Days after President Obama outlines his new war strategy in a speech Tuesday, as many as 9,000 Marines will begin final preparations to deploy to southern Afghanistan and renew an assault on a Taliban stronghold that slowed this year amid a troop shortage and political pressure from the Afghan government, senior US officials said.
AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN
Democrats in Revolt Over Barack Obama’s Troop Surge - Christina Lamb, The Times. Barack Obama's much-vaunted eloquence faces the biggest test of his presidential career this week when he takes to the stage at West Point military academy to explain to a nation that thought it had elected an anti-war president why he is escalating the conflict in Afghanistan. After almost three months of agonising, nine war councils and endless leaks, the president will finally make his views known on Tuesday when he is expected to announce that he is sending about 30,000 more troops. This will push up American forces to 100,000 and the total number of allied forces to almost 140,000, as many troops as the Soviet Union had in Afghanistan. The carefully chosen backdrop cannot disguise Obama’s dilemma. Somehow he has to convince his own public that the United States has an exit strategy and will not become bogged down, as it did in Vietnam, while making clear to the Taliban and Pakistan that it has not lost its resolve and will stay as long as it takes. Obama’s toughest challenge will be to win over his most loyal political supporters. He is facing a growing revolt in the Democratic party over why the US needs to be in Afghanistan at all when the real threat - Al-Qaeda - is in Pakistan, and over the spiralling cost in both lives and dollars.
British PM Calls Afghan Meeting to Plan Security Handover - Voice of America. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says Britain will host an international conference on Afghanistan next year to outline conditions for handing security responsibilities back to Afghan authorities. Mr. Brown made the announcement Saturday alongside UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago. The British prime minister said NATO allies, key world powers and regional neighbors will be represented at the London conference, planned for January 28. A statement from Mr. Brown's office includes a nine-month timeline with key security goals for Afghan President Hamid Karzai. It calls for the Afghan government to build up the country's army, police and local governance so control of the country can be given to local authorities, and British troops can withdraw. Mr. Ban said another conference would be held in the Afghan capital, Kabul, a few months after the London meeting.
Newly Deployed Marines to Target Taliban Bastion - Greg Jaffe, Washington Post. Days after President Obama outlines his new war strategy in a speech Tuesday, as many as 9,000 Marines will begin final preparations to deploy to southern Afghanistan and renew an assault on a Taliban stronghold that slowed this year amid a troop shortage and political pressure from the Afghan government, senior US officials said. The extra Marines will be the first to move into the country as part of Obama's escalation of the eight-year-old war. They will double the size of the US force in the southern province of Helmand and will provide a critical test for Afghan President Hamid Karzai's struggling government and Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's counterinsurgency strategy. "The first troops out of the door are going to be Marines," Gen. James T. Conway, the Corps' top officer, told fellow Marines in Afghanistan on Saturday. "We've been leaning forward in anticipation of a decision. And we've got some pretty stiff fighting coming." The Marines will be quickly followed by about 1,000 US Army trainers. They will deploy as early as February to speed the growth of the Afghan army and police force, military officials said.
Marines Plow Ahead with Anti-poppy Campaign in Afghan District - Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times. Under an awning set up at a tiny outpost guarded by US Marines, the district governor of Nawa is pleading with three dozen solemn-looking farmers and village elders not to plant the crop that feeds the world heroin market. Haji Abdul Manaf, a farmer and onetime leader in the fight against Russian occupiers, has several parts to his passionate anti-poppy pitch. Moral: Planting an illegal crop puts you in collusion with criminals and violates the Koran. Practical: If Nawa continues to be known as the center of the poppy crop, outsiders like the Americans won't come here to build schools, clinics and roads. And then the direct approach. "If you grow poppy, we will catch you, destroy your crop and put you in jail!" shouted Manaf, as his audience stared impassively, some fingering worry beads, others nibbling on plates of garbanzo beans, raisins and tiny candies. It is a speech that Manaf, at the behest of the Americans, makes frequently at open-air meetings of farmers and elders: sometimes in a shady spot in different marketplaces, sometimes at the Nawa district government center, once at the unfinished mansion of a now-jailed drug kingpin. The district governor's appearances are part of a counter-narcotics strategy that has changed dramatically since the Bush administration but remains crucial to the war effort, particularly in Helmand province, the heart of the poppy-growing region.
