Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive one; it is man and not materials that counts.
--Mao Tse-tung, 1938
AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS
Obama Afghan Plan Focuses on Pakistan Aid and Appeal to Militants - Helene Cooper and Thom Shanker, New York Times
The emerging outlines of President Obama’s plan for Afghanistan include proposals to shift more American efforts toward problems in neighboring Pakistan and to seek some kind of political reconciliation with the vast majority of insurgents in the region, according to administration officials.
The plan reflects in part a conclusion within the administration that most of the insurgent foot soldiers in Afghanistan and Pakistan are “reconcilable” and can be pried away from the hard-core organizations of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. At least 70 percent of the insurgents, and possibly more, can be encouraged to lay down their arms with the proper incentives, administration officials have said.
More at The New York Times.
How to Surge the Taliban - Max Boot, Frederick Kagan, and Kimberly Kagan, New York Times opinion
No one in Afghanistan - from the American commander, Gen. David McKiernan, to those village elders - underestimates the difficulties that lie ahead. But no one we spoke to on an eight-day journey (arranged for us by Gen. David Petraeus, the head of the military’s Central Command) that took us from Kunar Province on the Pakistan border to Farah Province near the Iranian frontier doubted that we can succeed, or that we must do so.
The main challenge is to overcome years of chronic neglect in terms of economic development, government services and above all security, which has allowed the insurgency free access to large swaths of the country. The good news is that the Taliban holds little appeal for most Afghans - a BBC-ABC News poll last month showed only 4 percent desired Taliban rule. The Sunni and Shiite insurgencies in Iraq, by contrast, maintained much greater support in their respective communities until they were defeated.
More at The New York Times.
Drone Strike Kills 21 in Pakistan - Pir Zubair, Shah, New York Times
Three missiles thought to have been fired from remotely piloted American aircraft struck a Taliban training camp in the Kurram area of northwestern Pakistan late on Thursday and killed 21 militants, according to a local government official and news reports on Friday.
Nine other people were injured in the strike around 9.30 p.m. to 10 p.m., directed at a training camp some 20 miles from Parachinar, the capital of the remote tribal area where 31 people were killed in a similar attack on Feb. 16. of Kurram Agency, according to the official, who spoke in return for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
More at The New York Times.
PAKISTAN
Unrest in Pakistan Intensifies - Zahid Hussain and Matthew Rosenberg, Wall Street Journal
US diplomats were working Thursday to head off a showdown between Pakistan's president and a top opposition figure that threatens to further destabilize the country as it struggles to beat back the Taliban.
Fresh protests broke out and police pressed ahead with their crackdown on opposition supporters, as observers feared the crisis would deepen. Authorities stepped up security around political leaders, and opposition figures moved from house to house to stay ahead of the police.
More at The Wall Street Journal.
US and British Diplomats Scramble to Defuse Pakistan Crisis - Zahid Hussain and Jeremy Page, The Times
US and British diplomats were scrambling to broker a truce between Pakistan’s feuding political leaders tonight as thousands of black-suited lawyers defied a government ban to launch a mass protest across the country. Richard Holbrooke, the new US special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, telephoned Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s President, to discuss the unrest, which has raised fears that the army could take power once again.
“Mr Holbrooke conveyed the anxiety of the US Administration over the worsening political crisis and asked the president to find ways to end the strife,” a senior Pakistani official told The Times.
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, also spoke to Mr Zardari as lawyers and opposition activists clashed with police at the start of a “long march” from major cities towards Islamabad, the capital.
More at The Times.
American Envoys Try to Defuse a Political Crisis in Pakistan - Jane Perlez, New York Times
In an effort to defuse the Pakistani political crisis, the American ambassador, Anne W. Patterson, traveled to see the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif to urge him to reconcile with Pakistan’s president, Mr. Sharif said.
Later on Thursday, the Obama administration’s special envoy to Pakistan, Richard C. Holbrooke, spoke by video conference call to Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, Mr. Zardari’s office announced. Mr. Holbrooke also spoke to Mr. Sharif by telephone, Mr. Holbrooke’s office said.
