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SWJ Blog is a multi-author blog publishing news and commentary on the various goings on across the broad community of practice. We gladly accept guest posts from serious voices in the community.

A Baghdad "Awakening" in the Works?

by Dave Dilegge | Fri, 10/12/2007 - 3:39pm | 3 comments

Based on previous "turning the corner" related statements and news items we may have come "full-circle" in Iraq...

• "Ladies and Gentlemen, we got him" -- Dec 03

• "Coalition forces have turned a corner in Anbar" -- Jan 04

• "The insurgency in Iraq is in its last throes" - May 05

• "The insurgency in Iraq is losing steam" -- August 05

• "I think we've turned the corner, if you will" -- December 05

• "I think, in that area, we have turned the corner" -- April 07

• "... we seem to be turning a corner" -- April 07

That said, and if true and not merely anecdotal, this latest development would be significant and contribute much to neutralizing the influence of the Mahdi Army in Baghdad -- much like the Awakening has accomplished concerning Al-Qaeda in Al Anbar.

Relations Sour Between Shiites and Iraq Militia -- Sabrina Tavernese, New York Times

In a number of Shiite neighborhoods across Baghdad, residents are beginning to turn away from the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia they once saw as their only protector against Sunni militants. Now they resent it as a band of street thugs without ideology.

The hardening Shiite feeling in Baghdad opens an opportunity for the American military, which has long struggled against the Mahdi Army, as American commanders rely increasingly on tribes and local leaders in their prosecution of the war.

The sectarian landscape has shifted, with Sunni extremists largely defeated in many Shiite neighborhoods, and the war in those places has sunk into a criminality that is often blind to sect.

In interviews, 10 Shiites from four neighborhoods in eastern and western Baghdad described a pattern in which militia members, looking for new sources of income, turned on Shiites.

The pattern appears less frequently in neighborhoods where Sunnis and Shiites are still struggling for territory. Sadr City, the largest Shiite neighborhood, where the Mahdi Army's face is more political than military, has largely escaped the wave of criminality...

It was a disparate group with one thing in common: All were Shiites killed by Shiites. Residents blamed the Mahdi Army, which controls the neighborhood...

Nothing follows.

USMC Out of Iraq?

by SWJ Editors | Fri, 10/12/2007 - 5:00am | 0 comments

Marines' Afghanistan Plan Sparks Debate -- Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post

A bid by the Marine Corps to take responsibility for the primary U.S. military mission in Afghanistan is generating a heated debate inside and outside the Pentagon, with some senior officers arguing that the Marines are ideally suited for the Afghan war while others contend that the move would undermine the counterinsurgency strategy there.

Gen. James T. Conway, the Marine Corps commandant, has raised the idea of the Marines shifting from Iraq to Afghanistan in meetings with the military's Joint Staff and the office of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. "It's just started to be discussed at senior levels," said Col. David Lapan, a Marine spokesman.

Gates yesterday played down the discussion, saying he has not yet seen any proposals. "It's . . . extremely preliminary thinking on the part of, perhaps, some staff people in the Marine Corps," Gates said during a trip to London. "I don't think at this point it has any stature."

The Marine Corps is enthusiastic about a possible move to Afghanistan, with senior officials saying yesterday that its integrated air, ground and logistics units are tailor-made for the dispersed fighting in rugged terrain...

Links:

USMC Distributed Operations - Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory

MAGTF's Rule - Abu Muqawama

A Marine Corps Move to Afghanistan Raises Questions - Westhawk

Marines Want Out of Iraq, Into Afghanistan? - Danger Room

Marines to Take Over Afghanistan? - PrairiePundit

Marines or State Department: Who Does Afghanistan? - Captain's Journal

Marines to Afghanistan? - OPFOR

Nothing follows.

SECDEF Robert Gates, 10 Oct 07 AUSA Speech

by SWJ Editors | Wed, 10/10/2007 - 7:56pm | 2 comments

Full transcript follows:

Association of the United States Army

Remarks as Delivered by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Washington, DC, Wednesday, October 10, 2007

First, I would say welcome to Washington. A city where those who travel the high road of humility encounter littler traffic. Where people often say, "I'll double-cross that bridge when I come to it." Where you can see prominent people walking down lover's lane holding their own hands.

