--John Nagl, Small Wars Journal
US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Defense Needs Must Come First - Washington Times editorial
If the US military infrastructure that the Obama administration will inherit in January could be compared to racing cars, it would be a collection of clunkers - manned by brilliant and heroic drivers, but nevertheless drivers who can't take their vehicles around the track with any assurance the cars won't break down or run out of gas. Not to mention that the drivers are exhausted from the previous races.
Of course, the metaphor is inspired by recurrent deployments of equipment and manpower in Iraq and Afghanistan, with both the equipment and personnel getting banged up badly, the latter more psychologically than physically (hundreds of thousands of current military have post-traumatic stress syndrome, according to some studies.) Despite a roughly $685 billion military budget that nearly equals all the rest of the world's military budgets combined, the two wars at hand have sucked much of the necessary funding away from other defense needs -- more specialized units to help friendly countries, more littoral combat ships, more ground troops to break the far-too-frequent cycle of deployments, more sealift and airlift capacity, more replenishment of dwindling war stocks, the list goes on.
More at The Washington Times.
Keep Gates - Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal opinion
Reappointing Robert Gates as secretary of defense would be magnanimity with a purpose, a show of something better than cleverness, and that is wisdom.
We are at war, in two countries. The stakes don't get much higher. In Iraq at some point a drawdown will begin, with attendant drama and dislocation. Some will bomb our troops to get us out, and some will bomb our troops to keep us in. In Afghanistan, where those who are most deeply experienced believe the situation will get worse before it gets better, where the fighting is hard but an Iraq-style surge doesn't quite fit the situation or geography, our troops appear to be in the long slog, part two. Those back from the field speak of the time-consuming, resource-eating work of mind-changing, of recognizing and "incentivizing" potential allies, of economy-building, infrastructure-building, of tribal engagement, of buying off foes as Britain bought off members of the Irish Republican Army, of talking to the Taliban and other groups in the only way that will be effective, and that is from a position of strength.
What does Mr. Gates bring to this? Two years, next month, of success, and a professional lifetime of experience and knowledge. He is a bipartisan figure of respect—truly an object of across-the-board admiration. He is not part of the old crew that got us into war and bungled it but the new crew that stabilized it and created progress. And the point is to keep him not only for continuity, which may be virtue enough in a difficult and dynamic situation, but for his particular gifts and acumen.
More at The Wall Street Journal.
AFGHANISTAN
Talking With the Taliban - New York Times editorial
Afghanistan’s swift unraveling has created new - and in some quarters unrealistic - enthusiasm for talks with the Taliban.
We agree that there should be a serious effort to win over lower-level militants and tribal leaders - people who are not true believers but have allied with extremists because they had no choice, needed the money or have grown so disillusioned with the Afghan government that they forgot the horrors of Taliban rule.
President-elect Barack Obama has said that he is open to such an approach. Gen. David McKiernan, the top American commander in Afghanistan, says he is working on a plan to engage militants in local councils provided they reject the Taliban and accept the basic civil rights and political freedoms in the Afghan Constitution.
At the same time, we are deeply skeptical that there is any deal to be cut with Taliban leaders who gave sanctuary to Al Qaeda before 9/11 and would undoubtedly insist on re-imposing their repressive, medieval ways, including denying education and medical care to women.
More at The New York Times.
Pentagon Wants British Iraq Forces Redeployed in Afghanistan 'Surge' - Richard Beeston and Michael Evans, The Times
The Pentagon wants Britain to use troops withdrawn from Iraq to reinforce NATO’s mission in Afghanistan, despite strong misgivings in the Ministry of Defence.
Speaking before a meeting of defence ministers representing the eight countries fighting in southern Afghanistan, Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said America was sending thousands more troops and expected other allies to do the same.
The MoD has said that the present 8,100-strong force in southern Afghanistan is the ceiling as far as Britain is concerned, but defence officials acknowledged for the first time yesterday that this limit might be breached in due course, and that an increase in numbers had not been ruled out.
A presidential review of the US-led mission in Afghanistan, completed this week, is expected to call for more troops to be sent to the country. Barack Obama, the President-elect, has promised to make the war there a priority of his administration and plans a “surge” of forces.
