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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
Israel, Hamas Ignore UN Resolution Calling for Cease-Fire in 14-Day Conflict - Charles Levinson, Wall Street Journal
Israel and Hamas shrugged off a United Nations Security Council cease-fire resolution, with the Jewish state Saturday pressing its 15-day assault in the Gaza Strip and Hamas firing rockets into southern Israel.
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the resolution "unrealistic." Moussa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas leader in Damascus, told Hezbollah's Al-Manar television that "this resolution does not concern us."
Despite the public statements, both Israel and Hamas have quietly taken tentative steps toward opening cease-fire talks. But it's already clear any talks could quickly break down over issues including opening border crossings and the role of the Palestinian Authority.
More at The Wall Street Journal.
Gaza Strikes Reverberate in Egypt - Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post
Rarely has an Arab leader been so widely perceived as backing Israel and the United States against the Palestinians, whose struggle has been a fundamental rallying point for Arabs and Muslims for more than six decades.
But Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has rejected popular and regional pressure to open the Gaza-Egypt border and toughen his stance against Israel. In recent days, his government has voiced support for Palestinians in an effort to defuse mounting criticism, but officials continue to suppress anti-Israeli demonstrations.
More at The Washington Post.
Gaza: International Plan Hatched to Bring Back Fatah - James Bone and Martin Fletcher, The Times
A plan to create a new foothold in Gaza for the Palestinian Authority and to bring in international monitors was being drawn up by diplomats yesterday as a UN ceasefire call was dismissed by both sides.
The plan would allow a return of the authority, led by the secular Fatah faction, to the territory 18 months after it was expelled by the Islamist Hamas. Diplomats are considering taking a triangle at the southern end of Gaza, including the Rafah crossing to Egypt and the Kerem Shalom crossing to Israel, to be policed by Turkish and French military monitors to stop arms smuggling into Gaza.
The zone would nominally be controlled by the authority, the internationally recognised Government. Such a plan would allow the crossings to reopen for the first time since Hamas seized power in Gaza in June 2007.
More at The Times.
Gaza Strip Tunnels Prove Daunting for Israel - Peter Spiegel and Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times
Some of them are said to be big enough to accommodate railroad cars. They may reach a depth of 60 feet, and are reported to be equipped with cables and electric motors that move food, fuel -- and probably some of the heaviest rockets that Hamas aims at Israel.
They also are one of the main reasons fighting is continuing in the Gaza Strip.
As Israeli officials debate how far to press their campaign in Gaza, one of their chief goals is finding a way to crimp or permanently halt the flow of arms to Hamas through a complex of tunnels under the territory's border with Egypt.
More at The Los Angeles Times and:
UN Security Council Adopts Gaza Cease-fire Resolution - Voice of America
Israel, Hamas Reject Efforts to Reach Truce - Washington Post
Neither Israel nor Hamas Heeds UN Call for Cease-fire - Los Angeles Times
UN 'War Crimes' Warning to Israel - The Times
Israeli Strike on Civilian House May be 'War Crime' - Daily Telegraph
Gaza Fighting Continues Despite UN Call for Cease-Fire - Voice of America
Israel Hits Targets, Draws Near Gaza City - Associated Press
Abbas Says ‘Aggression’ Must Stop - New York Times
Rice Defends US Abstention on Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution - Voice of America
UN Aid Agency to Resume Full Services in Gaza 'Soon' - Voice of America
Worldwide Protests Against Gaza Operation - Voice of America
Anger Over Gaza Grows in Arab Street - New York Times
For Arab Clan, Days of Agony in a Cross-Fire - New York Times
Israelis Mourn Fallen Soldiers - Los Angeles Times
In Defence of Israel - The Times editorial
At a Crossroads in Gaza - Washington Post editorial
'Israel Is Not Going to Show Restraint' - Washington Post opinion
Muslims Against Hamas - Wall Street Journal opinion
Hamas' War Crimes - Los Angeles Times opinion
Israel Is Committing War Crimes - Wall Street Journal opinion
AFGHANISTAN
Bomb Kills 3 U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan - Pamela Constable, Washington Post
A homemade bomb killed three U.S. soldiers in the southeastern province of Zabol on Friday, less than 24 hours after two American soldiers died in a suicide bombing at a busy produce market in neighboring Kandahar province, officials said.
The five deaths brought to 637 the number of American troops killed in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the extremist Taliban government in late 2001, according to various monitoring groups. More than 400 soldiers from other coalition forces have also been killed.
The attacks coincided with the arrival in the region of Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), 11 days before he is scheduled to be sworn in as the U.S. vice president.
More at the Washington Post and New York Times.
IRAQ
Iraq's Novice Political Candidates Embrace Campaigning - Kimi Yoshino and Raheem Salman, Los Angeles Times
Provincial council candidate Fareeq Khazaali moves through the crowds of shoppers on Mutanabi Street with the confidence and ease of a veteran politician, shaking hands and smiling, as his children, wearing homemade campaign T-shirts, distribute leaflets.
