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To: NATIONAL MEDIA <joe.hueglin@bellnet.ca>
Subject: F.Y.I.: The wars inherited by the President elect.
The Canadian and American elections and the economic meltdown have been the focus of media attention in recent weeks.
What follows is timely: a wide ranging in terms of opinion articles on the interlocking wars the President-elect will inherit, though not
immediately for the Bush Presidency lasts for several months more.
It is my expectation that should you choose to read what follows you will have added somewhat to your knowledge on the topic.
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The wars inherited by the President elect.
The President-elect will inherit this power: The wars inherited by the President elect.
"That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons." Borders Are For Sissies http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21144.htm
Based on this authorization the sovereign territory of both Syria and Pakistan have experienced attacks.
While only one has at this point been launched into Syrian it's consequences may be those of unsettling the fragile relative peace that has come about in Iraq from which the attack was launched.
"The "Awakening" movement, in which tens of thousands of Sunni Arabs who had been fighting the American occupation went on the U. S. government payroll in order to fight the takeover of their community by al- Qaeda extremists, is at a crossroads. Starting this month, the "Awakening" fighters are being paid by the Iraqi government, not by the Americans, and it has announced that only 20 per cent of them will be absorbed into the Iraqi army.
The other 60-odd thousand fighters of the "Awakening" will only be paid until they find civilian jobs -- but there are almost no well-paying jobs available in Iraq apart from government work, which usually requires a recommendation from one of the big Shia parties. So what do the rest of the Sunni fighters do? Go back to fighting the Americans? It's not unimaginable." Expect current calm in Iraq could collapse into more unrest http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1256028
The attack on Syria by Americans from Iraq adds to the already existing tensions among the Sunni of the AiR - the Awakening in Iraq: "What makes the Syrian-Iraqi link more sensitive is the overlap of powerful tribes between both countries, both of which are strongly opposed to a US strike on Syria.
These tribes once formed the backbone of the anti-American movement in Iraq and many of them have joined in the Awakening Councils, created in 2007 to combat al-Qaeda in Iraq. They were persuaded to change sides through political support, money and arms, dished out generously by the Americans. If they get angry with the Americans and decide to abandon the Awakening Councils, this could spell disaster for the US in Iraq " US's Syrian raid sets Iraq on fire http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JK01Ak05.html
A bumpy ride for the US over Syria http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JK01Ak04.html 's opinion on the attack is "Bush's illogical policy towards Syria. . .actually offers the next US president clear guidelines on what not to do in the Middle East."
[A thorough consideration of the Iraqi situation is this Is Iraq about to blow up again? <<< PREVIOUS 1 2 3 4 5 6 NEXT >>> ]
Trendings in Iraq are of consequence to Canadians in that American directions in Afghanistan are in the process of being influenced
by what is viewed as the successes of General David Petraeus who on 31 October took over U.S. Central Command:
"Centcom oversees the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and handles America's military relations with a score of countries including Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Arab Gulf States, Egypt, Syria and the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. These are countries at the heart of the world crisis, where the United States urgently needs to rebuild its shattered reputation." The Afghan Challenge Awaiting General Petraeus http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=28605 .
A surge in American troops is planned but acting alone they will be inadequate to the task so militias among Pashtun tribes in Afghanistan and Pakistan against the Taliban, a replication of the Sunni Awakening, are underway to provide armed support;
General Petraeus as well "has called for negotiations with "reconcilable" members of the insurgency in Afghanistan and a major diplomatic initiative to address the concerns, and gain the support of, the country's neighbours, including Pakistan, India and Iran."
Trying to reach the Taliban http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081031.wcoessay1101/BNStory/specialComment/home
The initiatives success are all in question.
The number of American forces will always be inadequate to the task. There will have to be continuation of their policy of calling in air power to redress the balance in combat operations, with concomitant "collateral damage" of civilian deaths and the alienation of their communities.
Canadian Maj.-Gen. Marc Lessard has stated concerning militias, "There could be some short-term gain but I really think it's long-term pain. We already have some militias that have not disbanded in the (south) ... creating some problems. I'm not saying no, but I would be very, very leery at arming tribes." West urged to work with Afghan tribes http://www.thestar.com/SpecialSections/article/529042
Negotiations with "reconcilable" members of the insurgency of necessity is primarily in the hands of the Karzai government which has little support due to rampant corruption and is increasingly under siege in Kabul and its surrounding provinces. Reversal of fortune leaves Kabul under Taliban's thumb http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081014.afghan-kabul131/BNStory/specialComment
The primary neighbour of Afghanistan whose support must be maintained is Pakistan. This is so for the great portion of material to sustain the American and allied troops flow from Karachi up through the Kyber Pass.
