CURRENT NEWS EARLY BIRD January 18, 2008 Use of these news items does not reflect official endorsement. Reproduction for private use or gain is subject to original copyright restrictions. Item numbers indicate order of appearance only. GATES BRIEFING 1. Defense Secretary, Facing Criticism, Hails NATO's Forces In Afghanistan (New York Times)....Judy Dempsey Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that NATO countries were playing a “significant and powerful role in Afghanistan,” after some of Washington’s closest European allies assailed him for comments cited in a news report about their counterinsurgency operations in the volatile south. 2. Defense Secretary Lauds Role Of NATO (Boston Globe)....Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday that sending Marines to Afghanistan will keep pressure on the Taliban and doesn't "reflect dissatisfaction" with NATO countries' performance. 3. Gates Sings Canada's Praises (Ottawa Citizen)....Mike Blanchfield U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday he made a special effort to reassure Canada after he criticized shortcomings in the NATO efforts in Afghanistan in a American newspaper. 4. Gates Looks To Calm Nato Allies (Financial Times)....Demetri Sevastopulo ...Separately on Iraq, Mr Gates said he hoped General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, would in March be able to recommend withdrawing soldiers at the current pace, which would leave 100,000 troops in the country by the end of this year. 5. Gates Seeks Troop Estimates (New York Times)....Thom Shanker ...Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates disclosed on Thursday that he had instructed the top officer in Iraq, those responsible for the broader Middle East and those back at the Pentagon in charge of worldwide deployments to prepare to make their cases about the best way to proceed. IRAQ 6. 75% Of Areas In Baghdad Secure (USA Today)....Jim Michaels About 75% of Baghdad's neighborhoods are now secure, a dramatic increase from 8% a year ago when President Bush ordered more troops to the capital, U.S. military figures show. 7. Iraq May Need Military Help For Years, Officials Say (Washington Post)....Ann Scott Tyson Senior U.S. military officials projected yesterday that the Iraqi army and police will grow to an estimated 580,000 members by the end of the year but that shortages of key personnel, equipment, weaponry and logistical capabilities mean that Iraq's security forces will probably require U.S. military support for as long as a decade.
Transcript
C U R R E N T N E W S
E A R L Y B I R D
January 18, 2008Use of these news items does not reflect official endorsement.
Reproduction for private use or gain is subject to original copyright restrictions.Item numbers indicate order of appearance only.
(New York Times)....Judy DempseyDefense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that NATO countries were playing a “significant and powerfulrole in Afghanistan,” after some of Washington’s closest European allies assailed him for comments cited in a newsreport about their counterinsurgency operations in the volatile south.
2. Defense Secretary Lauds Role Of NATO(Boston Globe)....Lolita C. Baldor, Associated PressDefense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday that sending Marines to Afghanistan will keep pressure on theTaliban and doesn't "reflect dissatisfaction" with NATO countries' performance.
3. Gates Sings Canada's Praises(Ottawa Citizen)....Mike BlanchfieldU.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday he made a special effort to reassure Canada after he criticizedshortcomings in the NATO efforts in Afghanistan in a American newspaper.
4. Gates Looks To Calm Nato Allies(Financial Times)....Demetri Sevastopulo...Separately on Iraq, Mr Gates said he hoped General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, would inMarch be able to recommend withdrawing soldiers at the current pace, which would leave 100,000 troops in thecountry by the end of this year.
5. Gates Seeks Troop Estimates(New York Times)....Thom Shanker...Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates disclosed on Thursday that he had instructed the top officer in Iraq, thoseresponsible for the broader Middle East and those back at the Pentagon in charge of worldwide deployments toprepare to make their cases about the best way to proceed.
IRAQ6. 75% Of Areas In Baghdad Secure
(USA Today)....Jim MichaelsAbout 75% of Baghdad's neighborhoods are now secure, a dramatic increase from 8% a year ago when PresidentBush ordered more troops to the capital, U.S. military figures show.
7. Iraq May Need Military Help For Years, Officials Say(Washington Post)....Ann Scott TysonSenior U.S. military officials projected yesterday that the Iraqi army and police will grow to an estimated 580,000members by the end of the year but that shortages of key personnel, equipment, weaponry and logistical capabilitiesmean that Iraq's security forces will probably require U.S. military support for as long as a decade.
8. General Charts Iraq Capability(Chicago Tribune)....Aamer Madhani...Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, suggested some U.S. military presence would remain in Iraqfor some time, while the size of the American footprint would probably diminish as Iraqi security forces progress.Odierno, who made his comments from Baghdad during a video news conference with Pentagon reporters Thursday,added that Iraq's most significant problem remains in equipping itself.
9. U.S. Moves To Shift Troops' Role In Iraq(Los Angeles Times)....Julian E. BarnesMilitary has begun moving soldiers out of combat positions to supervisory duties to assist and train Iraqi securityforces.
10. Suicide Bomber Strikes At Shiite Mosque(Washington Post)....Amit R. PaleyA suicide bomber killed at least eight people Thursday in front of a mosque in volatile Diyala province as worshipersgathered for a Shiite holiday, another sign of continuing unrest in northern Iraq despite the launch last week of amajor U.S. offensive against Sunni insurgents in the region.
11. Pre-Holiday Blast Kills 9 In Iraq(Los Angeles Times)....Ned Parker...Meanwhile, U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers dropped 34,000 pounds of munitions Thursday on two bunkers that themilitary said were used for training Al Qaeda in Iraq recruits. The strikes occurred in Arab Jabour, a sparselypopulated farming community just south of Baghdad, where the military dropped nearly 50,000 pounds of munitionsin airstrikes last week.
12. Troops Try To Gain -- And Keep -- Ground(USA Today)....Charles Levinson...Mancuso's service then and now puts him in a good position to judge the counterinsurgency doctrine implementedby Gen. David Petraeus, the overall U.S. commander in Iraq. The strategy takes advantage of a greater number ofU.S. troops in Iraq to "clear, hold and build" on captured territory, rather than grabbing a few bad guys and headinghome.
13. US-Iraqi Troops Sweep Al Qaeda Village Haven(Christian Science Monitor)....Scott PetersonSoldiers find major weapons caches, a bunker, and an insurgent expense report in Diyala Province.
14. Tensions Over Future Troop Levels In Iraq(CNN)....Jamie McIntyre...As conditions in Iraq improve, there is an uneasy tension building between Pentagon planners anxious to reap apeace dividend by bringing U.S. troops home faster and front-line commanders such as Lieutenant General RayOdierno.
GATES INTERVIEW15. Gates: No Immediate Military Threat From Iran
(NPR)....Renee Montagne and Steve Inskeep...Well, I think Iran is, certainly, one of the most significant challenges. We continue to be concerned about theirongoing enrichment programs, their unwillingness to suspend in the face of broad international pressure to do so.
AFGHANISTAN16. U.S. Helps In Rebirth Of Afghan Air Force
(Seattle Times)....Jason Straziuso, Associated PressCalling it the "birth of our air force," Afghan President Hamid Karzai opened a new $22 million U.S.-funded militaryhangar Thursday to house a fleet that is expected to triple in the next three years.
17. Analyst Backs Gates' NATO Criticism(Washington Times)....Leander SchaerlaeckensSupport for Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates' criticism of other NATO members' performance in Afghanistan
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appeared from an unexpected source yesterday — a European defense specialist who is closely linked to seniorNATO officials.
18. Marines Will Bolster Canadians In Kandahar(Toronto Globe and Mail)....Paul KoringHard-pressed Canadian troops in Kandahar will get help - and fewer may get killed - as more than 2,000battle-hardened U.S. Marines with counterinsurgency training and experience start arriving next month in southernAfghanistan.
ARMY19. Army Task Force Finds Gaps In Brain-Injury Care
(USA Today)....Gregg ZoroyaAn Army task force found major gaps in the care of traumatic brain injury last year, but officials say they are movingrapidly to correct the problems.
MARINE CORPS20. Inquiry Yields Little Clarity In Marines Shooting
(Los Angeles Times)....David ZucchinoAn investigator expressed frustration Thursday at what he said were incomplete and sometimes inconsistent accountsby Marines involved in a March shooting in Afghanistan that left up to 19 Afghans dead.
NAVY21. Judge Sets Aside Some Restrictions On Sonar
(Los Angeles Times)....Kenneth R. WeissA federal judge in Los Angeles on Thursday temporarily set aside some of the tough restrictions on upcoming navalexercises off Southern California that employ a type of sonar linked to the injury and death of whales and dolphins.
22. Naval Academy Rite Might Slip Away(Washington Post)....Nelson HernandezIn the name of safety, the U.S. Naval Academy is considering an overhaul of one of its most bizarre traditions: theannual ritual in which a thousand first-year midshipmen struggle to conquer a 21-foot granite obelisk coated with200 pounds of lard.
23. Nimitz Carrier Group To Deploy(Los Angeles Times)....Associated PressMore than 7,000 sailors and Marines will deploy next week when the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group leaves San Diegofor the Western Pacific.
CONGRESS24. Entrepreneur Defends His Veterans' Charities
(USA Today)....UnattributedA San Diego entrepreneur accused of mismanaging charities he started for veterans and enriching himself rebuttedcongressional critics Thursday, insisting his group "does right by its donors and hospitalized vets."
25. Vets Care Gets $3.7 Billion(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)....UnattributedPresident Bush on Thursday released $3.7 billion in emergency money that Congress requested to care for veterans,including those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
MIDEAST26. Nuke-Capable Missile Tested
(Washington Times)....UnattributedIsrael tested a missile yesterday, prompting speculation about its ability to launch nuclear strikes on Iran after Israeli
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warnings and accusations about Tehran's atomic ambitions.
27. Cat-And-Mouse Games By Iranians Aren't Child's Play(Arizona Daily Star (Tucson))....Sally Buzbee, Associated PressJust how close might a military confrontation between Iran and the United States be?
28. Ahmadinejad Decries Bush's Iran Speeches(San Diego Union-Tribune)....Associated PressIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that President Bush sent a “message of confrontation”during his recent Mideast trip.
ASIA/PACIFIC29. Bush Envoy To N. Korea Criticizes Six-Party Talks
(Washington Post)....Foster Klug, Associated PressA U.S. official, in a rare public departure from Bush administration policy, yesterday criticized the nuclear talks withNorth Korea, contending that Pyongyang is not serious about disarming.
30. U.S., Iran Lobby Chinese Over Proposed Nuclear Sanctions(Houston Chronicle)....Christopher Bodeen, Associated PressU.S. and Iranian envoys lobbied China on Thursday over proposed new sanctions on Tehran's nuclear program,underscoring Beijing's key role in determining U.N. involvement in the dispute.
PAKISTAN31. CIA Places Blame For Bhutto Assassination
(Washington Post)....Joby WarrickThe CIA has concluded that members of al-Qaeda and allies of Pakistani tribal leader Baitullah Mehsud wereresponsible for last month's assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and that they also standbehind a new wave of violence threatening that country's stability, the agency's director, Michael V. Hayden, said inan interview.
32. Frontier Insurgency Spills Into A Pakistani City(New York Times)....Jane PerlezFor centuries, fighting and lawlessness have been part of the fabric of this frontier city. But in the past year,Pakistan’s war with Islamic militants has spilled right into its alleys and bazaars, its forts and armories, killingpolicemen and soldiers and scaring its famously tough citizens.
EUROPE33. Russia Revives Military Boast Of Soviet Days
(Washington Times)....David R. SandsReviving yet another iconic image from Soviet days, Russia's military announced plans to stage a parade of ballisticmissiles, tanks and platoons of soldiers this May through the Kremlin's Red Square.
AMERICAS34. Colombia's Military Toughens Up
(Los Angeles Times)....Chris KraulU.S. aid has helped the once-outmatched force gain strength and retake territory. But the change has been marked byrights abuses and security breaches.
35. Chavez Buildup Concerns The U.S.(Philadelphia Inquirer)....Associated PressThe United States is deeply worried by what it deems a dangerous arms buildup by President Hugo Chavez ofVenezuela, the top American military officer said yesterday.
STATE DEPARTMENT
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36. State Doubles Military Advisers(Washington Times)....Nicholas KralevThe State Department is doubling the number of resident diplomatic advisers that it sends to the offices of thenation's top military commanders at home and overseas — a move encouraged by the Pentagon as its uniformedleaders take on larger public roles abroad.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT37. CDC Enlists Military To Study Skin Ailment
(Washington Times)....Jennifer Harper...The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially call it the "unexplained illness." Yesterday, thefederal agency announced it would formally investigate the condition — known as Morgellons syndrome — and isbringing in the military to help it do it.
BUSINESS38. Iraq Moves To Break Up Kurds' Oil Deals
(San Diego Union-Tribune)....Associated PressThe Iraqi Oil Ministry has decided to stop cooperating with international oil companies participating inproduction-sharing contracts with the Kurdish regional administration in northern Iraq, an official said yesterday.
39. Checklist(Washington Times)....UnattributedL-3 Communications, which lost a $4.6 billion Army contract to a rival provider of translators last month, protestedthe award and said the Army intends to take "corrective" action.
OPINION40. The New 'Lepers'
(New York Post)....Ralph PetersI'VE had a huge response to Tuesday's column about The New York Times' obscene bid to smear veterans of Iraqand Afghanistan as mad killers. Countless readers seem to be wondering: Why did the paper do it?
41. Federalism, Not Partition(Washington Post)....Mowaffak al-RubaieA system devolving power to the regions is the route to a viable Iraq.
42. The Polish Lesson: America Must Give Something In Return For Support(Christian Science Monitor)....A. Wess MitchellThis week, Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich traveled to Washington to negotiate his country's participation inthe US antiballistic missile-defense system. In a break with previous policy, the new center-right government ofPrime Minister Donald Tusk has demanded fresh concessions – cash, Patriot missiles, and security guarantees – inexchange for hosting the bases on Polish soil.
43. Atomic Non-Allies(Asian Wall Street Journal)....Henry Sokolski...With more nuclear programs in more Middle Eastern states, history is likely to explosively repeat itself. SurelyFrance, the U.S. and Russia can and should do better than this. A good start would be for these three countries torethink how best to help develop energy options for the Middle East without going nuclear.
44. Homeless Vets Reveal A Hidden Cost Of War(USA Today)....James Key...Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the USA, though they are only 11% of the general population,according to The Alliance to End Homelessness.
45. Fight In Afghanistan(Washington Post)....EditorialIt's becoming clear that the war must be won by U.S. troops, and not by NATO.
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New York TimesJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 101. Defense Secretary,Facing Criticism, HailsNATO's Forces InAfghanistanBy Judy Dempsey
BERLIN — DefenseSecretary Robert M. Gates saidThursday that NATO countrieswere playing a “significant andpowerful role in Afghanistan,”after some of Washington’sclosest European allies assailedhim for comments cited in anews report about theircounterinsurgency operationsin the volatile south.
Speaking at a newsconference in Washington, Mr.Gates said that the allies “hadstepped up to the plate” inAfghanistan.
Mr. Gates was quoted, inan interview this week withThe Los Angeles Times, assaying that most of theEuropean forces “are notproperly trained” incounterinsurgency. He added,referring to the operations insouthern Afghanistan, that hewas “worried we have somemilitary forces that don’t knowhow to do counterinsurgencyoperations.”
The interview hit a nerveinside the 26-member NATOalliance, which is debating itsfuture role in fightingterrorism, particularly inAfghanistan.
The Dutch government,seeking clarification, onWednesday summoned theAmerican ambassador. Thegovernment only recentlyagreed to extend its mandate inthe south, where it has 1,600troops.
On Thursday, Mr. Gatescalled the Dutch defenseminister, Eimert vanMiddelkoop.
confirmed that Mr. Gates hadmade the call but said therewas nothing for which Mr.Gates needed to apologize.“The secretary called his Dutchcounterpart this afternoon andtried to clear up anymisunderstanding caused bythe article and expressed regretfor any consternation it hascaused the Dutch government,”Mr. Morrell said.
NATO went toAfghanistan in August 2003with a focus on providingsecurity and carrying outpeacekeeping missions, whileAmerican troops focused oncounterinsurgency.
Last year, NATO becamemuch more involved in heavycombat missions in the south.Until now, there was littlepublic criticism over the waythe two missions cooperated.
“Gates seemed to haveforgotten or does not know thatthe Dutch armed forces havebeen completely changed sincethe end of the cold war. Wehave become an expeditionaryforce with wide experience,”said Maj. Gen. Kees Homan, asecurity expert at Clingendael,the Netherlands Institute ofInternational Relations.
“By singling out thosecountries that are doing mostof the fighting in Afghanistan,Gates has committed a tacticalerror, both politically andamong Dutch public opinion,”he said. “Why did he notcriticize those NATO countrieswhich stay well away from thefighting?”
Boston GlobeJanuary 18, 20082. Defense SecretaryLauds Role Of NATOGates tries to ease feelings inEuropeBy Lolita C. Baldor,Associated Press
WASHINGTON - DefenseSecretary Robert Gates saidyesterday that sending Marinesto Afghanistan will keeppressure on the Taliban anddoesn't "reflect dissatisfaction"with NATO countries'performance.
Gates was trying tosmooth over comments a dayearlier that sparked aninternational furor. The LosAngeles Times reportedWednesday that the defensesecretary said US forces ineastern Afghanistan are doing aterrific job but that he isconcerned that NATO alliesare not well trained incounterinsurgency operations.
"Allied forces ... havestepped up to the plate and areplaying a significant andpowerful role in Afghanistan,"Gates said at a Pentagon newsconference, which officialssaid had been rescheduled forearlier in the day to meetEuropean news deadlines.
"They are taking the fightto the enemy in some of themost grueling conditionsimaginable," Gates said ofNATO forces. "As a result ofthe valor and sacrifice of theseallies, the Taliban has sufferedsignificant losses."
But Gates also repeated hisconcern that NATO forceswere better trained for ColdWar-era fighting than they arefor today's threats, such asinsurgencies.
Gates said he hadpersonally phoned hisCanadian counterpartWednesday to explain hisposition.
In Toronto, DefenseMinister Peter MacKaydescribed the call. "I spoke tohim and he said, 'Canada wasthe last country I would makethose comments about,' andthey were not meant to bedisparaging or to diminish theeffort Canada has put forward,"MacKay said.
Yesterday Gates called theDutch minister of defense "toclear up the misunderstandingcaused by the article andexpress regret for thedifficulties it has caused," saidPentagon press secretary GeoffMorrell. During his briefingGates noted that the Dutchparliament had just voted toextend its troop commitment toAfghanistan for another twoyears.
Other officials and
specialists have quietlyacknowledged that NATOnations don't have thecapabilities needed to fight aninsurgency.
Ottawa CitizenJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 43. Gates Sings Canada'sPraisesU.S. defence secretary tries tomend fences after criticism ofNATO forces in AfghanistanBy Mike Blanchfield, TheOttawa Citizen
U.S. Defence SecretaryRobert Gates said yesterday hemade a special effort toreassure Canada after hecriticized shortcomings in theNATO efforts in Afghanistanin a American newspaper.
"I did reach out to theCanadian defence ministeryesterday. They had suffered aloss near Kandahar, I think theday before, and I wanted tomake sure they understood ourrespect for their contributionand how much of an impactthey are making," Mr. Gatestold a news conference inWashington one day after thePentagon moved to avert adiplomatic row with its alliesafter an interview he gave tothe Los Angeles Times, whichquoted him as being critical ofNATO's ability to fight acounterinsurgency.
Mr. Gates praised Canadaby name, along with its othermajor allies for their "valourand sacrifice" in fighting on thefront lines of the Talibaninsurgency in southernAfghanistan. His list alsoincluded Britain, theNetherlands and Denmark.
"The transatlantic allianceis in Afghanistan together,"said Mr. Gates.
Prime Minister StephenHarper also responded to thecontroversy yesterday, sayingthe comments made by Mr.Gates should not bemisinterpreted.
"Officials from the UnitedStates at all levels have alwaysconveyed their appreciationand confidence in Canadian
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Forces and I've heard that fromboth military and non-militarysources and I believe SecretaryGates conveyed that toMinister MacKay yesterday.So there should be nomisinterpretation of thosecomments vis à vis Canada,"the prime minister told a newsconference in Saskatchewan.
Mr. Harper also said theAmerican contribution to themission in Afghanistan hasbeen "significant" and "weneed to see NATO as a wholestep up to the plate."
Mr. Gates had alreadymade a round of telephonecalls to NATO SecretaryGeneral Jaap de HoopScheffer, as well as his alliancecounterparts -- includingDefence Minister PeterMacKay -- on Tuesday to givethem advance notice of thePentagon's attempt to deployan additional 3,200 marines tothe south in a bid to counter theexpected spring offensive bythe Taliban.
