April 2009 Archives

Taliban militants, having already consolidated their hold on Pakistan's western tribal belt and the Swat Valley, have now expanded, in the face of little resistance, to stake claims in regions 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the government of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari "is basically abdicating to the Taliban and to the extremists" and that the situation there "poses a mortal threat to the security and safety of our country and the world." Zardari, in his scheduled May visit to Washington, is expected to seek U.S. assistance in implementing an effective counter-insurgency strategy.

Can Zardari's government implement an effective counter-insurgency strategy? If so, what elements should it include, and what assistance should the United States provide? If, on the other hand, it is too late for the government's counter-insurgency work -- if you think Zardari has already been compromised by the extremists -- what options does the United States have? Are the disparate militant groups that are loosely united under the Taliban umbrella really capable of formulating and executing a coherent and ambitious strategy to seize power? If Pakistan's civilian government is collapsing into a failed state, what contingency plans should the U.S. develop with regard to Pakistan's military; its nuclear weapons; its extremists; and the humanitarian nightmare that unfolds in a failed state?

-- James Kitfield, NationalJournal.com

9 responses: Daniel Serwer, James Kitfield, Joseph J. Collins, Michael Vlahos, Col. W. Patrick Lang, Ron Marks, Michael F. Scheuer, Bruce Hoffman, Paul R. Pillar

President Obama, just prior to going to the Summit of the Americas, lifted some travel and remittance restrictions on Cuban Americans and opened the door for U.S. telecommunications companies to do business in Cuba, while promising a full review of U.S.-Cuban relations. Raul Castro responded Friday from a meeting in Venezuela with Hugo Chavez that "We have sent word to the U.S. government in private and in public that we are willing to discuss everything -- human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners, everything."

A thaw in the 50-year deep freeze of Washington-Havana relations seems to be in the offing. How far and how fast should Obama go? Should the U.S. trade embargo be dropped, and if so, when? What should be the key U.S. demands on the Castro regime? Should this be a careful step-by-step thaw or a rapid warming that quickly sends American capital, investment, and culture into the Castro brothers' midst? Or is improving relations with the Castro brothers a fool's errand -- will they just use the thaw to strengthen their rule and improve their economy without any real internal reforms?

-- Shane Harris, NationalJournal.com

8 responses: Michael Vlahos, Shane Harris, Shane Harris, Richard Hart Sinnreich, Col. Robert Killebrew, Ron Marks, Col. W. Patrick Lang, Kellie A. Meiman

Should there be a public investigation of the Bush administration's and CIA's post-9/11 detention, rendition and interrogation programs of suspected terrorists?

A newly disclosed report by the International Committee of the Red Cross provides details about the interrogation methods that the CIA used on terror suspects and concludes that they "constituted torture." This comes as the Senate Intelligence Committee is beginning an investigation into the agency's conduct, but one with limited scope. The inquiry is not designed to determine whether White House personnel, other administration officials or agency employees broke the law or committed torture. It's also not clear whether the report will ever be made public.

Military officers have warned that if we do not publicly investigate the extent to which we stretched the laws of war to allow torture, we put our own troops at risk and will, in all likelihood, torture again. Current and former CIA officials, on the other hand, have warned that a public investigation into the agency's practices would push line agents into an uncontrollable political spectacle, chilling efforts to prevent future terrorist attacks.

Do we need a full investigation of the decisions made by officials at Justice, Defense, the White House and the CIA to allow these interrogation practices? If so, how should it be handled? Should it be public? Should the investigation be limited to policymakers? Should prosecutions be on the table, or would the ensuing political circus undermine our ability to come to grips with what we have done, and whether we want to do those things again?

-- Shane Harris, NationalJournal.com

13 responses: Michael Brenner, Col. W. Patrick Lang, Shane Harris, Daniel Serwer, Shane Harris, Loren Thompson, Daniel Byman, Joseph J. Collins, Milt Bearden, Michael F. Scheuer, Brian Michael Jenkins, Col. W. Patrick Lang, Ron Marks

CongressDaily reports that Defense Secretary Robert Gates will announce major cuts to high-cost, high-profile weapons systems, perhaps as early as this week. But as important as which particular programs get the ax is whether Gates can cure the fundamental dysfunctions in Defense procurement. A reform bill on this subject is now moving through the Senate and House.

Why do so many weapons come in behind schedule and over budget? Can Gates and Congress change the weapons-buying system radically enough to make a difference when so many reformers before have failed? Is it enough to fix the process of how weapons are bought, or is radical change required in what kinds of weapons we buy? And can the technology-loving U.S. military, now fighting two low-tech insurgencies, learn to live within its means as budgets recede from their post-9/11 highs under the pressure of the recession and federal financial bailouts?

Update: Gates announced major cuts and reforms on Monday afternoon.

-- Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., NationalJournal.com

16 responses: Michael Vlahos, Michael F. Scheuer, James Jay Carafano, Rachel Kleinfeld, Loren Thompson, Dov S. Zakheim, Winslow T. Wheeler, Col. Douglas Macgregor, Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., Bing West, Ron Marks, Daniel Gouré, Norman R. Augustine, Richard Aboulafia, Winslow T. Wheeler, Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo.