The Military Escalation in Iraq and Syria - NYT Editorial | US plans to step up air strikes on Isis oilfields - FT | Military solution 'impossible' in parts of Middle East: CIA chief
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US plans to step up air strikes on Isis oilfields - FT
Frustrated by the resilience of the Islamic State terrorist organization, the Obama administration is taking steps to expand a military campaign that remains untethered to any coherent strategy. Instead of challenging an escalation of American military forces in the Syrian war, several prominent members of Congress are irresponsibly demanding even more hawkish approaches.
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, called the administration’s new strategy the “three R’s” plan. The first two R’s are Raqqa and Ramadi, cities in Syria and Iraq from which the United States hopes to dislodge the Islamic State. To do so, the administration is considering deploying American ground troops to support local forces that are expected to do the bulk of the fighting and call in airstrikes. The third R stands for “raids,” which will be used to capture and kill Islamic State leaders.
The Pentagon continues to call the military campaign in Syria and Iraq an “advise and assist” mission, a characterization that was misleading when the campaign began and is now absurd. By incrementally increasing its combat role in a vast, complicated battleground, the United States is being sucked into a new Middle East war. Each step in that direction can only breed the desire to do more. Commanders will want to build on battlefield successes when things go their way, and they will be driven to retaliate when they don’t.
There is no question that containing the threat posed by the Islamic State will take a strong international response. The group, also known as ISIS and ISIL, remains firmly in control of large swaths of Iraq and Syria and has found allies in Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen.
But before contemplating a more forceful military plan, Congress and the administration must confront the fact that the current one, which includes airstrikes and support for select bands of rebels, lacks a legal framework and an attainable goal. The first problem could be fixed if the White House and congressional leaders were willing to work together to set clear limits on what the Pentagon is allowed to do. Preposterously, the military campaign that began more than a year ago, and has cost more than $4 billion, is still being waged under the authority of the congressional authorization passed to pursue the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks.
With a few exceptions, lawmakers seem completely unconcerned that they are allowing a president to go to war without formal authorization from Congress. Instead, many are calling on the administration to take even bolder steps that range from establishing a no-fly zone over parts of Syria to using American firepower to oust Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president. At least on these two tactics, the White House appears rightly skeptical.
A no-fly, or “buffer” zone, to protect civilians would take significant resources, and troops, to enforce. “To keep it safe would require fighting,” Mr. Carter told senators on Tuesday. “You need to think in each case … who’s in, who is kept out and how the enforcement of it is done.”
Taking on Mr. Assad, a murderous leader who has lost all legitimacy, has obvious appeal in principle. But doing so would almost certainly be catastrophic because it would put the United States directly at war with Russia and Iran, which aid him militarily. Even if Washington were to prevail in forcing him from power, that could serve to embolden the Islamic State, which would only lead to more carnage.
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CIA and George Washington University Co-Host Conference on ...
GW Today-Oct 21, 2015
The George Washington University and the Central Intelligence Agency ... Ethos and Profession ofIntelligence” public conference on national ...
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Brennan, who spoke at an intelligence conference in Washington on Tuesday, was joined by other security officials and industry experts.
Military solution 'impossible' in parts of Middle East
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The George Washington University and the Central Intelligence Agency will co-host the second annual “The Ethos and Profession of Intelligence” public conference on national security at Lisner Auditorium on Oct. 27.
The all-day conference will feature remarks by CIA Director John Brennan and panelists including the director of the National Security Agency, chair of the National Intelligence Council, the director of French Directorate General for External Security, the CIA’s general counsel and the co-anchor of the PBS NewsHour. James Clapper, director of national intelligence, will be the keynote speaker.
“CIA looks forward to holding this conference in partnership with the George Washington University and its Center for Cyber and Homeland Security,” said Mr. Brennan.
“We believe the exchange of ideas at this conference will provide the public with greater insight into the challenges facing the CIA and other intelligence agencies in today’s world, while also providing critical input to the intelligence community on how to best meet these challenges.”
The theme for this year’s conference is “The 21st Century Intelligence Mission.” Panels will examine the ways in which technologies and social change are altering the role of intelligence agencies and how those changes affect the way agencies interact with policymakers, recruit and develop staff, protect civil liberties and build international partnerships.
