Dr. Bernard I. Finel is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Project (ASP) where he directs research on “Securing America in an age of Terror.” He is the lead author of ASP’s annual report, “Are We Winning? Measuring Progress in the Struggle against Violent Jihadism.” He also produces in-depth analyses of various current issues including developments in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and U.S. defense policy.
It has become an article of faith that U.S. counterterrorism policy is a failure, and that as a consequence a new approach is required. This perception served as a major justification for the escalation of the conflict in Afghanistan, and explains much of the resistance to closing the detention center in Guantanamo. Fortunately for the United States, the real story is quite different. more
In order to implement a serious international regime to control carbon emissions, the United States will ultimately need to incorporate emissions reductions into its trade policies, and impose tariffs against countries that refuse to participate. In fact, including climate issues in trade discussions will ensure that the market accurately prices the value of internationally traded goods and services. more
Six years after Congress authorized the use of force against Iraq, we have yet to internalize the key lessons we should have learned from the run up to the Iraq War. Both Sens. Obama and McCain deserve credit: Obama for his initial opposition to the war, McCain for supporting the surge, which has mitigated its worst effects. But the debate over those two questions this election season has served to obscure the question we ought to have asked in the first place: What would an effective policy towards Iraq have looked like? more
The recent decline in violence in Iraq is not synonymous with progress in the war on terror. Four-and-a-half years ago, then-U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used the phrase "long, hard slog" to refer to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in a notorious 2003 memo titled "Global War on Terror." In that same internal dispatch, Rumsfeld also stated that "we lack the metrics to know if we are winning or losing the global war on terror." Today, however, the evidence is overwhelming. more