Archive for September, 2010

Flashpoint: Pyongyang provocations

North Korea’s torpedo mischief ripples beyond Northeast Asia

When North Korea makes headlines, it is never good news.For instance, there was the Korean War — certainly not good news. Then there was …

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Conscription: pro and con; McChrystal’s war

Former Undersecretary of the Army Nelson Ford asks for evidence regarding my claim that America’s elites are underrepresented in the all-volunteer force [Letters, June]. In “America’s ‘casualty gap’”(Los Angeles Times, May 28), …

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The spark, oxygen and fuel

What made the Iraq surge work

In a nationally televised broadcast Jan. 10, 2007, President George W. Bush made a stark admission to a problem that had become painfully evident: “It is …

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Zumwalt teamwork

TO THE NAVY AND INDUSTRY for putting the DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer program on track. This massively complex warship program has defied the critics and overcome a Nunn-McCurdy breach — triggered by a …

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Lessons not learned

Civil-military disconnect in Afghanistan

The relief of two four-star operational commanders in Afghanistan, America’s “war of necessity,” warrants an examination of not only civil-military relations but also leader-follower dynamics and the question …

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Karzai’s exit strategy

The Afghan president’s goal is survival, not victory over the Taliban

For all of the discussion in Washington of Afghanistan “endgame,” “exit” and “withdrawal” strategies, it is easy to lose sight of …

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A false dichotomy

Critics of the Army’s COIN focus ignore world and war realities

As the violence in Afghanistan has intensified, a growing chorus of critics has argued against the strategy of counterinsurgency writ large. …

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An elephant named Morality

The unspoken argument over ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’

On May 26, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed an amendment to the 2011 defense appropriations bill to repeal Section 654, Title 10 of …

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Arlington accountability

TO THE ARMY for taking so long to uncover the serious operational problems at Arlington National Cemetery. The scale of the travesty — with hundreds, possibly thousands of graves mismarked or unmarked …

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Tanker tricks

TO U.S. AEROSPACE, a previously little-known California-based aircraft components maker, for its dubious allegations against the Air Force regarding the KC-X tanker contract. U.S. Aerospace filed a protest with the Government Accountability …

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