The involvement of two senior American officials prompted speculation here that the United States was trying to broker a deal that would ease the standoff between the rivals and end the potential for violence as a coalition of opposition and citizens’ groups prepared for a march that the government had banned.
More at The New York Times.
Pakistani Police Intercept Protesters - Pamela Constable, Washington Post
Police wielding long batons dragged anti-government demonstrators into black vans Thursday at a highway toll plaza outside the southern city of Karachi, where several thousand people were attempting to join a caravan heading for the capital, Islamabad, for a mass protest this weekend.
In a second day and night of actions aimed at quashing the protest, police detained more than 70 activists in Karachi, including well-known politicians and lawyers. They also halted a protest caravan from the southwestern city of Quetta as it attempted to enter Sindh province at midnight, greeting the chanting crowd politely but blocking its path with commando troops.
More at The Washington Post.
Pakistan Police Break Up Major Anti-government Demonstration - Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times
Police overwhelmed anti-government protesters Thursday in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, arresting opposition leaders and preventing several hundred lawyers and activists from leaving for a planned demonstration in Islamabad.
The government of President Asif Ali Zardari contends that public gatherings could serve as a focal point for terrorists and otherwise endanger property and lives.
Authorities also banned public gatherings in two key provinces and blocked major roads into Islamabad, the capital, with barriers and paramilitary vehicles.
More at The Los Angeles Times.
Pakistan’s Sharif Capitalizes on Lawyers’ March - Ben Arnoldy, Christian Science Monitor
Nawaz Sharif has become the man of the hour in Pakistan, poised to add tens of thousands of followers to a nationwide protest against the government. The opposition leader's transformation from disciple of a military dictator to champion for the rule of law highlights how strong popular demand for democratic reform has grown here.
Lawyers and party workers launched a series of "long marches" Thursday from the corners of Pakistan to the central capital of Islamabad. The ruling party under President Asif Ali Zardari has angered much of the country by failing to fulfill a promise to restore an independent judiciary and by cracking down on the opposition.
More at The Christian Science Monitor.
Closer to the Cliff - New York Times editorial
Pakistan’s rival political leaders seem determined to push their already unstable country over a cliff. Their increasingly out-of-control power struggle spilled out of the halls of government and the courtroom this week and onto the streets. The more time and energy they waste on selfish squabbling, the less they have to combat extremists who pose a mortal threat to their country.
More at The New York Times.
IRAN
Obama Team Plots Opening of Iran Ties - Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal
The Obama administration is considering lifting a ban on regular diplomatic contacts with Iran and looking at ways to develop a direct line of communication to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said officials briefed on the deliberations.
American and European officials say Mr. Khamenei is the only Iranian leader who can make the ultimate decision to suspend or freeze Iran's nuclear program. "The key issue is now to find a channel to Khamenei," said a senior Western diplomat briefed on the Obama administration's policy review in recent days. "If the supreme leader moves, he's going to do it in a very prudent and incremental way."
The discussions are part of a larger Iran-policy review that the Obama administration is aiming to complete this month, according to US officials.
More at The Wall Street Journal.
SOMALIA
Haunted by Somalia - Los Angeles Times editorial
We can't say we weren't warned: In an annual assessment of major national security threats presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, military intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples revealed that Al Qaeda is strengthening its foothold in East Africa. Specifically, an Islamic terrorist group in Somalia, Al Shabab,(Somalia) has been releasing propaganda pointing out its shared ideology with Al Qaeda, suggesting, Maples said, that "a formal merger announcement is forthcoming."
This is worrisome not only because Somalia is a failed state overrun by armed militants that makes Afghanistan under the Taliban look like the garden spot of South Asia, but because Al Shabab is actively recruiting American citizens. Young men of Somali descent have been vanishing from Minnesota and other Midwestern states and heading for Somalian terrorist training camps run by Al Shabab, which means "the Youth" in Arabic. One of them has already carried out a suicide bombing in Africa, and others are believed to be forming terrorist cells to hit targets in Europe and the United States. A union with Al Qaeda makes that scenario even likelier.
