Center for a New American Security
Senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, he writes The Best Defense blog at ForeignPolicy.com; author of The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq and The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 and Pulitzer Prize-winning former military correspondent for the Washington Post
A Culture of Mediocrity Among the Army’s Top Brass On Friday, former Army General David Petraeus resigned as director of the CIA, citing his own bad judgment for an extramarital affair. California's Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was surprised that the FBI never notified her about the investigation. Petraeus resigned after the FBI told him it had uncovered his affair with Paula Broadwell, author of All In, an admiring account of Petraeus’s Army career. Former Washington Post military correspondent Thomas Ricks, author of the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Fiasco, a critique of the war in Iraq, has written a scathing history of top leadership in the Army since the end of World War II. The Generals attributes military failures in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan to a lost culture of accountability.
Petraeus Goes to the CIA, Panetta to the Pentagon There's been a major shift of familiar figures in the Obama security team. When Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a holdover from the Bush Administration, decided to call it quits, President Obama had a problem. He's decided to solve it by moving CIA Director Leon Panetta to the Pentagon and General David Petraeus to the CIA. Petraeus became America's favorite military leader after the successful troop "surge" in Iraq. President Obama gave him command of the war in Afghanistan. But the shakeup goes beyond those jobs.
War and Peace in Afghanistan President Obama is on the verge of a momentous decision: should he agree to General Stanley McChrystal's request for some 40,000 more troops in Afghanistan? After a week of strategy sessions, today's New York Times says the President is " impatient ."
War and Peace in the Graveyard of Empires Last week, President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, as he concluded a series of strategy sessions on the eight-year old war in Afghanistan. Efforts to defeat the Taliban, create a credible government and help the civilian population are failing. The countryside is so dangerous that aid workers can't leave the capital city to advise farmers on growing crops. General Stanley McChrystal wants to add 40,000 troops to the 68,000 already there, to fight the Taliban and to establish effective civilian government. It could take decades to control corruption, establish a justice system and prop up the economy at the cost of billions of American dollars and thousands of lives. What are the alternatives? What are America's goals? We look at the options.
Can America's Withdrawal from Iraq Stay on Schedule? After suicide bombings killed more than 150 people last week in Iraq, Hillary Clinton made her first visit as Secretary of State. Asked if the US has put Iraq on the back burner, she said the US is committed to seeing "a stable, sovereign, self-reliant Iraq," but that a transition is underway.
Remember...Iraq? Pakistan, Afghanistan, the economy and swine flu are dominating the news today, but Iraq presents challenges that aren't going away. After suicide bombings killed more than 150 people last week in Iraq, Hillary Clinton made her first visit as Secretary of State. Asked if the US has put Iraq on the back burner, she said the US is committed to seeing “a stable, sovereign, self-reliant Iraq,” but that a transition is under way. The recent violence proves that sectarian tensions remain, and the Shiite-led government is making life hard for Sunnis who've helped maintain order. As US troops begin to withdraw, the worst case scenario is civil war. If Iraqi forces can't maintain order, will the withdrawal schedule have to be revised? Would escalating violence bring in Iran, Turkey and other regional powers?
Has the US Defeated al Qaeda in Iraq? The US military believes that it has dealt devastating and perhaps irreversible blows to al Qaeda in Iraq in recent months, leading some generals to advocate a declaration of victory over that group. That’s according to today's Washington Post. But the paper also reports that other officials see a declaration of that kind as premature. The story was written by Thomas Ricks.
A Failure in Generalship President Bush says the generals, not the politicians, should be running the war in Iraq, but the generals are doing a terrible job. That's according to a highly-respected Lieutenant Colonel on active duty, who's written a scathing attack on what he calls "a crisis in American generals." Lt. Colonel Paul Yingling was praised by President Bush last year for securing the Iraqi city of Tall Afar, and his success provided the model for the security plan in Baghdad. Paul Yingling has attended the Army's top training schools and written for its top journals. The latest Armed Forces Journal published his blistering critique under the title, " A Failure in Generalship ." Should the senior officers be held to account for failing to anticipate the insurgency and not sending enough troops? Are they repeating the mistakes of Vietnam? Are the wrong people being promoted to the highest military positions?
What is Trump's plan for Middle East peace? On his first foreign tour, President Trump has promised "peace" between Israel and the Palestinians. Are there any details for re-starting talks that have been stalled for the past three years?
President Trump: US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord Trump says he was elected to serve Pittsburgh, not Paris.
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.
Venezuela spirals into economic and political chaos Venezuela, a country whose potential for prosperity is unmatched, finds itself on the verge of civil war. What sustains the repressive government? With time running out, guest host León Krauze looks at what the international community can do to pull the country from the edge of collapse.