Steve Breyman

Steve Breyman will teach "War in Afghanistan" at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute fall semester. Breyman is a veteran of the U.S. Army.

Islamic State and the American Way of War: The New Enemy Creation Process

What better gift for the War On Terror-Industrial-Complex (WOTIC) than the rapid rise and initial success of the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS? A patchwork of brutal know-nothing thugs, IS militants can’t wait to impose a twisted version of “Shariah” on their unwilling victims, and to terrorize actual and potential opponents through mass executions … Continue reading “Islamic State and the American Way of War: The New Enemy Creation Process”

Nukes Now: Obama Worse Than Reagan

Heads-up, veterans of the nuclear freeze movement in the US, the anti-Euromissile campaigns in Western Europe, and the various anti-nuclear weapons efforts in New Zealand, Australia and Japan. Incoming. We spent much of the eighties resisting Ronald Reagan’s new Cold War, and his new nuclear weapons of all shapes and sizes. We pushed back against … Continue reading “Nukes Now: Obama Worse Than Reagan”

The Profligate Nuclear Pentagon

American taxpayers don’t get their money’s worth from their ever-growing annual investment in the Pentagon. It’s a bottomless pit that makes a hydrofracked well look like a pothole. Most taxpayers would be happy to spend considerably less. The massive size, baroque nature and opaque character of the ‘defense’ budget make picking and choosing programs to … Continue reading “The Profligate Nuclear Pentagon”

Dear Congress: Study War Some More

Dear 112th Congress: You are surely as inspired by events in Cairo, Tunis, and Benghazi as the rest of us. And you are surely as distressed by events in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan as your fellow Americans. Now is as good a time as any to face a grim fact: you and your recent predecessors … Continue reading “Dear Congress: Study War Some More”

Beginning to Smell in Afghanistan

The Army’s Col. Timothy R. Reese is, at least for the time being, still the chief of the Operations Command Advisory Team in Baghdad. His job is to advise Iraqi general, Abud Qanbar, in charge of security in Baghdad. Prior to his deployment to Iraq, Reese ran the Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, where … Continue reading “Beginning to Smell in Afghanistan”

Will the US Again Attack Iran – This Time Without Saddam?

In a recent interview with Raw Story, Former Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith recounted an anecdote from his new book The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created A War Without End. When three Iraqi-Americans met with the president prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and spent some time trying to tutor him on … Continue reading “Will the US Again Attack Iran – This Time Without Saddam?”

Who Lied Us Into War?
Ask George Tenet

In Bob Woodward’s 2004 book Plan of Attack, the famed Washington Post journalist details a pre-Iraq war conversation that allegedly took place between President Bush and then-CIA director George Tenet regarding whether or not Saddam Hussein truly possessed weapons of mass destruction. According to the book’s narrative, a hesitant and skeptical Bush asked Tenet: “George, … Continue reading “Who Lied Us Into War?
Ask George Tenet”

Charles Krauthammer, Call Your Shrink

Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer thinks former general and national security adviser to four presidents Brent Scowcroft is "cold-blooded," an appeaser, an ally of Saddam Hussein, indifferent to those suffering under dictatorships, and indecent to boot. Why? Because Scowcroft has doubts about the U.S. government’s ability to transform Islamic countries into U.S.-style democracies, and because, … Continue reading “Charles Krauthammer, Call Your Shrink”

History Isn’t Over, but the Neocons Might Be

In 1989, State Department planner Francis Fukuyama wrote his now-famous, seminal essay "The End of History." In it, he argued that humanity had reached "an endpoint in its ideological evolution" and capitalist liberal democracy would be the inevitable, worldwide status quo in the not-too-distant future. Post-9/11 America, mired in conflict with stubborn "militant Islam," seemingly … Continue reading “History Isn’t Over, but the Neocons Might Be”

A Costly Education for America

In a desperate 11th-hour bid to save face and salvage credibility amid the violent collapse of their predictions of a "cakewalk" victory over Iraq, neoconservative opinionmakers appear to be preparing to spin America’s likely troop drawdown as just another stage in the fulfillment of their larger plans for the region. "In Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and … Continue reading “A Costly Education for America”