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IRAQ
Troop ‘Surge’ Took Place Amid Doubt and Debate - Michael Gordon, New York Times
When President Bush speaks to the Republican convention on Monday, he is expected to tout the “surge” of forces in Iraq as one of his proudest achievements. But that decision, one of his most consequential as commander in chief, was made only after months of tumultuous debate within the administration, according to still-secret memorandums and interviews with a broad range of current and former officials.
In January 2007, at a time when the situation in Iraq appeared the bleakest, Mr. Bush chose a bold option that was at odds with what many of his civilian and military advisers, including his field commander, initially recommended. Mr. Bush’s plan to send more than 20,000 troops to carry out a new counterinsurgency strategy has helped to reverse the spiral of sectarian killings in Iraq.
But Mr. Bush’s penchant to defer to commanders in the field and to a powerful defense secretary delayed the development of a new approach until conditions in Iraq, in the words of a November 2006 analysis by the Central Intelligence Agency, resembled anarchy and “civil war.”
More at The New York Times.
Agreement on US Withdrawal From Iraq Said to be in Peril as Maliki Ousts Negotiators - Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times
At the "make-or-break" stage of talks with the US on the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has swept aside his negotiating team and replaced it with three of his closest aides, a reshuffle that some Iraqi officials warn risks sabotaging the agreement.
The decision on the team negotiating the pact, which the Americans have described as the basis of a long-term strategic alliance between the United States and Iraq, remains so sensitive that it has not been announced. In disclosing the switch to the Los Angeles Times this weekend, a senior Iraqi official close to Maliki also suggested that the two sides remained deadlocked on key issues.
The shake-up comes just four months before the expiration of the United Nations mandate that authorizes the US troop presence in Iraq. When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the country recently, expectations rose that an agreement was imminent. But Iraq and the United States remain far apart on the matter of immunity for US forces in Iraqi courts, the official said.
More at The Los Angeles Times.
SAS Kill Hundreds of Terrorists in 'Secret War' Against al-Qaeda in Iraq - Sean Rayment, Daily Telegraph
More than 3,500 insurgents have been "taken off the streets of Baghdad" by the elite British force in a series of audacious "Black Ops" over the past two years.
It is understood that while the majority of the terrorists were captured, several hundred, who were mainly members of the organisation known as "al-Qa'eda in Iraq" have been killed by the SAS.
The SAS is part of a highly secretive unit called "Task Force Black" which also includes Delta Force, the US equivalent of the SAS.
The prime targets have been those intent on joining the wave of suicide car bombers that claimed around 3,000 lives a month in Baghdad at the height of the terrorist campaign in 2006.
Using intelligence gleaned from spies and informers, Task Force Black has nearly broken the back of the terrorist network and reduced bombings in Baghdad from about 150 a month to just two.
But the success of the covert mission came at a price – six members of the SAS were killed and more than 30 were injured. Delta Force has suffered in the region of 20 per cent casualties.
A senior British officer told The Sunday Telegraph: "We took over 3,500 terrorists off the streets of Baghdad in around 18 months.
More at The Daily Telegraph
IRAQ / AFGHANISTAN
Obama Urged Petraeus to Redeploy Troops - Associated Press (Washington Times)
Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama reportedly told the top military commander in Iraq that some US forces should be pulled out of Iraq and deployed to Afghanistan, when the two met in July in Baghdad.
At the July meeting, Gen. David H. Petraeus did not disclose his opinion on moving troops from one war to the other, according to an article in the Sept. 8 edition of the New Yorker magazine. The Taliban-led insurgency has dramatically increased attacks on US and Afghan forces in recent months.
But Gen. Petraeus will soon be in a position to oversee such a move if President Bush decides to shift some forces. He takes over US Central Command in September where he will have responsibility for military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and the Middle East. In the meantime, he is expected to recommend a modest cut in troop levels in Iraq to the president in the next few weeks, a reflection of the improved security situation.
More at The Washington Times.
PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS
Pakistan Suspends Military Operations for Ramadan - Voice of America
Pakistani government officials have announced military operations in the country's northwest will be suspended out of respect for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The head of Pakistan's Interior Ministry, Rehman Malik, Saturday said the offensive against militants in the tribal region will be halted Sunday night to allow displaced civilians to return home and observe the religious festival, which is expected to begin Monday. He warned that security forces will retaliate if attacked.
Malik made the comments during a news conference in the eastern city of Lahore.
Military officials say at least 40 militants were killed after fighter jets began pounding militant hideouts in the Swat Valley late Friday, to try to flush militants from the area.
Elsewhere in the northwest, residents and officials say a missile fired from across the border in Afghanistan has hit a suspected militant hideout in the town of Wana, in South Waziristan. Officials say at least five people were killed.
More at Voice of America
AFGHANISTAN
Joint Inquiry Sought Into US-Led Strike In Afghan Town - Javed Hamdard and Candace Rondeaux, Washington Post
NATO's top commander in Afghanistan on Saturday called for a joint investigation into a US-led airstrike that UN and Afghan officials say killed as many as 90 civilians recently. Meanwhile, an Afghan military official involved in the attack said misinformation led U.S. forces to hit the wrong target.
Gen. David D. McKiernan's appeal for a coordinated inquiry came four days after UN officials in Afghanistan said their investigators had found "convincing evidence" that at least 60 children and 30 adults were killed in the Aug. 21 airstrike in the western province of Herat. US military officials maintain that five civilians were killed.
NATO officials have said that about 40 Taliban insurgents were killed in the attack on a compound in the town of Azizabad.
"General McKiernan wants to ensure that the numbers can be reconciled somehow, so it's important that there's cooperation," said Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, a spokesman for McKiernan. "It's very surprising that the numbers are so disparate. We believe that this could be because of some Taliban propaganda or misinformation."
Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, a US military spokeswoman, said the US military is still looking into the incident but would welcome a cooperative effort to resolve any discrepancies. "We are hopeful that a collaborative inquiry will result in finding out the truth," she said.
Official results of the US investigation are expected to be publicized within the next few days. But US military officials said last week that an initial inquiry had determined that 25 insurgents and five civilians were killed in what the Pentagon called a "well-coordinated" and "legitimate" raid on a Taliban commander's hideout.
More at the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.
Report From a Forgotten War - Oliver North, Washington Times opinion
,,, By dawn of Aug. 22, it appeared the Commandos and their American advisers had achieved a stunning success. Credible information received after a Shurra - a "town meeting" with local tribal leaders - revealed the timing and location of a Taliban gathering.
The intelligence was painstakingly confirmed and US Special Operations Command officers sat down with their Afghan Commando counterparts to carefully plan a "capture-kill mission" with the goal of taking several key Taliban leaders into custody. Fox News cameraman Chris Jackson and I accompanied the raid force.
To us - and the US and Afghan troops we were covering - it appeared as if they were victorious. Though one US Marine had been wounded in the fray, a senior Taliban leader and 25 of his fighters were dead. A major Taliban arms cache was located and destroyed. Weapons, ammunition, communications equipment, materials for making improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and thousands of dollars in cash had been confiscated.
As the Commandos withdrew from the objective shortly after sunrise, they gently treated and evacuated a woman and her child who had been wounded in the crossfire. Our Fox News cameras had captured the battle on videotape - including the careful treatment of noncombatants. Unfortunately, the good news quickly turned bad.
While we were en route back to the base from which the raid had been launched, the US ground force commander received a report over the radio that pro-Taliban agitators were already asserting, "The Americans have killed 30 civilians." The claims and alleged number of civilian casualties quickly escalated.
Shortly after noon on the 22nd, Iranian television reported that, "A US air-strike south of Herat in Western Afghanistan has killed more than 50 innocent civilians, including women and children." To counter these reports, US aircraft transported Afghan and foreign reporters to the Special Operations base so that they could see the confiscated weapons and other evidence for themselves. It didn't help.
More at The Washington Times.
RUSSIA / IRAN
Russia Threatens to Supply Iran with Top New Missile System as 'Cold War' Escalates - Philip Sherwell and William Lowther, Daily Telegraph
Russia is deploying the threat to sell a "game changing" air defence system to Iran as a high stakes bargaining chip in its new "cold war" with America, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.
