--John Collins - Small Wars Journal
IRAQ / SYRIA / US
US Calls Raid a Warning to Syria - Ann Scott Tyson and Ellen Knickmeyer, Washington Post
US troops in helicopters flew four miles into Syrian territory over the weekend to target the leader of a network that channels foreign fighters from Syria into Iraq, killing or wounding him and shooting dead several armed men, US officials said Monday.
US officials have long complained that the Syrian government has allowed Arab fighters to pass through the country to enter Iraq, but since last year, top military leaders have praised Syrian efforts to curb the flow. In recent months, officials have estimated that as few as 20 fighters a month have been crossing into Iraq, down from more than a hundred a month in 2006.
But officials said the raid Sunday, apparently the first acknowledged instance of US ground forces operating in Syria, was intended to send a warning to the Syrian government. "You have to clean up the global threat that is in your back yard, and if you won't do that, we are left with no choice but to take these matters into our hands," said a senior US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the cross-border strike.
More at The Washington Post.
Strike Kills Senior al Qaeda Leader - Sara Carter, Washington Times
A rare US military strike into Syria on Sunday killed a senior al Qaeda leader who helped smuggle weapons and foreign fighters into Iraq, US defense officials and military experts said Monday.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, identified the victim as an Iraqi named Abu Ghadiya and said he had eluded US forces for years.
Anthony Cordesman, a military expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the smuggler also went by the name of Sulayman Khalid Darwish and that another senior smuggler was captured.
While Syria has cracked down on foreign fighters in recent years, Syria is "still the key source of support for al Qaeda in Iraq," Mr. Cordesman said. "Jordan and Saudi Arabia have done a pretty good job of keeping things under control, but the rat lines still go through the Syrian border."
More at The Washington Times and:
Senior Al Qaeda Member Killed in US Raid - Los Angeles Times
Officials Say US Killed an Iraqi in Raid in Syria - New York Times
US Raid in Syria Said to Hit Top Al-Qaida Smuggler - Voice of America
Syria Raid 'Killed Major Target' - BBC News
Syria Protests Alleged US Raid on Syrian Border Town - Voice of America
Syrian Minister Condemns US 'Terrorism' - The Times
Syrian Ire Follows Border Raid - Christian Science Monitor
Syria Accuses US of Using 'Terrorist Aggression' - Agence France-Presse
US Acknowledges Syrian Protest of Alleged Raid - Voice of America
Raid into Syria Complicates Iraq's Ties - Associated Press
Mr. Assad's Medicine - Washington Post editorial
Hitting Syria, Five Years Late - Wall Street Journal editorial
Bush's Parting Shots at Syria - Los Angeles Times editorial
IRAQ / IRAN / US
Iraq Security Pact Highlights Battle Between US, Iran - Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post
A deal to authorize the presence of American forces in Iraq beyond 2008 is forcing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to choose between two influential powers in this country: the United States and Iran.
US officials had hoped Iraq would quickly approve the accord put before the cabinet this month, which would give 150,000 American troops legal authority to remain in Iraq after Dec. 31. But Iraqi political leaders have balked. Maliki has not openly supported the agreement forged by his negotiating team.
As the US ponders withdrawal, it is clear that American political capital in Iraq is waning as Iran's grows. Maliki "is in a dilemma. He cannot antagonize the Iranians, he cannot antagonize the Americans," said Ghassan al-Attiyah, a prominent Iraqi intellectual and political analyst based at the Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy in London.
Gen. Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, has accused Iran of conducting what he called a covert and overt campaign to torpedo the agreement, including attempting to bribe Iraqi lawmakers.
More at The Washington Post.
IRAQ
Fractures in Iraq City as Kurds and Baghdad Vie - Sam Dagher, New York Times
A new Iraqi military offensive is under way in this still violent northern city, but the worry is not only the insurgents who remain strong here. American commanders are increasingly concerned that Mosul could degenerate into a larger battleground over the fragile Iraqi state itself.
The problems are old but risk spilling out violently here and now. The central government in Baghdad has sent troops to quell the insurgency here, while also aiming at what it sees as a central obstacle to both nationhood and its own power: the semiautonomous Kurdish region in the north and the Kurds’ larger ambitions to expand areas under their control.
The Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is squeezing out Kurdish units of the Iraqi Army from Mosul, sending the national police and army from Baghdad and trying to forge alliances with Sunni Arab hard-liners in the province, who have deep-seated feuds with the Kurdistan Regional Government led by Massoud Barzani.
