--Daniel Marston, Small Wars Journal
AFGHANISTAN
Bid to Split Taliban, Al Qaeda - Anand Gopal, Christian Science Monitor
The Afghan government and its allies are reconciling with moderates and isolating hard-liners in a bid to split the insurgency, Western and Afghan officials say. The idea of wooing moderates has gained traction as violence in Afghanistan has reached record levels this year. The United States and NATO are reassessing their strategy amid a growing chorus of Western officials who say that the international effort here is failing.
"Some ministries have started a program to try to separate Al Qaeda and the Taliban," says Ursala Rahmani, a former Taliban official who has been involved in talks with the government. Mr. Rahmani says that the Interior and Defense ministries are involved in the effort. "We are trying to exploit the natural tensions that exist between Al Qaeda and those under Mullah Omar," the fugitive leader of the Taliban, adds a senior intelligence officer with the international forces, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Some insurgent commanders may be closely aligned with Al Qaeda, which is waging an international, ideologically driven war against the West. But Afghanistan experts say that most Afghan insurgents fight because of local grievances, including tribal rivalries, poor economic opportunities, and dissatisfaction with the Afghan government and international forces.
More at The Christian Science Monitor.
US Accuses Britain Over Military Failings in Afghanistan - Tom Baldwin and Michael Evans, The Times
The performance of Britain’s overstretched military in Afghanistan is coming under sustained criticism from the Pentagon and US analysts even as Gordon Brown ponders whether to send in further reinforcements.
Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary who has been asked to remain in his job under Barack Obama, is understood to have expressed strong reservations about counterinsurgency operations in British-controlled Helmand province.
He has already announced plans for a surge of 20,000 US troops into Afghanistan but Mr Brown, who was given a bleak progress report when he visited Afghanistan at the weekend, is said to be reluctant about committing another 2,000 British troops on top of the 8,400 already there.
More at The Times.
Britain Adds 300 Soldiers to Support Afghan Force - John Burns, New York Times
In a measure of how hard President-elect Barack Obama may find it to persuade the United States’ NATO allies to increase troop commitments in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain announced on Monday that the government had authorized an increase in the British troop presence of just 300 soldiers.
The soldiers have already been deployed. Reporting to the House of Commons on a weekend visit to British troops in Helmand Province in the southwest of Afghanistan, one of the most hotly contested battle zones in the country, Mr. Brown said he had agreed to British commanders’ recommendations that 300 troops recently sent to Helmand from a strategic reserve based in Cyprus remain there through at least August.
Mr. Brown gave no indication of what Britain would decide about troop levels beyond August. But he noted that the 8,300 British soldiers now deployed in Afghanistan were the second largest contingent of any of the 41 nations that have contributed to the coalition force there, after 34,000 American troops.
More at The New York Times.
PAKISTAN
Pakistanis Strike Back Against Taliban - Ayesha Akram, Washington Times
Suicide attacks and bombings have driven some neighborhoods to take up arms in the city best known as the gateway to terrorist hide-outs in Pakistan's tribal areas.
Budabar is one example of a Peshawar neighborhood with its own squad of "Guardian Angels." But unlike the US vigilante group known for its red berets and armed only with martial-arts skills, the Pakistanis make their rounds with Kalashnikov rifles.
"We began patrolling the area at night," said Khushdil Khan, a deputy speaker in the regional parliament. "Every evening from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., almost a hundred men from our area can be seen on the streets." Such citizen efforts have become a matter of routine in neighborhoods in and near Peshawar.More at The Washington Times.
PIRACY
Pirates in Skiffs Still Outmaneuvering Warships Off Somalia - Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times
More than a dozen warships from Italy, Greece, Turkey, India, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, France, Russia, Britain, Malaysia and the United States have joined the hunt.
And yet, in the past two months alone, the pirates have attacked more than 30 vessels, eluding the naval patrols, going farther out to sea and seeking bigger, more lucrative game, including an American cruise ship and a 1,000-foot Saudi oil tanker.
The pirates are recalibrating their tactics, attacking ships in beelike swarms of 20 to 30 skiffs, and threatening to choke off one of the busiest shipping arteries in the world, at the mouth of the Red Sea.
More at The New York Times.
MIDDLE EAST
The Return of Realpolitik in Arabia - Fouad Ajami, Wall Street Journal opinion
President Bush assumed office promising a "humble foreign policy." But it was his luck, or fate, to have much of his presidency consumed by adventures in the Greater Middle East. It is clear from the passion of his valedictory tour that he has caught the bug of that region, that it has worked its way on him as he himself worked his will, and the power available to him, on its settled and ruinous ways.
