TIRMAN AUDIT

M A S S A C H U S E T T S I N S T I T U T E O F T E C H N O L O G Y M A S S A C H U S E T T S I N S T I T U T E O F T E C H N O L O G YApril 200606-06M I T C E N T E R F O R I N T E R N A T I O N A L S T U D I E Sof the Conventional WisdomThe Audit of The War on Terror and the Conventional Cold War: They’re Not the SameWisdomIn this series of essays, MIT’s Center John Tirmanfor International Studies tours the MIT Center for International Studieshorizon of conventional wisdoms that animate U.S. foreign policy, and put them to the test of data and history. By subjecting particularly well-accepted ince the autumn of 2001, following the shocking attacks of ideas to close scrutiny, our aim is SSeptember 11th, President Bush and his advisers have repeat-to re-engage policy and opinion leaders on topics that are too easily passing edly likened the war against terrorism to the confrontation with such scrutiny. We hope that this will lead to further debate and inquiries, Nazi Germany in the Second World War and the long struggle with with a result we can all agree on: Soviet communism in the Cold War. But the current anti-terrorist better foreign policies that lead to a more peaceful and prosperous world. campaign and the related war in Iraq are significantly different from Authors in this series are available to the press and policy community. those earlier contests. Where resemblances occur, they are not com-Contact: Amy Tarr (atarr@mit.edu, forting to our ...