Archive for March, 2007

TO THE PENTAGON

For overstating its case against Iranian activity in Iraq and basing it on evidence presented by three officials it won’t identify. In doing so, the Defense Department’s argument sounds too much like …

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Transformation reality check

With the Iraq operation failing, his battle plan for that conflict widely discredited and even Afghanistan looking like a partial success at best, Donald Rumsfeld’s vision for transforming the military is in …

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TO DEFENSE SECRETARY ROBERT GATES

For his intellectual assessment of the war in Iraq that underscores the subtleties and complexities of this war. Describing it as four wars, Gates said: “One is Shi’a on Shi’a, principally in …

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The GDP argument

Should defense spending be tied to U.S. economic growth?

The $716.5 billion defense budget he sent to Congress last month “is staggering,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates conceded to the House Armed Services …

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Iraq’s new drill

Classic counterinsurgency doctrine can secure vital oil corridor

Change is coming for U.S. policy on Iraq. We have a new Congress committed to change. The American people have signaled that there must …

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Strategic invisibility

The folly of ignoring our Latin American neighbors

No strategic arena is so readily ignored or, arguably, as little understood by the U.S. government as Latin America. Yet, no state is more …

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We should defend ourselves

Between an already shrunken military, the requirements of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, the public’s perception that the war in Iraq is not going well and a healthy domestic economy, the question …

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Gray Lady in winter

Bloggers take aim at The New York Times

A recurring theme in this column is the relationship between the blogosphere and the mainstream media, one that could be politely described as “strained.” …

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More infantry

With the chief of staff of the Army and the commandant of the Marine Corps publicly calling for more troops, here is a solution that sources those troops from within current Defense …

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