From the NYT: Bush Decides to Keep Guantánamo Open
Here are the key section:
Despite his stated desire to close the American prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, President Bush has decided not to do so, and never considered proposals drafted in the State Department and the Pentagon that outlined options for transferring the detainees elsewhere, according to […]

That judgment is apparently one of the conclusions of a new National Intelligence Estimate about Pakistan, according the McClatchy (New intelligence report says Pakistan is ‘on the edge’).
The NIE will apparently highlight several trends:

“The estimate says that the Islamist insurgency based in the Federally Administered Tribal Area bordering Afghanistan, the suspected safe haven of Osama […]

The Center for American Progress has a new version available of its measure of elite opinion of the issue of global terrorism, The Terrorism Index.  Among the many interesting findings are:

A significantly less pessimistic view of the “war on terror,” with 21% of the experts now saying the U.S. is “winning” compared with only 6% […]

From the NYT: Comment Stings Iraqi Leader on Eve of Obama Visit
This is the second time that the Bush Administration has pressured the Iraqis to “clarify” what seems to be a pretty clear sentiment.  They want us to set a timetable for withdrawal, a timetable that looks an awful lot like that which is […]

There was an interesting op-ed in the Washington Post this weekend (Overstating Our Fears) by a retired CIA officer with many years of experience working on transnational threat. The author, Glenn L. Carle, essentially argued against overstating the threat. He argues,
We do not face a global jihadist “movement” but a series of disparate […]

I don’t know for sure what Iran’s long term strategic goals are.  Does the leadership really want to achieve regional hegemony?  Obliterate Israel?  Simply ensure regime survival?  I doubt the Iranians themselves are certain.
But in the short-run, it is clear that American threats and pressure are weighing heavily on the Iranian leadership.  Unfortunately — though […]

The release of a new report on War Powers has prompted a lot of media coverage.  In an op-ed in the New York Times (Put War Powers Back Where They Belong), James Baker and Warren Christopher lay out a new model focused on consultation between the President and Congress prior to using force.   Their […]

Nice summary of recent developments on the torture front from Phillip Carter’s intelligence blog.
Oddly enough, I think we are missing a key issue in the discussion.  Much of the coverage of the torture issue has focused on the process by which it was authorized.  Much of the commentary has been either pro or against torture […]

Crossposted from Huffington Post.
Many conservatives have developed a dangerous case of the Iraq Syndrome. Whereas the Vietnam Syndrome affected mostly people on the left and gave them an overly pessimistic view of American power, the Iraq Syndrome is equally dangerous in reducing most of America’s foreign policy problems to Iraq.
The latest example of the “Iraq […]

 
Crossposted from The HuffingtonPost.
According to several prominent analysts, we are making great progress in the “war on terror.” This claim is based on two trends. First, there has been some decline in the number of casualties from terror attacks over the past few years. Second, there is increasing debate within jihadist circles over the legitimacy […]