Last week, President Bush proposed a record $439.3 defense budget for fiscal year 2007, almost $30 billion more than the current budget. And as has been the case since 2003 – when the Bush administration decided to invade Iraq – the fiscal year 2007 defense...
More Defense Spending,
Going Old School on al-Qaeda
Most of the controversy surrounding the White House policy of warrantless telephone and e-mail eavesdropping has centered on whether President Bush has overstepped his authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which was created in 1978. The...
Rethinking Nuclear Nonproliferation
Last week, Iran removed the UN seals from uranium enrichment equipment at its Natanz nuclear facility and threatened to block International Atomic Energy Agency inspections if referred to the UN Security Council over its nuclear program. Iran claims its program is for...
Troop Reduction Legerdemain
Just before Christmas, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld signaled the possible beginning of U.S. troop reductions in Iraq when he announced that two brigades scheduled for combat tours would not be deployed and that troop levels might fall below 130,000 U.S....
Syriana: It’s Not About the Oil
I went to see the new Warner Bros. political thriller Syriana over the weekend (going to the movies is a rare treat when you're the parent of a young child). For most people, movies are entertainment and escapism (for that, I took my 6-year-old daughter to Chicken...
A Tale of Two Cities
On Saturday, Dec. 3, the Washington Post ran two stories about what's happening on the ground in Iraq. The first was on the front page above the fold, "10 Marines Killed in Fallujah Blast." The second was on page A19, "Leaving Najaf, One Step at a...
The Zarqawi Dilemma
This week, there was a brief glimmer of hope that U.S. forces might have killed the most wanted man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. For many, Zarqawi has come to represent the Iraqi insurgency. Indeed, his stature in the eyes of the Bush administration is equal to...
New York’s Subway Search Program Earns a Failing Grade
In response to the July 7 terrorist bombings on London's tube system, on July 21 police began conducting random searches of bags and packages carried by people on the New York city subway; those who refuse to be searched are not allowed to ride. The New York City...
Iraq by the Numbers
Just before the January 2005 Iraqi elections, I was quoted in one media outlet: "Those who believe that the elections will result in a calming effect in Iraq are just wrong. The violence will increase and get uglier." I went on to say: "And if 150,000 U.S. troops...
A New York State of Mind
In the late afternoon on Thursday, Oct. 6, New York City authorities raised security as a result of what Mayor Michael Bloomberg described as a "specific threat to our subway system." According to a bulletin issued by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security...