No Middle Way: Two Reports on Iraq

Special Remarks: U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Member, U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services

Danielle Pletka, Thomas Donnelly, Frederick W. Kagan, Gary J. Schmitt

September 06, 2007

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In early September, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will provide an assessment of President George W. Bush’s surge strategy in Iraq. What are the implications of the forthcoming Petraeus and Crocker reports? How will they impact the state of play in Iraq and the political climate in Washington?

The event will begin with remarks by U.S. senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC). He will offer his assessment on the situation in Iraq and preview the upcoming Congressional debates following the status reports by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker. Senator Graham will take questions following his remarks.

On the first panel, AEI resident scholar Frederick W. Kagan will be joined by former acting Army chief of staff General Jack Keane and Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution to discuss their impressions from their recent trips to Iraq, and to comment on likely future developments.

The event’s second panel will feature the release of “No Middle Way,” a new AEI report authored by Mr. Kagan and an evaluation of the June 2007 report from the Center for a New American Security entitled “Phased Transition: A Responsible Way Forward and Out of Iraq.” Mr. Kagan will present the key findings of his report. James Miller, defense analyst and co-author of the CNAS report, will provide a response to the AEI report. A question and answer period will follow each of the event’s panels.

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About the Author

Danielle
Pletka

Danielle Pletka is the vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at AEI. Before joining AEI, she served for ten years as a senior professional staff member for the Near East and South Asia on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. She writes frequently on national security matters with a focus on domestic politics in the Middle East and South Asia regions, U.S. national security, terrorism and weapons proliferation.
Phone: 202-862-5943
Email: dpletka@aei.org
Assistant Info
Name: Lazar Berman
Phone: 202-862-5872
Email: lazar.berman@aei.org

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Thomas
Donnelly

Thomas Donnelly, a defense and security policy analyst, is the co-director of the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies at AEI. He is the coauthor with Frederick W. Kagan of Lessons for a Long War: How America Can Win on New Battlefields (2010). Among his recent books are Ground Truth: The Future of U.S. Land Power (2008), coauthored with Frederick W. Kagan; Of Men and Materiel: The Crisis in Military Resources (2007), coedited with Gary J. Schmitt; The Military We Need (2005); and Operation Iraqi Freedom: A Strategic Assessment (2004). From 1995 to 1999, he was policy group director and a professional staff member for the House Committee on Armed Services. Mr. Donnelly also served as a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He is a former editor of Armed Forces Journal, Army Times, and Defense News.
Phone: 202-862-7186
Email: thomas.donnelly@aei.org
Assistant Info
Name: Richard Cleary
Phone: 202-862-7184
Email: richard.cleary@aei.org

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Frederick W.
Kagan

Frederick W. Kagan, author of the 2007 report Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq, is one of the intellectual architects of the successful "surge" strategy in Iraq. He is the director of AEI's Critical Threats Project and a former professor of military history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. His books range from Lessons for a Long War (AEI Press, 2010), coauthored with Thomas Donnelly, to the End of the Old Order: Napoleon and Europe, 1801-1805 (Da Capo, 2006).
Phone: (202) 862-5925
Email: fkagan@aei.org
Assistant Info
Name: Katherine Faley
Phone: (202) 828-6035
Email: katherine.faley@aei.org

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Gary J.
Schmitt

Gary Schmitt is the co-director of the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies at AEI and the director of AEI's Program on American Citizenship. Mr. Schmitt is a former staff director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He was executive director of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board during President Ronald Reagan's second term. Mr. Schmitt's security work focuses on longer-term strategic issues that will affect America's security at home and its ability to lead abroad, while his work in the area of citizenship focuses on challenges to maintaining and sustaining a strong civic culture. His books include Of Men and Materiel: The Crisis in Military Resources (AEI Press, 2007), to which he was a contributing author and editor with Tom Donnelly; Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence (Brassey’s, 2002), coauthored with Abram Shulsky and now in its third edition; and U.S. Intelligence at the Crossroads: Agendas for Reform (Brassey’s, 1995), a coedited volume to which he is a contributing author. His two most recent books, to which he is also editor and contributing author, are The Rise of China: Essays on the Future Competition (Encounter Books, May 2009) and Safety, Liberty and Islamist Terrorism: American and European Approaches to Domestic Counterterrorism (AEI Press, 2010).
Phone: 202-862-5831
Email: gschmitt@aei.org
Assistant Info
Name: Richard Cleary (Strategic Studies); Barrett Bowdre (Citizenship)
Phone: 202-862-7184 (Cleary); 202-862-5946 (Bowdre)
Email: richard.cleary@aei.org; barrett.bowdre@aei.org