Austin Bay from Creators Syndicate

Obama's War Change: Hope for Iraq? for 07/09/2008

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

We've now seen enough of Barack Obama's campaign to get an idea of his remarkably agile strategic plan. Obama bills himself as the candidate of "change and hope" — and change is a key component in his plan, if by change we mean radical political flexibility characterized by dramatic shifts in fundamental policy, or quickly substituting today's iron-clad principles for last week' ...

Updated: Wed Jul 09, 2008

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Darfur's J'Accuse! for 07/16/2008

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

For stirring drama from the moral high ground, it's tough to beat Emile Zola's letter of 1898 to France's President Felix Faure.

"J'Accuse," Zola wrote — "I accuse." Zola accused the French government of wrongly convicting Alfred Dreyfus of espionage and treason, and pressing the trumped-up charges because Dreyfus was Jewish.

Moreover, Zola concluded the ...

Updated: Wed Jul 16, 2008

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Iraqi Victory, Defeat for McCain? for 07/23/2008

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

It is ironic, but victory in Iraq could mean defeat for John McCain.

Crown the lucky Barack Obama, bury the courageous McCain — what a fate for a warrior senator who has played a key leadership role in Iraq's emerging victory.

I'll repeat that description: "emerging victory." Terror campaigns and insurgencies end with diminishing codas of violence.

In a rece ...

Updated: Wed Jul 23, 2008

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Challenges of the Muslim World: Oil, Testosterone and War for 07/30/2008

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Oil and unemployed testosterone don't mix, they collide — with war the likely result.

"Economics and demographics" lack the sizzle of oil and testosterone, which as eye-grabbers are an Oprah-notch below money and sex. But in the grand sense of geo-strategy and the intricate 21st century problems that produce wars, poverty and other forms of sustained misery, economics and ...

Updated: Wed Jul 30, 2008

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"Rheostat Warfare": An Interview With Gen. David Petraeus for 08/06/2008

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Victory in war is tough to define. Hollywood's version of victory in World War II provides a finality that history lacks. Gen. MacArthur meets the Japanese emissary on the battleship Missouri, and the curtain falls. Except trouble brews in Korea, China's civil war continues, the Soviet Union imprisons Eastern Europe and the triumph of World War II — dancing in Times Square on V-E Day &mda ...

Updated: Wed Aug 06, 2008

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The Russo-Georgia War's Dire Diplomatic Aftermath for 08/13/2008

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

As I write this column, Russian troops have halted their main attack just short of Tbilisi, Georgia's capital. That's smart diplomatically and sharp militarily. In late 1994, the Russians attempted to drive Chechen rebels from Grozny, Chechnya's capital, and suffered a terrible defeat. Georgia lacks Russia's vast military arsenal, but Georgian infantrymen are motivated, and the "closed-ter ...

Updated: Wed Aug 13, 2008

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Crime and Warfare: An Anatomy of Terror for 08/20/2008

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

One reason the debate question, "Is terrorism warfare or crime?" irks me is that it is patently both.

Take Colombia's sad experience as a particularly prima facie example. All but the most ritually blind Marxists now concede Colombia's "leading insurgent army," the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), is a narcotics cartel with a residual political agenda. O ...

Updated: Wed Aug 20, 2008

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Tsar Wars Versus Star Wars for 08/27/2008

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

As the Russo-Georgian War's August gunfire slips into a murky September ceasefire, the Pentagon reports that the Russians "are still not living up to the terms of the ceasefire agreement."

So, what does Russia want?

The question intentionally echoes, "So what did Stalin want?" — which historian John Lewis Gaddis asked then answered in his award-winning bo ...

Updated: Wed Aug 27, 2008

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Time to Go Nuclear for 09/03/2008

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

"Das Leben Wahlen — Stop Kernenergie" the sticker reads in German.

Choose Life. Stop Nuclear Energy.

The sticker is an artifact from a visit to Germany in the early 1980s.

Das Leben Wahlen is printed in German Green Party green, with a very beautiful leaf. Stop Kernenergie appears in stark black and white, with a huge X over a nuclear power plant whose etche ...

Updated: Wed Sep 03, 2008

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Bin Laden's Slow Rot for 09/10/2008

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In late August 2004, after shutting off the recorder, I asked the British general to tell me how Iraq and coalition forces should handle the complex ethnic, sectarian and security challenge presented by Shia "Mahdi Militia" leader Moqtada al-Sadr. That month, Sadr's thugs had invaded Najaf's Grand Mosque and attempted to bait the coalition into bombing the shrine.

