Peter Van Buren Peter is a 24 year veteran as a State Department diplomat and ended his service as leading an FOB ( forward operating base) during the Iraq war. The base was used to establish an American presence to spend millions on Iraqi community support. – Ed. In the longer view, the Iraq Wars…
Peter Van Buren In this article, Peter uses his 24-year State Department experience to examine the “Deep State” meme based on his background and using his satirical literary style. Andrew Bacevich, with a military background, rounds out the same theme in this article. The “Deep State” meme has been kicking around for several decades as…
Dan White Children are always playing make-believe, pretending that they are various wild animals in the jungle, or rocket-ship pilots, or things like that. Sometimes when they really get into the game, they go so far as to burglarize the master bedroom and put on mommy and daddy’s outfits and pretend that their parents clothes…
by Dan White A story from some actress about marriage and divorce always stuck with me, even if the actress’ name hasn’t. She talked about how if you are head over heels in love with someone, or if you are pissed off at them and divorcing them, you still see everything about the person, good…
Robyn B. Blanpied, PhD, Major, USAF (ret.) In this article Robyn raises some interesting questions about management strategy in our “global war on terror” (GWOT). With her background of eighteen years in the Air Force and retiring as a Major with a wide range of assignments, she certainly has the creds for her contrary questioning…
Peter Van Buren This post originally appeared on January 21, 2016 in Peter Van Buren’s blog. In an Op-Ed printed in the Washington Post, former General David Petraeus says it is time to “unleash our airpower in support of our Afghan partners in the same way that we support our Iraqi and Syrian partners against…
U.S. troops in Mosul, Iraq in 2007. A foreign presence to Iraqis W.J. Astore I’m a retired U.S. military officer. When I think of U.S. troops, naturally I see them as my gals and guys. I identify with them. And I know enough of them to know that their intent is usually good — at…
Katie Stuart My 23 year old son, Gillen, is in the Air National Guard. He is four years into a six year commitment. A few weekends ago, he came home from “drill” with the news that he may have to go to Afghanistan for six months in the spring of 2017. A few days later,…
W.J. Astore I recently received an update from the National Priorities Project reminding me of this startling fact: “The president announced last week that American troops will remain in Afghanistan beyond the planned withdrawal at the end of 2016. This is a devastating blow. We’ve already spent $716 billion and counting on the war in…
W.J. Astore I read the news today, oh boy. President Obama has decided to keep thousands of U.S. troops in Afghanistan until 2017, effectively kicking the war to the next president. According to the New York Times, “The Obama administration sees the choice to slow down the United States’ Afghan exit as the best of…
The Contrary Perspective 