Highlights from the IRC Right Web Program

Congress and National Security in 2007
John Isaacs | December 28, 2007
Although Congress failed to extract the United States from the mess in Iraq or to significantly alter the administration's bellicose approach to Iran, it did make progress on other national security issues, particularly nuclear ones. Even Republicans who salute Bush's military policies are silent, publicly opposed, or active participants in the rebellion against the administration's nuclear weapons plans.

Bye, Bye Tora Bora; Hello Subprime Mortgages
Leon Hadar | December 20, 2007
The serious economic problems facing America are closely intertwined with the country's foreign policy failures. And as Americans begin to recognize that maintaining a gigantic welfare-warfare state is a costly proposition, the political candidates who awaken to this reality will be best placed to succeed in 2008.

The Mideast Strategic-Consensus Fantasy
Leon Hadar | December 6, 2007
Despite the pending release of a new intelligence report that would paint a much less menacing Iran, the United States used the Annapolis talks to push an old and discredited idea: That a perceived common threat—Shiite Iran—could bring together Arabs and Jews under an American umbrella and help create the conditions for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. The staying power of this strategic fantasy, shared by the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, attests to the influence of pro-Likud neoconservative ideologues on these two conservative Republican presidents.

The Neocons on Pakistan:
Neat, Simple, and Dangerously Naïve
Najum Mushtaq | November 30, 2007
Writers like Frederick Kagan, Michael O'Hanlon, Charles Krauthammer, and John Bolton have been wringing their hands over what to do about Pakistan, offering risible suggestions about how the U.S. military could intervene and naïvely arguing that the Pakistani military is a force for "Westernization" and stability. Failing to learn the lessons of the Reagan era, which saw Pakistan's military fall under the influence of Islamists, these neoconservatives ignore the fact that under leaders like Gen. Pervez Musharraf minority extremists have gained prominence. Instituting democracy and a culture of civilian supremacy will take decades of uninterrupted electoral exercise and peaceful transitions of power. But the alternative to this—in the name of stability, antiterrorism, and nuclear safekeeping—would spell disaster for Pakistan as well as for global security.

Look Who's Downplaying Iran's Nuclear Threat
Leon Hadar | November 19, 2007
In a series of recent statements, high-profile Israeli hawks have argued that an Iranian nuclear weapons program would not pose an existential threat to Israel, in part because they realize that the alternative could be regional war. So why is it that neoconservatives and other pro-Israel hardliners in the United States continue to press for decisive action against Tehran from the safety of their offices in the United States?

The Warpath to Regime Change
Gareth Porter | November 6, 2007
An assessment of neoconservative thinking on how to effect regime change in Iran reveals a path leading from 9/11 to the belief that only war will work. Driven in part by the failed intervention in Iraq, which helped increase rather than dampen Iranian influence in the region, neoconservatives with the ear of the vice president abandoned the idea that the U.S. invasion would force change in Iran and other nearby countries, arguing by 2007 that all options must be on the table.

Congress and Iran: The New Iraq?
John Isaacs | October 31, 2007
If U.S. warplanes fly toward Iran next year, October 2007 may be remembered as the month that the Bush administration began its final push to prepare the public for a new Mideast intervention. Although largely driven by Vice President Dick Cheney and associates in the Bush administration, the push toward military action has been abetted by cheerleaders in Congress, as well as by a heavy dose of rhetoric from the regular suspects in the neoconservative and hardline advocacy communities.

White House Sharpens Its Words
Jim Lobe | October 23, 2007
The vice president gives a hostile assessment of Iran and the president links World War III to a nuclear Iran, while the secretary of defense tries to temper the two with a more restrained and robust interpretation of the Iranian threat. Long before it has figured out what to do with Iraq, the White House seems intent on more military action in the Middle East.

America's Africa Misadventure
Najum Mushtaq | October 16, 2007
In a region where a higher level of U.S. engagement is long overdue and should be welcomed by all quarters, the new U.S. Africa Command (Africom) has elicited widespread suspicion. Given its emphasis on the use of military power and its interventionist framework, Africom will in all likelihood be counterproductive for U.S. strategic interests in the region; most African countries see military motives behind Washington's rhetoric of peace, cooperation, and humanitarianism.

Misinterpreting the Militias
Gareth Porter | October 11, 2007
Iran may be the "enemy" of the moment in U.S. discourse regarding the Iraq War, but it is Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army that is proving to be the main source of difficulties.

