Recent Foreign Policy News and Commentary through July 30, 2007

STATE DEPARTMENT SEEKS TO REACH OUT TO MUSLIMS - ALINA L. ROMANOWSKI, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE (LETTER TO THE EDITOR, WALL STREET JOURNAL, JULY 27): “The State Department is working aggressively to expand America's engagement with Muslim populations around the world. .... We believe that NGOs can play an important role in our outreach efforts, and we continually seek ways to engage and involve them.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118550122488179902.html

AKISTAN'S FUTURE: BUILDING DEMOCRACY, OR FUELING EXTREMISM? R. NICHOLAS BURNS, UNDER SECRETARY FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS, STATEMENT BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS – (REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION BLOG, JULY 26): Burns: “Our public diplomacy programs in Pakistan disseminate our message to the widest possible audience and expose influential people and institutions to U.S. policies, views, and values. ... But it is our concrete assistance to average Pakistanis that has been the best form of public diplomacy.”
http://rncnyc2004.blogspot.com/2007/07/pakistans-future-building-democracy-or.html

RECONSTRUCTION TEAMS HELP IRAQIS CONNECT WITH CENTRAL GOVERNMENT - GERRY J. GILMORE (AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE, JULY 26): The 25 provincial reconstruction teams (PRT) operating across Iraq are showing local authorities how to work with the country's central government to obtain needed services. These organizations help establish stability in Iraq by building capacity in areas that include public diplomacy. SEE BELOW ITEM 48.
http://police-technology.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!C91EC985B9612867!2499.entry

U.S. ADAPTS EFFORTS TO COUNTER IRAQ INSURGENCY - LARISA EPATKO (PBS ONLINE NEWSHOUR, JULY 26): The solution to the problem of extremists seeking to create chaos is a vast one isn't a military one, but rather one of public diplomacy, according to Dan Kuehl, a professor at the National Defense University.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/middle_east/july-dec07/iraq_07-26.html

INSIDE TRACK: NO END IN SIGHT - JAMES W. RILEY (NATIONAL INTEREST ONLINE, JULY 24): According to Daniel Byman, director of the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, we should adjust our public-diplomacy efforts in the Muslim world: Instead of trying to turn unpopular policies into popular ones, we should concentrate on criticizing Al-Qaeda’s ideas and tactics.
http://www.nationalinterest.org/PrinterFriendly.aspx?id=15032

SUICIDE REVERSAL? POLLING THE MUSLIM WORLD - AN NRO SYMPOSIUM (NATIONAL REVIEW, JULY 26): Includes several comments on the problems and drawbacks of US public diplomacy.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTg1M2E0Y2E5ZjY2NmNlZDdlZjk5YTgxZGU1YTU5OTU=
SEE ALSO
http://asher813.blogspot.com/2007/07/lethal-and-non-lethal-action.html

AFTER THE NEXT 9/11 - MARTY KAPLAN (HUFFINGTON POST, JULY 29): “I wish ... that jihadi malaise, or Obamian public diplomacy, or whatever other cure for global hatred you favor, could conquer the evil that George W. Bush pretends he can deliver us from. But ... an act of domestic terrorism is inevitable.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/after-the-next-911_b_58264.html

CANDIDATE ‘SURROGATES’ TALK FOREIGN POLICY - MICHAEL FALCONE (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 25): Adam Smith, a Democrat of Washington State, said Senator Barack Obama, when he stated that he would be willing to talk to leaders of nations hostile to the United States during his first term, “was saying was, we have to be confident in our diplomacy.” Smith added: “We’re afraid to talk to Hugo Chavez? What, we’re going to accidentally say, ‘Oh no, you’re right, we’re wrong, we’re sorry, we are a horrible country,’ if we get in a room with him? We’re that afraid of public diplomacy?”
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/25/candidate-surrogates-talk-foreign-policy/


