Leon Hadar

Let us imagine for a moment that the years of George W. Bush as president have already passed us by, that it is perhaps 2017. In this imaginary time, what might the former president’s Wikipedia entry look like? Here is a guess: “George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) was the 43rd U.S. president. His … Continue reading “The Bush Legacy:
Headed for Hisses?”

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz was scheduled to spend this week welcoming economic officials from all around the world to the bank’s spring meetings in Washington. Instead, he has been engaged in an intense campaign aimed at fending off the growing pressure on him to resign after admitting that he was personally involved in securing … Continue reading “Another Victim of the Anti-Neocon Revolution?”

Once upon a time, an American president would have been a leader in the effort to bring peace between Israel and its neighbors, since, after all, such reconciliation would bring stability to the Middle East and serve long-term U.S. geopolitical interests. In that context – with the struggle over the Holy Land at the core … Continue reading “Is Washington Being Sidelined on the Middle East?”

During his State of the Union Address on Jan. 29, 2002, President George W. Bush named Iraq, North Korea, and Iran as members of an "Axis of Evil," and accused them of sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The three Evils Ones "threaten the peace of the world," Mr. Bush declared. "By … Continue reading “The Axis of Evil: And Then There Was One”

I have read the report on and parts of the (declassified) text of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq’s future, the official assessment issued by key American intelligence agencies. It outlines three possible scenarios for the U.S.-occupied country: The emergence of a Shi’ite strongman to assert authority over minority sects; A period of sustained … Continue reading “Listen to the Foxes, Not Hedgehogs, on Iraq”

Rejecting the notion that the United States was planning to attack Iran and Syria, White House Spokesman Tony Snow called it a myth or an “urban legend.” “I want to address [a] kind of a rumor, an urban legend that’s going around,” Snow told reporters at a White House briefing two days after President George … Continue reading “Expanding the War to Iran: Another ‘Urban Legend’?”

It was the renowned Prussian military thinker Carl von Clausewitz who proposed in the early 19th century that “war is merely a continuation of politics” – an assertion that should continue to serve as a cautionary note to statesmen and generals who fail to take into consideration the political context in which their military strategy … Continue reading “A Military ‘Surge’ to a
Political Nowhere”

There was a certain end-of-an-era feeling in Washington in the last few weeks of 2006. In the aftermath of the Republican loss of Congress in November, interpreted by most pundits as the American public’s repudiation of President George Bush’s policy in Iraq, the expectation in the U.S. capital was that the city would enter the … Continue reading “Brace Yourself for 2007”

For most of the second part of the 20th Century, representatives of foreign governments had grown accustomed to dealing with a certain type of US official. Ask a Russian diplomat, a Japanese bureaucrat or a French intelligence officer, and they will probably describe the American Assistant Secretary of State, a Treasury official, or a CIA … Continue reading “The Right Men, the Wrong President”

One of Aesop’s fables recounts how once upon a time Mount Ida, the birthplace of Zeus, experienced a huge earthquake. "The earth commenced to tremble and shake – and huge boulders flew off the mountain top into the sky," the fable goes. "It seemed as if the mountain was about to give birth." Then the … Continue reading “The Baker-Hamilton Recommendations: Too Little, Too Late?”