Lessons from the Gulf of Tonkin Incident

by Paul R. Pillar Disturbing similarities between the run-up to the Iraq War of 2003 and the Trump administration’s bellicosity toward Iran keep accumulating. They include war-selling rhetoric seemingly derived from the same script. But in some respects, the more… Continue Reading →

America’s Wars and the “More” Strategy

by Danny Sjursen More, more, more. I was guilty of it myself.  Commanding a small cavalry troop of about 85 soldiers in southwest Kandahar Province back in 2011, I certainly wanted and requested more: more troopers, more Special Forces advisers,… Continue Reading →

Trump, Afghanistan, and Shades of the Tuesday Lunch

by Paul R. Pillar Impending choices by President Trump regarding the war in Afghanistan raise issues of national security decision-making in his presidency that in turn evoke pathologies of the past, with Trump’s personal habits threatening to make matters at… Continue Reading →

The Lost Language of Integration

by John Feffer In a recent This American Life episode, investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones discusses the perils of America’s segregated school system. She points out that there has been only one proven way to narrow the performance gap between African-American and… Continue Reading →