I assure you that, if I am confirmed, the State Department will be firing on all cylinders to provide forward-looking, sustained diplomacy in every part of the world.
--Senator Hillary Clinton
THE LONG WAR
Guantanamo Solution Remains a Defense Department Priority, Spokesman Says - Michael J. Carden, American Forces Press Service
A solution for closing down the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has vexed Defense Department officials and will remain a challenge during President-elect Barack Obama’s administration, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said today.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has advocated shutting down the facility since he was appointed two years ago. And while Obama has expressed similar interests throughout his campaign, both acknowledge it “may take some time” to accomplish, Morrell said during a Pentagon news conference.
“The challenge, of course, has been for this president and for this secretary: How do you close it?” he said. “There are a range of outcomes, a range of possibilities under discussion, and no one has settled on, at this point, any one option or solution to this thorny problem.”
Before US officials close the facility, Gates wants to see legislation outlining where and how the detainees will be housed to ensure they don’t return to violence, Morrell said. The host country must guarantee their safe treatment and provide for their confinement effectively, he added.
More at American Forces Press Service.
Pentagon: 61 ex-Guantanamo Inmates Return to Terrorism - David Morgan, Reuters
The Pentagon said on Tuesday that 61 former detainees from its military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, appear to have returned to terrorism since their release from custody.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said 18 former detainees are confirmed as "returning to the fight" and 43 are suspected of having done in a report issued late in December by the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Morrell declined to provide details such as the identity of the former detainees, why and where they were released or what actions they have taken since leaving US custody.
Moe at Reuters.
US Bases Eyed as Gitmo Alternative - Sara Carter and Eli Lake, Washington Times
The Pentagon is looking at several military bases in the US as possible sites to hold terrorist suspects now at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including Camp Pendleton in San Diego and Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.
Sen. Sam Brownback, Kansas Republican whose state hosts Fort Leavenworth, told The Washington Times that an internal Pentagon study named Fort Leavenworth among other locations.
Mr. Obama has pledged to close the detention facility at Guantanamo, which has become an open sore for the US in its relations with other nations, especially in the Islamic world.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell declined to comment, as did officials from the Obama transition team.
More at The Washington Times.
US FOREIGN POLICY
Clinton Pledges Tough Diplomacy and a Fast Start - Mark Landler, New York Times
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday deflected calls for greater limits on her husband’s fund-raising, struck a sharper tone toward Israel on violence in the Middle East and emerged from a daylong confirmation hearing headed for swift approval as secretary of state.
Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mrs. Clinton showed a mastery of the issues that won praise from her fellow lawmakers, and outlined a muscular view of American foreign policy that she said would put diplomacy front and center in the Obama administration.
On most important issues, including Iraq and Afghanistan, Mrs. Clinton broke little ground, saying that she did not want to undermine President Bush before President-elect Barack Obama took office. But she left little doubt that she intended to be in the thick of all of these issues.
More at The New York Times.
Clinton to Engage Iran and Syria Soon - Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal
Sen. Hillary Clinton said at her confirmation hearing that the new administration would move quickly to engage Iran and Syria directly, making good on an Obama campaign promise to shift US Mideast policy.
Sen. Clinton also told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday that, if confirmed as secretary of state, she would work to revive key international nuclear-disarmament initiatives that have largely lain dormant in the past eight years.
She specifically cited a renewed US effort to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, as well as to reach accord with Russia on a revised Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which regulates the number of long-range nuclear weapons.
These initiatives, said the former first lady, would be part of the new administration's focus on using diplomacy, economic aid and commerce, or "soft power," to build bridges to allies and adversaries often critical of US foreign policy in recent years.
More at The Wall Street Journal.
At Confirmation Hearing, Clinton Talks of Engagement With Iran - Glenn Kessler, Washington Post
Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that the incoming Obama administration will seek to engage directly with Iran in an effort to persuade it to abandon its nuclear program and become "a constructive regional actor," underscoring a dramatic shift in US foreign policy from the Bush administration.
In prepared testimony and remarks during her confirmation hearing -- which were supplemented by 79 pages of formal answers to questions posed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- Clinton was careful not to tip her hand on specific plans or policies that the new administration might pursue. But she struck a consistent theme of active engagement and unyielding diplomacy, a sharp contrast to President Bush's policy of refusing to deal with countries that did not first meet conditions set by the United States.
