced in criticizing the handling of the war in Iraq. His response: “It’s never stopped being 1968” for Democrats.

A more telling description of Democratic vulnerability on national security issues is difficult to imagine. The year 1968 is shorthand for the 40-year political caricature of Democrats as “soft” and “weak” on military affairs. In the late ’60s, Democrats were “dirty hippies”; in the ’70s, they were peacenik McGovernites; in 1984, they were “blame… more

Bush Woos Europe

Ron Tang — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:10:00 -0400

The big news of President George W. Bush’s trip to Europe last week was not the multiple agendas that he juggled or the feathers he ruffled. It was the news he left behind. President Bush tried to set the domestic agenda for the week, with a pre-dawn press conference on his way to the airport last Monday. The sleepy First Couple stood side-by-side, as Bush told Congress they had “a lot of work” while he was gone. He even left a to-do list: pass Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, act on his Federal Housing Administration reform proposals, and agree to the… more

Guantanamo: The Bigger Picture

Ron Tang — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:50:00 -0400

The U.S. base at Guantanamo has been called many things. The "gulag of our time" (Amnesty International General Secretary Irene Khan, May 2005). "The key strategic intelligence platform in the war on terror" (Charles Stimson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, January 2007). The "legal equivalent of outer space" (unnamed Administration official). The right place for "the worst of a very bad lot" (Vice President Dick Cheney, January 2002) and for the "most dangerous, best trained, vicious killers on the face of the earth" (former Defense Secretary Donald… 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

The Commander-in-Chef Cooks Up a Storm

Ron Tang — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

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, the "R" word (for recession) hit the headlines (while the "D" word lurked), within weeks of the fifth… more