Category Archives: Middle East
NSF: Significant Conclusions from the Afghanistan Study Group
Colleagues: The “New America Foundation” convened a mixed group of scholars, national security experts, and veterans of the Afghanistan conflict to produce this study, “Rethinking the U.S. War in Afghanistan”. The report was written by the “Afghanistan Study Group”, which … Continue reading
NSF: US Policy in Afghanistan and Iraq: Looking Ahead to the Next Year
Colleagues: Two very interesting articles today worth reading, one on Afghanistan and one on Iraq, both looking forward to the next year and critical milestones that American policy in that region faces. First, a CSM article on the key turning … Continue reading
NSF: Increasing global reliance on counter-terrorism strategies
Colleagues: Several of you have chided me for not critically looking at ”Option 2” for Afghanistan, the so-called “Counter-Terrorism” alternative that VP Biden apparently favored. That approach has been expanded to include more reliance on UAVs (Predators), Special Forces units, … Continue reading
NSF: The AQ/Islamist Jihad is a real threat. Now here is how to defeat t…
Colleagues: This is an excellent piece by a COL Tom Snodgrass (USAF/Ret). The author does not flinch from stating explicitly that our “losing” in Afghanistan and Iraq would mean a significant gain for Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated insurgent/terrorist … Continue reading
NSF: Elite opinion rapidly shifting against the war, but not the Administration
Colleagues: Two very different perspectives on the war in Afghanistan today. As I have noted, I am amazed at the rapidity in the shift of opinions written by national security experts over just the past two months toward the conclusion … Continue reading
Afghanistan–Where are we and where do we go from here?
Colleagues: The war in Afghanistan is the longest conflict in U.S. history. It is trite to say that we are now “at a crossroads” in our policy in that theater, since we have traversed many such intersections before, and have yet … Continue reading
Questions on Israel and Iran and thoughtful responses
Colleagues I thought that (COL) Mike Haas developed some excellent questions regarding Iran and the potential for an Israeli strike on Iran, and sent them to (COL/Dr) Dick Hobbs. Dick is the author of “World War IV and Beyond”, a … Continue reading
Save the Date and NSF Website/newsletter Update
Colleagues: A Save the Date for what should be an extremely popular program on July 23 (no RSVPs yet!), and an update on our NSF website/newsletter. Ty SAVE THE DATE Friday, July 23, the Sienna, 9 am breakfast STEPHEN FRYE, … Continue reading
The Real Civil-Military Differences Over Afghanistan
Tyrus W. Cobb June 27, 2010 CONSPICUOUS RESTRAINT AND TARGETED ASSASSINATIONS In the wake of GEN Stanley McChrystal’s (M4) resignation last week, there has been considerable speculation regarding possible changes in the U.S. strategy for prosecuting the war in Afghanistan. … Continue reading
Should the President Accept or Demand GEN McChrystal’s Resignation?
McChrystal Submits Resignation Should the President Accept It? GEN Stanley McChrystal has apparently submitted his resignation to President Obama, following a very damaging series of interviews he and his staff did for a reporter for Rolling Stone Magazine. It’s only … Continue reading
