Be an example to your men, in your duty and in private life. Never spare yourself, and let the troops see that you don't in your endurance of fatigue and privation. Always be tactful and well-mannered and teach your subordinates to do the same. Avoid excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide.

--Field Marshall Erwin Rommel

ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS

Israel's Ground Assault Marks Shift in Strategy - Charles Levinson, Wall Street Journal

Israeli tanks and troops pushed deep into the Gaza Strip on Sunday, committing to a large-scale ground invasion that risks significant casualties on both sides, but departs sharply from the playbook used in Israel's largely unsuccessful war against Hezbollah in Lebanon two years ago.

The land attack, which began Saturday night, followed eight days of aerial and sea bombardment. It marks a dramatic escalation of an Israeli offensive that Palestinian hospital officials say has left more than 500 Gazans dead and more than 2,200 wounded.

In the clearest break from a strategy it used to pursue Hezbollah militants in Lebanon in 2006, Israeli leaders have set out clearly defined -- and relatively modest -- expectations for the current Gaza offensive. Two years ago in Lebanon, Israeli officials vowed to wipe out Hezbollah and bring back two kidnapped Israeli soldiers. They didn't accomplish either goal.

More at The Wall Street Journal.

IDF Battling Hamas Terrorists in Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun - Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post

As Israel's Operation Cast Lead against Hamas terror infrastructure in Gaza entered its tenth day, IDF soldiers were holding fights against Hamas gunmen near the Gaza Strip border on Sunday overnight, Israel Radio reported.

Hamas terrorists were firing mortar shells and using grenade launchers on IDF tanks. No Israeli casualties were reported. The air force was assisting ground troops, the station reported.

Fighting concentrated around Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.

More at The Jerusalem Post and:

Casualties Mount as Fighting in Gaza Escalates - Voice of America
Israeli Forces Push Deeper Into Gaza Strip - Washington Post
Israeli Attack Splits Gaza; Truce Calls Are Rebuffed - New York Times
Israeli Tanks, Troops Cut Off Gaza City - Los Angeles Times
Israeli Troops Amass Outside Gaza City - Washington Times
Israel’s Rain of Fire on Gaza - The Times
Israeli Tanks Divide Gaza in Battle Against Hamas - Daily Telegraph
Israeli Troops and Tanks Slice Deeper into Gaza - Associated Press
Israeli Army Moves into Gaza Capital - Agence France Presse
4 Brigades Deployed in Northern Gaza - Jerusalem Post
Hamas: We're Using PA Arms to Battle IDF - Jerusalem Post
Gaza Incursion Halts Aid Convoy, Commerce at Egypt Border Crossing - LA Times
Cheney Says US Did Not Authorize Gaza Invasion - Voice of America
Cheney: Israel Didn't Ask OK for Gaza Invasion - Associated Press
Europe Sends Two Missions to Promote a Cease-Fire - New York Times
EU Sends Team to Middle East for Gaza Truce - Voice of America
Envoys Race to Halt Gaza Carnage - BBC News
Gaza Crisis Spurs Turkish Diplomacy - Washington Times
Diplomatic Efforts to Halt Offensive Make Little Progress - Los Angeles Times
Hamas to Send Delegation to Egypt - Agence France-Presse
Arabs React With Anger to Israeli Invasion of Gaza - Voice of America
Residents Doubt That Rocket Fire Can Be Stopped - Washington Post
Gaza City Residents Hunker Down - Los Angeles Times
Pope Benedict Appeals for Peace in Gaza - Voice of America

How Israel, Hamas Define Victory in Gaza - Joshua Mitnick, Christian Science Monitor

Escalating a week-long assault against Hamas, Israel invaded Gaza over the weekend to stop the Islamist militants who continue to launch cross-border rocket attacks.

But what victory means for each side still remains vague. The Israeli military says the ground offensive is aimed at eliminating militant rocket-launching sites, destroying weapon caches, and pursuing fighters hiding in the crowded coastal strip.

Will it be satisfied if the militants stop firing rockets or if it destroys the hundreds of tunnels to Egypt that make up Hamas's supply line? Some experts say Israel wants to force a more extensive cease-fire with Hamas, compel the creation of an international peacekeeping force in the coastal strip, or destroy the Islamist group altogether.

