Peace and Security
Take-No-Prisoners War
Osama bin Laden, the 9-11 mastermind, is dead. Our man in Afghanistan, the scion of a wealthy Saudi family who helped us defeat the Soviet Union in that Cold War theater, is gone. Three decades later, U.S. special forces nailed him in Pakistan.
Osama’s Descent
Good Riddance
I don’t like to exult in the death of people, not even people I don’t like. I think it’s bad form.
Playing into Osama Bin Laden’s Hands
We have, once again, played right into Osama bin Laden’s hands. This might seem like an odd assertion, since the al-Qaeda mastermind is finally dead at the hands of U.S. Special Forces, most heads of state have voiced their congratulations, and practically the entire U.S. citizenry is unified in celebration.
Why I Can’t Celebrate Osama Bin Laden’s Death
I recall precisely where I was, as well as what I was doing, when I heard the horrible and heart-wrenching news of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the aborted attack represented by the plane that went down in rural Pennsylvania. I know I’m not alone in being able to remember my personal coordinates and tap into the emotions of that defining day.
Justice, Vengeance, and Osama Bin Laden
U.S. agents killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, apparently without cooperation from the government in Islamabad. The al-Qaeda leader was responsible for great suffering; I do not mourn his death. But every action has causes and consequences, and in the current moment all are dangerous. It’s unlikely that bin Laden’s killing will have much impact on the already weakened capacity of al-Qaeda, which is widely believed to be made up of only a couple hundred fighters between Afghanistan and Pakistan — though its effect on other terrorist forces is uncertain. Pakistan itself may pay a particularly high price.
No-Doctrine Obama
For the political zoologist, the equivalent of finding a new species is identifying a new doctrine. Do all the zigs and zags in U.S. foreign policy in the last two years add up to a coherent Obama Doctrine?
U.S. Silences on the Arab Spring are Deafening
The U.S. response to the democratic uprisings sweeping the Middle East and North Africa is as notable for its silence as its uneven support for the Arab Spring.
Arab Spring Forecast
Want to Cut Federal Spending? Go Where the Money Is.
If we are serious about cutting or redirecting our federal spending to important priorities like health care and education, we need to go where the money is, too. Roughly 59 percent of discretionary federal spending is military spending. That’s where we need to look.