To Prepare for War, GI’s Get a Dress Rehearsal - James Dao, New York Times. A firefight with heavily armed insurgents near a gold-domed mosque. A helicopter evacuation of bloody car bomb victims. A meeting with tribal elders upset about security. Just another day in Afghanistan? More like the dress rehearsal for war, played out on 100,000 acres of snake-infested pine forest on an Army post near the Texas border. Here, thousands of soldiers prepare for deployment each month by patrolling Afghan villages built by professional set designers, battling roving insurgents played by American soldiers and negotiating with actors playing tribal elders, many of whom speak real Pashto. It is Counterinsurgency 101, about as realistic as the Army can make it in Louisiana, never mind the alligator-filled swamps, the “mud” huts assembled from metal shipping containers and the Afghan “villagers” who stir pots of Cajun rice and beans between Taliban raids. The training scenarios, created from intelligence reports fresh from the front, are capable of bringing stressed soldiers to the brink of tears, commanders say. “We want to replicate the contemporary operating environment," said Col. Jon S. Lehr, who oversees the training operation. “But we also have to prepare a soldier for their worst day.”
NATO Tempts Taliban in From Cold - Marie Colvin, The Times. When American commandos killed a Taliban commander in his mountain lair in western Afghanistan last month, they celebrated the end of the operations he had masterminded: rocket attacks on their base, suicide bombings and the kidnappings of businessmen. They also worried that the death of Ghulam Yahya Akbari, a former mayor of Herat, might trigger revenge strikes from his heavily armed followers. As mayor, Akbari had won popularity by nailing the ear lobes of greedy merchants to lampposts; and, as head of public works, he had brought electricity to Herat when Kabul, the capital, was in darkness six nights a week. Three years ago, however, Akbari fell out with a new provincial governor. He took to the mountains with his 12 sons and 200 fighters, and allied himself with the Taliban. He had survived two American assassination attempts by the time he died on October 8. The next act in the Akbari saga surprised his pursuers and supporters alike. Instead of striking back, five of his commanders and 114 soldiers approached the local office of the peace and reconciliation commission, handed in their battered Kalashnikov rifles and pledged allegiance to President Hamid Karzai. “They’d had enough of fighting,” said Mohammed Shoaib Mojaddedi, the commission’s chief in Herat. Even US troops who hunted down Akbari thought this was the best way forward. “We’ve been killing people in this country for eight years,” said a member of the US Marine special operations unit that targeted Akbari. “We’re not going to win by killing people.”
Cuts Ground Special Forces’ Helicopters - Stephen Grey and Michael Smith, The Times. Helicopters used by British special forces to mentor their Afghan counterparts on anti-drugs operations have been grounded to save just £2m a year. The funding for the helicopters - used by the Special Boat Service (SBS) and Afghan special forces for raids on drugs barons and Taliban insurgents - was cut by the Foreign Office two months ago. The decision came despite Gordon Brown’s announcement that Britain’s “exit strategy” rests on training Afghan forces to take over its role. The Foreign Office refused to discuss the funding but privately officials confirmed the money was cut amid vain hopes that the Americans would foot the bill instead. The mission, known as Operation Emperor, involved SBS commandos training the Afghan special narcotics force as well as mentoring them. In June last year, it resulted in the seizure of 262 tons of cannabis in Kandahar province, the world’s largest drugs haul. Des Browne, the former defence secretary, told MPs in May 2007 that the operation was “highly effective” at detecting Taliban communications and supply routes from Pakistan. “It was a highly successful mission and the Afghans were getting better every day,” a special forces source said last week. “The paltry sums involved were getting a pretty valuable return.” The Afghan military supplied four Russian-made MI-8 Hip helicopters but could not afford to run them so the Foreign Office agreed to fund the costs of the fuel and upkeep. The Conservatives said it “beggared belief" that the Foreign Office should withdraw funding from what was clearly an important project. Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said: “For British troops to leave safely, we need to have fully trained Afghan security forces. This cut will undermine that task.”
12 Afghan Inmates Escape from Prison - Voice of America. Afghan police say 12 prisoners have escaped from a prison in western Afghanistan. Police said Saturday the inmates broke out of the prison in Farah province by digging a tunnel from their cell to the outside. Officials captured a 13th prisoner as he tried to escape. In the northern province of Takhar, police say gunmen attacked and killed the provincial head of the Red Crescent organization Friday. At least three suspects have been detained for the murder. Local officials have suggested that the killing may have been prompted by a personal conflict, and was not related to the man's work. And in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Saturday, security officials said a bomb in a trash can exploded in the city's center, causing little damage and no injuries. A day earlier, Afghan President Hamid Karzai again called on the Taliban and other extremist groups to disarm and help rebuild the war-torn country. During a speech to mark Afghanistan's first day of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, Mr. Karzai asked those he called his Taliban "brothers" and everyone who has taken up arms against their homeland to join the government and help usher in peace and prosperity.
