“Bite me” is the dismissive nickname that General McChrystal’s staff officers gave Vice President Joseph Biden, admittedly a frequent subject of mockery in the US because of his many gaffs and his desperate attempts to regain a long lost youthful appearance via hair plugs, facelifts and the like. Vice President Biden had staked out a position of caution in the great 2009 debate over US strategy for Afghanistan that stood in strong contrast with the strategy that Generals McChrystal and Petraeus advocated and that President Obama ultimately came to endorse.  The endorsed strategy is a counter-insurgency doctrine sanctioned effort that requires the US (and its slowly dwindling coalition) to create a secure and popular supported national government for Afghanistan in order to deny al Qaeda and its allies a base for their operations.  Although now fully on board with his president’s policy, Biden had sought to limit the presence of…

President Obama and other senior US officials make constant reference to America being “a nation at war.” This is politically necessary to say and obviously the case because the US has nearly a hundred thousand troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan and reports combat casualties daily. More than a trillion dollars have been spent on this effort variously labeled the Long War, the struggle against violent extremism or, archaically, the Global War on Terrorism.
But critics on the American political Right and Left see the sacrifice as too narrowly focused, and thus not sufficiently engaging the entire nation. With an All Volunteer Force the burden of the war falls mostly on the troops and their families. It’s a fight for the professionals. Some soldiers and Marines have served four or more combat tours since 9/11. Reservists have been called to active duty and there is employment for contractors, but there…

The state of Arizona recently enacted a statute which allowes police officers to inquire about the immigration status of individuals they stop for other infractions of the law such as speeding or failure to yield for a pedestrian. Although requesting documentation about residency and citizenship may seem like a routine law enforcement practice in many parts of the world, the Arizona law is causing much controversy in the United States, including caustic comments from President Obama and his Attorney General, where the presence of millions of illegal immigrants is widely tolerated. My own state of Massachusetts has declared itself a sanctuary for illegals, not allowing local police officers to report immigration violators they encounter to federal authorities. President Obama’s aunt was discovered to have been living for years in Boston provided public housing and receiving medical and financial assistance from the state, including a hip replacement, while ignoring a federal…

A House of Commons committee recently claimed that the UK had lost its “Special Relationship” with the US. The committee argued that the UK had few of the benefits attributed to the Special Relationship, especially the ability to influence US policy, and therefore Britain should to say no to the relations’ obligations, especially the perceived need to become involved in US military operations. I can’t imagine that the committee believes that the unique relationship between the US and the UK that has existed since the Second World War has deteriorated to such an extent that it is in the UK’s interest to abandon it.
To begin with, the British government’s influence on US policy was never that great. Prior to the Second World War, there was conflict and rivalry in the relations between the nations. The war made them close allies, but also settled the question of which nation was…

It is seven years since a US led coalition invaded Iraq, deposing Saddam Hussein and becoming involved in a long, costly stabilization operation that is supposedly about to end soon with the withdrawal of US combat units. More than 4,700 coalition troops, 4,385 of them Americans, have died so far in this effort. The Iraqi toll is unknown, but surely is in the tens of thousands. Horrific violence has taken place, with millions of Iraqis displaced from their homes and forced into internal or external exile. Was the invasion the right thing to do?
Several justifications offered for the war have been proven wrong.  The Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) justification failed in the post-invasion search for evidence. Although the claim that Saddam had at least chemical weapons was nearly universally believed among intelligence agencies, the truly dangerous weapons would have been nuclear weapons which hardly anyone thought Saddam was…

It is getting boring. American officials make a stout plea for NATO assistance in some out of area effort, praising the alliance as vital to the security of the members and the globe. Meetings are held at which NATO officials underline the importance of the mission and its relevance to the alliance. Goals are set. The pundits agree that this call for united action is a vital test for NATO. More meetings are held, sometimes in top places. The history of the alliance is recalled, noting how the members stood together against the common foe. A few volunteers appear, but the overall goals are not met. Attention shifts. Meetings are held to celebrate alliance anniversaries with more dinners and introductions of recently appointed commanders and ambassadors. Soon there will be new pleas, new mentions of tests, and even more meetings and disappointment.
NATO had once a purpose. With an undeniable…

A special election in Massachusetts held to select the replacement for Ted Kennedy as US Senator has had great political impact in the US with the victory of Scott Brown, the Republican candidate. The Kennedys, first JFK and then Teddy (with retainers inserted when technically required), had controlled the seat for 57 years. No Republican had held a Massachusetts seat (each state gets two senators) for four decades. Ronald Reagan was the last Republican to carry the state in a Presidential election. Obama won with well over 60 percent of the vote. Brown is only the 41st Republican senator in a Senate of a hundred members, and yet because of the rules of the Senate his election derails much President Obama’s domestic agenda. The Republican win in Massachusetts was both unexpected and significant.
Foreign policy played a secondary in the election. Brown’s overconfident Democratic Party opponent, the State Attorney General…

Answering a question from that professor of the airwaves Oprah Winfrey, President Obama gave himself a B+ as a grade for his first year in office. This proved, as a friend said, that he did indeed attend Columbia and Harvard, Ivy League universities renowned in America for their grade inflation and self-congratulatory style.
To be fair to President Obama, however, 2009 was not a terrible year in terms of American security. The war in Iraq continued to wind down and the war in Afghanistan got worse, but they both were already heading these diverting directions before Obama took office. Not much progress was made this year in improving our relations with Iran or North Korea or in gaining a stable peace between the Arabs and Israelis, but then again there hardly ever is progress in these arenas. And in 2009 the usual number of reassuringly pointless international conferences, joint training…

A recent report indicated that President Obama had finally made a security policy related decision—not on his Afghanistan strategy which is yet to be announced– but rather on whether or not his administration would seek to have the US sign the treaty banning the production and use of anti-personnel land mines, a treaty that 156 other nations have already signed. First word was that the administration would not favor signing the treaty.  Signing would require approval of two thirds of the US Senate which is unlikely. More important, it is a bad treaty imposed primarily to hobble the US, and largely ineffective in achieving its nominal goal of eliminating land mines from warfare. But even this small bit of apparent Obama decisiveness found quick contradiction is a subsequent announcement that the administration’s review of the treaty is continuing. No profile in political courage here as the treaty is much loved…

The selection of Barack Obama as the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize belittles the President. Everybody knows that with just a few months in office that he has not had time to accomplish anything significant. His speeches may be inspiring, but they are likely written by others and usually express broad, vague aspirations that are neither unusual nor likely to be fulfilled soon. Don’t most of us want peace in the Middle East, more international cooperation, and a quick return to global prosperity?
The award places President Obama next to such figures of national derision as President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Al Gore neither of whom have high standing even within the Democratic party in the United States. It also reminds Americans of how determined some foreign elites are to shape American policies, seeking as they do influence without the burden of consequence. You will not find…