President-elect Barack Obama has signaled that the foreign world will not be his primary concern, that the repair of the American economy will trump all other pursuits and temptations. On the lands and the peoples of the Middle East, Mr. Obama has been largely silent, if not detached. He was in the Illinois Senate when a huge storm blew over the Islamic world. He was lucky, as his secretary of state designate endlessly reminded us, to have given a solitary speech on Iraq when the challenge came calling.
More at The Wall Street Journal.
Rice Faults US' Mideast Focus - Betsy Pisik, Washington Times
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered a subtle mea culpa at the United Nations on Monday - saying the US may have contributed to a "freedom deficit" in the Middle East by not pushing harder for democratic reforms.
"We are more secure when democracy is on the march, and more vulnerable when it is not," Miss Rice told reporters.
She said that US partners usually shared American-style values, but "not in the Middle East, where we focused on stability at the expense of values."
More at The Washington Times.
IRREGULAR WARFARE
Pentagon Sets 'Asymmetric' Warfare As High Priority - Jeffrey Young, Voice of America
In Iraq, Afghanistan, and other trouble spots, the US military has been confronted by guerrilla - so-called "asymmetrical" - warfare. Instead of confronting regular armies, American troops now typically face insurgents and terrorists who fight with whatever they have. The Pentagon has responded by putting greater emphasis on preparing US forces to fight the same way.
The Defense Department says the US military has to fight insurgents and terrorists using their tactics. To do that, Secretary Robert Gates is giving training in unconventional warfare the same importance as traditional warfare. And, Gates wants traditional military and special operations units integrated.
Gates says unconventional warfare is now the norm rather than the exception.
"The record of the past quarter century is clear. The Soviets in Afghanistan, the Israelis in Lebanon, the United States in Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Smaller, irregular forces - insurgents, guerrillas, terrorists - will find ways, as they always have, to frustrate and neutralize the advantages of larger, regular militaries," Gates said. "And even nation-states will try to exploit our perceived vulnerabilities in an asymmetric way."
Defense analyst Sam Brannen at the Center for Strategic and International Studies says Gates has ordered the Pentagon to stop fighting the Cold War.
More at The Voice of America.
NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION
Panel Cites 'Tipping Point' On Nuclear Proliferation - Walter Pincus, Washington Post
The development of nuclear arsenals by both Iran and North Korea could lead to "a cascade of proliferation," making it more probable that terrorists could get their hands on an atomic weapon, a congressionally chartered commission warned yesterday.
"It appears that we are at a 'tipping point' in proliferation," the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States said in an interim report to lawmakers that was released yesterday.
The bipartisan panel, led by former defense secretaries William J. Perry and James R. Schlesinger, added that actions by Tehran and Pyongyang could lead other countries to follow, "and as each nuclear power is added, the probability of a terror group getting a nuclear bomb increases."
More at The Washington Post.
NEWS & OPINION NOTES
Afghanistan / Pakistan Tribal Areas
Bush Predicts Tough Fight Against Taliban - Voice of America
‘Good Progress’ Made, Challenges Ahead in Afghanistan, Bush Says - AFPS
Pakistani Drivers Supplying NATO Troops in Afghanistan Go on Strike - The Times
Suspected US Strike Kills 2 in Pakistan - Associated Press
Afghanistan Today - National Review opinion
India / Pakistan
UK Request to Question Mumbai Suspects Rejected - The Times
Pakistan Rejects British Request to Grill Mumbai Suspects - AFP
West Prods Pakistan on Antiterror Fight, With Aid - Christian Science Monitor
Calls Offer Clues to Mumbai Attackers' Motives - Washington Post
Let's Buy Pakistan's Nukes - Wall Street Journal opinion
The Drum Beating in Kashmir - Boston Globe opinion
Iraq
Bing West on the Anbar Awakening - National Review
Iraqi Justice System Is Faulted - New York Times
Forces Strive to Maintain Gains in Key Jamilla Marketplace - Stars and Stripes
Colonel Offers Insight Into Iraqi Police Training Evolution - AFPS
Iraq Detains Journalist Who Threw Shoes at US President - Voice of America
Iraqis Demand Release of Shoe-hurling Journalist - Associated Press
Flying Shoes Create a Hero In Arab World - Washington Post
In Iraqi’s Shoe-Hurling Protest, Arabs Find a Hero - New York Times
Shoe Thrower Elicits Mixed Reaction Among Arabs - Los Angeles Times