Afghans Detail Detention in ‘Black Jail’ at US Base - Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times. An American military detention camp in Afghanistan is still holding inmates, sometimes for weeks at a time, without access to the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to human rights researchers and former detainees held at the site on the Bagram Air Base. The site, known to detainees as the black jail, consists of individual windowless concrete cells, each illuminated by a single light bulb glowing 24 hours a day. In interviews, former detainees said that their only human contact was at twice-daily interrogation sessions. “The black jail was the most dangerous and fearful place,” said Hamidullah, a spare-parts dealer in Kandahar who said he was detained there in June. “They don’t let the ICRC officials or any other civilians see or communicate with the people they keep there. Because I did not know what time it was, I did not know when to pray.” The jail’s operation highlights a tension between President Obama’s goal to improve detention conditions that had drawn condemnation under the Bush administration and his stated desire to give military commanders leeway to operate. While Mr. Obama signed an order to eliminate so-called black sites run by the Central Intelligence Agency in January, it did not also close this jail, which is run by military Special Operations forces. Military officials said as recently as this summer that the Afghanistan jail and another like it at the Balad Air Base in Iraq were being used to interrogate high-value detainees. And officials said recently that there were no plans to close the jails.
The Afghan Decision - Washington Post editorial. President Obama is expected to announce on Tuesday a substantial escalation of the US mission in Afghanistan: more training for the Afghan army, more support for Afghan governance and tens of thousands more American troops. It is a difficult choice but also the right one. While there is no guarantee that the new measures will reverse what is now a losing effort, the alternatives under consideration - from a more limited counterterrorism strategy to maintaining the current force - have been tried and have failed. While sending more Americans to war will entail a painful cost in lives, abandoning Afghanistan to civil war or rule by the Taliban would be immoral - and would endanger key American interests. Mr. Obama's prolonged deliberations and some of his public comments have made clear that he will embark on this new course reluctantly. That is understandable, given the problems in Afghanistan and the lack of Democratic support for an expanded war. Yet once he has chosen his strategy, it's vital that the president commit himself fully to its success. That requires sending enough troops to reverse the Taliban's momentum and describing the new commitment in a way that will convince Afghans, allies, the Taliban and the leaders of neighboring Pakistan that the United States is determined to succeed. It also means avoiding hedges and conditions that could doom the escalation before it begins.
Undermining Afghan Health Care - Leonard S. Rubenstein and William Newbrander, Washington Post opinion. Amid the news about US failures in Afghanistan stands a clear success: a vast expansion of primary health-care services, including a major increase in the number of female health workers to provide prenatal care, attend births and treat female patients. By supporting the capacity of the Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health to develop and implement these services, the United States has contributed to a dramatic reduction in deaths of Afghan infants and young children. Yet the approach that fueled this success is in jeopardy of being subordinated to the objective of employing health development resources to support military operations. Such a shift has no proven linkage to enhancing stability in the short term and undermines policies that can contribute to the emergence of a legitimate state.
IRAQ
Ex-British Envoy Questions Legitimacy of Iraq Invasion - Walter Pincus, Washington Post. The March 2003 military invasion of Iraq was "legal but of questionable legitimacy" because the UN Security Council had not voted to support it, a former top British diplomat said last week at a parliamentary inquiry examining Britain's role in the war. Jeremy Greenstock, the British ambassador to the United Nations from 1998 to 2003, told the inquiry that he had favored waiting until October 2003 before resorting to force. He said the French in March were proposing a three- to four-month ultimatum to Baghdad, and the Saudis and other Arab governments were interested in working to get Saddam Hussein to go into exile. But, he said, "the soldiers probably wanted to get on with it," and the United States "did not want to start a military operation in the summer months." Asked whether he thought "the military tail was wagging the diplomatic dog," Greenstock answered, "Yes, of course." The parliamentary inquiry is being conducted by a committee of privy counselors, appointed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and chaired by John Chilcot, a career civil servant. The panel is to look at the run-up to the Iraq war, from summer 2001 to the fighting, and then to the aftermath, through July 31, 2009.
IRAN
Iran Religious Leader: Tehran to Enrich Own High-Grade Uranium if No Deal - Edward Yeranian, Voice of America. A senior Iranian cleric says Iran will produce its own uranium fuel if there is no deal with the United Nations Atomic Energy Agency. The cleric's comments came in reaction to an IAEA resolution adopted on Friday demanding that Iran halt construction of a new uranium enrichment facility. Iran's top nuclear negotiator is also insisting that Tehran will not stop enriching uranium. Amid loud acclamations of approval, top hardline Iranian cleric, Hojatoleslam Ahmad Khatami warned the West that Tehran will produce its own high-grade uranium for a medical research reactor, if the UN International Atomic Energy Agency refuses to provide the fuel. Khatami insisted that the IAEA is required to supply the fuel, despite reservations by the West. Hojatoleslam says IAEA regulations stipulate that the agency provide the fuel for Iran's medical reactor in Tehran. He says if the agency gives Iran the fuel, the matter is settled. Otherwise, he warns, the great Iranian nation which has developed its own nuclear technology will produce the fuel by using its own know-how.
