TODAY'S READING: THE RECORD REPORT

Take a look at the study by Jeffrey Record, "Bounding the Global War on Terrorism," available here (PDF file). Today's WaPo has a story on the report. Record criticizes the administration for lacking focus in its "global war on terrorism." According to Record, the administration has allowed the war on Iraq (a "war of choice," in Record's view) to distract from the campaign against al Qaeda (a war of necessity). In addition, Record argues that the administration's "lack of threat determination" -- a lack that led to the war on Iraq, in his view -- parallels the same failure in the late 1960s that led to the war in Vietnam.

Record's basic strength is his attempt to evaluate whether or not the "global war on terror" as pursued by the Bush administration has been (and is likely to be) a success from the standpoint of security alone. His answer is no. Even on the democracy-building front, Record makes a strong argument: it's hard to make the case that developing democracy in Iraq, even if it is successful, is likely to help on the anti-terrorism front in the short term or even medium term. The process of democracy-building is likely to be slow and the rewards in terms of preventing terrorism are highly speculative.

Worth a read, at any rate.