WASHINGTON, June 5 (UPI) -- As the United States remains fixated on two Fourth Generation wars half a world away, in Iraq and Afghanistan, a Fourth Generation War is knocking at our back door. The death spiral of the Mexican state appears to be accelerating.

WASHINGTON, June 3 (UPI) -- "Military Reform: A Reference Handbook," by Winslow Wheeler and Lawrence Korb, is an important and enjoyable guide to the U.S. military reform movement that started in the 1970s, peaked in the 1980s and died by the early 1990s.

WASHINGTON, June 2 (UPI) -- When the world was young and hope dared live in Washington, a small group of people put together something called the Military Reform Movement. Its purpose was to measure U.S. defense policies and programs by the standard of what works in combat rather than who benefits financially. Launched in the 1970s, it peaked in the early 1980s and was gone by 1990. Why did it fail? It failed because, in a contest between ideas and money, the money always wins.

WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- How can the United States seriously cut its military spending while retaining and improving its national security?

WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- At a recent book party for Winslow Wheeler's new history of the military reform movement of the 1970s and 1980s, I was asked for my views on the prospects for genuine reform. I replied, "So long as the money flow continues, nothing will change." Chuck Spinney, a reformer who spent decades as a polyp in the bowels of the U.S. Department of Defense, agreed.

WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army has designed its tanks, especially the M-1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, for tactical utility with little thought for operational mobility.

WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- Bruce Gudmundsson, author of "Stormtroop Tactics," has a new book out: "On Armor."

WASHINGTON, April 22 (UPI) -- When Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sent his "army" to fight the Mahdi Army in Basra, U.S. President Bush called it "a defining moment." It turned out instead to be a confirming moment. It confirmed that there is no state in Mesopotamia -- the geographical territory known as the nation of Iraq.

WASHINGTON, April 2 (UPI) -- If Shiite militias controlling southern Iraq rose against U.S. forces in the event of a U.S. attack on Iran, they could have the capability to cut U.S. land supply lines to the U.S. Army currently operating in central Iraq.