WHY THE MUSLIM AND WESTERN CULTURES WILL CONTINUE TO CLASH [REVIEW OF “THE ENEMY AT HOME” BY DINESH D’SOUZA] - GARY ATER (AMERICAN CHRONICLE, JULY 26): After US Under Secretary of State Karen Hughes said in Saudia Arabia in 2005 that women should be “free and equal participants in society” and that being able to drive an automobile was “an important part of my freedom,” she was surprised her female audience didn’t feel oppressed by Saudi driving laws prohibiting them from driving an automobile. Like most well-to-do-women, they all had their own drivers. They didn’t understand, “Why we should want to learn to drive?” They also did not see “working outside the home” as being liberating. “What is the joy of going to work and being bossed around by your boss? Why not stay at home where you can boss around your own domestic servants?” All in all, they felt a declaration of freedom by not having to go to work.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=33361

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE NEW PEACE ENVOY SUITS ISRAEL AND NOBODY ELSE - KHALED AMAYREH (AL-AHRAM, JULY 26 – AUGUST 1): Israel wants to use Tony Blair -- now a peace envoy to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict -- as another propaganda ambassador in the service of Israeli public diplomacy for the purpose of diverting attention from the real issue, namely the 40-year-old occupation.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/855/re81.htm

INTELLIGENT INTELLIGENCE - ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE (WASHINGTON TIMES, JULY 29): At the end of World War II, there were 2,500 U.S. foreign correspondents; today, less than 250. The global Tower of Babel babble includes 26,000 radio stations; 21,000 TV stations; 108 million Web sites; 75 million blogs; 56 million MySpace squatters; 100 million hits a day on YouTube; 8,000 news and information portals; 200 million photos on flickr.com, increasing by 5,000 per minute; 45,000 daily podcasts, and 2.5 million Web-enabled devices. The pipe input into the Internet doubles every six months.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070729/COMMENTARY/107290025/1012&template=printart

ARMY PRIVATE DISCLOSES HE IS NEW REPUBLIC'S BAGHDAD DIARIST - HOWARD KURTZ (WASHINGTON POST JULY 27): The New Republic's anonymous "Baghdad Diarist" identified himself yesterday as Scott Thomas Beauchamp, an Army private in Iraq, and disputed as "maddening" accusations that he had invented his accounts of cruelty by American soldiers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/27/AR2007072700037.html

MAYBERRY TESTIMONY ON KIDNAPPING OF WORKERS FOR US EMBASSY BAGHDAD – JUAN COLE (INFORMED COMMENT: THOUGHTS ON THE MIDDLE EAST, HISTORY, AND RELIGION, JULY 29): ”I mentioned story the other day briefly about allegations that the Kuwaiti contracting firm building the US embassy in Baghdad has Shanghaied workers, bringing them to the Middle East under false pretences and depriving them of their passports -- In essence, of kidnapping them. The video testimony below by medic Rory Mayberry is much more powerful than a newspaper report could be. He talks about a gun being used to silence protesting workers just told they are really going to Baghdad!”
http://www.juancole.com/2007/07/hearing-on-us-embassy-in-iraq-mayberry.html

THE FIRST VICTIMS OF AMERICA’S MEGA-EMBASSY – TRUTHDIG (JULY 27)
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20070727_the_first_victims_of_americas_mega_embassy/

BUSH ADMINISTRATION UTTERLY CALLOUS TOWARD IRAQI REFUGEES - AMITABH PAL (PROGRESSIVE, JULY 28/COMMON DREAMS)
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/28/2826/

IRAQ FAILS TO TAKE OVER U.S. PROJECTS: RECONSTRUCTION EFFORTS AREN'T BEING ADEQUATELY FUNDED OR MAINTAINED, A WASHINGTON AUDIT FINDS - LESLIE HOFFECKER (LOS ANGELES TIMES, JULY 30)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-reconstruct30jul30,0,283244.story?coll=la-home-center

IRAQI GOVERNMENT IN DEEPEST CRISIS: US AND IRAQI OFFICIALS ARE TRYING TO PREVENT COMPLETE DISINTEGRATION - SAM DAGHER (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR,
JULY 27)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0727/p01s05-wome.html

ARM CHAIR GENERALS HELP SHAPE SURGE IN IRAQ - ROWAN SCARBOROUGH, (EXAMINER, JULY 25): When it comes to the troop surge in Iraq, a bunch of arm chair generals in Washington are influencing the Bush Administration as much as the Joint Chiefs or theater commanders. A group of military experts at the American Enterprise Institute, concerned that the U.S. was on the verge of a calamitous failure in Iraq, almost single handedly convinced the White House to change its strategy.
http://www.examiner.com/printa-844077~Arm_chair_generals_help_shape_surge_in_Iraq.html?cid=tool-print-top