The story Peter told about my wanting to be a doctor is true. I often tell people my decision to join CIA probably saved countless lives...

MCCLL Oct 07 Newsletter

by SWJ Editors | Wed, 10/10/2007 - 7:52pm | 0 comments

Among the articles in the October 07 issue of the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned (MCCLL) Newsletter are:

- Highlights from the recently produced MCCLL pocket guide on the subject

of Law of War, Rules of Engagement and Escalation of Force procedures.

- The results of a recent collection visit with Battery B of the 1st

Battalion, 12th Marines to discuss its tasking to conduct the Marine Corps detention operations mission as Task Force Military Police.

- The results of a recent collection visit with Marine Heavy Helicopter

Squadron 465.

- A report on lessons learned by Combat Logistics Battalion 6 concerning

its experiences performing vehicle recovery missions.

- The results of the MCCLL motorcycle safety survey and motorcycle

enthusiasts forum that resulted in numerous thoughtful comments from Marines

on motorcycle safety issues.

Nothing follows.

Rethinking the US Army

by SWJ Editors | Wed, 10/10/2007 - 4:34am | 3 comments

Rethinking the US Army -- 10 October Los Angeles Times by Peter Spiegel and Julian E. Barnes.

Absorbing the lessons of a troubled war, U.S. military officials have begun an intense debate over proposals for a sweeping reorganization of the Army to address shortcomings that have plagued the force in Iraq and to abandon some war-fighting principles that have prevailed since the Cold War...

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates is expected to weigh in today in a major address in which he will warn that the Army is unlikely to face a conventional war in the future and must reorganize to fight in unconventional conflicts...

Gates also will single out the need for changes in Army personnel policies to better recognize and reward young officers who show promise in less traditional areas, including those skilled in foreign languages and in advising foreign forces...

On the foreign military training issue:

The leading advocate of establishing a stand-alone advisor corps within the Army is Lt. Col. John Nagl, a co-author of the Army's new counterinsurgency field manual who is considered a rising star within the service.

In an article published in a policy journal in June, Nagl, who served as an operations officer in a battalion in Iraq three years ago, proposed a permanent force of 20,000 advisors...

"If we need advisory teams for a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan, it makes sense to build this force structure permanently," Nagl said.

In his speech, Gates is expected to emphasize that such training missions could prevent future wars...

Related from today's New York Times - Faster Army Expansion Plan Approved.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has approved a plan to ease the strain of two wars on the military by increasing the size of the active-duty Army to 547,000 by 2010, two years sooner than planned, officials said Tuesday.

Mr. Gates approved the accelerated timetable in a Sept. 26 memo that also barred the Army from reaching the goal by lowering its recruiting standards or employing "stop loss," a practice of prohibiting soldiers from retiring...

John Burns on Iraq and Journalism

by SWJ Editors | Tue, 10/09/2007 - 1:12pm | 0 comments

Charlie Rose Show - John Burns - 8 October 2007

A Discussion about Iraq and Journalism

Nothing follows.

Charlie Rose: An Hour with Dave Kilcullen

by SWJ Editors | Mon, 10/08/2007 - 2:59pm | 4 comments

Charlie Rose Show - Dr. David Kilcullen

Transcript: Charlie Rose Interview with David Kilcullen - International Herald Tribune

Blackwater Fights Back

by Dave Dilegge | Mon, 10/08/2007 - 2:33pm | 1 comment

As a subscriber to Blackwater's weekly e-mail newsletter, I was beginning to wonder when the PMC would respond via the 'Net and Blogosphere on recent events. Today's newsletter links to two new additions to the Private Security Blogosphere portion of Blackwater Tactical Weekly -- not 'official Blackwater' pages - but in support. Links follow with a lead-in to their latest posts.

Blackwater Facts

One of the deans of Washington's journalistic community describes how trial lawyers are driving the anti-Blackwater movement.

In his October 8 Washington Post piece, syndicated columnist Robert Novak tells how an ambulance-chasing attorney crafted Congressman Henry Waxman's hearings against Blackwater. Novak cites the December, 2006 letter from a California trial lawyer requesting that incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Waxman (D-CA) probe Blackwater...

