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It is a common mistake in going to war to begin at the wrong end, to act first, and wait for disasters to discuss the matter.
--Thucydides
US NATIONAL SECURITY
Obama's NSC Will Get New Power - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post
President Obama plans to order a sweeping overhaul of the National Security Council, expanding its membership and increasing its authority to set strategy across a wide spectrum of international and domestic issues.
The result will be a "dramatically different" NSC from that of the Bush administration or any of its predecessors since the forum was established after World War II to advise the president on diplomatic and military matters, according to national security adviser James L. Jones, who described the changes in an interview. "The world that we live in has changed so dramatically in this decade that organizations that were created to meet a certain set of criteria no longer are terribly useful," he said.
Jones, a retired Marine general, made it clear that he will run the process and be the primary conduit of national security advice to Obama, eliminating the "back channels" that at times in the Bush administration allowed Cabinet secretaries and the vice president's office to unilaterally influence and make policy out of view of the others.
More at The Washington Post.
US FOREIGN POLICY
Biden Vows 'New Tone' in Foreign Policy - Jon Ward, Washington Times
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Saturday described a "dangerous drift" in relations between Russia and democratic nations, and echoed the Bush-era mantra that the US must seek common ground with the Kremlin. In his speech to world leaders during the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Mr. Biden also vowed that the Obama administration is "determined to set a new tone not only in Washington, but in America's relations around the world."
Mr. Biden's speech to a few hundred leaders -- including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and top US military officials -- was aimed in part at separating the new administration from the old and was highly anticipated because the economic crisis at home has prevented President Obama from either traveling abroad or delivering a major foreign policy address.
More at The Washington Times.
Back on World Stage, a Larger-Than-Life Holbrooke - Jodi Kantor, New York Times
Stashed in a drawer in his Manhattan apartment between snapshots of family vacations, a photograph shows Richard C. Holbrooke on a private visit to Afghanistan in 2006. He is mugging atop an abandoned Russian tank, flashing a sardonic V-for-victory sign and his best Nixon-style grin. The pose is a little like Mr. Holbrooke himself: looming, theatrical, passionate, indignant.
Three years later, he has inherited responsibility for the terrain he surveyed from that tank. As President Obama’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Mr. Holbrooke will help reformulate and carry out American policy in what many call the most problematic region on earth.
Between them, the two countries contain unstable governments, insurgencies, corruption and a narcotics trade, nuclear material, refugees, resentment of American power, a resurgent Taliban, and in the shadows of the tribal region that joins the two countries, Al Qaeda and presumably Osama bin Laden.
More at The New York Times.
AFGHANISTAN
Obama Puts Brake on Afghan Surge - Sarah Baxter and Michael Smith, The Times
President Barack Obama has demanded that American defence chiefs review their strategy in Afghanistan before going ahead with a troop surge.
There is concern among senior Democrats that the military is preparing to send up to 30,000 extra troops without a coherent plan or exit strategy.
The Pentagon was set to announce the deployment of 17,000 extra soldiers and marines last week but Robert Gates, the defence secretary, postponed the decision after questions from Obama.
The president was concerned by a lack of strategy at his first meeting with Gates and the US joint chiefs of staff last month in “the tank”, the secure conference room in the Pentagon. He asked: “What’s the endgame?” and did not receive a convincing answer.
More at The Times.
Afghan Leader Finds Himself Hero No More - Dexter Filkens, New York Times
A foretaste of what would be in store for President Hamid Karzai after the election of a new American administration came last February, when Joseph R. Biden Jr., then a senator, sat down to a formal dinner at the palace during a visit here.
Between platters of lamb and rice, Mr. Biden and two other American senators questioned Mr. Karzai about corruption in his government, which, by many estimates, is among the worst in the world. Mr. Karzai assured Mr. Biden and the other senators that there was no corruption at all and that, in any case, it was not his fault.
The senators gaped in astonishment. After 45 minutes, Mr. Biden threw down his napkin and stood up.
“This dinner is over,” Mr. Biden announced, according to one of the people in the room at the time. And the three senators walked out, long before the appointed time.
Today, of course, Mr. Biden is the vice president.
More at The New York Times.
Diggers Urged to Double Offensive in Afghanistan - Patrick Walters, The Australian
US military leaders want Australia to take the lead role in NATO-led coalition operations in Afghanistan's Oruzgan province following an expected drawdown by Dutch forces.
NATO's top commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, has asked the Australian Defence Force if it could take over the province from the Dutch if The Netherlands proceeds with plans to phase out its effort from mid-2010.
