--Editorial, Washington Post
INDIA
Bombay Attacks: India Points the Finger at Pakistan - Jeremy Page, The Times
India pointed an accusing finger at Pakistan yesterday as commandos fought suspected Islamist terrorists through the corridors of two of Bombay’s top hotels. Dozens of foreigners were still being held hostage or trapped in the buildings.
At least 125 people were killed and 327 wounded in Wednesday’s attacks on some of the city’s most high-profile buildings. Local hospitals and police said that the toll would rise further.
Nine foreigners were among the dead, including one Briton, a Japanese businessman, an Australian, a German and an Italian. Andreas Liveras, a 73-year-old British shipping tycoon, was shot dead moments after telling reporters that he was hiding in the basement of the Taj Mahal Palace.
More at The Times.
Attributes Suggest Outside Help - Craig Whitlock and Karen DeYoung, Washington Post
Counterterrorism officials and experts said the scale, sophistication and targets involved in the Mumbai attacks were markedly different from previous terrorist plots in India and suggested the gunmen had received training from outside the country. But they cautioned it was too soon to tell who may have masterminded the operation, despite an assertion from a previously unknown Islamist radical group.
Officials in India, Europe and the United States said likely culprits included Islamist networks based in Pakistan that have received support in the past from Pakistan's intelligence agencies.
Analysts said this week's attacks surpassed previous plots carried out by domestic groups in terms of complexity, the number of people involved and their success in achieving their primary goal: namely, to spread fear.
More at The Washington Post.
India’s Suspicion of Pakistan Clouds US Strategy in Region - Jane Perlez, New York Times
The terrorist attacks in Mumbai occurred as India and Pakistan, two big, hostile and nuclear-armed nations, were delicately moving toward improved relations with the encouragement of the United States and in particular the incoming Obama administration.
Those steps could quickly be derailed, with deep consequences for the United States, if India finds Pakistani fingerprints on the well-planned operation. India has raised suspicions. Pakistan has vehemently denied them. But no matter who turns out to be responsible for the Mumbai attacks, their scale and the choice of international targets will make the agenda of the new American administration harder.
Reconciliation between India and Pakistan has emerged as a basic tenet in the approaches to foreign policy of President-elect Barack Obama, and the new leader of Central Command, Gen. David H. Petraeus. The point is to persuade Pakistan to focus less of its military effort on India, and more on the militants in its lawless tribal regions who are ripping at the soul of Pakistan.
More at The New York Times and:
Terrorists Paralyze India's Business Capital - Wall Street Journal
Fresh Explosions at Taj Hotel, More Hostages Rescued - Times of India
Sophisticated Attacks, but by Whom? - New York Times
Indian Forces Look for Survivors and Last of Gunmen - Los Angeles Times
Oberoi Under Control, 2 Terrorists Killed - Times of India
Mumbai Hotel 'Under Army Control' - BBC News
Gunmen Kill at Least 125 People - Washington Post
Indian Forces Continue Battling Militants in Mumbai - Voice of America
Heavy Gunfire, Explosions at Mumbai Chabad House - Jerusalem Post
Commandos Storm Nariman House; Fight On - Times of India
Indian Commandos Storm Jewish Center - New York Times
Commandos Storm Jewish Centre in Mumbai - Daily Telegraph
Gunmen Sought in Bombay Hotels, Jewish Center - Washington Times
Commandos Free Some People From Mumbai Luxury Hotels - Voice of America
Indian Navy Boards Supicious Ship in Mumbai - Associated Press
Britons Rumoured to be Among Mumbai Gunmen - Daily Telegraph
Foreigners Targeted in Major Mumbai Attacks - Christian Science Monitor
Second Australian Killed in Mumbai - The Australian
Mumbai Attacks Draw Worldwide Condemnation - Voice of America
'Gunmen Aim to Halt India's Int'l Ties' - Jerusalem Post
Singh Has Enough Worries Without Religious Strife - The Times
Top Anti-terrorist Officer Death a Huge Blow - The Times
Mumbai’s Longest Night, With an Abyss of Terror - New York Times
Westerners Relay Harrowing Accounts of Mumbai Chaos - Los Angeles Times
Pressure Increases for Regional Solution - Wall Street Journal
Islamic Terrorism Helped Bring Israel, India Together - Jerusalem Post
Blood in Mumbai - Washington Post editorial
Murder in Mumbai - Wall Street Journal editorial
A Lesson From Mumbai - New York Post editorial
Attacks a Message Aimed at Obama - The Australian opinion
India Cannot Blame it All on Outsiders - The Times opinion
Mumbai Attack Is a Tipping Point for India - Wall Street Journal opinion
India's Gateway Becomes Terrorism's Door - Los Angeles Times opinion
India's Antiterror Blunders - Wall Street Journal opinion
IRAQ
Iraqi Parliament Approves Military Pact With US - Edward Yeranian, Voice of America
The Iraqi parliament has voted to approve a controversial military pact with the United States that will allow US troops to remain in the country for three more years. The new pact will replace a UN mandate which expires on December 31. Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki hailed the deal's approval as a historic, important achievement in restoring Iraq's sovereignty.
