Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with President Obama today in Washington, reportedly to request assistance in the form of advanced military aircraft to counter the reactivated insurgency in Iraq. … Prior to the meeting, a group of senators including Carl Levin, John McCain, and Lindsay Graham sent a letter […] Read more »
Syria Vote vs. Iraq, Kosovo, Somalia
Washington may be split by partisanship, but politics stop at the water’s edge, or so goes the old saw. That is, when it comes to using military force, lawmakers moves past simple Red/Blue distinctions and come together. But in recent weeks, many lawmakers have voiced concern that the “water’s edge” tradition […] Read more »
Nothing New About Partisan Votes On Military Action
With so many Republicans apparently committed to voting against a military strike against Syria, the Obama Administration will be forced to rely on Democrats, including liberals, to win the vote in Congress. From an ideological perspective it looks odd, but members of Congress lining up to support the president of […] Read more »
Public opinion and intervention in Syria: 60 years of Gallup polling on U.S. military actions
Public opinion polls have shown that the U.S. public has been consistently wary about military intervention in Syria. … So how does the current sentiment of U.S. residents compare with public sentiment on the eve of — or at key turning points during — prior conflicts? The results can provide […] Read more »
How foreign voices influence American wars
Recent research raises the intriguing possibility that Americans’ views about U.S. foreign policy can be influenced not just by the president and members of Congress – the elites from whom the public typically takes its cues – but also by the leaders of other nations and the United Nations. That […] Read more »
The Iraq Sanctions Myth
… The claim that sanctions killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children originated in a 1995 letter to The Lancet which, in turn, was based on a Baghdad survey done by Sarah Zaidi and colleagues. After other researchers identified anomalies in the survey data, Zaidi, to her great credit, re-investigated […] Read more »