Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Friday that the United States could start holding Afghanistan’s government accountable for corruption by withholding money for projects “where we control the flow of dollars.”
AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN
US Enlists Allies in New Surge - Peter Spiegel and Stephen Fidler, Wall Street Journal. The Obama administration is in advanced talks with its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies for a coordinated rollout of a new Afghan war strategy, which US officials hope will include a commitment by European allies to send several thousand additional troops. US and European estimates of the new troops they may get from NATO allies vary from 3,000 to 7,000. Those would complement the additional US forces Mr. Obama is considering; those options range from 10,000 to 40,000, but US officials have said a combination of combat troops and training forces totaling 35,000 has gained the most momentum. Arrangements haven't been finalized, but coordinated announcements of new troops could come as soon as the week of Nov. 30. They are likely to include an address by the NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, shortly after President Barack Obama unveils his strategy. According to officials familiar with the talks, Mr. Rasmussen would attempt to send a clear signal that the US isn't alone in its plans to confront the Taliban. Officials said that Mr. Obama's review of Afghan strategy and US troop levels, which some had thought would be completed last month, was extended in part to solidify NATO support.
Gates Says US Could Withhold Aid if Afghanistan Cannot Curb Corruption -Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Friday that the United States could start holding Afghanistan’s government accountable for corruption by withholding money for projects “where we control the flow of dollars.” At a news conference here at a 200-year-old military base with Peter G. MacKay, the Canadian defense minister, Mr. Gates echoed a warning that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered privately to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan in Kabul earlier this week: That future civilian aid from the United States to Afghanistan would depend in part on how he tackled corruption and curbed cronyism. “The reality is that the international presence in Afghanistan has provided a significant influx of assistance dollars and contracts and so on,” Mr. Gates said. “So it seems to me that the place for us to start is to deal with corruption that may be associated with contracts we’re letting, or work that we are having done and development projects that we are undertaking in partnership with others, including with the Afghans.” In short, he said, “the place to start is the place where we have the greatest leverage, and that’s where we’re writing the checks.” Mr. Gates made his comments shortly after the House speaker, Representative Nancy Pelosi, told National Public Radio that Mr. Karzai was an “unworthy partner” who did not deserve more American troops and aid. In the same interview, Ms. Pelosi said there was not strong support among Democrats in Congress for “any big ramp-up of troops.” The White House said that President Obama would announce a decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan after Thanksgiving.
US Afghanistan Debate Curbs Gates on Canada Visit - Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times. As the Obama administration wrestles over its new Afghanistan strategy, the domestic debate is having far-reaching implications for the United States' ties with its allies in the war. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was in Canada on Friday as part of an effort to strengthen the alliance with a partner considered vital to the war effort. But with the US strategy still undecided, Gates was hardly in a position to ask Canada to reconsider or modify its decision to withdraw its 2,800 troops by 2011. Instead, the trip to Halifax, in the Maritime province of Nova Scotia, was billed by officials as more an effort to build goodwill over the long term. Gates arrived in the midst of a national furor over the conduct of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. A senior Canadian diplomat has charged that the country's troops handed military prisoners over to Afghanistan's intelligence service, under which they faced a high likelihood of torture. The outcome of the debate over those charges could help determine Canada's decision on its troops, who are concentrated in Kandahar province.
Gates Highlights Canada’s Efforts in Afghanistan - Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service. Afghanistan was among the issues that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay discussed during a bilateral meeting here today. In a speech to the Halifax International Security Forum here, Gates recognized the contributions and sacrifices that Canadian servicemembers have made in that country. “In Afghanistan, the Canadian military has more than distinguished itself in battle in some of the most dangerous parts of the country,” Gates said. Canada has more than 2,800 troops in the ground in Afghanistan, serving in Regional Command South, where Canadian generals have commanded the troublesome region. Canada has suffered among the highest per-capita casualty rates there, with more than 130 servicemembers killed. Canada also has contributed generously to support economic and infrastructure improvements and in building government institutions. “It was Canadian soldiers - along with our British, Dutch, Danish and Estonian allies – who largely held the line in the south before US reinforcements arrived in strength earlier this year,” Gates said. The secretary called on other allies and friends “to do what they can on behalf of this noble and necessary campaign - an effort that will … require more commitment, more sacrifice and more patience from the community of free nations.”