Please note that tickets are required for admittance to the conference. If you are interested in attending, please email the Center at cchs@gwu.edu.
Washington (AFP) - A military solution is "impossible" in parts of the Middle East, US CIA chief John Brennan said, arguing that it was hard to picture effective central governments in some countries as they exist today.
Brennan, who spoke at an intelligence conference in Washington on Tuesday, was joined by other security officials and industry experts.
"When I look at Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen," Brennan said, "it's hard for me to envision a central government in those countries that's going to be able to exert control or authority over the territory that was carved out post World War II."
"A military solution is just impossible in any of these countries," he added.
"You need to be able to bring down the temperature, try to de-escalate the conflict, build up some trust between the parties that are there, that are seriously interested by a peace settlement" he said.
Bernard Bajolet, head of France's DGSE external intelligence agency, said the region was not likely to return to its old self following the current conflicts.
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Bernard Bajolet, head of France's DGSE external intelligence agency, leaves the Elysee Palace af …
"The Middle East we have known is over, I doubt it will come back," he told the conference.
"We see that Syria is already divided on the ground, that the regime is controlling only a small part of the county, only one-third of the country which was established after WWII" he said.
"The north is controlled by the Kurds."
"We have the same thing in Iraq" Bajolet said, adding that "I doubt really that one can come back to the previous situation."
Nonetheless, he said he was "confident" that the region would one day stabilize again.
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The Pentagon plans to step up air strikes against Isis-controlled oil facilities in Syria as the US seeks to revamp its flagging military strategy against the jihadi group.
General Joseph Dunford, the new chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said on Tuesday that the US would be “more aggressive” with air strikes aimed at destroying the oil enterprise operated by Isis.
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The Pentagon was also likely to conduct more raids against Isis positions in Syria and was looking again at the idea of placing some US forces closer to the front lines of fighting against Isis, particularly in Iraq.
“We won’t hold back from . . . conducting missions directly, whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground,” secretary of defence Ashton Carter told a Senate hearing.
Even as it prepares new military plans for Syria, US officials said on Tuesday that Iran had been invited to talks about the future of Syria that would also include Russia — in what amounts to an important shift in the US approach to diplomacy over the Syrian conflict.
John Kirby, state department spokesman, said it was not clear yet if Iran would attend the talks, which will take place in Vienna on Friday and which will also include European and Arab governments.
In recent weeks, the US has made it clear that it would not oppose Iran’s involvement in international talks over Syria, however the idea has been strongly opposed by some US allies, including Saudi Arabia.
The Obama administration is being pressed to expand its military campaign against Isis, especially in Syria, following the intervention of Russia directly in the conflict and the failure of its own programme to train moderate rebels to take on the Assad regime.
US officials also acknowledge that Isis continues to generate substantial revenue from selling oil, frustrating efforts by the US-led international coalition to hamper the group’s financial foundations.
When the US campaign against Isis began in Syria just over a year ago, many of the initial air strikes focused on oil infrastructure operated by Isis and at the time US officials expressed optimism that thegroup’s oil revenues had been substantially reduced.
However, a senior administration official acknowledged that even after the initial air strikes, Isis was still making $500m a year from its oil operations. “They are generating an awful lot of money internally,” the official said. “Oil is still a very lucrative business for them.”
US military officials said last week that air strikes had attacked Isis operations in the al-Omar oilfield in eastern Syria, which is at the heart of the oil enterprise operated by the group.
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“We must be more aggressive in strikes that will deny Isis the access they have to oil revenue,” Gen Dunford said on Tuesday.
Mr Carter said the attacks on oilfields would be part of an intensified air campaign against Isis in Syria that would include strikes against the group’s senior members. The US would also increase support to rebel groups that are in a position to put pressure on Raqqa, Isis’ self-declared capital in Syria.
“If done in concert as we intend, all these actions on the ground and from the air should help shrink [Isis] territory into a smaller and smaller area,” he said. However, Mr Carter said the Pentagon was not proposing the establishment of no-fly or safe zones within Syria.
Gen Dunford said he might recommend that US forces operate beside Iraqi troops on the front line in certain circumstances, but that no such decision had yet been taken. Over the past year, the Pentagon has said that efforts by the Iraqi military to retake cities from Isis, such as Ramadi or Mosul, would require a more direct participation of US forces in the country.
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