What the QDR Doesn’t Do

While other news media are reporting what the Quadrennial Defense Review will contain, Mark Mazzetti of the Los Angeles Times has taken note of one thing it does not consider: another Iraq. In fact, a Pentagon official told Mazzetti that the Iraq regime change is “clearly a one-off.” The official added, “There is certainly no intention to do it again.” We call this further evidence of what appears to be another QDR without a solid foundation in fact. Let’s be real: The 2005 QDR, as Air Force Magazine Editor in Chief Robert Dudney indicated in December, is probably quite like its earlier brethren, a budget-cutting drill. No more, no less.