In Indiana, Practice for 'Civilian Surge' in Afghanistan - Karen DeYoung. Washington Post. Outside a scruffy, two-story building, armed and flak-jacketed U.S. soldiers stood watch under a sagging Afghan flag. Inside, the provincial governor, a Hamid Karzai look-alike in a striped robe and Karakul cap, pleaded with two tribal elders to get along. Only the Taliban would benefit from their dispute, the governor's aide said with a nervous click of his worry beads. An American at the table asked to speak. If they couldn't settle their differences over landownership, he gently warned, a US-funded dam designed to supply power and water to both tribes might not be built. As the elders glared at each other, a Dari language interpreter tried to convey their venom into English. The State Department hopes that this kind of role-playing will prepare hundreds of new "civilian surge" recruits to deal with two foreign cultures - the US military and Afghanistan. The mock dramas are set at a faux Afghan marketplace and sandbagged forward operating base constructed amid the cornfields and silos of southwestern Indiana. When President Obama announced what the White House called a "comprehensive new strategy" for the Afghanistan war last March, he called for a "dramatic increase in our civilian effort" that included additional diplomats and experts in agriculture, education, health and rule of law sent to Kabul and to provincial reconstruction teams across the country. Despite early difficulties finding and clearing sufficient numbers of volunteers, Deputy Secretary Jacob L. Lew said during a visit to Indiana on Thursday that the State Department was "on track" to triple the number of civilians, to 974, by early next year.
Suicide Bomber Strikes Afghan Market, Killing at Least 15 People - Taimor Shah and Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times. A suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked a crowded marketplace in a relatively peaceful part of western Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 15 people, while a well-known former warlord and member of Parliament narrowly survived an assassination attempt on the outskirts of Kabul. The legislator, Abdulrab Rasul Sayyaf, has many enemies from his days as a fighter, when he was accused of serious violations of human rights, and several people said privately that there were many besides the Taliban who might have wanted to kill him. The blast in western Afghanistan occurred around 9 a.m. Friday, close to the compound of the provincial governor, and also wounded 35 people. One of the dead was a police officer, said the governor, Rohul Ameen. “The suicide bomber just wanted to kill civilians,” Mr. Ameen said. “This is inhuman and an un-Islamic act being carried out by cowardly people.” The attack occurred in Farah, the capital of a province by the same name. The city lies about 85 miles from the Iranian border. The bombing followed several days of operations by Afghan troops and NATO forces against Taliban militants in nearby areas, local officials said. The Associated Press quoted a police officer in Farah Province as saying that an operation three days ago killed five insurgents, including a commander and a bomb maker.
16 Afghans Killed in Suicide Attack - Laura King, Los Angeles Times. Authorities on Friday were investigating whether a blast that hit a crowded marketplace in western Afghanistan was aimed at a provincial governor considered friendly to the United States. A suicide bomber rode a motorcycle into a crowded marketplace in the city of Farah, capital of Farah province, and set off his explosives, killing 16 other people and injuring about two dozen others. At least two children were among the dead and several were injured, hospital officials said. Friday is the day of the main Muslim congregational prayer, and people usually flock to the market to shop for the makings of a big family meal. Mothers often take their children on such outings. The violence came a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai, taking office for a second five-year term, appealed in his inaugural address for insurgents to lay down their arms. The explosion occurred about 50 yards from the compound of Farah's governor, Rohul Amin, who has worked with American officials stationed in the province. He was not injured, and it was not immediately clear whether the bomb was meant for him.
8 Militants Killed in Reported US Strike in Northwestern Pakistan - Associated Press. Pakistan expressed fear Friday that a large increase in foreign troops in Afghanistan could push militants across the border into its territory and called on the US to factor in that concern as part of its new war strategy. Meanwhile, a suspected US missile strike killed eight militants in northwestern Pakistan, officials said, the second attack this week in an area believed to hold many insurgents who fled from an army offensive elsewhere in the Afghan border region. American officials generally do not acknowledge the unpopular attacks. The Pakistani concerns, raised by the prime minister during a meeting with visiting CIA director Leon Panetta, could pose another headache for President Barack Obama as he weighs military proposals to send 10,000 to 40,000 additional US troops to Afghanistan next year. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the United States must fully share its plans for Afghanistan with Pakistan so that it can contribute to them, according to a statement from his office. Gilani also warned that more troops could push militants across the border.
