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Foggy Bottom's Man in Baghdad

March 13, 2010  •  The Wall Street Journal

Before Iraq's first election in January 2005, the Bush administration debated whether to support any particular candidate. The Central Intelligence Agency wanted to funnel $20 million to its longtime favorite Ayad Allawi, who was then serving as prime minister in a U.S.-appointed government. But Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's top foreign policy adviser, argued that the U.S. should create a level playing-field and let the chips fall where they may.

Ms. Rice won the day. And so did the United Iraqi Alliance, an alliance of Shiite parties led first by Ibrahim Jaafari and, after subsequent elections that year, by Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's current prime minister.

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Afghanistan Deadline Is Not Smart Policy
A Reply to Stephen Schlesinger

March 8, 2010  •  Public Square

Stephen Schlesinger has a remarkably rosy reading of President Obama's speech at West Point. No matter how he reads it, though, the reality is that the U.S. will begin to abandon Afghanistan yet again in July 2011. And it will not bode well for the war on terrorism.

While Schlesinger may not be convinced that the Iraqi surge provided a useful example by which President Obama shaped his Afghanistan surge, both the White House and the Pentagon appear to disagree.

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The Afghanistan Withdrawal
Why Obama Was Wrong to Insist on a Deadline

March 8, 2010  •  Public Square

On December 1, after months of careful deliberation, President Obama announced a surge strategy for Afghanistan. "As Commander-in-Chief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan," he told an assembled crowd at West Point, and "after 18 months, our troops will begin to come home."

The surge in Afghanistan was modeled after the successful strategy that President Bush implemented in Iraq. Indeed, in the quote offered by Stephen Schlesinger, Obama drew parallels to the Iraq experience. By enunciating a start date for a withdrawal, however, Obama undercut the utility and effectiveness of his surge.

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Can Anything Stop Iran From Getting Bomb?

February 10, 2010  •  AOL News

On Thursday, Iran will mark Revolution Day, its annual commemoration of the monarchy's end. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has promised to use the day to "punch" and "stun" the West, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the Islamic Republic will increase uranium enrichment.

Iranian defiance is not new, but its vitriol after President Barack Obama's attempts to reconcile has forced the White House to reassess its policy. On Tuesday, Obama promised a "significant regime of sanctions" to underline Iran's isolation.

Which raises the question: What will stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons?

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A Watershed Election

February 1, 2010  •  National Review Online

After the Iraqi parliament banned 500 candidates from contesting the March 7 national elections, Vice President Joseph Biden rushed to Baghdad to urge Iraqi political leaders to reconsider. While the ban has fueled U.S. cynicism about Iraqi democracy, such cynicism is unwarranted, especially now.

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Books by Michael Rubin