Foreign Policy News and Commentary Update October 15, 2007

Foreign Policy News and Commentary Update October 15, 2007


THE UNITED STATES IS NOT ENGAGED IN THE WAR OF IDEAS - FRANK SALVATO (NEW BY US, OCTOBER 12): The United States of America is not engaged in the war of ideas in any way, shape or form anywhere in the world including on our own soil. In contrast, the enemy is fully engaged and succeeding in their mission
http://newsbyus.com/more.php?id=9910_0_1_0_M
VIA
http://www.kimandrewelliott.com/index.php?id=2502

FIRST LADY'S INFLUENCE GOES GLOBAL: SPEAKING OUT ON BURMA, BUSH TAKES HER HIGHEST-PROFILE INTERNATIONAL ROLE - PETER BAKER (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 15): Activists and analysts credit Laura Bush with helping to focus international attention on the conflict in Burma in a unifying way that her husband could not. With virtually every other major figure in the administration compromised on the world stage to one degree or another, she does not bring the baggage of Iraq to the table. The first lady has never been to Burma.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1401676_pf.html
SEE ALSO
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/washingt...agewanted=print

AN INTERNET JIHAD SELLS EXTREMISM TO VIEWERS IN THE U.S. - MICHAEL MOSS AND SOUAD MEKHENNET (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 15): Terrorism experts at West Point say there are as many as 100 English language sites offering militant Islamic views. Al Qaeda and its followers have used the Internet to communicate and rally support for years, but in the past several months the Western tilt of the message and the sophistication of the media have accelerated. So has the output.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/us/15net...agewanted=print

WASHINGTON POST CORRESPONDENT DIES IN IRAQ - JOSHUA PARTLOW AND AMIT R. PALEY (WASHINGTON POST , OCTOBER 14): At least 118 journalists have been killed in Iraq while on duty, nearly 100 of them are Iraqis, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7101400612.html

IRAQIS WAIT FOR REFUGE IN UNITED STATES REUTERS (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 14): More than 2 million Iraqis have fled to neighboring countries, while another 2.2 million are displaced inside Iraq, according to U.N. data. Iraqis seeking U.S. refuge must reach a neighboring country in order to apply for U.S. asylum -- a journey that is both expensive and risky. State Department figures show 1,608 Iraq refugees were resettled in the United States in 2007, but they do not compile numbers of those once worked for U.S. employers.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-u...agewanted=print

AL-QAEDA IN IRAQ REPORTED CRIPPLED: MANY OFFICIALS, HOWEVER, WARN OF ITS RESILIENCE - THOMAS E. RICKS AND KAREN DEYOUNG (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 15): While a victory declaration over Al Quaeda in Iraq might have the "psychological aspect" of discouraging recruitment to a perceived lost cause, a White House official said, advantages overall would be minimal. "I recognize that there are pros to saying, 'Hey, listen, the bad guys are on the run.' " But if AQI were later able to demonstrate residual capabilities with a series of bombings, "even though it was temporary," he said, "the question becomes: How does this play out in terms of public opinion?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1401245_pf.html

PETRAEUS: AL QAEDA REMAINS 'WOLF CLOSEST TO THE SLED': ALTHOUGH THE TOP U.S. COMMANDER IN IRAQ SAYS THAT THE MILITARY HAS MADE SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS IN ITS FIGHT AGAINST THE RADICAL ISLAMIC MILITANTS - LESLIE SABBAGH |(CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 12)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1012/p25s01-wome.html

IRAQI OIL SPOILS EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 15): The quickening pace of oil deals between Kurdish regional leaders and foreign companies is another sign that Iraq is spinning out of control and the Bush administration has no idea how to stop it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/opinion/...agewanted=print

IT'S THE OIL - JIM HOLT (LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS, OCTOBER 15): Was the strategy of invading Iraq to take control of its oil resources actually hammered out by Cheney's 2001 energy task force? One can't know for sure, since the deliberations of that task force, made up largely of oil and energy company executives, have been kept secret by the administration on the grounds of 'executive privilege.'
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n20/print/holt01_.html
Coutesy Len Baldyga

SOLIDARITY WITH IRAN: DON'T BELIEVE IT WHEN PEOPLE SAY IRAN'S DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS DON'T WANT U.S. HELP - AKBAR ATRI (OPINION JOURNAL FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL PAGE, OCTOBER 15)
http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/featur...ml?id=110010736

COALITION OF THE RELUCTANT - ROGER COHEN (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 15): Predictions of war with Iran are overblown.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/opinion/...agewanted=print