IRAQ
US Fears Iraqis Will Not Keep Up Rebuilt Projects - Timothy Williams, New York Times. In its largest reconstruction effort since the Marshall Plan, the United States government has spent $53 billion for relief and reconstruction in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, building tens of thousands of hospitals, water treatment plants, electricity substations, schools and bridges. But there are growing concerns among American officials that Iraq will not be able to adequately maintain the facilities once the Americans have left, potentially wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and jeopardizing Iraq’s ability to provide basic services to its people. The projects run the gamut - from a cutting-edge, $270 million water treatment plant in Nasiriya that works at a fraction of its intended capacity because it is too sophisticated for Iraqi workers to operate, to a farmers’ market that farmers cannot decide how to share, to a large American hospital closed immediately after it was handed over to Iraq because the government was unable to supply it with equipment, a medical staff or electricity.
Army Faces Inquiry Over ‘Battle of Danny Boy’ Torture Claims - David Brown, The Times. Claims that British soldiers tortured and murdered up to 20 prisoners after a battle with Iraqi insurgents are to be scrutinised at a public inquiry. Concern that the Army covered up the most serious accusation of war crimes that it has faced has prompted Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, to order the independent inquiry. Mr Ainsworth is due to tell MPs next week that the inquiry will centre on an incident known as the Battle of Danny Boy. It took place in May 2004 and involved soldiers from the Argyll and Southern Highlanders and the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment. The Ministry of Defence said that 20 insurgents were killed “on the battlefield” after an exchange of fire during an attack on an Army vehicle and checkpoint. However, Iraqi families claim that some of those killed had been captured alive before being tortured and murdered by troops at Camp Abu Naji, a British base. Evidence indicating torture and mutilation allegedly includes close-range bullet wounds, the removal of eyes and stab wounds, human rights lawyers have claimed. Army sources say that, at a checkpoint called Danny Boy, heavily outnumbered troops mounted a heroic defence. The battle took place five miles from the town of Majar al-Kabir in Maysan Province, where six British military policemen, known as Red Caps, were murdered the year before.
IRAN
US Says Next Big-Power Meeting on Iranian Nuclear Program Will Take Up Punitive Steps - David Gollust, Voice of America. The State Department says the international community's patience with Iran is limited, and that another meeting of the P5+1 grouping will be held shortly to take up the pressure side of its two-track approach to Iran of incentives if it cooperates on the nuclear issue, and penalties if it doesn't. The comments follow a meeting of senior diplomats of the six powers in Brussels Friday who reviewed Iran's equivocal reaction to a proposal under which most of its stockpile of enriched uranium would be sent abroad for reprocessing and returned to fuel a medical research reactor in Tehran. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator appeared to accept the plan, developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), at a meeting with the P5+1 in Geneva October first in a move that would have eased concerns that its enrichment program is weapons-related. But the Tehran government has since backtracked on the issue, with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki saying this week Iran is no longer willing to send the uranium out of the country. At a news briefing Friday, Deputy State Department Spokesman Robert Wood expressed frustration over the Iranian stance. "This is something the Iranians agreed to in principle," said Robert Wood. "If you remember back in the Geneva meeting they agreed in principle to this proposal that was brought about under the auspices of the IAEA. And since then Iran has had a difficult time saying yes to this proposal. So we're hopeful that Iran will, but should it not, we will obviously take a look at the pressure side of our dual-track approach." Among the P5+1 members, Russia and China have been resistant to punitive action against Iran such as new U.N. sanctions.