THE LONG WAR
Senate Report Explores 2001 Escape by bin Laden From Afghan Mountains - Scott Shane, New York Times. As President Obama vows to “finish the job” in Afghanistan by sending more troops, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has completed a detailed look back at a crucial failure early in the battle against Al Qaeda: the escape of Osama bin Laden from American forces in the Afghan mountains of Tora Bora in December 2001. “Removing the Al Qaeda leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat,” the committee’s report concludes. “But the decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide.” The report, based in part on a little-noticed 2007 history of the Tora Bora episode by the military’s Special Operations Command, asserts that the consequences of not sending American troops in 2001 to block Mr. bin Laden’s escape into Pakistan are still being felt. The report blames the lapse for “laying the foundation for today’s protracted Afghan insurgency and inflaming the internal strife now endangering Pakistan.” Its release comes just as the Obama administration is preparing to announce an increase in forces in Afghanistan.
America vs. The Narrative - Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times opinion. What should we make of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who apparently killed 13 innocent people at Fort Hood? Here’s my take: Major Hasan may have been mentally unbalanced - I assume anyone who shoots up innocent people is. But the more you read about his support for Muslim suicide bombers, about how he showed up at a public-health seminar with a PowerPoint presentation titled “Why the War on Terror Is a War on Islam,” and about his contacts with Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni cleric famous for using the Web to support jihadist violence against America - the more it seems that Major Hasan was just another angry jihadist spurred to action by “The Narrative.” What is scary is that even though he was born, raised and educated in America, The Narrative still got to him. The Narrative is the cocktail of half-truths, propaganda and outright lies about America that have taken hold in the Arab-Muslim world since 9/11.
ISLAM
Muslims Mark Eid al-Adha Festival on 4th Day of Hajj - Voice of America. Muslims around the world are celebrating the festival of Eid al-Adha, including more than two million pilgrims taking part in annual Hajj rituals in Saudi Arabia. Pilgrims in the Saudi holy city of Mecca threw stones at three pillars representing Satan, a ritual that began Friday and continues until Sunday. No major incidents were reported Friday, the third day of the pilgrimage. But on Saturday, Saudi authorities reported that a 70-year old Pakistani man taking part in the Hajj had died of the H1N1 swine flu virus. He is the fifth pilgrim to die of swine flu since the days leading up to the pilgrimage. Experts have warned that swine flu could spread among pilgrims. Eid al-Adha, or "Festival of Sacrifice," is considered one of the most important days on the Islamic calendar. Muslims mark the festival by slaughtering cattle to commemorate a belief that God gave the prophet Abraham a ram to sacrifice in place of his son. On Friday, Sheikh Osman Khayat delivered a sermon before thousands of pilgrims at Mecca's Grand Mosque. He called for unity among Muslims and condemned divisions that he said were provoked by enemy forces.
AFRICA
Navy Releases Somali Pirates Caught Red-handed - Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Marie Woolf, The Times. Somalian pirates who are terrorising yachts and cargo ships in the Indian Ocean are being routinely allowed to go free by international naval forces despite being captured with their weapons and even holding hostages. Pirates who are seized from the skiffs by the Royal Navy and other maritime forces are pleasantly surprised to find themselves being offered life jackets, medical checks and hot food. They are then often set free, either because they have not been captured “in the act of piracy” or because of the risk that they would claim asylum if prosecuted in Europe. More than 340 suspected Somalian pirates have been captured in anti-piracy operations over the past year and subsequently released on the advice of lawyers. Some have been disembarked on African beaches because of concerns over the seaworthiness of their vessels. Julian Brazier, the Conservatives’ shipping spokesman, is to request a meeting with the European Union anti-piracy operation over the disclosure by The Sunday Times. “It’s shameful that so many pirates are being returned to do it again,” he said. “The fault lies not with the hard-pressed naval commanders but the ridiculous rules of engagement and operating instructions they are being given by their political masters.”
