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.
Recommended
To the Point
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.
To the Point
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
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
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.