The Inevitability of Ground Forces

It has now been more than a month since the stated policy of the United States became to “ultimately destroy” ISIS. To achieve this goal, the president informed the world that U.S. airpower will be unleashed but that the strategy “will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil.” The past month has witnessed a single day, September 23, during which the U.S. and coalition air forces launched ...

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Understanding Iranian Ambitions

To most Americans, the image of Iran is one of religious zealotry punctuated by the nation’s patronage of Hezbollah. To every American over the age of 45, the national nightmare of the Iranian hostage crisis remains indelibly etched in his or her memory. The episode remains perhaps the greatest humiliation of the United States since the fall of South Vietnam, a slow motion nightmare played out nightly in the living ...

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The Politics of Diversion

With President Obama stuck in a mire of his own making, the Administration is looking externally for a quick win. The perceived target of opportunity is a negotiated settlement with Iran. The tentative agreement struck on November 9, had it been executed, would have for the first time tacitly acknowledged Iran’s right to enrich uranium – in defiance of multiple existing United Nations Resolutions and the consistent stance of the West ...

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A Cemetery in Vienna.

It’s the small things that tend to trigger periods of reflection for me. Walking among the marble crosses of the American cemetery above Omaha beach in Normandy remains high on my list of introspective moments. It is impossible to walk through that hallowed ground, the final resting place of over 9,000 American servicemen, without being in awe of the tremendous sacrifice of men unknown to me. That was a long ...

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