The coalition ...

Updated: Wed Sep 10, 2008

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The Media's Trillion-Dollar Question for 09/17/2008

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The terms "new" and "old" media tend to distort rational discussion about the change in the way people access information.

Since this is a newspaper column, the odds are good you are reading it on paper, or on a newspaper's Website — or perhaps on one of the Internet's "news and opinion" sites.

Here's why I think new and old distort or artificia ...

Updated: Wed Sep 17, 2008

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Historians at War: The Decision to Disband for 10/01/2008

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Paul Bremer's decision to disband the Iraqi Army in May 2003 is without doubt one of the most controversial military and political decisions made in Iraq and perhaps one of the most controversial made since 9-11.

The circumstances surrounding Bremer's CPA Order No. 2, issued May 23, 2003, remain a bit vague, though Douglas Feith's "War and Decision" (Harper, 2008) provides some ...

Updated: Wed Oct 01, 2008

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Into AFRICOM for 10/08/2008

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

With the establishment of the Pentagon's new regional command for Africa, AFRICOM, addressing the complex political and social challenges of the African continent moves from diplomatic afterthought to shrewd long-term effort. The new theater command became operational Oct. 1.

For decades, American diplomats serving in Africa — particularly sub-Saharan Africa — referred to the ...

Updated: Wed Oct 08, 2008

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The Next President's Iraq War for 10/15/2008

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In a month Iraq will be the next president's war.

From the American perspective the next president's phase of the Iraq War will be twofold. First off, it will be a proxy war with Iran's tyrannical mullahs. The second “fold” will be even more strategically significant: The next president's war will measure America's commitment to defending democracy and promoting genuine international sec ...

Updated: Wed Oct 15, 2008

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The International Crisis Testing Obama's Mettle for 10/22/2008

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

“Mark my words,” Joe Biden told a group of wealthy contributors. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like it did John Kennedy.” A moment later Biden added, “Watch, we're going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

So let's play Name That Crisis, the one Biden says will test Obama within six months of his inaugurat ...

Updated: Wed Oct 22, 2008

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The Counter-Terror Raid on Sukkariyah, Syria for 10/29/2008

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

No military operation is riskier than a commando raid.

Extreme physical danger and the potentially high payoff if the operation succeeds are two reasons a dramatic raid has box-office appeal in Hollywood.

The U.S. raid last weekend certainly involved immense personal risk by the two-dozen American special operations soldiers who entered the Syrian village of Sukkariyah and shot it ...

Updated: Wed Oct 29, 2008

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Eastern Congo's Graveyard of Good Intentions for 11/05/2008

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The expanding war in the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern provinces is a bitter reminder that complex problems cannot be fixed with good intentions and inspiring rhetoric.

A quick history of the last decade in central Africa becomes a damning litany of slaughter propelled by fear, greed, lust for power and factional jealousy.

War ripped the Congo when the former dictator Mob ...

Updated: Wed Nov 05, 2008

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Obama's Great Expectations Encounter Sudan for 11/12/2008

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Ecstatic Kenyans declared a holiday, waved flags and expressed deserved pride when Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan, was elected president of the United States. They also killed bulls.

In East Africa, killing a bull is more than a barbecue. In southern Sudan, a sacrifice followed by festivities plays a central role in public celebration and in tribal peacemaking.

In 2002, the New ...

Updated: Wed Nov 12, 2008

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Background to the Iraqi-U.S. Security Agreements for 11/19/2008

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Two events and one document frame the historical context of two pending agreements that will guide U.S.-Iraqi relations over the next three to 10 years: the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and the Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA).

Ink stains mark that first event: Iraq's January 2005 elections. Recall "expert pessimism" dominated the international media's coverage of that ...

Updated: Wed Nov 19, 2008

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The Pirates of Puntland for 11/26/2008

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Somalia's pirates have a big problem on their hands — in the form of their greatest prize, the Saudi-owned oil tanker the Sirius Star.

The Sirius Star has 2 million barrels of oil on board and is one of at least 15 "prize" ships now anchored off the Somali coast. According to the pirates, the ship's crew of 25 is well-fed and well-treated. They have joined another 300 cap ...

Updated: Wed Nov 26, 2008

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