Press Briefing on Ethical and Professional Conduct in the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

25 May 2006

On Thursday, May 25, the Straus Military Reform Project will sponsor two short presentations by retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor and retired Air Force Col. Chester Richards on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both will present differing arguments on how and why the wars, especially in Iraq, have been going so badly for so long, if ? indeed ? they have not been lost for quite some time.

At this presentation, Project Director Winslow Wheeler will also make available copies of a dramatic new article (unpublished until now) by Macgregor on professional incompetence and serious ethical failures on the part of senior Army commanders: a characterization in sharp contrast to the recent lionization in some press accounts of some of these commanders because of their late and self-serving ? but also very much called for ? criticisms of Secretary of Defense DOnald Rumsfeld. Copies of Richards' new monograph on 4th generation warfare, Neither Shall the Sword, will also be available.

These presentations (10 to 20 minutes each) will take place starting at 10:00 in the Butler Room (first floor) in the Carnegie Building at 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW (very close to the DuPont Circle/Red Line Metro stop). Coffee and Coke will be available.

Macgregor is a former Army Colonel and a decorated Gulf War combat veteran. He is the author of Transformation Under Fire (Praeger, 1993), Breaking the Phalanx: A New Design for Landpower in the 21st Century, (Praeger, 1997), and The Soviet-East German Military Alliance (Cambridge University Press, 1989). His newest work, Character under Fire: The Battle of 73 Easting, will be appear later this year.

Richards is a retired intelligence and middle east specialist. He is the author of Certain to Win (applying the thinking of American strategist John Boyd to the private sector), and Swift Elusive Sword (about 3rd generation warfare), in addition to Neither Shall the Sword (about 4th generation warfare). Each is published by CDI.

Due to space limitations, RSVPs are required if you plan to attend: [email protected].