GOP White House hopeful Mitt Romney and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu go way back. Their friendship dates back to the 1980's when, as Governor Romney pointed out during a December GOP debate, "We worked together at Boston Consulting Group." And from his aborted campaign for state pension fund disinvestment from companies doing business with […]

Back in 2007, Bush press secretary Dana Perino famously admitted her total ignorance of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Now as they ratchet up their rhetoric towards Iran, Perino's conservative allies seem to have forgotten the lessons of that critical Cold War confrontation. Then as now, many voices across the political spectrum proclaimed that war […]

In the early 1980's, Reagan administration officials and some defense analysts fretted that the expanding Soviet arsenal of nuclear missiles gave the USSR a "window of opportunity" to launch a devastating "first-strike" against the United States. But in a famous article titled, "Windows of Opportunity: Do States Jump Through Them?" Professor Richard Ned Lebow questioned […]

As the U.S. launched its invasion of Iraq back in 2003, General David Petraeus famously asked, "Tell me how this ends." Eight and a half years, 4,500 American servicemen and women killed, 30,000 wounded and over $1 trillion later, in many ways the answer is still unclear. Nevertheless, the same week President Obama declared the […]

For weeks, rumors have been swirling that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing his cabinet towards a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. In the U.S., such a move enjoys the backing not only of the usual neoconservative suspects, but virtually all of the Republican presidential candidates. But while would-be GOP President Mitt Romney […]

"If I'm president of the United States," Mitt Romney declared during a recent GOP presidential debate, "My first foreign trip will be to Israel to show the world we care about that country and that region." As it turns out, Romney's pledge isn't just his latest transparent ploy to win over Jewish voters. Mitt's Israeli […]

As the GOP presidential field gathers once again for the CNN national security debate, Mitt Romney has already identified Iran as the place to contrast himself with the current commander-in-chief. "If we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon," Romney declared at the last Republican foreign policy shindig, adding, "If you elect me […]

In July of 2010, two dozen members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus led by Michele Bachmann co-sponsored a resolution announcing support for Israel "to use all means necessary to confront and eliminate nuclear threats posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the use of military force." So, Tea Partiers must have been shocked […]

By now, Mitt Romney's gymnastic flip-flops and comic turnabouts are the stuff of political legend. After all, on abortion, immigration, his fidelity to Ronald Reagan, his signature health care law and even his state of residence, Romney has reversed himself, often more than once. But when it comes to matters of war and peace, Romney's […]

Politics makes strange bedfellows, especially when the bed contains Newt Gingrich. Despite his belief that marriage is an institution between one man and three women in rapid succession, Newt has been warmly embraced by the Republicans' family values crowd. Now, the Baptist-turned-Catholic Gingrich is seeking the support of Pastor John Hagee, who once called Newt's […]