Category: Intl Security

Middle East Marshall Plan

Bush Calls For A Unity Of Purpose, (Washington Post)…Dan Eggen, June 14, 2008, Pg. 11

President Bush declared here Friday that Western nations must lift up the Middle East in the same way that the United States helped war-ruined Europe rebuild after World War II.

"The rise of free and prosperous societies in the broader Middle East is essential to peace in the 21st century, just as the rise of a free and prosperous Europe was essential to peace in the 20th century,"

Bush said, addressing an audience gathered for the 60th anniversary of the U.S. reconstruction initiative known as the Marshall Plan. "Europe and America must stand with reformers, democratic leaders and millions of ordinary people across the Middle East who seek a future of hope, liberty and peace."

Iraq: Future Relationship

A Partnership With Iraq, (Washington Post)…Editorial, June 15, 2008 Pg. B6

The Shiite government signals a desire for an alliance with the United States. Shouldn’t that be welcomed?

Mr. Maliki refused. He assured his Iranian hosts that Iraq would not be a launching pad for an American attack on Iran. But he pointedly told a press briefing that negotiations on the strategic partnership would continue. He repeated that commitment on Friday, even after warning that the talks had "reached a dead end."

In effect, the Iraqi prime minister was saying that his country does not want to become an Iranian satellite but an independent Arab state that would look to the United States to ensure its security.

North Korea: Planning for change

North Korea Conundrum, (Washington Times)…Richard Halloran, June 15, 2008, Pg. B4

A former senior official in President Bush´s White House has dropped a proverbial bombshell by asserting the United States and South Korea have no coordinated plan to cope with a collapse of the North Korean regime of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il, a prospect that becomes more possible with each passing day.

Korea: The Right Balance

New USFK Commander Talks About His Priorities
(Pacific Stars and Stripes)…T.D. Flack, June 16, 2008

Just 10 days into his new command, the senior U.S. leader in South Korea sat down with Stars and Stripes to discuss what he sees as his top priorities.

I think the most difficult challenge is going to be to be able to take the structures, the organizations that we have now, that have been proven over time … and develop the new structures needed for the ROK side and our side as supporting. So … once we come to April of 2012, we have a seamless move into OPCON transfer.

The dance of doing day-to-day business and trying to transform headquarters to increase capabilities to fight the way we fight today, with (Combined Forces Command) in charge, with me in charge, and at the same time helping the ROK develop their capabilities … it’s really a ballet that we’ve got to orchestrate. … The first big test is coming up with Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise in August.

IARPA Like DARPA

Intelligence Agency Joins U-Md. Research Center, (Washington Post)…Anita Huslin, June 16, 2008, Pg. D1

…The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is the new corollary of the military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, created in 1958 in the wake of the Sputnik launch to develop new defense technologies.

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity is the new corollary of the military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, created in 1958 in the wake of the Sputnik launch to develop new defense technologies. Among other things, DARPA’s work led to the development of the Internet, global positioning systems and unmanned aircraft. IARPA is expected to perform similar work for the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.

The organization’s budget is classified. In seeking congressional funding for the agency, officials last year said that IARPA will be significantly smaller than DARPA, which has a $3 billion annual budget. Its staff will consist of 35 national intelligence and 21 CIA employees, and research will be outsourced to contractors. Focuses will be language processing, quantum science, nanotechnology, biometrics, deception detection, counter-biological warfare and tagging, tracking and locating.

Afghanistan: Compassionate Americans

U.S. Special Forces aid dying Afghan boy

“We don’t understand Americans. We have yet to understand how compassionate Americans are – how they want to help the Afghan people. When I go back, I’m sure to call my village together and tell them how they are here to help and that we should openly embrace them.”

– Ahmad, the father of a 10-year-old Afghan boy who was diagnosed by coalition doctors as having terminal cancer

Iranian People: Regard for U.S.

POST: I want to access the Iranian people.
Thomas P.M. Barnett on June 19, 2008

Comments on the following article on the need to distinguish between the desires of most of the Iranian people and their leaders.

Stars (and Stripes) in Their Eyes, Washingtopn Post, By Azadeh Moaveni, Sunday, June 1, 2008; B01

Most of the Middle East hates America, but Iranians see a more appealing image. It’s their own president they can’t stand.

Although their leaders still call America the “Great Satan,” ordinary Iranians’ affection for the United States seems to be thriving these days, at least in the bustling capital. This rekindled regard is evident in people’s conversations, their insatiable demand for U.S. products and culture, and their fascination with the U.S. presidential campaign. One can’t do reliable polling about Iranians’ views under their theocratic government, of course, but these shifts were still striking to me as a longtime visitor — not least because liking the United States is also a way for Iranians to register their frustration with their own firebrand president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

It might startle some Americans to realize that Iran has one of the most pro-American populations in the Middle East. Iranians have adored America for nearly three decades, a sentiment rooted in nostalgia for Iran’s golden days, before the worst of the shah’s repression and the 1979 Islamic revolution. But today’s affection is new, in a sense, or at least different.

Iraq: Future Options

The Right Iraq Footprint, (Washington Post)…David Ignatius, June 19, 2008, Pg. 19

“Don’t be afraid of Iraqi sovereignty,” Gen. John Abizaid used to say when he was Centcom commander. And that’s good advice now as Iraqis and Americans think about the new “status of forces” agreement that will shape the country next year when the Bush administration is gone.

The right formula, says Kilcullen, is: “Overt De-Escalation; Covert Disruption.” Indeed, our future Iraq presence may look more like covert action than traditional warfare. We’ve made a lot of friends among tribal leaders in the past several years, as the United States finally began to learn the tools of counterinsurgency. Those relationships will be important in the next phase.

Lt. Col. David Kilcullen, a retired Australian army officer and an expert in counterinsurgency. He was a key member of the team that drafted Gen. David Petraeus’s Iraq campaign plan.

Iraq: Three realities

Iraq: Still Inscrutable, (New York Times)…Thomas L. Friedman, June 18, 2008

…Iraq has become one of those subjects that so many people now come to with so much emotional scar tissue that it is very hard to have a sober discussion about the actual situation there today. So much is colored by how you feel about George Bush or whether you were for or against the war. As a result, what we do next in Iraq — how and why — is barely getting discussed in the presidential campaign.

…  three conflicting political realities … The first is the mood of the American public …  the second is the reality on the ground in Iraq, which is no longer an unremitting horror story …. The third reality, though, is the fact that the reconciliation process inside Iraq … still has not reached a point where Iraq’s stability is self-sustaining.

“When it comes to Iraq, most Americans really want to leave, but they still don’t want to lose”