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

AFGHANISTAN

Afghan Conflict Will Be Reviewed - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post

President-elect Barack Obama intends to sign off on Pentagon plans to send up to 30,000 more U. troops to Afghanistan, but the incoming administration does not anticipate that the Iraq-like "surge" of forces will significantly change the direction of a conflict that has steadily deteriorated over the past seven years.

Instead, Obama's national security team expects that the new deployments, which will nearly double the current US force of 32,000 (alongside an equal number of non-US NATO troops), will help buy enough time for the new administration to reappraise the entire Afghanistan war effort and develop a comprehensive new strategy for what Obama has called the "central front on terror."

More at The Washington Post.

Obama Faces Decision on How to Deploy Troops in Afghanistan - Julian Barnes, Los Angeles Times

Soon after Barack Obama is sworn in as president, he will face a crucial decision about the future of the war in Afghanistan: what to do with thousands of new U.S. troops that will flow into the country over the course of the year.

Within the Pentagon, a vigorous debate has emerged about what the top priority should be for those forces.

Some Defense officials argue that the bulk of the build-up should be arrayed along the border with Pakistan, focusing on the fight with militants who move easily back and forth across the rugged terrain.

But others, including Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who is now the top commander of those troops, want to see the US take a page out of the Iraq playbook, making Afghan cities and towns their top priority to help protect civilians from Taliban extremists and other militants.

More at The Los Angeles Times.

How US Tries to Limit Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan - Dana Harman, Christian Science Monitor

Keating, Fritsche, Lowell, Bostick, Cherry-Beasley. The list goes on and on. Almost every coalition forces' camp in Afghanistan is named for a life cut short.

Officers give briefings in front of plaques bearing the photographs of the dead. Camps are rechristened to memorialize their names. And flags are rarely seen fluttering at the top of their poles anymore.

The situation is getting worse. In recent months, coalition deaths here have outnumbered those in Iraq, and attacks in 2008 were up by 28 percent over the previous year, says Col. Skip Davis, strategic adviser to Gen. David McKiernan, who commands the approximately 70,000 troops in Afghanistan. A record 294 NATO soldiers were killed in Afghanistan last year; 155 were Americans, according to icasualties.org.

One of the reasons for the mounting number of coalition casualties, explain General McKiernan's staff, is the pressure not to hit civilians – coupled with the growing use of civilians either as proxy fighters or as human shields by the insurgents.

More at The Christian Science Monitor.

ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS

Gaza: Israel Prepares 'Iron Fist' Strike at Hamas - Martin Fletcher and Sheera Frenkel, The Times

Israel is preparing to wage war against Hamas in the very heart of Gaza's crowded population centres unless the Islamic militants accept ceasefire demands swiftly and stop firing rockets over the border.

As thousands of reservists pour into Gaza to bolster Israel's forces, the Cabinet is expected to approve imminently a devastating new “third phase” of its 18-day-old offensive unless there is a last-minute diplomatic breakthrough.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, pledged yesterday to hit Hamas with an “iron fist” if the rockets did not cease.

More at The Times.

Israel Weighs Options in Gaza - Richard Boudreaux, Los Angeles Times

Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip began with a simply stated goal shared by the senior leadership: cripple Hamas' ability, and break its will, to fire rockets across the border.

Seventeen days later, the goal remains elusive, the military operation has slowed, and the political consensus behind it is fraying.

After hundreds of airstrikes and a thundering ground invasion, a Palestinian death toll nearing 1,000 and international outcry over the bloodshed, Israeli leaders are furiously debating how and when the offensive should end.

None of the options offers guaranteed quiet on the Gaza front. They range from a unilateral withdrawal to a full-scale, bloody reoccupation of the Palestinian enclave that Israelis thought they had left behind more than three years ago.

More at The Los Angeles Times.

US Lessons for Israel's Unconventional War - Pierre Atlas, Real Clear World opinion

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict defies easy categorization. It bears some resemblance to a conventional inter-state war, even though there is no sovereign Palestinian state. Yet in many ways it is more akin to a civil war, with two sides fighting over a single piece of territory, British Mandate Palestine - which is today Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

All wars, civil or inter-state, generally end in one of two ways: an outright military victory by one side over the other, or a negotiated settlement between the combatants. The century-old conflict between the Jews and Arabs of Palestine will not be resolved through a military victory. The only viable solution to the conflict is a political one, a negotiated settlement that creates two states.

