It will come as no surprise that Barack Obama’s emphatic victory has been warmly greeted in the United Kingdom and across Europe. Newspapers are covered with proclamations of a history-changing moment for the United States. The record turnout, particularly among groups that previously felt they belonged only on the margins of society, is surely something to be impressed by — and a trend all Western parties will hope to learn from. The so-called “Bradley effect” never materialized. And there stands a good chance that race may now be laid to rest …
When Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson first announced his $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) promised: “We will not Christmas-tree this bill. The times are too urgent. Everyone has their own desires and needs. It’s going to have to wait.” So how did Congress live up to Schumer’s promise? When the bill finally passed, in addition to the $700 billion given to Paulson, another $150 billion in goodies was also given to special interests, including tax breaks for makers of wooden toy bow-and-arrow sets. The same kind …
At the Presidential debate Friday in Oxford, Mississippi, John McCain emphasized “how tough that terrain is” on the Pakistan Afghan border, and that “we have to get the cooperation of the people in those areas.” An incident last week underscored how right he was on both counts. On Thursday two U.S. helicopters supporting a U.S.-Afghan ground patrol inside Afghanistan’s Khost Province were fired upon by Pakistani forces who believed they had crossed into Pakistan airspace. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was …
DENVER — Tonight former President Bill Clinton is supposed to deliver a speech on the official Democratic National Convention theme, “Securing America’s Future.” It is still unclear whether Clinton will stick to his assigned topic, or if he will go off message and defend his presidential legacy. Part of that legacy is the beginning of the online left, specifically MoveOn.org, which was created in 1998 to help defend Clinton from impeachment. MoveOn has since expanded its policy portfolio far beyond sexual harassment lawsuits, and its claimed 3.2 million members are …
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf announced today that he would resign Monday, ending his nearly nine years of rule. Musharraf’s exit from Pakistani politics is a an extremely positive development for the future of democracy in Pakistan and for U.S. security. Earlier this year, Heritage senior research fellow Lisa Curtis detailed the benefits of a Musharraf exit: Musharraf’s fate and the future direction of Pakistan is largely in the hands of the Chief of Army Staff General [Ashfaq] Kayan. Kiyani helped to ensure the February elections were successful and appears committed …
Earlier this week, the New York Daily News caught the Obama campaign purging their website of any evidence that Obama ever believed the surge in Iraq was not working. Obama’s new position on the surge is that there is an “improved security situation” in Iraq due to “our military’s hard work, improved counterinsurgency tactics, and enormous sacrifice by our troops and military families.” Obama is right: the security situation in Iraq has improved. Unfortunately, the situation in Afghanistan has been deteriorating. Just this past week nine American soldiers were killed …
The verdict is in: Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) is on the ropes. Apparently this extraordinary news has not reached everyone though. A New York Times opinion article today points to the desperate need for increased focus on Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, while discounting the same efforts in Iraq. The alarming resurgence of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan makes it even more imperative for the United States to begin planning for a swift and orderly withdrawal from Iraq. The notion that fighting Al Qaeda in one …
Guns, boots, helmets and…social science? It’s not been used much since the Cold War, but the Department of Defense believes an increase in cultural understanding could play an important role in national security. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Minerva as a new approach. Minerva will award $50 million over five years to evolutionary psychologists, demographers, sociologists, historians and anthropologists for security research. Despite significant skepticism within the academic community, namely by a group that calls itself the Network of Concerned Anthropologists, Gates says this is an important first step towards repairing …
Editor’s Note: Adapted from testimony delivered June 12 before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Despite a successful election four months ago, Pakistan’s political and security situation remains highly unstable and demands close attention from U.S. policymakers. A power struggle at the center among the three main political players — Asif Ali Zardari, leader of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party and widower of Benazir Bhutto; Nawaz Sharif, party leader of the junior coalition partner, the Pakistan Muslim League/Nawaz; and President Pervez Musharraf — is distracting the …
A highly unfortunate U.S. military incident on Afghanistan-Pakistan border this week may strain the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. More than a dozen bombs were dropped near Pakistan’s tribal areas, killed 11 Pakistani paramilitary troops, according to press reports. Confronting terrorists that have found safe haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border is complicated. The coalition forces in Afghanistan cooperate as best they can with their Pakistani counterparts on the Pakistan side of the border, but given the constant crossing back and forth by the terrorists between countries and the lack of government control of …