Frustration as Iran Stalls on Deal - Steven Erlanger, New York Times. Senior officials from Western powers discussed the possibility on Friday of new sanctions on Iran for flouting the United Nations Security Council’s demands and expressed disappointment that Iran had not yet accepted a draft agreement to export most of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. The officials met in Brussels to discuss where matters stood with Iran and the possibility of new sanctions should Iran continue to play for time. While a joint statement after the meeting was expressed in diplomatic language, the meeting itself was a sign of exasperation with Iran. Even President Obama, who has been most willing to give Iran time to decide on the proposal, as a means to broader negotiations, said Thursday in South Korea that because Iran had not agreed to the proposal, the United States would begin “developing a package of potential steps that we could take that will indicate our seriousness to Iran.” Iran has rejected an understanding reached with its representatives on Oct. 1 to remove about 2,600 pounds of lightly enriched uranium - some 70 percent of its known supplies - so it can be processed in Russia and France into nuclear fuel for a reactor in Tehran used to make medical isotopes.
UN Official Seeks Global Action on Iran - David Crawford and Stephen Fidler, Wall Street Journal. Mohamed ElBaradei, the departing chief of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, said Iran's continued refusal to accept tighter scrutiny of its nuclear activities would likely force the international community to impose new sanctions. Though he described sanctions as a "grievous violation of human rights" that "affect the weak" and "do not solve problems," Mr. ElBaradei said Iran's continued intransigence regarding its nuclear program would likely lead world powers to increase their pressure on Iran. "The ball is in Iran's court," Mr. ElBaradei said in a brief interview after delivering a speech on his 12-year tenure as the International Atomic Energy Agency's Director General. Mr. ElBaradei, who is set to retire from the agency at the end of November, said he still hoped Iran's leadership would accept a plan to address concerns about its nuclear activities but acknowledged that it was "a fleeting opportunity." He urged the international community to continue to engage with Iran, saying that "small steps and negotiations" are necessary to achieve results.
Major World Powers Dislike Nuclear Response From Iran - Lisa Bryant, Voice of America. The United States and five leading world powers meeting in Brussels expressed disappointment Friday that Iran had not accepted a uranium enrichment offer, even as the outgoing head of the International Atomic Energy Agency urged Tehran to agree to the plan. The Brussels meeting came just two days after Iran rejected a proposal to further enrich its low-enrichment uranium overseas. On October 1, Tehran appeared to have accepted the deal, which was brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The agreement would have also helped ease international fears that Iran was trying to build a nuclear weapon. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes only. Representatives at the Brussels meeting - from the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany - did not speak to reporters. But they issued a statement after the talks, saying they were disappointed with Iran and urged the country to reconsider the offer. That message was echoed in Berlin by IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei, who said he hoped the two sides could reach agreement by the year's end.
UN General Assembly Condemns Post-Election Abuses in Iran - Margaret Besheer, Voice of America. The UN General Assembly has condemned human rights violations in Iran, particularly those that have occurred since last June's disputed presidential election, when thousands of opposition supporters were arrested and detained. In a vote of 74 in favor, 48 against and 59 abstentions, the General Assembly committee responsible for social, humanitarian and cultural affairs - known as the Third Committee -adopted the resolution co-sponsored by Canada and 41 other countries. For the last seven years, the assembly has adopted a similar resolution criticizing human rights violations in Iran. But this year, in addition to expressing concern over on-going abuses, the resolution noted with particular concern violations that have taken place since the disputed June presidential election that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to office. After the vote, thousands of people were detained during street protests led by opposition supporters who claim President Ahmadinejad's victory was rigged. More than a 100 activists were tried on charges of inciting unrest and plotting to overthrow the government. This week Iranian state television reported that five people had been sentenced to death and another 81 were sentenced to up to 15 years in jail.
In Draft Resolution, United Nations Rebukes Iran for Rights Violations Since Election - Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times. The United Nations criticized Iran on Friday for numerous human rights abuses in the wake of the disputed presidential election in June, including the arrests, intimidation and mass trials of members of the political opposition. A draft resolution detailing the criticism was approved by a vote of 74 to 48, with 59 countries abstaining. Although a resolution rebuking Iran for domestic oppression has been an annual event for about 15 years, the latest version expressed particular concern about the “rise in human rights violations” after the election. In Iran, the fallout from the election protests continued, with more opposition figures sentenced to prison terms. A nationwide campaign of arrests was reported by student Web sites, with the government apparently focusing on student leaders before protests expected on Dec. 7, known as Student Day. The violations listed in the United Nations’ draft resolution included the death and injury of opposition members and other citizens trying to exercise their right to freedom of expression; the use of violence and intimidation by the government-run Basij militia forces; the abuse of prisoners, including rape and torture as well as forced confessions; and severe restrictions on media coverage of the events. The resolution also singled out the arrests of foreign embassy employees, which it called inconsistent with international agreements.
