It’s not possible to solve the challenges internal to Afghanistan without addressing the challenges, especially in terms of security, with Afghanistan’s neighbors. A regional approach is required.
--Gen. David H. Petraeus
ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS
Olmert: We are Approaching Goals Set for Gaza Operation - Jerusalem Post
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that the IDF was getting close to the objectives set for Operation Cast Lead. Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, the prime minister warned that what had been achieved thus far in an "unprecedented effort" must not be lost at the last moment.
"Israel is approaching the goals it set for itself, but we require further patience, determination and effort so that our citizens can feel safety and stability," said Olmert. "The Israeli public, especially the residents of the South, have the necessary patience and willingness - so does the government!"
Olmert also hit back at the mounting international criticism of the Gaza operation.
More at The Jerusalem Post.
Combat May Escalate In Gaza, Israel Warns - Craig Whitlock and Reyham Abdel Kareem, Washington Post
The war in the Gaza Strip entered its third week Saturday, as weary Palestinians braced themselves for the possibility that the worst was yet to come. Israeli tanks edged closer to Gaza City, and warplanes dropped leaflets warning that an escalation in the fighting was likely.
Thousands of the leaflets fell out of the sky onto the Shati refugee camp, a concrete slum where about 80,000 people live along the Mediterranean Sea. The written warnings were clear: Don't help Hamas, and evacuate your homes if there are any "terrorist elements" nearby.
More at The Washington Post.
Gaza Offensive to Enter New Phase - Joshua Mitnick, Washington Times
Israel's air force dropped leaflets Saturday over Gaza's cities, warning residents of a new stage in the military offensive and telling them to stay clear of the fighting -- an ominous sign that escalation is imminent in the two-week war against Hamas.
The warnings came as tens of thousands of people demonstrated in cities around the world -- including Tel Aviv -- to put an end to the violence. A week of international diplomatic pressure, which culminated in Thursday's UN Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire, has failed to dampen the attacks from both sides and the momentum toward more violence.
Israel's army said it struck 60 Hamas targets Saturday, including tunnels and weapons depots. The military said that among those killed during a ground assault was a Hamas commander responsible for dozens of rocket launches into southern Israel from the Gaza City region. Palestinian militants fired about 20 rockets at Israeli cities.
More at The Washington Times.
Hamas Rocket Chief is Killed - Uzi Mahnaimi, The Times
The mastermind of Hamas’s long-range rocket attacks on Israel was killed yesterday in an airstrike, according to Israeli military sources.
Amir Mansi, an engineer who commanded cells responsible for firing Grad rockets supplied by Iran, died after coming under attack from a helicopter.
The Israeli army said he had been trying to fire mortar shells at their troops when he was targeted. Mansi headed the Hamas military wing’s Gaza Strip rocket division and “played a big role in Grad rocket attacks on Israeli communities”, a military spokesman said.
He was killed after a Grad struck the Israeli town of Gedera, near the Tel Nof airbase, where nuclear weapons are believed to be stored.
More at The Times.
A Gaza War Full of Traps and Trickery - Steven Erlanger, New York Times
The grinding urban battle unfolding in the densely populated Gaza Strip is a war of new tactics, quick adaptation and lethal tricks.
Hamas, with training from Iran and Hezbollah, has used the last two years to turn Gaza into a deadly maze of tunnels, booby traps and sophisticated roadside bombs. Weapons are hidden in mosques, schoolyards and civilian houses, and the leadership’s war room is a bunker beneath Gaza’s largest hospital, Israeli intelligence officials say.
Unwilling to take Israel’s bait and come into the open, Hamas militants are fighting in civilian clothes; even the police have been ordered to take off their uniforms. The militants emerge from tunnels to shoot automatic weapons or antitank missiles, then disappear back inside, hoping to lure the Israeli soldiers with their fire.