More at The Los Angeles Times.
SRI LANKA
Tamil Tigers Cornered as War Wanes - Matt Purple, Washington Times
The Tamil Tigers, who are fighting for the secession of Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil north, have been classified a terrorist group by the US State Department since 1997. Before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, they were considered the world´s leader in suicide bombings.
The Tigers have spent millions of dollars on propaganda and infrastructure, establishing both a naval and air force wing. The insurgents received training from the Palestine Liberation Organization and aid from the African nation of Eritrea, according to a 2006 State Department report.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented abuses by both sides, which they say have failed to discriminate between civilian and military targets. Concern has mounted in recent weeks that the cornered insurgents are using civilians as human shields, shooting civilians attempting to flee, and using child soldiers.
More at The Washington Times.
AMERICAS
Inter-American Relations Roiled - Joshua Partlow, Washington Post
An American diplomat accused by the Bolivian government of conspiring with opposition factions left the country Thursday, one of several US officials forced out of Andean nations in recent months and another sign of the deep discontent with US policy that the Obama administration faces in Latin America.
The ejection of Francisco Martinez, the second secretary of the US Embassy, for allegedly meeting with the political opposition and spies, follows Bolivia's decision to throw out Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg in September, Venezuela's expulsion of Ambassador Patrick Duddy the same month and Ecuador's move against two American diplomats last month.
The departures do not include Bolivia's decision to banish 38 Drug Enforcement Administration agents and support personnel, its request to remove US Agency for International Development employees from the coca-growing region of the Chapare or the US government's decision to pull Peace Corps volunteers out of Bolivia.
More at The Washington Post.
US DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Hardened US Embassies Symbolic of Old Fears, Critics Say - Colum Lynch, Washington Post
Across the Manhattan street from the landmark buildings of the United Nations, a new architectural symbol of American outreach to the world is rising: an impenetrable concrete tower with 30-inch-thick concrete walls and no windows on its first seven floors.
The 26-story building is one of a new generation of hardened US diplomatic outposts. More than 60 high-security embassies and consulates have been constructed in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa over the past eight years.
The primary goal is greater protection for the 20,000 American officials serving in those facilities, but the buildings have also been criticized as enduring symbols of the fears and anxieties that gripped the United States in the wake of the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in East Africa and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
More at The Washington Post.
MORE NEWS AND OPINION
Afghanistan / Pakistan Tribal Areas
Confirmed: Guantanamo Inmate Joins Taleban - BBC News
US Drone Kills Pakistan Militants - BBC News
Iran Welcomes Afghanistan Talks - Agence France-Presse
Sharia Law Begins in Swat Valley - BBC News
How to Leave Afghanistan - New York Times opinion
Iraq
US Military Makes Last Payment to ‘Sons of Iraq’ - AFPS
Iraq Works to Find Jobs for ‘Sons’ - Stars and Stripes
Command Takes on Support Role to Aid Iraq - AFPS
Shoe-Thrower Sentenced to Three Years in Prison - Voice of America
Shoe-Thrower Sentenced to Three Years - Washington Post
What We Don't Know About Iraq - Washington Post opinion
Iran
Obama Renews US Sanctions on Iran - BBC News
The Long War
Obama Calls on Leaders to Develop Ideas to Confront New Threats - AFPS
Iraq Experience Likely to Affect Future Decisions, Gates Says - AFPS
Gates Warns on Pre-emptive Strike - BBC News
Canadian Jailed Over UK Bomb Plot - BBC News
US May Send Prisoners to Saudi Arabia - Wall Street Journal
Piracy
Somali Prates Slowed, But Not Stopped by International Effort - Voice of America
Japan Sends Destroyers on Anti-Piracy Patrol - New York Times