UNITED STATES
Hasan Had Intensified Contact With Cleric - Carrie Johnson, Spencer S. Hsu and Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post. In the months before the deadly shootings at Fort Hood, Army Maj. Nidal M. Hasan intensified his communications with a radical Yemeni American cleric and began to discuss surreptitious financial transfers and other steps that could translate his thoughts into action, according to two sources briefed on a collection of secret e-mails between the two. The e-mails were obtained by an FBI-led task force in San Diego between late last year and June but were not forwarded to the military, according to government and congressional sources. Some were sent to the FBI's Washington field office, triggering an assessment into whether they raised national security concerns, but those intercepted later were not, the sources said. Hasan's contacts with extremist imam Anwar al-Aulaqi began as religious queries but took on a more specific and concrete tone before he moved to Texas, where he allegedly unleashed the Nov. 5 attack that killed 13 people and wounded nearly three dozen, said the sources who were briefed on the e-mails, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the case is sensitive and unfolding. One of those sources said the two discussed in "cryptic and coded exchanges" the transfer of money overseas in ways that would not attract law enforcement attention.
Understanding Fort Hood - Washington Post editorial. Law enforcement officials are almost always right to try to shield a criminal investigation from outside interference. Public pretrial statements by witnesses, for example, could be used by others to shape their testimony; evidence could be corrupted if not handled properly. And those directly involved could escape accountability if they are given immunity to testify before Congress. So it comes as no surprise that the Justice Department and the Defense Department are asking lawmakers on Capitol Hill to back off from holding hearings on the Nov. 5 rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead and 38 wounded. Democratic leaders have by and large agreed, leading some across the aisle to accuse the party of trying to cover up alleged administration mistakes. Connecticut independent Joseph I. Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, on Thursday held the only oversight hearing thus far. But staying clear of the witnesses and evidence with a direct link to the scene of the crime does not mean legislators must sit idly by until the criminal case is concluded.
AFRICA
Paul and Rachel Chandler: We Could be Dead Within a Week - Anil Dawar, The Times. A British couple kidnapped by Somali pirates have appealed directly to the British Government to open talks for their release, fearing that they may be killed within a week. Paul and Rachel Chandler appeared in a video broadcast on television tonight. It was the first time that they have been seen since they disappeared while sailing in the Indian Ocean off the coast of East Africa last month. In the two-minute video the pair were surrounded by armed men and looked thin, tired and stressed. One of their kidnappers had a rocket-propelled grenade on his shoulder and the others all carried heavy machineguns and wore bullet belts. Mr Chandler, 59, urged the Government to start negotiating over a ransom. His wife Rachel, 55, said: “We are very concerned about the future. Our captors are very impatient.” They also said their kidnappers had told them a terrorist cell was hunting them. The pair were filmed by a Channel 4 News camera crew on Wednesday. Mr Chandler, a retired quantity surveyor from Tunbridge Wells, and his wife, an economist, disappeared on October 23 while sailing from the Seychelles towards Tanzania in their 38ft yacht Lynn Rival. Four days later a news agency was contacted by a pirate called Hassan who said that he had the pair captive and ransom demands would follow. They have been allowed to speak to journalists on the phone, and in one conversation Mrs Chandler’s brother, Stephen Collett, made a direct appeal to the pirates to release them.
AMERICAS
15 Are Indicted in Chicago in Push on Mexican Cartel - Randal C. Archibold, New York Times. Federal authorities said Friday that they had struck a blow against a major Mexican drug trafficking group operating in the Chicago area, indicting 15 members responsible for one of the more significant cocaine distribution networks there. The investigation, officials said, uncovered a “command and control” group distributing thousands of pounds of cocaine for La Familia Michoacana, a major cartel in Mexico known for its messianic leaders and propensity to behead enemies. Last month, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced federal charges against 300 people linked to the organization in 19 states. The indictments in Chicago, officials said, represent a continuing resolve to crack down on the cartel north of the border. In Chicago, prosecutors said, the cartel’s cell had taken orders from Mexico since at least 2007 to import and distribute cocaine, largely in suburbs including Berwyn, Hickory Hills, Joliet and Oak Lawn. A complaint filed in August, when most of the members were initially arrested, said the group collected some $20 million in proceeds. All 15 were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, while some defendants also face other drug-related charges.