More at The New York Times.
AFGHANISTAN
Taliban Insurgents Shoot Down US Helicopter in Afghanistan - Laura King, Los Angeles Times
Insurgents on Monday downed a US helicopter in a province near the capital, the American military said -- an unusual feat for the Taliban. The crew survived and was rescued, a US military spokesman said.
Also Monday, a suicide bomber dressed as an Afghan policeman killed two American soldiers and wounded several other people at a police station in northern Afghanistan, provincial officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, police in Baghlan province said. Afghan officers were among the injured, they said.
The American military confirmed the deaths of two members of the US-led coalition in the bombing in Baghlan's capital, Pol-e Khomri, but did not immediately confirm their nationalities. Three coalition soldiers were hurt in the blast, a spokesman said.
The helicopter that was downed was flying over Wardak province, about 40 miles west of Kabul, the capital, when it came under small-arms fire from insurgents, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Walter Matthews, an American military spokesman. Crew members returned fire, but damage to the helicopter forced the craft to make a hard landing.
More at The Los Angeles Times.
AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS
Afghan, Pakistani Representatives Hold Jirga on Taliban Conflict - Barry Newhouse, Voice of America
A suspected US missile strike has killed 20 people in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal regions. The attack came hours before Pakistani and Afghan tribal leaders and government representatives began two days of talks about the Taliban insurgency in both countries.
Residents of South Waziristan said the early morning missile strike hit the home of a Taliban commander outside the main town, Wana. Local residents reported some foreign militants were among the dead.
Since late August, more than 12 such missile strikes have hit targets mainly in the North and South Waziristan tribal agencies, which are considered key strongholds of Taliban factions that also operate in Afghanistan.
During the same time, Pakistan's military has been engaged in heavy fighting in the Bajaur tribal agency, where the army claimed this week that more than 1,500 militants and 73 soldiers have been killed since the operation began.
Despite the increase in US missile strikes and the intensified efforts of the Pakistani military, there is also growing support for using negotiations and diplomacy to resolve the Taliban conflict.
Last week Pakistan's parliament passed a resolution supporting peace talks as the government's top priority. This week, a group of Afghan tribal leaders, clerics and government officials arrived in Islamabad for talks with their Pakistani counterparts on the Taliban insurgency.
At the start of the two-day meeting traditionally known as a jirga, Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said both countries acknowledge that the Taliban insurgency must be resolved through diplomacy.
"There is an increasing realization that the use of force alone cannot yield the desired results. For lasting success, negotiations and reconciliation must be an essential part of the process" Qureshi said.
More at Voice of America.
CONGO
Congo Rebels Advance; Protesters Hurl Rocks at UN Compound - Jeffrey Gettleman and Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times
Hundreds of furious protesters hurled rocks at a United Nations compound in eastern Congo on Monday in frustration that peacekeepers had not halted the rebel advance through the countryside, while the Spanish general leading the peacekeeping mission abruptly resigned.
Jaya Murthy, a spokesman for Unicef in the eastern Congo city of Goma, said heavy fighting between government troops and rebel forces was spawning a vast wave of internally displaced people, with tens of thousands evacuating several battle zones, often for the second or third time in recent months.
As many as 250,000 people have been driven from their homes since August, with the collapse of a peace deal between the government and rebels under the command of Laurent Nkunda, a renegade general who says he is fighting to protect ethnic Tutsis.
More at the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and BBC News.
