Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and author of Finding the Target: The Transformation of the American Military; former Professor of Military History at West Point
PROFILE
Fred Kagan
Guest
FROM Fred Kagan
To the Point
To 'Surge' or Not to 'Surge' in Iraq Today's Washington Post is the latest news outlet to report disagreement between the Pentagon and the White House. The paper says the White House wants 15,000 to 30,000 more troops for a last-ditch "surge" to rescue Iraq from total chaos. It says the Joint Chiefs of Staff are unanimously opposed, despite Army leaders warning that their active forces are already at the breaking point All this as the new Defense Secretary, Robert Gates , plans a trip to Iraq and President Bush says he'll announce a new strategy early next year. We debate military realities in the short term and the foreseeable future.
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To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
To the Point
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
Left, Right & Center
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
To the Point
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.