Quality Leadership Weblog :-)

Will Israel Attack Iran? The Atlantic, Robert D. Kaplan, 07.07.08
Bottom line: precisely because the U. S. dominates the airspace around Iran, it has checkmated itself. Israel will find it very hard to pull America’s chestnuts out of the fire in Iran. An Israeli attack is, in the last analysis, still unlikely. The problem of [...]

Unilateral Action By U.S. A Growing Fear In Pakistan (New York Times)…Jane Perlez, July 22, 2008, Pg. 8
Strong suggestions by the United States that it could resort to unilateral intervention against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan are generating increasing anxiety in the Pakistani press and among [...]

Russian Bombers Could Be Deployed To Cuba (Washington Post)…Peter Finn, July 22, 2008 Pg. 10
Russian bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons could be deployed to Cuba in response to U.S. plans to install a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, a Russian newspaper reported Monday, citing an unnamed [...]

Afghanistan Doesn’t Need A ‘Surge’ (Wall Street Journal)…Ann Marlowe, July 22, 2008 Pg. 17
Afghanistan needs many things, but two more brigades of U.S. troops are not among them.
…. Is bringing in thousands of American troops the answer?
"No!" the official said. "It’s using Special Forces to get the [...]

Filipino War’s Lessons For Iraq (USA Today)…Michael Medved, July 22, 2008, Pg. 11
A century ago, success seemed unlikely in an unpopular war — that is, until the tide turned. Can the shift in the Philippines show the way forward today?
…  For one thing, the United States lost 4,234 troops on Filipino battlefields [...]

Good News Is No News (Washington Times)…Paul Greenberg, July 22, 2008, Pg. 23
Have you been keeping up with the good news out of Mosul, al Qaeda’s last urban stronghold in Iraq? The good news is that it’s not an al Qaeda stronghold any more. Thanks to the latest American and Iraqi offensive. [...]

Articles on the Iran run the gamut from the application of “Military” power vice “Diplomatic.”  ”Economic ” incentives used to encourage peaceful resolution while the news media  provide “Information” that includes the full range of potential possibilities.  The unintended consequence mentioned in the article is bolstering Ahmadinejad’s re-election campaign. 
Now Bush Is Appeasing Iran, (Wall Street Journal)…Michael Rubin, July 21, 2008, Pg. [...]

Two articles that contrast the challenges in a Democracy during a war. Once the commitment to go to war is made, how do you avoid the perception that one political party wants to see the other lose?

We Have Won The War In Iraq,  (New York Daily News)…Michael Yon, July 21, 2008, Pg. 19
“The war in [...]

Iran Not Serious In Nuclear Talks, U.S. Says, (Baltimore Sun)…Unattributed, July 21, 2008

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Iran today of not being serious at weekend talks about its disputed nuclear program despite the presence of a senior U.S. diplomat, and warned that Tehran might soon face new sanctions. In her first public comments since [...]

A Pentagon Battle Over ‘The Next War’ (Los Angeles Times)…Julian E. Barnes and Peter Spiegel, July 21, 2008 Pg. 1
Some resist Gates’ focus on guerrilla, not large-scale, fighting.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap Jr … like many officers across the military, believes the armed forces must prepare for a large-scale war against technologically sophisticated, well-equipped [...]