Blackwater Reporting

With so much negative news coverage of Blackwater in recent weeks, one would expect that its October 3 rescue of the Polish Ambassador to Iraq after an assassination attempt would be front-and-center in the initial press reports.

Most of the early reports buried the Blackwater reference deep into their stories. Here's an initial survey of the coverage, as surveyed online, late on October 3. Some of the stories will have been updated but on the same links, so the emphasis might change. Even so, here's what we found...

Nothing follows.

Great Generalship

by SWJ Editors | Mon, 10/08/2007 - 6:07am | 0 comments

By Wayne Mastin

An interesting discussion thread entitled "Who are the great generals?" has been running for quite a while on the Small Wars Council. I suspect that most of those reading the posts on this thread are looking for a list, preferably very short, of the qualities that justify one in assigning the adjective "great" to senior military officers. In other words, what the readers and posters are seeking are the characteristics that are jointly necessary and sufficient to identify outstanding generals. I further suspect that we can probably agree on a few necessary conditions. However, the truly elusive piece will be gaining agreement on the sufficient condition or conditions. In fact, I doubt that we can propound such a list of traits upon which we can all agree. However, I think that this should not cause us to despair. The discussion is not just an academic exercise in military history. It is, instead, an effort, to identify the sorts of things our officer selection, evaluation, and promotion processes ought to key on and our training institutions ought to emphasize in officer professional development activities...

More from the AFJ

by SWJ Editors | Sun, 10/07/2007 - 2:58am | 3 comments

Additional articles recently posted by Armed Forces Journal.

Washington's War by Colonel Douglas MacGregor (USA Ret.)

The human and material cost of America's occupation of Iraq is reaching a climax. The ongoing "surge" of ground combat troops into Baghdad and its surroundings is producing higher U.S. casualties, exacerbating intersectarian violence and draining the last reserves of American patience.

Like the French Army in Algeria and the British Army in Ireland, the generals in Baghdad are discovering that soldiers and Marines in Iraq control only what they stand on, and when they no longer stand on it, they don't control it. Meanwhile, the Army grinds itself to pieces while the national military leader¬ship stands by watching, clinging to the promise of more troops for a larger ground force in the future — a promise that is irrelevant to the challenge we now face: getting out of Iraq...

More...

Small Wars, Big Ideas

by SWJ Editors | Sun, 10/07/2007 - 2:42am | 0 comments

Armed Forces Journal article Small Wars, Big Ideas by Christopher Griffin.

... So, what is Kilcullen doing in the blogosphere? He's been there for some time, contributing to the Small War Journal (SWJ) site through a series of postings on their general blog. Founded by a pair of Marines, Dave Dilegge and Bill Nagle, and named in homage to the Corps' legendary "Small Wars Manual," the SWJ provides a combination of blogs, discussion boards, and links to its readers. The SWJ is one of the finest resources on the Internet for the student of counterinsurgency, and has attracted leading experts to contribute to its balanced, informative blog...

Korean War Sunday

by Dave Dilegge | Sun, 10/07/2007 - 1:50am | 0 comments

"Remembered for Being Forgotten"

Many more...

Oldies Sunday

by Dave Dilegge | Sun, 10/07/2007 - 1:48am | 0 comments

Kosovo - Norwegian Soldiers

More - Amarillo and British Army Amphibious Assault...

Strategic Communication: A Tool for Asymmetric Warfare

by SWJ Editors | Sat, 10/06/2007 - 5:54am | 2 comments

By Emily Goldman

Strategic communication is a vital activity for supporting our military operations and national interest. Information can affect attitudes, and ultimately behavior. It is one of the most important tools we have to shape the battlefield months and years in advance. It is indispensable now for fighting adversaries who employ non-traditional and asymmetric means. It can be effective in shaping memories of the past as well as planning for the future...

Concerned Anthropologists or Scared Anthropologists?

by SWJ Editors | Fri, 10/05/2007 - 7:25pm | 3 comments

Two petitions; one "actual", one in sardonic rebuttal; are making the rounds concerning anthropology and the military.

We report, you decide...

