Hydrablog

In Fort Hood aftermath, Pentagon opens two reviews

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:19:13 -0800

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111902528.html
In Fort Hood aftermath, Pentagon opens two reviews
Threat-identification policies, quality of casualty care assessed
By Ann Scott Tyson and Ben Pershing Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, November 20, 2009 [Obama administration] [111th congress, 1st session] [bureaucracy: dod, Pentagon; JAG corps] [attack on troops in garrison] [now that people have had nearly 2 weeks, they are starting to think through some of implications] [followup] [the sad politicization of Fort Hood tragedy] [ditto] [*]
The Pentagon is launching an urgent review of whether military procedures hinder the identification of service members who pose a threat to their fellow troops.
As part of the 45-day investigation, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ordered an examination of whether Army policies and procedures played any role in failing to prevent

Pentagon to Review Shootings at Fort Hood

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:18:23 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/us/20inquire.html
November 20, 2009
Pentagon to Review Shootings at Fort Hood
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and DAVID JOHNSTON [Obama administration] [111th congress, 1st session] [bureaucracy: dod, Pentagon; JAG corps] [attack on troops in garrison] [now that people have had nearly 2 weeks, they are starting to think through some of implications] [followup] [the sad politicization of Fort Hood tragedy] [*]
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Thursday announced a Pentagon review of the shootings at Ford Hood, Tex., to help ensure, he said, that “nothing like this ever happens again.”

Air Defense Push Inspired by 9/11 Gets a 2nd Look

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:17:37 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/us/20terror.html
November 20, 2009
Air Defense Push Inspired by 9/11 Gets a 2nd Look
By THOM SHANKER and ERIC SCHMITT
COLORADO SPRINGS — The commander of military forces protecting North America has ordered a review of the costly air defenses intended to prevent another Sept. 11-style terrorism attack, an assessment aimed at determining whether the commitment of jet fighters, other aircraft and crews remains justified. [*] [good; they should always be reviewing cost-effectiveness]
Senior officers involved in the effort say the assessment is to gauge the likelihood that terrorists may succeed in hijacking an airliner or flying their own smaller craft into the United States or Canada. The study is focused on circumstances in which the attack would be aimed not at a public building or landmark but instead at a power plant or a critical link

Clinton Seen as Obama’s Key Link to Afghan Leader

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:16:54 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/world/asia/20clinton.html
November 20, 2009
Diplomatic Memo
Clinton Seen as Obama’s Key Link to Afghan Leader
By MARK LANDLER [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [Obama’s president-NSC-policymaking model and early info on process, operations] [incredible leaks in past week or so] [now Obama’s staff are fighting over it—or at least they are content to have that appearance?] [Gates threatened the gods’ wrath on leakers last week] [*]
KABUL, Afghanistan — It is far from clear that President Obama can depend on President Hamid Karzai to bring order to this violent country, but it is becoming clear that he will depend on Hillary Rodham Clinton to be his go-between in dealing with the mercurial Afghan leader.
In a visit to Kabul, during which she held a 90-minute, one-on-one session with Mr. Karzai

Arrests in Chicago drive home global nature of terrorism threat

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:15:59 -0800

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111904061.html
Arrests in Chicago drive home global nature of terrorism threat
By Peter Slevin and Spencer S. Hsu Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, November 20, 2009 [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [home-grown, of a sort in any case, jihadis?] [he’s actually a Canadian but he lives here] [apparently were prepared to attack a third nation-state] [new profile?] [*]
CHICAGO -- David C. Headley, a peripatetic Chicagoan accused of scouting potential terrorism targets in India and plotting to kill two Danish journalists, was not always David C. Headley.
Until 2006, he was Daood Gilani, but he told investigators he had changed his name to raise

A softer approach to Karzai

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:15:05 -0800

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111903992.html
A softer approach to Karzai
New warmth from U.S. is acknowledgment that Afghan leader is needed as partner
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, November 20, 2009 [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [Obama’s president-NSC-policymaking model and early info on process, operations] [incredible leaks in past week or so] [now Obama’s staff are fighting over it—or at least they are content to have that appearance?] [Gates threatened the gods’ wrath on leakers last week] [*]
When a team of senior U.S. officials led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton entered the presidential palace in Kabul on Wednesday for a dinner meeting, they had little indication of what Afghan President Hamid Karzai planned to discuss, or whether questions about corruption and governance would pitch their host into a foul mood.
But instead of revisiting old disputes, Karzai brought in several cabinet ministers to talk

Republicans Seek Inquiry on Fort Hood

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:14:06 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/us/18hood.html
November 18, 2009
Republicans Seek Inquiry on Fort Hood
By SCOTT SHANE and DAVID JOHNSTON [Obama administration] [111th congress, 1st session] [bureaucracy: dod, Pentagon; JAG corps] [attack on troops in garrison] [now that people have had nearly 2 weeks, they are starting to think through some of implications] [followup] [the sad politicization of Fort Hood tragedy] [*]
WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday called for an immediate Congressional investigation of what they called systemic intelligence failures before the shootings at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, saying the Obama administration was trying to block a full inquiry.
Democrats, after a briefing on the case for Congressional leaders, replied that with the Army and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the early stages of a criminal investigation,

