Most of those running for president say more must be done to defeat ISIS. And more usually equals more military might. In the United States, military service is a choice, not a requirement. While all men must register with the Selective Service System at age 18, there has not been a military draft in 42 years. But that has not stopped some from suggesting its return, for reasons ranging from raising the competency level of the military to improving the country’s social fabric. Many argue that compulsory service would make politicians think twice about going to war. Does the U.S. has the military it needs? And what are the needs of the military it has?
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The Army We Have. The Army We Need.
Posted December 22nd, 2015 at 3:12 pm (UTC-5)
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Lindsey Graham’s Exit & What to do About ISIS
Posted December 21st, 2015 at 4:43 pm (UTC-5)
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Lindsey Graham was the only presidential candidate who advocated for sending tens of thousands of United States ground troops to Syria and Iraq to defeat Islamic State. Graham, a republican senator from South Carolina, exited the 2016 presidential race today. While he disagrees with Graham’s proposal, President Obama praised him for being “honest about suggesting ‘here is something I would do that the president is not doing.’ In an interview with National Public Radio, Obama said calls for carpet-bombing “would have an enormous backlash against the United States” if tens or hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians and Iraqis are killed in the process. He also said deployment of tens of thousands of troops would result in an indefinite period of governing. So what will work? And what will not?
ISIS the Peacemaker
Posted December 18th, 2015 at 11:33 am (UTC-5)
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A lot of priorities are being reordered in the Middle East and North Africa now, thanks to the new threats that have emerged over the past year. This could, unexpectedly, lead to some ongoing problems being resolved
Three Steps Toward Defeating ISIS That Are Better Than Those Heard At Tuesday’s Debate
Posted December 17th, 2015 at 12:32 pm (UTC-5)
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I can only imagine how much the Daesh terrorists enjoyed watching 2 hours of prime video footage they will likely use in their next recruitment video. … Such rhetoric sadly plays right into the ultimate strategy of Daesh — to convince naive and disturbed individuals that they are just as strong as the United States […]
Samantha Power: Putting ISIS Out of Business
Posted December 17th, 2015 at 12:19 pm (UTC-5)
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ISIL ruthlessly extracts financial resources from the territory where it operates. … To prevent ISIL from enriching itself, we need every country and its citizens to stop buying what ISIL is selling. This requires unprecedented collective action that the United Nations is uniquely positioned to mobilize.
World View: Cruz-Rubio Debate Important
Posted December 17th, 2015 at 10:21 am (UTC-5)
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The Bush Doctrine of regime change (pursued by Obama reluctantly and often in the breach) has failed repeatedly. At this point, it may be impossible to remove Assad for the foreseeable future, something the Obama team is beginning to recognize.
Conservatives Should Be Opposing, Not Endorsing Calls for Massive Collection of DNA
Posted December 16th, 2015 at 5:02 pm (UTC-5)
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I’ve been wondering when the make-us-feel-safe-at-any-cost crowd would dust off the privacy-invasive and Fourth Amendment-violating concept of collecting DNA samples from anyone arrested for an offense; and, propose it as a way to “make law enforcement’s job easier in these dangerous times.” My wait is over. The clamor for more DNA testing has started again.
The West’s Best Ally Against ISIS
Posted December 16th, 2015 at 4:39 pm (UTC-5)
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The pesh merga fighters I command are not conscripts; they would rather die than surrender to the tyranny of the Islamic State. We are determined to liberate Kurdistan … We have yet more volunteers ready to join the fight against the Islamic State — if only we had the resources to train and equip them.
GOP Candidates Gang Up on Trump as Terror Threat Dominates 5th Debate
Posted December 16th, 2015 at 2:08 pm (UTC-5)
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Some political pundits say last night’s fifth Republican presidential debate revealed two things: Donald Trump’s polling dominance may be waning, and the terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino forced the candidates to engage in a substantive discussion about US foreign policy and national security. Republican Senator Ted Cruz trended upward along with former Governor Jeb Bush, who many agreed gave his best performance yet. Other observers noted that Trump appeared to pull back from the spotlight as others united to attack his controversial proposal to ban all Muslims from the entering the United States. Still others clalim Trump won the debate nonetheless; others say it was a draw. Either way, the race to win the nomination of the party is moving into a new and more serious phase as the Iowa caucus beckons.
5 Questions on the Islamic State for GOP Presidential Candidates
Posted December 15th, 2015 at 3:56 pm (UTC-5)
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[L]et’s imagine an ideal debate where candidates didn’t really know the questions in advance and were required to elaborate on their tough talk. Here are five counterterrorism questions pertaining to the Islamic State that might be asked.
Calls Grow Louder for New US Terror Strategy
Posted December 11th, 2015 at 1:28 pm (UTC-5)
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Until 2011, this was the face of international terrorism, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. That year, President Barack Obama gave the go-ahead for a top secret mission to take out bin Laden, who had been found living in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The mission succeeded and for a long time much of the world relaxed, knowing the man who was behind September 11th was gone forever. Just three years later, the Islamic State took al-Qaida’s slot as the most dangerous terrorist organization, emerging out of the wreckage of Iraq with its signature brutality of beheading hostages and taking huge swathes of territory. A president once admired for acting boldly against al-Qaida is now under withering criticism for not doing enough to stop this latest incarnation of radical Islam. With the shooting deaths of 14 Americans at a workplace holiday gathering in California by a radicalized Muslim-American couple last week, a new poll shows Americans are now just as nervous as they were right after September 11th.
How Saddam Hussein Gave Us ISIS
Whom should we blame for the Islamic State? In the debate about its origins, many have concluded that it arose from the American-led coalition’s errors after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In fact, the groundwork for the emergence of the militant jihadist group was laid many years earlier by the government of Saddam Hussein.