Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
What was an emerging opposition in Iraq is now a full-fledged insurgency. The United States is still without a political strategy that recognizes this reality. As a result, the military is forced into a stop-go-stop hesitancy in which soldiers' lives are being wasted and security continues to worsen.
It has been called the forgotten war. What seemed two years ago to be a shining example of American military power and international leadership is now a growing morass. The Taliban is back, Al Qaeda roams the countryside and Osama bin Ladin mocks America from his mountain redoubt. Assassins in the last week barely missed killing both the president and the vice-president in separate attacks on this fledgling democracy’s government.
The National Bureau of Asian Research held a conference, Strategic Asia and the War on Terrorism, at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on September 22, 2004, in conjunction with the launch of its new book Strategic Asia 2004-2005: Confronting Terrorism in the Pursuit of Power, co-edited by Ashley Tellis and Michael Wills and with a contribution from Michael Swaine.
Every major military indicator shows the war in Iraq is going badly. The United States is losing ground, losing hearts and minds, and losing the war. Every day this month, on average, three U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq. This is up from the death rate in August, which was up from July's toll. Major cities are now considered too unsafe for U.S. forces to enter. Washington officials insist Iraqi elections will take place as planned in January 2005, but officials in Baghdad are more pessimistic. "We are in deep trouble in Iraq," warned Republican Senator Chuck Hagel last Sunday. And this, according to a new intelligence assessment, is the best case.
When Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was told on the morning of Sept. 11 that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center, he paused, then continued his morning intelligence briefing, according to the 9/11 Commission.
Despite widespread hopes, democrats in Hong Kong were unable to secure a majority of legislative seats in the September 12 elections. Why were democrats unsuccessful? What are the implications of the elections on democratization in Hong Kong and on cross-Strait relations? And what role should the U.S. should play with regard to Hong Kong?
Democracy promotion has moved to the top of the American foreign policy agenda, becoming directly connected to core U.S. security concerns in ways not seen since the Cold War. Discussants asses the role of democracy promotion in the Bush administration’s foreign policy and take stock of its record over the past four years.
The Russian Atomic Energy Agency announced on September 1 that additional troops had been dispatched to guard nuclear facilities throughout Russia.The troop move is a sign that Russia recognizes that the threat to its nuclear facilities. US programs to assist Russian nuclear security also need to recognize that the threat has changed and move to accelerate and expand ongoing efforts.