By chance, that was thesame day that Canada sufferedits 77th military fatality inAfghanistan, so Mr. Gates wasalso able to offer hiscondolences.
But once the imbroglioover the Times story eruptedWednesday, Mr. Gates was onthe phone again to Mr.MacKay to reassure him thatnone of his remarks wasdirected toward Canada.
Mr. MacKay said Mr.Gates told him he had beenquoted out of context, butexpressed "regret andembarrassment" over thereport.
Mr. MacKay said he wasoriginally "taken aback" by thereport, but that he accepted Mr.Gates' explanation.
Mr. Gates reiterated thatNATO as a whole has had a lotto learn about fightingcounterinsurgencies.
He said he has aired hisviews on NATO'sshortcomings in the past,including at the recentgathering in Edinburgh,Scotland, of countries fightingin the south. The U.S. is urging
its allies to seekcounterinsurgency training inKabul with American forces,he added.
"We have to acknowledgethe reality that the alliance as awhole has not trained forcounterinsurgency operationseven though individualcountries have considerableexpertise," he said.
Robert Gates, US defencesecretary, on Thursday said therecent decision to send anadditional 3,200 marines toAfghanistan did not reflectdissatisfaction about themilitary performance of USallies in the country.
Speaking at the Pentagon,he was attempting to quashcontroversy over recentcomments that appeared todisparage Nato allies fightingalongside the US inAfghanistan.
In recent months, MrGates has stepped up thepressure on Nato allies to fulfilcommitments to provide extratroops and equipment for thewar effort in Afghanistan.Earlier this week, however, heappeared to go one step further.
In an interview with theLos Angeles Times, Mr Gatessuggested that US forces in theeast of Afghanistan werehaving much more successwith counterinsurgencyoperations than Nato allies inthe southern Afghanistan.
“Our guys in the east,under Gen Rodriguez, aredoing a terrific job,” Mr Gatestold the paper. “They’ve gotthe [counterinsurgency] thingdown pat…But I think ourallies over there, this is notsomething they have anyexperience with.”
His comments sparkedcontroversy, particularlyamong the Dutch, British andCanadians, close US allies whoare providing the bulk of Nato
troops in the south for amission that is politicallyunpopular in their countries.Mr Gates on Thursday said thathe was referring to Nato as awhole, including the US,saying the alliance needed totransition from an organizationfocused on the Cold War.
“We have gone out topeople to try to clarify that Iwasn’t talking about anyparticular allies, but that thealliance as a whole, havingspent 40 years training andexercises to deal with theSoviet Union coming throughthe Fulda Gap has notre-focused in terms of itsoverall programme, in terms ofcounterinsurgency, despite theexpertise of individualcountries.”
Mr Gates on Thursday saidhe recently told Nato defenceministers in Scotland that allieswith less experience incounterinsurgency operationstake more advantage of a UScounterinsurgency academy inKabul. In the LA Timesinterview, Mr Gates said heexpressed his concerns aboutcounterinsurgency training, butnoted that “No one at the tablestood up and said: ‘I agree withthat.’ ”
Separately on Iraq, MrGates said he hoped GeneralDavid Petraeus, the top UScommander in Iraq, would inMarch be able to recommendwithdrawing soldiers at thecurrent pace, which wouldleave 100,000 troops in thecountry by the end of this year.
New York TimesJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 105. Gates Seeks TroopEstimatesBy Thom Shanker
WASHINGTON — Whenthey decided last September tobegin a slow withdrawal oftroops from Iraq, the WhiteHouse, Pentagon and seniormilitary officers put off aharder decision about how longthose withdrawals shouldcontinue.
Now, that battle is
beginning again.Defense Secretary Robert
M. Gates disclosed onThursday that he had instructedthe top officer in Iraq, thoseresponsible for the broaderMiddle East and those back atthe Pentagon in charge ofworldwide deployments toprepare to make their casesabout the best way to proceed.
The process is meant toallow President Bush tobalance troop requests fromGen. David H. Petraeus, thesenior American commander inIraq, against other pressingnational security needs,whether in Afghanistan or for acrisis elsewhere.
The overwhelmingquestion is whether Mr. Bushwill decide to halt thedrawdown in July, when thenumber of troops is scheduledto revert to the 130,000 or so inplace before the current troop“surge” began, or insteaddecide to order that thereductions continue, whichwould help ease strain on theoverall force.
The answer will influenceboth the level of Americancommitment to Iraq and thefuture shape of the Army.
At a session onWednesday sponsored by theAssociation of the UnitedStates Army, Gen. George W.Casey Jr., the Army chief ofstaff, made clear his service’sdesire to reduce those burdens,which have forced thelengthening of Army tours inIraq to 15 months, threemonths longer than the servicewould like.
General Casey, who wasGeneral Petraeus’s predecessorin Iraq, said the ground forcewas “being so consumed” bydeployments to Iraq andAfghanistan that the Army washaving “difficulty sustainingthe all-volunteer force.”
By contrast, GeneralPetraeus’s principal goal nodoubt will be to seek sufficienttroops to guarantee thatsecurity gains under the surgedo not slip away, even as hereshapes the militarycommitment to focus more on
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training, supplying andotherwise helping Iraqi forcestake over the country’ssecurity.
Some outside experts havebegun to warn in stark termsthat to continue the drawdownbeyond July could put at riskwhat the surge hasaccomplished.
Gen. Jack Keane, a retiredArmy vice chief of staff, saidin Congressional testimony onWednesday that it would be“an unacceptable risk” toreduce troop levels in Iraqbelow the cuts currentlyplanned.
“We should not squanderthe gains that we’ve made,” hesaid.
Senior Americancommanders in Iraq declined topredict what troop levels mightbe at the end of the year,stating that theirrecommendations to thepresident would be based onsecurity conditions on theground.
“Everything I see now is,we will continue to makeprogress going down to 15brigades,” Lt. Gen. RaymondT. Odierno, the No. 2commander in Iraq, saidThursday, referring to the levelof combat troops now plannedfor July. “But to predict nowwhether we can go lower or notis difficult, and I would notwant to make that predictionright now.”
The process that Mr. Gatesoutlined on Thursday wouldprecede Congressionaltestimony that GeneralPetraeus is scheduled to deliverin March or April, when hisnext troop request is due. It issimilar to what Mr. Gates putin place last fall, beforeGeneral Petraeus announcedthe decision to reduce trooplevels from their peak of 20brigades.
“I want to make sure thatthe president has theopportunity to hear from thesedifferent perspectives and toensure that his senior militaryadvisers and commanders havethe opportunity to present theirviews directly and unvarnished
to the president,” Mr. Gatessaid at a Pentagon newsconference.
Among others who willpresent their views to thepresident are Adm. William J.Fallon, the overall Americancommander in the Middle East,who is being asked to assessmilitary challenges and forcerequirements across the region.
That includes the currentmission in Afghanistan as wellas readiness for potentialturmoil in Pakistan or hostileaction by Iran.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff,representing the institutionalarmed services, which providetrained forces for militaryoperations, will also weigh in.
The Joint Chiefs, Mr.Gates said, “will look at thesituation in Iraq and thesituation in the region againstthe backdrop of our globalrequirements, stress on theforce and all these otherconsiderations.”
Gen. James E. Cartwright,vice chairman of the JointChiefs, acknowledged thedifferences amongcommanders trying to balancethe demands of the currentmission in Iraq, preparing forunexpected contingencies andrelieving stress on the force.But he said there was no majorrift.
At the briefing with Mr.Gates, General Cartwright saidthat when the Iraq force levelswere debated last fall, all thesenior officers in the discussion“came very, very close.”
“We had very few issuesthat we disagreed on,” he said,“and we worked through thoseissues to consensus tounderstand how we wanted tomove forward.”
Both Mr. Gates and Mr.Bush have said that they wantGeneral Petraeus, when he putsforth his troop request, to thinkonly of how to succeed in Iraq.
“I’ve asked GeneralPetraeus to make his evaluationof the situation in Iraq andwhat he needs, and thesituation on the ground,completely based on what’sgoing on in Iraq,” Mr. Gates
said. “He doesn’t need to lookover his shoulder, think aboutstress on the force or anythingelse.”
Mr. Bush spoke addressedthe issue in a direct mannerafter meeting with GeneralPetraeus and Ryan C. Crocker,the United States ambassadorto Iraq, during his recent visitto the region.
After their closed-doordiscussion in Kuwait, Mr. Bushoffered General Petraeus anysupport he might need fordeciding that troop levels inIraq could drop no further atthis time.
“My attitude is, if hedidn’t want to continue thedrawdown, that’s fine with me,in order to make sure wesucceed, see,” Mr. Bush said.“I said to the general, ‘If youwant to slow her down, fine;it’s up to you.’”
USA TodayJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 16. 75% Of Areas InBaghdad SecureFigures show dramatic gainssince U.S. buildupBy Jim Michaels, USA Today
About 75% of Baghdad'sneighborhoods are now secure,a dramatic increase from 8% ayear ago when President Bushordered more troops to thecapital, U.S. military figuresshow.
The military classifies 356of Baghdad's 474neighborhoods in the "control"or "retain" category of itsfour-tier security rating system,meaning enemy activity inthose areas has been mostlyeliminated and normaleconomic activity is resuming.
The data given by themilitary to USA TODAYprovide one of the clearestsnapshots yet of how securityhas improved in Baghdad sinceroughly 30,000 additionalAmerican troops arrived in Iraqlast year.
U.S. commanders cautionthat the gains are still fragile,but at the moment U.S. andIraqi forces "basically own the
streets," said Col. Ricky Gibbs,a brigade commander insouthern Baghdad.
The fight to controlBaghdad is the centerpiece ofthe counterinsurgency strategylaunched a year ago by Gen.David Petraeus, thecommander of U.S. forces inIraq. The plan, popularlyknown as the "surge," seeks toreduce sectarian and otherviolence by moving troops offlarge bases and into dangerousneighborhoods to protectcivilians.
The 310 neighborhoods inthe "control" category aresecure, but depend on U.S. andIraqi military forces tomaintain the peace. The 46areas in the "retain" categoryhave reached a level whereIraqi police and security forcescan maintain order, a morepermanent fix. The remainingareas have fewer securityforces based there, though theyare not necessarily violent.
In February 2007, whenadditional U.S. forces beganarriving, only 37 Baghdadneighborhoods were in the"control" and "retain"categories.
The drop in violence inBaghdad and elsewhere helpedavert a religious civil war, saidThomas Hammes, a retiredMarine colonel and author.
Risks remain. Iraq'sgovernment has been slow torestore basic services such aselectricity and water in someareas. "In areas that are in'control' status, the complaint isnot security," Gibbs said. "Thecomplaint is essentialservices."
The U.S. military is waryof handing over securityresponsibility too quickly toIraqi forces. "There areconcerns we'll pull out of heretoo fast just because we havesuch great gains," Gibbs saidby phone from Iraq.
The Iraqi government hasalso failed to take fulladvantage of the improvedsecurity by passing major laws,such as a plan to share oilrevenues, that could easetensions between Sunnis and
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Shiites.Meanwhile, U.S. troop
levels are scheduled to startcoming down again by themiddle of this year. Althoughweakened and pushed out ofIraq's major cities, al-Qaedaremains focused on trying todominate the capital, Lt. Gen.Raymond Odierno, the No. 2U.S. commander in Iraq, saidThursday. "Their long-termsights are still set on Baghdad,"he said.
Washington PostJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 157. Iraq May NeedMilitary Help ForYears, Officials SayBy Ann Scott Tyson,Washington Post Staff Writer
"The truth is that theysimply cannot fix, supply, armor fuel themselves completelyenough at this point," said U.S.Army Lt. Gen. James Dubik,head of the Multi-NationalSecurity Transition Commandin Iraq.
The Iraqi government hasbeen increasing its forces"much more aggressively" inresponse to the high violencelevels witnessed in 2006 andearly 2007, Dubik said intestimony before the HouseArmed Services Committee.
Iraqi security forces nowconsist of nearly 500,000personnel, after a 55 percentincrease in the size of the Iraqiarmy over the past year, Dubiksaid. The Iraqi governmentenvisions increasing thatnumber to 580,000 by the endof 2008, with an ultimate goalof building a force of as manyas 640,000, he said.
Part of the rapid growth,however, has resulted not fromadditional recruits but becausethe Iraqi government hasplaced other existing securityforces under the oversight ofthe ministries of defense andinterior, Dubik said. Inaddition, the latest count isbased on Iraqi government datarather than on U.S. militarydata, a change detailed in a
Pentagon report released lastmonth.
Dubik described Iraqisecurity forces as "bigger andbetter" than ever before, but hesaid significant problems arekeeping them dependent onU.S. military support.
Iraq "remains reliant onthe coalition" for critical gear,such as helicopters, mortars,artillery andintelligence-gatheringequipment, he said. Moreover,Iraq's shortage of mid-gradeleaders represents "a very realand very tangible hole inproficiency that ... will affectthem for at least a decade."
Rampant corruption andlingering sectarianism withinthe Iraqi security forces arealso major hurdles that Iraqidefense and police leadersmust overcome in order to takeresponsibility for Iraq'ssecurity, Dubik said.
Iraqi officials predict thattheir forces will be able toassume responsibility forinternal security sometimebetween early 2009 and 2012,and that they will be able tohandle external security by2018 or 2020, according toDubik.
U.S. commanders haveagreed that some U.S. forceswill probably have to remain inIraq for as long as a decade --albeit at a level far lower thanthe current 160,000 troops.
The second-ranking U.S.commander in Iraq, Army Lt.Gen. Raymond T. Odierno,said yesterday that Iraq couldrequire a U.S. militarypresence for many years. Forexample, the United Statescould provide helicopters andother aircraft to support Iraqicombat operations for "five to10 years," with "an appropriatenumber of ground forces thatgo along with that," Odiernotold a Pentagon newsconference.
However, such U.S. airsupport could also be providedby forces stationed outside Iraqat existing U.S. military basesin the Middle East, said MarkKimmitt, deputy assistantsecretary of defense for Middle
Eastern affairs, who alsotestified before the Housepanel yesterday.
The United States and Iraqintend to negotiate this year therole of U.S. forces in Iraq aspart of a long-term securityarrangement that will alsodefine the legal status of U.S.troops there.
Pressed by lawmakers tooffer a timeline for thewithdrawal of U.S. troops fromIraq, Dubik and Kimmitt saidonly that it would depend onsecurity conditions on theground. In a separate newsbriefing, Defense SecretaryRobert M. Gates reiterated hishope that the current pace oftroop withdrawals -- five Armycombat brigades by July -- willcontinue for the rest of theyear, but he said he would waitfor the recommendations of thetop U.S. commander in Iraq,Army Gen. David H. Petraeus,and other U.S. military leaders.
Odierno, who next monthwill complete his 14-monthtour as the commander ofday-to-day military operationsin Iraq, emphasized that thetransfer of responsibility toIraqi security forces must becarried out in a "slow,deliberate manner."
The U.S. military mustfocus on "making sure that wedon't make some of themistakes we've made in thepast, turning it over tooquickly, where we lose groundand give some of theseextremist elements a chance,"Odierno said. "We don't wantto give them another chance.We don't want to give themanything back... . That'sprobably the biggestchallenge."
Chicago TribuneJanuary 18, 20088. General Charts IraqCapabilitySays at least 10 years beforenation can defend its bordersBy Aamer Madhani,Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON—Iraqiofficials have indicated thatthey cannot take full
responsibility for internalsecurity in their country untilas late as 2012 and that it couldbe 10 more years before Iraqisecurity forces are able toproperly defend their ownborders, a senior U.S.commander told a House panelThursday.
Lt. Gen. James Dubik,who heads the Multi-NationalSecurity Transition Command,said Defense MinisterAbdul-Qader al-Obeidi hasrepeatedly told him that Iraqiforces need to significantlyboost their air and fire supportbefore they would be able toproperly defend themselves.
Dubik told the HouseArmed Services Committeethat the Iraqi security forceshave made much progress, but"the truth is that they simplycannot fix, supply, arm or fuelthemselves completely enoughat this point."
In conversations with U.S.commanders, al-Obeidi hasestimated that the Iraqis will beable to take responsibility forinternal security between 2009and 2012 and establish properborder security between 2018and 2020.
Iraqi security forces,which for much of the first fouryears of the war were largelyineffective, have made greatstrides in recent months,according to U.S. commanders.Dubik said that Iraq isexpected to add 80,000 soldiersand police by the end of 2008.
The Iraqi army, inparticular, has made significantprogress in developing itsleadership, adding 1,300officers and 9,900non-commissioned officersover the past year. But Dubikadded that there is still ashortage of midlevel officers.
But the dour projection onthe Iraqi security forces'readiness caused concernamong some lawmakers, whowere looking for at least therough edges of a timeline forU.S. withdrawal. Rep. RoscoeBartlett (D-Md.) saidAmericans are looking forclarification of when U.S.troops will finally come home,
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something that seemed onlymore uncertain after Dubik'sprojections.
"I think all Americanswould like to have on theirrefrigerator a chart which theycan follow that looks to a timethat we can get out," Bartlettsaid.
Dubik declined to give adate when U.S. forces wouldbe able to pull out.
"Sir, when I talk to my dadabout these kinds of things, myadvice to him is put no numberon the refrigerator," Dubiksaid.
Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, theNo. 2 commander in Iraq,suggested some U.S. militarypresence would remain in Iraqfor some time, while the size ofthe American footprint wouldprobably diminish as Iraqisecurity forces progress.Odierno, who made hiscomments from Baghdadduring a video newsconference with Pentagonreporters Thursday, added thatIraq's most significant problemremains in equipping itself.
"I do not see it going thatfar at all," Odierno said ofal-Obeidi's timeline. "I see ithappening much quicker. But Ido see us having some sort oflong-term security relationshipat a lower level ... for someperiod of time that will bedetermined between thegovernment of Iraq and thegovernment of the UnitedStates and our coalitionpartners."
In violence in Iraq onThursday, a suicide bomberstruck Shiites as worshipersprepared for their mostimportant holiday, killing atleast 11 at a mosque in violentDiyala province, TheAssociated Press reported. Theattack came one day after asimilar bombing by a womanin a nearby village.
Meanwhile, the U.S.military announced a secondmajor wave of air strikes in aweek against Al Qaedapositions southeast ofBaghdad. It said 10,000 poundsof munitions were droppedWednesday.
Los Angeles TimesJanuary 18, 20089. U.S. Moves To ShiftTroops' Role In IraqMilitary has begun movingsoldiers out of combatpositions to supervisory dutiesto assist and train Iraqisecurity forces.By Julian E. Barnes, LosAngeles Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — U.S.commanders have begunshifting the mission of militaryforces in Iraq by moving moreAmerican troops out offront-line combat and intoassignments that allow soldiersto monitor and support Iraqiunits, senior military leaderssaid Thursday.
In their changing capacity,U.S. troops increasingly will bepositioned to back up Iraqiforces in a role thatcommanders outlined inrecommendations in Septemberand have termed "overwatch."Under the recommendations,the overall U.S. troop level inIraq will be reduced to about130,000 by July from about160,000. One combat brigadealready has left Iraq.
"With the withdrawal ofthat first brigade combat team,we began the process of atransition of mission,"Secretary of Defense RobertM. Gates said in a newsbriefing Thursday. "Ultimately,the mission will be one that wecall strategic overwatch, whichis basically where we are notengaged on a daily basis andwhere the Iraqis are in the leadand we are providing support."
Senior military andDefense officials are scheduledto make their next majorprogress report on Iraq inMarch. In that report, ArmyGen. David H. Petraeus andother military commanders areexpected to outline their viewson the pace at which themilitary can continuereductions in the second half of2008.
In a separate briefing,Army Lt. Gen. Raymond T.Odierno, the commander of
day-to-day military operationsin Iraq, emphasized that he didnot know how quickly U.S.troops would be drawn down.But he emphasized that thetroop reduction wouldcontinue, with duties handedover to the Iraqis.
"When -- not if -- when wereduce our forces over time andthe Iraqis take primacy forsecurity, we will be here toassist them when they need it,"Odierno said. "And so we haveto determine over time whatthat right number is and howwe would assist them."
Odierno pointed to thenorthern city of Mosul as anexample of the strategy. Since2004, the U.S. has drasticallyreduced the number of combattroops there and in thesurrounding area. But Mosulnow is the only large Iraqi citywith a significant Al Qaeda inIraq presence, according tomilitary estimates. As aresponse, Odierno said heplanned to send additional U.S.forces there to assist Iraqiforces.
"And that's how I see ourrole, frankly, in the future here,is that we'll have forcesavailable that are able to, whennecessary, reinforce Iraqisecurity forces," he said. "So inreality, I see what we're doingin Mosul as a model for thefuture."
Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik,who oversees the training ofIraqi security forces, toldlawmakers that Iraq's army stillwas not self-sufficient.
"The truth is that, rightnow, they cannot fix, supply,arm or fuel themselvescompletely enough," Dubiktold members of the HouseArmed Services Committee.
Iraq's defense minister,Abdul-Qader MohammedJassim Mifarji, has said Iraqiforces will not be able toassume responsibility forinternal security until 2012 orbe able to defend the country'sborders before 2019.
But Odierno said that withU.S. help, the Iraqi forcescould be ready sooner.
"We'll have some people
here, if the government of Iraqwants it, for some period oftime. That could be five to 10years," Odierno said. "But itwill not be at the levels we're atnow. I don't believe that thatwill be necessary."
Washington PostJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 1510. Suicide BomberStrikes At ShiiteMosqueIraqi Worshipers Killed on Eveof Holiday; Elsewhere inDiyala, Women Die in U.S.RaidBy Amit R. Paley, WashingtonPost Foreign Service
Elsewhere in the province,U.S. forces killed two womenand injured two others duringan air and ground attack on abuilding that armed menrefused to exit, the U.S.military said in a statement thatalso expressed regret forcivilian deaths.
The attack on the Sheftamosque in the provincialcapital, Baqubah, struck Shiitespounding their chests to markthe upcoming holiday ofAshura, which commemoratesthe 7th-century death of ImamHussein, the grandson of theprophet Muhammad and one ofthe holiest figures in ShiiteIslam.
At least 13 people werewounded in the explosion.Witnesses said it would havebeen far deadlier if not for apoliceman, identified asRiyadh al-Zubaidi, whostopped the bomber fromentering the mosque. Securityhad been tight to guard againstSunni insurgent attacks on the500 Shiite worshipers inside.
"I was expecting such anincident would happen becauseal-Qaeda wants to eliminate allShiites on Earth," said AliHussein al-Zubaidi, 28, as hewas treated at a local hospitalfor wounds to his right hand,head and back.
U.S. and Iraqi militaryofficials insisted that the recentcampaign against al-Qaeda inIraq, a homegrown Sunni
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insurgent group that U.S.officials say is led by Arabsfrom outside the country, hasbeen a success.
"It is not easy to discoverand stop suicide bombers," saidLt. Gen. Abdul Kareemal-Rubaie, commander of Iraqimilitary operations in Diyala."These sorts of attacks couldtake place anywhere in theworld, not just Diyala."
A land of lush palm andcitrus groves, Diyala hasbecome one of the mostdangerous provinces in Iraqsince insurgents fled there fromBaghdad and the westernprovince of Anbar, whichbecame less hospitable bases ofoperations because of thebuildup of U.S. and Iraqiforces in those areas.
The unusually largecampaign that began last weekwas designed to root outinsurgents from an area of theDiyala River Valley known asthe Bread Basket. "This placewas one of the biggeststrongholds of the terrorists,"Rubaie said.
There were conflictingreports about the results of theongoing operation. Rubaie said20 suspected insurgents hadbeen captured in Diyala, inaddition to 18 killed. 1st Lt.Stephen Bomar, a militaryspokesman in northern Iraq,said 53 had been captured. Thedifference could not beimmediately reconciled. Bomardid not provide a tally ofdeaths.
Asked to explain therecent string of spectacularbombings in Diyala, Bomarnoted that violent attacks in theprovince decreased from 1,091in June to 409 in November.
"However, the attacks noware more sensationalized, suchas suicide-vest attacks," hewrote in an e-mail. Referring tothe recent joint U.S.-Iraqioperation, he added: "Signs arepointing towards success."
The U.S. militaryacknowledges that theoperation prompted manyfighters to escape from theBread Basket to other parts ofDiyala. "Recent success in the
Diyala River Valley regionpushed these terrorists to seeksafe haven" farther north nearHamrin Lake, the military saidin a statement.
Three insurgents and atleast two civilians were killedduring a firefight on Thursdaynear the lake, the statementsaid.
According to the militaryaccount, U.S. troops and anaircraft engaged gunmen in abuilding where occupantsrefused orders to come out.After the gunfire stopped,soldiers discovered that twowomen had been killed andtwo others wounded during theincident, the military said. Inanother operation, U.S. forceskilled a man who ignoredinstructions and warning shotswhen he was ordered to leave abuilding, the military said.
The U.S.-led coalition"deeply regrets when civiliansare hurt or killed duringoperations to rid Iraq ofterrorism," Maj. WinfieldDanielson, a militaryspokesman, said in thestatement. "These terroristsdeliberately place innocentIraqi women and children indanger by their actions andpresence."
Special correspondentsZaid Sabah, K.I. Ibrahim, Saadal-Izzi, Naseer Nouri and otherWashington Post staff in Iraqcontributed to this report.
Los Angeles TimesJanuary 18, 200811. Pre-Holiday BlastKills 9 In IraqA suicide bomber strikesoutside a Shiite mosque inBaqubah where worshipers arepreparing for Saturday'sfestival of Ashura.By Ned Parker, Los AngelesTimes Staff Writer
BAGHDAD — A suicidebomber killed at least ninepeople Thursday outside aShiite mosque in the Iraqi cityof Baqubah during the run-upto the Islamic sect's majorreligious holiday, police said.
The attacker detonated hisexplosives as worshipers were
making evening preparationsfor the festival of Ashura,which falls on Saturday. Policesaid 14 people were woundedin the blast.
The attack in the capital ofDiyala province came a dayafter a female suicide bomberstruck in the nearby town ofKhan Bani Saad, killing eightpeople.
A witness to Thursday'sblast said he watched astranger arguing with a policeofficer who had been searchingpeople entering the area by themosque.
"I saw the bomber explodelike a balloon with my owneyes," said Nussaif Jasim, acafe owner. "It was so fast,something unbelievable. Manypeople were outside themosque. Many were harmed,even children.
"The policeman was tornto pieces," Jasim said.
Sunni extremists targetedAshura celebrations in 2004,with suicide bombings killingabout 180 people in attacks inKarbala and at the Shiite shrineof Kadhimiya in Baghdad.
For this year's Ashura, thegovernment has put a vehicleban in effect, with someexemptions, in Baghdad andmuch of central Iraq in hope ofstaving off large-scale attacksagainst Shiite pilgrims.
On Ashura, the 10th day ofthe Muslim month ofMuharram, Shiites mourn thedeath of Imam Hussein, agrandson of the prophetMuhammad. Hussein and hisfollowers were slaughtered in680 on the plains of Karbala bythe forces of Islamic rulerYazid. Hussein's martyrdomand the death of his father, Ali,before him were the root of theschism between Sunni andShiite Islam.
The celebrations forAshura, in which hundreds ofthousands flock to Karbala tomourn Hussein's death andreenact his last battle, havebecome symbolic of theascendancy of Iraq's Shiitemajority. Shiites wererestricted in celebrations oftheir faith under Saddam
Hussein's Sunni-dominatedregime.
Diyala province, with itsmixed Sunni-Shiite population,has been a magnet for sectarianviolence. Many Sunni militantswho fled Baghdad in the faceof a U.S. military crackdownlast year are believed to havetaken refuge in Diyala, to thenorth and east.
Red, black and green flagswere aloft across Shiite areasof Iraq as the faithful preparedfor Ashura. At the Kadhimiyashrine, the scene of theviolence in western Baghdadon Ashura four years ago, Iraqiarmy troops and police officershad sealed off streets to protectthe thousands of pilgrims whowill celebrate this year'sfestival there.
Many Shiites observe theholiday by beating drums andlashing their chests withchains, in memory of the deathcenturies ago.
Meanwhile, U.S. Air ForceB-1 bombers dropped 34,000pounds of munitions Thursdayon two bunkers that themilitary said were used fortraining Al Qaeda in Iraqrecruits. The strikes occurredin Arab Jabour, a sparselypopulated farming communityjust south of Baghdad, wherethe military dropped nearly50,000 pounds of munitions inairstrikes last week.
No one was believed to bein the bunkers.
Two 500-pound bombsalso razed two houses that theArmy said had been riggedwith explosives southwest ofArab Jabour.
Elsewhere, two womenand a male civilian were killedThursday during two U.S. raidsin a follow-up to sweeps lastweek in the Diyala Rivervalley, aimed at driving Sunnimilitants from theirsanctuaries, the U.S. militarysaid in a statement. A clashwith militants erupted in thetown of Jalula when U.S.soldiers raided a building.
The Americans called inan airstrike and the shootoutleft three militants and twowomen dead, the military said.
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Two other women werewounded and treated by U.S.medics, it said.
In the same area, a malecivilian apparently panickedwhen U.S. soldiers askedresidents to leave a building.He started to walk toward theAmericans but ignoredwarning fire and was fatallyshot by U.S. soldiers, themilitary said. No weaponswere discovered on him.
The military said itregretted the civilian deaths.
Times staff writers CaesarAhmed and Saif Hameedcontributed to this report.
USA TodayJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 612. Troops Try To Gain-- And Keep -- GroundMilitary shifts tactics in fight tosecure IraqBy Charles Levinson, USAToday
NEAR ARAB JABOUR,Iraq-- On his first tour of dutytwo years ago, VincentMancuso was unable to subduethese sprawling farmlandssouth of Baghdad, whereSaddam Hussein loyalists andal-Qaeda militants led a fearedinsurgency.
He says he has come backto fight a different-- and moreeffective-- kind of war.
"Before, we were hittingand leaving," says the gruff,barrel-chested Mancuso,pushing out toward the frontline of a massive U.S.offensive against al-Qaeda inIraq that began here in lateDecember.
"Back then, we'd move in,hit some houses, seize someweapons, arrest some guys andthen leave. And as soon as weleft, the bad guys just movedback in," he recalls of his lasttour.
Mancuso's service thenand now puts him in a goodposition to judge thecounterinsurgency doctrineimplemented by Gen. DavidPetraeus, the overall U.S.commander in Iraq.
The strategy takes
advantage of a greater numberof U.S. troops in Iraq to "clear,hold and build" on capturedterritory, rather than grabbing afew bad guys and headinghome.
"Now we're hitting it andkeeping it, which is how thewar should be fought,"Mancuso says.
In recent months, violencenationwide has plummeted tolevels not seen since thesummer of 2005, according todata in a U.S. military reportissued in December.
The U.S. military hasturned its focus to areas whereal-Qaeda in Iraq has refused toretreat, such as Diyala provinceor a region south of Baghdad,where Mancuso's unit operates.The area, roughly the size ofWest Virginia, is home tofarms owned by formersupporters of Saddam Husseinand other Sunni Arabs-- fertileground for al-Qaeda and otherinsurgent groups to takeshelter.
"This is the tip of thespear" of the new U.S.offensive, said Maj. Gen. RickLynch, the commander of U.S.forces in the area.
Mud-walled livestocksheds and single-story cementblock homes dot the bucolicsprawl. From the rooftop postof one abandoned Iraqifarmhouse, soldiers look outonto palm trees and eucalyptusgroves. A patchwork of canalscrisscross fields for as far asthe eye can see.
The U.S. military brieflyturned the territory over toIraqis in early 2006, but thingsspiraled further out of control.Iraqi Lt. Naseer Ibrahim wasamong the handful of Iraqisoldiers left to fend forthemselves.
"It was crazy," he sayswith a laugh. He and his menretreated as al-Qaeda in Iraqcemented its hold on theterritory. They hunkered downin their bases, afraid to ventureout, leaving the sprawlingcountryside a lawless vacuum.Extremists seized on theabsence of authority to turnthese fields into a sanctuary
where they assembled carbombs to be funneled intoBaghdad.
When the 3rd InfantryDivision arrived here lastspring there was one companyof American soldiers, orroughly 100 troops, responsiblefor the whole area.
Last weekend, U.S. planesdropped more than 40,000pounds of bombs in 10minutes, targeting buriedimprovised explosive devices,weapons caches and suspectedal-Qaeda in Iraq safe houses.
The boom-thud-boom ofoutgoing artillery is a reminderthat these soldiers are still atbattle. Nearby, a pair of Kiowaattack helicopters dart throughthe air, the buzzing of theirengines punctuated by rocketsexploding nearby in anirrigation canal whereinsurgents may be takingshelter.
Spc. John Berberick, areturning infantryman, washere from January 2005 toJanuary 2006, among thedarkest months of thepost-invasion period, whensectarian fighting consumedthe country.
"Last time, we did mostlymounted patrols. We didn't getout of the vehicles much,"recalls Berberick, 33, fromBayonne, N.J. "We're doing alot more walking around thistime, talking to people, gettingto know the population. Andwe seem to be getting a lotmore done."
At the front of the U.S.advance, a new patrol base isunder construction. U.S.officers such as Capt.Christopher O'Brien hope thedozen cargo containers thathave been flown in by Chinookhelicopters to supply the basehave sent a clear message tolocal residents and insurgentsthat, unlike in the past, thistime the U.S. military issticking around.
Each incremental gain isaccompanied by days ofbuilding bases, recruitingresidents to assist with securityand attempting to rev up theeconomy-- steps Lynch hopes
will make the gains stick."It's a march of clearing
towns, making sure it's secure,establishing local citizensgroups, bringing in the Iraqiarmy, jump-starting theeconomy with micro-grantsand trying to get localgovernment up and running,"says Lt. Col. Mark Solomon,40, from Burlington, Mass."Only then do the soldiers lookforward to the next town on themap."
O'Brien, 26, fromHerndon, Va., and the fourplatoons he commands haveadvanced 11/2 miles in twoweeks.
"I can jump forwardquickly and take a lot ofground, but if we just clear thebad guys and don't make sure itstays secure, we'd have done itall for nothing because they'djust come back in again,"O'Brien says.
Christian Science MonitorJanuary 18, 200813. US-Iraqi TroopsSweep Al Qaeda VillageHavenSoldiers find major weaponscaches, a bunker, and aninsurgent expense report inDiyala Province.By Scott Peterson, Staff writerof The Christian ScienceMonitor
HUSSEIN AL-HAMADI,IRAQ -- The first sign of thepresence of Al Qaeda in Iraq(AQI) looms out of the frozendarkness on the edge of thisremote village. A white car isfound hidden under a canopyof trees. It's not rigged toexplode, but it was used by theinsurgents. Inside, they've leftbehind a list of expenses on ayellow notepad.
For the month ofNovember, the ledger notesthat AQI paid snipers 273,000Iraqi dinars ($230). Roadsidebombers got twice that amount.The largest single expense:$3,000 paid to "martyrs" andtheir families.
The document is toppedwith an obscure name for themilitant cell, and signed
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simply: "The Management."Inserted overnight by
helicopter earlier this week, USArmy soldiers (from Troop A,2nd Squadron, 1st CavalryRegiment) and an Iraqi Armyplatoon, crept into this villagealong the Diyala River, 20miles northeast of Baghdad,hunting for insurgents – andfor local villagers willing totake them on. This patrol ispart of a broader US-Iraqimilitary effort in the DiyalaProvince, the heart of theinsurgency in recent months.
The detailed expenses –and the fear on the Iraqiresidents' faces in this AlQaeda stronghold – speak tothe insurgents' continuedinfluence here. Yet thehit-and-miss nature of gleaninginformation and detainingsuspects, who often claimignorance to avert suspicion,makes the mission difficult.
"Everyone is so scared.They don't want to do or sayanything," says Capt. JoeByerly of Savannah, Ga.American troops swept throughhere last October, and in thatthree-day operation killed fivemilitants and freed a severelybeaten hostage. US officersunderstand why the locals arehesitant to cooperate.
"They know we will leave,and those people they arescared [that Al Qaeda] will justcome right back," says thetroop commander, Capt. DustinHeumphreus, from Austin,Texas.
To prevent AQI's returnand allay the villagers' fears,the US and Iraqi troops aretrying to create a US-fundedband of armed locals, calledConcerned Local Citizens, orCLCs, to guard newly erectedcheckpoints in the area. It's astrategy that has helped quellviolence in other parts of Iraq,especially Baghdad.
Later, a Predator drone iscalled in to destroy the whitecar with Hellfire missiles – soit won't be used again by theinsurgents. They also take outanother car without licenseplates that had excited the USArmy's explosives-sniffing
dog. Other sites yield morelists, including one with somenames crossed out – perhapsindividuals alreadyassassinated, or militantskilled.
"There are many bad guyshere," says the senior IraqiArmy officer, 1st Lt. AhmadAshab Ahmad, as his 25soldiers lead the search, goingdoor to door with theAmericans and working fromtwo lists of potential suspects."The US 'Most Wanted,' thefirst, second, third, fourth andfifth on the lists, they are allhere."
The village of Husseinal-Hamadi is largely cut offfrom US or Iraqi militarysupport by roads seeded withbombs, and masked men of AlQaeda in Iraq often transit thevillage, using the overgrownareas between the village andthe river as a haven.
Once half Sunni and halfShiite, the village a year agowitnessed Sunni militantssystematically "cleanse" thearea of all Shiites, blowing uptheir houses to discourage anyfrom returning. The dramaticresults are mounds of rubblesimilar to villages ethnicallycleansed in the 1990sthroughout the Balkans.
"Up until yesterday, AlQaeda were here," says onefearful man, as his childrenraced to gather documentsfrom the family truck to proveownership. "Then they heardthat coalition forces werecoming, and they left."
US soldiers asked him tocall if he sees anythingsuspicious, but he refuses,initially, to accept the phonenumbers of a help line. Othersin the village refuse pointblank, saying that Al Qaeda inIraq had swept through in thepast, checking every mobilephone for known coalitionnumbers.
"If you be our eyes, wewill be your guns," CaptainHeumphreus tells the farmer.
This man finally relents,agreeing to help. But he isshaking with fear. His familyhas been whisked into a back
room so as not to hear theexchange. "Before coalitionforces came, I was too afraid tospeak," he explains in hushedtones. "But now I will talk."
"It's dangerous," warnsanother older man standing athis metal gate, his family outof sight. "I don't want to talkabout it. I don't know anythingabout Al Qaeda. They comehere with covered faces, andthey go."
The rubble from Shiitehouses is not the only thing leftbehind by Al Qaeda in Iraqfighters, who villagers sayfrequently come from the eastside of the river.
Over three days, US forcescome across several weaponscaches, take gun and mortarfire from across the river, andcall in airstrikes to destroy abunker with a grass-coveredtrapdoor and bedrolls in it.Neither the weapons cachesnor the bunker are rigged toblow, suggesting the militantsnever expected these sitesbetween the village and theriver to be found.
As troops move throughthe reeds and the pomegranateand citrus groves along thebanks of the river, they findrich pickings. Caches includerockets, antitank mines, 15hand-held radios, 3,000 feet ofdetonation cord, 25 remote-fireinitiation devices, bulkexplosives, and a videocamcorder with three tapes."We could have spent a monthout there, searching andfinding stuff. There is somuch," says Staff Sgt. ChrisJackson, a US Air Forceexplosives expert fromAlbuquerque, N.M. "To find acache like that in this day andage is a big deal, because[AQI] are so much better atrunning and hiding."
The Americans detain oneman who pops up on one oftheir watch lists, provided by alocal sheikh. Another man istaken in after several rolls ofcopper wire (often used inmaking roadside bombs) arefound in his house. At onepoint during the sweep, a manis handcuffed and his eyes
covered with a band of clothafter telling several conflictingstories about the flatbed truckin his driveway.
"I swear by God I am notAl Qaeda!" the man pleadswith the senior Iraqi officer. Atfirst he claims masked mendropped off the vehicle, hid thelicense plates, and thendisappeared. He says "theterrorists" also took his identitycard.
But then an identity cardappears. It's for the DiyalaProvince health authority, validthroughout 2008. And as thearrest is made, the man tries tothrow off his jacket. Inside thepocket are the keys for thetruck. "A friend gave it to me!"the man insists. The Iraqi andUS troops laugh at thechanging story. A woman andgroup of children wail as theman is led away.
DOBBS: Good evening,everybody. New questionstonight about the Bushadministration's plans towithdraw our troops from Iraq.The Joint Chiefs vicechairman, General DavidCartwright today admittedthere are tensions betweenPentagon planners and militarycommanders in Iraq aboutfuture troop levels. Meanwhile,the White House todaydeclared President Bush willpresent his ideas on a possiblestimulus package for thiseconomy tomorrow. But thatpackage, when it does come,may be too late to save thiseconomy from recession. We'llhave much more on thattonight. But first, JamieMcIntyre with our report fromthe Pentagon -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE,CNN SR. PENTAGONCORRESPONDENT: Well,Lou, with things getting better
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in Iraq, you might think thatU.S. troops would be cominghome sooner but that's not theway some U.S. commandersare thinking.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)MCINTYRE: As
conditions in Iraq improve,there is an uneasy tensionbuilding between Pentagonplanners anxious to reap apeace dividend by bringingU.S. troops home faster andfront-line commanders such asLieutenant General RayOdierno.