" All change in the US's Afghan mission" http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JI20Df01.html writes that "the US incursions have unprecedented unity between local tribesmen, the Taliban and the rank-and-file Pakistani security forces deployed on the border regions. Tribal sources tell Asia Times Online that the next time American ground forces venture into Pakistan they will meet stiff opposition from these now-combined forces. At the tribal level hoped for allies are becoming antagonists.
As for the Pakistani Government "Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari says continued US missile strikes on targets in Pakistan are counterproductive and detrimental to the war on terror. Pakistan's Government is warning of outrage and anti-US sentiment if the raids continue."
The American response: "But the US says the raids are necessary to protect its forces in neighbouring Afghanistan." Petraeus warned to end US-led strikes on Pakistan http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/04/2409355.htm?section=world
The President-elect will inherit in both Iraq and Afghanistan wars that have been sapping the resources of the United States of America and which the policy of attacking across borders into neighbouring countries is not assisting in arriving at a settlement but making such an eventuality more difficult.
A closing observation. In 1951 General Douglas Mac Arthur was removed from his commands on the basis that "1951 "military commanders must be governed by the policies and directives issued to them in the manner provided by our laws and Constitution." Truman, MacArthur, and the Korean War
President Truman forbid attacks into Chinese territory even though Chinese troops had come across the border into Korea. To-day,
clearly, the President whose replacement will be elected tomorrow has a differing view of international relationships. One fraught with danger should it become an accepted norm.
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Related articles:
The Battle for Afghanistan: U.S. mapping new strategy in response to dire assessments of war
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65497&archive=true
Exclusive Dispatch: Pakistan's Hidden War
http://freethoughtmanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/11/pakistans-hidden-war.html
Election could 'tear Afghanistan apart'
Obama, Petraeus, McCain Agree: Taliban Talks OKU.S. Strikes Strain Pakistan
Pentagon chief: Afghan war strategy lacking
Shall we stand up to the Taleban?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7655422.stm
Violence in Afghanistan worse than ever, top UN official says
http://www.thestar.com/SpecialSections/article/517414
Analysis: America decides to fight and win in Afghanistan
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/3363119/Analysis-America-decides-to-fight-and-win-in-Afghanistan.html
US defense secretary expands pre-emptive war doctrine to include nuclear strikes
http://www.defence.pk/forums/wmd-missiles/15746-us-defense-secretary-expands-pre-emptive-war-doctrine-include-nuclear-strikes.html
The killing fields
http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2008/10/afghanistan-british-taliban
Commanders say getting more troops into Afghanistan is crucial
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?article=58401
US training Pakistani forces to fight Taliban
http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/international-31/1224868456169660.xml&storylist=international
Pakistan to arm anti-Taliban militias
Thought of Taleban deal alarms jihadists
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7687539.stm
Canada willing to fund job retraining for former Taliban
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/War_Terror/2008/10/21/7157731-cp.html
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From: "Robert Ede" Subject: Fwd: Obama '08, Rae '90 (and Hoover)
Nov 3/08
Dear Globe Editor,
Gallup's verdict: It's all but over for McCain
Ontario to receive Equalization Pymnts
Perhaps American voters are just as disenchanted with their electoral choices as were Ontarians when they voted our own party of Social Democrats into Ontario in 1990.
Mr Peterson called an early election and disgruntled Ontarians voted with impossibly-perfect precision to place Mr Rae as titular supervisor over (& earnest intervenor into) one of the worst economic/monetary eras in memory (& exacerbated in Ontari-ari-o by the AFT).
If successful, the powers behind Barry Obama (and ACORN et al) are IMHO, to be granted a similar opportunity.
With great hope, I pray that the ObamaNation's leaders do not similarly apply ideologically-correct, textbook-based 'solutions' as did Ontario's Rae and America's Hoover.
Robert Ede,
http://robertede.blogspot.com
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From: Coleman Tokei
Dear Joe,
I just wanted to, via reply email, give you one right-wing, anti-Communist, ethnic Hungarian's view of tomorrow's upcoming US Presidential Election.....
To this 55 year old, this is the second-most important US Presidential Election in my lifetime. In my view, 1980, where tough, anti-Communist, wealth-creating, inflation defeating, Freedom Defending Ronald Wilson Reagan beat out the weak and dithering Jimmy MalaiseForever Carter......THAT was the most important election of my lifetime!! Why??? Because back in 1980, with a further weakened and confused America, the Western Alliance could still have lost the Cold War to the Communists.
