Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
Brian M Downing Presidents inherit foreign policy burdens from their predecessors. LBJ was handed a deteriorating situation in Southeast Asia. Nixon got an unwinnable war and a public that wanted out of it. Bush the Younger bequeathed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to Obama and Trump. Both managed to muddle Read More …
Policy and failure twenty years on – part three, Iran Brian M Downing The aftermath of the 9/11 attacks opened a path to better US-Iran relations. Washington could have restored comity with a powerful regional actor and renewed trade with its 75 million people, many with rising incomes and Read More …
Brian M Downing Two decades have passed since the 9/11 attacks. Two decades of wars, expenditures, casualties, and failures. As US troops left Afghanistan last month President Biden pointed out that we’d killed Osama bin Laden but that hardly addressed the entirety of the operations. In another twenty years assessments Read More …
Brian M Downing Early concerns and defections Shortly after the Vietnam buildup in 1965, Sen William Fulbright (D-Arkansas) chaired hearings. Foreign policy and military experts, including George F Kennan questioned the strategic justifications for the war and the way it was being fought. Fulbright’s investigations were on television. Public support for the Read More …
Brian M Downing In 1965 the US took on the main combat load in Vietnam. Each year saw more US troops, more fighting and casualties, and few if any signs of progress. Two years in, popular and elite opposition was rising. The following year public opposition was all the higher Read More …
Brian M Downing Mark Twain noted that events rhymed, but not all recurrences are as pleasing as poetic couplets. Many are poorly constructed, graceless, violent, and tragic. The Vietnam War did grave damage to American beliefs and institutions. Population pressures, police blunders, a polarizing president, and ossified political parties have Read More …
Brian M Downing Donald Trump will leave the White House on January 20th, perhaps a bit sooner. Even he now says he will depart, albeit reluctantly. There’s hope that the country will return to at least a modicum of comity. The trials are behind us, a new day is dawning. Read More …
Brian M Downing The new foreign policy team has shown no reluctance to send troops into danger. That’s clear from their positions in previous administrations and at research institutes between political appointments. They may be more cautious after the failure of the Afghan surge, the aftermath of ousting Qaddafi, the Read More …
Brian M Downing The September 11 attacks brought overwhelming unity to the American people. Comparisons were drawn to the spirit that followed Pearl Harbor and led to determined campaigns in Europe and the Pacific. Victory came in less than four years. The al Qaeda attacks killed three thousand Americans and Read More …
Brian M Downing Concern with immense, sinister forces working behind the scenes has been with us since the country’s founding, if not before. Richard Hofstadter sketched some manifestations in The Paranoid Style in American Politics (1964) – the Bavarian Illuminati, Freemasonry, Roman Catholicism, and World Communism. Hofstadter noted a few Read More …