Namibians Vote on 2nd Day of National Elections - Scott Bobb, Voice of America. In Namibia, voting continued on the second and last day of the country's presidential and parliamentary elections. President Hifikepunye Pohamba and his South West Africa People's Organization are expected to win despite a challenge from a new breakaway party. Namibian Election officials say the second day of polling went relatively smoothly although lines were long early in the morning in heavily populated areas of the country. Some polling stations stayed open late Friday on the first day of the balloting because voters were still in line at closing time. The director of the national Electoral Commission, Moses Ndjarakana, told reporters Friday night that the balloting for the most part had gone smoothly. The South West Africa People's Organization, which has dominated Namibian politics since independence nearly 20 years ago, is expected to retain power. And President Hifikepunye Pohamba is expected to be elected to a second five-year term. But SWAPO has been challenged by the emergence of a new party, the Rally for Democracy and Progress. The RDP was formed two years ago after its leader, former foreign Minister Hidipo Hamutenya, failed in his effort to take over the SWAPO leadership upon the retirement of Namibia's first president Sam Nujoma.
Large Victory Likely for Namibia Governing Party - Barry Bearak, New York Times. Voters in Namibia went to the polls on Saturday for the second and final day of national elections, a balloting most likely to lead to another landslide victory for the South-West African People’s Organization, or Swapo, the party that has governed since independence in 1990. In the last elections, in 2004, Swapo won 75 percent of the vote, but this time a breakaway group - campaigning against government corruption - may prove a more effective challenge. The Rally for Democracy and Progress, or RDP, is led by Hidipo Hamutenya, a former foreign minister. There has been plenty of suspicion about corruption for him to rail against, some of it linked to China, an ever larger player across the African continent. In Namibia, Swapo officials have been charged with accepting kickbacks to pave the way for a $55 million deal for cargo scanners manufactured by a state-run Chinese company. Beijing also secretly awarded scholarships to the children of some of Namibia’s top leaders, including the daughter of President Hifikepunye Pohamba, who is running for a second term.
Cabal Seizes Diamond Riches to Buy Power - Jon Swain, The Times. A fabulously valuable diamond field in Zimbabwe has fallen under the control of a select few at the top of the country’s security forces. It is feared they intend to use the wealth to enrich themselves and entrench their power as the battle for succession to President Robert Mugabe, 85, heats up. Sources close to the government said the military chiefs had positioned themselves to profit from millions of pounds’ worth of diamonds flowing out of the Marange diamond field in the east of the country. Heavy mining machinery has arrived, capable of extracting thousands of carats of diamonds an hour. Valuations vary wildly but one source said: “It will be much more money than they have ever had. We could be talking about between $25m [£15m] and $100m a month. It is extraordinary what they can do with that. They will just close ranks and do what they want.” Marange diamonds were previously gathered by local prospectors to sell on the black market. But last year, as its riches became apparent, the military moved in and massacred 200 people to clear the site. Human Rights Watch said the soldiers had turned a peaceful area into a “nightmare of lawlessness and horrific violence”. Rights groups lobbied the Kimberley Process - the international body that regulates the world trade in rough diamonds to ensure they do not fund conflict - in the hope of halting exports from Zimbabwe. They said the gems were blood diamonds extracted through the persecution of those living in the area. But earlier this month, the diamond monitoring body shrank from suspending Zimbabwe.
AMERICAS
Surveys: Honduran Conservative is Favorite in Sunday's Presidential Election - Voice of America. Opinion polls in Honduras indicate conservative candidate Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo is the clear front-runner in Sunday's controversial presidential election. Polls give Mr. Lobo of the opposition National Party a 16-point lead over Elvin Santos of the ruling Liberal Party, which ousted its own leader, Manuel Zelaya, as Honduran president in June. Both Mr. Lobo and Mr. Santos support Mr. Zelaya's removal from power, a move that brought international isolation to the poor Central American nation. Both candidates also signed a pledge to respect the outcome of the vote and honor the constitutional ban on running for re-election. Mr. Zelaya was removed from office after pushing for a referendum to reconsider the ban. The date for Sunday's election was set before the June coup. Mr. Zelaya's term had been due to expire in January, and the election was meant to choose his successor. Mr. Zelaya and his supporters have been calling for a boycott of Sunday's election.
Honduran Leaders Hope Vote Will End Standoff - Nicholas Casey, Wall Street Journal. Five months ago, Hondurans were on the eve of a vote that never occurred and instead ended in the ouster of their president at gunpoint. Now the country is approaching the ballot boxes again, this time with the hope of steering Honduras back to democracy. Sunday's presidential election may be noted not as much for its winner - either a liberal named Elvin Santos or a conservative called Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo, according to polls - as for whether the tiny republic can convince the international community to accept the new government as legitimate. Since the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya on June 28, Honduras has struggled under the leadership of a de facto government that the US and all of Honduras's neighbors don't recognize. Much of the poor country's aid has been cut off. Interim President Roberto Micheletti even lost his diplomatic visa to the US - and with it, the ability to make his government's case in Washington. Mr. Micheletti has long had a solution to this predicament, however: Rather than immediately reinstate Mr. Zelaya, as many countries have demanded, the country will go ahead with an election for his successor when his presidential term would have ended in January. The candidates, picked earlier in the election cycle, have the advantage of not having been involved in Mr. Zelaya's ouster. Both support his removal, however.
