Charles Krauthammer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary and writer of a nationally syndicated column for The Washington Post, traces the path of the United States from its rise as a world power following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 to its current entanglement in the Middle East. He argues that the apparent failure of democracy in Iraq is not the fault of U.S. policy but the result of the unique history and culture of Iraq.

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Harvey Sicherman, president of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, discusses Benjamin Franklin's work as a diplomat in France, securing French support of the colonists in the American Revolution.

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Robert D. Kaplan, a Foreign Policy Research Institute Senior Fellow, a national correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly and the Class of 1960 Distinguished Visiting Professor in National Security at the U.S. Naval Academy, discusses his latest book Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground. He examines the actions of the American military worldwide, arguing that the U.S.'s preoccupation with the Middle East may lead to the rise of military power, meanwhile, in Asia.

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Don Snider of the U.S. Army War College; Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold of the U.S. Marine Corps; Peter Hegseth of Vets for Freedom; and Lt. Gen. Dennis McCarthy, Executive Director of the Reserve Officers Association, discuss several questions related to military-civilian relations: "What is the line on offering advice?," "How much can/should the military speak out?," "What are the ethical dimensions of serving both branches of government?," "What is the obligation that senior officers owe to their seniors, and to their juniors?," and "How much should officers be involved in the media?"

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Frank Hoffman of the Foreign Policy Research Institute; Peter Feaver of Duke University; Richard H. Kohn of the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill; and Michael Noonan, Director of the FPRI Program on National Security, discuss the question, "What impact has Operations OEF or OIF had on civil-military relations?"

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Ike Skelton of Chair of the House Armed Services Committee discusses the civilian-military relationship in the U.S., and expresses concern over the current relationship between military officers and Congress, in which pressure is placed on officers to express opinions that may be acted on politically.

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Bernard Carreau of the National Defense University, Nadia Schadlow of the Smith Richardson Foundation, Heather A. Coyne of the United States Institute for Peace, and Frank Offman of the Foreign Policy Research Institute discuss several questions related to international interagency policy: "Who has the lead on the ground overseas?," "Is the military the supporting or supported actor?," "What are the implications?," "How can the interagency process contribute to complex operations?," "Should the military prepare to take on more state-building functions?," and "What are the possible problems?"

John Allen Williams of Loyola University Chicago, Thomas E. Ricks of the Washington Post, Elizabeth Stanley of Georgetown University, and Mackubin T. of the Naval War College discuss several questions: "What is the current state of relations between the military and society?," "How representative is the military of civil society?," and "What effect is the War on Terrorism having on military-societal relations?"

Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy discusses the modern U.S. relationship with Islam, both internally and in foreign relations, and critiques the institutions and viewpoints, both within the U.S. and within Islam, that he believes need to change before a peaceful, democratic balance can be reached between Islam and U.S. democracy.

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This mini documentary, produced by NBC, describes Thomas Paine's anonymous pamphlet, "Common Sense"—published shortly after the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775—that helped persuade Americans to push for full independence from Britain.