LT. GEN. RAYMONDODIERNO, CMDR.,MULTINAT'L CORPS IRAQ:What we don't want to do issuddenly pull out a wholebunch of U.S. forces andsuddenly turn things over toIraqi security forces. I wouldlike to see it done very slowlyover time.
MCINTYRE: ThePentagon says its goal of goingfrom 20 to 15 combat brigadesby July is on track. In fact, onebrigade is already home. Thatwill drop U.S. troop levels toroughly 130,000 by summer.But the hope for additionalforce cuts in Iraq from 15 to 10brigades down to 100,000troops will depend entirely onthe judgment of topCommander General DavidPetraeus who has been told byboth President Bush andDefense Secretary Gates, he'llhave the final word.
DEFENSE SECRETARYROBERT GATES: I've askedGeneral Petraeus to make hisevaluation of the situation inIraq and what he needs. Andthe situation on the ground,completely based on what'sgoing on in Iraq. But he doesn'tneed to look over his shoulder,think about stress on the forceor anything else.
MCINTYRE: GeneralPetraeus' cautious go slowapproach is budding right upagainst pressure from generalslike George Casey, the Armychief of staff who told the"Wall Street Journal" the surgehas sucked all the flexibilityout of the system. The vicechairman of the Joint Chiefs
acknowledges there's tension inthe upper ranks, but insists it'sa good thing.
GEN. JAMESCARTWRIGHT, JOINTCHIEFS VICE CHMN.: Theimportant part here is we don'twant everybody looking at theproblem from the samedirection.
MCINTYRE: Despite U.S.military maps like theseshowing al Qaeda's waninginfluence and briefing chartslike these showing attacks,IEDs and U.S. casualties allnose diving, the U.S. faces thesame old problem, Iraqi forcesare simply not ready. That'swhat the U.S. general in chargeof Iraqi training just toldCongress.
LT. GEN. JAMESDUBIK, SECURITYTRANSITION COMMAND:But the truth is, right now, theycannot fix, supply, arm or fuelthemselves completely enoughat this point.
(END VIDEOTAPE)MCINTYRE: And Lou,
even though the general,General Dubik says that Iraq ison track to add some 80,000troop this year, it still won't beself-sufficient for at least fouryears and cannot defend itsborders for at least 10 years.That means, at least for theshort term, the U.S. is going tobe doing more pulling backthan pulling out because it'sgoing to have to maintain asignificant force in Iraq tobackstop the Iraqis -- Lou.
DOBBS: If that indeed isthe case as General Dubikportrays it, then there should bea complete congressionalinvestigation as to how theUnited States is going to aboutbuilding Iraqi security becauseit makes absolutely no sensefrom any possibility. On theother point, as you talk aboutthe tensions, Jamie McIntyre,between the planners at thePentagon and the commandersin the field and Iraq, I have tosay that sounds like one of themost positive developments ofthis entire war, that we arehearing an expression of viewsthat are in conflict, that are
different, and giving us somesense of transparency and lifein the thinking of the general'sstaff.
MCINTYRE: There aretwo things that are real worries.One of them is, obviously,there's a lot of stress on theU.S. military. The sooner theU.S. can pull some of thosetroops out of Iraq, it can relievethe stress, and by the way itmight need some of thosetroops for Afghanistan as well.But at the same time, thesegains in Iraq have been veryhard won and the commanderswho are in charge there don'twant to see those slip away. Sothey want to have theflexibility to do what theythink they need to maintainthat momentum. So it's twocompeting forces and it is a lotof tension.
DOBBS: And as I say, itseems also -- although there istension, it also seems to me atleast to me a positivedevelopment that thisadministration and thisgeneral's staff is now beginningto express itself in more thanmonolithic terms andsometimes not very productivemonolithic terms -- Jamie,thank you very much. JamieMcIntyre from the Pentagon.
NPRJanuary 17, 200815. Gates: NoImmediate MilitaryThreat From Iran
Morning Edition (NPR),7:10 AM
RENEE MONTAGNE:The man who now runs thePentagon is quieter than thecelebrity he replaced. He alsohas less time than DonaldRumsfeld did.
Secretary Robert Gates hasfinished a year in the job andhas about a year to go. Thetime is relatively shortconsidering his two biggestproblems – wars in Iraq andAfghanistan.
STEVE INSKEEP: We satdown to talk with Gates aboutthose conflicts. He faces
decisions about pulling troopsout; five brigades are leavingIraq soon.
MONTAGNE: Or when tosend troops in. Just over 3,000more are now headed toAfghanistan. It’s a balancingact.
INSKEEP: And with thosetwo countries as his priorities,Gates seems less concernedabout the nation between themon the map.
Is Iran the greatest threatthat the United States is likelyto face in the final year of thisadministration?
DEFENSE SECRETARYROBERT GATES: Well, Ithink Iran is, certainly, one ofthe most significant challenges.We continue to be concernedabout their ongoing enrichmentprograms, their unwillingnessto suspend in the face of broadinternational pressure to do so.
So I think it will continueto be a challenge.
INSKEEP: Is there areason you described them as achallenge rather than a threat?
GATES: Well, when Ithink of a threat, I think of adirect military threat and whilethe jury is out in terms ofwhether they have eased up ontheir support to those opposingus in Iraq, I don’t see theIranians in the near term as adirect military threat to theUnited States.
INSKEEP: You havecommented on Iran’s role inAfghanistan, which is the nextcountry that I want to askabout. Do you expect thatNATO, which is currentlyinvolved in combat operationsin the southern part of thecountry, will have asignificantly different role inAfghanistan one year fromnow?
GATES: No. I think therole will be very similar and Ithink it’s one that combinesmilitary action with economicdevelopment and civic action.Our NATO allies are playing asignificant role; particularlyCanada and the UnitedKingdom and the Dutch, thiskind of role, even with theaddition of our Marines will
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remain essentially the same.INSKEEP: Although you
mentioned Canada, this is acountry where the governmentis under a lot of domesticpolitical pressure because ofthe casualties they havesuffered. Are you concernedthat if they remain in thatexposed position that youcould end up losing an ally, asopposed to perhaps puttingthem in a less exposed area ofthe country?
GATES: My hope is thatthe addition of the Marines willprovide the kind of help thatwill reduce the levels ofcasualties. Part of the problemthat NATO confronts is that anumber of governments arepresent in Afghanistan, butmany of them are in minorityor coalition governmentswhere support for the activityin Afghanistan is fragile, if notdifficult to come by and one ofthe reasons why I decided totone down the public criticismis that, frankly, I think they’redoing as much as they can.
INSKEEP: Should Iunderstand you to mean thatunder ideal circumstances, youwouldn’t have to be sendingextra U.S. troops toAfghanistan right now? ThatNATO might be putting anextra 3,000 troops in there?
GATES: Well, I think,certainly, in the near termthat’s the case. We clearly hadan unmet requirement from theNATO commander inAfghanistan. We are providing2,200 Marines and we willpartially satisfy the trainingrequirement with another 1,000Marines.
INSKEEP: Is there adanger that as you try to reducethe strain on the U.S. armedforces by pulling some troopsout of Iraq, if possible, over thecoming months, that that’sgoing to be cancelled out atleast partly by sending moretroops to Afghanistan?
GATES: Well, wecertainly don’t have any plansto send further troops toAfghanistan beyond whatwe’ve just announced.
INSKEEP: As you look at
your multiple roles of focusingon Afghanistan, focusing onIraq, focusing on the overallhealth of the armed forces, areyou in a situation where youmay need for the health of thearmed forces to bring outtroops from Iraq more rapidlythan General Petraeus mightlike?
GATES: Well, the wayI’ve structured this process isthe same way that we did it lastAugust and September.General Petraeus will make hisevaluations based solely on thesituation in Iraq. CentralCommand will independentlyanalyze the situation in Iraq,but also in the context of theregion. The Joint Chiefs ofStaff will do a thirdindependent evaluation, notonly taking into account Iraq,but also the region and alsoglobal pressures.
Now, it happened last fall;all were agreed in supportingGeneral Petraeus’recommendations on what todo. So we’ll go through thatprocess again in February andMarch and my hope is therewill be an agreement, if not,the President will be in aposition to hear independentlyfrom each of those groups andmake his own valuation anddecisions.
INSKEEP: But aren’t yougoing to hear from the militarypersonnel about the need toreduce the operational tempofor the armed forces overall,which is a demand to bringtroops out of Iraq, in effect,regardless of the situation?
GATES: Well, first of all,taking five brigade combatteams out of Iraq does relievethe pressure to some extent,and I think we are on a pathwhere there is some reasonablechance that by next fall, unitsthat are deploying will nolonger have to have a15-month deployment.
INSKEEP: Do you thinkthat by the time thisadministration leaves office inabout a year that the militarywill be in a sustainableposition?
GATES: Well, I think that
withdrawal of the five brigadecombat teams will be in asustainable position. I thinkthat as the drawdowns continuein Iraq, stress on the force willcontinue to be relieved.
INSKEEP: I’m trying toget the numbers in my head.You’d go down to maybe 135(thousand), 140,000 troops inIraq? That’s a sustainablenumber?
GATES: You can debateand people do debate in thisbuilding what that number isand I’m not going to get intothose numbers. The goal hereis to be in a position to havesome modest sized forceconsiderably smaller than theone we have now for someyears to come.
INSKEEP: Well, giventhat, do you assume just forplanning purposes that theadministration that follows youwill pursue roughly the samepolicy in Iraq?
GATES: Well, first, Iwould say I don’t do politicsand I certainly will not be hereafter January 20th, 2009, but Iwas heartened in the debateamong the Democraticcandidates a few weeks agothat when asked if they wouldcommit to having all U.S.troops out of Iraq by the end oftheir first term, the leadingcandidates all declined to makethat commitment and my goalis to try and put the situation inIraq in the best possible placefor the next President so thatwe can have a sustained policyin Iraq.
My whole experience isshaped by the Cold War wherewe followed a basic strategythat had bipartisan supportthrough multiple presidencies.Iraq is a long-term problem.
INSKEEP: Does yourexperience in the Cold Waralso inform some of yourrecent remarks about so-calledsoft power – I’ll summarize,encouraged the United Statesto spend more money andeffort on non-military means ofinfluence abroad, diplomacy,improving the U.S. image andso forth?
GATES: Absolutely. I
mean when the Cold War wasat its height, the U.S. Agencyfor International Developmenthad something like 16,000employees. It has 3,000 now.One of the points that I make ifyou took all foreign serviceofficers in the world, about6,600, it would not besufficient to man one carrierstrike group and right now,frankly, I think, that thediplomacy, internationaleconomic assistance and so onhave been significantlyweakened.
INSKEEP: Isn’t therethough a basic budget choicethat someone is going to haveto make, though? Either youget six more fighter planes, forexample, or you get a fewthousand extra Foreign Serviceofficers?
GATES: Well, the realityis that the cost of increasingyour capabilities on thediplomatic, economic side isreally pretty modest. The entireState Department budget is $36billion. We spend that in thePentagon on healthcare.
INSKEEP: Would you sayit would be worth it to slowdown the growth of theDefense Department budget toallow for greater diplomacyand other efforts?
GATES: Well, I don’tthink you’ll ever find aSecretary of Defense who willsay it’s a good idea to cut theDefense Department budget.
INSKEEP: SecretaryGates, thanks very much.
GATES: My pleasure.INSKEEP: He spoke with
us at the Pentagon yesterdayand after Secretary RobertGates stood up, he said he wasgoing to Capitol Hill. The nextPentagon budget goes toCongress early next month.
Seattle TimesJanuary 18, 200816. U.S. Helps InRebirth Of Afghan AirForceBy Jason Straziuso, AssociatedPress
KABUL, Afghanistan —
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Calling it the "birth of our airforce," Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai opened a new$22 million U.S.-fundedmilitary hangar Thursday tohouse a fleet that is expected totriple in the next three years.
Standing in the cavernoushangar opposite Kabul'sinternational airport, Karzaithanked the U.S. for helping tobuy six refurbished Mi-17transport helicopters and sixrefurbished Mi-35 helicoptergunships from the CzechRepublic, as well as fourAn-32 transport planes fromUkraine.
The newly acquiredaircraft will help transportAfghan troops — who aretaking on an increasing role inthe battle against the Taliban— on missions across thecountry.
The new aircraft andupgraded flight facilities arepart of a $183 millionU.S.-funded program to bolsterthe Afghan air force.
Afghanistan once had astrong air force that includedhundreds of helicopters andSoviet-built MiG-21 and Su-22warplanes, but that fleet wasdevastated by two decades ofwar.
"Today is again the birthof our air force," Karzai told acrowd of U.S. and Afghanmilitary personnel. "We shouldstrengthen this air forcebecause it's very necessary forthe Afghan government to haveit."
Air Force Brig. Gen. JayLindell, the U.S. commander incharge of helping train andequip the Afghan air force, saidthat before six of the Czechhelicopters were delivered inDecember, the Afghan air forcehad only four workinghelicopters.
Some of the new aircraft,acquired at a total cost of $90million, were delivered lastmonth. The rest are to arrive byApril. Ten Mi-17s donated bythe United Arab Emirates alsoare to be delivered in thespring.
Today, the Afghan forcehas 22 helicopters and planes,
and the goal is to have 61aircraft by 2011. The mostimportant missions for theaircraft are to transport andhelp supply Afghan armytroops, Lindell said.
Karzai said theinternational community hasagreed to supply the countrywith fighter jets such as F-16s,although Lindell previouslysaid plans drawn through 2011don't call for any military jetsfor Afghanistan.
Washington TimesJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 1117. Analyst Backs Gates'NATO CriticismSays performance of troopssymptom of Continent’sdefenseBy Leander Schaerlaeckens,Washington Times
BRUSSELS — Supportfor Defense Secretary RobertM. Gates' criticism of otherNATO members' performancein Afghanistan appeared froman unexpected source yesterday— a European defensespecialist who is closely linkedto senior NATO officials.
"Mr. Gates is absolutelyright," said Giles Merritt,director of the Security andDefense Agenda, an influentialmilitary think tank in Brusselswhich counts NATOSecretary-General Jaap deHoop Scheffer among itspatrons.
"It's quite clear that theEuropeans as a whole have notlived up to their commitments[in Afghanistan]," Mr. Merrittsaid in an interview.
"There seems to bewidespread agreement thatNATO just isn't getting itright," Mr. Merritt added. "TheNATO performance inAfghanistan is rathersymptomatic of the Europeandisarray in defense in general.
"There's no question thatEuropean allies, with theexception of the British and tosome degree the French, havesat on their hands and haven'tbeen keeping up their defenseeffort, and this has reflected on
the situation in Afghanistan."Mr. Merritt referred to Mr.
Gates' comments this week tothe Los Angeles Times, whichquoted him saying: "I'mworried we have some militaryforces [in Afghanistan] thatdon't know how to docounterinsurgency operations.
"Most of the Europeanforces, NATO forces, are nottrained in counterinsurgency ...this is not something they haveany experience with," Mr.Gates added. The articlequoted several senior U.S.officers saying the tasks carriedout by other nations were of aninadequate standard.
Mr. Gates sought to soothethe allies' hurt feelingsyesterday, saying at a Pentagonpress conference that alliedforces "have stepped up to theplate and are playing asignificant and powerful role inAfghanistan."
"They are taking the fightto the enemy in some of themost grueling conditionsimaginable," he added. "As aresult of the valor and sacrificeof these allies, the Taliban hassuffered significant losses."
But Mr. Merritt suggestedthe secretary's original remarksmay have been a deliberateattempt to provoke the alliesinto thinking more aboutAfghanistan.
"I think it's rare that toppoliticians just let things slipout by accident," he said. "It's acommon gambit by politiciansto carefully plan something andthen say they were misquoted,but meanwhile the message hasgotten out loud and clear."
The United States hasprivately expressed itsfrustration at the lack ofsupport from NATO'sEuropean members on severaloccasions. Unable to securenew troop commitments fromEurope, the Bushadministration this weekannounced that 3,200 U.S.Marines would temporarily beadded to the 27,000-strongAmerican contingent inAfghanistan.
"The defense secretarymust have grown tired of [the
lack of support] and wonderedif he'd get more support if hesaid it in public. It may be acatalyst," Mr. Merritt said.
Mr. Merritt also agreedwith Mr. Gates that Europeantroops are poorly trained forcounterinsurgency duties — acomment the secretary repeatedyesterday.
"Nobody is [trained forthat] really," Mr. Merritt said."The American troops havehad a crash course in Iraq andAfghanistan oncounterinsurgency.
"To say that the Britishhave no experience incounterinsurgency is plainlywrong. All the NATO armedforces, probably includingAmerica, have a lot yet to learnabout the counterinsurgencyoperation."
Toronto Globe and MailJanuary 18, 200818. Marines Will BolsterCanadians In KandaharReinforcements for thinlystretched troops in the regionshould help reduce casualties,U.S. Defence Secretary saysBy Paul Koring
WASHINGTON —Hard-pressed Canadian troopsin Kandahar will get help - andfewer may get killed - as morethan 2,000 battle-hardenedU.S. Marines withcounterinsurgency training andexperience start arriving nextmonth in southern Afghanistan.
"My hope is that theaddition of the marines willprovide the kind of help thatwill reduce the levels ofcasualties," U.S. DefenceSecretary Robert Gates saidyesterday when asked aboutthe disproportionate number ofCanadians killed battling theTaliban.
Mr. Gates, still dealingwith the brouhaha caused bypublished reports thatsuggested he had faulted theability of Canadian, Dutch andBritish troops forcounterinsurgency warfare,said he never intended hisgeneral criticism of NATOtraining to apply to Canada's
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troops in southern Afghanistan."I have no problems with
the Canadians," he said at aPentagon news conferenceyesterday.
"Our allies, including theCanadians, the British, theDutch, the Australians andothers, are suffering losses asthey demonstrate valour andskill in combat."
In Canada, the nation isdeeply divided over whether toextend the fighting mission inAfghanistan beyond its currentmandate of February, 2009.
The arrival of the marines,expected to reinforce NATOforces in southern Afghanistanfor this year's so-calledsummer fighting season, willadd a massive punch to thethinly stretched Canadian andDutch forces in Kandahar andneighbouring Uruzganprovince.
Although Canada hasabout 2,500 soldiers deployedto southern Afghanistan, onlyabout 500 are "outside thewire" directly involved incounterinsurgency operationsat any time.
A much bigger percentageof the 2,200 marines will beavailable for combat becausethe U.S. military already has ahuge logistics, support andadministrative structure inAfghanistan.
The marines will report toCanadian Major-General MarcLessard, who takes overcommand of NATO's southernregional command next monthas part of a rotation includingthe British and Dutch.
The 24th MarineExpeditionary Unit willprovide "a manoeuvres force soit has the flexibility to movewherever in RegionalCommand South that theCanadians deem is necessary togo after the enemy. I mean, thisis a fighting force that willgreatly enhance the capabilitiesof the Canadians and our allieswho are down there taking it tothe enemy," Pentagonspokesman Geoff Morrell saidearlier this week.
"There is a fighting seasonin Afghanistan. And so we're
getting those marines there atthe beginning of that fightingseason," General JamesCartwright, vice-chairman ofthe Joint Chiefs of Staff, saidyesterday.
"We learned last year thatif you're there and ready to goin the spring, it makes a bigdifference."
But the one-time,seven-month deployment ofthe marines will mean that atleast three battalions will berequired to replace them andMr. Gates served noticeyesterday that NATO allies areneeded to fill the gap.
He said he wanted "themto be thinking seriously aboutwho can backfill against themarines when the marinesleave early next winter, so thatthat capability won't be lost."
Mr. Gates also orderedanother 1,000 U.S. Marines toAfghanistan to act as trainersand mentors to the Afghanarmy, which despite showingsignificant improvement, lacksthe equipment, firepower,training and numbers to takeon the Taliban insurgency insouthern and easternAfghanistan.
The 3,200 U.S. Marineswill partly fill a 7,000-soldiershortfall in Afghanistan thatNATO nations have refused toaddress for more than a year.
About 45,000 foreigntroops are currently deployedin Afghanistan. Abouttwo-thirds are American.
Most of the rest, includingsizable contingents fromGermany, France, Italy andSpain, are stationed far fromthe insurgency in the south andforbidden by their governmentsto deploy close to the fighting.
For months, Mr. Gates hasbeen pushing some of theEuropean allies to share moreof the combat burden.
But in a radio interviewyesterday he acknowledgedthat "many of them are inminority or coalitiongovernments where support forthe activity in Afghanistan isfragile, if not difficult to comeby.
"And one of the reasons
why I decided to tone down thepublic criticism is that, frankly,I think they're doing as muchas they can."
