Tom Ricks

Thomas Ricks: I'm More Optimistic About Afghanistan Than Iraq

The Huffington Post | Doug Sarro | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Afghanistan, Middle East, Terrorism, Pakistan, Nato, David Petraeus, Tom Ricks, Joe Biden, Taliban, Haroun Mir @Y:World, Barack Obama, Al Qaeda, World News

Today's AfPak round-up: Joe Klein: "Of course" Petraeus wants more time. With President Obama's December policy review of the Afghan war looming, i...

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Cordesman Game Show: So You Think You Can Win This War?

Steve Clemons | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Anthony Cordesman, Andrew Bacevich, Bruce Jentleson, Karl Eikenberry, Ann Coulter, Tom Ricks, Stephen Walt, John Nagl, David Petraeus, Fran Townsend, Audrey Kurth Cronin, Csis, Charles Kupchan, Afghanistan War, Jeffrey Goldberg, Robert Pape, Jon Stewart, Gracian Del Castillo, Martin Indyk, Paul Pillar, David Frum, G. John Ikenberry, Christopher Preble, Brian Katulis, Walter Russell Mead, James Glassman, Politics News
Steve Clemons

You really think you can dance WIN THIS WAR?? -- Anthony H. Cordesman, the CSIS Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy (not really; just hypothetically...

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After McChrystal

Lincoln Mitchell | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: General David Petreaus, Karl Eikenberry, McChrystal Rolling Stone, John McCain, Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama, David Petraeus, Stanley McChrystal, Rolling Stone, Kabul, General Stanley McChrystal, Tom Ricks, Washington Post, Barack Obama, Afghanistan War, World News
Lincoln Mitchell

Obama did the right thing this week in firing McChrystal. Unfortunately, the other decisions the President faces regarding Afghanistan are not as easy. It is difficult to get out of Afghanistan today, but it will be more difficult to get out tomorrow.

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Military Still Fumbling Humanitarian Projects

Dan Madden | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Pentagon, Foreign Aid, Yemen, Africom, Counterterrorism, Horn of Africa, Gao, Tom Ricks, Irregular Warfare, Djibouti, World News
Dan Madden

The U.S. military has been conducting development-like activities in Africa regularly since 2002 -- and we're still building white elephants.

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Iraq Withdrawal in Danger

Tom Andrews | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: US Military, Ray Odierno, War on Terror, Obama Middle East, Middle East Politics, War, Tom Ricks, Obama Administration, Democrats, War in Iraq, Tom Andrews, War on Terrorism, Barack Obama, Iraq War, Politics, Military, Middle East, US Military Iraq, Iraq, Sunni Awakening, Nouri Al Maliki, Politics News
Tom Andrews

Just when you thought that the fat lady was about to launch into an aria over America's exit from Iraq, the US military announced that it is drawing up contingency plans to delay the withdrawal.

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Tom Ricks And The Military's New Philosophical Embeds

Columbia Journalism Review | Tara McKelvey | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Kabul, Iraq Surge, Washington, Tom Ricks, Pakistan, War, Philosopy, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Iraq, Surge, Afghanistan War, Al Qaeda, Embedded Journalists, Journalism, Iraq War, Baghdad, Taliban, Ethics, Insurgency, Policy, Foreign Correspondents, Counterinsurgency, Media News

Thomas E. Ricks has a photograph of a general--Ulysses S. Grant, looking haggard and defeated in Cold Harbor, Virginia--on the wall of his office. His...

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Stop the Presses: Cheney's Re-emergence Is Finally Explained!

Sandy Goodman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Paranoid, 9'11 Attacks, Cia, Leon Panetta, Justice Department Memo, Congressional Record, George W. Bush, Abu Zubaydah, Gas Mask, Dick Cheney, " Al Qaeda, Misleading Congress, George H.W. Bush, Nancy Pelosi, Slam Dunk, Unnerved, "The Dark Side, Lying, Colin Powell, Overcompensated, Tom Ricks, Jeffrey Record, Biological Survival Suit, Valerie Plame, John Kuriakou, Bob Graham, Lawrence Wilkerson, Saddam Hussein, Jane Mayer, Air War College, George Tenet, Richard Clarke, Waterboarding, ABC News, Michael Scheuer, Politics News
Sandy Goodman

Nancy Pelosi, this week, accused the CIA of lying. Who, journalists collectively ask, could ever accuse the CIA of lying? Who indeed? Almost anybody, it seems to me.

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House Appropriations Committee Moves Against Iraq Mission Creep

Tom Andrews | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Congress, Sam Farr, Ray Odierno, Appropriations, Tom Ricks, Camp Lejeune, Iraq, Status of Forces Agreement, David Obey, Barack Obama, Politics News
Tom Andrews

The Farr amendment not only affirms Congressional support, but positions Congress to keep a close eye out for evidence of mission creep.

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Tom Ricks: Army War College "Blackballed" Me

Foreign Policy | Tom Ricks | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Tom Rick Army War College, Tom Ricks, Army War College, Rick Army War College, Tom Ricks Blackballed, Politics News

Did faculty members at the Army War College curtail their criticism of the Iraq war for fear of institutional retaliation? That seems to be the botto...

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Tom Ricks: We Should Really Be Fighting The 'Afghan-Pakistani War'

Foreign Policy | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Afghanistan War, Thomas Ricks Fiasco, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Pakistan War, War in Pakistan, Tom Ricks, Fiasco, Taliban, Surge in Afghanistan, World News

Two things that need to be said about this. The Afghan war isn't either. That is: * It isn't a good war * It isn't an Afghan war What d...

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