More at The New York Times and:
Pressure Heats Up As Gaza War Grinds On Into Third Week - VOA
As Talks Falter, Israel Warns of More Extensive Attacks - New York Times
Israel Warns Gaza Residents of 'New Phase' of Offensive - Los Angeles Times
Israel Takes War Against Hamas to Streets - Daily Telegraph
Gaza Hit by New Israeli Strikes - BBC News
Israel Tells Gazans to Brace for War Escalation - Associated Press
Palestinian Groups Reject International Gaza Force - Voice of America
Israeli Assault on Gaza Galvanizes Support for Hamas in West Bank - VOA
Bloodied Gaza Set for the Endgame - The Times
Israel Restricts Access to Al-Aqsa Mosque During Friday Prayers - VOA
Wounded from Gaza Get Emergency Care in Egypt - Voice of America
The View From Israel: Victors in a Necessary War - Washington Post
Turk Raises Eyebrows in Criticism of Israel - New York Times
Silence the Guns in Gaza - Los Angeles Times editorial
The New Israeli Fatalism - Washington Post opinion
Bridges to Peace in Gaza - Los Angeles Times opinion
No, We are Not all Hamas Now - The Times opinion
Negotiating the Mideast - Los Angeles Times opinion
IRAN
US Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site - David Sanger, New York Times
President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran’s suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials.
White House officials never conclusively determined whether Israel had decided to go ahead with the strike before the United States protested, or whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel was trying to goad the White House into more decisive action before Mr. Bush left office. But the Bush administration was particularly alarmed by an Israeli request to fly over Iraq to reach Iran’s major nuclear complex at Natanz, where the country’s only known uranium enrichment plant is located.
The White House denied that request outright, American officials said, and the Israelis backed off their plans, at least temporarily. But the tense exchanges also prompted the White House to step up intelligence-sharing with Israel and brief Israeli officials on new American efforts to subtly sabotage Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, a major covert program that Mr. Bush is about to hand off to President-elect Barack Obama.
More at The New York Times.
Using Fronts to Get Bomb Parts From US - Joby Warrick, Washington Post
The Iranian businessman was looking for high-quality American electronics, but he had to act stealthily: The special parts he coveted were denied to Iranians, especially those seeking to make roadside bombs to kill US troops in Iraq.
With a few e-mails, the problem was solved. A friendly Malaysian importer would buy the parts from a company in Linden, N.J., and forward them to Iran. All that was left was coming up with a fake name for the invoice. Perhaps a Malaysian engineering school? "Of course, you can use any other company as end-user that you think is better than this," the Iranian businessman, Ahmad Rahzad, wrote in an e-mail dated March 8, 2007.
The ruse succeeded in delivering nine sensors called inclinometers to Iran, the first of several such shipments that year and the latest example of what US officials and weapons experts describe as Iran's skillful flouting of export laws intended to stop lethal technology from reaching the Islamic republic.
More at The Washington Post.
Iranians' Hope for US Policy Shift Dims - Hadi Nili, Washington Times
President-elect Barack Obama has not yet been inaugurated, but some Iranians are already losing their optimism that he will change policy toward Iran after 30 years of estrangement. An initial groundswell of enthusiasm among some Iranians has been replaced by caution and concern.
"Obama" means "he is with us" in Persian. But an Iranian weekly tabloid recently ran a headline saying "He is not with us."
"Nothing will basically change with Obama," said a foreign editor for one of Iran's most prominent newspapers, who asked that only his first name, Reza, be used. "He is one of them; someone from the system, despite his slogans."
More at The Washington Times.
AFGHANISTAN
Biden Visits Afghanistan, Meets Karzai, US Officials - Pamela Constable, Washington Post
Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. made a heavily guarded visit to Afghanistan on Saturday, meeting with top Afghan and U.S. military leaders after a quick stop in Pakistan to stress continued US support in the fight against terrorism across South Asia.
The Democratic senator from Delaware, accompanied by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), was briefed by top US military officials as the United States prepares to make a major new commitment of troops and counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan, which is facing an aggressive Taliban insurgency.
Biden also met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whom he has deemed weak and ineffective. Karzai, who is running for reelection, has excoriated US forces for causing civilian casualties during bombing raids and more broadly has sought to distance himself from the foreign defense forces his government invited to help restore order after the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.
More at The Washington Post, New York Times, American Forces Press Service, Voice of America and BBC News.