More at The Times.
Obama’s War - Clifford May, National Review opinion
American troops in Afghanistan are fighting what will soon become Barack Obama’s war - not just because he will inherit it, but also because he has claimed it. This is “the right battlefield,” Obama has said. The war in Afghanistan “has to be won.”
How can that mission be accomplished? Extensive interviews with American military commanders, European diplomats, and Afghan officials lead to this conclusion: Although we are not currently defeating the Taliban and other belligerent groups in Afghanistan, we can prevail - if the incoming administration is prepared to fully resource a sophisticated counter-insurgency strategy similar to that implemented by General David Petraeus in Iraq.
A subtle and often misunderstood point: The war in Iraq was not turned around by “surging” more troops into the country to do more of the same. Rather, the key was transitioning to counterinsurgency - COIN - a form of warfare that requires many boots on the ground.
More at National Review.
IRAQ
In Baghdad, Debating Post-US Outlook - Campbell Robertson and Stephen Farrell, New York Times
Through the televised parliamentary brawling, shouting and points of order, the battle lines are becoming clear in the Iraqi political debate over a security agreement that would govern the last three years of the American military presence in Iraq.
But the pact that is nominally at the center of the wrangling appears not to be the main problem. The quarreling is really about what the country will look like when the American troops eventually depart, and whether the security agreement will give too much control to the Shiite-led Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.
When cornered on the stairways and balconies of the Iraqi Parliament building in the Green Zone, many of those who are threatening to vote against ratification openly admit that they approve of its terms.
More at The New York Times.
US: Forces Kill Key Leader of al-Qaida in Iraq - Voice of America
A US general in Baghdad says troops have killed a leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, further reducing the terrorist group's ability to carry out attacks.
General David Perkins told reporters Thursday the death of Haji Hammadi is "another significant blow" to al-Qaida in Iraq.
Hammadi was accused of planning suicide bombings, killings and kidnappings, including the abduction and murder of a US sergeant in 2004.
The US military says US troops killed Hammadi and another insurgent November 11 in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood.
Perkins also told reporters that violence has declined significantly in Iraq over the past year.
More at Voice of America and American Forces Press Service, Washington Post and New York Times.
US to Begin Using Search Warrants in Iraq - Richard Tomkins, Washington Times
Some US troops in Iraq could begin applying for warrants before detaining terrorist suspects or searching Iraqi homes as soon as Dec. 1 - a month before they might become required to do so under a new status-of-forces agreement.
Military sources, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the topic, said at least some units of the 4th Infantry Division in Baghdad would begin obtaining warrants from Iraqi legal authorities next month before making arrests or searching homes for weapons caches and other contraband in noncombat situations.
US military officials would not confirm or deny the report.
More at The Washington Times.
A Framework for Success in Iraq - Michael Gerson, Washington Post opinion
A war that once seemed likely to end in a panic of helicopters fleeing the American Embassy now seems destined to conclude as the result of a parliamentary process. A landmark status-of-forces agreement (SOFA) -- requiring the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraqi cities by the end of June and from Iraq itself by the end of 2011 -- is headed for a final reading in the Iraqi parliament next week.
The approval of the SOFA would leave a chapter of history decorated with paradoxes. President Bush -- who once called withdrawal timelines "arbitrary" and "unacceptable" -- ends his term accepting them. President-elect Barack Obama will inherit a more peaceful Iraq because of policies he strongly opposed. And the Iraqi government -- so often criticized by Americans as weak and ineffectual -- is now asserting its sovereignty in a decisive manner, for good or ill.
The withdrawal deadlines contained in the SOFA seem like concessions from the Bush administration -- and they are. Officials are careful to point out that the June withdrawal from Iraqi cities merely codifies the current process of transferring provincial control to Iraqi forces -- and that both sides are free to renegotiate the agreement when it expires in three years. But the deadlines in the SOFA do limit the tactical flexibility of the next president in ways the current president would not have preferred.
More at The Washington Post.
