by Travis Sharp May 16 UPDATE: On May 15, the House passed amendments #2 and #3 but failed to pass amendment #1, which would provide $162.6 billion in DOD funding for ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. That funding is expected to be added to the supplemental by the Senate, which is slated to […]
Guantanamo Has Given Us A Bad Name
By Colleen Garcia and Michele Zilka Published in the Northwest Arkansas Times on May 1, 2008 Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 the United States embarked upon a global war against an enemy unlike any it had faced before. In drafting a new strategy to defeat the threat of international terrorism, the United […]
Iraq War Senate Appropriations Hearing: Nussle’s Nonsense Distorts the Record
The Bush administration requested $190 billion in war funding for fiscal year (FY) 2008. Congress approved $87 billion of this request in late 2007, leaving the remaining $103 billion to be considered in 2008. Additionally, in February 2008 the administration submitted a placeholder $70 billion request for war funding in FY 2009. Press reports indicate […]
Tying U.S. Defense Spending to GDP: Bad Logic, Bad Policy
by Travis Sharp Arguing that defense spending is historically low as a percentage of GDP, and therefore must be increased, is a bit like a landlord arguing that because a tenant received a much-deserved pay raise, their rent should be increased automatically. Intelligent defense planning relies on requirements, tradeoffs, and a thorough evaluation of […]
Ten Questions for General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker
by Kingston Reif by Travis Sharp Download these questions in PDF format. QUESTIONS FOR GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS 1. PETRAEUS: General, you told Fox News in 2007 that “Historically, counterinsurgency operations have gone at least nine or 10 years.” According to that timeline, how far along are we right now in Iraq? Are we half way […]
