Peace and Security
An Exit Strategy for Afghanistan
Here in Washington, it’s easy to find boosters for the current U.S. war strategy in Afghanistan. Outside of Washington, it’s harder. A CNN poll late last month found that three-quarters of Americans now oppose the war and more than half would like U.S. combat troops to leave Afghanistan sooner than 2014, their scheduled withdrawal date. France, Spain, and Australia are all planning to accelerate the withdrawal of their soldiers from Afghanistan.
Let’s Protect Children, Not Guns
The Children’s Defense Fund dedicated our report Protect Children, Not Guns 2012 to the memory of Trayvon Martin and the thousands of other children and teenagers killed by guns in America. Guns killed a total of 5,740 kids in 2008 and 2009, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If Congress passed stronger laws and closed loopholes, it would save lives.
Breathing While Black
The radical conservative majority of the Supreme Court delivered yet another bizarre opinion the other week. It ruled that police and jail officials can strip search anyone arrested for anything, no matter how minor the violation or how upstanding the suspect.
Crime Watch
Our Failed Cuba Policy Fixation
It’s election season. When they’re not kissing babies or holding staged conversations with average voters at coffee shops, presidential hopefuls will dust off tired arguments about the national security threat posed by Cuba, an island with a population the size of Ohio.
Congress: Listen to Lt. Col. Daniel Davis
When Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis returned from his second tour in Afghanistan, he knew that what he’d witnessed first-hand didn’t match the rosy progress reports that top military officials were giving Congress.
Letter from Kenya: An On-the-Ground Take on Kony 2012
A number of people have asked me about the new media sensation, Kony 2012 by the group, Invisible Children. I normally don’t try to download video because my system here in Kenya is still too slow. After one and one half hours, I had downloaded 4:44 minutes. When I tried to look at even this beginning part, it went away and said it was no longer available.
Greening the Pentagon
The U.S. military is going green. Don’t take it from me. “[T]he Department of Defense…the world’s largest consumer of energy, will make one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history,” President Barack Obama declared in this year’s State of the Union address.
Washington’s Strange Nuclear Bedfellows
Indonesia ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) late last year. As the most recent nation to pledge to halt nuclear weapons testing and agree to global monitoring to ensure compliance with that promise, it brought the total number of signatories to 157.
Nuclear Alert
