New Dawn 2012: Iraq Without the U.S. Military

06/08/2012
By Richard Weitz Today’s Iraq is an aborted democracy that falls considerably short of the original U.S. goal of creating an attractive democratic, prosperous, ethically mixed country that partners with the United States to maintain regional stability and security. Iraq’s political leaders cannot cease feuding, wary investors hesitate to make…

A400M: The Fleet

06/08/2012
6/8/12: The A400M is being built with the 21st century approach to fleet management in mind.  Ranging from Unique Identification Tags built in, to multinational training, to providing for global support, the A400M has the advantages inherent in advanced manufacturing. As we argued earlier: It was clear notably with the…

The Aussie Air Chief on the Strategic Need for the F-35

06/07/2012
Air Chief Wants Major Military Spend By David Ellery The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/national/air-force-chief-wants-major-military-spend-20120606-1zvy6.html Excerpts: A hawkish Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Brown, has called for a major spend on Australia's air warfare capability to counter possible regional instability. Heading his wish list for the 2020s are at…

Moving Forward to Strengthen the U.S. Military Manufacturing Base

06/07/2012
06/7/12: by Bill Anderson The National Network for Manufacturing Innovation Take a drive through any industrial city across the United States.  Take a good look at the shuttered factories behind locked gates that not so long ago manufactured quality televisions, clothing, shoes, automobiles and, quite importantly, critical military equipment to…

New Dawn 2012: An Aborted Democracy

06/07/2012
6/7/12: By Richard Weitz Following a controversial public relations campaign, the United States and its allies launched Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in March 2003. The Iraqi regime collapsed in a few weeks. In addition to searching for weapons of mass destruction, the occupation authorities sought to establish a new Iraqi…

Remembering LBJ on Memorial Day: A Special Moment for Boomers

06/06/2012
6/6/12: On the Second Line of Defense Forum,  we have a regular column which looks at life and language Inside the Beltway.  This Memorial Day, Boomer has reflected on the legacy of LBJ and the Inside the Beltway approach to policymaking. by Ed Timperlake On days other then Memorial Day,…

The USMC Looks to the Future

06/06/2012
by Robbin Laird The USMC is at the heart of building the agile forces central to the restructuring of U.S. forces overall. As we argued in an op ed on Defense News: Deterring Iran or China revolves around strengthened U.S. power-projection forces. Building for the future is now. We have…