Parameters Autumn 2007

by SWJ Editors | Thu, 10/04/2007 - 5:02pm | 0 comments

The Autumn 2007 issue of the US Army War College's Parameters is posted.

Parameters, a refereed journal of ideas and issues... Highly recommended.

More, plus links to individual articles, book reviews...

CSIS Smart Power

by Dave Dilegge | Thu, 10/04/2007 - 4:47pm | 0 comments

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) recently launched the CSIS Commission on Smart Power blog. the Smart Power blog is part of the bipartisan Commission on Smart Power chaired by former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage and Harvard University's Joseph Nye.

More...

COIN Seminar: Dr. David Kilcullen

by Dave Dilegge | Mon, 10/01/2007 - 5:22pm | 8 comments

'Day job hat' on here. I, along with Capt Josh Cusworth of the Small Wars Center of Excellence, had the privilege of organizing a Counterinsurgency (COIN) seminar featuring Dr. David Kilcullen on 26 September at Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia...

Strategic Communication Plan for Afghanistan

by SWJ Editors | Mon, 10/01/2007 - 5:15pm | 0 comments

Hat Tip to MountainRunner for his post on the new DoD Strategic Communication Plan for Afghanistan dated 12 September 2007.

In order to augment our ongoing efforts in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense has developed the attached DOD Strategic Communication (SC) Plan for Afghanistan. This SC plan supports and complements NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operations.

This SC plan directs all DoD organizations to begin execution immediately according to their specified duties and responsibilities. The plan is dynamic, and will continue to be updated and modified as Coalition efforts in Afghanistan evolve. To ensure the successful execution of this plan, DoD leaders are requested to provide the appropriate support to the designated lead organizations. Please review the attached SC plan to identify your responsibilities.

The DoD Strategic Communication Integration Group (SCIG) Secretariat stands ready to work with you and your staff on this important effort...

MountainRunner comments:

There's a lot in this document, including hits and misses. Addressed only to the DOD members of the Strategic Communication Integration Group, and not the Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, it identifies key elements of strategic communications, including those in which DOD is not the lead...

Nothing follows.

Non-Linear Intuition

by SWJ Editors | Mon, 10/01/2007 - 1:30am | 18 comments

Non-Linear Intuition

A Fundamental Requirement for Military Leaders and why they should read Clausewitz

by MAJ Rob Thornton

September 11th, 2001 was a watershed event in that it was a vividly graphic demonstration of a war declared by a non-state actor on our domestic soil -- perhaps not since the British sacked Washington D.C. in the War of 1812 has a foreign entity extended its power across an ocean to threaten us here -- what made it all the more frightening was that they had obtained the means to attack us within the confines of our own country. The attacks of 9/11 had both a physical and a moral presence and altered the collective way in which we had considered the world before it occurred. It was the catalyst which changed the way Americans thought about securities and liberties, created organizations and legislations, created a stronger relationship between domestic and foreign policy and has led to our waging war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and on a much broader sense deployments world wide in the Global War on Terror. By most estimates the way we consider the world (and the way in which the world considers us) has changed permanently, and we may well be in a state of persistent conflict for decades to come -- a generational struggle as it has been called by some...

Weapon of Choice (Updated)

by SWJ Editors | Sun, 09/30/2007 - 3:25am | 0 comments

Weapon of Choice - Rick Atkinson, Washington Post, and General Montgomery Meigs, Joint IED Defeat Organzation

Additional Video Interviews Concerning IEDs - Washington Post

More...

Vietnam Sunday

by Dave Dilegge | Sun, 09/30/2007 - 2:51am | 1 comment

The Wall

More...

Small Wars, No Small Debate

by SWJ Editors | Sat, 09/29/2007 - 2:56am | 1 comment

Herschel Smith, Captain's Journal, weighs in with two posts concerning LTC Gian Gentile's Armed Forces Journal article Eating Soup With a Spoon and 'hard vs. soft' COIN:

Small Wars are Still Wars

... I cannot possibly hope to recapitulate the breadth or depth of discussion in the thread at the Small Wars Council, but would hasten to point out several things concerning the discussion now that the subject has become a little more ripe and the argument is slowing. First, I agree wholeheartedly with Gentile's rebuke of the notion that counterinsurgency is "armed social science." Second, concerning Dr. Metz's statement that "we treat counterinsurgency as a variant of war not because that is the most strategically effective approach, but because we have been unable to transcend Cold War thinking," I respond that counterinsurgency has been a variant of war since at least the Roman empire (which faced a Jewish insurgency in Jerusalem), or even before. In recent history, all one needs for proof of principal is the Small Wars Manual, published in 1940, well before the cold war...

