This bloke is Deputy Director of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies and Director of the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Davis Institute, at The Heritage Foundation.

One of the oldest and most influential conservative think tanks, the Heritage Foundation was founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense"

So we can guess where he is coming from. A NeoCon from way back and a gung ho US empire builder.
They just do not learn, from Vietnam for example, that there is no chance of “winning”.
Unfortunately they have dragged Australia and some Nato nations into the cauldron with them.
Quit while you still have some semblance of a functioning economy and a democratic country to live in.

This reads like paid for US apologist tripe!
1. Afghanistan was and is irrelevant to the "war on terror", they are just killing folks who are "protecting their homeland" (rightly or wrongly) against invaders. Did you bother to learn the history of the US in Afghanistan against the Russians? Further killings there are *creating* terrorists, not clearing them!
2. Guantanamo Bay is an *illegal gulag*. If Americans want humane treatment in future wars for it's soldiers (I doubt the leaders really care) it had better fix it's ways. Do you think China will listen to any human rights arguments from such hypocrites?
3. Fix the inter-agency secrecy and get to the bottom of the management incompetence. 911 could have been prevented. the intelligence was gathered, the alerts raised...and ignored. Post 911 crack-downs have not added to security, but have annoyed a lot of Americans! Adding more disorganised laws and agencies is not the solution: fixing the ones that almost worked is a better way.
The CIA were caught kidnapping and torturing people around the world...this should concern people!
4. Can only agree with this one!
5. The US military is one of the worlds biggest social security programs and it is used to intimidate and bully. For the "land of the free" they have an awful lot of Big Central Government...pity it is used as a commercial instrument to maximise income and power for a very few...hardly democratic. The move to "contractors" (mercenaries) so as to use "commercial in confidence" to hide para-military activities is very shonky.
The US military is also one of the reasons that the US is now spending more than it earns...the "payoff" from Iraq was just not profitable!
Rather than becoming bigger, bader and more modern (which will bankrupt the US more than it is), they should pull back to the essentials and re-think the global strategy...they might find "shock and awe" is not so much fun at home.
It is time now to see things as they are, not through the reality distortion field and fairy tales from Fox News!

How does one even begin to respond to this garbage.

And yes Graham it IS garbage.

It is a "perfect" expression of the collective psychosis that now mis-informs the GOP and right wing politics in the USA altogether.

I much prefer the assessment of the state of the now permanent USA warfare state provided by these authors. Remembering that is 60 years ago that Eisenhower gave his prophetic warning re the military-industrial-complex

Andrew Bacevich Washington Rules Americas Path To Permanent War

Chalmers Johnson Dismantling the Empire (and his work altogether)

William Hartung Prophets of War

Nick Turse The Complex

William Blum Rogue State + Freeing the World To Death

Tom Engelhardt The End of Victory Culture published in 1995 before
the bogus term the "war on terror" was invented - a
remarkable book + The American Way of War

A quote from another source.

"The mutually competitive pattern of existing nation-states is rooted in the nation-based will to dominate. The competition for world-domination is the primal and only "game" of tribalized nation-states. Therefore, if the existing nation-states are allowed to continue playing the "game" of competition for world-domination, they will, inevitably, destroy all of human culture, even human life itself, and, indeed, even the Earth-world itself - as they have, to a large extent, already done."

I would argue that is exactly what this benighted fool is advocating, as indeed does the Heritage Foundation altogether.

A suitable subtitles for the Heritage Foundation should be: Lies, Lies, and More Lies.

sarnian, whilst I don’t think it requires a PhD to formulate the views expressed by James Carafano and to most conservatives the case he makes would be blinding glimpse of the obvious.

That said, the comments you provided are juvenile and patronizing. We can read, we know what is meant by NeoCon, we know what a conservative think tank is, we know what to expect, we don’t need to guess where he is coming from and we definitely know what is meant by trying to shoot the messenger.

So if there is some case you wish to make, a point or two you wish to challenge or a contrary strategy you would like the US administration to consider, we would love to hear it.

All you have to do is put your brain into gear before operating your lip. Otherwise we might be drawn to the conclusion that there is nothing between your ears.

At least with Ozandy and Ho Hum we know there is something going on because they have articulated all the things they blame, no solutions of course but at least it’s a start.

spindoc. No solutions? Perhaps I need to spell it out:
1. Get out.
2. Close it.
3. Fix what is known to be broken.
4. Yes, do it.
5. Think defence, not aggression. Don't be so bloody evil!

Ozandy, I think I said “solutions” not platitudes.

OK, let’s take just one of your “solutions”, that of Get out!

What is the situation, in which geographic scenarios, what are the problems, what are the possible solutions, which one do you recommend and why? You will of course be required to cover for each scenario, the socio-economic, trade, political, geo-political, religious, short, medium and long term impacts for these.

Then you might need to consider how you address the international issues of NATO, the UN and the EU. Due consideration might also be given to potential political, trade and military alignments such as China, Russia and South America.

Whilst it remains difficult at this stage to predict outcomes of the oppressed and disenfranchised peoples still suffering, but currently rebelling against various dictatorships, there is no doubt that changing political dynamics are in play. You will need to take possibilities, probabilities and contingencies of these into account.

As suggested earlier, there is definitely something going on between your ears but it mostly seems to be passion, emotion and ill informed activism.

Unless of course, you can tell us otherwise