US intelligence fears the Kremlin will supply the sophisticated S-300 system to Tehran if Washington pushes through Nato membership for its pro-Western neighbours Georgia and Ukraine.
The proposed deal is causing huge alarm in the US and Israel as the S-300 can track 100 targets at once and fire on planes up to 75 miles away.
That would make it a "game-changer", greatly improving Iranian defences against any air strike on its nuclear sites, according to Pentagon adviser Dan Goure. "This is a system that scares every Western air force," he said.
More at The Daily Telegraph
IRAN
Few Things Are As They Seem In Tehran - George Jahn, Associated Press (Washington Post)
They file in slowly, patiently submitting to body searches, men in one line, black-clad, head-scarved women in another. Most are poor, old or very young, and most are ready for some America-bashing.
It's Friday, the Muslim holy day, and thousands of Iran's faithful are again gathering at Tehran University's main campus for what has become a weekly ritual; the men under a sprawling blue metal canopy that shelters up to 7,000, the women close by but set apart.
The heat is searing and the mood placid. But suddenly, the diminutive mullah leading the prayers is gone - and in an instant the atmosphere turns as confrontational as the new message being hurled into the microphone by his belligerent black-bearded replacement.
"America is the greatest Satan of them all!" the stocky firebrand howls. "Down with the US!" comes the response, first from a few, then from the full gathering.
The voices are thunderous, but the faces are curiously emotionless. It's not the first time this crowd has been worked to lash out at Washington, and it won't be the last.
The expressionless faces offer a clue - this is a regular staged performance, a message from the official Iran, which is only one face of Iran. For all it takes is a scratch in the surface to reveal a surprise in this teeming, smoggy and chaotic metropolis. The chatter of a myriad of other voices is startling in its defiance of the party line and threatens to drown out the government message of strict Islamic piety and distrust of the West.
More at The Washington Post.
HEZBOLLAH
Hezbollah Warlord Was An Enigma - Borzou Daragahi and Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times
In Hezbollah's inner circle they called him "The One Who Never Sleeps."
Imad Mughniyah was one of the most hunted men in the world. Western security forces spent 25 years pursuing the Hezbollah warlord, the alleged mastermind of infamous attacks of the late 20th century and a pioneer of brutal tactics later emulated by Al Qaeda. In fact, he may have proved a more disciplined, effective master of asymmetric warfare than even Osama bin Laden.
Mughniyah survived through anonymity: changing hide-outs, moving without bodyguards or drivers, a pistol always in his belt. On the evening of Feb. 12, he left a safe house in the Kfar Soussa neighborhood of Damascus, a warren of nearly identical towers that house the employees and headquarters of Syria's vast intelligence apparatus.
He had just held a sit-down with a Syrian spy chief and was preparing for a secret meeting that night with President Bashar Assad, Western anti-terrorism officials say.
Seconds after Mughniyah got behind the wheel of his sport utility vehicle, an explosion incinerated him. The assassination in the heart of an authoritarian state ended his bloody odyssey through the modern history of terrorism.
More at The Los Angeles Times.
MEXICO
Drug Violence Alters the Flow of Life in Mexico - Marc Lacey, New York Times
... Gone are the days when Mexico’s drug war was an abstraction for most people, something they lamented over the morning papers as if it were unfolding far away. Reminders are everywhere, like the radios blasting drug ballads that romanticize the criminals and the giant banners that drug cartels hang from overpasses to recruit killers and threaten rivals.
The Mexico-based traffickers that ship narcotics from South America to the United States are in a pitched battle with President Felipe Calderón’s government, which has sent the army to trouble spots around the country to shut them down. Police agencies, infiltrated by the drug traffickers and lacking training, have not shown themselves to be up to the job. The results have been mixed: there have been huge drug seizures and arrests of some kingpins, but also violent retaliation by the heavily armed traffickers, who have been killing law enforcement officers and many noncombatants as well.
Life in Mexico is changing in subtle ways as the possibility of that violence lurks at every intersection, dance floor and town square. With increasing frequency, child-size chalk outlines are drawn on the asphalt at the latest homicide scene. Raids are carried out at baptism parties, at fancy restaurants, at bingo halls like the Caliente, where, it turned out, no shots were fired that night. The armed men proved to be federal police officers, and they quickly left with two men suspected of being traffickers in tow.