The Iraqi parliament session got under way after intense behind the scenes negotiations between different factions, and the vote on the new military pact between Iraq and the US was approved by a comfortable margin, albeit less than the overwhelming consensus vote that some had been predicting. Government spokesman Ali Debbagh said the vote to approve the pact represented a major achievement by the government and a national consensus of all Iraqi political factions.
He says that Iraq is now entering a period of peace and restoration of its sovereignty, in addition to a new relation with the United States. He says Iraqi forces will have more responsibility for security in the country in the countdown towards a US withdrawal. US Ambassador Ryan Crocker congratulated the Iraqi government and parliament, after the vote, adding that he hoped the accord would also be approved by Iraq's Presidential Council.
More at Voice Of America and:
Iraq Approves US Security Pact - Washington Post
Iraq Approves Deal Charting End of US Role - New York Times
Iraq Lawmakers Approve Security Pact with US - Los Angeles Times
Iraq Approves US Troops Security Pact - The Australian
Iraq Backs Deal to Keep US Troops Until 2011 - Daily Telegraph
Analysis: SOFA, the View From Parliament - New York Times
Hat tip to Nancy Youssef - McClatchy's Pentagon Correspondent - McClatchy's Baghdad Bureau last week produced an unofficial English translation of the Iraq Staus of Forces Agreement based on the Arabic text. McClatchy on Tuesday also obtained an official English version.
THAILAND
Emergency Declared at Thai Airports - Richard S. Ehrlich, Washington Times
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat clamped a state of emergency on Bangkok's two main airports Thursday and ordered the navy, air force and police to remove protesters who barricaded thousands of passengers from arriving or departing. Mr. Somchai announced no timetable for clearing the airports and indicated that security forces would first try to negotiate with them to stop "holding the country hostage."
"I need to do something to restore peace and order," he said in a televised address. Angry, frightened and weary international and Thai passengers languished in hotels, after anti-government protesters seized Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Tuesday.
More at The Washington Times and:
State of Emergency Declared Around 2 Key Bangkok Airports - Washington Post
Thai Protesters Vow to Keep Blockades - New York Times
Thai Government Declares State of Emergency at Airports - Los Angeles Times
Thai State of Emergency - Daily Telegraph
Thai Protesters Braced for Battle - BBC News
Thailand to Negotiate with Airport Protesters - Associated Press
Thai PM Dismisses Chief of Police - BBC News
NATIONAL SECURITY
A Keeper at the Pentagon - Washington Post editorial
In selecting nominees for his Cabinet and a new White House staff, President-elect Barack Obama has so far placed an admirable emphasis on proven competence over personal loyalty or political purity. He's been pragmatic in choosing pragmatists but also bold in his willingness to enlist formidable personalities such as Rahm Emanuel for chief of staff and (reportedly) Hillary Clinton for secretary of state. Now, according to The Post and other media, Mr. Obama is close to settling on another unconventional but supremely practical pick: Robert M. Gates as defense secretary. We hereby join what undoubtedly will be the large chorus that hails this choice.
Mr. Gates has been serving as secretary for nearly two years; he took over the Pentagon after President Bush finally ended the disastrous tenure of Donald H. Rumsfeld. In important ways he has been the antithesis of his predecessor: low-key rather than arrogant and a problem-solver rather than an ideologue.
More at The Washington Post.
Obama's War Cabinet - Wall Street Journal editorial
If reports are correct, on Monday the President-elect will ask Robert Gates to stay on as Secretary of Defense and name retired Marine General James Jones as National Security Adviser. These are the Administration posts most critical to the successful conduct of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to possible entanglements with Iran, North Korea and who knows who else. With these personnel picks, Mr. Obama reveals a bias for competence, experience and continuity. Hence the caterwauls from his left flank.
The Gates selection is an implicit endorsement of President Bush's "surge" in Iraq and its military architect, General David Petraeus. More broadly, it recognizes that America will continue to deal with a daunting post-9/11 security environment. As a member of the Iraq Study Group, Mr. Gates was against the surge before Mr. Bush made support for it a condition of his taking the Pentagon job. But at Defense since late 2006, Mr. Gates has supervised the successful new counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq. He also championed a new generation of military leaders, chiefly General Petraeus, who now commands US forces in the Mideast, and he has poured additional resources into Afghanistan.
More at The Wall Street Journal.
Continuity in Wartime Behind Obama’s Decision on Gates - Gordon Lubold, Christian Science Monitor
An incoming administration rarely retains cabinet members of the outgoing administration, but President-elect Obama's apparent decision to keep Defense Secretary Robert Gates may reflect the extraordinary issues confronting the new president. Mr. Obama is expected to announce early next week that he will keep Mr. Gates on for as long as a year, in part to maintain continuity during the first wartime transition in 40 years. Any drawbacks in keeping Gates are more than countered by the pluses, say experts.