USA TodayJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 719. Army Task ForceFinds Gaps InBrain-Injury CareBut improvements made toidentify, treat victims of wars'signature woundBy Gregg Zoroya, USA Today
An Army task force foundmajor gaps in the care oftraumatic brain injury last year,but officials say they aremoving rapidly to correct theproblems.
A task force study--completed last May but notmade public until Thursday--found fault with several issues,including efforts to identifyand treat soldiers sufferingmild traumatic brain injuryoften resulting from exposureto roadside bomb blasts.
Although victims oftenshow no outward sign of theinjury, it can affect brainfunctions dealing withshort-term memory, problemsolving and sleep, and causenausea, dizziness andheadaches. Treatment ofteninvolves pulling a soldier outof combat temporarily orpermanently, and treating thesymptoms.
Screening efforts show10% to 20% of Marines andsoldiers returning fromAfghanistan and Iraq may havesuffered this wound, accordingto the Army. The task forcelast May found that "majorgaps" in identifying andtreating the injury "werecreated by a lack ofcoordination and policy-drivenapproaches."
This was despite the factthat researchers at the Defenseand Veterans Brain InjuryCenter-- the Pentagon'spremier clinical research officefor brain injury-- haddeveloped ways of identifyingthe wound in 2004, the studysaid.
USA TODAY reported inNovember that at least 20,000U.S. servicemembers returningfrom combat have beendiagnosed with, or shown signsof, brain injury.
"There is clearly aproblem when the mostcommon injury of the war isthe least understood," said Sen.Patty Murray, D-Wash. "Thistask force is a long-overduestep forward in diagnosing andunderstanding the signaturewound of this war."
In a news conferenceThursday, the task force'schairman, Brig. Gen. DonaldBradshaw, lauded the Army'sefforts to improve care inrecent months. Not only aresoldiers screened for braininjury immediately afterexposure to blasts, they arescreened again as they comehome, Bradshaw said.Computer-based cognitivetesting that provides a betterunderstanding of the braindamage have been introducedinto the war zone and atmilitary installations. Standardguidelines for treating braininjury were completed inOctober.
"Since the release of thereport (in May) we've beenworking arduously to put theserecommendations into action,"said Col. Judith Ruiz, a taskforce member and programmanager for traumatic braininjury.
The task force applaudedthe brain-injury program atFort Carson, Colo., where 17%of returning soldiers haveshown signs of the injury. As aresult, the Army is replicatingFort Carson's program at otherinstallations.
The task force said mostsoldiers suffering mild braininjury recover completely.Army Col. Robert Labutta, aneurologist and member of thetask force, added that researchis underway to determinelong-term effects.
Out of 48 task forcerecommendations in May toimprove the diagnosis,treatment and research intobrain injury, nine have been
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implemented, and 31 are beingaddressed.
"This is a very complexprocess and so the fact thatwe've made headway on all ofthese recommendations isreally very, I think, laudatory,"Bradshaw said. Mostimportant, he said, the Armyhas moved aggressively toeducate soldiers, commandersand medics in the field aboutmild traumatic brain injury,how to identify it and takesteps to have it treated.
Task forcerecommendations still to beaddressed include:
*Better ways of trackingthe incidents of brain injury,and identifying former soldierswho may have suffered a braininjury, but left the service. Anestimated 1.5 millionservicemembers have served inthe current conflicts in Iraq andAfghanistan.
*Broader baseline testingof a soldier's brain functionsbefore he or she goes intocombat so deficits can later begauged accurately. Thisspecialized computer-basedtesting has already been givento 40,000 servicemembers.
*Standardizing the careand treatment of brain-injuredsoldiers at all Army medicalhospitals.
Los Angeles TimesJanuary 18, 200820. Inquiry Yields LittleClarity In MarinesShootingThe March incident inAfghanistan left at least 19people dead. Marines havesaid they believed their convoywas under fire, but testimonyhas been inconsistent, aninvestigator complains.By David Zucchino, LosAngeles Times Staff Writer
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C.— An investigator expressedfrustration Thursday at what hesaid were incomplete andsometimes inconsistentaccounts by Marines involvedin a March shooting inAfghanistan that left up to 19Afghans dead.
"We were trying to putpieces together and some ofthem just don't fit," DavidKurre, a Naval CriminalInvestigative Service agent,said on the eighth day oftestimony in a court of inquiryreviewing the incident.
The 30-man convoy fromMarine Special OperationsCompany F has been accusedby an Afghan human rightsgroup of firing indiscriminatelyat civilians after being attackedby a car bomb March 4. AnArmy colonel apologized forthe killings, paying $2,000 tothe family of each of thealleged victims.
Kurre interviewedmembers of the convoy inKuwait after their unit wasordered out of Afghanistan.Asked in court Thursdaywhether their accounts weregenerally consistent, Kurrereplied firmly: "No."
He said that Marines gavediffering accounts of wherethey believed the gunfire hadoriginated and where on thehighway in easternAfghanistan they had heardshots.
"We're not sure ofanything," Kurre said at onepoint, referring to the NCISteam investigating the incident.
A government lawyer,Maj. Phillip Sanchez, said:"We're dealing with the fog ofwar. We're going to have manystatements that are different."
Several Marines havetestified that they believed theywere attacked by small-armsfire as part of a "complexambush" moments after the carbomb exploded. The Marines,who said they heard shots andsaw tree branches hit bybullets, testified that they didnot see any gunmen.
Kurre said a Marinegunner in the fourth of sixvehicles told agents that he hadseen "an armed individual"shooting at the convoy. Thegunner returned fire, Kurresaid.
Those in the convoy havetestified that gunners followedmilitary rules of engagementduring the incident, firing
warning shots and shootinginto vehicles' engine blocks.They described the militarygunfire as controlled -- with farfewer rounds fired over a muchshorter distance than alleged bythe human rights group.
Only one Marine, acounter-intelligence specialist,has been critical in court of theconvoy's armed response,calling it "excessive."
Some Marines havetestified that they did not havea clear view of events. Thegunners who fired had the bestview of the highway becausethey were posted atop theHumvees, but their lawyershave told them not to testifywithout immunity fromprosecution. The active-dutyMarines who have testifiedwere granted immunity.
The inquiry is afact-finding body, not a courtof law. Its panel of threeMarine officers, all withcombat experience, is probingthe conduct of the convoy andtwo of the unit's top officers.
No one has been chargedin the case. Maj. Fred C.Galvin, the companycommander, and Capt. VincentJ. Noble, the convoy platooncommander -- both of whomwere on the convoy -- are"designated parties"represented by defenselawyers.
The panel will report itsfindings to the commander ofthe Marine Corps ForcesCentral Command, who willdecide on any further action.
One panel member, Col.Barton Sloat, seemed toacknowledge the murky andincomplete nature of thetestimony after Kurre said lateWednesday that agents wereunsure of many aspects of theincident.
"That's the most accuratestatement I've heard in thecourt so far," the colonel said.
Los Angeles TimesJanuary 18, 200821. Judge Sets AsideSome Restrictions On
SonarThe jurist grants twoconcessions to President Bushon naval exercises off theSouthland.By Kenneth R. Weiss, LosAngeles Times Staff Writer
A federal judge in LosAngeles on Thursdaytemporarily set aside some ofthe tough restrictions onupcoming naval exercises offSouthern California thatemploy a type of sonar linkedto the injury and death ofwhales and dolphins.
The decision by JudgeFlorence-Marie Cooper defersto President Bush, who movedearlier this week to exempt theNavy's exercises fromenvironmental laws thatformed the basis for along-running court casebetween the Pentagon andenvironmentalists.
But Cooper granted onlytwo concessions to Bush andthe Navy, signaling that shewill consider arguments nextweek from conservation groupsthat are urging her to hold herground on more stringentsafeguards.
"We are pleased," saidCmdr. Jeff Davis, a Navyspokesman.
"This ruling means that theUSS Abraham Lincoln carrierstrike group will be able tostart the exercise next weekwithout two restrictions thatthreatened the realism of ourtraining."
The Navy says it musttrain personnel to detect quietdiesel-powered submarines thatare deployed in worldwide hotspots such as the Persian Gulf.
Although lawyers for theNavy have vigorouslyprotested nearly all of Cooper'ssafeguards, they asked her totemporarily set aside the twothey considered the mostintrusive: requirements to shutdown sonar if a marinemammal ventures within 2,200yards of a sonar device, and toreduce sonar power undercertain sea conditions thatallow powerful sonar blasts totravel farther than normal.
After months of inquiry, a
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visit to Navy ships and analysisof scientific literature, Cooperruled Jan. 3 that these andother measures were needed tosafeguard whales from thepotentially debilitating effectof the powerful sound waves.
Under her order issuedThursday, the Navy will haveto comply with othersafeguards, such as stayingaway from the waters betweenSanta Catalina and SanClemente islands as well asthose within 12 nautical milesof the coast.
These are areas known fortheir abundance of marinemammals.
To comply with the order,the Navy will also have to stepup its surveillance for whalesbefore and during exercises,deploying specially trainedspotters aboard ships andaircraft.
It will have to reducepower when marine mammalsare spotted within about 1,000yards and shut down if themammals come within about200 yards.
Meanwhile, conservationgroups began working on legalarguments they hope willconvince the judge that Bushhas not followed the law inwaiving environmental law onthe grounds of national securityand an urgent need to trainsailors.
"We remain optimistic thatwe will prevail in opposing thewaivers," said Joel Reynolds, asenior attorney with theNatural Resources DefenseCouncil. "It's an abuse of theterm 'emergency' and flatlyinconsistent with the NationalEnvironmental Policy Act."
Washington PostJanuary 18, 2008Pg. B122. Naval Academy RiteMight Slip AwaySafety of Lard-SlickedHerndon Climb Is EvaluatedBy Nelson Hernandez,Washington Post Staff Writer
The Herndon Climb hasoccupied a hallowed place inNaval Academy tradition for
decades. For members of theplebe class, the climbrepresents what a formermidshipman called "our finalexam of all finals." The startergun fires, and the plebes,working together, race toreplace a blue-rimmed sailor'scap, known as a "dixie cup,"with a midshipman's cap.
The scene is unforgettableto those who watch, as thesweating, grunting, red-facedmidshipmen at the bottom,their arms linked, support ahuman pyramid surging to thetop of the monument. Thepyramid often collapses, butthe plebes invariably make it tothe top whether it takes themminutes or hours.
But at the ever-changingacademy, the climb may begoing the way of the sailingship and the smoothborecannon.
"Similar to how our Navylooks at all traditions in theFleet, we are evaluating theHerndon Monument Climb toensure the event remains avalid part of our heritage but itis conducted withprofessionalism, respect, andmost important, safety inmind," the academy's publicaffairs office said in astatement.
It is unclear what changesmight be imposed. This year'sclimb is scheduled for 9 a.m.May 15.
Deborah Goode, aspokeswoman for the academy,said that she could not recallany serious injuries resultingfrom the Herndon Climb andthat the reevaluation was partof a broader reconsideration ofthe end-of-year events forplebes.
Alumni scoffed at the riskof someone's getting hurt,especially given the school'smission to prepare officers forcombat.
"It's not dangerous. That'sa lame excuse," said DwightCrevelt, who made it to the topof the monument in 1976.Crevelt never graduated fromthe academy, because hiseyesight went bad after twoyears at the school. But his
memory of scaling the mud-and lard-spattered obelisk --and the week of glory thatfollowed as he was feted likean admiral -- remains strong.
"It's the wrong move tomake," Crevelt said. "You'retrying to build team spirit,camaraderie, and that's theultimate in team effort... theteam going after that."
Herbert McMillan, a 1980graduate who became anairline pilot and Annapolispolitician, also opposes achange.
"We're going to send theseguys to war but they can'tclimb a monument becausethey might get hurt? Come on,"he said. "It just seems like asolution in search of aproblem."
Los Angeles TimesJanuary 18, 200823. Nimitz CarrierGroup To Deploy
SAN DIEGO--More than7,000 sailors and Marines willdeploy next week when theNimitz Carrier Strike Groupleaves San Diego for theWestern Pacific.
The commander of theNavy's Third Fleet says theNimitz will leave San Diego onJan. 24 to take over in thePacific for the carrier KittyHawk while it undergoesscheduled maintenance inYokosuka, Japan.
Among the shipsdeploying with thenuclear-powered aircraftcarrier are the guided- missilecruiser Princeton and thedestroyers John Paul Jones,Higgins and Chafee.
The Nimitz carrier groupreturned in September from asix-month deployment in thePersian Gulf.
--Associated Press
USA TodayJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 524. EntrepreneurDefends His Veterans'Charities
A San Diego entrepreneuraccused of mismanagingcharities he started for veteransand enriching himself rebuttedcongressional critics Thursday,insisting his group "does rightby its donors and hospitalizedvets."
Roger Chapin, 75,president of Help HospitalizedVeterans and other groups,testified before the HouseGovernment Reform andOversight Committee. Whencommittee Chairman HenryWaxman, D-Calif., accusedhim of misleading donors,Chapin responded, "Absolutelynot!"
Thursday's hearingfocused on Chapin and hisenterprises. An earlier hearingfound pervasive problems withveterans' charities. Waxmansaid committee researchshowed that Chapin's charitiesraised more than $168 millionfrom 2004 to 2006 but only25% of that was spent onveterans. During those years,Chapin and his wife receivedmore than $1.5 million incompensation and hundreds ofthousands of dollars more inreimbursements, the committeesaid.
Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionJanuary 18, 200825. Vets Care Gets $3.7Billion
President Bush onThursday released $3.7 billionin emergency money thatCongress requested to care forveterans, including thosereturning from Iraq andAfghanistan. Bush released theemergency funds even thoughhe said he thought the moneyshould have been considered aspart of the normalappropriations process. Theemergency money was tuckedin a $550 billion governmentspending measure thatCongress passed last monthbefore leaving for the holidays.
Washington TimesJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 13
page 19
26. Nuke-CapableMissile Tested
JERUSALEM — Israeltested a missile yesterday,prompting speculation about itsability to launch nuclear strikeson Iran after Israeli warningsand accusations about Tehran'satomic ambitions.
Photographs posted onIsraeli news Web sites showeda white plume in the sky abovecentral Israel — suggesting atest of a large missile.
Israel Radio said themissile was capable of carryingan "unconventional payload"— an apparent reference to thenuclear warheads that Israel isassumed to possess.
Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)January 18, 2008Analysis27. Cat-And-MouseGames By IraniansAren't Child's PlayBy Sally Buzbee, AssociatedPress
CAIRO, Egypt — Justhow close might a militaryconfrontation between Iran andthe United States be?
Though a war of wordseased a bit recently, PresidentBush's strong Iran warningsduring his just-completedMideast trip, coupled with avessel standoff, are raisingfears that a small incidentcould someday spiral — evenby accident — into a real fight.
Iran's hard-line PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejadaccused Bush Thursday ofsending "a message ofconfrontation" during his tripto the region. It was a sharpresponse to Bush's toughrhetoric that Iran remains aserious threat.
Tensions slackenedsomewhat late last year when aU.S. intelligence reportconcluded Iran had halted anuclear-weapons program fouryears ago. But Bush went outof his way while visitingPersian Gulf countries toreiterate that "all options"against Iran remain on thetable.
Pointedly, he also warnedof "serious consequences" ifIran attacked a U.S. ship in thePersian Gulf, even if it had notbeen ordered by the Tehrangovernment but was the resultof a rash decision by an Iranianboat captain.
At the same time, Bushsaid he has told leaders ofSunni Arab states — who wantthe United States to keep ShiiteIran's ambitions in check butare nervous about the impact ofany military confrontation —that he wants a diplomaticsolution.
In part, Bush seemed to betrying to assure both Araballies and Israel that the UnitedStates remains intent onpressuring Iran. He also seeksreluctant European support foranother round of Iransanctions.
But the scenario Bushoutlined — a rash decision onthe water, spilling over intoreal fighting — is just the thingthat many U.S. militaryofficers, and much of thePersian Gulf Arab world, aresweating over.
Adm. William J. Fallon,the top U.S. militarycommander in the Mideast,told The Associated Press lastweek that Iran runs the risk oftriggering an unintendedconflict if its boats continue toharass U.S. warships in thestrategic Persian Gulf.
"This kind of behavior, ifit happens in the future, is thekind of event that couldprecipitate a mistake," Fallonsaid. "If the boats come closer,at what point does the captainthink it is a direct threat to theship and has to do something tostop it?"
Key details of the Jan. 6incident — when five smallIranian boats swarmed threeU.S. warships in the narrowStrait of Hormuz — remainunclear, including the source ofan accented voice heardwarning in English: "I amcoming to you ... . You willexplode after ... minutes."
Iran called the tapesfabricated.
Notably, the U.S.
commanders did not fire anywarning shots and the Iranianseventually retreated. But in amid-December incident,publicized by the Navy for thefirst time last week, a U.S. shipdid fire a warning shot at asmall Iranian boat that cametoo close, causing the Iraniansto pull back.
The worry: That in aheated political climate, suchcat-and-mouse maneuverscould spiral into a more-seriousexchange of fire, difficult foreither side to pull back from.
Of course, Bush couldsucceed in getting Iran to beless aggressive with his strongwords.
But a major Persian Gulfpaper, the Dubai-publishedKhaleej Times, fretted publiclyabout the potential for an "uglyflare-up," comparing theconfrontation to last year'sIranian seizure of Britishsailors.
Iran eventually freed theBritish sailors, but then — asnow — its motivations weredeeply obscure.
Ahmadinejad is strugglingto retain domestic politicalsupport, in dire need of a boostto keep any real politicalinfluence during his last yearand a half in office beforeseeking re-election.
Standoffs with the UnitedStates often give him just sucha boost, as the country drawstogether despite the bitterdifferences dividing itshard-line and pragmaticfactions.
San Diego Union-TribuneJanuary 18, 200828. AhmadinejadDecries Bush's IranSpeeches
CAIRO, Egypt – IranianPresident MahmoudAhmadinejad said yesterdaythat President Bush sent a“message of confrontation”during his recent Mideast trip.
Bush spent much of hisvisit to the region, which hewrapped up on Wednesday,rallying support among Arab
allies for a strong stanceagainst Iran – calling thecountry the world's top sponsorof terrorism.
“President George Bushsent a message to the Iranianpeople and all the nationsworldwide,” Ahmadinejad saidduring an interview in Farsiwith Al-Jazeera television.“This message reflects his ownconceptions and it is a messageof rift, a message of sowing theseeds of division. It is amessage of confrontationdemeaning the dignity ofmankind.”
The Iranian president saidBush's statements were madefor domestic political reasons.
--Associated Press
Washington PostJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 1629. Bush Envoy To N.Korea CriticizesSix-Party TalksBy Foster Klug, AssociatedPress
A U.S. official, in a rarepublic departure from Bushadministration policy,yesterday criticized the nucleartalks with North Korea,contending that Pyongyang isnot serious about disarming.
Jay Lefkowitz, PresidentBush's envoy on North Koreanhuman rights, said the Northwill likely "remain in itspresent nuclear status" whenthe next U.S. president takesover, despite four years ofnuclear disarmament efforts.
"North Korea is notserious about disarming in atimely manner," Lefkowitz toldan audience at the conservativeAmerican Enterprise Institute,referring to that country'srecent missed deadlines and asurge in what he called"bellicose language."
"We should consider anew approach to North Korea,"he said.
Lefkowitz suggested thatnegotiators link human rightsand security concerns,something not achieved underthe six-nation talks aimed at
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reaching an agreement underwhich North Korea dismantlesits nuclear program. TheNorth's treatment of its people,he said, is "inhumane and,therefore, deeply offensive tous."
"The key," Lefkowitz saidof his proposal, "is to make thelink between human rights andother issues explicit andnon-severable, so that it cannotbe discarded in any future rushto get to 'yes' in an agreement."
Lefkowitz's comments areat odds with recent statementsby other Bush administrationofficials. But White Housespokeswoman Dana Perino,when asked to comment, saidthe administration believes thatsix-party talks remain the bestopportunity to reach the goal ofa denuclearized KoreanPeninsula.
Early in theadministration, U.S. officialstook a hard line on NorthKorea. But recently they havebeen cautious not to criticizePyongyang for fear ofunraveling the delicate nuclearnegotiations.
When the North missed anend-of-2007 deadline todeclare all of its nuclearprograms, the comments by thechief U.S. envoy to the nucleartalks were measured. AssistantSecretary of State ChristopherR. Hill pushed the North toquickly produce a "completeand correct" declaration. Buthe also indicated that theUnited States is prepared towait.
Lefkowitz, when asked ifhe was speaking on behalf ofthe Bush administration, saidU.S. policies "are under reviewright now."