NEWS & OPINION NOTES
Afghanistan / Pakistan Tribal Areas
NATO Forces 'Hit Limit' - BBC News
US Airstrike Kills 20 People in Pakistan - New York Times
Afghan Bomb at Meeting Kills 2 GI’s and a Child - New York Times
Afghan National Security Forces Show Progress - AFPS
Pakistan
Pakistan's 'Plan C' - Wall Street Journal editorial
Iraq / OIF
Kurds: Territorial Rights Tension - New York Times
Coalition Troops Kill Militants in Baghdad Raid - AFPS
Minibus Hit in Baghdad Bomb Blast, 2 Killed - Voice of America
Face of Defense: Translator Assists Iraqis, Soldiers - AFPS
Iran
Ahmadinejad's Health Becomes Political Issue in Iran - Washington Post
The Long War
US Crossing More Borders in Terror War? - Christian Science Monitor
Al Qaeda Media Chief Stands Mute at Guantanamo - Reuters
Lawyers Can Visit Guantanamo Camp - Washington Post
Judge Narrows Definition of Gitmo's 'Enemy Combatants' - Washington Times
No Time for Heroes with Bad Causes - The Times opinion
Sell-off to Capitalism or Sell-out to Islam? - Washington Times opinion
US Department of Defense
Student Linguists Meet High Standards at Language Institute - AFPS
Warfighters Drive Acquisition From ‘Bottom Up’ - AFPS
Will Obama Gut Defense? - Wall Street Journal opinion
United Nations
Former Official of UN Tribunal Declines to Plead - New York Times
Africa
Zimbabwe Again Tries to Break Political Deadlock - Voice of America
Zimbabwe Talks Fail to Reach Deal - BBC News
Zimbabwe: 47 Protesters Arrested Before Talks - New York Times
Sudan: 5 Kidnapped Chinese Oil Workers Killed - Associated Press
China Says Hostages Died During Failed Rescue - Associated Press
Killings in Sudan Unlikely to Deter China - Associated Press
Warships Begin Patrol Off Somalia - Associated Press
Rwandans Say Adieu to Francais - Washington Post
Americas
Mexico Acknowledges Drug Gang Infiltration of Police - Los Angeles Times
Officials Say Drug Cartels Infiltrated Mexican Law Unit - New York Times
Bolivians Worry Spat With US Could Kill Jobs - Christian Science Monitor
Colombia Aims to Reward Ex-rebel - BBC News
Asia Pacific
Japan PM: Kim Jong Il May be Severely Ill - The Times
North Korean Leader 'In Hospital' - BBC News
N. Korean Soldier Defects to South Through DMZ - Associated Press
Europe
Moscow Will Pose Early Test of NATO Ambitions - Washington Times
Ukraine's IMF Loan Endangered by Feud - Washington Post
Middle East
Lebanese Political Rivals Hold Rare Meeting - Voice of America
Polls Show Even Split Between Israeli Blocs - Washington Post
Peres Says Israel Heading For a Decisive Election Campaign - Voice of America
Israelis Uneasy as US Nears Vote - Christian Science Monitor
Livni's Gamble - The Times editorial
South Asia
Indian Troops in Kashmir to Block Anniversary Protests - Voice of America
BOOKS
Why Vietnam Matters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not Learned - Rufus Phillips
Phillips details how the legendary Edward G. Lansdale helped the South Vietnamese gain and consolidate their independence between 1954 and 1956, and how this later changed to a reliance on American conventional warfare with its highly destructive firepower. He reasons that our failure to understand the Communists, our South Vietnamese allies, or even ourselves took us down the wrong road. In summing up US errors in Vietnam, Phillips draws parallels with the American experience in Iraq and Afghanistan and suggests changes in the US approach. Known for his intellectual integrity and firsthand, long-term knowledge of what went on in Vietnam, the author offers lessons for today in this trenchant account.
Baghdad at Sunrise: A Brigade Commander's War in Iraq - Peter Mansoor
This is a unique contribution to the burgeoning literature on the Iraq war, analyzing the day-to-day performance of a US brigade in Baghdad during 2004-2005. Mansoor uses a broad spectrum of sources to address the military, political and cultural aspects of an operation undertaken with almost no relevant preparation, which tested officers and men to their limits and generated mistakes and misjudgments on a daily basis. The critique is balanced, perceptive and merciless - and Mansoor was the brigade commander. Military history is replete with command memoirs. Most are more or less self-exculpatory. Even the honest ones rarely achieve this level of analysis. The effect is like watching a surgeon perform an operation on himself. Mansoor has been simultaneously a soldier and a scholar, able to synergize directly his military and academic experiences.
The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq - 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. We interpret reality through the clouded prism of our own experience, so it is unsurprising that Bing West sees Iraq through the lens of Vietnam. He served as a Marine officer there, and he thinks politicians and the media caused the American public to turn against a war that could have been won. Now a correspondent for the Atlantic, West has made 15 reporting trips to Iraq over the last six years and is almost as personally invested in the current conflict as he was in Vietnam; this book, his third on Iraq, is his attempt to ensure that the "endgame" in Iraq turns out better than in his last war.
Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq - 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. Linda Robinson conducted extensive interviews with Petraeus and his subordinate commanders and spent weeks with key US and Iraqi divisions. The result is the only book that ties together military operations in Iraq and the internecine political drama that is at the heart of the civil war. Replete with dramatic battles, behind-doors confrontations, and astute analysis, the book tells the full story of the Iraq War’s endgame, and lays out the options that will be facing the next president.