Sons of Iraq in Tug of War - Daniel Williams, Bloomberg (Washington Times)
Omar Jaffar spends his days helping keep the streets of his Baghdad neighborhood safe for his fellow Sunni Muslims. He has an urgent message for President-elect Barack Obama:"Don't take American soldiers away just yet," Mr. Jaffar said in his home in the capital's Adhamiyah section. They are needed for "maybe five years. Who knows? We need them."
Mr. Jaffar, 19, belongs to the Sons of Iraq, a paramilitary group of about 100,000 once-hostile Sunni Muslims that the US pays to help pacify Baghdad and other regions. Though the group is allied with the American military, the Shi'ite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki views it with suspicion, expressing fears that it may become a belligerent militia.
That leaves the Sons of Iraq suspended between competing agendas: a US one aimed at minimizing violence and an Iraqi government goal to marginalize potential internal enemies, said Terrence K. Kelly, a senior operations researcher for the Rand Corp. in Pittsburgh.
More at The Washington Times.
LEBANON
Hezbollah Marshals the Young via Scout Troops - Robert Worth, New York Times
On a Bekaa Valley playing field gilded by late-afternoon sun, hundreds of young men wearing Boy Scout-style uniforms and kerchiefs stand rigidly at attention as a military band plays, its marchers bearing aloft the distinctive yellow banner of Hezbollah, the militant Shiite movement.
They are adolescents - 17 or 18 years old - but they have the stern faces of adult men, lightly bearded, some of them with dark spots in the center of their foreheads from bowing down in prayer. Each of them wears a tiny picture of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shiite cleric who led the Iranian revolution, on his chest.
“You are our leader!” the boys chant in unison, as a Hezbollah official walks to a podium and addresses them with a Koranic invocation. “We are your men!”
More at The New York Times.
CONGO
UN to Deploy 3,100 More Peacekeepers in Congo - Colum Lynch, Washington Post
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to reinforce the beleaguered UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, approving the temporary deployment of more than 3,100 additional personnel to help protect hundreds of thousands of civilians.
The council's vote came weeks after rebel leader Laurent Nkunda launched a major offensive that has driven more than 250,000 civilians from their homes and brought about the collapse of the government's army in eastern Congo. The deployment would bring the size of the UN mission to more than 20,000 troops.
The 15-nation council urged the leadership of the UN's largest peacekeeping mission -- which has faced criticism for failing to defend civilians -- to forcefully implement its mandate. But the council has ignored appeals by the UN's special representative in Congo, Alan Doss, to send a heavily armed multinational force to help restore stability.
More at The Washington Post, Voice of America and Agence France-Presse.
Mai Mai Fighters Third Piece in Congo’s Violent Puzzle - Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times
The Mai Mai are the third piece to eastern Congo’s violent puzzle, with the rebels on one side, the government forces on the other and the Mai Mai often terrorizing the uncontrolled areas in between. With their guns, leaf headdresses and special potions that many fighters believe make bullets bounce off them, they are a surreal - but still deadly - dimension to Congo’s civil wars.
The Mai Mai insist that they are Congo’s true patriots, but it is questionable how much influence they wield - most villagers call them crooks and they tend to lose their battles. In the past few weeks, they have emerged as spoilers, fighting on when the other armed groups have agreed to stop. The Mai Mai now seem to have a beef with just about everybody: the rebels (whom they clashed with on Thursday); United Nations peacekeepers (whom they clashed with on Wednesday); and Congolese government troops (whom they clashed with on Tuesday).
Once again, Congolese civilians have been the victims of most of these skirmishes, and on Thursday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved sending 3,000 additional peacekeeping troops, which would bring the total in Congo, including police officers, to more than 20,000.
More at The New York Times.
VENEZUELA
Venezuelans Expected to Whittle Away at Chávez's Power - Juan Forero, Washington Post
In 2004, the government won 21 of 23 governorships and most of the mayoral posts. Chávez allies later won control of the National Assembly, after an opposition boycott of elections handed the body to the government. And the presidency pulls the strings of power in practically all state institutions, from the Central Bank to the chief prosecutor's office.
