05 Civil War – Page 98 – Public Intelligence Blog

Italian Troops Denied Access To Intelligence Reports, Minister Says

Richard Owen TimesOnline (UK) October 20, 2009

Italy is denied full access to intelligence assessments in Afghanistan, a restriction that affects its troops' ability to operate safely and hampers allied co-ordination, the Italian Foreign Minister said yesterday.

The lack of co-ordination and pooled intelligence between Nato forces was a widespread problem, Franco Frattini said. “We have repeatedly raised this issue,” he added. …

Mr Frattini said the problem was that intelligence was “the only resource not put at the disposal of everyone”. He said that in Herat, which is under Italian and Spanish command, there was excellent co-ordination with Spanish forces, “but if I want to leave Herat to go to Kandahar it is another matter”.

Continue reading “Journal: Multinational Operations 101”

2009/10/202009/10/20

Journal: How NOT to Decide on Afghanistan

02 China, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 05 Iran, 06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Ethics, Government, Methods & Process, Military, Policy, Reform, Strategy, Threats

The Real Reason for More Troops in Afghanistan

Michael Gaddy LouRockwell.com October 20, 2009Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of our quest for empire over the past six decades realizes that Obama’s contemplation of whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan is simply those who control him providing Obama with the opportunity to look “presidential.” The decision to send additional troops was reached prior to the situational comedy of General McChrystal’s leaked “confidential report” to the Washington Post and Obama’s National Security Advisor’s public admonishment of McChrystal’s failure to follow the chain of command. All of this is nothing but a well-rehearsed, though poorly camouflaged hoax. Additional troops will be sent to Afghanistan within a very short period of time and Obama really has no say in the matter. The question is: why?

Continue reading “Journal: How NOT to Decide on Afghanistan”

2009/10/152009/10/16

Journal: Afghanistan, Biden, Baer, & Brains

03 India, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 10 Security, Communities of Practice, Ethics, History, Peace Intelligence, Policy, Reform, Strategy, True Cost

Full Story Online

Rethink Afghanistan Part Six

Robert Baer, a former CIA field operative says, “The notion that we're in Afghanistan to make our country safer is just complete bullshit… what it's doing is causing us greater danger, no question about it. Because the more we fight in Afghanistan, the more the conflict is pushed across the border into Pakistan, the more we destabilize Pakistan, the more likely it is that a fundamentalist government will take over the army — and we'll have Al-Qaeda like groups with nuclear weapons.”

Full Story Online

U.S. troop funds diverted to pet projects

Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops. . . . . . .

Full Story Online

Why Joe Biden Should Resign

Citing a Newsweek story: “Can I just clarify a factual point? How much will we spend this year on Afghanistan?” Someone provided the figure: $65 billion. “And how much will we spend on Pakistan?” Another figure was supplied: $2.25 billion. “Well, by my calculations that's a 30-to-1 ratio in favor of Afghanistan. So I have a question. Al Qaeda is almost all in Pakistan, and Pakistan has nuclear weapons. And yet for every dollar we're spending in Pakistan, we're spending $30 in Afghanistan. Does that make strategic sense?” The White House Situation Room fell silent.

Continue reading “Journal: Afghanistan, Biden, Baer, & Brains”

2009/10/10

Journal: “Pakistan Act” Weakens National Security

05 Civil War, 10 Security, Collective Intelligence, Government, Peace Intelligence

In opposition to the Pakistan Act, sponsored byBarbara Boxer [D-CA], Thomas Carper [D-DE], Robert Casey [D-PA], Hillary Clinton [D-NY], Christopher Dodd [D-CT], Richard Durbin [D-IL], Charles Hagel [R-NE], John Kerry [D-MA], Richard Lugar [R-IN], Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI], Ron Paul offers some thoughts worthy of consideration.

Phi Beta Iota: The Republic is now confronted with both an Executive and a Legislative Branch that make decisions without regard to strategy, holistic reality-based appreciations, or public discourse on costs and benefits. The Administration is proposing, and Congress is approving, without serious thought and without regard to the best interests of the American public. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are turning in their graves.

2009/10/072009/10/07

Journal: Chuck Spinney and Pat Buchanan on Groupthinking Apparat Moves to Finish Off Obama

05 Civil War, 10 Security, Ethics, Government, Military, Peace Intelligence

Chuck Spinney Sends: The attached article, “Generals Open New Front in Washington,” by Pat Buchanan describes how the time honored practice of Versailles Groupthink is now closing in to circumscribe President Obama's strategic options in Afghanistan and Pakistan, much as it did to Lyndon Johnson during Vietnam.

Note how the “strategic” options for Afghanistan are boiling down to a consensus view of an either/or decision. Either a large escalation of US ground forces or an escalation of destabilizing Predator attacks, particularly in Pakistan, or a compromise on some combination of the two. In all cases, there will be a large increase in the size of the Afghan Army. That questionable enterprise is taken as a given by the emerging consensus view. If Buchanan is right about this either/or choice … Obama is being set up big time by advisors, because, as near as I can tell, Obama has no access to outside or dissenting views. There is no third or fourth way, because there is no one in the role of George Ball to just say no (who LBJ ignored much to his chagrin), and there is no one on Capital Hill with political or military smarts or the stature to shape a third, more practical alternative. Continue reading “Journal: Chuck Spinney and Pat Buchanan on Groupthinking Apparat Moves to Finish Off Obama”

2009/09/292009/09/29

Journal: Early Warning on Further Destabilization from Afghanistan and India into Pakistan

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 10 Security, Government, Military, Peace Intelligence

Full Story Online

In an exclusive interview with Foreign Policy Journal, retired Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul responds to charges that he supports terrorism, discusses 9/11 and ulterior motives for the war on Afghanistan, claims that the U.S., Israel, and India are behind efforts to destabilize Pakistan, and charges the U.S. and its allies with responsibility for the lucrative Afghan drug trade.

Ex-ISI Chief Says Purpose of New Afghan Intelligence Agency RAMA Is ‘to destabilize Pakistan’

August 12, 2009 by Jeremy R. Hammond

Continue reading “Journal: Early Warning on Further Destabilization from Afghanistan and India into Pakistan”

2009/09/262009/09/26

Journal: Integrity, Afghanistan, & The White House

02 Diplomacy, 05 Civil War, 08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Ethics, Military, Peace Intelligence

SMALL WARS JOURNAL

This Week at War: America's Last Counterinsurgent?

McChrystal report unwittingly slays counterinsurgency doctrine

September 25, 2009

Robert Haddock

This summer the U.S. government has faced a deteriorating crisis in Afghanistan. Such crises tend to force policymakers to face up to the facile assumptions they have previously made. Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s report to his civilian masters on the faltering counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan has caused President Barack Obama and his advisers to face up to their basic assumptions about U.S. objectives and strategies for perhaps the first time. Obama and his team seem very likely to conclude from this long overdue examination of first principles that it will be impractical for the U.S. to successfully implement a counterinsurgency campaign plan in Afghanistan. McChrystal’s assessment has unwittingly tossed the U.S. military’s counterinsurgency field manual into the shredder. McChrystal’s report is brutally honest about the troubles in Afghanistan.

Click on title above for complete article, below for Phi Beta Iota comment and links to three “fix” pieces.

Continue reading “Journal: Integrity, Afghanistan, & The White House”