This 2008 farcical "democatic exercise" has been hijacked by the lefty mainstream US media and their Hollywood mind-bending allies, as they have invented this Obama guy, packaged him, left his faults unreported........and when not ignoring the McCain Campaign altogether, have gone after a sitting Governor of the largest State in the Union like a bunch of blood-thirsty jackals!!! If Obama does win.........his margin of victory will be a bunch of uninformed MTV generation 20-somethings "who don't know their arse from page four"!!!
I fret for the welfare of my two teenage daughters and their kids (my future grandkids) as the election of this liberal, Club of Rome, World Gov't backing, peacenik socialist idiot (did I leave anything out???) Barry Hussein Obama accelerates the decline of, what I call, the postwar Pax Americanus (the longest sustained period of International prosperity in modern history). I have said since 1988, the visceral hatred between the left and the right in America will eventually weaken US resolve and focus........and lead to the loss in American fortunes, both at home and abroad. A house divided cannot stand!!! Also, isn't it grand how our lefty media are going gah-gah with a bad case of Obamamania Fever, even though this pretender has told voters in rustbelt battleground States how he intends to "renegotiate NAFTA" because Canada and Mexico stole their jobs!!!! It is a testimony to Stephen Harper's shrewd skill in dealing with the Canadian media (and the total ineptitude of the Liberals for selecting a Leader that looks like the little old bald guy on the old Benny Hill Show) that we were even able to elect two successive Conservative Gov'ts in this country........albeit minorities!!! Small wonder I refer to the CBC as the Communist Broadcasting Corporation and call CTV's Lisa Laflamme.......Lefty La Flame!!!! It's absolutely maddening IMO!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for including me in your daily review of Canadian news items and editorials. Your selections are always topical and timely. I appreciate very much the long manhours you dedicate to this great service for guys like me who still have hope for the Western Democratic System......and moreover the goodwill and common sense of the electorate. Notice I said "hope for" and not "faith in"...........sad isn't it???
A Sincere Thank You and Warmest Regards,
Coleman Tokei
RMC/Canadian Navy 1972-79
Former President of Richmond (BC) Riding Association (Canadian Alliance) 2002-03
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The DAILY DIGEST: INFORMATION and OPINION from ST. JOHN'S to VICTORIA.
ARCHIVED at http://cdndailydigest.blogspot.com/
ISSUES
CANUSA/USACAN The DAILY DIGEST: INFORMATION and OPINION from ST. JOHN'S to VICTORIA.
ARCHIVED at http://cdndailydigest.blogspot.com/
ISSUES
Obama, Harper and Afghanistan
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081102.WBSpector20081102130740/WBStory/WBSpector
Alignment of stars doesn't favour Rae
Hebert: Time has not stood still since the 2006 Liberal leadership convention and its passage has been kinder to Michael Ignatieff than to Bob Rae. In 2006, Ignatieff was an untested political quantity. He had been elected to Parliament for the first.. MORE...
With McKenna out, make room for John Manley
Lawrence Martin: On Frank McKenna's record, it won't look good that once again he approached the starting line of a Liberal leadership race and once again he shrunk away from the challenge. But this time, his fadeout might serve the party.. MORE...
Beware: Federal budget knives are coming out
Leger: ONE OF the most galling aspects of the current economic mess is that we never know whom to believe. And it's not because there aren't lots of educated opinions about what happened and why. It's because every one of those opinions.. MORE...
Federal-provincial peace breaks out
Coyle: It would be a bit rash, alas, to take for peace what might merely be the brief absence of war. As finance ministers from across Canada gather today in Toronto to put heads together on the economy, hostilities have certainly eased, so far as.. MORE...
Courting Ontario/Shafting Quebec?
Spector: This morning, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will be meeting his provincial and territorial counterparts in Toronto, and he will not be bearing good news. MORE...
In these economic hard times, divided we fall
Maxwell: Stephen Harper and his Conservatives can once again call themselves "Canada's new government." But to govern in hard times, they will need to adopt a different style from what we have seen in their first term in office. MORE...
Thankfully, it's December for May
Wooodcock: Green Party leader Elizabeth May, so recently an ubiquitous presence on our television screens, fawned over by adoring media, seems to have vanished -- possibly into history, but more likely, into hiding from her candidates. MORE...