General McKiernan made his request to the Australians in December, but the Pentagon then stopped short of making a formal written approach to Canberra in advance of President Barack Obama assuming office 17 days ago.
If the Rudd Government were to agree to General McKiernan's request, this would mean at least a doubling of Australia's current 800-strong military presence in the province.
More at The Australian.
Deja vu in Kabul - Max Boot, Los Angeles Times opinion
For years, opponents of the Iraq war claimed it was an unwinnable waste of resources that wasn't worth fighting anyway. The real war against terrorists, they argued, should be waged in Afghanistan. But now that Iraq has made heartening progress and we are finally sending more troops to Afghanistan, the critics are applying to Afghanistan the same arguments they once used in favor of partial or total withdrawal from Iraq.
Afghanistan, we are told, is a hopeless quagmire. A Newsweek cover story screams "Obama's Vietnam." Andrew J. Bacevich of Boston University writes, "Afghanistan will be a sinkhole, consuming resources neither the US military nor the US government can afford to waste."
Skeptics, including many in uniform, contend that we need to downsize our goals in Afghanistan. Establishing a functioning democracy, they say, is too ambitious in an underdeveloped Muslim country with little sense of nationhood. According to the Associated Press, a Joint Chiefs of Staff report advises "squeezing Taliban and Al Qaeda sanctuaries inside neighboring Pakistan while deemphasizing longer-term goals for bolstering democracy."
But don't worry, the naysayers assert, we can still achieve our core objectives in Afghanistan.
More at The Los Angeles Times.
IRAQ
The Dissenter Who Changed the War - Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post
Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno was an unlikely dissident, with little in his past to suggest that he would buck his superiors and push the US military in radically new directions. A 1976 West Point graduate and veteran of the Persian Gulf War and the Kosovo campaign, Odierno had earned a reputation as the best of the Army's conventional thinkers -- intelligent and ambitious, but focused on using the tools in front of him rather than discovering new and unexpected ones. That image was only reinforced during his first tour in Iraq after the US invasion in 2003.
As commander of the 4th Infantry Division in the Sunni Triangle, Odierno led troops known for their sometimes heavy-handed tactics, kicking in doors and rounding up thousands of Iraqi "MAMs" (military-age males). He finished his tour believing the fight was going well. "I thought we had beaten this thing," he would later recall.
Sent back to Iraq in 2006 as second in command of US forces, under orders to begin the withdrawal of American troops and shift fighting responsibilities to the Iraqis, Odierno found a situation that he recalled as "fairly desperate, frankly."
So that fall, he became the lone senior officer in the active-duty military to advocate a buildup of American troops in Iraq, a strategy rejected by the full chain of command above him, including Gen. George W. Casey Jr., then the top commander in Iraq and Odierno's immediate superior.
More at The Washington Post.
THE LONG WAR
CIA Warns Barack Obama that British Terrorists are the Biggest Threat to the US - Tim Shipman, The Daily Telegraph
American spy chiefs have told the President that the CIA has launched a vast spying operation in the UK to prevent a repeat of the 9/11 attacks being launched from Britain.
They believe that a British-born Pakistani extremist entering the US under the visa waiver programme is the most likely source of another terrorist spectacular on American soil.
Intelligence briefings for Mr Obama have detailed a dramatic escalation in American espionage in Britain, where the CIA has recruited record numbers of informants in the Pakistani community to monitor the 2,000 terrorist suspects identified by MI5, the British security service.
A British intelligence source revealed that a staggering four out of 10 CIA operations designed to thwart direct attacks on the US are now conducted against targets in Britain.
More at The Daily Telegraph.
FRANCE
French Fighter Planes Grounded by Computer Virus - Kim Willsher, Daily Telegraph
French fighter planes were unable to take off after military computers were infected by a computer virus, an intelligence magazine claims. The aircraft were unable to download their flight plans after databases were infected by a Microsoft virus they had already been warned about several months beforehand. At one point French naval staff were also instructed not to even open their computers.
Microsoft had warned that the "Conficker" virus, transmitted through Windows, was attacking computer systems in October last year, but according to reports the French military ignored the warning and failed to install the necessary security measures.
The French newspaper Ouest France said the virus had hit the internal computer network at the French Navy.
More at The Daily Telegraph.