ASIA PACIFIC
US Presses China in Case of Geologist - Keith Bradsher, New York Times. The Chinese government has held an American oil geologist on suspicion of stealing state secrets for nearly two years, prompting President Obama to raise the issue during his visit to Beijing this week, the American Embassy in Beijing said Friday. The geologist, Xue Feng, has also been tortured by interrogators who pressed cigarettes into his arms, according to people seeking his release who have had access to him in custody. Chinese prosecutors indicted Dr. Xue on a charge of theft of state secrets for having signed a contract on behalf of his employer at the time, IHS Inc., for the purchase of an oil industry database from a Chinese company, said Jerome A. Cohen, a New York University law professor who is seeking Dr. Xue’s release. Dr. Xue’s arrest received no public attention until this week and remained mired in a lengthy legal proceeding in Beijing. The case raises broad issues for foreign businesses operating in China, Mr. Cohen said. Disclosure of Dr. Xue’s legal difficulties comes after China also arrested four executives from the British-Australian mining company Rio Tinto last summer and charged them with commercial bribery and trade secrets infringement for gathering information during iron ore price negotiations, although an initial threat to prosecute them for theft of state secrets was not pursued.
Assessing the China Trip - New York Times editorial. President Obama has faced a fair amount of criticism for his China trip. He was too deferential; he didn’t speak out enough on human rights; he failed to press Beijing firmly on revaluing its currency; he achieved no concrete results. The trip wasn’t all that we had hoped it would be, but some of the complaints are premature. The trip was a template for rising American anxieties about the rising Asian power. President Obama went into his meetings with President Hu Jintao with a weaker hand than most recent American leaders - and it showed. He is still trying to restore the country’s moral authority and a battered economy dependent on Chinese lending. Yet the United States needs China’s cooperation on important and difficult problems, including stabilizing the global financial system, curbing global warming, persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear program and preventing Iran from building any nuclear weapons. On the positive side, the two leaders hinted in a joint statement that there may have been enough agreement on climate change to give momentum to the Copenhagen negotiations. An American government source said there also may have been some unannounced progress on North Korea.
Foreign Policy Specialists Assess Obama's Trip to Asia - Washington Post opinions. The Post asked foreign policy experts if Obama's trip was a success or an embarrassment. At the link are contributions from Michael Auslin, Michael Green, Victor Cha, Danielle Pletka, Douglas E. Schoen, Richard C. Bush, Elizabeth C. Economy, David Shambaugh and Yang Jianli.
MIDDLE EAST
Palestinian Panel to Sidestep Vote - Howard Schneider, Washington Post. To keep the Palestinian Authority government working after its term expires in January, Palestinians are turning to an unelected group of political insiders instead of holding new elections, according to Palestinian officials and outside analysts. The Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Council -- more than 100 political officials and activists, labor federation leaders and others - is slated to meet in December to authorize Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to remain the movement's chief political figure and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to continue running the day-to-day affairs of government in Ramallah. The session will resolve an immediate political problem while maintaining an air of legality around a Palestinian government that relies on hundreds of millions of dollars in outside aid. Abbas's term expires Jan. 24, but election officials have ruled that a planned vote cannot take place while the Islamist Hamas movement rules the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority, dominated by Abbas's Fatah movement, holds political power only in the West Bank. Abbas has said he does not want to run for reelection, but the council's endorsement will mean that he can continue as the Palestinian figurehead until peace talks resume or a longer-term plan is worked out to pick his successor.