WHO REALLY TOOK OVER DURING THAT COLONOSCOPY - FRANK RICH (NEW YORK, JULY 29): General Petraeus may well be, as many say, the brightest and bravest we have. But that doesn’t account for why he has been invested by the White House and its last-ditch apologists with such singular power over the war.
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/opinion/29rich.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

A WAR WE JUST MIGHT WIN - BY MICHAEL E. O’HANLON AND KENNETH M. POLLACK (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 30): Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. A surprise is how well the coalition’s new Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Teams are working.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/opinion/30pollack.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

POLITICAL EQUATIONS -- IRAQ MATH: FROM ONE, MAKE THREE - HELENE COOPER (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 29): Senator Biden’s so-called soft-partition plan -- a variation of the blueprint dividing up Bosnia in 1995 -- calls for dividing Iraq into three semi-autonomous regions, held together by a central government. There would be a loose Kurdistan, a loose Shiastan and a loose Sunnistan, all under a big, if weak, Iraq umbrella.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/weekinreview/29cooper.html?ref=weekinreview&pagewanted=print

IT'S HOW WE PULL BACK - DAVID IGNATIUS (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 29): The United States is on its way out of Iraq eventually, but it matters powerfully how we disengage.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/27/AR2007072702121_pf.html

IRAQ WITHDRAWAL: FIVE DIFFICULT QUESTIONS - BILL MARSH (NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 29): Getting out of a war requires as much planning as getting into one. After more than four years of buildup, the American footprint in Iraq is enormous. There are more than 75 major bases: Some have their own retail stores, with products from magazines to luxury goods like large-screen televisions for purchase by soldiers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/weekinreview/29marsh.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1185788349-3d+O+TGdp+9cxlD3NtrfAw&pagewanted=print

THE WITHDRAWAL FOLLIES: THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION PLANTS ITS FLAG IN THE FUTURE - TOM ENGELHARDT (TOMDISPATCH, JULY 26): It's time to bring not only the word, but the idea of withdrawal in from the cold.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174825/how_withdrawal_came_in_from_the_cold

BUSH'S TURKISH GAMBLE - ROBERT D. NOVAK (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 30): High-level U.S. officials are working with their Turkish counterparts on a joint military operation to suppress Kurdish guerrillas and capture their leaders. Through covert activity, their goal is to forestall Turkey from invading Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/29/AR2007072900859_pf.html

A TIMELY VICTORY IN TURKEY: RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN SHOWS THAT DEMOCRACY AND MODERATE ISLAM CAN BE A GOOD MIX – EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 27): The causes of Middle East democracy and moderate Islam should get a badly needed boost from last weekend's parliamentary elections in Turkey. The ruling Justice and Development Party, or AK Party, which is led by the religious, liberal and pro-Western Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, won a convincing victory, dealing a rebuff not only to leftist and nationalist opponents but also to the Turkish military.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/26/AR2007072602115_pf.html

LIBERAL TURKEY? - SONER CAGAPTAY (WALL STREET JOURNAL, JULY 30): The new AKP government can prove its liberal credentials in its second turn in power by desisting from political illiberalism and anti-Westernism. This is a chance Turkey cannot afford to miss.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118574382583581533.html?mod=opinion_main_europe_asia
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

U.S. VS. IRAN: COLD WAR, TOO - ROBIN WRIGHT (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 29): In the new Cold War, the United States and Iran are using eerily familiar tools to undermine each other. Over the past 18 months, inter alia, Washington has allocated $75 million for this year and $108 million for next year to promote democracy in Iran, and reportedly begun covert operations that included disinformation campaigns and currency manipulation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/27/AR2007072701694_pf.html

THE COLD WAR BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND TEHRAN - NOAM CHOMSKY (ZMAG.ORG, JULY 28/COMMON DREAMS): “Despite the saber-rattling, it is, I suspect, unlikely that the Bush administration will attack Iran.”
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/28/2827/

