The Political Conundrum!

After seven years of forced silence, a government whistleblower is opening up on what she learned while working as a Turkish translator for the FBI in the wake of 9/11. And in sworn testimony Sibel Edmonds described a Pentagon where key personnel helped pass defense secrets to foreign agents or provided them names of officials vulnerable to blackmail or co-option.

Taliban Terror in Pakistan

The war between the Taliban and Pakistan continues to accelerate. Just last weekend, Pakistan’s army responded to a long string of Taliban attacks by launching a massive ground operation in Waziristan.

But through this already-long fight, the press and other observers have only focused on the continuing bloodshed rather than the fact that the Taliban continue to launch suicide bombers and other types of attacks inside Pakistan’s cities against its police and military forces. We warned that the Taliban’s war on Pakistan’s government and civil society, would widen since the assassination of Prime Minister elect Benazir Bhutto in December 2007. And so it is today.

It is unfortunate, but nevertheless true, that he most important events – the worst events -- in this war have yet to happen. And analysts must focus on the lessons learned so far so that the worrying projections can be accompanied with parallel policy suggestions.

The jihadi campaign in Pakistan was planned years ago, but the electoral victory in 2007 of the secular Party of the People, headed traditionally by the Bhutto clan, triggered an acceleration of the Taliban general offensive. Initially the Mullahs of the most radical Salafists on the face of Earth – in partnership with al Qaeda -- wanted to seize Pakistan gradually, with further infiltration. They were building their “Emirate” sanctuary in Waziristan and beyond, while penetrating the intelligence agencies and other segments of the bureaucracy.

But since September 2008 when Benazir’s widower Asif Ali Zardari was elected as new President and as he clearly pledged to fight “terrorism,” the Taliban leaped to preempt his designs. In one short year, they escalated their attacks reaching a point 60 miles from Islamabad last April. That week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that Zardari's government was "abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists."

In fact when the Jihadist forces entered the Swat valley and began heading towards the capital’s suburbs, the country’s Government was tested strategically. I told Fox News then that this was a “red line.” Crossing it towards Islamabad meant a Taliban advance all over the country. But if the Army would cross it in reverse, it would mean a full fledge war against the Taliban. And in fact it did happen, as we can see today. So what are the lessons so far?

Regional cooperation has played an increasingly important role in international efforts to counter terrorism in recent years. Now Iran, the most active state sponsor of terrorism, claims it wants to get into the act.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the need for regional cooperation against terrorism during a phone conversation Monday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. The Iranian President said the “Campaign against terrorism would yield fruit only through the presence and joint cooperation of countries in the region," according to Xinhua, the Chinese news agency.

Ahmadinejad’s ostensible embracement of regional cooperation comes after his country’s most powerful ox was gored. When five officials of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, including the deputy leader, and about 40 other people were killed and dozens wounded in a deadly bomb attack Sunday in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan near Iran's border with Pakistan. Iranian officials accused the United States, British and Pakistan intelligence agencies of being involved in the attack and called for retaliation. These countries strongly denied by the accusations and condemned the bombings.

Iran’s accusations sound like another case of Iranian leaders blaming outsiders for their problems. The Baluchi insurgent group Jundallah — or Soldiers of God — took responsibility for the bombings, which included a roadside attack on a car full of Guards, near the city of Pishin. The Baluchi minority, who are Sunnis, have long chaffed at Tehran’s Shiite-lead rule and hardly need the help of outsiders to pick and track targets on their own territory.

Ahmadinjad now calls for regional cooperation against terrorism. This is the height chutzpah from a leader not known for understatement. Iran has been behind major terrorist attacks against the United States, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. It is a major backer of Hamas and helped create Hezbollah, terrorist groups whose trademarks are suicide bombings and firing of rockets against Israeli civilian targets. Ahmadinejad, furthermore has called for the destruction of Israel, a member of the United Nations, not exactly the stance of a leader who is against terrorism.

Iran’s main regional partner in terrorism, in addition to Hamas and Hezbollah is Syria, which also is on the State Department’s list of countries that are formally designated as repeated supporters of international terrorism and subject to resulting sanctions.

Iran’s newly found show of support for regional cooperation against terrorism comes coincidentally after a useful conference on the subject held earlier this month by The Center on Global Counterterrorism, a non-government agency that promotes stronger international cooperation against terrorism.

At the Center’s day-long conference held in Washington on Oct 8, speakers from the United Nations, Africa, South Asia, the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism, and emphasized the usefulness in working through regional organizations to enhance working relationships among neighboring countries.
One speaker, Raphael Perl of the Organization for Security and Cooperation In Europe, proposed that the regional organizations develop a cooperative alliance.

The Department of Defense announced today major units scheduled to deploy as part of upcoming rotations of forces operating in Afghanistan. The announcement involves two active duty brigade combat teams totaling 7,700 personnel, and one National Guard brigade with approximately 3,500 personnel. The scheduled rotation for these forces will begin in the spring of 2010.

