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Success in Afghanistan means fighting several wars at once

Why are we winning in Afghanistan? In the simplest terms, we’ve gotten the strategy reasonably right.

How did this happen? Let me tell you the story as I saw it as the …

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To the U.S. intelligence community,

for ignoring the Senate and leaving the CIA with the sole responsibility for directing spies. Given the agency’s miserable track record with human intelligence — the failure to locate Osama bin Laden …

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Disaster response

Weak reception for Bush’s proposal to broaden military’s role in domestic emergencies

After four days of submerged neighborhoods, floating bodies, armed looters, toxic flood waters and fetid emergency shelters, the big green …

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Capitol Hill report Card

A

To Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for insisting on an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act to ban cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of detainees held by the U.S. military. The amendment …

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Afghans have voted for change, but it will come only if the U.S. stays the course

Afghanistan is emerging from medieval chaos. The country is on the front end of creating an organized, law-based civil state. During a visit to Afghanistan in August, I saw dramatic, positive changes …

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The Taiwan problem

Beijing arms for a fight it hopes to avoid

China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), is in the midst of a remarkable modernization of its naval, air and ballistic missile forces. …

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China’s grand strategy is to make war while avoiding a battle

China’s impact on world affairs is growing and poised to grow further in coming decades. Whether the People’s Republic continues to prosper and maintain a strong measure of domestic stability and control, …

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Surface ship, submarine missions are coalescing

The Navy is at a crossroads of great consequence. It faces decisions that will shape ship-based war-fighting requirements for the next century. In an era of reduced blue-water threats, the Navy …

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Innovative teams are building goodwill at the grass-roots level

The front-line fighters in the battle for hearts and minds in Afghanistan are in the American and coalition Provincial Reconstruction Teams, or PRTs. In the classic counterinsurgency mold, these are relatively small …

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Weathering the storm

Naval shipbuilders struggle to resume operations in Katrina’s wake

When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the central coast along the Gulf of Mexico on Aug. 29, the storm struck a region that is …

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