Lots of e-mails today, here are several that caught my attention and/or interest:
La Familia Drug Cartel: Implications for U.S.-Mexican Security - By Dr. George W. Grayson, U.S. Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute.
La Familia Michoacana burst onto the national stage on September 6, 2006, when ruffians crashed into the seedy Sol y Sombra nightclub in Uruapan, Michoacán, and fired shots into the air. They screamed at the revelers to lie down, ripped open a plastic bag, and lobbed five human heads onto the beer-stained black and white dance floor. The day before these macabre pyrotechnics, the killers seized their prey from a mechanic's shop and hacked off their heads with bowie knives while the men writhed in pain. "You don't do something like that unless you want to send a big message," said a U.S. law-enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity about an act of human depravity that would "cast a pall over the darkest nooks of hell." The desperados left behind a note hailing their act as "divine justice," adding that: "The Family doesn't kill for money; it doesn't kill women; it doesn't kill innocent people; only those who deserve to die, die. Everyone should know . . . this is divine justice." While claiming to do the "Lord's work," the ruthless leaders of this syndicate have emerged as the dominant exporter of methamphetamines to the United States, even as they control scores of municipalities in Michoacán and neighboring states.
National Museum of the Marine Corps Publishes First Book - A Legacy Walk Through Marine Corps History.
The National Museum of the Marine Corps has published its first book, A Legacy Walk through Marine Corps History, which duplicates and enhances the timeline exhibit that stretches along the Museum's Legacy Walk. The exhibit and the book detail the Marines' vital contributions to the nation and the preservation of freedom by highlighting the history of the Corps on one level and world history on a second tier. Senator John Glenn, United States Marine Corps pilot and astronaut, wrote the book's foreword, with former Secretary of State and U.S. Marine George P. Shultz contributing the introduction. Also included is an introduction by Museum Director Lin Ezell.
The Council on Foreign Relations - CFR is closely following the WikLeaks fiasco, their e-mail quoted with links follows.
I wanted to bring to your attention an interview with CFR Adjunct Senior Fellow John B. Bellinger III, "The Legal Case Against the WikiLeaks." In this interview, he says that the State Department will likely prosecute WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange under all available statutes, including the Espionage Act. He argues that the "release of this information is extremely damaging to our foreign relations and also potentially to sources of information to the State Department."
Other resources from CFR include an Expert Roundup on the impact of the WikiLeaks on U.S. diplomacy by CFR fellows; an op-ed, "Premium Cables," by CFR President Richard Haass in Newsweek; an op-ed, "Dictators, Democracies, and WikiLeaks," in The Wall Street Journal by CFR Senior Fellow Elliott Abrams; and an op-ed, "America's Facile, Self-Congratulatory Response to WikiLeaks" in The New Republic by CFR Senior Fellow Stephen Sestanovich.
Still more includes "Anglo-U.S. Relations Can Overcome WikiLeaks Fallout" by James Lindsay on his blog, The Water's Edge, originally published by the Times of London, "The Administration's Feckless Response to WikiLeaks" by Max Boot, Commentary Magazine, "WikiLeaks Accidentally Helps United States" by Leslie Gelb, The Daily Beast and "Cablegate" by Joel Hirst, Huffington Post.
Reminder: Responsible Transition Securing U.S. Interests in Afghanistan Beyond 2011 - Event announcement follows.
A discussion with Lieutenant General David W. Barno, USA (Ret.), Senior Advisor and Senior Fellow, CNAS, and former Commander of U.S. and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan; Andrew Exum Fellow, CNAS, and former Army Ranger and civilian advisor to General Stanley McChrystal; and Bob Woodward Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and Editor with The Washington Post as well as author of Obama's Wars. December 14, 2010, from 1:30-2:45 p.m., The Newseum's Knight Conference Center, 7th Floor. RSVP here.
On 7 December 2010 CNAS released a new report on U.S. Afghanistan strategy authored by CNAS Senior Advisor and Senior Fellow Lieutenant General David W. Barno, USA (Ret.), former commander of U.S. and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan; and Fellow Andrew Exum, a former Army Ranger and civilian advisor to General Stanley McChrystal. In Responsible Transition: Securing U.S. Interests in Afghanistan Beyond 2011 the authors lay out a strategy for the post-July 2011 phase of the war, define the U.S. troop presence and commitment beyond 2014, and offer operational and strategic guidance for protecting U.S. and allied long-term interests in Afghanistan and Pakistan.