Afghanistan-Pakistan Document: The Obama Administration's Grand Review

We were going to wait until Friday morning to run a special feature on the Obama Administration's much-heralded --- i.e., spun for the press --- review of the US approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

However, having just watched the star-studded press conference, with not only President Obama but also Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, telling the media how to interpret the five unclassified pages, I thought I would go ahead and put the document before the readers.

NOW SEE Video & Transcript: Obama, Clinton, and Gates on the Afghanistan-Pakistan Strategy Review

Analysis will follow on Saturday; however, I will offer this advance snippet.

Big Damn Deal.

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The Latest from Iran (27 November): Breaking News --- Supreme Leader is Fabulous

1335 GMT: Parliament v. President. Someone is getting worried that the effort to summon Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Parliamentary questioning may succeed. Follow this carefully....

The pro-Ahmadinejad Islamic Republic News Agency is claiming that Ali Motahari, the MP leading the campaign for Ahmadinejad's interpellation, has struck a deal with the reformists: if Motahari can deliver 50 signatures on the petition for the President's appearance, the minority faction will give him 25 endorsements. That would make 75, more than the requirement of 1/4 of the 290-member Majlis.

On the surface, the story appears to be a triumph for Motahari, but I suspect it is an un-subtle attempt to tarnish him by claiming that he has resorted to devious scheming with the dubious reformists. Motahari, for his part, has claimed that almost all the signatures on his petition are from the majority principlist faction.

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War on Terror: 1st Trial of Guantanamo Detainee --- 1 Conviction, 279 Acquittals

In the first trial in criminal court of a Guantanamo Bay detainee, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was acquitted yesterday on 279 of 280 charges over the 1998 bombing of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

This, however, was not the most extraordinary news of the day. Instead, it was the reaction --- aided by a compliant US media --- that the case highlights "whether civilian courts are appropriate for trying terrorists". In other words, rights can only be upheld and due process of law observed when the outcome of Guilty is pre-ordained.

Indeed, if the media wanted to stand up to those trying to use the outcome to ensure that Guantanamo Bay remains open indefinitely, it might put forth the primary reason why it was not possible to establish Ghailani's guilt: evidence obtained by torture was not allowed by the trial judge.

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Terrorism Analysis: Can Al Qa'eda Be Defeated? (No.)

Last weekend, the top British military officer, General Sir David Richards, said publicly what officials have been circulating privately almost since the Bush administration stupidly hit on the slogan “War on Terror” to describe their post-9/11 crusade.

This is not a war that can be won in any conventional sense.

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George Bush's Torture: Taking Apart the President's Claims

He’s back. He's unrepentant. He's proud.

President George W. Bush, re-emerged into the media spotlight to plug his memoirs, has made headlines with his justification of waterboarding as an interrogation tool. “Damn right,” said Bush when asked to approve the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the planner of the 9-11 attacks. His argument, which the media has repeated with varying degrees of skepticism, is that it isn’t torture, it worked, and it saved lives.

Let’s take a look at these one at a time.

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Yemen: Get Ready for the New American "Drone War"? (Miller/Jaffe/DeYoung)

In the aftermath of the recent "cargo bombs" incident, chatter has escalated over American intervention in the Arabian Peninsula country of Yemen. This week, three Washington Post writers put forth the latest spin of the Obama Administration: the US is preparing for a campaign of airstrikes by unmanned aircraft. The missiles and bombs only await the gathering of sufficient intelligence on the location of the bad guys.

But note another possible complication: "Yemeni officials...indicated that they had deep reservations about weapons they said could prove counterproductive."

So is this article the sign of a war to come or just a bit of Administration puffery --- in the wake of the latest terrorist scare --- to fend off the demands of US critics to Do Something?

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Iraq Latest: At Least 52 Killed in Attack on Catholic Church (Al Jazeera)

An al-Qaeda-linked group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a Catholic church in the Iraqi capital, which resulted in the deaths of 52 people, including 25 hostages.

Attackers stormed the Our Lady of Salvation church in the Karrada neighbourhood of central Baghdad on Sunday night, taking more than 100 people hostage. The standoff was ended after police stormed the church two hours later.

At least seven members of the security forces and five gunmen were amongst those killed.

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Alliance Update: Top Pakistan Diplomat Criticises US Terror Warning

As Islambad continues to block the movement of NATO tankers through the Khyber Pass to Afghanistan, leaving them prey to attack, and Washington criticises Pakistan's lack of fortitude in pursuing insurgents --- even accusing the Pakistani intelligence service of backing the Taliban in Afghanistan --- the latest spat arises.

Senior Pakistani diplomats, as well as European intelligence officials, are telling journalists that a US terror alert this week about Al Qa'eda plots to attack targets in western Europe was politically motivated and unsupported by credible intelligence.

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White House Report: Pakistan Not Doing Enough Against Insurgents (Henry)

Despite repeated Obama administration claims in public that Pakistan is working hard to crack down on militants, a private White House review uses unusually tough language to suggest the ally is not doing nearly enough to confront the Taliban and al Qaeda, according to a copy of a report to Congress.

The report notes that from March to June, the Pakistani military "continued to avoid military engagements that would put it in direct conflict with Afghan Taliban or [al Qaeda] forces in North Waziristan. This is as much a political choice as it is a reflection of an under-resourced military prioritizing its targets."

The report notes bluntly that despite having a presence of 140,000 military and paramilitary personnel, the Pakistani military has been "nonetheless constrained to disrupting and displacing extremist groups without making lasting gains against the insurgency."

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