Clinton also pledged greater involvement in the quest for Middle East peace but was not drawn into specific questions about how the incoming administration might handle Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip.
More at the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times, Washington Times, Christian Science Monitor, New York Times (editorial), Washington Post (editorial), Los Angeles Times (editorial) and Voice of America.
ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS
Battle Moves Deeper into Gaza City for Third Day - Charles Levinson, Wall Street Journal
For the third day in a row, Israeli forces thrust into southern Gaza City early Tuesday and battled Palestinian militants until dawn before withdrawing into the sparsely populated farmland on the city's outskirts.
The increasingly deep incursions into the enclave's capital city of a half-million people fueled fears that a third phase of the Israeli attack could be imminent, in which Israel is expected to send a surge of thousands of additional reservists into Gaza and its densely populated urban centers. As Israel tightens its cordon around Gaza City, there were also indications that Israel's and Hamas's resistance to an Egyptian-sponsored cease-fire initiative may be softening.
Hamas deputy political leader Moussa Abu Marzouq told Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera the group was prepared to accept the cease-fire plan, but said Hamas still has "significant reservations."
More at The Wall Street Journal.
Israel Delays All-out Assault on Gaza - Martin Fletcher, The Times
Israel has briefly delayed its all-out assault on the heart of Gaza’s population centres because it believes that local leaders of Hamas have been shocked by the ferocity of Operation Cast Lead and want to end the fighting.
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, remains determined to launch “phase three” of the operation if necessary but hopes that the prospect of Israeli troops advancing with overwhelming firepower into Gaza’s most built-up areas will deepen the tensions emerging within Hamas and force it to accept Egypt’s ceasefire plan.
More at The Times.
Hamas May Survive Offensive, Israel Says - Craig Whitlock, Washington Post
Israeli military officials said Tuesday that their 18-day offensive in the Gaza Strip had weakened Hamas but that a knockout blow was unlikely. The conflict showed no signs of ending as diplomats reported little progress in negotiating a cease-fire.
The Israeli officials said their strategy was to squeeze Hamas militarily as they try to pressure the Islamist movement into a truce that would include a long-term commitment to stop firing rockets into southern Israel. Some Hamas leaders have said they are willing to cut a deal, but others have pledged to continue fighting.
Despite public vows by Israeli politicians to destroy Hamas's military capability, Israeli officials said Tuesday that the movement had lost only a fraction of its fighters and retained a large stockpile of rockets and other armaments. A "few hundred" Hamas fighters have been killed, out of a total force of 15,000, according to a senior Israeli military official.
More at The Washington Post.
Israel Says Hamas Is Damaged, Not Destroyed - Steven Erlanger and Michael Slackman, New York Times
Despite heavy air and ground assaults, Israel has yet to cripple the military wing of Hamas or destroy the group’s ability to launch rockets, Israeli intelligence officials said on Tuesday, suggesting that Israel’s main goals in the conflict remain unfulfilled even after 18 days of war.
The comments reflected a view among some Israeli officials that any lasting solution to the conflict would require either a breakthrough diplomatic accord that heavily restricts Hamas’s military abilities or a deeper ground assault into urban areas of Gaza, known here as a possible “Phase Three” of the war.
The intelligence officials said there were some signs that the military assault had undermined Hamas’s political cohesion, and that Hamas’s leaders in hiding inside Gaza were more eager for a cease-fire than group leaders in exile. They described this assessment as based on hard intelligence, presumably telephone intercepts.
More at The New York Times and:
Israel Pushes Into Gaza Strip - Voice of America
Hamas is Weakened but Still Dangerous - Los Angeles Times
Israeli Troops Reveal Ruthless Gaza Tactics - The Times
Israel Pursues its Gaza Offensive - BBC News
Israeli Civilians Closest to Gaza Face Rocket Barrage - Voice of America
Rockets Fired from Lebanon hit Israel Once Again - Associated Press
Injured Palestinians Increasingly Voice Support for Hamas - Washington Post
Soldiers and Army at Odds on Phosphorus - The Times
Arab Leaders Lock Horns Over Proposed Summit on Gaza - Voice of America
Bin Laden Urges Jihad Against Israel - Associated Press
Red Cross: 28,000 People Displaced in Gaza - Voice of America
Israel, Aid Groups Have Long Feuded - Washington Post
Israel’s Goals in Gaza? - New York Times opinion
Smuggling Tunnels Must Be Closed - Wall Street Journal opinion
Why Israel Can’t Make Peace With Hamas - New York Times opinion
Gaza Needs a Peace Stimulus - Christian Science Monitor opinion
When Israel Expelled Palestinians - Washington Times opinion
Israel's Losing Media Strategy - Los Angeles Times opinion
IRAQ
Security No Longer Iraqis' Key Worry, Pentagon Says - Julian Barnes, Los Angeles Times
Inadequate supplies of food, water, electricity and healthcare have replaced security as the primary concern of Iraqi citizens, the Pentagon says in a progress report Tuesday.