More at Real Clear World and:

Israeli Bombing Continues, Palestinian Death Toll Tops 900 - Voice of America
Israel's Leaders Weigh Their Next Steps in Gaza - Washington Post
Israeli Troops Press Deeper Into Gaza City - Associated Press
Hamas Indicates it's Open to a Truce - Los Angeles Times
Gaza Fighting Inflicts Misery on Both Sides - Voice of America
Hamas Remains Defiant Despite Pounding - Christian Science Monitor
How Badly Has Hamas Been Hurt in Gaza? - Time
UN Chief Wants Gaza Conflict Halt - BBC News
UN Warns of Refugee Crisis in Gaza Strip - New York Times
Middle East Envoy, Mubarak Push for Gaza Cease-Fire - Voice of America
Olmert Says He Talked Bush Out of Cease-fire Vote - Los Angeles Times
Rice 'Shamed' over UN Gaza Vote - Agence France-Presse
Israelis United on War as Censure Rises Abroad - New York Times
From Experts on Mideast, No Shortage of Advice - New York Times
Targeting Israel, Whitewashing Hamas - Washington Times editorial
The Answer to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Weekly Standard opinion
Pretty Talk and Ugly Realities - Real Clear Politics opinion
The World is Wrong to Condemn Israel - Real Clear Politics opinion
The No-State Solution - Wall Street Journal opinion
Eliminate Hamas - Washington Times opinion

US FOREIGN POLICY

Top Officer Urges Limit on Mission of Military - Thom Shanker, New York Times

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday that senior officers must work to prevent the militarization of American foreign policy, and he urged generals and admirals to tell civilian leaders when they believed the armed forces should not take the lead in carrying out policies overseas.

Adm. Mike Mullen, who as chairman is the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, also called for more money and personnel to be devoted to the civilian agencies responsible for diplomacy and overseas economic development.

The military is engaged in deep soul-searching over the proper role of the armed forces in foreign policy. The debate has been inspired by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which have forced the military to take on responsibilities far beyond combat, including tasks like economic reconstruction and political development that are often described as “nation building.”

More at The New York Times.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Makes Case for Non-military Solutions - Julian Barnes, Los Angeles Times

The country's top uniformed officer said Monday that the Defense Department should be ready to tell civilian leaders when military force is not the best response -- and be prepared to transfer resources to other agencies during times of crisis.

Adm. Michael G. Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, previously has made the case for nonmilitary solutions to world problems, but his comments Monday were his most forceful to date on the subject.

They also came as he prepares to report to a new president who has pledged to strengthen America's "soft," or nonmilitary, power abroad.

Reacting to trouble spots is a natural reflex for the military, and the Pentagon's willingness to respond ensures that it gets more resources. But its ever-present readiness means the military is frequently asked by top civilian leaders to do more.

More at The Los Angeles Times.

In Foreign Policy, a New Trio at the Top - Anne E. Kornblut and Glenn Kessler, Washington Post

When Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) gavels the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to order today and welcomes Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to her confirmation hearing as President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to be secretary of state, he will mark the ascendance of a new triumvirate dominating the foreign policy arena.

The hearing will also call attention to a particularly awkward tangle of relationships.

Kerry, who first put Obama in the national spotlight by inviting him to give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, endorsed Obama over Clinton early in the 2008 presidential primaries, much to the irritation of the Clinton campaign. But Obama chose his defeated nemesis for the top diplomatic position - a job that Kerry openly sought with the backing of many prominent Obama supporters. Instead of joining the Obama Cabinet, Kerry became chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, with the goal of leading it back to its former prominence.

More at The Washington Post.

Kerry, After Setbacks, Aims to Make a Mark as a Senate Chairman - Carl Hulse, New York Times

For most senators, assuming the chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee would be the pinnacle of a public service career. For John Kerry, it is a bit of a gold-plated consolation prize.

After being edged out of the White House in 2004 by President Bush, Mr. Kerry has struggled to find his footing back in the Senate. A junior member of his panel - one Barack Obama - has gone on to win the presidency. For his secretary of state, Mr. Obama chose not Mr. Kerry, but Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Now Mr. Kerry’s first hearing as chairman on Tuesday will be to consider the nomination of Mrs. Clinton, the woman he did not endorse for president, to the premier cabinet position in the administration of the man he did back. It cannot be the outcome he had in mind.

More at The New York Times.

THE LONG WAR

Obama Will Issue Executive Order Within First Week to Shut Guantanamo - Laura Meckler and Evan Perez, Wall Street Journal

President-elect Barack Obama plans within his first week in office to issue an executive order to close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, two people with knowledge of the plan said Monday.

The order won't immediately close the prison, the people said.