Weary of Political Crisis, Honduras Holds Election - Elisabeth Malkin, New York Times. Rony Gómez will stay home when Hondurans go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president, five months after the military and Congress ousted the last one. “I won’t vote,” he said. “It would be endorsing the coup.” The question is how many Hondurans feel like Mr. Gómez, a 40-year-old street vendor and former soldier. Manuel Zelaya, the deposed president, condemns the elections as illegal, and predicts a low turnout that will show that he still enjoys popular support. But the de facto government that has run the country since the coup last summer argues that the elections - scheduled long before the country’s turmoil began - are the only way to end the political crisis and move on. A large turnout would prove that most Hondurans agree. Many people here, weary of what they refer to as “the situation,” and worried as the economy spirals downward, say they do plan to vote. “That’s how the transition starts,” said Moisés Bados Castellano, 67, a retired accountant and farmer. “We need democracy in this country.” In the final days before the vote, the streets here were calm. Campaigning stopped at the end of last week and there was barely an election poster visible by this weekend. The flags and bunting that usually wrap the city’s buildings and cars in the colors of the two leading parties before elections were also absent.
Honduran Election Puts US In a Spot - Beth Sheridan, Washington Post. This Central American country holds a presidential election Sunday in a bid to regain international legitimacy after a coup that has rattled the hemisphere and frustrated the Obama administration's efforts to improve relations with Latin America. The US government is hoping the election will help resolve the crisis that exploded when the Honduran military ousted President Manuel Zelaya on June 28. But most nations in the region have declared they will not recognize the winner, saying that would ratify the coup. Zelaya's removal has exposed the ineffectiveness of US and international pressure to preserve democracy in a poor region long marked by strongman governments, analysts say. Despite the personal involvement of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, two American-brokered accords aimed at reversing the coup have unraveled. The Obama administration finds itself accused by regional allies and others of abandoning its commitment to democracy for a more pragmatic solution.
ASIA PACIFIC
International Lawmakers Urge Protections for North Korean Defectors - Daniel Schearf, Voice of America. An international group of lawmakers meeting in Thailand has urged countries to better protect and support North Korean defectors. They also demanded that China stop forcibly repatriating refugees to North Korea, where they could face execution. Representatives from twelve countries, mostly in Asia, met in Thailand Saturday to raise attention to the plight of North Korean refugees. Pyongyang's human rights violations have led thousands of refugees to flee the secretive state, mainly into China. But, the International Parliamentarians' Coalition for North Korean Refugees and Human Rights says those who escape the impoverished but tightly controlled nation often face abuse and discrimination because of their illegal status. South Korean lawmaker Kim Yong-tae says women make up 80 percent of North Korean defectors. Speaking through a translator, he says most of them end up marrying Chinese men but neither they or their children have access to social services in China. North Korean defectors who are caught in China are arrested and sent back. In North Korea they are branded as traitors and face prison and sometimes execution. The lawmakers issued a joint statement calling on Pyongyang to end its gross human rights violations, including political detentions, torture, and public executions. The statement was signed by lawmakers from eight Asian nations: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
EUROPE
Russian Officials: Bomb Caused Train Crash That Killed 26 - Voice of America. Russian officials say a bomb explosion derailed an express passenger train late Friday, killing at least 26 people and injuring more than 50 others. Russian news media quote Russia's railways chief, Vladimir Yakunin, as saying a second smaller device exploded near the crash site Saturday, about 400 kilometers northwest of Moscow. Russian investigators earlier said they found elements of a home-made explosive device at the crash site near the town of Bologoye in the Tver region. Prosecutors say a criminal investigation is under way that could result in terrorism charges, but they have not identified suspects. The Nevski Express high-speed luxury train was traveling between Moscow and St. Petersburg when it derailed. A small crater was found at the site of the wreck. The train was carrying more than 650 passengers and at least 20 crew members.
Murder on the Nevsky Express - Matthew Campbell and Anna Voutsen, The Times. The first sign of something wrong as the Nevsky Express raced through the night came when the train began to “tremble”. Then the carriage gave a violent lurch to the left and Igor Pechnikov was hurled from his seat. He was one of the lucky ones. At least 30 other passengers aboard the luxury express from Moscow to St Petersburg were killed and scores more injured when a bomb went off, derailing the last three carriages, including Pechnikov’s, at 130mph. “I flew through half of the carriage,” he said yesterday after being led from the twisted wreckage. Rescue workers searching the mangled debris for 18 people still unaccounted for escaped injury when a second bomb partially detonated nearby yesterday afternoon. There was no claim of responsibility but suspicion immediately fell on rebels fighting Moscow’s rule over the mountainous republic of Chechnya in the northern Caucasus region. They have carried out similar attacks. Some passengers on the train - popular with businessmen, government officials and foreign tourists - said they had heard a loud bang before it juddered to a halt near the village of Uglovka, 250 miles northwest of Moscow. Two carriages at the back were on their side.