Keeping Gates would be the best course of action, says William Fallon, who oversaw the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan until retiring as head of US Central Command this spring. Having served in top military positions during transitions of both President Bush and President Clinton, Mr. Fallon says it can take "many months" for a new administration to get up to speed. Obama doesn't have that luxury. Thus, keeping Gates would allow his team to move quickly to address the myriad military challenges confronting the new administration.
More at The Christian Science Monitor.
Vulnerable Moment for National Security - Miami Herald editorial
Some months ago, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for a quick and smooth transition period to lessen the nation's exposure to a potential attack at a vulnerable moment. Alluding to the danger, he said, ''It's important for us to get as many principals in positions as rapidly as possible in a time of war.'' Apparently, President-elect Barack Obama believes it's a warning worth heeding.
Reports that he plans to keep Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on the job for an extended period, perhaps a year, suggest that the incoming commander in chief is going Admiral Mullen one better. By extending the tenure of Secretary Gates, Mr. Obama ensures that someone is minding the store while everyone else is busy moving in or out of office. Secretary Gates has the experience and authority in the field of national security to focus on threat reduction while the rest of the new national security team gets up to speed.
More at The Miami Herald.
NEWS & OPINION NOTES
Afghanistan / Pakistan Tribal Areas
4 Killed in Car Bombing Near US Embassy in Kabul - Voice of America
Suicide Bomber Targets US Convoy in Kabul - Washington Post
Suicide Bomber Kills Four in Kabul - New York Times
Car Bomb Kills Four Near US Embassy - Los Angeles Times
Opium Trade Hits War Against Taliban - The Australian
UN Reports That Taliban Is Stockpiling Opium - New York Times
Opium Poppy Harvest Declines 6% in Afghanistan - Los Angeles Times
Coalition Kills 32 Militants, Captures 10 Others in Afghanistan - AFPS
Cooperation Grows Between Afghan, US Forces - AFPS
Iraq
Troops in Iraq Capture 14 Suspected Terrorists - AFPS
Suicide Bombing at Iraqi Mosque - BBC News
Iran
Iran's Khamenei Claims Hegemony - United Press International
Iran Angry at Peace Advert - Daily Telegraph
Deter Iran - Washington Times opinion
Piracy
1,400 German Troops to Fight Pirates? - United Press International
Four Pirates Killed in Sierra Leone Navy Gunbattle - Agence France-Presse
The Long War
Al Qaeda Threat Raises NY Security Level - Washington Times
Terror Leader sSams US, Afghanistan Gov'ts - Associated Press
US Department of Defense
Cyber-attack on Defense Dept. Raises Concerns - Los Angeles Times
Military Appeal Process Is Challenged - New York Times
United States
Obama's Bush Doctrine - Washington Post opinion
Hillary Clinton as Diplomat - Los Angeles Times editorial
Canada
Troops Undergo Urban Warfare Training - United Press International
Africa
Somali Power-Sharing Deal Lacks Support from Key Players - Voice of America
Ethiopia to Withdraw Troops From Somalia by Year End - Voice of America
Nigeria Militants Sent to Anger Management Classes - Daily Telegraph
Concern Grows Over Cholera Outbreak in Zimbabwe - Voice of America
Zimbabwe Appeals for Cholera Aid - Daily Telegraph
Genocide in Darfur? Let the Court Decide - Boston Globe opinion
Americas
Russia's Show of Force in Venezuela - The Australian
Venezuela and Russia Sign Accords - New York Times
President Medvedev Visits Cuba - Daily Telegraph
Medvedev Builds Ties in Havana - Associated Press
Nearly Half of Mexican Cops Fail Police Tests - Associated Press
About Latin America - New York Times editorial
Asia Pacific
Execution of Confessed Spy in China May Be Delayed - Washington Post
Economy Protests Worry Beijing - Washington Times
Europe
Polish President Urges EU to Stand Up to Russia - Voice of America
Czech Senate Backs US Antimissile Plan - Associated Press
Georgia Must Enact Reforms - United Press International
Putin's Shift Raises Questions of Motive - Washington Post
Berlin a Russian Mafia Hub - United Press International
Ukraine's Stalled Revolution - Christian Science Monitor editorial
Middle East
IAEA Frustrated Over Lack of Transparency in Iran, Syria - Voice of America
Syria and the Nuclear Cops - Wall Street Journal editorial
NATO, INSS Hold Peace Talks on Middle East - United Press International
Pope May Make First Trip to Israel and Palestinian Lands in ’09 - New York Times
Israeli PM Faces 'Corruption Charges' - Daily Telegraph
Yemen: Troops Fire on Opposition Protest - Associated Press
Obama Earning Israel's Confidence - Miami Herald opinion
South Asia
Tamil Tiger Chief Vows to Fight Sri Lankan Military - 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.
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.
