Daniel Luban

As the war in Gaza approaches its third week, a chorus of influential voices in the U.S. media has cast the conflict as a proxy war in which the real enemy is not Hamas but Iran. The result has been a growing tendency in the U.S. to view Gaza as simply one battleground in a … Continue reading “In Washington, All Roads Lead to Tehran”

The unlikely political journey of Andrew J. Bacevich has been one of the most potent symbols of the transformation in foreign policy debates wrought by the George W. Bush years. A Vietnam veteran, retired US Army colonel, and Boston University professor, Bacevich came into the public eye in the 1990s as a commentator on military … Continue reading “Is the Sun Setting on US Empire?”

An apparent raid into Pakistani territory by US forces stationed in Afghanistan has prompted angry denunciations from Pakistani officials and renewed questions about the future of the war against the Taliban in the region. The raid, which took place Wednesday morning in the turbulent Waziristan region, may have killed as many as 20 civilians, according … Continue reading “Raid May Herald More Confrontational Policy”

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Georgia last month, many commentators have been quick to proclaim that the war signals "the return of history." But attentive observers could be forgiven for responding to these pronouncements with a sense of déjà vu. History, after all, was already supposed to have returned once before – seven … Continue reading “The Return of the Return of History”

News coming out of Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent months has unsettled many assumptions about the U.S. war on terror. To most casual observers of the war on terror, Afghanistan served until recently as a reassuring contrast to the grim and bewildering conflict in Iraq – the "good war" as opposed to the "bad war." … Continue reading “Descent Into Chaos“

A new poll suggests that US Jews hold views about the Middle East that are considerably more dovish than frequently acknowledged, with large majorities favoring diplomacy with Iran, supporting a two-state solution in Israel/Palestine, and advocating US withdrawal from Iraq. US Jews also favor Barack Obama over John McCain by a wide margin in the … Continue reading “Doves Outnumber Hawks in Jewish Community”

The Iraqi government announced Monday that it had revoked the license of one of the most prominent private U.S. security firms operating in Iraq, a decision that is expected to cause friction with U.S. occupying forces, which have increasingly come to rely on private contractors to meet their logistical and security needs. The decision to … Continue reading “Blackwater Banned After Deadly Firefight”