Max Boot's Blog, page 3
January 9, 2015
January 7, 2015
533 items
2015
A Consequential Terror Attack in Paris
January 7, 2015Commentary
The U.S. has 9/11. Spain has 11-M (the March 11, 2004, bombings of the Madrid commuter trains which killed 191). Britain has 7/7 (a reference to the July 7, 2005 bombings which killed 52 people taking public transportation in London). And now, on a slightly smaller but still horrific scale, France has 1/7: the assault by three masked gunmen on the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, which left 12 people dead.
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January 5, 2015
January 1, 2015
532 items
Rebrand It However You Want, but Afghanistan Is Still at War
December 29, 2014Los Angeles Times
Imagine President Franklin Roosevelt announcing at the end of 1944, after the liberation of France but before the final defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, that World War II was over and that U.S. forces were ending combat operations. Instead we would support our allies, from Britain to China, in their fight against the Axis powers.
AfghanistanUnited StatesWars and Warfare; Terrorist Organizations and Networks
Foreign Affairs ArticleMore Small WarsAuthor: November/December 2014
Although the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are far from the costliest the United States has ever fought in terms of either blood or treasure, they have exacted a much greater toll than the relatively bloodless wars Americans had gotten used to fighting in the 1990s.
United States; Counterterrorism
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December 16, 2014
Theo Farell, Head of the War Studies Department, King's College
Theo Farell, Head of the War Studies Department, King's College LondonJohn A. Nagl, Headmaster, The Haverford School; Former President, Center for a New American Security; Visiting Professor, King's College London
John F. Lehman, Chairman, J.F. Lehman & Co.
Robert D. Kaplan, The Atlantic Monthly; Author, Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground
Clyde Tuggle, Honorary Vice Chairman,, Council on Foreign Relations
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December 11, 2014
, remains, even four decades after the conclusion of the Vietnam
, remains, even four decades after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, one of the most fascinating, mysterious�and misunderstood�figures in post-1945 American foreign policy. A former advertising man, he was a master of psychological and political warfare and one of the most influential military advisers of the twentieth century, second only to "Lawrence of Arabia." In the Philippines and South Vietnam in the 1950s, he pioneered the kind of "population-centric counterinsurgency" strategy that has since been implemented from Afghanistan to Iraq. Based on access to his personal letters and to newly declassified documents seen by no previous scholar, I am writing a book that sheds fresh light not only on Lansdale but on the Vietnam War in which he was such a pivotal figure.
This project is made possible in part through the support of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.
Ronald Reagan was one of the most successful and influential presidents of the twentieth century. Despite his many accomplishments there is no comprehensive biography of him currently available�nothing like what Robert Dallek has done for John F. Kennedy, David McCullough for Harry Truman or Ron Chernow for George Washington. The aim of my research is to produce such a work�an objective biography that examines Reagan's entire life to better understand his achievements and shortcomings. It will no longer do to dismiss Reagan, as Clark Clifford once did, as an "amiable dunce." He was clearly much more than that, yet he was not easy to understand because he was a bundle of contradictions. Affable to all, he had few if any real friends. Reagan had strong convictions but lacked intellectual depth or curiosity. He could be stubborn to the point of distraction, but he was usually willing to compromise and settle to get a deal done. He could make tough policy decisions when they were needed, but he found it impossible to fire anyone. My research will grapple with these and other paradoxes to produce the most comprehensive, fair, and readable account yet penned of Reagan's life based on archival work and interviews with those who knew him best.
This project is made possible in part through the support of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.
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December 10, 2014
530 items
The CIA, Interrogation, and Feinstein�s Parting Shot
Author: December 9, 2014Commentary
Max Boot argues that the release of the Senate �torture� report, condemning an interrogation program authorized by the president and congressional leaders, will aid America's enemies and harm our interests.
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November 25, 2014
529 items
Chuck Hagel's Firing Won't Help U.S. Foreign Policy
November 24, 2014Los Angeles Times
Obama did what presidents always do when their polls go south: Fire someone.
United StatesPolitics and Strategy; Defense and Security
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November 24, 2014
528 items
Is a National-Security Shakeup Coming?
November 24, 2014
So Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is gone but the nuclear talks with Iran seemingly go on and on and on. Tell me: How much has changed?
United States Defense and Security
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November 17, 2014
527 items
The U.S. Strategy Against the Islamic State Must Be Retooled. Here�s How.
November 14, 2014Washington Post
President Obama�s strategy in Syria and Iraq is not working. The president is hoping that limited airstrikes, combined with U.S. support for local proxies, will �degrade and ultimately destroy� the Islamic State.
United StatesDefense Strategy; Terrorist Organizations and Networks
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