Conflict Deepens Crisis in Yemen - Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post. A humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, has worsened in recent weeks as the civil war between the government and Shiite rebels spilled across the border into Saudi Arabia. The turmoil is adding to the stress on a country already beset by multiple emergencies, including calls for secession in the south and a growing al-Qaeda threat. The crisis, coupled with high unemployment and a lack of government services, is also putting additional pressure on overburdened tribal communities. Western diplomats and Yemeni analysts say the strain could create new legions of poor and vulnerable people who would be easy recruits for al-Qaeda and other extremist groups. A quarter of the 700,000 Yemenis in the country's northernmost province have been displaced by the five-year-old war. Recently, more than 900 people have been arriving at the Mazraq camp every day, UN officials say. Nearly 700 children in the camp are suffering from severe malnutrition, a chronic problem in Yemen. At least six children have died in the past month, according to UNICEF officials. In recent days, 240 villages and 50 schools in Saudi Arabia have been evacuated, and many Saudis have been forced to flee across the border to Mazraq.
Kuwait-based Military Contractor Wins Court Delay - Walter Pincus, Washington Post. A Kuwaiti-owned company indicted in Atlanta this week for alleged fraud in connection with a multibillion-dollar contract to supply food and other products to coalition troops in Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan won a court delay Friday, indicating that it may be planning to fight the case, whether in Georgia or elsewhere in the United States. Public Warehousing Co. KSC, which is also known as Agility, has hired the US law firms Jones Day in Georgia and Vincent Elkins in Washington "solely to contest jurisdictional issues," according to a company resolution signed by chairman and managing director Tarek Abbul Aziz Sultan Al-Essa. In a statement, the company said the court delay until Dec. 1 was granted "to examine whether the government followed the law when providing notice of the charges." Public Warehousing, which has grown from a small Kuwaiti-based warehouse and delivery firm with revenue of $154 million in 2002 to a worldwide firm operating in 120 countries with revenue of $6.3 billion in 2008, has denied the federal fraud charges.
SOUTH ASIA
As Singh's Visit Nears, Perceived US Missteps Concern India - John Pomfret, Washington Post. Days before Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to be welcomed in the White House as the first state visitor hosted by President Obama, two perceived missteps by the Obama administration have Indian officials concerned that New Delhi suddenly has been relegated to the second tier of US-Asian relations. Singh arrives Sunday on a four-day trip meant to solidify a relationship transformed under the Bush administration by a nuclear cooperation deal, increasing trade and investment, educational exchanges and unprecedented security collaboration. But Indian officials and analysts say two statements by the Obama administration during the president's trip to Asia, which ended this week, have raised concerns that Washington is leaning too closely to China, India's main regional competitor.
US and India Hone Nuclear Pact for Singh's Arrival - Amol Sharma and Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal. India and the US are pushing to tie up vital details of a nuclear-energy cooperation agreement approved by their legislatures last year, ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the White House Tuesday, said officials from both countries. The nuclear deal was a breakthrough in relations for two nations that were ideologically opposed during the Cold War, and Mr. Singh staked his political reputation to get it approved by a reluctant Indian Parliament. But American companies haven't yet been able to begin selling their technology and services because of remaining regulatory roadblocks. "We have made tremendous progress" on the nuclear talks, Timothy Roemer, US ambassador to India, said in New Delhi this week. "We are pushing hard to see a successful conclusion to these issues." Negotiators from the two nations were due to meet in Washington on Saturday as part of an effort to formalize the pact. The negotiators will focus on an agreement to make sure low-enriched uranium sold by US companies to Indian companies for use in their reactors doesn't end up reprocessed as weapons-grade fuel.
Italian Police Arrest Pakistani Men Linked to Mumbai Attacks - Associated Press. Italian police on Saturday arrested two Pakistani men accused of providing logistical support for last year's terror attacks in Mumbai, officials said. The two, father and son, were arrested in an early morning raid in Brescia, police in the northern Italian city said. The suspects managed a money transfer agency and helped fund the Nov. 26 attacks, police said in a statement. The day before the attacks they transferred money to activate an Internet phone account that was used by the attackers and their accomplices, said Stefano Fonzi, the head of antiterror police in Brescia. Italian police began the probe in December after being alerted by the FBI that the money had been sent from Italy, Mr. Fonzi said. The funds were transferred under the identity of another Pakistani man who had never been in Italy and was not involved in the alleged crimes, he said. The two are accused of aiding and abetting international terrorism as well as illegal financial activity. Transferring funds using the identity of other people was a common practice at the Brescia agency, Mr. Fonzi said in a telephone interview.