The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008 - Bob Woodward
Woodward interviewed key players, obtained dozens of never-before-published documents, and had nearly three hours of exclusive interviews with President Bush. The result is a stunning, firsthand history of the years from mid-2006, when the White House realizes the Iraq strategy is not working, through the decision to surge another 30,000 US troops in 2007, and into mid-2008, when the war becomes a fault line in the presidential election. As violence in Iraq reaches unnerving levels in 2006, a second front in the war rages at the highest levels of the Bush administration. In his fourth book on President George W. Bush, Bob Woodward takes readers deep inside the tensions, secret debates, unofficial backchannels, distrust and determination within the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, the intelligence agencies and the US military headquarters in Iraq. With unparalleled intimacy and detail, this gripping account of a president at war describes a period of distress and uncertainty within the US government from 2006 through mid-2008. The White House launches a secret strategy review that excludes the military. General George Casey, the commander in Iraq, believes that President Bush does not understand the war and eventually concludes he has lost the president's confidence. The Joint Chiefs of Staff also conduct a secret strategy review that goes nowhere. On the verge of revolt, they worry that the military will be blamed for a failure in Iraq.
We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam - Harold Moore and 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. It would be a monumental task for Moore and Galloway to top their classic 1992 memoir. But they come close in this sterling sequel, which tells the backstory of two of the Vietnam War's bloodiest battles (in which Moore participated as a lieutenant colonel), their first book and a 1993 ABC-TV documentary that brought them back to the battlefield. Moore's strong first-person voice reviews the basics of the November 1965 battles, part of the 34-day Battle of the Ia Drang Valley. Among other things, Moore and Galloway (who covered the battle for UPI) offer portraits of two former enemy commanders, generals Nguyen Huu An and Chu Huy Man, whom the authors met - and bonded with - nearly three decades after the battle. This book proves again that Moore is an exceptionally thoughtful, compassionate and courageous leader (he was one of a handful of army officers who studied the history of the Vietnam wars before he arrived) and a strong voice for reconciliation and for honoring the men with whom he served.
In a Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point' Class of 2002 - Bill Murphy
The West Point cadets Murphy follows through their baptism by fire are an admirable sample of young American men and women: intelligent, ambitious and intensely patriotic. Most come from career military families and hold conservative opinions. Murphy describes their four years at West Point with respect even when discussing their love lives and marriages. All yearn for battle, and most get their wish. The book's best passages describe the confusion of moving to Iraq or Afghanistan and fighting insurgents, for which they lack both training and equipment. All feel something is not right but concentrate on the job at hand; some inevitably die or are grievously wounded.
Iraq and the Evolution of American Strategy - Steven Metz
Today the US military is more nimble, mobile, and focused on rapid responses against smaller powers than ever before. One could argue that the Gulf War and the postwar standoff with Saddam Hussein hastened needed military transformation and strategic reassessments in the post–Cold War era. But the preoccupation with Iraq also mired the United States in the Middle East and led to a bloody occupation. What will American strategy look like after US troops leave Iraq? Metz concludes that the United States has a long-standing, continuing problem “developing sound assumptions when the opponent operates within a different psychological and cultural framework.” He sees a pattern of misjudgments about Saddam and Iraq based on Western cultural and historical bias and a pervasive faith in the superiority of America’s worldview and institutions. This myopia contributed to America being caught off guard by Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, then underestimating his longevity, and finally miscalculating the likelihood of a stable and democratic Iraq after he was toppled. With lessons for all readers concerned about America’s role in the world, Dr. Metz’s important new work will especially appeal to scholars and students of strategy and international security studies, as well as to military professionals and DOD civilians. With a foreword by Colin S. Gray.
EVENTS OF INTEREST
6-7 December - Boyd Conference 2008 (Conference). Charlottetown, Prince Edward, Canada. There is an opportunity to hold a short, intense seminar on the applicability of Boyd’s ideas, particularly operating inside the OODA loop and grand strategy (sustaining our own morale and attracting the uncommitted), on the weekend of December 6-7 at the University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PEI. Canada. The theme would be applying these ideas to conflict in the post-Iraq era, and more specifically to the types of diffused, networked, “open source” armed conflicts that some have called “fifth generation warfare.” We are also interested in exploring solutions, such as the role of “resilient communities” (RC), for countering them. As Oil and food prices have climbed and the mortgage crisis has grown, the need to think more about Resilient Communities has become more urgent. We may have to re-invent our world! We envision this as a working seminar to help shape the policy agenda in the first year of the new administration.