More at The Christian Science Monitor.

Is the Real Target Hamas Rule? - Ethan Bronner, New York Times

As Israel’s tanks and troops poured into Gaza on Saturday, the next phase in its fierce attempt to end rocket attacks, a question hung over the operation: can the rockets really be stopped for any length of time while Hamas remains in power in Gaza?

And if the answer is determined to be no, then is the real aim of the operation to remove Hamas entirely, no matter the cost?

After her visit to Paris on Thursday to explain to French authorities why she thought this was not the time for a quick cease-fire, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of Israel said, “There is no doubt that as long as Hamas controls Gaza, it is a problem for Israel, a problem for the Palestinians and a problem for the entire region.”

More at The New York Times and:

For Israel, Chance to Strike Before an Ally Departs - New York Times
Israel's Gaza Invasion Comes at Delicate Time for Washington - Los Angeles Times
Hezbollah Answers Israel Only With Speeches - New York Times
Invasion Offers Benefits but Also Risks to Both Sides - Washington Post
The New Meaning of an Old Battle in the Mideast - New York Times
Attacks Further Split Arab Rulers, People - Washington Post
Security Council: No Agreement on Gaza - Agence France-Presse
US Blocks UNSC Action on Gaza Strip - Jerusalem Post
Brown Calls for Ceasefire in Gaza - The Times
Attack Begins Amid Diplomatic Deadlock - Jerusalem Post

Israel's Tragic Gaza Dilemma - Max Boot, Wall Street Journal opinion

There is little doubt that Israel is morally justified in its offensive against Hamas. No nation can sit by and allow its territory to be rocketed with impunity. Not if it wants to remain a nation for long. But to say that Israel has the right, indeed the obligation, to act is not the same thing as saying that it is acting wisely.

It is too early to know whether its actions are well-advised. All will depend on how the offensive turns out. But even as Israeli troops push into Gaza following a week of air strikes, it seems highly unlikely that they will be able to decisively defeat the terrorist organization on their southern border.

Achieving total victory would require waging war in the way that America fought Germany and Japan -- all out and on many fronts until the enemy has no more capacity to resist. Then it would have to occupy the ruined land, imposing a peace at gunpoint to ensure that Gaza could never again be a launching point for attacks on Israel.

More at The Wall Street Journal and:

Hamas Rockets Block the Birth of a Palestinian State - Daily Telegraph editorial
Israel's Gaza Surge - Wall Street Journal editorial
Israel's Gaza Surge - Christian Science Monitor editorial
Clueless in Gaza - The Times editorial
Hamas Has the Power to Stop the Shooting - The Australian editorial
Why Israel Fights - New York Times opinion
The Three-State Option - Washington Post opinion
For Obama, a Tough Page to Turn - Washington Post opinion
Bracing for What's Next - Washington Post opinion
Wary Obama will Make the Middle East Wait - The Times opinion
Why My Son Has to Fight - Washington Post opinion
It Breaks My Heart to See Israel's Stupidity - The Times opinion
Close Combat: Conflict Enters Danger Zone - The Australian opinion
Middle East Bullies on Road to Nowhere - The Australian opinion

US / PAKISTAN

Pakistan and US Rebuild Strained Military Ties - Yochi Dreazen, Wall Street Journal

US and Pakistani military cooperation has increased as the two nations push to eliminate militants destabilizing both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border, a marked change from last year's tense relationship.

Senior American military officers say the US is allowing Pakistani officers to view video feeds from unmanned drones flying over Pakistan's ungoverned border regions. The US is also granting access to American intercepts of militant cellular and satellite phone calls inside Pakistan.

The Pakistani military is using the US intelligence to carry out strikes against extremists in its Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which are widely thought to harbor senior members of al Qaeda, the Taliban and other armed Islamist groups. US officials believe Afghanistan is deteriorating because of insurgents based in these "safe havens."

More at The Wall Street Journal.

INDIA / PAKISTAN

‘Light the Fire’ Order Set Mumbai Ablaze - Barney Henderson, The Times

Tensions between India and Pakistan, the rival nuclear powers, are on a knife edge this weekend as Islamabad refuses to admit that the Mumbai terrorist outrage was planned and carried out by Pakistanis.