Houston ChronicleJanuary 18, 200830. U.S., Iran LobbyChinese Over ProposedNuclear SanctionsBy Christopher Bodeen,Associated Press
BEIJING — U.S. andIranian envoys lobbied Chinaon Thursday over proposed
new sanctions on Tehran'snuclear program, underscoringBeijing's key role indetermining U.N. involvementin the dispute.
Visiting U.S. DeputySecretary of State JohnNegroponte urged China toback proposed new U.N.measures aimed at convincingIran to reveal more about itsnuclear program, insisting thatits alleged uranium enrichmentand missile developmentprograms remain a threat.
China has repeatedlyopposed new measures.Underscoring the difficulty ofhis mission, Negroponte'scomments in Beijing coincidedwith a visit by Iran's seniornuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili.
The hard-line Jalili, whoreplaced moderate Ali Larijaniin October, met with ForeignMinister Yang Jiechi to discussbilateral ties and the nuclearissue, a Chinese ForeignMinistry spokeswoman said.
The diplomatic tug of warillustrates the importance ofChina, one of fiveveto-wielding members of theU.N. Security Council, inresolving the dispute.
State media said that Jiechiurged renewed talks on Iran'snuclear program.
"The Iranian nuclear issueis now at a crucial moment,"Yang was quoted by theXinhua News Agency astelling Jalili late Thursday."China hopes all concernedparties, including Iran, makejoint efforts to resumenegotiations as soon aspossible in a bid to promote thecomprehensive and propersettlement of this issue."
Xinhua said Jalili toldYang that Iran's nuclearprogram was "completely of apeaceful nature." Iran rejectsU.S. claims that it is seekingnuclear weapons.
Jalili said Iran wantedtalks and was willing to boostcooperation with theInternational Atomic EnergyAgency, Xinhua said.
Energy-hungry China,which has extensive businessinterests in Iran, supported
earlier U.N. resolutions againstTehran, but has sided withRussia in opposing a newsanctions resolution beingsought by Washington and itsallies, instead calling for moreintensive negotiations.
That opposition hashardened since the Decemberrelease of a U.S. NationalIntelligence Estimate that saidIran stopped working on asecret nuclear weaponsprogram in 2003, contradictingWashington's previous viewthat Tehran was continuingsuch activities.
However, Negroponte saidthe report showed only thatIran has suspended work onwarhead design but it waspressing ahead on uraniumenrichment and missiledevelopment.
"Work continues by Iranon two out of those three partsof that program," Negropontetold reporters in Beijing beforedeparting for the southern cityof Guiyang, which is hosting asemiannual U.S.-China SeniorDialogue.
"We think it's importantthat there be an additionalSecurity Council resolutionbecause Iran is out ofcompliance on previouslypassed resolutions,"Negroponte said.
He said he planned to raisethe Iran issue at the talks withChinese Deputy ForeignMinister Dai Bingguo, alongwith matters concerningTaiwan, Sudan, human rightsand efforts to dismantle NorthKorea's nuclear program.
China's Yang is to meetwith Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice and foreignministers from the three otherpermanent Security Councilmembers and Germany overthe Iran nuclear issue in Berlinon Tuesday.
Chinese Foreign Ministryspokeswoman Jiang Yuindicated Thursday there wereno changes to China'sopposition to new sanctions.Beijing hopes the internationalcommunity will "intensifydiplomatic efforts for an earlyresumption of negotiations,"
she said at a regular newsbriefing.
China and the U.S. areincreasingly linked throughtrade and internationalcooperation, although thepotential for instability in tieswas underscored by Beijing'sbarring of U.S. Navy shipsfrom Hong Kong late last year.
In Hong Kong, the head ofthe U.S. Pacific Command saidThursday he does not expectChina to refuse future requestsfor American naval ships tovisit there.
Adm. Timothy Keatingsaid he had spoken withChinese military andgovernment officials abouttheir refusal to allow the USSKitty Hawk battle group and8,000 sailors to dock in HongKong for a Thanksgivingbreak, and that they hadindicated future visits werepossible.
China said the ships wereturned away because the U.S.military did not follow correctprocedures in requesting theport visits. But some analystssuggested China was reactingto a congressional decision togrant an award to Tibet'sspiritual leader, the DalaiLama.
Beijing accuses the DalaiLama of trying to split Tibetfrom China.
Washington PostJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 131. CIA Places BlameFor BhuttoAssassinationHayden Cites Al-Qaeda,Pakistani FightersBy Joby Warrick, WashingtonPost Staff Writer
Offering the mostdefinitive public assessment bya U.S. intelligence official,Hayden said Bhutto was killedby fighters allied with Mehsud,a tribal leader in northwesternPakistan, with support fromal-Qaeda's terrorist network.That view mirrors the Pakistanigovernment's assertions.
The same alliance between
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local and internationalterrorists poses a grave risk tothe government of PresidentPervez Musharraf, a close U.S.ally in the fight againstterrorism, Hayden said in45-minute interview with TheWashington Post. "What yousee is, I think, a change in thecharacter of what's going onthere," he said. "You've got thisnexus now that probably wasalways there in latency but isnow active: a nexus betweenal-Qaeda and various extremistand separatist groups."
Hayden added, "It is clearthat their intention is tocontinue to try to do harm tothe Pakistani state as itcurrently exists."
Days after Bhutto's Dec.27 assassination in the city ofRawalpindi, Pakistani officialsreleased interceptedcommunications betweenMehsud and his supporters inwhich the tribal leader praisedthe killing and, according tothe officials, appeared to takecredit for it. Pakistani and U.S.officials have declined tocomment on the origin of thatintercept, but theadministration has until nowbeen cautious about publiclyembracing the Pakistaniassessment.
Many Pakistanis havevoiced suspicions thatMusharraf's government playeda role in Bhutto's assassination,and Bhutto's family has allegeda wide conspiracy involvinggovernment officials. Haydendeclined to discuss theintelligence behind the CIA'sassessment, which is at oddswith that view and supportsMusharraf's assertions.
"This was done by thatnetwork around BaitullahMehsud. We have no reason toquestion that," Hayden said. Hedescribed the killing as "part ofan organized campaign" thathas included suicide bombingsand other attacks on Pakistanileaders.
Some administrationofficials outside the agencywho deal with Pakistani issueswere less conclusive, with onecalling the assertion "a very
good assumption."One of the officials said
there was no "incontrovertible"evidence to prove or rebut theassessment.
Hayden made hisstatement shortly before aseries of attacks occurred thisweek on Pakistani politicalfigures and army units.Pakistani officials have blamedthem on Mehsud's forces andother militants. OnWednesday, a group of severalhundred insurgents overran amilitary outpost in the provinceof South Waziristan, killing 22government paramilitarytroops. The daring daylightraid was carried out by rebelsloyal to Mehsud, Pakistaniauthorities said.
For more than a year, U.S.officials have been nervouslywatching as al-Qaeda rebuilt itsinfrastructure in the ruggedtribal regions along the borderbetween Afghanistan andPakistan, often with the help oflocal sympathizers.
In recent months, U.S.intelligence officials have said,the relationship betweenal-Qaeda and local insurgentshas been strengthened by acommon antipathy toward thepro-Western Musharrafgovernment. The groups nowshare resources and trainingfacilities and sometimes evenplan attacks together, they said.
"We've always viewed thatto be an ultimate danger to theUnited States," Hayden said,"but now it appears that it is aserious base of danger to thecurrent well-being ofPakistan."
Hayden's anxieties aboutPakistan's stability are echoedby other U.S. officials whohave visited Pakistan sinceBhutto's assassination. WhiteHouse, intelligence andDefense Department officialshave held a series of meetingsto discuss U.S. options in theevent that the current crisisdeepens, including thepossibility of covert actioninvolving Special Forces.
Hayden declined tocomment on the policymeetings but said that the CIA
already was heavily engaged inthe region and has not shiftedits officers or changed itsoperations significantly sincethe crisis began.
"The Afghan-Pakistanborder region has been an areaof focus for this agency sinceabout 11 o'clock in themorning of September 11,[2001], and I really mean this,"Hayden said. "We haven't donea whole lot of retooling there inthe last one week, one month,three months, six months andso on. This has been up thereamong our very highestpriorities."
Hayden said that theUnited States has "not had abetter partner in the war onterrorism than the Pakistanis."The turmoil of the past fewweeks has only deepened thatcooperation, he said, byhighlighting "what are noweven more clearly mutual andcommon interests."
Hayden alsoacknowledged the difficulties-- diplomatic and practical --involved in helping combatextremism in a country dividedby ethnic, religious andcultural allegiances. "Thislooks simpler the further awayyou get from it," he said. "Andthe closer you get to it,geography, history, culture allbegin to intertwine and make itmore complex."
Regarding the publiccontroversy over the CIA'sharsh interrogation of detaineesat secret prisons, Haydenreiterated previous agencystatements that lives weresaved and attacks wereprevented as a result of thoseinterrogations.
He said he does notsupport proposals, put forwardby some lawmakers in recentweeks, to require the CIA toabide by the Army FieldManual in conductinginterrogations. The manual,adopted by the DefenseDepartment, prohibits the useof many aggressive methods,including asimulated-drowning techniqueknown as waterboarding.
"I would offer my
professional judgment that thatwill make us less capable ingaining the information weneed," he said.
Staff writer Robin Wrightand staff researcher Julie Tatecontributed to this report.
New York TimesJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 132. Frontier InsurgencySpills Into A PakistaniCityBy Jane Perlez
PESHAWAR, Pakistan —For centuries, fighting andlawlessness have been part ofthe fabric of this frontier city.But in the past year, Pakistan’swar with Islamic militants hasspilled right into its alleys andbazaars, its forts and armories,killing policemen and soldiersand scaring its famously toughcitizens.
There is a sense of siegehere, as the Islamic insurgencypours out of the adjacent tribalregion into this city, one ofPakistan’s largest, and itssurrounding districts.
The Taliban and theirmilitant sympathizers now holdstrategic pockets on the city’soutskirts, the police say, fromwhere they strike at themilitary and the police, orderschoolgirls to wear the burqaand blow up stores sellingDVDs, among other acts ofviolence.
Suicide bombings, bombexplosions and missile attacksoccurred an average of once aweek here in 2007, accordingto a tally by the city’s policedepartment. In 2006, whilethere were occasional grenadeattacks and explosions, theauthorities did not record asingle suicide bombing orrocket attack inside the city.
The proximity ofPeshawar to the tribal areaswhere the Taliban and AlQaeda have regrouped in thepast two years makes the city afeasible prize for the militantsin Pakistan’s quickly escalatinginternal strife that pits theIslamic extremists against the
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American-backed governmentof President Pervez Musharraf.
Though few here believethat the Taliban will ruleanytime soon, the police andresidents say that by thestandards of counterinsurgencywarfare the extremists aredoing well. They haveundermined public faith in thegovernment, sown distrust andmade the police fearful fortheir lives. “People feel theinsecurity is so high, no onecan fix it,” said Humair Bilour,the sister-in-law of Malik Saad,a popular Peshawar policechief who was killed in asuicide bomb attack last year.“How can the government doanything when the governmentitself is involved in it?”
She said she and herfriends were now afraid to goout. “People go to the bazaarand make jokes: ‘Is this goingto be my last trip?’” she said.
The extremists haveselected the police and thearmy, two important pillars ofthe Pakistani state, as particulartargets.
Last week, rockets werefired at an army barracks inWarsak on the city’s perimeter,a warning of the power of themilitants to strike fromMohmand, a district in thetribal areas adjacent toPeshawar, an area that a fewmonths ago was consideredfree of the Taliban.
The army headquarters inthe center of the city werestruck last month by a bomberwho was hiding explosivesunder her burqa that were setoff by remote control. Theassassination a year ago of thepolice chief, Mr. Saad, whowas killed while on duty tryingto control a religiousprocession in one of thebazaars, shook the city.
“It’s asymmetrical warfareagainst an established state,”said Muhammad SulamanKhan, chief of operations forthe Peshawar police and aclose friend of Mr. Saad. “Theterrorists only don’t have tolose it, we need to win it.”
At the core of the troubleshere, many say, lie demands by
the United States that thePakistani military, generouslyfinanced by Washington, joinin its campaign againstterrorism, which means killingfellow Pakistanis in the tribalareas. Even if those Pakistanisare extremists, the people heresay, they do not like a policy ofkilling fellow tribesmen, andfellow countrymen,particularly on behalf of theUnited States.
The Bush administration isconvinced that Al Qaeda andthe Taliban have gained newstrength in the past two years,particularly in the tribal regionsof North and South Waziristanand Bajaur. It has said it isconsidering sending Americanforces to help the Pakistanisoldiers in those areas. Mr.Musharraf has scoffed at theidea.
Any direct intervention byAmerican forces would onlystrengthen the backlash nowunder way against soldiers andthe police in Peshawar, saidFarook Adam Khan, a lawyerhere. That reaction spread lastweek to Lahore, the capital ofPunjab Province, where asuicide bomber killed almosttwo dozen policemen at alawyers’ rally, he said.
“Pakistani soldiers neverused to be targets,” Mr. Khansaid. “Now we have theradicals antagonized byMusharraf and his politics ofcozying up to the UnitedStates. The actions taken by thearmy in Waziristan and Bajaurand Swat are causing theproblems here.” Swat is an area100 miles north of Peshawar,where the Pakistani Army iscurrently battling a PakistaniTaliban insurgent group withmixed results.
The standing of thePakistani military is beingfurther harmed by anincreasing awareness here thatit is for the first time sufferingsignificant numbers ofdefections, mostly amongsoldiers reluctant to fight in thetribal areas. The defectionsgain only scant mention in thepress, but people talk aboutthem.
There are rumors ofcourts-martial, although theinformation is tightly held bythe army, former officers said.Morale among the police inPeshawar has plummeted amida series of police killings,making the city far from theglamorous posting it once was,when the police were fightingsmugglers and other outlaws.
Terrorist activities aroundPeshawar began to increase,Mr. Khan said, after a majorattack on a madrasa in Bajaurin October 2006, in which 82people, including 12 teenagers,were killed. The PakistaniArmy said intelligence hadshown that the madrasa wasused as a training base by AlQaeda. Local residents said thekillings were the work of anAmerican remotely piloteddrone, a charge thatWashington denied.
A few months later,government schools for girlsaround Peshawar began toreceive threats that they wouldbe blown up if the students didnot wear burqas.
At one such school, inShah Dhand Baba, a town onthe northern fringes ofPeshawar, the principal, GulBahar Begum, said shereceived a handwritten letter inthe mail last Februarydemanding that the studentscover up or the school wouldbe blown up.
Ms. Begum, who wearslipstick and lightly covers herhair with a scarf, and whoseoffice is filled with sportstrophies won by her students,said that about 70 percent ofthe girls now wore burqaswhen they stepped outside theschool.
“It is the Islamic way tocover,” she said of herinstructions to the girls tocover up. “So the militantswere right, but the way theyimposed their decision wasnot.”
The students, dressed inloose white pants and longshirts, suggested that theyaccepted the demands becausethey had to, not because theybelieved it was a religious
necessity.Maryam Sultan, 16, who
wore a denim jacket over heruniform, said she and herfriends came to school inburqas “for security.” Ms.Sultan, who was moreinterested in talking about herdesire to become a doctor, saidthere was little choice but tocover up.
The outward bravura at theschool masked a deeperproblem: the inability of thepolice or any other authoritiesto deter the militants. Atanother school where athreatening letter was received,the principal protested.
She made contact with themilitants, saying that burqaswere too expensive for some ofthe girls. The militants replied,saying, “If the girls can affordmakeup, they can affordburqas,” according to officialsin the district. Days later, thegirls were in burqas.
Himayat Mayar, the localmayor, blamed the governmentfor the threats against the girls.
He said that during thefive years that Mr. Musharrafand his allies in a coalition ofIslamic parties, the MuttahidaMajlis-e-Amal, had governedthe North-West FrontierProvince, they had allowedmadrasas for young Islamicjihadists to flourish.
“There are so manymadrasas run by mullahs thattrain jihadis and get funds fromSaudi Arabia, Kuwait,” Mr.Mayar said. “These jihadistsknow only jihad. They shouldbe brought into themainstream.” If it wanted to,he added, the governmentcould easily provide teachersand computers to the madrasas,and register them.
Peshawar’s boomingbusiness in illicit Western andIndian DVDs has been anothertarget of the militants. Many ofthe city’s myriad retail outletshave closed after beingbombed, or threatened withviolence.
At the Bilal DVD Parlor,the owners, Bilal Javed andAkhtar Ali, said their sales —ranging from “Pride and
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Prejudice” to “Die Hard 4.0,”to the latest Bollywood filmsand old Bruce Lee movies —had fallen by 90 percent. Theirdecade-old wholesale businessin the tribal region wasfinished, they said.
On a recent day, theirmodern retail store, fitted withpolished chrome, was packedfloor to ceiling with DVDs.There were no customers. Theysaid people had been afraid toshop there since a bomb hiddenin a water cooler exploded at aDVD store across the street lastyear, killing five people,including a 7-year-old boy whowanted to buy a computermouse.
“The police chief said,‘We can’t secure ourselves,how can we secure you?’” Mr.Javed said.
Washington TimesJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 133. Russia RevivesMilitary Boast Of SovietDaysPlans to parade arsenalBy David R. Sands,Washington Times
Reviving yet anothericonic image from Soviet days,Russia's military announcedplans to stage a parade ofballistic missiles, tanks andplatoons of soldiers this Maythrough the Kremlin's RedSquare.
The display of militaryhardware, the first of its kindsince 1990, will be held May 9,the day Russians mark thevictory over Germany in WorldWar II, and could coincidewith the inauguration ofDmitry Medvedev, close aideto outgoing President VladimirPutin, as Russia's new leader.
Similar displays, typicallyheld May 1, were a high pointof the old Soviet calendar, withleaders such as Josef Stalin andother top Communist Partyfigures perched on thereviewing stand above Lenin'sTomb to witness the country'smilitary prowess and send amessage to the Soviet Union's
Cold War adversaries.The announcement comes
at a time of rising tensionbetween Russia and the West,on issues ranging from aplanned U.S. missile defensesystem in Eastern Europe, tohuman rights to the future ofSerbia's Kosovo province. Mr.Putin also has struggled torebuild Russia's military forces,which deteriorated badly in thewake of the Soviet Union'scollapse.
"You can't teach an oldimperial bear new tricks," saidAriel Cohen, a Russianspecialist at the HeritageFoundation. "The currentregime's craving forinternational prestige is as highas the insecurity of its rulers."
British Foreign SecretaryDavid Miliband yesterdayaccused Moscow of followingthe old, hostile Soviet patternin an escalating dispute overRussia's order that two Britishcultural outreach offices inMoscow and St. Petersburg beshut down. Russia claims thecenters are operating illegally,but Mr. Miliband said Russianauthorities were trying tointimidate the Britishemployees.
"We saw similar actionsduring the Cold War, butfrankly thought they had beenput behind us," Mr. Milibandtold the House of Commons.
According to Russia'sInterfax news agency, the May9 parade lineup will include thenewest version of the Topol-MSS-27 intercontinental ballisticmissile, armored personnelcarriers, tanks, and 6,000troops decked out in a newlydesigned uniform.
Mr. Putin has maderestoring Russian nationalpride and reclaiming some ofits lost international influencecentral to his presidency.
He revived a reworkedversion of the old Sovietanthem as Russia's newnational anthem and oncecalled the collapse of the oldSoviet empire "the greatestgeopolitical catastrophe of the20th century."
With Mr. Putin's
endorsement, Mr. Medvedev isexpected to win the March 2presidential vote handily. Healready asked Mr. Putin toserve as his prime minister.
The official May Dayparades were discontinued after1990. In recent years, the dayhas been marked in Moscowand other cities primarily byprotest marches by thedeclining Communist Partyand by right-wing nationalistparties.
President Boris Yeltsinbegan staging military parades— without the weaponry —through Red Square in 1995,the first one marking the 60thanniversary of the Alliedvictory in Europe.
Pavel Felgenhauer, aRussian military analyst for theWashington-based JamestownFoundation, said the reviveddisplay is one of a number ofrecent symbolic moves by thecountry's military. Theyinclude the resumption ofstrategic bomber patrol flightsover the Atlantic and Pacific inAugust and plans for majornaval exercises in theMediterranean for the first timesince 1991.
Mr. Felgenhauer noted thatthe traditional route for theMay parade must now bealtered in part because of theconstruction of a new shoppingmall.
"One can only hope that ...no ancient building willcollapse as tanks and ICBMsroll into central Moscow toserve the vanity of Russia'sleaders," he said.