Specific units receiving deployment orders include:

1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.

2^nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment (SCR), Vilseck, Germany

2^nd Brigade Combat Team, 34^th Infantry Division, Iowa National Guard

The spring/summer rotation of the 1st BCT, 101^st Airborne Division (3,700 personnel) and the 2^nd SCR (4,000 personnel) continues the U.S. commitment to maintain the current level of forces assigned to the NATO-International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

The 2^nd BCT, 34^th Infantry Division will begin deploying in the fall of 2010 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom to continue ongoing operations and training of the Afghan National Security Forces. They are receiving alert orders now in order to provide them the maximum time to complete their preparations. It also provides a greater measure of predictability for family members and flexibility for employers to plan for military service of their employees.

Additionally, the secretary of defense approved a request by the commander of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan to deploy a squadron of MV-22 Ospreys from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron-261, Jacksonville, N.C., to support the needs of forces on the ground in Regional Command-South. This deployment will involve approximately 200 Marines, who will begin deploying in November 2009.

In consultation with Afghan officials and NATO, commanders continue to assess the situation to ensure sufficient force levels to best support the Government of Afghanistan, perform counter-terrorism operations, assist with reconstruction, and train and equip the Afghan national security forces. Afghan security forces continue to develop capability, and this U.S. force rotation may be tailored based upon changes in the security situation.

DoD will continue to announce major unit deployments as units are identified and alerted. For information on the active brigade and regiment announced today, please contact Army Public Affairs at (703) 614-2487. For information on the National Guard brigade, please contact Iowa National Guard Public Affairs at (515) 252-4304. For information on the Marine squadron, please contact U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command Public Affairs at (757) 836-1580.

The Department of Defense announced today major units scheduled to deploy as part of upcoming rotations of forces operating in Afghanistan. The announcement involves two active duty brigade combat teams totaling 7,700 personnel, and one National Guard brigade with approximately 3,500 personnel. The scheduled rotation for these forces will begin in the spring of 2010.

Specific units receiving deployment orders include:

1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.

2^nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment (SCR), Vilseck, Germany

2^nd Brigade Combat Team, 34^th Infantry Division, Iowa National Guard

The spring/summer rotation of the 1st BCT, 101^st Airborne Division (3,700 personnel) and the 2^nd SCR (4,000 personnel) continues the U.S. commitment to maintain the current level of forces assigned to the NATO-International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

The 2^nd BCT, 34^th Infantry Division will begin deploying in the fall of 2010 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom to continue ongoing operations and training of the Afghan National Security Forces. They are receiving alert orders now in order to provide them the maximum time to complete their preparations. It also provides a greater measure of predictability for family members and flexibility for employers to plan for military service of their employees.

Additionally, the secretary of defense approved a request by the commander of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan to deploy a squadron of MV-22 Ospreys from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron-261, Jacksonville, N.C., to support the needs of forces on the ground in Regional Command-South. This deployment will involve approximately 200 Marines, who will begin deploying in November 2009.

In consultation with Afghan officials and NATO, commanders continue to assess the situation to ensure sufficient force levels to best support the Government of Afghanistan, perform counter-terrorism operations, assist with reconstruction, and train and equip the Afghan national security forces. Afghan security forces continue to develop capability, and this U.S. force rotation may be tailored based upon changes in the security situation.

DoD will continue to announce major unit deployments as units are identified and alerted. For information on the active brigade and regiment announced today, please contact Army Public Affairs at (703) 614-2487. For information on the National Guard brigade, please contact Iowa National Guard Public Affairs at (515) 252-4304. For information on the Marine squadron, please contact U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command Public Affairs at (757) 836-1580.

An American soldier who barged into a counseling center and killed five fellow troops with an assault rifle had been unraveling for nearly two weeks but the U.S. military lacked clear procedures to monitor him or deal with his deadly shooting spree once it began to unfold, a report found.

President Barack Obama bestowed one of the highest honors for heroism today on an armor unit that repelled a North Vietnamese assault on a company of surrounded American infantrymen. The Presidential Unit Citation was awarded to Alpha Troop, 1st Squadron of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.

In Afghanistan, where there is no oil industry, the cost of getting fuel to U.S. forces – buying, shipping and hauling – has become embarrassingly high.

With U.S.-Sudan policy in flux, the Pentagon on Monday airlifted a planeload of lawyers and other staff to this remote base for hearings in the war court cases of two long-held Sudanese captives accused of working for al Qaeda.

A grim President Hamid Karzai bowed to intense U.S. pressure and agreed Tuesday to a runoff election Nov. 7, acknowledging he fell short of a majority after U.N.-backed auditors stripped him of nearly a third of his votes.