More at The New York Times.
Mexicans Protest Rise in Drug-Related Violence - Alexandra Olson, Associated Press (Washington Post)
Hundreds of thousands of frustrated Mexicans, many carrying pictures of kidnapped loved ones, marched nationwide Saturday to demand that authorities act to stop a relentless tide of killings, abductions and shootouts.
The mass protests were a challenge to the government of President Felipe Calderón, who has made fighting crime a priority. He has deployed more than 25,000 soldiers and federal police to wrest territory from powerful drug cartels.
Cries of "enough" and "long live Mexico" rose up from a sea of white-clad demonstrators filling Mexico City's enormous Zocalo square. The protesters held candles twinkling in the darkness as they sang the national anthem before dispersing.
More at the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.
NEWS & OPINION NOTES
Iraq
US: More than 11,000 Iraqi Detainees Released in 2008 - Voice of America
Afghanistan / Pakistan Tribal Areas
Taliban Threatens Peshawar - Daily Telegraph
Pakistan Jets Kill 40 Taliban in New Fighting - Associated Press
Joint Inquiry Sought Into US-Led Strike - Washington Post
Joint Afghan-US-UN Probe Launched Into Deadly Raid - Associated Press
Obama to Push for More EU Troops in Afghanistan - Daily Telegraph
Collateral Killing - Washington Post editorial
Iran
Iran's 'Perfect Storm' - Washington Times opinion
Russia / Georgia / NATO
Putin Emboldened as Sabre-rattling Continues - The Times
Putin Reaches Out to EU as Georgia Calls for Sanctions - Voice of America
Britain to Urge Sanctions Against Russians - Daily Telegraph
South Ossetian Police Make Russian Passport Threat - Daily Telegraph
Georgia Says Russia Troops Blocking Refugee Return - Associated Press
A Shrunken Empire Strikes Back - Boston Globe editorial
Reining in the Empire - Washington Times opinion
Russia Needs to be Given Clear Red Lines - The Times opinion
We Need a New Checkpoint Charlie - Daily Telegraph opinion
Farewell, NATO - Washington Times opinion
Life in Russia's Shadow - Washington Post opinion
New Cold War Didn't Start in Georgia - Daily Telegraph opinion
Democrats' Georgia Question - Washington Post opinion
Russia and the 'Responsibility to Protect' - Los Angeles Times opinion
Lessons of a Post-modern War - Washington Times opinion
Africa
Nigerian Militants Say Launch Attacks, Army Denies - Reuters
Nigeria Militants: 29 Military Personnel Killed - Associated Press
Congo Closes its Border to Cut Rebel Supply Lines - Associated Press
Zimbabwe Ruling Party Rejects Latest Opposition Demands - Voice of America
Gaddafi, Berlusconi Sign Accord Worth Billions - Reuters
Sudan: Tortured, but Not Silenced - New York Times opinion
Americas
Thousands March in Mexico Against Violent Crime - Reuters
Mexicans Protest Nationwide Against Crime Wave - Associated Press
Colombia: Paramilitary Gangs Control Much of Guajira State - Los Angeles Times
Ecuador's Challenge: Dislodging Colombian Rebels - Associated Press
Asia / Pacific
S. Korea, Japan Islet Dispute Intensifies - New York Times
Thai Premier Vows Not to Resign, Despite Protests - New York Times
Pressure Grows on Thai Prime Minister to Resign - Associated Press
Thai PM Says Will Not Resign Amid Protests - Reuters
Were China's Glittering Games All Gold? - Washington Post opinion
Postcard From South China - New York Times opinion
Middle East
Israel Tightens Grip on West Bank's Jordan Valley - Associated Press
Hundreds Leave Gaza as Egypt Opens Border - Reuters
Malaysian Tanker Hijacked in Gulf of Aden - Associated Press
South Asia
Widower’s Purge ‘Betrays’ Bhutto Legacy - The Times
Blast Rocks Sri Lanka's Capital, Wounding 45 - Associated Press
Islam
Religion and Science Blend in a Centuries-Old Ritual - Washington Post
The Long War
The Courts and Mr. Arar - New York Times editorial
BOOK REVIEW
With the Best Intentions - Adam Hochscild, New York Times
Freedom’s Battle is really two books that don’t quite fit together. The longer and better one is a lively narrative history of a string of European efforts to stop various massacres in the 19th-century Ottoman Empire. In several short chapters before and after this story is a shorter and weaker book, in which Gary J. Bass argues for humanitarian military interventions as a tool of international justice today. The historical episodes, he claims, are “rare lights along an otherwise dark road” that show us how these might work. For me that road remains dark, for reasons I will come back to, but much of the history Bass unearths is fascinating and well told.