Bomb Pieces Steer Russian Inquiry Toward Terror Plot - Philip P. Pan, Washington Post. Russian investigators discovered traces of an improvised bomb Saturday on the rail line between Moscow and St. Petersburg, where a train derailment killed at least 26 people in what appeared to be the nation's worst terrorist attack in years outside the volatile North Caucasus. The device exploded with the force of 15 pounds of TNT as a popular luxury express train, the Nevsky Express, passed over it Friday night in a wooded area about 200 miles northwest of Moscow. The blast threw at least three carriages from the tracks, injuring as many as 100 passengers and leaving a five-foot-deep crater, officials said. Russian authorities named no immediate suspects or motive. But the investigation was expected to focus on Muslim radicals, who have stepped up attacks this year in a separatist insurgency in the volatile North Caucasus region, including Chechnya and neighboring Ingushetia and Dagestan. If their involvement is confirmed, the attack on the Nevsky Express would mark a bold escalation by rebels, who the Kremlin and its main ally in the region, the Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, insist are on the run and all but defeated. It would also signal a potential return to the violence that terrorized Moscow and other Russian cities in the first half of the decade.
Russian Train Wreck Tied to Terrorist Bomb - Clifford J. Levy and Ellen Barry, New York Times. The cause of the crash of one of Russia’s most illustrious trains was identified on Saturday as a homemade bomb that went off on the tracks between Moscow and St. Petersburg, killing more than 25 people, wounding scores of others and raising fears of a new era of terrorism here. Officials called the explosion on Friday night the worst terrorist attack in Russia in years, outside volatile Muslim parts of the North Caucasus region, which includes Chechnya. There were no immediate credible claims of responsibility. The force of the crash crumpled parts of the luxury train, propelling several of its 14 cars off the tracks, trapping passengers in smashed compartments and scattering luggage in the nearby woods. People on the train described a scene of panic and devastation in a rural area that was difficult for rescuers to reach. The train, the Nevsky Express, is a preferred means of travel for the Russian elite between the country’s two most important cities. Among the dead were a former senator and a senior official in the federal economics ministry.
Terrorism Suspected in Russia Train Crash - William Mauldin, Wall Street Journal. Russian authorities cited terrorism as the likely cause of a train wreck between Moscow and St. Petersburg that killed at least 26 people and injured about 100. A crater consistent with a bomb of 15 pounds of TNT was found near the damaged Nevsky Express train No. 166, which derailed late Friday between Aleshkina and Uglovka in a rural area in Northwest Russia, about 170 miles before it would have reached St. Petersburg. The accident derailed the final three cars of the 14-car high-speed train, which was carrying 652 passengers and a crew of 30, the Russian Interior Ministry said. Alexander Bortnikov, director of the Federal Security Service, told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that authorities had opened a terrorism investigation. Mr. Medvedev had gathered top officials for an emergency session at his residence outside Moscow to coordinate response to the accident, which got heavy coverage on state and other media. "Everyone's nerves are at the limit," Mr. Medvedev told the officials in comments shown on state TV. Officials said a smaller blast Saturday afternoon came from a second bomb that malfunctioned. No one was injured in that explosion, which delayed repair work for several hours. The attack was Russia's worst outside the volatile Caucasus region since 2005 and seemed to strike a particular chord because it targeted a train popular with business executives and government officials. A senior government official, the head of the State Reserve, was among the dead, Russian news agencies reported. While the Caucasus region has seen an upsurge in suicide and other attacks in the last year linked to Islamist separatists, the rest of Russia hasn't seen major attacks in several years. As of Saturday evening, there were no credible claims of responsibility for Friday's attack.
MIDDLE EAST
Ex-detainees' Woes in Yemen Add to US Fears of Releasing Others - Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post. Two years ago, Mohsin al-Askari was released from his prison cell at Guantanamo Bay, but he has found neither freedom nor a new life in his homeland. Potential employers are afraid to hire him. At 28, he depends on his father for financial support, charities for medical care. With each rejection, his frustration grows, as does the temptation to return to his old life of jihad. "The government hasn't done anything to help me," said Askari, his voice filled with bitterness. Yemen's handling of former Guantanamo detainees and accused extremists in its own jails has raised fears that sending detainees back to this nation, the poorest in the Arab world, might only create more militants determined to attack America. Disputes over the fates of 97 Yemeni detainees, roughly 40 percent of the current prison population at Guantanamo, are a key reason President Obama has given up on his promise to shut down the facility by January. US officials are also concerned about Yemen's lax supervision of accused terrorists. Many of those imprisoned for orchestrating the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 American sailors in this coastal city, have escaped or been freed by Yemeni officials. The government has also refused to extradite two of the attack's alleged organizers to the United States to face murder charges.