HOW TO MANAGE ASSAD - JON B. ALTERMAN (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 27): If the U.S. strategy were to "manage" Syrian actions with the confidence that comes from overwhelming U.S. strength, the possibilities to “fix” relations would be broad.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/26/AR2007072601845_pf.html

THE PAKISTAN DILEMMA: THE PERILS OF A PRECARIOUS ANTITERROR ALLY – HOT TOPIC (OPINION JOURNAL FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL PAGE, JULY 28): What the U.S. can do is nudge Pakistan’s president Musharraf toward a compromise with his non-radical opposition that would restore genuine democracy while strengthening his ability to challenge the jihadists.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/hottopic/?id=110010395

GETTING BIN LADEN UP A TREE: THE US CAN BETTER CORNER AL QAEDA IN PAKISTAN IF IT HELPS EASE THAT NATION'S RETURN TO DEMOCRACY - EDITORIAL (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, JULY 30)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0730/p08s01-comv.htm

MUSHARRAF'S BIG CHANCE – ED ROYCE (WASHINGTON TIMES, JULY 29): This recent upsurge in violence in Pakistan may finally force Mr. Musharraf to take a hard-line stance against radicals. His not doing so may precipitate a U.S. tactical intervention over the Afghan border to quell cross border raids on the Taliban. This is an eventuality neither Mr. Musharraf nor the U.S. would like to see. (Ed Royce, California Republican, is ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade Subcommittee.)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070729/COMMENTARY/107290021/1012/COMMENTARY02&template=printart

BET ON INDIA: THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION PRESSES FORWARD WITH A NUCLEAR AGREEMENT -- AND HOPES FOR A STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP – EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 29): The Bush administration and New Delhi announced the principles by which the United States will resume sales of civilian nuclear fuel and technology to India, as promised by President Bush in July 2005.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/28/AR2007072800999_pf.html

KOSOVO REDUX: INDEPENDENCE FOR THE SERBIAN PROVINCE IS INEVITABLE, BUT RUSSIA HOPES TO MAKE IT A CRISIS FOR THE WEST – EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, JULY 28): The consequences of a Western failure to recognize an independent Kosovo this year could be severe.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/27/AR2007072701947_pf.html

DARK POWERS, THE SEQUEL: THE PRESIDENT'S RECENT EXECUTIVE ORDER ALLOWS THE CIA TO DETAIN ANYONE THE AGENCY THINKS IS A TERRORIST -- OR A TERRORIST'S KID - ROSA BROOKS (LOS ANGELES TIMES, JULY 27)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-brooks27jul27,0,2567807.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

WEST POINT PR: WHY THE PENTAGON'S GUANTÁNAMO STUDY IS A JOKE - ANDY WORTHINGTON (COUNTERPUNCH, JULY 26): On the one hand, the administration commissions its boys to come up with a report stating that 73 percent of the detainees were a "demonstrated threat," and 95 percent were a "potential threat," and on the other hand the administration itself has released, or cleared for release, 75 percent of the detainees because they were "not or no longer a threat" (and that's not counting the 201 detainees who were released before the tribunal process began). How are we supposed to take these clowns seriously?
http://www.counterpunch.org/worthington07262007.html

GITMO AND AL QAEDA – REVIEW & OUTLOOK (WALL STREET JOURNAL, JULY 26): In his speech this week, Mr. Bush went on the political offense and made a strong case that al Qaeda in Iraq is part and parcel of the larger al Qaeda network. To leave Iraq too soon would hand bin Laden a victory. Mr. Bush can strengthen his argument -- and protect Americans -- by dispatching al Qaeda in Iraq captives to the Guantanamo prison for terrorist killers.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118541055463578360.html?mod=todays_us_opinion

BUSH'S FOLLY: HIS FIXATION ON AL QAEDA'S ROLE IN IRAQ REVEALS THE SHALLOWNESS OF HIS THINKING -- AND OF THE U.S. STRATEGY ON FIGHTING TERRORISM – EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, JULY 30)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-ed-qaeda30jul30,0,3958930.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

"I don't want to be used for propaganda purposes."

--Senator Hillary Clinton, cited in E. J. Dionne Jr., “Defining Moment?” (Washington Post, July 27)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/26/AR2007072601861_pf.html