Editor's note: this is a guest post by William Spaniel, a doctoral candidate at the University of Rochester. See this previous Duck post describing some of his work, and this post at his own blog providing more information about the research discussed here. Spurred...
Yesterday morning I forgot to link the National Security Archive's "Iraq War Ten Years After" page. It highlights some of the greatest hits of the period. I founded the Duck after the start of the...
My first thoughts on the war’s ten year anniversary are here. There I asked if there was any defensible theory behind the war, anything that might explain why we launched it, because weapons of mass...
I’ve been thinking a lot about the war this month. I’ll be teaching it in the next few weeks at school because of the decade anniversary (March 20). My quick sense is that any defensible theory...
I haven't blogged here for awhile, nor have I written anything about Iraq in quite some time. What's up there, anyway?First, I recommend Fareed Zakaria's June 21 assessment in Newsweek. Read the entire piece ASAP.Next, take a look at the latest word from the bureaucrats paid to keep up with the situation on the ground. Indeed, today's Post details some news about a pair of recently released U.S. government reports. Journalist Karen DeYoung notes that "In many respects, the two reports seemed to assess wholly different realities."The one from the Pentagon ("Measuring Security and Stability in...
According to President George W. Bush, the U.S. has been engaged in a "war on terrorism" for almost the entirety of his presidency. Indeed, he frequently laments the fact that he's been a "war President" despite not knowing in 2000 that that would be his destiny.Critics have often bashed the President for failing to urge the American people to make common sacrifices in support of that war. Even sympathetic voices say that soldiers have made virtually all the major sacrifices in this war.Indeed, rather than make sacrifices, the President has long encouraged the American people to live their...
Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I've been sick all week and finally feel like myself again this afternoon, so I'm going to try to catch up on a few things that I had meant to mention but....First off: A must read from last Sunday's NYT (I had actually started the post earlier, but only typed 2 lines before I started coughing).So, to all those who thought that the US needed to do a better job in winning the “war of ideas,” it turns out that the US is doing a fantastic job—just targeting a different audience. Last Sunday’s NYT has a fascinating bit of investigative journalism on the cozy...
I didn't think it was possible, but if the Washington Post's summary of Douglas Feith's manuscript is accurate, Feith's attempt to rehabilitate his image is only likely to make him look worse.The idea to which Feith appears most attached, and to which he repeatedly returns in the book, is the formation of an Iraqi Interim Authority. Feith's office drew up a plan for the body -- to be made up of U.S.-appointed Iraqis who would share some decision-making with U.S. occupation forces -- in the months before the invasion. But while he says that Bush approved it, he charges that Bremer refused to...
Some of the remaining presidential candidates are this week debating the role of al Qaeda in Iraq. Senator John McCain points to AQI to justify his pro-war position, Senator Barack Obama points out that al Qaeda would not be in Iraq if the US hadn't invaded. It was not in Iraq before the US invaded.If the US abandoned Iraq, McCain says, then AQI would not just be "establishing a base." No, he says, "they'd be taking a country." President Bush has been making this same point for years -- though the point is even more misleading now than it was then, when Bush was using this a justification...
George W. Bush had this exchange at his press conference, February 28, 2008: Q Mr. President, Turkey's ground offensive in northern Iraq is now a week old with no end in sight. How quickly would you like to see Turkey end its offenses, its incursion? And do you have any concerns about the possibility of protracted presence in northern Iraq causing further destabilization in the region?THE PRESIDENT: ...I strongly agree with the sentiments of Secretary Gates, who said that the incursion must be limited, and must be temporary in nature. In other words, it shouldn't be long-lasting. But the...
US forces are preparing for operations in Mosul, but can't rely on the Awakening Councils to provide much help. Iraqi and American commanders are preparing for a prolonged — and possibly pivotal — fight against al-Qaida in Iraq in this vital northern hub. But they are missing an essential tool used to uproot insurgents elsewhere: groups of local Sunni fighters.The so-called Awakening Councils remain conspicuously absent in Mosul and efforts to stir a similar movement appear unlikely amid the region's pecking order of groups. Some military leaders even worry that seeking to enlist local...
I have a longstanding apathy towards State of the Union addresses. If a President says anything important (like declaring states part of an "axis of evil"), then I figure that the text serves just as well. My actions are bipartisan -- I don't watch anyone named Bush give these addresses and I didn't watch Bill Clinton either. And I generally didn't watch Ronald Reagan's efforts. However, there's a case to be made that I should have watched the address this year -- not because of what Bush said, but because of how specific members of the audience reacted.After all, both of the remaining...