McChrystal’s Myth

There is no such thing a "victory" in the kinds of wars we're fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The best one can hope for in these types of conflicts – counterinsurgency efforts in far-flung corners of the globe with fuzzy objectives and vague necessity – is...

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McChrystal’s Conundrum

Is the Afghan war already lost? Well, not quite, says the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, but almost: "Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) – while Afghan security capacity matures – risks an outcome...

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Obama’s High Noon

Recent events indicate that President Barack Obama is considering cutting the Pentagon's "long war" short. First came his decision to drop the Bush administration policy of demanding that Iran cede its right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes as a...

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Death by Bananastan

I keep finding further proof that our ever increasing but directionless escalation of the Bananastan* conflict is the maddest military misadventure in human history. A former colleague recently sent me information regarding the newly formed Pakistan Afghanistan...

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Mullen’s Mulligans

In golf and other sports, a "mulligan" is a second chance to get something right, sometimes referred to as a "do-over." In most sports, one do-over is all you get, and sports are just games. In war, humanity's deadliest undertaking, the folks in...

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The Man With the Plan for Bananastan

The Bananastans, the banana republic-style tar pits in Central Asia that we've stumbled into, have rapidly become a bigger cluster bomb than Iraq ever was. At his Senate confirmation hearing, Gen. Stanley McChrystal said the "measure of effectiveness" in...

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Randolph Bourne Institute