Pivot Point: Directions for a New American Security
Session 2 - Inheriting Iraq
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Beyond Iraq: Speech By General James Conway, Commandant of the Marine Corps
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The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) hosted a lunchtime speech by US Marine Corps Commandant General James T. Conway on October 15, 2007 at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, DC.
General Conway's address, entitled "Beyond Iraq: Lessons Learned and Future Challenges," was the inaugural event for the CNAS National Security Leaders Forum, which brings senior American leaders to speak to the Washington policy community and press about current critical national security issues.
LA Times: Iraq's Nouri Maliki breaking free of U.S.
September 16 , 2008
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: Colin Kahl Interviewed
September 16, 2008
Washington Post: This Time, Things Are Looking Up
Swptember 14, 2008
Washington Post: Riding the Tiger
September 10, 2008
The Washington Post : Learning from the Triangle of Love
September 10 , 2008
Washington Post : Wither Al-Qaeda in Iraq?
September 9, 2008
CNAS experts and analysts are available for media interviews on the topic of Iraq. To interview our experts listed below, please contact:
Price Floyd,
CNAS Director of External Relations
Email: press@cnas.org
Telephone: 202.457.9400
Shannon O'Reilly,
CNAS Deputy Director of External Relations
Email: soreilly@cnas.org
Telephone: 202.457.9408
CNAS Iraq Experts
Iraq is the most politically charged issue facing America today. There are no easy answers, but there is an urgent need for an honest, open, and truly bipartisan dialogue on the way ahead. The Center for a New American Security is committed to shaping and elevating the debate on the most difficult strategic issues facing America - helping to forge a way forward and, ultimately, out of Iraq is a difficult but vital endeavor. On this page you will find a collection of reports, articles, media references, and online commentaries that highlight the work CNAS analysts are doing on the issue of Iraq. In a political and media environment dominated by partisanship, we hope this page will offer relevant and useful analysis to the media, the policy community, and the general public.
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Shaping the Iraq Inheritance American policy in Iraq will undergo two critical transitions throughout the remainder of 2008 and into early 2009: movement to a new U.S. posture in Iraq; and a wartime transition to a new administration. It is vital that both are handled in a way that best advances U.S. interests in Iraq and the region. Yet neither is being paid sufficient attention. Shaping the Iraq Inheritance outlines America's interests in Iraq and the region, analyzes recent security and political trends, presents a framework for understanding U.S. strategic options, and makes recommendations for how the Bush administration, the military, and Congress can best prepare for the dangerous period ahead. |
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Phased Transition: A Responsible Way Forward and Out of Iraq The U.S. military will withdraw from Iraq; the question is when and under what conditions. This report will provide a realistic appraisal of America's enduring interests in Iraq - no al Qaeda safe havens, no regional war, and no genocide - and to provide a Phased Transition plan that identifies specific steps the Bush administration can take to make these outcomes more likely while also preparing for the worst and begins planning for subsequent phases. At this dangerous moment, such realism is essential to increasing the prospects that the United States will get out of Iraq more responsibly than it got in. |
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CNAS Policy Brief: The Case for Conditional Engagement in Iraq Colin Kahl and Shawn Brimley argue that a nuanced middle position between "all in" or "all out" offers the best chance of producing lasting progress in Iraq. |
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CNAS Policy Brief: Measuring Progress in Iraq Nobody seems to know how to talk about and evaluate "progress" in Iraq, or the lack thereof. In the context of the confusion, progress should be evaluated along several dimensions: type, location, causal direction, and possibilities for aggregation and sustainability. |
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CNAS Policy Brief: Enduring U.S. Interests in Iraq: The Three No's Even as forces in Iraq are drawn down, the U.S. has enduring interests in that besieged country and the surrounding region, and these interests will require a significant military presence therefore the foreseeable future.These vital longterm U.S. interests in Iraq can be boiled down to Three No's: no regional war; no al Qaeda safe havens; and no genocide. |
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Life After the Surge: Prospects for Iraq and for the U.S. Military This CNAS Congressional Testimony contains Michele A. Flournoy's statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, given on April 2, 2008. According to Flournoy, "The only way to consolidate recent security gains in Iraq is to use our substantial political leverage to push various Iraqi actors toward political accommodation. The Bush administration success or failure in so doing over the coming months will determine the options available to the next President. When the next Commander in Chief takes office, he or she must put our Iraq policy on a new course that protects our vital interests there but also rebalances risk across our larger regional and global goals. He or she must also take urgent steps to develop a new and more effective strategy toward Iraq, reduce the strains on our soldiers, marines and their families, free up more forces for other urgent priorities like Afghanistan, and restore the readiness of our military for the full range of possible future contingencies." |
Colin Kahl guest post on national reconciliation
Colin Kahl | 11.06.07 | Abu Aardvark Blog
Kahl on Reconciliation
Matthew Yglesias (response) | 11.09.07 | The Atlantic Online
Unanswered Substantive Policy Questions on Kahl's Iraq Argument
Brian Katulis (response) | 11.09.07 | Abu Aardvark Blog
Kahl Response to Katulis
Colin Kahl (response) | 11.10.07 | Abu Aardvark Blog
George Packer praises CNAS plan on Iraq
George Packer | 09.17.07 | The New Yorker
A Problem of Palestinian Proportions?
Vikram Singh | 08.07 | CNAS Website
Advise Who?
Colin Kahl | 07.07 | CNAS Website
The Merits of Authorizing the Real War
Shawn Brimley | 07.07 | CNAS Website
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American policy in Iraq will undergo two critical transitions throughout the remainder of 2008 and into early 2009: movement to a new U.S. posture in Iraq; and a wartime transition to a new administration. It is vital that both are handled in a way that best advances U.S. interests in Iraq and the region. Yet neither is being paid sufficient attention. Shaping the Iraq Inheritance outlines America's interests in Iraq and the region, analyzes recent security and political trends, presents a framework for understanding U.S. strategic options, and makes recommendations for how the Bush administration, the military, and Congress can best prepare for the dangerous period ahead.
The report places America's interests in Iraq within a regional and global context, and suggests that the United States must simultaneously attempt to avoid a failed state in Iraq while not strategically over-committing to Iraq. The report examines current security and political trends, and suggests that success in Iraq requires additional steps toward political accommodation and improved governance. The report then outlines a policy of conditional engagement--a strategy that initiates a phased, negotiated redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq while conditioning residual support to the Iraqi government on continued political progress--and argues that it offers the best chance of achieving sustainable stability in Iraq while balancing U.S. commitments worldwide.
Finally, the report outlines steps that must be taken to smooth the handover of Iraq policy from this administration to the next. The Bush administration must prioritize preparation in three areas over the next six months: the development of an interagency transition plan; enhancing the situational awareness of both the Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates and their top national security advisers on Iraq; and hand-tooling personnel transitions for senior positions critical to Iraq policy and operations.
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CNAS Press Briefing: Consolidating Security Gains in Iraq
Michele Flournoy | 12 March 2008
On March 12, 2008, Michèle A. Flournoy, President and Co-Founder of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), held a press briefing to recap and analyze her recent trip to Iraq. Ms. Flournoy returned from a two week trip to Iraq on February 12, 2008, where she visited ten Iraqi provinces and ten U.S. Army and Marine Corps units. Ms. Flournoy's briefing focused on how to consolidate security gains in Iraq. She also offered recommendations for a new American political strategy toward Iraq.