But nearly six years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the nation's long-term stability remains threatened by disagreements among its power brokers, the report says.
The quarterly progress report, required by Congress, was the final assessment submitted before President Bush leaves office next week.
More at The Los Angeles Times.
NEWS & OPINION NOTES
Afghanistan / Pakistan Tribal Areas
Obama to Reassess US Mission in Afghanistan - Voice of America
Afghan Schoolgirls Undeterred by Attack - New York Times
Viagra: New Secret CIA Weapon - Washington Times opinion
Iraq
Biden: Political Rivals Should Resolve Claims to Kirkuk - Voice of America
Changes in Iraq Election Law Weaken Quota for Women - New York Times
Economic Improvements in Iraq Show Promise - AFPS
Suicide Car Bomber Kills 2 in Mosul - Associated Press
New Report Details Iraq Contract Failures - Washington Post
Iran
Iran Says US Helped Finance Overthrow Plot - New York Times
Iran Stones Two Men To Death, a Third Flees - Washington Post
BBC: Bridging the Persian Gulf - The Times editorial
Obama's New Approach on Iran - Christian Science Monitor opinion
The Long War
Confusion over Obama Pledge to Close Guantánamo - The Times
Evidence in Terror Cases Said to Be in Chaos - Washington Post
Bush, Obama Teams Practice Terror Response - Voice of America
Obama-Bush Officials Conduct 'War' Games - Washington Times
US Department of Defense
Senate Committee Slates Confirmation Hearings for Defense Nominees - AFPS
US Department of Homeland Security
Keep FEMA Within Homeland Security - Washington Times opinion
United States
Dealing with Russia a Key Challenge for Obama - Voice of America
Medals of Freedom to Howard, Blair and Uribe - Washington Post
American Power Is on the Wane - Wall Street Journal opinion
Africa
Zimbabwe Cholera Epidemic: Over 2,000 Dead - The Times
Zimbabwean Government Denying Human Right to Health - Washington Post
Zimbabweans Detail Abduction Spree - Christian Science Monitor
US to 'Sound Darfur Crisis Alarm' - BBC News
Ethiopian Troops Begin Pulling Out of Somalia - Voice of America
Ethiopia Starts Pullout From Somalia - Wall Street Journal
Ethiopians Withdraw From Key Bases - New York Times
Ethiopia Transfers Security Duty in Somalia - Associated Press
Somali Joy as Ethiopians Withdraw - BBC News
Russian Navy Saves Dutch Ship from Somali Pirates - Associated Press
Mozambique in Food Crisis Warning - BBC News
Americas
Calderón Offers Advice to Obama - Washington Post
Venezuela: Chavez will Try Again to End Term Limits - Los Angeles Times
Asia Pacific
Japan’s Governing Party Is Plunging in Polls - New York Times
China is Under Threat - The Times opinion
Europe
Ukraine and Russia Dispute Europe's Gas Flow - Voice of America
EU Says No Gas Flowing, Despite Russian Claims - The Times
EU Say Russia, Ukraine Violated Accord on Gas Shipments - Washington Post
Georgia’s Energy Minister Is Assailed for Deal With Russia - New York Times
Crisis Deepens as Russia-Ukraine Gas Deal Unravels - Christian Science Monitor
Gas Dispute Runs Deeper Than Pipes, Experts Say - New York Times
Critic of Chechen President Is Killed in Exile in Vienna - New York Times
South Asia
British Foreign Secretary: Mumbai Terror Attack Linked to Pakistanis - VOA
Mumbai Dossier 'is Not Evidence' - BBC News
Sri Lankan Editor Row Escalates - BBC News
India and Bangladesh to Hold First Military Drills - 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.
