The Foundry

Posts Tagged ‘iraq’

• Why is Blue State Digital in Iraq?

  Posted April 21st, 2009 at 10:08am in Ongoing Priorities with 10 comments

  In a relatively unnoticed State Department press briefing yesterday, Acting Department Spokesman Robert Wood announced a delegation of new media executives that left for Iraq on an official, government-paid trip on Sunday. According to Wood, the purpose would be to “explore new opportunities to support Iraqi Government and nongovernment stakeholders in Iraq’s emerging new media [...] More

• President Obama and Iraq: Toward a Responsible Troop Drawdown

  Posted April 2nd, 2009 at 9:02am in American Leadership, Protect America with 6 comments

  The Iran Policy Committee (IPC) launched its fourth book in a series at the National Press Club today looking at the situation in Iraq, titled President Obama and Iraq: Toward a Responsible Troop Drawdown. The book was written by Prof. Raymond Tanter, Georgetown University and President of the Iran Policy Committee, and presents the [...] More

• Avoiding Vietnam in Afghanistan

  Posted March 26th, 2009 at 9:34am in American Leadership, Protect America with 2 comments

  Last Monday, Jackson Diehl wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post, which highlighted some necessary steps for success in Afghanistan. Writing from his position in the country, Mr. Diehl noted that troops continue to stream into Afghanistan and the counter-insurgency strategy by General David Petraeus, which was so successful in Iraq, is being implemented. Further, [...] More

• Associated Press: Obama Rhetoric, Reality Clash

  Posted March 23rd, 2009 at 9:25am in Ongoing Priorities, Protect America, Rule of Law with 17 comments

  The AP reports, you decide: WASHINGTON – Barack Obama’s optimistic campaign rhetoric has crashed headlong into the stark reality of governing. In office two months, he has backpedaled on an array of issues, gingerly shifting positions as circumstances dictate while ducking for political cover to avoid undercutting his credibility and authority. That’s happened on the Iraq troop [...] More

• Is Al Qaeda On The Run?

  Posted March 10th, 2009 at 8:32am in Protect America with 13 comments

  National Journal’s National Security Expert blog asks: Al Qaeda-led or -inspired terrorist attacks in Europe, Iraq and Saudi Arabia have all declined, but Al Qaeda still has significant capacity to launch attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan and perhaps India. It also has a growing presence in Algeria and Yemen, and it has used the latter two countries [...] More

• Behind the Scenes on Iraq Drawdown

  Posted March 1st, 2009 at 2:42pm in Protect America with 7 comments

  Following the president’s speech on the drawdown, at the White House Friday, a senior government official sketched out the details behind the plan. Here is my takeaway. While the words “change of mission” and “ending the war” sound different—there is a lot more continuity than change between the goals and the plans of the last [...] More

• President Obama Takes the Middle Road on Iraq Troop Drawdown

  Posted February 27th, 2009 at 5:42pm in Ongoing Priorities with 3 comments

  Today President Barack Obama unveiled his Iraq policy in a speech at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He announced that he will pull out U.S. combat forces by the end of August 2010, but will retain a “transitional force” of 35,000 to 50,000 personnel (compared to the 142,000 there now) that will pursue a “new strategy” [...] More

• Live Blogs from The State of the Union Address

  Posted February 25th, 2009 at 11:56am in Ongoing Priorities with 13 comments

  During President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress last night, Heritage analysts and scholars offered advice and criticism of policies said and unsaid. From Foreign Policy to Nuclear Energy to price controls on the economy, Heritage covered it all:     More

• Morning Bell: Let the American People Recover

  Posted February 25th, 2009 at 8:47am in Ongoing Priorities with 43 comments

  Rhetorically there was much to like in President Barack Obama’s speech to Congress last night. None better than this early statement: The answers to our problems … exist in our laboratories and universities, in our fields and our factories, in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities [...] More

• Oil-for-Food Travesty, Part II

  Posted February 24th, 2009 at 5:42pm in American Leadership with 2 comments

  So the man who oversaw a $60 billion global scam—also known as the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program—has been rightfully disgraced. In January 2007, the United States charged Benon Sevan with bribery and conspiracy to commit fraud. Sevan, a native Cypriot, continues to evade justice by hiding out on his home island—with which the U.S. has no [...] More