It is the first step in what is expected to be a long process of determining what to do with the approximately 250 suspects and potential witnesses in the war on terror who are held at Guantanamo.

Mr. Obama is expected to issue several executive orders in his opening days in office.

More at the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Times.

NEWS & OPINION NOTES

Afghanistan / Pakistan Tribal Areas

US Construction in Afghanistan Sign of Long Commitment - Washington Post
Australian Troops in Afghanistan for 'Long Haul' - The Australian
New Combat Outpost Sees Quick Progress in Southern Afghanistan - AFPS
The National Guard's Warrior Farmers In Afghanistan - Human Events opinion
Afghan War Can't be Won by Foreigners - The Australian opinion

Iraq

New Paths to Power Are Emerging in Iraq - Washington Post
Biden Arrives in Iraq for Talks - Voice of America
Bombings in Iraq as Biden Arrives - New York Times
Biden Meets With Iraqi Leaders; Bombings Kill 10 - Associated Press
US Withdraw: Will AQI Find New Openings? - Christian Science Monitor
US, Iraqi Forces Prepare for Election-fueled Violence - AFPS
Bombing in Baghdad Kills 7 - Voice of America
Combined Forces Capture Criminal Suspects, Find Weapons - AFPS

Iran

Iran Gives Hamas Enthusiastic Support - New York Times
Obama will Need Something to Say When he Talks to Iran - The Times opinion

The Long War

Mumbai Attacks Refocus US Port Security Reform - Christian Science Monitor
Rise in Guantanamo Bay Hunger Strikes - Agence France-Presse
Turnabout on Torture - USA Today editorial

US National Security

Who is Jim Jones? - The New Republic opinion

US Department of Defense

Chairman Says He’s Ready to Execute New President’s Military Decisions - AFPS
Inauguration Represents Ultimate Change-of-Command Ceremony - AFPS

US Department of State

Rice, Eager to Depart, Heartily Defends Record - Washington Post
Hillary Clinton to be Quizzed on Gaza at Hearing - The Times
Clinton: More Than a Good Feeling - Slate opinion
The Clinton Business - Wall Street Journal editorial

United States

Bush's 'Ultimate Exit Interview' - Washington Post
Final News Conference for Bush - New York Times
How will History Judge Bush? - Christian Science Monitor
Why the Anti-War Movement is Lost - Philadelphia Daily News opinion

World

Freedom House Says Global Freedoms Declined for 3rd Year - Voice of America

Africa

Officials Still Arguing Over Leader for Somalia - New York Times
Rival Islamist Groups Battle in Somalia - Voice of America
Deadly Clashes in Somali Capital - BBC News
Australian Warship to Indian Ocean in Piracy Purge - The Australian
The Chinese Navy Sets Sail for Somalia - Weekly Standard opinion
Prosecutors Say DRC's Bemba Used Rape As Weapon - Voice of America
Court Hears of Bemba 'War Crimes' - BBC News
Uganda Rebels in Fresh Truce Call - BBC News
S. Africa: ANC Leader Zuma in Corruption Charges Blow - The Times
S. Africa: Zuma Fraud Charges Restored - Daily Telegraph
Case Against ANC Leader in S. Africa Resumes - Washington Post
Zuma Faces New Charges After Ruling - New York Times

Americas

Obama, Calderon meet in Washington - Los Angeles Times
Barack Obama Meets Mexican Leader - BBC News
Vatican Suggests Excommunicating Mexican Drug Traffickers - LA Times
Venezuela Worries Aruba - Washington Times
Venezuela: Dictatorship for Dummies - Wall Street Journal opinion

Asia Pacific

China's Jobless Numbers Mount - Washington Post
China's Exports in Record Decline - BBC News

Europe

Russia to Resume Gas Deliveries to Europe - Voice of America
Russia Will Restart Gas Exports to EU - Wall Street Journal
Russia Signs Pact and Prepares to Turn on Gas - The Times
Russia to Resume Europe Gas Supplies - Daily Telegraph
Russia Eet to Restart Gas Supply - BBC News
Russia Ready to Ship Gas to Europe - New York Times
Ritual Gas Wars - Washington Post opinion
Russia's Gas War - Washington Times opinion
Return to 1815 is the Way Forward for Europe - The Times opinion

South Asia

Mumbai Attacks Stoke Border Dispute - Wall Street Journal
Pakistan Tested by Battles with Al Qaeda, Taliban - Christian Science Monitor
Karzai and Singh Discuss Security - BBC News
US Sanctions on AQ Khan 'Allies' - BBC News
Thousands Mourn Sri Lanka Editor - 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.