This year, as always, Republicans will seek to create and exploit an advantage over Democrats in credibility on national security issues, despite George W. Bush's terrible foreign policy record and John McCain's identification with the war in Iraq. One recurring problem is that Democrats sometimes fail to fully engage on national security issues, viewing it as a "Republican issue." And another is that some Democrats simply don't feel comfortable talking about the larger issues of defense and military strategy.

Strategic consultant James Vega has written a five-part analysis of the challenges and opportunities for Democrats on military strategy.

Part 1 is entitled: How the Democrats can argue with McCain and the Republicans on military strategy and
win.

Part 2 is entitled: Iraq is not a "classic counter-insurgency;" it's a full-blown civil war.

Part 3 is entitled: The surge isn’t “working”, it’s just “postponing” -- and in the long run it’s making things worse.

Part 4 is entitled: The Republicans do have a military strategy – it’s called “Divide and Rule”, it takes at least 50 years, requires lots of casualties and - the half-hearted way we’re doing it - almost never works

And part 5 is a summary.