Now the opposition, along with former Chávez loyalists who broke with the president, may win control of half a dozen states or more, pollsters and political analysts say. The president's allies are expected to still wield power, particularly after his government disqualified promising candidates who would have won the Caracas city hall and key governorships.
But possible opposition victories in places such as Sucre, which had been run by the son of a prominent Chávez ally, would be symbolic blows against the president's United Socialist Party. A strong showing by his allies, political analysts say, will embolden Chávez to move ahead with plans to change the constitution and permit him to seek a third six-year term in 2012.
More at The Washington Post.
NEWS & OPINION NOTES
Afghanistan / Pakistan Tribal Areas
Gates to Meet With Allies, Discuss Afghanistan Mission - AFPS
Afghan, Coalition Forces Capture Key Insurgent Leader, Militant - AFPS
Army 'Human Terrain' Contractor Charged with Murder - Wired
Pakistan
Pakistan Protests Missile Strikes - Voice of America
Iraq / OIF
UK Troops to Withdraw from Iraq in New Year - Daily Telegraph
Iran
Iran 'Has Enough Uranium to Build a Bomb' - The Times
Africa Piracy
Arab States Meet to Discuss Solution to Pirate Attacks - Voice of America
Egypt and Other Red Sea Nations Target Pirates - Los Angeles Times
Trade Threat as Ships Reroute to Avoid Piracy - The Times
The Long War
US Judge Orders 5 Guantanamo Detainees Freed - Voice of America
Judge Orders Release of Five Guantanamo Bay Detainees - Washington Post
Judge Orders Delease of 5 Guantanamo Prisoners - Los Angeles Times
Judge Declares Five Detainees Held Illegally - New York Times
Al Qaeda Detainees and Congress's Duty - Wall Street Journal opinion
Closing Guantanamo - Washington Post opinion
National Intelligence Council
Nuclear Arms, Scarce Resources as Seeds of Global Instability - Washington Post
NIC Expects Al Qaeda’s Appeal to Falter - New York Times
NIC: Sun Setting on the American Century - The Times
NIC Says US Influence will 'Substantially' Decline - Daily Telegraph
The Year 2025: Oil, Dollar Out; Russia, Islam In - Associated Press
US Power, Influence will Decline in Future, Report Says - CNN News
US Influence Will Fade By 2025 - CBS News
US Global Dominance 'Set to Wane' - BBC News
Intelligence Study Sees Risks in Rapid Global Power Shift - McClatchy
US Clout Down, Risks Up by 2025 - Reuters
Nuclear War Threat to Grow by 2025 - Agence France-Presse
Europe: a Hobbled Giant - Financial Times
New US Intelligence Report: A Gloomy Future - Military Watch
US Department of Defense
Defense Secretary Meets With Obama Transition Team - AFPS
News Media
Courage in Journalism - Washington Post editorial
United States
Democratic Sources: Obama Picks Homeland Security Chief - Voice of America
World
Foreign Officials Fear Cuts in Aid - Washington Times
Africa
Zimbabwe Tells Annan, Carter to Postpone Humanitarian Visit - Voice of America
International Envoys' Visit Condemned by Mugabe - The Times
Hague Warrants for Darfur Rebels - Reuters
Ex-child Soldiers Launch UN Network to Help Kids - Associated Press
Multinational Exercise Sparks Change for Africa - AFPS
Rice Meets Gadhafi Son, Raises Dissident Case - Voice of America
Americas
Another Bloody Night in Sinaloa, Mexico - Los Angeles Times
Mexico Detains Former Top Anti-drug Prosecutor - Associated Press
CIA Withheld Data in Peru Plane Crash Inquiry - New York Times
CIA Deceptive on Deaths In Peru, Agency Finds - Washington Post
Report: CIA Lied About Shoot-down of Missionary Plane - Los Angeles Times
Sandinistas Win Most Municipal Races in Nicaragua - Associated Press
Venezuela, Vietnam Strengthen Ties with Joint Fund - Associated Press
Asia Pacific
Blast in Bangkok Kills 1, Injures 23 - Washington Post
Obama's Indonesia Test - Wall Street Journal editorial
Obama's Asia Focus Faces Early Scrutiny - The Australian opinion
Europe
Putin Vows to Fight Economic Collapse in Russia - New York Times
Putin Vows to Protect Russia's Economy - Los Angeles Times
Russian Juror Defies Attempts to Close Trial - Washington Post
From Russia With Loathing - New York Times opinion
Middle East
Syrians Pin Hopes on Obama Presidency - The Times
Israel Rebuffs UN Plea to Ease Gaza Blockade - Los Angeles Times
Jewish Settlers Prepare for Hebron Fight - The Times
Palestine and Israel Clash Through the Media - The Times
Obama Will Find Israel Peace Elusive - Daily Telegraph opinion
South Asia
China Cracks Down in Tibet, Exiles Say - Los Angeles Times
India: Probe Reveals Hindu Terror Cell - Washington Times
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.