When he's not pressing the flesh, he's sending frequent text messages ("Greetings. Please elect your candidate Fareeq Khazaali.") and making friends on Facebook -- surprising political sophistication for a novice candidate in a country taking baby steps toward democracy.
As Iraq nears its provincial elections day, Jan. 31, residents are faced with ballots that could make even a seasoned voter's head spin. In total across the country, 14,400 candidates representing 407 political entities are vying for 440 seats.
More at The Los Angeles Times.
THE LONG WAR
Senior US Counterterrorism Officials Differ Over Al-Qaeda Threat - Elaine M. Grossman, Global Security Newswire
Two senior Bush administration officials this week offered differing assessments of al-Qaeda's capability to carry out a major new attack against the United States.
The terrorist network continues to pose a serious threat to the United States, potentially involving the use of weapons of mass destruction, according to a key White House adviser.
Kenneth Wainstein, homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush, said Wednesday that the United States succeeded in weakening al-Qaeda shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Washington and its allies quickly expelled al-Qaeda and its Taliban hosts from Afghanistan, and since then have targeted high-ranking operatives and their financial networks throughout the region and around the globe.
More at Global Security Newswire.
Obama's Intelligence Team Entering New Era in Counter-terrorism - Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times
With the introduction of President-elect Barack Obama's intelligence team on Friday, the United States is poised to enter what might be considered the second phase in the counter-terrorism campaign launched after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Obama and his spy chief nominees have promised a dramatic break with the policies of the Bush administration, largely by focusing attention on what they intend to undo -- including shutting down the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison complex and ending the CIA's use of "enhanced" interrogation techniques.
But the incoming administration has been less clear about what it will erect to replace those programs, which drew condemnation from much of the world but often were cited by Bush administration officials as key to keeping the country safe.
More at The Los Angeles Times.
NEWS & OPINION NOTES
Afghanistan / Pakistan Tribal Areas
Biden in Afghanistan for Talks - Associated Press
Coalition Targets Bomb Networks in Afghanistan - AFPS
Predator Attack Kills al-Qaeda Leaders - The Times
Afghan Media Gain Insight Into Air Force Mission - AFPS
Iraq
IG Faults Oversight of Security in Iraq - Washington Post
Coalition Ensures Long-term Employment for ‘Sons of Iraq’ - AFPS
Army Speeds Delivery of Force-protection Equipment to Iraq - AFPS
Iran
Iran Moved Billions via US Banks - New York Times
India / Pakistan
Pakistan Aids India's Terror Probe - Associated Press
The Long War
Al-Qaeda's Pakistan Chief and Senior Aide Killed - Daily Telegraph
Let's Give the CIA Its Due - Wall Street Journal opinion
US Intelligence Community
Hayden Gives Lukewarm Support to CIA Successor - Washington Times
Obama's Mixed Message on Intelligence Plans - The Times
Obama Under Pressure On Interrogation Policy - Washington Post
Obama Announces Intelligence Director, CIA Chief Picks - AFPS
Hayden: Panetta Can Learn From CIA - Washington Times
Panetta: Not a Company Man - New York Times editorial
Limited Intelligence? - Washington Times opinion
US Department of Defense
Army General Apologizes for Misprinted Letters - AFPS
Shortchanging Veterans - Washington Post editorial
World
The State of the Nations - Wall Street Journal
Taming the Nuclear Dragon - Wall Street Journal
Africa
Mistrust, Key Issues Hamper Peace Process in Sudan - Voice of America
Opposition Says Ghana Polls Fine Example for Nigeria - Voice of America
Ghana’s Unlikely Democrat Finds Vindication in Vote - New York Times
AU Will Sanction Guinea Unless Elections Held Quickly - Voice of America
Pirates Say They Freed Saudi Tanker for $3 Million - New York Times
Pirates Release Hijacked Tanker - Wall Street Journal
Somali Pirates Free Another Ship - Reuters
Pirates Get $3 Million for Saudi Tanker - Associated Press
Son of Ex-President of Liberia Gets 97 Years - New York Times
Americas
US-Mexico Border Reinforced - Daily Telegraph
Cubans Continue to Struggle - Voice of America
Colombian Drug Lord Gunned Down in Hospital - Wall Street Journal
Europe
EU Fails To End Gas Crisis Between Ukraine and Russia - Voice of America
Russia Prepares to Resume Gas Shipments to Europe - Washington Post
Europe Seeks Final Gas Deal With Russia - Reuters
Turkish Probe's Focus on Military Raises Tensions - Wall Street Journal
South Asia
Sri Lanka Says Troops are Gaining in Elephant Pass - Voice of America
Sri Lankan Troops Seize Base, Pushing Rebels Into Corner - Associated Press
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.