Arabs Hail Shoe-throwing Journalist as Hero - Agence France-Presse
Across Mideast, Arabs Hail Shoe-Hurling Journalist - Associated Press
The Sole of Liberation - Wall Street Journal editorial
Iran
Iran's Khatami Mulls Run for Presidency - Washington Post
The Long War
Three Algerian Detainees Set for Transfer to Bosnia - Washington Post
US to Release 3 From Guantánamo - New York Times
Lashkar-e-Taiba in America - Weekly Standard opinion
US Department of Defense
Procurement System Must Be More Responsive to Current Requirements - AFPS
What Next for Missile Defense? - Washington Times opinion
Private Military Companies
How Blackwater Serves America - Wall Street Journal opinion
United States
Poll Finds Support for Obama's War Views - Washington Post
Secret Service Faces Questions after Bush Shoe Incident - Los Angeles Times
Secret Service Defends Shoe Response - Washington Post
A Policy for Preventing Genocide - New York Times editorial
Obama's 8 Global National Security Challenges - US News & World Report opinion
Africa
Somali Parliament Backs Prime Minister - Voice of America
Zimbabwe Cholera Deaths Soar to 978 - Daily Telegraph
Zimbabwe Deaths Continue Despite Claims - The Times
UN Chief Deplores Mugabe Position - BBC News
Botswana ‘Plotting to Overthrow Mugabe’ - The Times
Uganda Says Rebels Damaged in Sunday Attack - Voice of America
LRA Uses Truce to Rearm in Uganda's Civil War - The Times
ANC Dissidents Create New Political Party in South Africa - Voice of America
Party in South Africa Seeks to Challenge Dominant ANC - Wall Street Journal
New Rival to Test South Africa's ANC - Christian Science Monitor
New Party to Challenge ANC Rule - BBC News
Canadian UN Official Missing in Niger - Agence France-Presse
Can Africa Trade Its Way to Peace? - New York Times opinion
Americas
Kidnap Consultant Taken in Mexico - Washington Post
In Mexico, a Kidnapping Consultant is Abducted - Los Angeles Times
Kidnapping Negotiator Is Now a Victim in Mexico - New York Times
US Anti-kidnapping Expert Kidnapped in Mexico - Associated Press
Russian Warships Head for Cuba - Agence France-Presse
Asia Pacific
Chinese Crack Down on Dissidents - The Australian
For Thailand, 3rd Premier in 4 Months - Washington Post
New Thai Leader Faces Hurdles - Wall Street Journal
Thai Premier Short on Common Touch - New York Times
Thailand to Host ASEAN Summit - Agence France-Presse
Condi's Korean Failure - Wall Street Journal editorial
Europe
Athens Police, Protesters Clash for 10th Day - Voice of America
Thousands Descend on Athens Police HQ - Agence France-Presse
Kill Anyone Harming Russia, Says Lugovoy - The Times
Russians Sentenced for 19 Hate Killings - Associated Press
Russia to Join OPEC Moves to Cut Supplies - Daily Telegraph
Middle East
New Face of Law and Order in the West Bank - The Times
Israeli Authorities Detain, Expel UN Human Rights Envoy - Washington Post
UN Rights Investigator Expelled by Israel - New York Times
Palestinians Rejoice as Israel Frees 224 Inmates - Associated Press
Israel's Coming Test for Obama - Christian Science Monitor opinion
US and UAE Forge Nuclear Cooperation Deal - Los Angeles Times
Nuclear Cooperation with the UAE? - National Review opinion
Egyptian Intellectuals Pay Price for Curiosity - Los Angeles 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.
13 January - The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948: A Discourse to Shape America’s Discourse (Symposium). Washington, D.C. – at the Reserve Officer’s Association at the intersection of First Street and Constitution Avenue, NE. The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 was passed as the U.S. was beginning a "war of ideology... a war unto death," as America's Ambassador to Russia described it at the time. But, beginning in the 1970's, instead of promoting international engagement through information, cultural and educational exchanges, the law was distorted into a barrier of engagement. From its propaganda and counter-propaganda intentions, it transformed into an anti-propaganda law for reasons that had little to nothing to do with concerns over domestic influence and far removed from the original intent of the law. Keynotes will be given by Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy James K. Glassman and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Support to Public Diplomacy Michael Doran. There will be four 90 minute panels – past, present, future, and Congress – that will emphasize Q&A, discourse, and debate and not presentations or monologues. Registration is free, open to the public, and required to attend. The event will be on the record with a transcript available after the event. A public report based on the proceedings will be produced. Registration and other information can be found at http://mountainrunner.us/symposium.
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.