Zarar Shah, a leading commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, has admitted under interrogation in Pakistan that he advised the terrorists by telephone as the attack unfolded.

Controllers in Pakistan watched live television and warned the gunmen of the arrival of Indian commandos, according to evidence amassed by the FBI and handed over to the Pakistani government.

The American agency had decoded Skype calls over the internet that were made between the gunmen in the two five-star hotels and a Jewish hostel in Mumbai with their Lashkar controllers in Pakistan, identified as Shah, Abu Hamza and Abu Qafa.

More at The Times.

IRAQ

Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 37 in Iraq - Sam Dagher and Mudhafer Al-Husani, New York Times

At least 40 people, 16 them Iranian pilgrims, were killed and 72 were wounded Sunday in a suicide bombing in Baghdad at the doorstep of one of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines, government and hospital officials said.

The attacker appeared to have singled out a procession of Iranian pilgrims visiting the shrine of Imams Musa al-Kadhim and Mohammed al-Jawad in Baghdad’s northern Kadhimiya district, witnesses and security officers said.

Earlier in the day, a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims to Kadhimiya was hit by a blast from a roadside bomb in Diyala Province northeast of Baghdad, the Iraqi police said. Five people were wounded.

More at the The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Daily Telegraph, Voice of America, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.

NEWS & OPINION NOTES

Afghanistan / Pakistan Tribal Areas

Taliban Bomber in Bloody Revenge - The Times
Taleban Spokesman Ustad Mohammed Yasir Recaptured - The Times
Pakistan Arrests Senior Taliban Aide - Los Angeles Times
Pakistan Arrests Taliban Leader - Associated Press
Five Lost in Red Dagger Assault to Rout Taliban - The Australian
Taliban Rocket Attack Kills Digger in Afghanistan - The Australian
Police Killed in Pakistan Blast - BBC News
Afghan Shiites Gain Acceptance - Washington Post

Iraq

College on a US Base in Baghdad - Washington Post

Iran

Iran’s Hard-Liners Crack Down on Reformists - New York Times
Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki Visits Iran - Los Angeles Times
Countering Iran in Gaza and Beyond - Washington Post opinion

The Long War

Beware of Gitmo's Shameful Guardians - The Australian
Gitmo Good Eiddance - The Australian editorial

Piracy

Pirates Not Just the Stuff of Legend - Washington Times

United States

Great Expectations for Obama Abroad - Christian Science Monitor
Navy Sets Hearing on Status of Missing Gulf War Pilot - Associated Press
To Boost Recruits, US Army Relaxes Weight Rules - CS Monitor
Urban Tool in Recruiting by the Army: An Arcade - New York Times
Public Diplomacy Begins With You - Christian Science Monitor opinion
Restore the Senate’s Treaty Power - New York Times opinion

Australia

Top End Coastline Left Exposed - The Australian

Africa

Bush to Holds Talks with Sudan President's Rival - Daily Telegraph
Ghana Elections Provide Rare Democratic Success in Africa - Daily Telegraph
UN Chief Commends Ghana on Vote - BBC News
Few Children Expected to Go to School in Zimbabwe - Voice of America
Reporters Freed in Somalia - BBC News

Americas

Kidnappings in Mexico Send Shivers Across Border - New York Times
Mexico's Subcomandante Marcos Makes Rare Appearance - Los Angeles Times
The Hellish Mindset of Cuba-enthusiasts - The Times opinion

Asia-Pacific

Kim Jong-il's Women Banned from Planning Succession - Daily Telegraph
Cambodia: If This Isn’t Slavery, What Is? - New York Times opinion

Europe

Six Countries Hit by Russia-Ukraine Gas Row - The Times
Russians Raise Ukraine Gas Bill - New York Times

Middle East

France's Tireless Sarkozy Strides into Middle East - Christian Science Monitor
Religious Kurds Become Key Vote in Turkey - Christian Science Monitor

South Asia

Sri Lankan Army in ‘Final Push’ Against Tigers - The Times
Tamil Tiger Rebels 'Kill 40' Soldiers - BBC News
Seven People Killed in Kashmir Violence - Voice of America

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.