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