Iraq: Looking back and forward

Why We Went To Iraq (Wall Street Journal)…Fouad Ajami, June 4, 2008, Pg. 21

“In the end, how we leave and what we leave behind will be more important than how we came.”

America had not been prepared for nation-building in Iraq;

… As America’s pact with the Arab autocrats had hatched a monster, it was logical and prudent to look for a new way.

… It is not easy to tell people of threats and dangers they have been spared. The war put on notice regimes and conspirators who had harbored dark thoughts about America and who, in the course of the 1990s, were led to believe that terrible deeds against America would go unpunished. A different lesson was taught in Iraq.

… Nowadays, the burden of the war, in blood and treasure, is easy to see, while the gains, subtle and real, are harder to demonstrate. Last month, American casualties in Iraq were at their lowest since 2003. The Sunnis also have broken with al Qaeda, and the Shiite-led government has taken the war to the Mahdi Army:

China: The Long View

Reticent Reconciliation (Washington Times)…Chris O’Brien, June 5, 2008, Pg. B1

…In Honolulu, Cmdr. Jeffrey Breslau, chief spokesman for the Pacific Command, told The Washington Times that the command “is taking a long view” of China-Taiwan relations. Translation: “We are trying to get across the point that increased tensions don’t benefit anybody,” said one U.S. officer, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Iran: Pursuit of peace …

Chief Cleric Says Iran Doesn’t Seek Nuclear Arms
(New York Times)…Nazila Fathi

Iran’s supreme religious leader vowed Tuesday that his country would pursue a peaceful atomic energy program and had no interest in nuclear weapons, calling them expensive and useless.

S. Korea: In the news …

Combined a few snippets on current event in Korea.

New USFK Chief Tours DMZ. (Korea Herald)…Kim Ji-hyun June 5, 2008.

Gen. Walter L. Sharp, the new commander of the United States Forces Korea, yesterday toured key military points, including the Joint Security Area and Panmunjeom in the Demilitarized Zone. The new commander will also be heading the United Nations Command and the Combined Forces Command. The change of the command is viewed as significant in the alliance between South Korea and the United States, as Sharp has operational control over Seoul’s 600,000-strong military during times of war. This control, however, will be transferred to Seoul in April 2012.

Gates Approves Of 3-Year Tours For U.S. Troops In South Korea. (New York Times)

…Eric Schmitt. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Tuesday that he supported extending the tours of thousands of troops stationed here to three years and allowing their spouses and children to live with them during their assignments.

Military Alliance With U.S. Boosted. (Washington Times).

..Jong-Heon Lee, United Press International. The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States agreed Tuesday to bolster their alliance, which has been tested over fierce protests here against U.S. beef imports and a revival of anti-American sentiment.

N. Korea – Syria and Proliferation

Talks Are Best Approach To N. Korea, Gates Says, (Los Angeles Times)…Peter Spiegel

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Tuesday that despite intelligence allegedly showing that North Korea aided Syria in developing a nuclear facility, the United States would continue six-party talks with the communist regime over its nuclear program.

North Korea Has Confined Nuclear Help, Gates Says. (Wall Street Journal)…Yochi J. Dreazen

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. had no evidence that North Korea was helping countries other than Syria develop nuclear capabilities, playing down a longstanding concern about Pyongyang.

China: Cyber Warfare

China’s Cyber-Militia, BY SHANE HARRIS, NATIONAL JOURNAL

Computer hackers in China, including those working on behalf of the Chinese government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems of U.S. companies and government agencies, stolen proprietary information from American executives in advance of their business meetings in China, and, in a few cases, gained access to electric power plants in the United States, possibly triggering two recent and widespread blackouts in Florida and the Northeast, according to U.S. government officials and computer-security experts.

Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, the chief of U.S. Strategic Command, said that the Pentagon has its own cyberwar plans. “Our challenge is to define, shape, develop, deliver, and sustain a cyber-force second to none,” Chilton told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Air Force is in the process of setting up a Cyberspace Command, headed by a two-star general and comprising about 160 individuals assigned to a handful of bases. As Wired noted in a recent profile, Cyberspace Command “is dedicated to the proposition that the next war will be fought in the electromagnetic spectrum and that computers are military weapons.”

“You used to need an army to wage a war,” … “Now all you need is an Internet connection.”

Al Qaeda: Setbacks, Strategic Defeats

Al Qaeda On The Run (Wall Street Journal)…Editorial, May 31, 2008
Pg. 10

…It is far too soon to declare victory over al Qaeda. Still, Mr. Hayden’s upbeat assessment is encouraging, and it suggests that President Bush’s strategy of taking the battle to the terrorists is making America safer.

CIA Director Michael Hayden painted a far more optimistic picture in an interview yesterday in the Washington Post. “On balance, we are doing pretty well,” he said. “Near strategic defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq. Near strategic defeat for al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. Significant setbacks for al Qaeda globally – and here I’m going to use the word ‘ideologically’ – as a lot of the Islamic world pushes back on their form of Islam.”

UAVs – Smart Bomb of Iraq War

Up In The Sky, An Unblinking Eye. (Newsweek)…John Barry and Evan Thomas, June 9, 2008

The hundreds of drones cruising over Iraq and Afghanistan have changed war forever.

The UAV is the “smart bomb” of the Iraq War … . Army drones alone flew more than 46,450 hours in March.

Interesting history on the challenges and political in-fighting associated with the development of UAV capability.

Iraq SysAdmin: Core processess and systems

New Contracts Reflect Continued Presence In Iraq. (Washington Post)…Walter Pincus, June 2, 2008, Pg. 11

The depth of U.S. involvement in Iraq and the difficulty the next president will face in pulling personnel out of the country are illustrated by a handful of new contract proposals made public in May.

… mentors will assist an U.S. military group that previously began to implement what are described as “core processes and systems,” such as procurement, contracting, force development, management and budgeting, and public affairs.

Reference to core processes and systems caught my attention. Systems typically determine over 94% of results.

More info on SysAdmin.

Iraq Casualties – Positive Trends

U.S. Deaths In Iraq Fell Sharply In May. (New York Times)…Andrew E. Kramer, June 2, 2008, Pg. 5

…There have been troughs in American casualty rates before, only to be followed by increases. Just on Sunday, an American soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. The military has instead focused on falling rates of enemy attacks, among other indicators, as a measure of improving security.

Details on Casualties information – Iraq, Afghanistan.