Progress in Iraq – How to measure?

OPINION: Success In Iraq: A Media Blackout (New York Post)…Ralph Peters, May 20, 2008

DO we still have troops in Iraq? Is there still a conflict over there?

Progress in Iraq – Kurdistan

We Are Making Progress In Iraq, (Wall Street Journal)…Nechirvan Barzani, May 20, 2008, Pg. 21

While the media offers mostly images of violence, and many Americans have grown weary of the war in Iraq, I bring hopeful news to Washington this week as I meet with the administration and members of Congress.

Mr. Barzani is prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq.

Global Peace Index

US And Russia Ranked Among Least Peaceful Nations, by (Financial Times)…James Blitz

An annual study ranking nations in terms of how peaceful they are has given poor marks to the US and Russia, placing them firmly in the bottom half of a list of 140 states.

The Global Peace Index is drawn up by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an independent think-tank, together with the UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit. It tests each nation against 24 “peacefulness” criteria, including a nation’s relations with its neighbours, arms sales and foreign troop deployments.

I’m somewhat of a collector of indices .. aim is to find one or more that will provide indicators of progress over time.

Cost of War … two sides of the issue

EDITORIAL: The Price Of War? Obscuring the debate with fuzzy math.
(Washington Times)…Chris Duquette, May 9, 2008, pg. 21

Editorial provided a counter argument to economist Joseph Stiglitz, author of the book: “The Three-Trillion Dollar War”, that the war is the cause of our recession, contributed to the increase in the cost of war, and added to our national debt.

Editorial provides more facts on the debate: Rise in oil prices can be attributed to global demand and the weakening dollar. We are not in a recession as defined as two straight quarters of negative economic growth , and regarding debt, relative to an annual U.S. GDP of $14 trillion, the war is not unaffordable.

Information power in countering terrorists

ARTICLE: Report: U.S. Must Counter Al-Qaeda On Web
(USA Today)…Unattributed, pg. 9A.

The United States must develop a communications plan to counter radical Islamic messages on the Internet, according to a new congressional report.

Information one of the more critical elements of national power.

Wild Cards – National Power

ARTICLE: Where The Wild Cards Are (Washington Post)…David Ignatius, May 8, 2008
Pg. 23

The potentially transforming events in the 2008 campaign are matters of war and peace. Both may be in play between now and November, in ways that add extra volatility to the presidential race. Let’s start with war: The United States is already fighting two of them, in Iraq and Afghanistan. But judging from recent statements by administration officials, there is also a small, but growing, chance of conflict with Iran.

The 2008 campaign has been so mesmerizing that it’s easy to forget what’s going on out in the real world that could disrupt, once again, the certitudes of the pollsters and strategists. The campaign in recent weeks has focused on pocketbook issues because of worries about a deep recession. But as these economic anxieties fade a bit, we are likely to return to the ground zero of the Middle East, and to the themes of war and peace that will be interwoven through the remainder of this campaign.

War Analysts – Retired Military Officers

ARTICLE: House Calls For Probe Of War Analysts, Associated Press, Tampa Tribune
May 3, 2008

WASHINGTON – Forty-one House members are calling on the Defense Department inspector general to investigate a public relations effort that relied on retired military officers to defend the administration’s Iraq war policies.

“When the Department of Defense misleads the American people by having them believe that they are listening to the views of objective military analysts when, in fact, these individuals are simply replaying DoD talking points, the department is clearly betraying the public trust,” the lawmakers wrote in a joint letter to Defense Department Inspector General Claude M. Kicklighter on Friday.

Retired officers who acted as military analysts for major news outlets were given plum access to the Pentagon, with regular briefings by then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and a sponsored trip to the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba.

Response – Retired Military Officers

ARTICLE: The Pentagon’s Message, And Ours: 5 Analysts Reply — (Letter) (New York Times)…Thomas G. McInerney, Paul E. Vallely, Charles T. Nash, William V. Cowan and Wayne Simmons, New York Times, May 1, 2008

We object to “Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand” (front page, April 20) and its assertion that military analysts are tools of a Pentagon propaganda machine.

TV Military Analysts – Objectivity Questioned

ARTICLE: Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand, By David, Barstow, New York Times, April 20, 2008

The Pentagon has cultivated “military analysts” in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the Bush administration’s wartime performance.

“…The rules are simple, folks: If you work for a defense contractor, run a defense “consulting” firm or collect a check for sitting on a defense-industry board, you’re tainted.” Ralph Peters, columnist, retired US Army officer.