A Modest Proposal

There is yet another discussion thread at the Small Wars Journal that convinces me that I must try one more time to explain the involvement that coalition forces should have with culture and religion in a counterinsurgency campaign. Much confusion swirls around this issue because, in part, people reflexively respond (a) by assuming that you are calling for a holy war, or (b) assuming that your mindset is one of a social scientist hunting for another lever to pull or button to push to cause certain reactions. The former category reacts to my modest proposal by denying that religion should have any role in how one man relates to another, with the later category honestly attempting to engage the issue, but as counterinsurgency professionals using ideas such as center of gravity and societal power structure. Neither camp really gets it yet. So let's use two simple examples that might show how religion and cultural understanding might aid the counterinsurgency effort in Iraq. These examples are not meant to be sweeping or comprehensive, nor am I constructing doctrine in a short, simple little article. I am attempting to make this simple rather than complex...

Discussion on these issues can be found at the following SWJ and SWC links:

Will the Petraeus Strategy Be the Last? by Bing West

Armed Forces Journal by SWJ Editors

Eating Soup with a Spoon - Small Wars Council

Engaging the Mosque - Small Wars Council

IHT Op Ed: A Soldier in Iraq - Small Wars Council

Iraq and the "Metrics" System

by SWJ Editors | Fri, 09/28/2007 - 7:21am | 1 comment

September 2007 Foreign Policy Research Institute E-note - Iraq and the "Metrics" System by Michael Noonan. Hat tip to Frank Hoffman for sending this along.

Michael P. Noonan is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he served on a Military Transition Team with an Iraqi Army light infantry battalion. He is the managing director of FPRI's national security program.

The past few weeks have introduced a whirlwind of reporting on the current situation in Iraq. In particular, the reports of the Independent Commission on the Security Forces in Iraq, the U.S. General Accountability Office's report, and the September 10-11, 2007 testimonies of Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker and Army General David Petraeus before the House and Senate Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, respectively, have caused much debate and political mudslinging. The pro- and anti-Bush camps tend to see such reports entirely through their own analytical prism. Worse still, each side has some ground to stand on in making their particular arguments, because the metrics for judging success or retrogression on the ground are often inexact and therefore can yield contradictory findings for or against the war. That being said, the surge and refined counterinsurgency strategy that began earlier this year does appear to be working. Whether the metrics continue on an upward path remains to be seen; still, given the consequences of defeat, they suggest that the current strategy should be allowed to continue until the spring, at which time a fuller picture of the situation on the ground should determine whether the strategy should be totally reexamined and other options undertaken. What follows is a discussion of the surge strategy, the abovementioned reports, and the options moving forward to provide more context and evidence for the position stated above...

Read the entire E-note.

Dipnote

by SWJ Editors | Thu, 09/27/2007 - 5:00am | 8 comments

The U.S. Department of State has launched its first blog -- Dipnote. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Sean McCormack:

Welcome to the State Department's first-ever blog, Dipnote. As a communicator for the Department, I have the opportunity to do my fair share of talking on a daily basis. With the launch of Dipnote, we are hoping to start a dialogue with the public. More than ever, world events affect our daily lives--what we see and hear, what we do, and how we work. I hope Dipnote will provide you with a window into the work of the people responsible for our foreign policy, and will give you a chance to be active participants in a community focused on some of the great issues of our world today.

With Dipnote we are going to take you behind the scenes at the State Department and bring you closer to the personalities of the Department. We are going to try and break through some of the jargon and talk about how we operate around the world.

We invite you to participate in this community, and I am looking forward to stepping away from my podium every now and then into the blogosphere. Let the conversation begin.

Also see the DoS Video / Audio page and YouTube channel.

Hat Tip MountainRunner

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