8 December - Counterinsurgency Leadership Seminar (Seminar). Quantico, VA. On 8 December 2008 the US Marine Corps Center for Irregular Warfare (CIW) will host a Counterinsurgency Leadership Seminar at Little Hall (Base Theater), Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia, featuring Colonel Stephen Davis (USMC), Colonel David Maxwell (USA) and Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yingling. This seminar is cosponsored by CIW, US Joint Forces Command Irregular Warfare Center (IWC), the US Army and Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Center (COIN Center) and Small Wars Journal (SWJ). Seminar Panel Members: Colonel Stephen Davis, USMC. Col Davis is currently the Deputy Commanding Officer of Marine Corps Special Operations Command. Previously, Col Davis commanded Regimental Combat Team 2 in Iraq. Colonel David Maxwell, USA. COL Maxwell is currently the G-3 (Operations Officer) of the US Army Special Operations Command. Previously he commanded the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yingling, USA. LTC Yingling is the Commander of 1st Battalion, 21st Field Artillery and is currently deployed to Iraq performing detainee operations. He has served two previous tours in Iraq, and has also deployed to Bosnia and Operation Desert Storm. Colonel Daniel Kelly, USMC, will moderate. Col Kelly is the Director of the US Marine Corps Center for Irregular Warfare. He has held a wide variety of command and staff billets and participated in numerous operations to include Operations Restore Hope / Continue Hope (Somalia), Operations Allied Force / Joint Guardian, (Kosovo) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF I and II).
13 January - The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948: Past, Present, and Future (Symposium). Washington, D.C. Mark your calendar for January 13, 2009. That is the confirmed date for “The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948: Past, Present, and Future”, a symposium to discuss the legislation on which America’s arsenal of persuasion is anchored. The one-day event will be hosted in Washington, D.C., with the location and co-sponsor all but confirmed. The format is four 90 minute panels and will emphasize Q&A, discourse, and debate and not presentations or monologues. The four panels will focus on past, present, future, what to do, respectively. Panelists will be drawn from practitioners (State and Defense Departments), academics, Congress, and the media. The event is free and open to the public but registration will be required (see below). This is a first of its kind in-depth discussion into the legislation that continues to set the parameters of our global engagement. Enacted at the beginning of the First War of Ideas, it is long past time to discuss it ten or more years into the Second War of Ideas, a struggle that goes beyond terrorism and insurgency and into economic and financial power.
26-28 February - Student Conference on National Affairs (SCONA) (Conference). Texas A&M University - Memorial Student Center Complex, College Station, TX. Sponsored by Texas A&M University. The Student Conference on National Affairs at Texas A&M is in its 54th year. This years conference topic is US Interventions in Problematic Area's Around the World. It will take place from February 26th to the 28th. While the conference activities are focused toward Graduate and Undergraduate students, the speakers we have are open to the general public. Two of the at least five speakers we have confirmed are, Joe Galloway, Author of We Were Soldiers Once and Young, and James Olson, former Director of Counter Intelligence for the CIA. The other speakers will be the best individuals we can find in military, humanitarian, and business issues. We are currently interested in any individuals with a background in Humanitarian issues to speak, or individuals with professional knowledge on the topic to facilitate our student delegate roundtables. More information can be found at scona.tamu.edu and interested parties can contact scona.information@yahoo.com.