Los Angeles TimesJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 134. Colombia's MilitaryToughens UpU.S. aid has helped theonce-outmatched force gainstrength and retake territory.But the change has beenmarked by rights abuses andsecurity breaches.By Chris Kraul, Los AngelesTimes Staff Writer
FLORENCIA,COLOMBIA — Seven years
and $4.35 billion since theadvent of a massive U.S. aidprogram, the Colombianmilitary has been transformedfrom an outmatched "garrisonforce" that had yielded hugeswaths of terrain to leftistguerrillas, to an aggressiveforce that has won backterritory.
The transformation,however, has had a dark side.Soldiers and police officershave committed rising numbersof human rights abuses, evenas U.S. training intensifies,rights groups charge. Duringthe five-year period that endedin June 2006, extrajudicialkillings increased by more than50% over the previous fiveyears, according to figurescompiled by human rightsgroups.
The military also hasfallen victim to spectacularsecurity breaches, a result oftoo-rapid expansion, DefenseMinister Juan Manuel Santosacknowledged. "It's like a childwho grows too fast. There aregoing to be problems," Santossaid, adding that to cleanhouse, his ministry hasdismissed 360 officers in thelast two years.
But even critics don'tdispute that the military hasbecome a more professionaland capable fighting force.And that's quite a turnaroundfor an institution that a decadeago was dismissed byColombian and U.S. observersas no match for the leftistRevolutionary Armed Forcesof Colombia, or FARC.
One U.S. Embassy officialonce referred to the armedforces as "the Apple DumplingGang," after the Walt Disneymovie starring Don Knotts as abumbling outlaw.
In the late 1990s, the armywas best known for itsdisasters. Half a dozen bases,mostly in southern jungle andborder states, were overrun bythe FARC, resulting in thekilling or kidnapping ofhundreds of soldiers. Thenames of the bases, such asPatascoy, Las Delicias and ElBillar, became emblematic of
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the military's ineptitude.When President Alvaro
Uribe took office in 2002,rebels had encircled the capital,Bogota, and the militaryseemed impotent to doanything about it. Hispredecessor, Andres Pastrana,had ceded a Switzerland-sizechunk of Colombian jungle tothe FARC in the vain hope themove would lead to a peaceagreement.
Now the military seems tohave the upper hand, sayanalysts at the Pentagon'sSouthern Commandheadquarters in Miami.
In a recent interview,Santos said the military had"fundamentally beentransformed... . Before, theColombian army was only onthe defense. Now it's totally onthe offense and gaining greatprestige."
Here at Ft. Larandia, asprawlingplantation-turned-army base inthe southern state of Caquetaon the edge of the Amazonbasin, Joint Task Force Omegaembodies the new Colombianmilitary. Teams of commandostrained by U.S. Army SpecialForces and who deploy aboardBlack Hawk helicopters takethe fight to the guerrillas usingsatellites, special listeningdevices and high-tech "smart"bombs.
Among recent strikes wasthe killing in September ofTomas Medina "Negro Acacio"Caracas, a top FARCcommander in charge of drugsand weapons logistics. In June,an Omega unit killed MiltonSierra, a FARC commanderbelieved to be responsible forthe kidnapping of a dozen statelegislators in 2001 and for therebels' Pacific Coast drugtrade.
That Ft. Larandiafunctions at all is a sign thatthe military has turned a page.A former cattle ranch donatedto the nation by the family ofOlivero Lara, who was killedby rebels in 1965, the base is inthe heart of what used to betermed "The Republic of theFARC."
Many of the base's 14,000soldiers, sailors and airmenwere involved in a militarycampaign launched in 2004 toreoccupy this zone of Caqueta,and rooted out many FARCunits from the area. Theoperation also deprived rebelsof what for decades was theircombination storehouse,backyard and training andrecreation area, said militaryanalyst Alvaro Valencia Tovar,a retired army general andcolumnist for Bogota's ElTiempo newspaper.
"The campaign may haveproduced a strategicturnaround," Valencia Tovarsaid.
Although the FARC hasby no means been defeated, itis on the run and has been forthe last few years, Colombianand U.S. military analysts say.
Statistics provided by theSouthern Command show thatacross the countryhomicideshave declined 40%and kidnappings by 75% sinceUribe, a strong U.S. ally, tookoffice. Drug seizures and raidson drug-processing labs are up.
Boosters here and in theUnited States cite the successesin urging the continuation ofPlan Colombia, a U.S.taxpayer-funded effort tocounter drugs and terrorismthat has been in effect since2000. Even under moreskeptical Democraticleadership since 2006,Congress has continued to fundPlan Colombia, although it hasreduced direct military aid infavor of economic programs tofight drugs and terrorism.
But Plan Colombia criticssay that the invigoratedmilitary is committing anincreasing number of humanrights abuses, despite promisesin 1999 by Washington that theaid package would bring abouta reduction. They highlightcases known as "falsepositives" of soldiers who,pressed for results, killedcivilians and then labeled themas insurgents killed in action.
According to statisticscompiled by the ColombianCommission of Jurists, a
human rights group, the armedforces committed 1,035extrajudicial killings in thefive-year period that ended inJune 2006, compared with 685in the previous five years.
Lisa Haugaard, executivedirector of the Latin AmericaWorking Group inWashington, said that asright-wing paramilitary groupswere demobilized, theycommitted fewer human rightsabuses. But at the same time,the number of abuses by themilitary increased.
"You can speculate why:that the demobilizedparamilitaries aren't doing thedirty work anymore, or asmuch of it, and so the army hasto do it. Or that they are beingpressured for results,"Haugaard said.
"We found a number ofcases where people were takenfrom their homes in civilianclothing and later found deadin guerrilla clothing," she said."I was shocked by the quantityand pattern that seemed toexist."
And security lapses havemade headlines. In May 2006,soldiers killed 10 U.S.-trainedanti-narcotics police officersnear the town of Jamundi,allegedly on orders of drugtraffickers. Last year, ahigh-ranking admiral wascharged with having sold thecoordinates of vessels to drugtraffickers so they could avoidinterdiction.
In October, an undercoverFARC guerrilla, MariluRamirez, was found to haveinfiltrated a War College classand to have inveigled a visit tothe home of Santos, thedefense minister.
But for averageColombians, the military'ssuccesses in restoring somemeasure of security outweighthe abuses and scandals.Recent polls show that 80% ofrespondents have a favorableimage of the army.
Problems with themilitary's rapid growth havebeen twinned with successes.The key in reducing violencehas been the increased number
of military and policepersonnel, financed in part byPlan Colombia. The ranks ofColombian soldiers, sailors,airmen and police have swollenby 45%, to 390,000, since2000, and are set to grow by anadditional 40,000 over the nexttwo years.
In addition to quantity,quality is up. Colombian armyofficers credit training by U.S.Army Special Forces teams,who have brought Joint TaskForce Omega officers up tospeed on intelligence analysis,operations planning and tactics.According to a U.S. Armymajor here, who asked not tobe identified for securityreasons, the Colombian army isgathering more intelligenceand acting faster on it. Crucialto that effort are 28-member"strike units" that he and othershave trained as part of a newarmy emphasis on mobilebrigades. The units are shuttledout to jungle targets byhelicopter for rapid strikes orleft out in the wild for weeks togather intelligence, keepingguerrillas off balance.
"We've trained about 30strike teams with theequivalent of the first phase ofU.S. Army Ranger training,"the major said. "We've tried toconvince the Colombiancommand that smaller is better,and they have come around tothat."
But the military facesdaunting challenges if it is totriumph in the four-decadeconflict with guerrillas. It hasto gain control over the lawlessareas bordering Venezuela andEcuador, where rebels freelycross over to rest and resupply.It has to bring down humanrights abuses and build anofficer corps that has not keptpace with recruits.
Most important, the armedforces will have to learn tooperate independently if PlanColombia is phased out asexpected over the next fiveyears.
Philadelphia InquirerJanuary 18, 2008
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35. Chavez BuildupConcerns The U.S.
BOGOTA, Colombia -The United States is deeplyworried by what it deems adangerous arms buildup byPresident Hugo Chavez ofVenezuela, the top Americanmilitary officer said yesterday.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullentold reporters after meetingwith top Colombian defenseofficials that Venezuela'sbuying of high-performancemilitary aircraft and modernsubmarines is potentiallydestabilizing for a regionalready struggling withinsurgencies, terrorism anddrug running.
"They certainly are ofgreat concern," Mullen said.The Bush administration hasaccused Chavez of seeking tofoment terrorism and undercutdemocracies in the region.
--AP
Washington TimesJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 136. State DoublesMilitary AdvisersRice, Gates back unionsBy Nicholas Kralev,Washington Times
The State Department isdoubling the number ofresident diplomatic advisersthat it sends to the offices ofthe nation's top militarycommanders at home andoverseas — a moveencouraged by the Pentagon asits uniformed leaders take onlarger public roles abroad.
The increase is part ofSecretary of State CondoleezzaRice's "global repositioning" ofU.S. diplomats to areas wherethey are most needed, and areflection of Defense SecretaryRobert M. Gates' recentcomments about theimportance of "soft power" infighting foreign conflicts,officials said.
"The great innovation hereis to have foreign policyexperts at midlevels in additionto top levels of the military,"said State Department
spokesman Sean McCormack."It's critically important in the21st century for our twodepartments to work togetheron the ground."
Although the program hasexisted for more than half acentury, the number of ForeignService officers detailed tomilitary commanders in recentyears has usually been arounda dozen, peaking at 16 after theSeptember 11, 2001, terroristattacks.
In the past 18 months, thatnumber has jumped to 25 andwill reach 30 by the summer,officials at the StateDepartment and the Pentagonsaid, adding that furtherincreases are likely in the nearfuture.
"The military is veryinterested in having foreignpolicy advisers," said BillMcGlynn, the program'scoordinator at State. "Theytreat our people with greatrespect."
Michael Coulter, principaldeputy assistant secretary ofdefense for internationalsecurity, said the program"seeks to integrate our 'soft'power and 'hard' power in thefield, where it matters most, bysynching our nation'sdiplomatic and militaryinstruments."
Each branch of themilitary and each regionalcommand has adiplomat-in-residence;currently there are 13 of themat domestic bases and 12abroad. Most of the midlevelpositions are in Iraq andAfghanistan.
The advisers travel andattend meetings with themilitary commanders andparticipate in planning,officials said.
Because of their closerelationship with the militaryofficers, Foreign Servicecandidates for the positionsundergo a rigorous screeningprocess, including extensiveinterviews.
The diplomats also help to"deliver the foreigners," as oneofficial put it, whenever adviceor assistance is needed from
allies or other countries.Sometimes, they simply offertheir counsel on foreign affairs,ensuring that the commander isfamiliar with current U.S.policy before making publicremarks.
They also providepractical advice on routinematters — for example,reminding their militarycolleagues that air missionscannot be flown overVenezuela.
During the 2006Israel-Lebanon war, the adviserat Central Command in Floridaplayed a significant role infacilitating the evacuation ofthousands of Americans bycoordinating military missionswith the U.S. Embassy inBeirut, officials said.
"It's only natural that asthe uniformed military sees itsmissions multiplying, it sees aconcomitant need for moreForeign Service officers to helpaccomplish those missions,"said a senior officer in Asiawho has served as an adviser tothe Air Force.
Military officers are alsoassigned as advisers to theState Department. Lt. Gen.Raymond T. Odierno, the topcommander of U.S. groundforces in Iraq, used to be asenior adviser to Miss Rice.
The officer in Asia saidthe exchange program provesthat the State and Defensedepartments can work welltogether despite occasionalpolicy disagreements, such asthose that occurred betweenSecretary of State Colin L.Powell and Defense SecretaryDonald H. Rumsfeld duringPresident Bush's first term.
"The military anddiplomatic personnel on theground are more focused onaccomplishing the task at handthan on policy disputes andhave learned they need eachother," the officer said. "Iraqand Afghanistan may be thelocales where this is mostobvious, but it's happening allaround the world."
Policy disagreementsbetween Miss Rice and Mr.Gates have been scarce. They
have worked together to beefup the so-called provincialreconstruction teams in Iraq,where diplomats are embeddedwith the military to boostreconstruction efforts.
"We, as a nation, are mostsecure at home and best able toshape a secure internationalenvironment when all agenciesand branches of national powerare properly resourced andemployed in unison," Mr.Coulter said.
Washington TimesJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 337. CDC EnlistsMilitary To Study SkinAilmentBy Jennifer Harper,Washington Times
The description alone isdisquieting: Victims havebulbous pimples glutted withdark fibers, they feel crawlingsensations under their skin,they're fatigued, confused,depressed.
The Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC)officially call it the"unexplained illness."Yesterday, the federal agencyannounced it would formallyinvestigate the condition —known as Morgellonssyndrome — and is bringing inthe military to help it do it.
The cause and risk factorsare unknown, though most ofthe cases are showing up inCalifornia, Florida and Texas,said Dr. Michele Pearson,CDC's principal investigator.The agency is spending$545,000 and enlisting the helpof the U.S. Armed ForcesInstitute of Pathology as wellas the American Academy ofDermatology to conduct"immediate" and "rigorous"research.
"There is no textbookdefinition on this condition.There are many hypothesesabout what might be causingand contributing to it. So it's afrustrating journey, not onlyfor patients but for providerswho care for them," Dr.
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Pearson said yesterday."Clearly, the suffering
these patients are experiencingis real," she added.
Public awareness of thecondition has beenintensifying.
Morgellons was firstidentified in 2002 by Mary M.Leitao, a biologist whosetoddler displayed the spectrumof disgusting symptoms. Sheestablished the NewYork-based MorgellonsResearch Foundation (MRF)after failing to find what sheconsidered appropriate care forher 2-year-old son. Theadvocacy group has sinceregistered more than 11,000people who say they have thecondition or have beenmistreated by the medicalcommunity.
Some doctors havedismissed Morgellons asdermatitis, hives, scabies or"delusional parasitosis," inwhich patients are obsessedwith the idea that their bodieshave been invaded by parasites— prompting them to seekunconventional cures. Somedesperate victims haveswallowed veterinaryde-worming medicines orrubbed bleach on affected skin.
Limited research hasrevealed a potential linkbetween Morgellons and thesame bacteria that causes Lymedisease, according to theAmerican Journal of ClinicalDermatology. To date,treatments have includedantipsychotic drugs,antibiotics, antifungals, herbalsupplements and light therapy.Morgellons cases haveappeared in Canada, Australiaand several Europeancountries, though the CDC hasnot established that thesyndrome is common in"underdeveloped countries."
The MRF, meanwhile, haslong urged self-identifiedvictims to write to publicofficials and contact the press.
The strategy has worked.Global interest spiked in 2006after a series of alarmingprime-time reports appeared onCNN, NBC and particularly
ABC — where Morgellons wasshowcased on "MedicalMysteries," with full colorclose-ups of ravaged skin andthe victims' personal accounts.In spring 2006, the CDCacknowledged "the volume ofconcern" about the syndromeand last summer established anonline contact for fearfulvictims.
The agency has sincereceived about 1,200 inquiries,and is intent on providing"meaningful answers," said Dr.Pearson.
Over the next year, theCDC will track Morgellonspatients in California who havereported symptoms in the past18 months, using KaiserPermanente facilities inOakland.
San Diego Union-TribuneJanuary 18, 200838. Iraq Moves ToBreak Up Kurds' OilDealsBy Associated Press
BAGHDAD – The IraqiOil Ministry has decided tostop cooperating withinternational oil companiesparticipating inproduction-sharing contractswith the Kurdish regionaladministration in northern Iraq,an official said yesterday.
The decision is considereda first step towardimplementing the ministry'sthreats to blacklist and excludethese companies from anyfuture deals with Baghdad ifthey refuse to abandon their oildeals with the self-rulingKurdish government.
Five companies arethought to have agreementswith both the Oil Ministry andKurdistan: the United ArabEmirates' Crescent; Canada'sWestern Oil Sands andHeritage Oil; India's RelianceIndustries; and Austria's OMV.
A spokeswoman forReliance Industries, whodeclined to be named, said thecompany has not received anyofficial communication fromthe Iraqi government. She said
the firm hoped any possibleissues will be resolved withoutaffecting business.
The Oil Ministry'sdecision came days after 145Iraqi Arab lawmakers fromrival sects joined forces tocriticize what they said isoverreaching by the Kurds,alleging that the powerfulU.S.-backed minority'sgo-it-alone style threatensnational unity.
With the national oil andgas law stuck in disputebetween the Kurds and Arableaders over who has the finalsay in managing oil and gasfields, the Kurds have signed15 production-sharingcontracts with 20 internationaloil companies.
Washington TimesJanuary 18, 2008Pg. C939. Checklist
L-3 Communications,which lost a $4.6 billion Armycontract to a rival provider oftranslators last month,protested the award and saidthe Army intends to take"corrective" action. The Armyinformed the GovernmentAccountability Office of itsdecision Jan. 15, L-3 said.DynCorp International won thecontract Dec. 7, ending ayearlong challenge from L-3.
New York PostJanuary 18, 200840. The New 'Lepers'The Times' Trouble With VetsBy Ralph Peters
I'VE had a huge responseto Tuesday's column about TheNew York Times' obscene bidto smear veterans of Iraq andAfghanistan as mad killers.Countless readers seem to bewondering: Why did the paperdo it?
Well, in the Middle Ages,lepers had to carry bells onpain of death to warn theuninfected they were coming.One suspects that the Timeswould like our militaryveterans to do the same.
The purpose of Sunday's
instantly notorious feature"alerting" the American peoplethat our Iraq and Afghanistanvets are all potential murdererswhen they move in next doorwas to mark those defenders offreedom as "unclean" - as thenew lepers who can't be trustedamid uninfected Americans.
In the more than six yearssince 9/11, the Times has neverrun a feature story half as longon any of the hundreds ofheroes who've served ourcountry - those who've wonmedals of honor, distinguishedservice crosses, Navy crosses,silver stars or bronze stars witha V device (for valor).
But the Times put a majorinvestigative effort into the"sensational" story that 121returning vets had committedcapital offenses (of course, 20percent of the cases citedinvolved manslaughter chargesstemming from drunkendriving, not first- orsecond-degree murder ... ).
Well, a quick statisticscheck let the air out of theTimes' bid to make us dreadthe veteran down the block -who the Times implies has amachine gun under hisbathrobe when he steps outfront to fetch the morningpaper. In fact, thecapital-crimes rate ballyhooedby the Gray Lady demonstratesthat our returning troops are farless likely to commit such anoffense.
Again, the Times' smearcertainly wasn't an accident.The paper's staff is highly paidand highly experienced. Itseditors know that a seriousnews story has to put numbersinto context. But their soleattempt at context was to notethat offenses by former soldiershave ticked up since we wentto war.
The Times is trying tomake you fear our veterans(Good Lord, if your daughtermarries one, she's bound to bebeaten to death!). And toconvince you that our militarywould be a dreadful place foryour sons and daughters, adeath-machine that would turnthem into incurable
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psychopaths.To a darkly humorous
degree, all this reflects theFreudian terrors leftists feelwhen confronted with menwho don't have concave chests.But it goes far beyond that.
Pretending to pitytormented veterans (vets don'twant our pity - they want ourrespect), the Times' feature wasan artful example ofhate-speech disguised as apublic service.
The image we all weresupposed to take away fromthat story was of hopelesslydamaged, victimized, infectedhuman beings who've becomeoutcasts from civilized society.The Times cast our vets asfreaks from a slasher flick.
The hard left's hatred ofour military has deterioratedfrom a political stance into apathology: The only goodsoldier is a dead soldier whocan be wielded as a statistic(out of context again). Or adeserter who complains bitterlythat he didn't join the Army tofight ...
At the risk of turning toanecdotal evidence - atechnique much-abused by theleft - I have to declare that Ipersonally know hundreds ofveterans. (Can anyone at theTimes head office make thatclaim?) Not a single one ofthem has committed a crimeworse than exceeding the speedlimit on the Interstate.
Not one vet I know is inprison for a crime he or shecommitted after taking off theuniform. And in nearly 22years of active service, Iencountered only two soldierswho committed violent crimes(no murders).
Contrary to the Times,veterans are consistentlyamong the most upstandingmembers of their communities.They volunteer. They vote.They take pride in being goodneighbors. And those I knowhave raised their children moresuccessfully than the averageliberal household.
But what's the image thatthe left, whether the Times orthe silly people in Hollywood,
presents to us? Vets are nuts.Violently nuts. They kill theirneighbors. They kill their ownkind. And they're just waitingfor the right moment ofmadness to kill you.
A longstanding goal of theleft, recently invigorated, hasbeen to drive a wedge betweenour military and our society.The real vet is the neighborwho fixes your kid's bike (oryour computer). But the left'sarchetypal vet is the Marinecolonel in "American Beauty"who, frustrated in hissuppressed gay passions,murders poor Kevin Spacey.
