Is the Iraqi army stepping up to the plate? ISI/AQI leaders dropping like flies.

As the world focuses on the aftermath of post Iraqi election vote counting, re-counting and coalition maneuvering, meandering at a snail's pace, the deadline for US troop withdrawals set by President Obama looms. There is huge political and logistical momentum behind drawing down US troop levels in Iraq. President Obama has staked a good portion of his foreign policy legacy on leaving Iraq and "winning" in Afghanistan and the Pentagon has begun the biggest movement of military kit in history. Despite the massive inertia, the worst nightmare for the US is leaving Iraq prematurely only to see the country descend into anarchy or civil war once we're gone. Obviously a stable, non-sectarian and hopefully secular government is essential to the long term stability of Iraq, however, without the emergence of the American equipped, trained, and organized Iraqi Army as a capable fighting force, there is a virtual guarantee that the future of Iraq, and quite a few historical legacies, will be in shambles.

A fundamentalist is a fundamentalist, no matter their stripes

One of the most contentious arguments you can have with a fellow Zionist centers around the role, influence and prevalence of extreme right wing "hill-toppers" amongst the settler community and how to deal with the threat they pose to Israel. The classification of settlers and settlements is about as divisive as it gets and much of the nuance and differences is glossed over by international opinion, media and politicians in the treatment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The vast majority of Israeli "settlers" live in major, well defined settlement blocs that are widely recognized as areas that will be kept by Israel in any final status agreement with the Palestinians. They live in these settlements for a variety of reasons including cheap housing, government subsidies and religious/zionist beliefs. They are not breaking any Israeli laws (international law is more complicated) and will almost certainly never be asked to leave their homes. Outside of these blocs are both legal (again according to Israeli law) and illegal settlements. Most of these are populated by religious Zionists that are wholeheartedly against any concessions or evacuations. Increasingly they have been fighting evacuations and settlement freezes by the IDF as ordered by the Israeli government and courts by means of an organized resistance dubbed the "price tag," which calls for any attempt by the Israeli government and security services to be met with violent attacks on Palestinian property and civilians and perhaps most surprisingly, violence directed at the IDF who protects them.

The issue has come to a breaking point in my mind. I can no longer dismiss right wing radicals as a fringe element that whose behavior can be explained as isolated and swept under the rug. The threat posed by radical Jewish settlers is real and very worrisome. These elements believe their actions are sanctioned by religion and choose only to obey the rule of the state when it suits their interests. They have no qualms about using violence against Palestinian civilians, or Israeli security forces. They have openly called for a policy of retributive "price tags" to be inflicted upon Palestinian civilians in response to any Israeli policies that target their illegal activity. Their actions are not only illegal, but an ugly manipulation of Jewish ethics that is an embarrassment to me as a Jew.

Its been awhile...Lets re-start with a doozy...Peace in the Middle East!...or lack thereof.

I know. I know. It's been quite some time since I jumped onto my pulpit to bully my 1-3 readers. Been busy fashionista/farming. Anyway. A great read in Haaretz's Mess Report today that sheds a lot of light onto the perspective of average Israelis with regard to peace prospects. It is often hard for the average American/European to understand how Israelis can tolerate the uncertainty and world consternation about the lack of progress in the "Peace Process," but on the ground in Tel Aviv, it isn't registering in the same way.

McChrystle throws a spotlight onto our dark knights

The invasion of Afghanistan and toppling of the Taliban was led by historically few spooks and special operators. CIA field agents and small special operations units led a fierce and agressive local insurgency and continued the hunt for Al Qaeda in the mountains of Tora Bora. While our deployment and strategy in Afghanistan has changed over the years the emphasis on small Special Ops units has remained a major component throughout. Small units of Navy SEALS, Army Green Berets, and CIA teams have, with major air and artillery support assets, left a footprint far larger then their numbers would suggest.

Is that a good thing?

Today ISAF commander General Stanley McChrystle has announced that for the first time in our nation's proud and fiercely independent history of special operations, the Special Operations Command, based out of Ft. Bragg, will be brought under direct control of the general staff. Since the formation of the Army's Special Operations Command, American SOF (Special Operations Forces) have fought alongside, but independent of, the general Army command structure due to the highly classified and often "black" nature of their missions.

The massive deployment of SOF in Afghanistan had given an unprecedented leadership role to our "dark knights" and they produced initially spectacular results. However, as the war as become an insurgency, the overwhelming force favored by SOF units has become detrimental to our long term interests in Afghanistan. While effective in some missions, in Afghanistan, the preferred SOF force doctrine has led to increasingly worrisome "collateral damage" that is incongruent with the new "protect and hold" strategy McChrystle is attempting to implement.

I commend Gen. McChrystle for his admission of a problem, and perseverance in what was no doubt, a highly contentious internal decision. While uniquely versed and respected in the Special Operations World from his tenure as Joint Special Operations Commander in Iraq, reigning in our black knights was undoubtedly fought tooth and nail throughout the ranks of the US SOC and shows how committed Gen McChrystal is to winning this war.

Elections looming, jail rolls swell in Cairo and eyes turn in America

With recent elections in Iraq seemingly a success despite sporadic violence and reports of fraud, a stark contrast is seen brewing in Egypt, as Hosni Mubarak's ruling regime has undertaken a wide-scale crackdown on its most potent opposition party, The Muslim Brotherhood. The evolution of Egypt as one of the most stable US allies in the Middle East and "cold" peace partner with Israel has historically been guaranteed by the stability of the Mubarak regime. "President" Hosni Mubarak has ruled for over 30 years since the assassination of Anwar Sadat by Muslim extremists after he signed the 1979 Peace treaty with Israel. Mubarak has reigned over a period of stability and peace ever since. The military has blossomed into the backbone of the regime with a steady flow of US military aid and features modern battle platforms including MI Abrams tanks, F-15 and F-16 fighter bombers and the like.

And you thought I was crazy...Patreus hints at support for military actions among our Gulf Allies

Some of you may have read my post, Battle Cries in Saudi Arabia, and thought I was making some extreme postulations about the increasing indications of growing war footing in the Sunni Gulf States. I can't help but feel a bit vindicated by the March 7th Fareed Zakaria interview with CENTCOM Commander Gen. David Patreus. At about the 6 minute mark, Zakaria starts questioning Patreus about a transition to Containment in the Gulf...and General Patreus makes some very surprising and revealing comments about the positions of our Gulf Allies with regard to military solutions to the Iran problem.

Gates in the Gulf...Leaving Patriot's in lieu of failed sanctions

While V.P Biden's ME traveling circus in Israel and the West Bank have been stealing the headlines, Defense Secretary Gates has been on a public follow up tour of Sunni Gulf States to attempt to placate our allies after they quietly accepted US anti ballistic Patriot Missile batteries (and their accompanying US troops).

While the tour is ostensibly in concert with US efforts to secure a harsher round of sanctions on Iran, there are increasing signs that our Arab allies, who have a close view of Iran from across the gulf, are doubting the efficacy of diplomacy and preparing for military eventualities. This week's report that large muti-nationals including Shell will stop exporting refined gasoline to Iran (despite being a net exporter of oil, Iran's refining capabilities are so antiquated that they are forced to import and heavily subsidize gasoline) was lauded as a promising step for sanctions, however, the realities are far different.