Here are a few recommended good reads to add to your afternoon reading list:

  • Ali Gharib writes in The Guardian on the answers we didn’t get during President Obama’s statement yesterday at the White House. “He says ‘American forces will not be returning to Iraq’ – but if you read between the lines, covert drones could be flying over troubled waters.” <<read more>>
  • On Vox, Zach Beauchamp offers a great explainer on Iraq and the emergence of ISIS with the “16 things about ISIS and Iraq you need to know.”  <<read more >>
  • In a Los Angeles Times op-ed, Max Boot offers an ambitious agenda for what the President should do to stop the advance of ISIS. <<read more>>
  • Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Micah Zenko and Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow Sarah Kreps have a new study on armed drone proliferation. They call on the U.S. to “to take the lead in efforts to expand the reach and comprehensiveness of existing drone proliferation regulations and help establish, through its own behavior, norms governing their use.” <<read more>>