MORE NEWS AND OPINION
Afghanistan / Pakistan Tribal Areas
Ten Militants Killed in Afghanistan's Helmand Province - Voice of America
Taliban Say They Killed Polish Contractor in Pakistan - New York Times
Iraq
The Insurgent Who Loved 'Titanic' - Washington Post
Falluja’s Strange Visitor: A Western Tourist - New York Times
Mosul Salon Pampers Soldiers' Hands, Spirits - Washington Post
Iran
US Vice President Offers Iran a Chance and a Choice - Voice of America
Iran Presidential Election Looms - Voice of America
"Expert": Iran Won't Build Nuclear Bombs - Agence France-Presse
Iran Looks Hostile - Daily Telegraph editorial
The Long War
Guantanamo Inmates Pose Challenge for Europe - Los Angeles Times
On the Trail of Torture - The Times
Cheney's Blind Spot - Washington Post editorial
Would Panetta Object to Aggressive Interrogation? - Wall Street Journal editorial
Torture on Trial? - Los Angeles Times editorial
Miliband Wriggles in the Guantanamo Net - The Times opinion
Speaking With the Enemy - New York Times opinion
Piracy
Attacks by Pirates Spur New Training for Seamen - Associated Press
Islam
Why the Muslim World Can’t Hear Obama - New York Times opinion
United States
US Will Talk to Iran and Ally with Russia, Says Biden - Daily Telegraph
Biden Calls for Allied Cooperation to Meet Mutual Challenges - AFPS
Is Britain No Longer Special to America? - Daily Telegraph opinion
Defense Spending: An Indefensible Omission - Washington Post opinion
Foreign Spies Are Serious. Are We? - Washington Post opinion
Africa
Somali President Arrives in Capital for First Time - Voice of America
Zimbabwe Accord is a Test for African Solutions - Los Angeles Times
Cholera Deaths and Cases Continue to Rise in Zimbabwe - Voice of America
Police in Madagascar Kill More Than 20 - New York Times
Troops Fire on Madagascar Rally - Washington Post
Deal Is Reached on Congo Rebel - New York Times
Priest's Mission in Kenya Went Beyond Church - Los Angeles Times
Americas
Venezuela: Crackdown as Chavez Seeks Power for Life - The Times
Venezuela: A Vote for Dictatorship? - Washington Times opinon
Anti-Semitism Flares in Venezuela - Toronto Star
Jews in S. America Increasingly Uneasy - Washington Post
The Mystifying Life and Many Deaths of Cuba's Talisman - Washington Post
US,Mexico Border: The Twilight Zone - Washington Post opinion
Asia Pacific
North Korea Willing to Resume Denuclearization Talks - Voice of America
North Korea Tones Down Its Rhetoric - Associated Press
North Korea Missile Trial May Be a Test of US - Los Angeles Times
Indonesia Criticizes Thailand for Towing Burmese Muslims Out to Sea - VOA
Europe
Russia Rattles Sabres in Obama’s Direction - Financial Times
Biden Signals US Is Open to Deal With Russia on Missiles - New York Times
Russia Recession Spurs Backlash on Migrants - Washington Post
War’s Lingering Scars Slow Bosnia’s Economic Growth - New York Times
Middle East
Israel: Netanyahu Stokes Fears to Take Poll Lead - The Times
Israeli Right Eyes Election Jackpot - Agence France-Presse
Livni Turns to Women and the Left for Votes - Los Angeles Times
Hamas Delegation in Egypt for Cease-Fire Talks - Voice of America
Rebuilding Gaza a Daunting Task - Washington Post
Middle East Mercy Mission - Washington Times opinon
South Asia
Pakistan Defends Freedom for Rogue Nuclear Scientist - Voice of America
WFP: Thousands Face Food Crisis in Sri Lanka War Zone - Voice of America
Sri Lanka Hunts Tamil Tiger Chief - Agence France-Presse
BOOKS
Great Powers: America and the World after Bush - Thomas P.M. Barnett
In civilian and military circles alike, The Pentagon’s New Map became one of the most talked about books of 2004. “A combination of Tom Friedman on globalization and Carl von Clausewitz on war, [it is] the red-hot book among the nation’s admirals and generals,” wrote David Ignatius in The Washington Post. Barnett’s second book, Blueprint for Action, demonstrated how to put the first book’s principles to work. Now, in Great Powers, Barnett delivers his most sweeping - and important - book of all.
The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One - David Kilcullen
A remarkably fresh perspective on the War on Terror. Kilcullen takes us "on the ground" to uncover the face of modern warfare, illuminating both the big global war (the "War on Terrorism") and its relation to the associated "small wars" across the globe: Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Chechnya, Pakistan and North Africa.
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
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.