INFLAMING THE TURKS EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, OCTOBER 13): The historical evidence shows that the 1915-1917 massacres of Armenians in eastern Turkey constituted what the world now knows as genocide, and Turkey ought to acknowledge this reality. But a resolution before Congress has provoked an upsurge of nationalism that threatens US interests and would do nothing to lift Turkey's willful amnesia. It should not be pursued at this time.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...e_turks?mode=PF

"GENOCIDE" OR "MASSACRES"?: AFTER U.S. CONGRESSIONAL-COMMITTEE VOTE, TURKS ARE ANGRY ? EDWARD M. GOMEZ (WORLD VIEW, SFGATE.COM, OCTOBER 12)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate...;entry_id=21104

TURKISH IRE MAY AFFECT IRAQ WAR: CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE THIS WEEK SAID TURKEY WAS GUILTY OF 'GENOCIDE' AGAINST ARMENIANS - SCOTT PETERSON (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 12)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1012/p01s04-woeu.html

UPHILL CLIMB FOR RICE ON MIDEAST PEACE: ON SUNDAY, SHE BEGINS HER SEVENTH TRIP TO THE REGION THIS YEAR TO PLAN NOVEMBER CONFERENCE - HOWARD LAFRANCHI (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 12)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1012/p02s01-usfp.html

'FAILURE RISKS DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES' - ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI, LEE HAMILTON, CARLA HILLS, NANCY KASSEBAUM-BAKER, THOMAS R. PICKERING, BRENT SCOWCROFT ET AL. THE FOLLOWING LETTER ON THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE CONFERENCE SCHEDULED FOR ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND, IN LATE NOVEMBER, WAS SENT BY ITS SIGNERS ON OCTOBER 10 TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH AND SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE (NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS, NOVEMBER 8)
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20750

CHANGE IN NORTH KOREA? SO FAR, THERE'S LITTLE SIGN OF IT ? EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 13): The North Korean regime's strategy is not to transform itself but to take advantage of weak and waning U.S. and South Korean administrations to extract economic and political payoffs while keeping its nuclear bombs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7101202101.html

LATE U.S. OFFER FOLLOWS CHILLY TALKS - NIKOLAUS VON TWICKEL (MOSCOW TIMES, OCTOBER 15): A weekend visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates failed to resolve tensions between Washington and Moscow, lowering hopes that relations will be mended before Presidents Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush leave office.
http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2007/10/15/001.html

U.S. TORTURE TACTICS SHAME US ALL - HELEN THOMAS (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, OCTOBER 11)ttp://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/335178_thomas12.html

GOING TO SEE A GHOST: MAJID KHAN AND THE ABUSES OF THE 'WAR ON TERROR' - GITANJALI S. GUTIERREZ (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 15): From the violation of habeas corpus to the use of torture to sham trials that mock the most basic rules of law, the executive branch under President Bush has assaulted the very foundations of our system of justice. This must end.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1101599_pf.html

AMERICA: EXCEPTIONAL NO MORE ROUGH TREATMENT OF DETAINEES, A SHOCKING WEALTH GAP, POLITICAL DYNASTIES HERE EDITORIAL (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 15): As a nation, the US is in danger of becoming the "other"; in key respects, American "exceptionalism" is fast eroding, but it is worth striving to preserve. An important challenge for political leaders and thought leaders is to speak frankly and forcefully about what is at stake for all Americans before it is too late to change course.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1015/p09s02-coop.html

IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN: WORTH ANOTHER $190 BILLION? OPINION ASKS FOUR NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERTS (LOS ANGELES TIMES, OCTOBER 15): Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates has announced that the Bush administration will request $190 billion for fiscal year 2008 for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Opinion approached four national security specialists and asked whether, in their view, this is a wise use of U.S. resources. If not, we asked, how would they propose spending $190 billion to reduce the strength and appeal of terrorist groups like Al Qaeda?
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...home-commentary

RICE AVOIDS CRITICIZING PUTIN AS U.S. SEEKS RUSSIA'S COOPERATION - MICHAEL ABRAMOWITZ AND PETER FINN (WASHINGTON, OCTOBER 14): In Moscow, some leading commentators said Rice is viewed somewhat sympathetically, as someone officials can deal with in an administration regarded as hostile. The view appears to be less favorable in Washington, where specialists across the political spectrum see Rice as having misunderstood Putin and mishandled relations with Russia.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1301335_pf.html

MORE THAN TALK FOR BURMA: WHERE'S THE 'INTENSIFICATION' TO AID A COURAGEOUS PEOPLE? EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 12): First lady Laura Bush has spoken out about Burma, but we haven't heard much from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...1102108_pf.html