Military Oversight Chairman Snyder Aims at the Fog of War

When Rep. Vic Snyder, the six-term Democrat from Arkansas, begins to talk about the shortsighted military policies of the Bush administration in Iraq, I half-expect to see the tight-lipped outrage of the Vietnam veteran he is. But last week, the chairman of the revitalized House Armed Service Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee responded with the calm detachment of a physician — which he also is.

CQ Politics(06/06/2008)

John McCain’s Polish Moment, Iranian Style

The Republican candidate’s insistence, then backtracking, then his campaign’s backtracking on the backtracking, that Iran is training al Qaeda evoked President Gerald R. Ford’s declaration that “there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe.” For others, it was a reminder that we have all been here before — and we are once again exposed to the ignorance of top American officials about the Middle East.

CQ Homeland Security (03/21/2007)

Pentagon Intelligence Comes Off as M*A*S*H in New Book

Anyone who’s spent time in uniform will recognize the stories that A.J. Rossmiller tells in “Still Broken: A Recruit’s Inside Account of Intelligence Failures, From Baghdad to the Pentagon.” His DIA has its own versions of Hawkeye, B.J., Colonel Potter, and of course, Frank Burns.

CQ Politics(02/08/2008)

State Department Cajoles Young Diplomats Into Iraq Service

The shooting that erupted around a U.S. State Department convoy in Baghdad on Sept. 16 might only accelerate what the department’s statistics already show: Foreign service officers don’t want to go to Iraq — or any other places where it’s hot, dirty and dangerous.
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CQ Homeland Security (09/21/2007)

The CIA’s Last Man in Vietnam Looks at the Endgame in Iraq

No matter President Bush’s assurances of an “enduring relationship” with Iraq, it’s not soon to plan for a swift evacuation of Baghdad, says the CIA man at the center of the chaos when the Vietnam War ended three decades ago.
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CQ Homeland Security (09/14/2007)

Iraq Intelligence Horror Stories Shouldn't Be Old News

Hearing horror stories about the manipulation of Iraq intelligence is like watching “The Exorcist” again and again: Each time you see something new and laugh at the parts that used to make your hair go up straight.
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CQ Homeland Security (05/25/2007)

Spytalk: Army General Tells a Little-Known Tale of Pre-War Intelligence on Iraq

He goes by the nickname “Spider.” And it’s doubtful you’ve ever heard of him, even though his role in the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has been recounted in two recent exposes about the Bush administration’s runup to the Iraq war.
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CQ Homeland Security (10/20/2006)

Intelligence Report Only Shifts Spotlight From Iraq to More Terror War Woes

The White House may slightly shift the spotlight from its woes in Iraq with the further declassification of the National Intelligence Estimate, but there is plenty more bad news in it for Democrats to chew on.
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CQ Homeland Security (9/27/2006)