Yes, war is a terriblecrucible. Some vets, past andpresent, do need help. Andthey deserve the best help ourcountry can give them. But theleft-wing fantasy of hordes ofpsychotics driven mad by drillsergeants and Army chow isjust that: a fantasy.
Of course, if the Timesresponds at all to the storm ofprotests their insult to ourveterans aroused, the editorswill try to fudge the numbers intheir favor. You just can't arguewith ideologues. They lie andthey cheat. And they justify itas being for the greater good ofignorant fools like us.
So let me suggest thebest-possible revenge on theveteran-trashing jerks at TheNew York Times: Instead offleeing in terror the next timeyou see a veteran you know,just thank him or her for theirservice.
And let's save the leper'sbells for dishonest journalists.
Ralph Peters is a retiredArmy officer who has yet to killany of his neighbors (althoughthey'd better keep their grasscut).
Washington PostJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 1941. Federalism, NotPartitionA System Devolving Power tothe Regions Is the Route to aViable IraqBy Mowaffak al-Rubaie
BAGHDAD -- Iraq's
government is at a stalemate.As in the United States, there ismuch discussion here of theneed for politicalreconciliation. What does thatmean? That the majorityShiites and the minority Sunnisand Kurds must find a way togovern collectively at thenational level. As nationalsecurity adviser to the head ofIraq's governments sinceMarch 2004, I haveparticipated in the developmentof democracy in my country. Istrongly support thegovernment and applaud itsachievements. But I understandthat the political objectives ofIraq's three main communitiesare unrealizable within theframework of a unitary,centralized state.
It has been impossible tomaintain a political consensuson many important issues. Forone thing, the U.S.-dominatedcoalition, which has its ownobjectives, must beaccommodated. The regional"superpowers" (Iran and SaudiArabia) meddle in Iraq'saffairs, and their own sectariantensions are reflected in theviolence here. The absence oftruly national political partiesand leadership that reach theIraqi people exacerbates theproblem.
Overall, Shiites see theirfuture based on twofundamental "rights": Powermust be exercised by thepolitical majority throughcontrol of governmentalinstitutions, and institutionalsectarian discrimination mustbe eliminated. Kurds see theirfuture bound to their "rights" oflinguistic, cultural, financialand resource control withinKurdistan. Sunni Arabs aredriven by resistance to theirloss of power, as well as fear ofrevenge for past wrongs andthe potential for reversediscrimination.
The current politicalframework is based on apluralistic democratic visionthat, while admirable, isentirely unsuited to resolvingthis three-way divide. Itignores underlying issues and
expects that a consensus willemerge simply by enacting aliberal constitutional legalorder.
Pluralistic democracy willnot take root unless thenational political compactrecognizes and accommodatesthe fears and aspirations ofIraq's communities. Resolutioncan be achieved only through asystem that incorporatesregional federalism, with clear,mutually acceptabledistributions of power betweenthe regions and the centralgovernment. Such a system isin the interest of all Iraqis andis necessary if Iraq is to avoidpartition or further civil strife.
Only through a newpolitical compact among Iraq'smain communities will a viablestate emerge. A key conditionfor success is that the balanceof power should tip decisivelyto the regions on all mattersthat do not compromise theintegrity of the state. Thecentral institutions must earntheir legitimacy from thepower that the three mainethnic groups are prepared togive them. Iraq needs a periodduring which the Shiites andthe Kurds achieve politicalcontrol over their destinieswhile the Sunni Arabcommunity is secure from thefeared tyranny of the majority.
The shape of areconstructed, federal Iraqcould vary, but it should permitthe assignment of nearly alldomestic powers to theregions, to be funded out of apercentage of oil revenuedistributed on the basis ofpopulation. The federalgovernment should beresponsible only for essentialcentral functions such asforeign policy (includinginterregional affairs), defense,fiscal and monetary policy, andbanking. Regional parliamentsand executives would governtheir areas. A federalparliament with a new upperhouse could managegovernance at the nationallevel. A regional politicalstructure would allow for thedevelopment of religious,
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cultural and educationalpolicies more suited to areas'populations than a centralgovernment could create. Aregional framework foreconomic policy would also fitbetter with traditional tradepatterns and markets.
Iraq's political geographysuggests five likely federalunits: A "Kurdistan province,"including the current Kurdistanand surrounding areas; a"Western province," includingMosul and the upper Tigris andEuphrates valleys; a "Kufaprovince," built around theMiddle Euphratesgovernorates; a "Basraprovince," including the lowerTigris and Euphrates valleys;and a "Baghdad province,"built around Greater Baghdad,which may include parts ofDiyala and Salah ad DinGovernorates. The Kurdishregion would be given aspecial constitutional status asa recognized society andculture with a unique identity(similar to the Canadianprovince of Quebec).
The new, national Iraqiidentity will be forged overtime as a result of peaceful,respectful participation ingovernance and growth, not byfear and terror as in our past.Iraq's constitution was ratifiedbefore its communities reachedagreement on many vitalissues, such as provincialpowers. Without a processaimed at reaching a broadpolitical consensus on themakeup of the Iraqi state, orderand democracy are unlikely.This consensus would form thebackdrop to a referendum on areformed constitution. Each ofIraq's communities has leadersup to the task of creating a newpolitical consensus. It is timefor them to begin work.
The writer is Iraq'snational security adviser. Theviews expressed here are hisown and do not constitute anofficial position of thegovernment of Iraq.
Christian Science MonitorJanuary 18, 2008
42. The Polish Lesson:America Must GiveSomething In ReturnFor SupportBy A. Wess Mitchell
WASHINGTON -- Thisweek, Polish Defense MinisterBogdan Klich traveled toWashington to negotiate hiscountry's participation in theUS antiballistic missile-defensesystem. In a break withprevious policy, the newcenter-right government ofPrime Minister Donald Tuskhas demanded freshconcessions – cash, Patriotmissiles, and securityguarantees – in exchange forhosting the bases on Polishsoil.
The visit providedAmerica with its first glimpseof a more assertive Poland,whose leaders are determinedto drive a "hard bargain" forsupport of US policies.Warsaw's new mind-set isreplicated across the capitals ofthe "New Europe," whereofficials are weary of what theysee as Washington's failure toreward its allies for support inthe Iraq war.
One notable exception tothis trend is Romania. LikePoland, Romania sent troops toIraq and has been disappointedby its exclusion from the USVisa Waiver Program. Butunlike Poland, Romania haswelcomed the construction ofAmerican military bases. Threefeatures of US strategy towardRomania allowed it to succeedand could provide a blueprintfor revitalizing relations withAmerican allies worldwide.
First, in contrast to itsdealings with Warsaw,Washington has worked tomaintain a relationship withBucharest on reciprocalfooting. When Bucharestbacked the US bid forexclusion from theInternational Criminal Court,Washington backed Romania'sbid to join NATO.
When Bucharest grantedAmerica access to its airspaceearly in the Iraq war,Washington granted Romania
its coveted designation as a"functional market economy."And when Bucharestcosponsored a US push forIraqi sovereignty at the UnitedNations, Washington agreed tolocate lucrative US bases onRomania's Black Sea coast.
In each instance,Romanian assistance wasmatched – usually within oneor two months – by USbacking for a specificRomanian interest. By contrast,for years the Poles havewatched their leaders fly toWashington seeking help – onoil contracts, military aid, visas– only to come awayempty-handed. Hence thedesire for upfront perks in thetalks this week on missiledefense.
Second, Washington hasbeen careful to maintain theappearance of an equalrelationship with Romania. Innegotiations over US bases, theBush administration stressedthat ultimate sovereignty forthe installations would restwith Bucharest. As DavidMcKiernan, America's topArmy general in Europe, oftentold the press, "We are guests,tenants." Such humility wasnecessary, Washington knew,for Bucharest to convince itscitizens they were partnersrather than pawns of USpolicy.
Failure to take a similartack with Poland has donemuch to fuel problems onmissile defense. By failing toconsult Warsaw and Praguebefore offering Russianobservers access to the bases,Washington unwittingly tappedinto a deep-seated regional fearof being "talked over" by theGreat Powers. As a formerPolish diplomat told me, themove confirmed that Americaviews Poland "as a playgroundrather than a player."
Third, in its dealings withRomania, Washington haseschewed the temptation to tryto operate today's alliances onthe logic that guided alliancesduring the cold war. This holdsthat countries stand withAmerica in pursuit of common
values, over virtually limitlesstime horizons, and without anyneed for enticements. WithRomania, Washington haspursued finite goals over ashort time frame with frequentquid pro quos to incentivizecooperation.
Why not take a similarapproach with Warsaw? APentagon official told me,"Romania is not likely to be assignificant an ally as Polandover the long-term." That'sright: current US thinkingholds that it shouldn't rewardits most valuable allies. InWashington's view, "mature"partners don't require coaxing –they support America for thesheer satisfaction of knowingthey're friends with the soleremaining superpower.
The problem with thisapproach is that it no longerworks. As the Pentagondiscovered in meetings withMr. Klich, Poland is notprepared to move an inch onmissile defense untilWashington provides offsets tojustify hosting the system.
This is not, as some criticssay, extortion; it is reciprocity– a feature of healthy,interest-based alliances fromtime immemorial. Likepoliticians anywhere, Poland'snew leaders have to be able toshow that risks undertaken onbehalf of a foreign power bringtangible benefits to their owncitizens. Failure to do socontributed to the fall fromgrace of Tusk's predecessor,Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Britain'sTony Blair, and Australia'sJohn Howard.
A breakthrough on missiledefense is unlikely this year:Congress doesn't want torelease the funds and Bushdoesn't have enough politicalcapital to change their minds.Whatever the next presidentdoes with the system, he or sheshould take a close look atwhich methods have worked –and which ones haven't – inAmerica's recent interactionswith allies. Keeping theirsupport in the post-unipolarage will probably prove morevaluable than 10 missile
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shields.A. Wess Mitchell is
director of research at theCenter for European PolicyAnalysis, a Washington-basedinstitute dedicated to the studyof Central Europe.
Asian Wall Street JournalJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 1343. Atomic Non-AlliesBy Henry Sokolski
Forty years after France'ssale of "peaceful" nucleartechnology to Saddam Hussein,the atomic twinkle in theÉlysée's eyes is again on theMiddle East. France hasoffered civilian nuclearcooperation to Algeria, Egypt,Libya, Tunisia, Jordan andMorocco. During this week'svisit to the region, PresidentNicolas Sarkozy made similarproposals to the Gulf states andsigned a cooperation deal withthe United Arab Emirates, afirst step in building a reactorfor an estimated €6 billion($8.8 billion).
Mr. Sarkozy is at pains tosell his nuclear agenda as morethan just a money-makingproposition. Rather thanincreasing the military risks inthe region, the power of theatom will miraculously bringpeace -- or so the Frenchpresident claims. Tell "a billionMuslims across the world thatthey don't have the right tocivilian nuclear energy whenthey have no more petrol orgas," Mr. Sarkozy said lastsummer when he firstdeveloped this theory. GivingMuslim states nuclear power,he insists, is critical to prevent"a conflict between Islam andthe West," to help Muslimstates fend off"underdevelopment," and toprevent an "explosion ofterrorism." Themultibillion-euro deals are soldas hard-headed Frenchaltruism. But that's nonsense.And this nuclear diplomacybrings grave dangers.
To suggest that promotingnuclear power is somehow keyto any country's economic
development, let alone to thoseof the oil- and gas-rich MiddleEast, is simply ludicrous.That's why the U.S. and itsallies complained -- and rightly-- that the plan to build theIranian nuclear reactor atBushehr isn't motivated byeconomic or energyconsiderations.
Iran is awash with naturalgas, a relatively clean-burningfuel that can produce electricityfar cheaper than nuclear powerplants ever could. Nearly all ofits Middle Eastern neighborssit on significant gas reservesor could have ready access tothem through pipelines.Nuclear power, by contrast, isso costly that even in advancedeconomies it needs massivegovernment subsidies andguarantees. True, many MiddleEastern states currently sufferfrom a shortage of natural gas.But this supply squeeze couldbe overcome relatively quicklyonce Middle Eastern statesprice electricity at market rates,develop their gas fields morefully and run pipelines to stateswith more gas on tap. This,though, would mean raisingsubsidized domestic energyprices, costly investments andsolving outstanding borderdisputes.
Even if it were true thatthe transfer of nucleartechnology had a hithertounknown effect on economicdevelopment, it would hardlyprevent an "explosion ofterrorism." There is noobservable link betweenMiddle Eastern economicdevelopment and radicalism.The recent oil-price boom hasled to a significant rise in percapita income, but themeasures of political freedommoderation (check out theFreedom House index releasedWednesday) have eitherremained static or gone south.
Besides, violent Islamicorganizations tend to pick theirleaders not from the huddledmasses, but the middle andupper classes. Osama binLaden may hide in caves, buthe comes from a rich Saudifamily. The Muslim
Brotherhood is controlled notby the poor, but by well-heeledEgyptian engineers. It iseconomic and politicalfreedom rather thandevelopment that may serve asantidote to Islamic radicalism.Improving living standards isin everyone's interest forhumanitarian reasons. But let'snot fool ourselves intobelieving that "economicdevelopment" as such willneutralize the jihadis.
Behind closed doors onehears another rationale for thenuclear export: to spookTehran. The modus operandihere is to fight Iran's "peaceful"nuclear power with Sunninuclear equivalents. That'spresumably the reason whyWashington is offeringnuclear-power cooperationagreements to Saudi Arabia,Egypt, Turkey and Jordan.French and American officialsargue that these power plantswon't be built any time soon. Inthe meantime, theannouncement of such powerplant programs should give theIranians second thoughts, theyargue.
Moscow, though, is morein a rush to actually buildreactors in the region. It hasalready offered to do so forSaudi Arabia, Egypt, Algeriaand Libya and has completed apower plant and providedextensive nuclear training forIran. And the United ArabEmirates, Saudi Arabia andQatar have plenty of cash toquickly seal the deal. But don'tMiddle Eastern states have theright to develop peacefulnuclear energy? If it's reallypeaceful, that's certainly true.The problem is that pastexperience in the region showsthat this technology inevitablygets militarized. We know thatprevious "civilian" nuclearprograms in Iraq, Israel, Egypt,Iran, Algeria and Libya allserved as covers for suspectnuclear activities. There is noreliable way to detect covertnuclear fuel-making once acountry has a full-fledged"civilian" program. Evenwithout a secret program, the
normal fuel produced incivilian nuclear power plantscould be used to producescores of crude nuclear bombsa year. The popular notion,therefore, that inspectors couldreliably detect possible militarydiversions early enough toprevent proliferation is hopeignoring reality.
To assert that any state,including those in the war-tornMiddle East, have a God-givenright to build and operatenuclear reactors is to condemnthe region to a nuclear 1914.We've had a small taste ofwhat's in store. Israel bombedthe French-built Iraqi Osiraqreactor in 1981 and recentlyraided what were probablynuclear installations in Syria.Iraq bombed the Bushehrreactor during the Iran-Iraq warduring the 1980s. With morenuclear programs in moreMiddle Eastern states, historyis likely to explosively repeatitself.
Surely France, the U.S.and Russia can and should dobetter than this. A good startwould be for these threecountries to rethink how best tohelp develop energy optionsfor the Middle East withoutgoing nuclear.
Mr. Sokolski is executivedirector of theNonproliferation PolicyEducation Center and editor of"Falling Behind: InternationalScrutiny of the Peaceful Atom,"forthcoming from the U.S.Army War College.
USA TodayJanuary 18, 2008Pg. 11Commentary44. Homeless VetsReveal A Hidden CostOf WarBy James Key
I was walking out of agrocery store recently when ahomeless man approached meand said, "Excuse me sir, I'mtrying to buy some food. Canyou help me out?" Aftertalking to him for a fewminutes, I discovered that he
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was a Vietnam War veteran. Igave him a few dollarsknowing that my humblecontribution might help him eattoday. But what abouttomorrow?
As I drove home, I thoughtabout this man and thecountless other homelessveterans who walk our nation'sstreets looking for a crust ofbread and a corner to sleep in.
Veterans make up one infour homeless people in theUSA, though they are only11% of the general population,according to The Alliance toEnd Homelessness. There aremyriad reasons for thesedismal numbers: limited accessto affordable housing,inadequate health care andemployment instability. Butmany cases are fed by the factthat displaced and at-riskveterans often live with thelingering effects ofpost-traumatic stress disorderor substance abuse. These arethe hidden costs of fighting awar.
Further, the VeteransAffairs Department (VA)reaches only 25% of anestimated 400,000 veteranswho are homeless at some timeduring the year, leaving the restto seek aid from localgovernment agencies andcommunity serviceorganizations.
Homelessness is spreadingbeyond the middle-age andelderly veterans to includethose who have served in Iraqand Afghanistan. The VA hasidentified 1,500 homelessveterans from the current warsand reports that just 400 haveparticipated in its homelessprograms. Today, the VAoffers more serviceoptions--outpatient facilities,counselors and therapy--thanfor troops who returned fromVietnam. Unfortunately, manyveterans don't seek help formental and emotional problemsuntil years after their returnfrom combat, when theconditions have oftenworsened.
My father, James Key Sr.,worked as a VA counselor. As
a teenager, I didn't put muchstock in his work, but now thatI'm in the military, I have adeeper appreciation for hisprofession. My father gavemany homeless Vietnam Warveterans in Los Angeles asecond chance. But the VAcan't shoulder this burden onits own.
Today, more help isneeded from people like youand me taking ownership ofthis problem. Donations offood, clothing or money tohomeless shelters can make animmense difference.Volunteers are always neededas well. The website of thenon-profit National Coalitionfor Homeless Veterans, forone, lists organizationsnationwide.
It's been said that the bestway to judge a nation is tomeasure how it takes care of itsold and young. Maybe weshould add homeless veteransto the list as well.
Capt. James Key is achaplain in the U.S. Army atFort Irwin, Calif.
Washington PostJanuary 17, 2008Pg. 2245. Fight In AfghanistanIt's becoming clear that thewar must be won by U.S.troops, and not by NATO.
THE BUSHadministration's decision todispatch an additional 3,200Marines to Afghanistan raisesthe question of whetherNATO's participation in thewar has been a failure. Thoughthe United States alreadyprovides more than half of the53,000 foreign troops inAfghanistan, the additionalMarines are needed because noother NATO country waswilling, despite months ofpleading and cajoling byDefense Secretary Robert M.Gates, to commit fresh forcesto the troubled southernprovinces where the Talibanhas made a comeback.
What's more, Mr. Gatesand other senior Pentagonofficials seem to have
concluded that the three NATOcountries that have beenwilling to operate in the south-- Britain, Canada and theNetherlands -- have beenrelatively ineffective. Mr.Gates told the Los AngelesTimes this week that "most ofthe European forces, NATOforces, are not trained incounterinsurgency"; thePentagon believes they are tooaverse to casualties, tooreluctant to patrol and toodependent on artillery andairstrikes. The Post's KarenDeYoung reported that U.S.commanders criticize Britishtroops for failing to retaincontrol over areas taken fromthe Taliban and for advancinga "colonial" strategy of backinglocal militias rather thanworking with the nationalAfghan army.
European diplomats andNATO's defenders furiouslyrespond that the Americancomplaints are unfounded.Almost all of the alliance'smembers have increased theircommitment to Afghanistan inthe past year, they point out,helping to raise the troop levelunder NATO command from33,000 to 41,000. The troublesin the south, they say, are theresult of NATO forcespenetrating an area that U.S.commanders had neglected,allowing the Taliban toflourish. British officials saytheir strategy in Helmandprovince is comparable to thesuccessful U.S. alliances withSunni militias in Iraq.
Certainly, NATO'sinvolvement in Afghanistanhas done some good.Deployments in more peacefulareas of the country, as well asKabul, fulfill a peacekeepingrole that might otherwise fall toAmerican troops. Thecommitment of 25 otherNATO governments (as well as13 other countries) to theAfghan mission makes theoperation more palatable bothto Afghans and to Americans.Though many countries restricttheir troops from combat, theBritish, Canadians and Dutchhave made contributions in
blood, suffering a total of 177fatalities; 480 U.S. soldiershave been killed.
It nevertheless is a goodthing that Marines rather thanEuropean soldiers will deployin Helmand province thisspring to head off any Talibanoffensive. Defeating theAfghan insurgency will requirethe United States to take on alarger part of the fighting.Success will also require U.S.commanders to insist that amore coherent, nationwidecounterinsurgency strategy bepursued -- including aggressivetraining of the Afghan armyand police, economicdevelopment that is centrallycoordinated, and a focusedattack on the opium businessthat supplies most of theTaliban's funding. If thatmeans downgrading NATO'srole or bruising the feelings ofsome allied governments, so beit.
