Archive for July, 2009

Forces in discord

Distrust between Afghan army and police hampers U.S. efforts

QALAT, Zabul Province, Afghanistan — Any long-term exit strategy for the U.S. forces flooding into southern Afghanistan will require the creation of reliable, …

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Lowering risk

Air power can reduce civilian casualties

During the 20th century, perhaps 175 million people died in war, and the majority of those were civilian non-combatants. World War II was the worst, claiming …

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Projecting power

QDR’s aerospace imperatives

With the next congressionally mandated Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) lurking in the near future, our military services need to take stock of where they are, what they need to …

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Why senior military leaders fail

And what we can learn from their mistakes

In the first decade of the 21st century, the U.S. military observed the firings or resignations of the chief of staff of the Air …

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Industry pulse: Disappearing skills

The U.S. is losing its military industrial base

It’s Tanker Time, and the senior senator from Boeing, Patty Murray, D-Wash., is up to her old tricks. Murray introduced legislation in the Senate …

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FORUM PICK: From our online discussion board

The radical nature of the Bush Administration’s war aims — the reformation of the Iraqi political identity, domination of the Iraqi economy and natural resources — was wildly out of line with …

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Flashpoint: The Great Wall goes to sea

China’s naval renewal raises critical questions for the world

Militarily, China has not been well-known for its navy. The army has long been the dominant service in the People’s Republic of China …

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Striking a balance

Posturing the future force for COIN and conventional warfare

We are in another post-Iraq war debate about how to best posture our military investments for the future. The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review …

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F-22 finagling

TO SEN. DANIEL INOUYE for leading an ill-researched and clumsily disguised effort to keep the F-22 in production. The Hawaii Democrat said the Japanese asked him to inquire about an export variant …

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Where the money is

Cut off the enemy’s financial resources and he’s paralyzed

Even as the U.S. begins to draw down its counterinsurgency operations in Iraq, a host of nonstate adversaries will remain significant threats to …

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