Iraq Analysis Archive
Total Iraq and Afghanistan Supplemental War Funding To Date
A summary of Iraq and Afghanistan war funding to date.
On Point: Obama vs. McCain
With U.S. troops still in Iraq, rising tensions between the United States and Iran, and the looming threat of nuclear terrorism, foreign policy and arms control have once again taken center stage on the presidential campaign trail. In order to get a detailed picture of Barack Obama and John McCain’s positions, the Center has produced a series of analyses on arms control and national security issues in the 2008 presidential race.
In a Nutshell: McCain vs. Obama on National Security
In this useful analysis, Executive Director John Isaacs compares and contrasts John McCain and Barack Obama's positions on Iraq, Iran, nuclear weapons, missile defense, and much more.
These Generals Are Real Heroes
This spring, the New York Times exposed a six-year-long Bush administration propaganda campaign using retired military officers to disseminate pro-Iraq war messages to the American public. In this op-ed published in the Asheville Citizen-Times on June 27, Outreach Coordinator Ashley Hoffman explains how the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation is fighting back against the administration's spin through its own Military Outreach Program.
Iraqis Who Oppose the U.S.-Iraq Long-Term Agreement
Iraqi leaders have not been shy about publicly expressing their opposition to the proposed long-term agreement between the United States and Iraq. This resource provides a list of Iraqis who oppose the agreement and links to their statements.
GAO Says Bush Administration is Overstating Gains in Iraq
The Bush administration and Iraq war supporters trumpet the surge as a success, since the number of violent incidents and casualties has indeed dropped. Yet such an assessment conveniently ignores the lack of political progress by the Iraqi government, which was the whole point of the surge in the first place. In its latest report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concludes that the Bush administration has overstated gains in Iraq.
Even Petraeus Can't Find the Endgame in Three Pages
General David Petraeus's new counterinsurgency guidance document contains many useful prescriptions, but it does not offer the strategic guidance that is still missing from U.S. policy toward Iraq. Despite recent tactical successes, we still don't have an answer to Petraeus's haunting question: "Tell me how does this end?"
Torture Erodes America's Moral High Ground in World
With the aim of restoring America's standing in the eyes of the world, a bipartisan group of high-level former administration officials, retired military leaders, World War II military interrogators and religious leaders of many faiths are releasing today a blueprint to re-establish our values and moral principles.
Analysis of Senate Armed Services Committee Action on the FY2009 Defense Authorization Bill (S 3001)
The Senate Armed Services Committee released its markup of S. 3001, the Fiscal Year 2009 Defense Authorization bill, on May 1, 2008. S. 3001, as reported to the full Senate by the Armed Services Committee, fully funds the administration's $612.5 billion FY2009 National Defense request. As part of this total, the Committee authorized $70 billion in additional funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Beyond the Headlines: The U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement, Permanent Bases, and Fourth-Generation Warfare
As is usually the case in Iraq, the significance of recent events is more than the sum of its parts. In this web commentary, Military Policy Analyst Travis Sharp goes beyond the headlines to examine what is really motivating negotiations on the U.S.-Iraq long-term agreement. American and Iraqi motives
Building Human Security: Peacekeepers, Not Long-Term Pact, Should Replace U.N. Mandate in Iraq
The neglected humanitarian emergency suggests the need for a new strategy in Iraq. Given the nature of the Iraqi crisis, this new strategy will undoubtedly require an expansive role for the United Nations. If peacekeeping efforts were to be integrated into the U.N. mandate for Iraq, a host of positive improvements could come about.
Analysis of House Armed Services Committee Action on the FY2009 Defense Authorization Bill (HR 5658)
The House Armed Services Committee completed its markup of the Fiscal Year 2009 Defense Authorization bill (HR 5658) on May 15, 2008. The marked up bill recommends an overall authorization level of $601.4 billion, the amount requested by the administration.
Analysis of House May 2008 Iraq-Afghanistan Supplemental War Funding Package
If the new $168.4 billion Iraq war funding supplemental is enacted into law, Congress will have approved approximately $864 billion in DOD, State/USAID, and VA funding for the Global War on Terror (GWOT) since 2001. This would cement Iraq and Afghanistan's place as the second costliest conflict in U.S. history.
Guantanamo Has Given Us a Bad Name
In redefining the laws of war, the United States has overridden long-established international human rights law enshrined in United Nations detainment policies.
Iraq War Senate Appropriations Hearing: Nussle's Nonsense Distorts the Record
On April 16, the Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing on Iraq war funding with Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle. Senators had every right to be upset: Nussle's testimony was riddled with misleading half-truths and outright inaccuracies.
Tying U.S. Defense Spending to GDP: Bad Logic, Bad Policy
Intelligent defense planning relies on requirements, tradeoffs, and a thorough evaluation of risk – not GDP – to determine need. Defense spending should remain subject to budgetary survival of the fittest.
Key Themes and Highlights from April 2008 Petraeus-Crocker Hearings
Analysts at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation watched every minute of all four Petraeus-Crocker hearings on April 8 and 9. We sat through over 15 hours of live testimony. We also live blogged events as they were happening on the Iraq Insider blog. Here's what we think was most important.
Ten Questions for General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker
On April 8 and 9, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will testify before Congress about the progress of U.S. military operations in Iraq. Here are ten tough questions members of Congress need to ask.
Lieutenant General Robert Gard Sets the Record Straight on the Surge
In a conference call with national reporters on April 1, Lieutenant General Robert Gard set the record straight on the surge. "Iraq is more bitterly divided along ethnic, sectarian, and factional lines than it was before the surge began," concluded Gard, who serves as the Senior Military Fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Read the full transcript of Gard's remarks here.
Problems with Using the Supplemental Budget Process to Fund Ongoing Military Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
Six and a half years after the United States initiated the so-called "Global War on Terror" (GWOT) by invading Afghanistan, the continued use of emergency supplemental budgeting to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is undermining America's ability to plan responsibly for present and future threats.
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