US will Grab Power from British in Afghanistan - Michael Smith and Sarah Baxter, The Times
The United States is building a command structure in Kandahar that will sideline the British general who takes command of southern Afghanistan in May. Brigadier-General John Nicholson, a senior American officer who previously served in Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division, has already arrived in Kandahar to oversee the Afghan “surge”.
Although technically he will be subordinate to the British general who takes command in May, he will in reality have control of all US troops, UK defence sources said last week. Nicholson’s bombproof, rocket-proof command centre will dwarf the British general’s headquarters, which ostensibly controls operations across southern Afghanistan.
The takeover will be complete by the autumn of next year when the US will assume permanent control of the south, which at present rotates between the British, Canadians and Dutch. The move to sideline the British comes amid tensions between the two countries’ armies over what the Americans see as British military failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
More at The Times.
NEWS & OPINION NOTES
Afghanistan / Pakistan Tribal Areas
Behind the Lines with the Taliban - Los Angeles Times
Pakistan
The Worst Pakistan Nightmare for Obama - New York Times
Iraq
Dispute Weakens Iraqi Sunni Coalition - New York Times
Kurdish Leader Sees Authoritarian Drift in Iraq - Los Angeles Times
The Long War
Bringing Justice to the War on Terrorism - New York Times opinion
Coddling Pirates Aids Terrorists - Washington Times opinion
US Department of Defense
Bush Praises Military for Keeping America Safe - AFPS
Navy Commissions USS George H.W. Bush with Namesake on Hand - AFPS
USS George H.W. Bush Aircraft Carrier Commissioned - Voice of America
Aircraft Carrier Honors Elder Bush - Washington Post
Army Lures Recruits with Virtual Reality War Game - The Times
United States
Economy May Fuel Hate Groups - Washington Post
For Bush and His Staff, a Season of ‘the Lasts’ - New York Times
DoS: Bill Clinton’s Donors - New York Times editorial
United Kingdom
I Hope MI5 Doesn't Play by the Rules - Daily Telegraph opinion
Africa
Uganda's Conflict Spreads to Congo - Los Angeles Times
S. Africa's ANC Unveils Platform for Upcoming Election Campaign - VOA
Zimbabwe’s Sick Forced to Pay with US Dollars - Los Angeles Times
For Zimbabwe's Dead, A Final Indignity - Washington Post
Mugabe's Election Theft and Illegitimacy - Washington Times opinion
Pirates Release Hijacked Tanker - Wall Street Journal
Somali Pirates Release Iranian Chartered Cargo Ship - Voice of America
Somali Pirates Drown as they Flee with Ransom - The Times
5 Pirates Drown With Share of $3 Million Ransom - Washington Post
Desperate Africans Pay Heavy Price to Cross Gulf Of Aden - Voice of America
Americas
In Mexico, Curbing Violence Before It Is Learned - New York Times
Colombia Indians Face Down Violence - Los Angeles Times
Cubans Continue to Struggle to Get Around Island - Voice of America
Cuba: Revolutionary Road's Dead End - Washington Post opinion
Asia Pacific
Key Election Test for New Thai PM - BBC News
Striking the Brothels’ Bottom Line - New York Times opinion
Europe
No Russian Gas in Eastern Europe Despite EU Agreement - Voice of America
Russia, Ukraine Agree To Restart Gas Flow - Washington Post
Ukraine and Russia Sign Deal Over Gas - New York Times
Russia Closer to Restoring Gas Flow to Europe - Daily Telegraph
Ukraine Signs Gas-Monitor Deal - Associated Press
EU Gas Monitors Deploy in Ukraine - BBC News
Kremlin Uses Gas as a Weapon - Los Angeles Times editorial
Russia is Playing Power Games - Daily Telegraph opinion
MI6 Officers Allegedly Leak Oil Dossier to Kazakhstan - The Times
Neo-Nazi Violence on the Tise in Bavaria - The Times
South Asia
Kashmir Militants 'Escaped Army' - BBC News
Army 'Takes Key Sri Lanka Pass' - BBC News
BOOKS
The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 - Thomas Ricks
Thomas E. Ricks uses hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with top officers in Iraq and extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to document the inside story of the Iraq War since late 2005 as only he can, examining the events that took place as the military was forced to reckon with itself, the surge was launched, and a very different war began.
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
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.