EVENTS
An Evening of Counterinsurgency at the Pritzker Military Library. Hearts and minds? Overrated. If you want to run a successful counterinsurgency, it all starts with the person at the top. On Thursday, December 3rd, Mark Moyar will appear at the Pritzker Military Library to discuss his new book, A Question of Command: Counterinsurgency from the Civil War to Iraq. This event is free and open to the public. The presentation will begin at 6 p.m., preceded by a reception for Library members at 5 p.m. It will be webcast live on pritzkermilitarylibrary.org and recorded for later broadcast on WYCC-TV/Channel 20. Moyar takes issue with much of the current U.S. Army / Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, which guided the “surge” in Iraq. Though its creation was overseen by Gen. David Petraeus, whose leadership he considers a near-perfect model for counterinsurgency, Moyar finds the general’s most important qualities de-valued in the manual, which suffers from what he calls a “population-centric” emphasis toward defeating an insurgency by depriving it of public support. Using case studies from the Philippines, Vietnam, and other conflicts over the last 150 years, Moyar argues instead that counterinsurgencies succeed or fail based on the leaders involved: their ability to inspire subordinates, adapt to complex situations, unify civilian and military efforts, and identify capable sub-commanders, both from their own ranks and the target population. Though A Question of Command describes historical insurgencies around the world, Moyar posits that the American South, after the Civil War, may have been the best model for the situation in Iraq. Whereas Grant and Sherman had led major victories on the battlefield, it was lesser-known leaders like Brig. Gen. Robert F. Catterson and Maj. Lewis Merrill who had the most success against insurgent forces such as the Ku Klux Klan. A Question of Command attempts to capture the qualities and decisions that set those leaders apart, making their successors easier to find. Mark Moyar is Professor of National Security Affairs at the Marine Corps University. He is also the author of Triumph Forsaken: the Vietnam War, 1954-1965 and Phoenix and the Birds of Prey: Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorism in Vietnam. Moyar’s writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He received a B.A. summa cum laude from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Cambridge. Seating for this event is limited, so reservations are recommended. Call 312.587.0234 or email events@pritzkermilitarylibrary.net.
BOOKS
Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan - Doug Stanton.
Horse Soldiers tells the important story of the Special Forces soldiers who first put American boots on the ground in Afghanistan in 2001. Fighting alongside the Northern Alliance, the troops, often riding on horseback, achieved several important victories against the Taliban.
War 2.0: Irregular Warfare in the Information Age - Thomas Rid and Marc Hecker.
War 2.0: Irregular Warfare in the Information Age argues that two intimately connected trends are putting modern armies under huge pressure to adapt: the rise of insurgencies and the rise of the Web. Both in cyberspace and in warfare, the grassroots public has assumed increasing importance in recent years. After the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, Web 2.0 rose from the ashes. This newly interactive and participatory form of the Web promotes and enables offline action. Similarly, after Rumsfeld's attempt to transform the US military into a lean, lethal, computerized force crashed in Iraq in 2003, counterinsurgency rose from the ashes. Counterinsurgency is a social form of war - indeed, the US Army calls it armed social work - in which the local matrix population becomes the center of strategic gravity and public opinion at home the critical vulnerability.
The New Counterinsurgency Era: Transforming the US Military for Modern Wars - David H. Ucko.
Confronting insurgent violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US military has recognized the need to "re-learn" counterinsurgency. But how has the Department of Defense with its mixed efforts responded to this new strategic environment? Has it learned anything from past failures? In The New Counterinsurgency Era, David Ucko examines DoD's institutional obstacles and initially slow response to a changing strategic reality.
Journey into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda - Thomas P. Odom.
In July 1994, Thomas P. Odom was part of the US Embassy team that responded to the Goma refugee crisis. He witnessed the deaths of 70,000 refugees in a single week. In the previous three months of escalating violence, the Rwandan genocide had claimed 800,000 dead. Now, in this vivid and unsettling new book, Odom offers the first insider look at these devastating events before, during, and after the genocide.
Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage - Donovan Campbell.
Donovan Campbell, first as a Marine and then as a writer, shows us that the dominant emotion in war isn’t hatred or anger or fear. It’s love. His story stands as a poignant tribute to his men–their courage, their dedication, their skill, and their love for one another, even unto death.
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.
