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Why America Can't Win Its Wars

by Peter R. Mansoorvia Analysis
Thursday, December 10, 2015

Poor strategic decision making since 2001 has involved the United States in messy civil wars that will take years, if not decades, to resolve. In Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, regime change has come easily, but a limited commitment to stabilizing those nations has resulted in messy, bloody, and expensive aftermaths. Those wars show that military success alone cannot ensure a stable post-conflict outcome. Only the presence of US military forces, economic aid, and a long-term political commitment from US policy makers to rebuild and restore defeated nations can ensure enduring peace.

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The White House’s Seven Deadly Errors

by Mark Moyarvia Analysis
Thursday, December 10, 2015

Seven broad errors account for America’s recent inability to turn tactical successes into strategic victories. In every instance, responsibility for the error has belonged to the White House. Excessive confidence in democratization and poor choices of allies left sustainment of strategic gains to governments incapable of preserving domestic order. Attempts to defeat insurgencies on the cheap, by speeding up counterinsurgency or relying on surgical strikes, allowed insurgencies to survive. Refusal to commit or maintain US ground forces undercut American efforts to assist and stabilize allies. By conveying intentions of military withdrawal, the United States encouraged opportunists to side with its enemies.

Analysis and Commentary

Rational Security: The "Irrational Security" Edition

by Benjamin Wittesvia Lawfare
Thursday, December 10, 2015

This week on the show, Susan Hennessey joins us again. Shane talks about President Obama's effort to reassure the nation that ISIS is not winning. We discuss Donald Trump's different sort of plan to keep America safe—and whether Trump himself constitutes a threat to national security.

Analysis and Commentary

Update: America Has No Arab Allies

by Alvin Rabushkavia Thoughtful Ideas
Thursday, December 10, 2015

His comments state the reality of so-called Arab allies. Carter acknowledged a missing element in the campaign: a more assertive role by Sunni Arab allies from the Gulf in the effort against Islamic State, a Sunni extremist group.

Analysis and Commentary

SSCI Study Of The CIA’s Detention And Interrogation Program: A Flawed Report

by Amy Zegartvia Lawfare
Thursday, December 10, 2015

Who won the torture debate -- the CIA or Senate Intelligence Committee Report? Were waterboarding, rectal hydration, stress positions, and other techniques used against detainees effective? Legal? Ethical? In a forthcoming special issue of the journal Intelligence and National Security, a range of academics and one former CIA lawyer weigh in.

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Meeting The ISIS Challenge

by Kori Schakevia The Caravan
Thursday, December 10, 2015

President Obama raises an interesting and important challenge for those of us who believe his approach to the threat of ISIS is misguided: develop a better strategy.  Any successful strategy requires three elements: a defined political end state, a prescribed series of actions to attain the end state, and means commensurate with your aims.  President Obama’s strategy fails all three of those tests. 

Interviews

Victor Davis Hanson On The John Carlson Show (22:48)

interview with Victor Davis Hansonvia John Carlson Show
Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Hoover Institution fellow Victor Davis Hanson discusses Tashfeen Malik’s immigration to the US and how the US decides to balance security and immigration amid fears of attacks like San Bernadino.

Barack Obama
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Paradigms Lost: The U.S.

by Bruce Thorntonvia Front Page Magazine Online
Wednesday, December 9, 2015

How utopian fantasies destroy.

Featured AnalysisFeatured

From The Mahdi To ISIS

by Samuel Tadrosvia The Caravan
Wednesday, December 9, 2015

In 1881, an obscure local religious leader in Sudan by the name of Mohamed Ahmed declared himself the long awaited Mahdi (divinely guided one). The claim was ridiculous at best, as established religious leaders were quick to proclaim. The prophecies of the coming of the Mahdi, while open to interpretation, clearly did not point to Mohamed Ahmed.

In the News

Proposed Ban On Muslims’ Entry Isn’t Hurting Trump — Yet

quoting Bill Whalenvia San Francisco Chronicle
Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is once again testing the notion that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

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