Iraq After Petraeus: The More Things Change ...
John Isaacs | September 19, 2007
David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker's defense of the "surge" strategy confirmed the divide in Congress over the Iraq War. While their testimony may have given President Bush some breathing space to avoid making hard decisions on the direction of the war, pending legislation in on Capitol Hill will undoubtedly put Republicans in an uncomfortable situation. Although many voters may be disappointed over the lack of congressional progress regarding the war, they are unlikely to swing back to Republicans if more than 100,000 U.S. troops still remain in the country 14 months from now.

The Surge Scam: Getting Rid of the Goat
Commentary by Leon Hadar | September 12, 2007
A vague commitment to end the surge in Iraq, coupled with the supposed credibility of General Petraeus, could buy President Bush more time to pursue his military offensive in Iraq and leave the mess there to his successor in the White House. But anti-war critics question Petraeus' credibility, arguing that he is not only identified with the failed U.S. strategy in Iraq but also that he has become a political ally of Bush and of Republicans. Democrats have failed to mount a serious challenge to Petraeus, allowing him, and by extension the Bush administration, to set the terms of the current debate on Iraq.

Iran and the Enduring Stockpile
By Anthony Newkirk | August 24, 2007
The Bush administration and many of the 2008 presidential hopefuls often highlight the threat posed by Iran's potential to develop nuclear weapons. Left unsaid in the rhetoric is how the U.S. nuclear arsenal, seen by some as a violation of international agreements, provides cover for countries that are looking for convenient justifications for going nuclear.

Dangerous Delusions
Commentary by Leon Hadar | August 15, 2007
The president and some of his advisers seem to occupy a parallel universe that one might call "Neocon World," where the "surge" is working, the United States is winning in Iraq, and peace will soon come to the Promised Land and to the entire Middle East. It is a dangerous delusion.

The United States and "Regime Change" in Iran
By Stephen Zunes | August 7, 2007
The record is clear: Imposing democracy and freedom on other countries is less effective than internal, civil society-led movements. Freedom and democracy will one day come to Iran, but it will be in spite of—rather than because of—the policies of the United States.

Whither the "Global Democratic Revolution"?
By Tom Barry | July 31, 2007
Promoting democratic change is a worthy foreign policy goal that has deep roots in both the Republican and Democratic Parties. The challenge is to promote that policy in the post-Bush era so that the ideal is not tainted by narrow national interests or ideological agendas.

Democrats Controlling Congress:
A Six-Month Assessment
By John Isaacs | July 25, 2007
The Democrats took over both houses of Congress six months ago with ambitious foreign policy and defense agendas aimed at turning back many of the perceived mistakes of the Bush administration and reining in some of its more ambitious and controversial weapons programs. The Dems have had mixed results thus far, but it seems likely that nuclear weapons production, the Iraq War, missile defense, and the breadth of the "war on terrorism" will remain on the congressional agenda for the duration of President Bush's time in office.

The New Politics of Political Aid in Venezuela
By Tom Barry | July 18, 2007
By continuing to push its objectives through groups associated with the failed coup in Venezuela, the United States is making sure that it remains a distrusted voice in Venezuela and the rest of Latin America. A more constructive U.S. foreign policy would include an expression of support for a country's self-determination and use normal diplomatic channels to press views about democracy, media freedom, and human rights.

Putting Friends in High Places
By Tom Barry | July 10, 2007
President Bush's decision to back Robert Zoellick as Paul Wolfowitz's replacement at the World Bank served two purposes: making sure a loyalist led the powerful multilateral institution, and continuing the trend of putting U.S. interests ahead of those of the rest of the world.

The Right Gets Africa Wrong
By Conn Hallinan | July 9, 2007
Africa plans pushed by outfits like the Heritage Foundation and instituted by the Bush administration reveal an agenda aimed at securing oil interests while extending the war on terror to a new continent. But observers in and outside Africa see an agenda that repeats the same mistakes of the past.

The Media War
By Khody Akhavi | June 28, 2007
Despite signs that the neoconservative-led agenda to reshape the Middle East has fallen out of favor in Washington, neocons have recently tightened their grip on several key aspects of the public diplomacy apparatus. Does this herald a new period of strictly ideological programming?

Blowback, from Palestine to Pakistan
By Jim Lobe | June 20, 2007
Four years after embarking on a neoconservative-inspired agenda of reshaping the Middle East, beginning with the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration is now beset by crises across the globe.