Charles V. Peña

The Democrats regaining control of both the House and Senate was seen by many as rejection of the Bush administration’s Iraq policy and a referendum for withdrawal. The announcement the next day of Donald Rumsfeld’s departure from the Pentagon and the nomination of former CIA director Robert Gates to be the new secretary of defense … Continue reading “Worse Than Staying the Course”

Much to the chagrin of the Pentagon’s comptroller, Tina Jonas (who has a B.A. in political science from Arizona State University and an M.A. in liberal studies from Georgetown University – although you would think that the chief financial officer for a $500 billion-plus organization would have an accounting or business administration degree), word has … Continue reading “The Mother of All Defense Supplementals”

In his weekly radio address over the weekend, President Bush said, "Our goal in Iraq is clear and unchanging: Our goal is victory. What is changing are the tactics we use to achieve that goal." This statement begs two questions. The first is: What is victory? And secondly: Given the current situation in Iraq – … Continue reading “Fish or Cut Bait in Iraq”

At the end of September, the New York Times reported that "A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks." According to … Continue reading “Co-Dependency in Iraq”

The author of the 2,300-year-old treatise The Art of War, Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu, warned, "If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat." To be sure, we have had victories in the war on terrorism: Mohammed Atef, believed to have been al-Qaeda’s military commander, was … Continue reading “Know Thine Enemy”

For many baby boomers, a defining question is: "Where were you and what were you doing when President Kennedy was shot?" For the post-baby boom generation, the defining question will be: "Where were you and what were you doing on 9/11?" I was in my office on the 3rd floor at the Cato Institute. I … Continue reading “Remembering 9/11”

In late July and early August there was some buzz about Army readiness problems. A prominent group of U.S. defense experts (many former Clintonites), chaired by former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry and including retired Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. John Shalikashvili, claimed that "two thirds of the Army’s operating force, active and … Continue reading “Backdoor Draft”

Last week, British authorities thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up passenger planes flying between the UK and America by smuggling on board chemicals in liquid and paste form to create bombs, which is a grim reminder that airplanes are still a tempting target for terrorists. It also shows that the obsession with security to … Continue reading “Flying the Unfriendly Skies”

co·nun·drum: A paradoxical, insoluble, or difficult problem; a dilemma A conundrum is exactly what the United States finds itself in as a result of Israel’s incursion into Lebanon in response to Hezbollah kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and firing Katyusha rockets into Haifa. On the one hand, U.S. security – defined as defense of the homeland, … Continue reading “The Lebanon Conundrum”

To say that the situation in the Middle East right now is a mess would be an understatement of gargantuan proportions. Israel has sent ground troops into Lebanon. The violence between Hezbollah and Israeli forces has killed more than 300 people (the vast majority of them in Lebanon) in less than two weeks and shows … Continue reading “What a Fine Mess”