BOOKS
Baghdad at Sunrise - Peter Mansoor
This compelling book presents an unparalleled record of what happened after US forces seized Baghdad in the spring of 2003.
The Strongest Tribe - Bing West
From a universally respected combat journalist, a gripping history based on five years of front-line reporting about how the war was turned around–and the choice now facing America.
Tell Me How This Ends - Linda Robinson
After a series of disastrous missteps in its conduct of the war, the White House in 2006 appointed General David Petraeus as the Commanding General of the coalition forces. Tell Me How This Ends is an inside account of his attempt to turn around a failing war.
We Are Soldiers Still - Joe Galloway
In their stunning follow-up to the classic bestseller We Were Soldiers Once... and Young, Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway return to Vietnam and reflect on how the war changed them, their men, their enemies, and both countries - often with surprising results.
BOOK DISCUSSIONS / SIGNINGS
The Strongest Tribe by Bing West. 11 September 2008, 12:00 - 2:00 PM - Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters. Details.
EVENTS OF INTEREST
11-12 September - DNI Open Source Conferece 2008 (Public Event - Conference). Washington, DC. Sponsored by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Office of the DNI is pleased to announce the "DNI Open Source Conference 2008" to be held on Thursday, 11 September and Friday, 12 September, 2008 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington DC. The conference is free; however, all who wish to attend must register online in advance (deadline 31 July). The two-day conference will explore a wide range of open source issues and open source best practices for the Intelligence Community and its partners. We invite participants from the broader open source community of interest including academia, think tanks, private industry, federal, state, local and tribal entities, international partners, and the media to attend. The conference will include speakers from across the broader open source community participating in panel discussions and focus group sessions. Information about the agenda and break-out sessions is now available. The DNI Open Source Conference 2007 was held 16-17 July 2007 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. More than 900 registered participants and speakers attended. Presentations made at the conference break-out sessions are available on the DNI Open Source Conference 2007 website.
16-18 September - The U.S. Army and the Interagency Process: A Historical Perspective (Public Event - Conference / Call for Papers). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Sponsored by the U.S. Army Combat Studies Institute. The symposium will include a variety of guest speakers, panel sessions, and general discussions. This symposium will explore the partnership between the U.S. Army and government agencies in attaining national goals and objectives in peace and war within a historical context. Separate international topics may be presented. The symposium will also examine current issues, dilemmas, problems, trends, and practices associated with U.S. Army operations requiring close interagency cooperation.
17 September - The Iranian Puzzle Piece: Understanding Iran in the Global Context (Public Event - Symposium). Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia. Sponsored by the by the Marine Corps University (MCU) and the Marine Corps University Foundation to enhance the overall understanding of Iran, exploring its internal dynamics, regional perspectives, and extra-regional factors and examining its near-term political and strategic options and their potential impact on the course of action of the United States and the USMC.
2 October - Civil Affairs Roundtable (Public Event - Roundtable). ROA Headquarters, One Constitution Ave, NE Washington, DC. Sponsored by the Reserve Officers Association. In earlier roundtables, the observation was made that the center of gravity for stability operations is the human population in the area of operations. Civil affairs professionals and information operators are the key national security resources for influencing the human population. Civil affairs professionals assist in humanitarian operations and building civilian capacity. Information operators develop messages and keep the population informed. This roundtable will explore the relationship between the civil affairs and strategic communications functions.