Teaching Marines to be Like Hunters - Rick Rogers, San Diego Union-Tribune
Trying to become predators instead of prey, Marines headed to Iraq will go through training built on advice from big-game hunters, soldiers of fortune and troops who grew up around firearms in the woods or the inner city.
Combat Hunter, a program begun at Camp Pendleton and now being rolled out nationwide, is designed to help Marines stalk and kill insurgents by using their senses and instincts. It emphasizes keen observation of Marines' surroundings and meticulous knowledge of their foes' habits...
White House Ties Troop Levels to Iraqi Elections - Doyle McManus and Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times
The Bush administration believes a halt in troop reductions in Iraq after July is needed in part to ensure a large enough force is present to provide security for local elections, a senior administration official said Friday.
By tying troop levels to Iraq's provincial elections, officials in effect established a new milestone to guide U.S. policy during President Bush's last months in office. And by linking them to the elections, the administration is increasing pressure on the Iraqis to actually hold the balloting...
US Casualties Down 30% in February - Michael Goldfarb, Weekly Standard
American forces suffered 29 casualties in February, 25 of which were from hostile fire. This represents a drop of roughly 30 percent from the month prior. Good news, right? Wrong. Think Progress reports today...
It's strange how when American casualties are up, that's all we hear about, but now, suddenly, the left is overwhelmed with concern for the Iraqi people (what do they think will happen if American troops withdraw?). So what if American casualties have gone down and stayed down. So what if Iraqi civilian casualties have dropped for six straight months. They're up this month, and this is the worst possible spin one could put on the current situation, so that's what the left will report. It's instructive, however, to go back to that excellent piece in the Small Wars Journal last summer by David Kilcullen, COIN advisor to Gen. Petraeus..
U.S. COIN Doctrine Meets the Korengal Valley - Westhawk
Published in today's New York Times, Ms. Elizabeth Rubin has chronicled her stay last autumn with a U.S. rifle company fighting a nasty insurgency in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan's Kunar province. The focus of Ms. Rubin's piece is Captain Dan Kearney, USA, a company commander in the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team who, in Ms. Rubin's telling of the story, is struggling to maintain the morale and discipline of his soldiers. Just five months into a 15-month combat tour, the company had lost seven killed and dozens wounded; by Ms. Rubin's reckoning, the frustrated and isolated soldiers are on the verge of snapping.
At the same time Ms. Rubin was at Captain Kearney's forward operating base researching her story, Colonel Chip Preysler, USA, commanding officer of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, gave an interview by video-conference with the Pentagon press corps. The transcript of the interview confirms Ms. Rubin's descriptions of challenging mountainous terrain, a determined enemy, and hard fighting. As to the mental state of his soldiers, Colonel Preysler keeps his own counsel...
GEN Casey, Meet LTG Caldwell - Charlie, Abu Muqawama
As our regular readers know, Charlie likes to spend her spare time looking for a pike to put the Marine Commandant's head on. But it's time to share the love a bit.
On the one hand, we have LTG Bill Caldwell doing a full court press on the Army's new FM 3-0, Operations...
Bush Elbows NATO for Troop Relief - Jon Ward, Washington TImes
President Bush today called on European nations who are part of the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan to place more troops in major combat areas, and said he will push for commitments on that at a summit in Romania next month.
"We expect people to carry a heavy burden if they are going to be in Afghanistan," Mr. Bush said, during a press conference at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Afghanistan will be a primary issue at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit, planned for April 2-4 in Bucharest...
U.S. Plan Widens Role in Training Pakistani Forces - Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, New York Times
The United States military is developing a plan to send about 100 American trainers to work with a Pakistani paramilitary force that is the vanguard in the fight against Al Qaeda and other extremist groups in Pakistan's restive tribal areas, American military officials said.
Pakistan has ruled out allowing American combat troops to fight Qaeda and Taliban militants in the tribal areas. But Pakistani leaders have privately indicated that they would welcome additional American trainers to help teach new skills to Pakistani soldiers whose army was tailored not for counterinsurgency but to fight a conventional land war against India...
Turkish Troops Leaving N. Iraq - Sudarsan Raghavan and Ellen Knickmeyer, Washington Post
Turkey announced Friday that it had pulled its troops out of northern Iraq, ending an eight-day invasion to pursue Kurdish guerrillas that raised tensions with the Iraqi government and fears of a regional conflict. The withdrawal came one day after both President Bush and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates urged a swift end to the offensive.
Turkish officials denied they had been pressured into ending their country's most extensive operation in northern Iraq in more than a decade. They said they had completed their objective of weakening the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which for decades has fought for Kurdish rights and autonomy in Turkey from mountain bases in northern Iraq...
The Patton of Counterinsurgency - Frederick W. Kagan and Kimberly Kagan, Weekly Standard
Great commanders often come in pairs: Eisenhower and Patton, Grant and Sherman, Napoleon and Davout, Marlborough and Eugene, Caesar and Labienus. Generals David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno can now be added to the list.
It's natural to assume that successful pairs of commanders complement each other's personalities (the diplomatic Eisenhower and the hard-charging Patton, for example) or that the junior partner is merely executing the vision of the other (Sherman seen as acting on Grant's orders). In reality, the task of planning and conducting large-scale military operations is too great for any single commander, no matter how talented his staff. The subordinate in every successful command pair has played a key role in designing and implementing the campaign plan...
Israel Takes Gaza Fight to Next Level - Steven Erlanger and Taghredd El- Khodary, New York Times
Israeli aircraft and troops attacked Palestinian positions in northern Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 54 people and wounding more than 100 in the deadliest day of fighting in more than a year. Two Israeli soldiers were killed and seven wounded, the military said.
The Israeli attacks, mostly from the air on a clear, bright day, were aimed at stopping rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, especially after Ashkelon, a large city 10 miles from Gaza, came under fire from more advanced, Katyusha-style rockets smuggled in from Iran...