SOUTH ASIA
Pakistani President Shifts Nuclear Control to Prime Minister - Voice of America. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has transferred control of the country's nuclear arsenal to his prime minister. Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar announced late Friday that the National Command Authority, which is responsible for nuclear weapons, is now under the authority of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Babar called the move "a giant leap forward to empower the elected parliament and prime minister." Mr. Zardari has seen low approval ratings as Pakistan battles with Taliban violence and a struggling economy. Analysts say he is trying to protect his political future by shifting more power to parliament. The decision comes as an amnesty protecting the president and about 8,000 other Pakistanis from corruption charges expired Saturday. Mr. Zardari cannot be prosecuted because of presidential immunity, but the country could fall into political chaos if corruption charges were reinstated against those close to the president. Legal experts say opponents could use the amnesty to lawfully challenge Mr. Zardari's eligibility for office. Former President Pervez Musharraf introduced the amnesty in 2007 under a plan to share power with Mr. Zardari's wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was later assassinated.
Zardari Turns Over Nuclear Authority - Zahid Hussain, Wall Street Journal. Pakistan's embattled president, Asif Ali Zardari, has transferred command of the country's nuclear arsenal to the prime minister, as he comes under increasing pressure to step down. The dramatic move signaled that Mr. Zardari was willing to give up some of his powers to defuse the escalating opposition to him. The move came as an amnesty protecting him and some of his key ministers from corruption charges expired on Saturday. Mr. Zardari shed his powers as chairman of the National Command Authority through a presidential decree issued late Friday night, giving the responsibility to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. The transfer of authority to the prime minister won't make much practical difference as Pakistan's nuclear-weapon program is effectively controlled by the country's powerful military. The transfer was believed to have been condoned by the military. People familiar with the matter said the military was uneasy with Mr. Zardari's control of Pakistan's nuclear weapons because the military views him as too close to the US, which recently gave Pakistan a large civilian-aid bill in addition to large amounts of military aid since 2001. These people said Mr. Zardari was too dependent on Washington and sometimes wasn't quite in agreement with the strategic views of the military.
Pakistan’s Leader, Under Pressure, Cedes Nuclear Office - Savrina Tavernese and David E. Sanger, New York Times. President Asif Ali Zardari has ceded his position in Pakistan’s nuclear command structure to his prime minister, in a sudden political maneuver widely seen as a fresh sign of turmoil on the eve of President Obama’s strategy announcement for the region. The move, announced in a news release late Friday night, was an all-out attempt to head off domestic political pressure as Mr. Zardari’s two-year presidency hit a new low. With the end of a political amnesty program on Saturday, Mr. Zardari and his allies now face potential corruption and criminal charges, and the opposition is demanding that he relinquish many of his powers or resign. Although analysts did not expect the move to harm Pakistan’s nuclear security, political stability in the country is critical for the Obama administration, which is set to announce its new strategy for Afghanistan this week. Pakistan is a central part of that strategy, and the country has been under tremendous pressure by the administration to step up its fight against militants from the Taliban and Al Qaeda, with two top American security officials visiting Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, in two weeks.
Asif Ali Zardari Surrenders Control of Pakistan’s Nuclear Arms - Nicola Smith, The Times. The embattled president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, has handed control of the country’s nuclear arsenal to his prime minister in an attempt to boost his popularity. Anxious to placate critics who claim his office has too much power, Zardari agreed to shed presidential prerogatives after a controversial amnesty for politicians and officials expired yesterday. Zardari announced that control of the National Command Authority, which oversees all Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, was being transferred immediately to Yousuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister. Officials emphasised that the decision would not affect the security of the country’s estimated 80 warheads. “It is a giant step forward to empowering the elected parliament and the prime minister,” said the presidential spokesman. By the end of the year he is also expected to hand over his powers to dissolve parliament and appoint military chiefs. The decision follows the end of the amnesty introduced in December 2007 as part of a deal between General Pervez Musharraf, the then president, and Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, so that she could return to Pakistani politics without fear of being prosecuted on corruption charges. The amnesty was extended to Zardari, her husband, who took power after her assassination later that month, and to key ministers in the current government and many trusted political allies. Earlier this year Pakistan’s Supreme Court said the decree would have to be ratified by November 28 or it would lapse.
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.
