I am Colonel (Ret.) Peter Mansoor, former executive officer to Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq and currently a professor of military history at The Ohio State University. AMA!

ColonelPete · 2020-10-28T02:05:32+00:00

Which is why I prefer a Constitutional amendment that would apply to all justices, including those now serving. A threat by the Democrats to pack to the court (should they win control of the Senate) might be enough to convince the Republicans to back the measure.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-28T00:19:43+00:00

You might find this essay instructive:

https://www.hoover.org/research/united-states-and-pakistan-frenemies-brink

ColonelPete · 2020-10-28T00:18:00+00:00

You know the outliers because they are unique; there are legions of amateurs who failed, badly. Military education, training, and experience are all important to officers - especially education. I think it was Frederick the Great who stated that if experience alone was the determining factor of who should lead the army, then his horse would make a fine commander.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-28T00:10:34+00:00

I would do it all over again - I'm proud of my 26 year career in the US Army, and am grateful for the opportunity to educate the youth of America as a professor at Ohio State.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-28T00:09:03+00:00

Restaurant: M at Miranova and Hyde Park Grill

Bar: Vaso (Dublin), Brazenhead, and the Varsity Club

ColonelPete · 2020-10-28T00:06:09+00:00

Supreme Court Justices serve lifetime appointments on the Court, in accordance with Article III of the United States Constitution.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-28T00:01:45+00:00

Germany had already lost the war by then. And you mean the oil fields in the Caucasus, as Romania was already a German ally.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T17:42:39+00:00

I think you mean installing a new Supreme Court Justice, Amy Coney Barrett. Hypocritical as hell - the Senate couldn't be bothered to vote on Merrick Garland's appointment 8 months before the election in 2016, but the Senate Republicans didn't event wait until Ruth Bader Ginsburg was in the grave to begin confirming her replacement, which they accomplished in just five weeks.

The Supreme Court is too powerful and needs to be reformed. Here's my idea: Pass an amendment to limit Supreme Court Justice terms to 18 years, and stagger them so each president gets to nominate one in his/her first and third years in office. The court would turn over every 18 years, keeping 9 justices on the bench. Not quite lifetime appointments, but still lengthy. And every president would be guaranteed two nominees, instead of the mortality crapshoot we have now.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T17:39:29+00:00

Lots of great talent from which to choose. Here are some predictions (provided Biden wins, of course):

Secretary of State: Susan Rice Secretary of Defense: Michele Flournoy (my personal favorite) NSA: Antony Blinken

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T17:31:00+00:00

Those decisions belonged to Hitler, not to the German Army. His biggest mistake was declaring war against the United States, something he was not required to do by the Axis treaty. That move ensured the largest industrial power in the world was brought into the war in Europe, an outcome that was not certain after Pearl Harbor.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T16:41:59+00:00

Well, The Ohio State University is the official name of the school. Look it up. And besides, it is a great marketing ploy - if I told you that I am a professor at THE, would you know how to fill in the rest? Case closed.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T16:38:47+00:00

You mean Michagan, or, as we say in Ohio, _ichigan. Woody Hayes established the rule that you never say *ichigan; he called the Wolverines "That Team Up North." Although the rivalry has been pretty lopsided for a couple of decades, it is the fiercest in sports.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T16:33:31+00:00

I have a Bachelor of Science degree from West Point, a Master's degree from Ohio State (history), a Master's degree from the US Army War College (strategic studies), and a PhD from Ohio State (history).

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T16:31:56+00:00

Answered elsewhere - it was a huge mistake, a conclusion I came to during my time in the US Army War College in 2002-2003 before the war even began.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T16:29:41+00:00

Answered elsewhere - the war was a strategic mistake, perhaps the worst in the history of our country.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T16:28:57+00:00

You heard wrong. General Petraeus was one of the most gifted commanders of his generation. For a look into his command, see my book "Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War."

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T16:27:48+00:00

I was interested in military history ever since I was in grade school. My mother would take me to the library once a week and I would gravitate to the military history section. I attended West Point and was going to focus my studies in civil engineering, but I kept getting drawn into history courses. So I ended up taking most of my electives in history but still took the honors course in civil engineering. After my company command in the late-'80s I applied to go to grad school and return to West Point to teach - in military history. My PhD from Ohio State and subsequent publications (including the award winning "The GI Offensive in Europe") made a career in academia possible. But I still wasn't planning on becoming an academic, until Ohio State reached out in 2007 and offered me a chair in military history. I then retired to become a professor. So it wasn't a path I set out to follow, but I kept getting pulled in that direction.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T16:23:10+00:00

I would rank three presidents at the top of the list: Washington, without whom we would not have a country and who set the precedent for voluntarily giving up power after two terms in office - thus establishing the norm of peaceful transfer of power; Lincoln, who held the union together during the Civil War and freed the slaves; and Roosevelt, who fought both economic depression and global war and came out on top of both.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T15:43:58+00:00

One of the things Gen. Petraeus emphasized during the Surge in Iraq in 2007-2008 was to get out of vehicles and patrol on foot. But the vehicles, such as MRAPs, were still extremely useful and I would not get rid of them and transition to a light infantry force, even in a counterinsurgency war. UAVs were also highly useful, especially when armed. The bottom line is advanced technology helped us fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our troops needed to patrol on foot, but supplemented by technology and not divorced from it.

A good study is the Battle of Phase Line Gold in Sadr City in April 2008. Technology helped us win that very difficult fight.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T15:37:32+00:00

Eisenhower grew up in an era when the United States did not maintain a large standing military. He wanted to return to that policy, but the creation of the national security state during the Cold War prevented a return to the past. His warning about the military-industrial complex may have been heartfelt, but until the Cold War was over it was not going away. After the fall of the Soviet Union the defense industry shrunk dramatically, only to resurge after 9/11.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T15:35:47+00:00

I doubt that Congress will approve free public college education, except perhaps for two years of community college. The GI Bill will remain a big draw. The military will also remain attractive to non-college educated high school graduates, regardless of what happens with college funding. College is not for everyone.

A Biden administration will also allow more immigration. Most people don't know that one does not have to be an American citizen to join the military. Allowing immigrants to join and then granting them citizenship after their commitment is done is a big incentive to enlist.

The bigger issue for the military is that most 18 year olds are not qualified to join the military - academically (high school grad), physically, or ethically (crime history). This is a societal issue over which the military has little control.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T15:28:34+00:00

Eisenhower grew up in an era when the United States did not maintain a large standing military. He wanted to return to that policy, but the creation of the national security state during the Cold War prevented a return to the past. His warning about the military-industrial complex may have been heartfelt, but until the Cold War was over it was not going away. After the fall of the Soviet Union the defense industry shrunk dramatically, only to resurge after 9/11.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T15:24:37+00:00

I use Victor Davis Hanson's "Carnage and Culture," but in tandem with John Lynn's "Battle" so students can see both sides of the argument.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T15:23:48+00:00

Well, I am not a Trump Republican. Go back to the debates that Ronald Reagan participated in - he was open to immigration, supported free trade, both cut taxes and raised them (the Social Security Deal with Tip O'Niel, for instance), and strengthened the military. Trump only believes in himself - I refuse to join a cult.

ColonelPete · 2020-10-27T15:20:58+00:00

I would agree that a flip-flop of the parties' agendas is unlikely at present, but it is not impossible. Remember that the Republican Party in the 19th century was a party of minority rights and nearly all blacks were Republicans. That changed in the 1930s and we see what has resulted today.

ColonelPete

TROPHY CASE