Department of State On-the-Record Iraq PRT Briefing - Ramadi Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team Leader Kristin Hagerstrom, Diyala Provincial Reconstruction Team Leader Dr. John Jones, and Baghdad 7 Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team Leader John Smith On Reconstruction Progress in Iraq.
Good afternoon. Appreciate your attendance this afternoon. As you all know by now, the President met with and participated in a digital videoconference this afternoon with the Secretary of State and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, our Ambassador in Baghdad, Iraq, to discuss Provincial Reconstruction Team efforts. We're lucky today to have three Provincial Reconstruction Team leaders who are here with us to share their stories and to respond to questions...
Abu Muqawama on Rogers vs. Gentile in the Armed Forces Journal.
... For the rest of us, the real treat in this issue of AFJ is the debate between MAJ Chris Rogers and LTC Gian Gentile on the new counterinsurgency doctrine. Gentile has a big problem with the new counterinsurgency doctrine. Gentile has a big problem with the new counterinsurgency doctrine. In a previous, controversial essay for AFJ, he wrote...
Tom Barnett on Clint Watts' SWJ post Can the Anbar Strategy Work in Pakistan?
Very solid analysis that at once: 1) makes you pessimistic on a repeatable solution for Afghanipakistan; but 2) makes you realize the geographic limits of al Qaeda's staying power and thus more optimistic that, by focusing again more on the source, we're progressing in our overall strategy (both the learning and adjustment that's occurred in Iraq and how developments there enable more focus on back to where it was inevitably headed).
Taliban Now Govern Musa Qala - The Captain's Journal.
Following closely on the heels of British negotiations with mid-level Taliban, the governorship of Musa Qala has been handed over to a Taliban commander...
More from Abu Muqawama - Marines to Afghanistan, Take 2.
The AP is reporting that US Marines are once again preparing to go to Afghanistan, this after Secretary Gates essentially told CMC earlier this fall "over my dead body." ...
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim: The Great Reconciler? at Westhawk.
Critics of the situation in Iraq always begin their sentences by noting the absence of formal political reconciliation by the Iraqi government. They note the ineffectiveness of the Iraqi parliament and the apparent powerlessness of Mr. Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister.
Looking at Iraq through a Western lens, with a focus on legislation passed, "summit" meetings concluded, and treaties signed, is a sure way of achieving self-deception. In perhaps the most dramatic shift inside Iraq since the days of Saddam's reign, the most important political power in the country is no longer held by men with formal posts in the government. Observers thus need to look elsewhere to see what is actually happening...
Operation Iron Harvest Targets al Qaeda in Miqdadiyah at The Long War Journal...
Coalition and Iraqi security forces have launched Operation Iron Harvest, the latest offensive against al Qaeda in Iraq in Diyala province. "Operations are now being concentrated in Miqdadiyah," according to a press release from Multinational Division Iraq...
.. and Operation Phantom Phoenix Targets al Qaeda Havens.
Despite the recent success in reducing the violence in Iraq, the fight against al Qaeda in Iraq and the Shia extremist terror groups is not over. Coalition and Iraqi forces have launched Operation Phantom Phoenix, a new operation targeting the terror groups throughout Iraq...
Charlie at OPFOR on General Charles Dunlap's NYT op-ed - We Still Need the Big Guns.
... Technology alone is not the answer to our future conflicts, people are the answer. Now, you can use technology to empower those people, much as rifle company commanders in Iraq are empowered by the ability to call in precision air strikes. The issue is that the focus should not be on the aircraft, the munitions, or the technology, it should be on the commander and the soldiers/Marines/airmen/sailors that wield them in the greater scheme of things.
We (in the service) don't get to pick the wars we have to go fight. If so, most would choose a "straight up fight" instead of a "bug hunt." Looking at the world today, and at the threats we face, we have to recognize that missions like foreign internal defense, counterinsurgency, military cooperation agreements, training missions, and counter terrorism are the best ways to deter attacks against our homeland for the near term. The next attack on America won't be planned in some war room by generals of an enemy nation, it will be plotted like the last attack -on the slopes of a mountain in Pakistan, relying on human networks to leverage the most casualty-causing weapon on the weakest point in our target profile...