Real Security

Know, Rather Than Imagine, Your Enemy

It may well be that the US political system requires an administration to sell the threat to make a case for war, but this inevitably militates against the development of a rounded picture of opponents.more »

Iraq; Will We Ever Get Out?

There is a working assumption among the American people that a new president enters the White House free to call off a war begun by a predecessor. No one would expect something so dramatic on the first day of a new administration but it remains a fact that the president is the commander in chief of the armed forces, and the power that allowed one president to invade Iraq would allow another to bring the troops home.more »

Iraq War Worsens Domestic Economic Problems

The American public, by an overwhelming margin, believes that the cost of the Iraq war is worsening domestic economic problems. In a New York Times/CBS News poll completed on April 2, 67 percent of respondents said the war had contributed “a lot” to American economic problems, and 22 percent said it was contributing “some.” Only 10 percent said “not much” or “not at all.”

Iran starts installing 6000 new centrifuges

Iran has started installing “6000 new centrifuges” at the Natanz enrichment plant, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad announced after visiting the nuclear enrichment facility on Tuesday.... In his address at the meeting, the president said the testing of the new advanced centrifuges, which can enrich uranium five times faster than the current machines, will be finished in the next three months.

Shorter Tours of Duty in Iraq?

"With an effective date of August 1st, this means that not one troop will benefit from this deployment reduction until August 2009--seven months into the next Presidential administration." -- VetVoice's Brandon Friedman, 4/10/08more »

President's Security Budget Shortchanges Security

Actually, the president’s 2009 budget is way out of balance, throwing money at the military and on feared future terrorist threats while shortchanging the everyday security needs of the American people. The budget cuts homeland security grants to state and local governments by 48 percent — a whopping $2 billion. That includes a 79 percent cut in the largest state homeland security grant program, a 60 percent cut to firefighters, a 56 percent cut to transit security grants, and a 48 percent reduction to port security grants. Plus, the office that investigates waste, fraud and abuse in the Department of Homeland Security is being cut $7 million.

If the administration was really focused on homeland security, the Department of Homeland Security, with a proposed 6.8 percent budget increase, to more than $50 billion — would be able to adequately fund programs for first responders who are not only at the front lines of reacting to a disaster, but are at the first lines of prevention as well. The administration would also fund the dozens of other initiatives — from crime-prevention programs at the Department of Justice to youth programs at the Department of Education — that contribute to making our nation safer but whioh have been given the cold shoulder by conservative government.more »