how to end the iraq war?

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/10/how-to-finish-t.html

I've heard Michael O'Halon speak many times, I regard him as one of the smartest defense analyst in the world. Moreover, he works with scholars across the spectrum, so in my view his perspective is very resonable and based on his research not his politics.

views from Iraq

http://www.realclearworld.com/static/rcw_iraq_blog.html

These are first hand blog posts by soldiers, diplomats and expats working in Iraq. Not to say that one perspective is right and another is wrong, but I feel like I can put more wieght into the opinions of the people in country, doing the work, fighting the fights. 

This is a series, so I think I will put a link to it in our blog roll for all to follow. I would consider this "must" reading.

bring back the foreign policy debate

While the economy has replaced foreign policy as the most important issue to voters, and rightly so for the time being, I think we should not loose focus abroad.

Hamas and Hizbullah in the Palestine and Lebanon, given 1o more years like the last 10 will be extremely difficult to contain, maybe even impossible.

The AfPak tribal regions are HQ for Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, corrupt ISO officials and some of the worst terrorists in the world. Again, we cannot afford the next 10 years to be like the last.

Iran and North Korea seek to become nuclear states, a development that would be hugely troubling given those nations track records.

Russia has transitioned from the doormat of Europe into the Russia of the cold war era, defiant, expansionist and powerful because of its resources.

China is rewriting what we thought possible in terms of political governance and economic growth. Capitalist Dictatorships could be strikingly en vogue should the Chinese keep this up.

And these are only what we know, and to use the infamous Donald Rumsfeld quote, "We don't know what we don't know".

and for all of that, tonights debate focusing on foriegn policy may not even take place, becuase of the financial bailout meetings!