Obama Says He Is Close to Afghan War Decision

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:13:14 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/world/asia/19prexy.html
November 19, 2009
Obama Says He Is Close to Afghan War Decision
By HELENE COOPER [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [gsave] [Obama’s president-NSC-policymaking model and early info on process, operations] [incredible leaks in past week or so] [now Obama’s staff are fighting over it—or at least they are content to have that appearance?] [Gates threatened the gods’ wrath on leakers last week] [*]
BEIJING — President Obama said Wednesday he was “very close to a decision” on a troop increase for the war in Afghanistan and would make his case to the American people for his Afghan strategy in the next “several weeks.”
“I am very confident that when I announce the decision, the American people will have a lot of clarity about what we’re doing, how we’re going to succeed, how much this thing is going to cost,” Mr. Obama told CNN in an interview at his hotel in Beijing. Most important, he said,

Obama Says Guantánamo Won’t Close by January

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:12:22 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/us/19gitmo.html
November 19, 2009
Obama Says Guantánamo Won’t Close by January
By JACK HEALY [Obama white house] [111th congress, 1st session] [decisions surely made at highest NSC levels with heavy justice dept input] [federal judiciary] [Obama and his team know that the Jan dealine will be missed] [use psci355, 455, 469] [*]
President Obama acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that his administration would miss a self-imposed deadline to close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, by mid-January, admitting the difficulties of following through on one of his first pledges as president.
“Guantánamo, we had a specific deadline that was missed,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with NBC News in Beijing during his weeklong trip to Asia. Hours after he spoke, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. defended the administration’s decision to try five suspected

Who promoted Hasan?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:11:27 -0800

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/11/who_promoted_hasan.html
[accessed 11/20/09 10:06 AM]
The Washington Post Blogs
Post Partisan: Quick Takes by the Post's Opinion Writers
Who promoted Hasan?
Who promoted Peress? That was the question posed by Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the indefatigable red-hunter of the 1950s, regarding an obscure army dentist named Irving Peress who was promoted from captain to major despite having refused to answer questions regarding his loyalty. That right-wing rallying cry ought to be revived, only this

'Pakistan has nothing to fear from India'

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:10:42 -0800

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111903666.html
'Pakistan has nothing to fear from India'
By Lally Weymouth Sunday, November 22, 2009 [interview of Post editorial folks with India’s leader, PM Singh] [*]
NEW DELHI -- Wearing white robes and a blue turban, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appeared relaxed this week as he discussed his upcoming state visit to Washington. Singh, 77, will meet President Obama next week at a time when many Indians fear that Obama will focus less on India than did previous American administrations, particularly as the U.S.-Chinese relationship grows in importance. Singh sat down in his Delhi residence with Newsweek-Washington Post's Lally Weymouth to discuss terrorism, trade and why it is critical that the United States not abandon Afghanistan. Excerpts:
You are President Obama's first official state visitor. What would you like to accomplish in Washington?

Obama the undecider

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:09:49 -0800

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111903435.html
Obama the undecider
By Michael Gerson Friday, November 20, 2009 [oped] [it’s possible he’s nailed it] [it’s also possible more going on than we realize?] [for instance I concluded last week—and discussed it in my foreign policy class—that Obama made the decision and he’s doing Kabuki theater for some good reasons and some expideincy] [*]
In the beginning, the Obama administration directed a spotlight toward its careful, thoughtful decision-making process on Afghanistan. National security meetings were announced, photographed and highlighted in background briefings to the media. President Obama would apply the methods of the academy to the art of war -- the University of Chicago meets West Point -- thus assuring a skittish public that deliberation had preceded decision.

Holder's reasonable decision

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:09:10 -0800

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/19/AR2009111903470.html
Holder's reasonable decision
By Jim Comey and Jack Goldsmith Friday, November 20, 2009 [oped] [note: Goldsmith was influential in Bush doj] [involved hospital-room visit ad GWU as I recall?] [on AG Holder’s recent decision of trials in Souther Disctrict Court of NY] [use psci 355,455] [*]
Reasonable minds can disagree about Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to prosecute Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other alleged Sept. 11 perpetrators in a Manhattan federal court. But some prominent criticisms are exaggerated, and others place undue faith in military commissions as an alternative to civilian trials. [absolutely] [it’s because most of the criticisms are political rather than substantive] [there’s no one who’s been more an advocate of defeating global-jihadis hydra that I; and I have no problem with the decision and actually think it’s best on balance] [*]
Mohammed is many things: an enemy combatant in a war against the United States whom

Iraq’s Election Law Morass

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:08:24 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/opinion/20fri2.html
November 20, 2009
Editorial
Iraq’s Election Law Morass
[editorial] [the stalemate machine in Baghdad] [its recent mess: a deal so the elections (scheduled for Jan 2010) can take place] [*]
Iraqis have quickly learned to play hardball politics. That was evident on Wednesday when one of Iraq’s two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashimi, who is a Sunni, vetoed an important election law at the last minute. [*]He demanded a change that would allocate more parliamentary seats for Iraqi Sunnis living abroad.
It is unquestionably better for Iraq’s political leaders to wage their battles through legislative maneuvering than in the streets. But their repeated delays in completing the election law (there have been nearly a dozen attempts) threatens their fragile

Why We Should Put Jihad on Trial

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:07:39 -0800

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/opinion/18simon.html
November 18, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor
Why We Should Put Jihad on Trial
By STEVEN SIMON [oped] [1 of 2 authors of the excellent book, Age of Sacred Terror] [on the recent AG Holder announcment of federal courts for gitmo 5] [use psci469; info on internal ideological battle below] [*]
THE Justice Department’s decision to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, in a federal court in New York City has elicited several criticisms. Most are pointless, but one — the idea that it will give a terrorist a platform from which he could stir up support in the Muslim world for his radical views — is well taken. [*]
First, let’s dispose of the straw men. John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House, accused the Obama administration of “treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue” — as