The War on Drugs
Frontlines of Criminal Insurgency - GroupIntel
Mexico Drug Cartels Buying Public Support - Los Angeles Times
US Evaluating Mexican-Border Issue - Wall Street Journal
Obama Considers Deploying National Guard to US-Mexico Border - AFPS
US Plans to Combat Mexico Drugs - BBC News
US Department of Defense
Gates Describes Operational, Managerial Challenges, Strides Made - AFPS
Public Affairs Chief Takes Stock of Tumultuous Year - AFPS
Off-road MRAPs a Hot Topic in Congress - Stars and Stripes
Pentagon Plans Blimp to Spy from New Heights - Los Angeles Times
US Department of State
Obama Nominates Hill, Eikenberry for Posts - AFPS
United Kingdom
Northern Ireland Barracks on Full Terror Alert - The Times
Britain Fighting a War, Too Soft on Enemies - Daily Telegraph opinion
Africa
US Men 'Joined Somali Islamists' - BBC News
Darfur Rebels Take First Western Hostages - The Times
Gunmen Kidnap 3 Workers With Aid Group in Darfur - New York Times
UN Chief Calls for Release of Kidnapped Aid Workers in Sudan - Voice of America
Sudan Kidnappers 'Demand Ransom' - BBC News
Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai Minister Tells of Mugabe Jail Horrors - The Times
Nigeria Election Reform 'U-turn' - BBC News
Kenya's Power-sharing Report Card: 'Unsatisfactory' - Christian Science Monitor
Mauritania Talks Breakdown - Voice of America
'Civil War Looms' in Madagascar - BBC News
Madagascar Police Defy Government - BBC News
Rebel Troops Deploy Tanks in Madagascar’s Capital - Reuters
Partnership Mission Shows US Commitment to Africa, Commander Says - AFPS
Americas
A Win for El Salvador Leftist Appears Less Certain - Los Angeles Times
Nasty Turn in El Salvador - Los Angeles Times editorial
Asia Pacific
Obama Calls for Military Dialogue With China - New York Times
Obama Sends Warships to South China Sea - The Times
Destroyer to Protect Ship Near China - Washington Post
North Korea Sets Date for Controversial Launch - Wall Street Journal
US Seeks to 'Head Off' North Korean Missile Test - Voice of America
Tibetan Groups Urgently Appeal for UN Intervention - Voice of America
Tibet Atrocities Dot Official China History - New York Times
China Protests a US Resolution on Tibet - New York Times
Thailand: Charmer Making a Mess of his Country - The Times opinion
Europe
Serbs Jailed for Croatia Massacre - BBC News
Middle East
US, UK Divided on Hezbollah Talks - Wall Street Journal
Britain’s Contacts With Hezbollah Vex US - New York Times
US Criticises UK's Vow to Talk to Hezbollah - Daily Telegraph
Hamas Threatens Rocket Militants - BBC News
South Asia
Pakistani Opposition Protest Despite Crackdown - Voice of America
Flag Ceremony on India-Pakistan Border Kicks Up Dust - Voice of America
Sri Lanka Medical Base 'Captured' - BBC News
As Indian Growth Soars, Child Hunger Persists - New York Times
BOOK REVIEWS
Reluctant Warriors - The Economist book review of both The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 by Thomas Ricks and The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One by David Kilcullen.
BOOKS
The Battle for Peace: A Frontline Vision of America's Power and Purpose - Anthony Zinni and Tony Koltz
The intellectual complement to Zinni and Clancy's bestselling Battle Ready (2004), a narrative memoir salted with specific policy recommendations, this volume provides the former US Central Command chief's analysis of America's current global position. Zinni begins by asserting that America's status as "the most powerful nation in the history of the planet" has created a de facto empire. The US has no choice: if it fails to take the lead, nothing significant happens. At the same time, Americans must recognize that, in a global age, there can be no zero-sum games.
The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education - Craig Mullaney
The Unforgiving Minute is the ultimate's soldier's book - universal in its raw emotion and its understanding of the larger issues of life and death. Mullaney, a master storyteller, plunges the depths of self-doubt, endurance, and courage. The result: a riveting, suspenseful human story, beautifully told. This is a book written under fire - a lyrical, spellbinding tale of war, love, and courage. The Unforgiving Minute is the Three Cups of Tea of soldiering.
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.
