Quality Leadership Weblog :-)

Top British Diplomat Blasts ‘War On Terror’, (Washington Times)…UnattributedBritish Foreign Secretary David Miliband wants a rethink of the strategy against terrorism, calling the notion of a war on terrorism “misleading and mistaken.”
Britain To Attack Its Afghan War Allies, (Financial Times)…James Blitz, 14 Jan 09. John Hutton, Britain’s defence secretary, will on Thursday launch an attack [...]

 
Inside The Ring, By Bill Gertz, Washington Times, January 15, 2009
A military analyst in Afghanistan has identified 2009 as a critical year for U.S. and allied counterinsurgency efforts against the Taliban and al Qaeda. The analyst, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, told Inside the Ring that [...]

BOOK: Great Powers, by Thomas P.M. Barnett, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, Pub Date: February 5, 2009Â
Barnett–who has been described as “the most influential defense intellectual writing these days (The Washington Post)” and “one of the most important strategic thinkers of our time (U.S. News.com)”–presents a remarkable analysis of America and the world in the post-Bush era.  He [...]

Report: US Had Unrealistic Goals In Afghanistan, (Washingtonpost.com)…Anne Gearan, Associated Press
…The incoming Obama administration should refocus the U.S. war and rebuilding effort in Afghanistan and think of the project as the work of at least a decade, according to the report compiled by the United States Institute of Peace. The assessment was set for release [...]

Unintended Consequences Pose Risks for Mideast Policy, (Washington Post)…Glenn Kessler
Obama breaks his silence, vows to work for peace deal. Jan 7, 2009.
After days of studied silence on the Gaza conflict, Obama promised yesterday “to hit the ground running” on achieving a broad Middle East peace deal.
“We are going to engage effectively and consistently in trying [...]

A Few Big Ideas, (New York Times)…Editorial, Dec 31, 2008
Over the past several months, we’ve discussed the many, severe challenges confronting America’s military services and recommended a set of urgent fixes to relieve the stresses on the men and women fighting overseas and keep the country safe. It is also worth exploring more long-term ideas. [...]

POST: Tough love for the Pentagon, by Thomas P.M. Barnett on December 22, 2008
OP-ED: How to Pay for a 21st-Century Military, New York Times, December 20, 2008
You want some tough love on the Pentagon budget to pay for the interventions (overwhelmingly SysAdmin in nature) we’re still waging and are likely to wage in [...]

Taliban Taunts US Over 30,000 Extra Troops, (London Daily Telegraph)…Ben Farmer, Dec 22, 2008.
Plans to double the number of US troops in Afghanistan will see them suffer the same defeat as the Soviet army, the Taliban claims.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Washington could send up to 30,000 more [...]

Bush On His Record, (Wall Street Journal)…Kimberley A. Strassel, Dec 20, 2008, pg.13
As he sits at his mile-high desk, clad in his Air Force One crew jacket, George W. Bush is as he has ever been: upbeat, focused, confident in his past decisions and in the future.

On Iraq …
The action that will always most define [...]

Afghanistan, The Next Surge, Can more American troops and a new strategy beat the Taliban? The Economist, December 19, 2008
KABUL — A surge of American troops and a rethinking of tactics worked in Iraq. Can the same be done for the troubled mission in Afghanistan? As America draws down in Iraq, it is sending over [...]