In an election campaign, perception is key
Spector: Some weeks, and I'm betting last week was one of them, Premier Gordon Campbell must be kicking himself in the backside for having come up with the idea of legislating the date of the next provincial election. I refer, of course, to a week in which his Liberals lost two by-elections in Vancouver. MORE...
Charest's election scenario eerily mimics Harper's last campaign
Gagnon: The posters from last month's federal election are still hanging on the poles, but Quebeckers are heading for another election. Premier Jean Charest, surfing on a wave of unprecedented popular support, is set to try to regain.. MORE...
Charest rolling election dice
Toronto Star: In Quebec, the opposition parties are braying that Liberal Premier Jean Charest should tend to the province's sagging economy instead of calling a snap pre-Christmas election in the next few days, as he is expected to do. MORE...
Obama will find reality bites
Berton: The big news this week will occur only if Barack Obama loses the U.S. presidential election. If that happens, it's difficult to even imagine the reaction and the repercussions, domestically and internationally. MORE...
Pundits, polls rarely wrong
Worthington: If pollsters and pundits are right (they usually are), by bedtime tomorrow Barack Obama should be the first black guy elected president of the U.S. Republican contender John McCain disagrees, but that's probably because he has to. MORE...
The 'Obama effect' and Canada
Arif: Tomorrow's election in the United States promises to be an interesting one, and one that will likely foster cross-border envy in Canada. A recent poll put Barack Obama's popularity in Canada at 67 per cent, and an earlier poll showed that the.. MORE...
The audacity of Obama: Only in America
MacGREGOR: Try this one on for size. If Canadians only could vote in tomorrow's U.S. election, Barack Obama might take upward of 90 per cent of the vote. Yet if Obama were a Canadian and running for office in this country, voters might well.. MORE...
Black in history
Greenspan: A nation knows it's ready when the person is qualified for the job. Can a black man become president of the United States? We will find out tomorrow night. Recent polls consistently suggest that Barack Obama is.. MORE...
Change should be more than a campaign slogan
Alexander Cockburn: The disadvantages to the McCain-Palin ticket don't need much explication. McCain has never risen to the challenge of the world financial crisis and this failure has shrivelled his chances to near invisibility. MORE...
Bush's legacy: Slaying apathy with ineptitude
MarcCraig Kielburger: President George W. Bush, saviour of democracy. The current economic meltdown, a fumbled response to Hurricane Katrina and a banner reading "Mission Accomplished" are but a few of the things that will.. MORE...
Canada needs a single securities regulator
Gazette: Finance Minister Jim Flaherty flies to Brazil today for financial-crisis talks with his opposite numbers from other countries in the Group of 20 most-industrialized states. MORE...
Ontario to collect $347-million payout
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First time in history: Ontario officially a 'have not'
First time in history: Newfoundland and Labrador officially a 'have' province
Diplomats worried over Bush leak
Rudd under pressure over George W Bush 'leaked phonecall'
Bush did not reveal ignorance, says Rudd
Parliamentary budget officer under fire from Commons, Senate speakers
U.S. auto sales plummet
U.S. rejects GM's aid request
Auto sales take a beating in the U.S., picture brighter in Canada
Calgary man dies after Taser used during arrest
Using Taser on handcuffed man 'not unreasonable,' says police watchdog
Lauzon chosen as caucus chairman
Dion dumps Hervieux-Payette
Canada not good enough for top scotch whisky
Goodbye to cellphone system access fees?
Michael Wilson says economy poised for turnaround
Conference Board scales back economic outlook
Blame high oil prices for recession, CIBC says
Universities eye 'painful' cuts in wake of crisis
Economy 'slowing rapidly,' Atlantic provinces warned
NAFTA in jeopardy if Obama wins, Cellucci says
Gallup's verdict: It's all but over for McCain
Dirty tricks pile on in final hours of presidential campaign
Obama, McCain make final push for votes
Massive get-out-the-vote operations hit overdrive
May won't join Liberals and blames NDP for Harper's victory
Expanded Cabinet boosts spending and office budgets by $4.7-million
Bigger cabinet won't come cheap
Despite 'hurdles,' Aglukkaq ready for cabinet posting
New government House leader could set more positive tone in Parliament
Libs about $2-to $3-million in debt
Emergency-room nightmares spur calls for action
Federal scientists demand end to self-policing in food industry
Lobbying industry could be hard hit in economic downturn
The robot that could take a Canadian to the moon
Sniper shots investigated
Quebec minister takes a break
Rogers at a turning point
Tim Hortons serves up national identity, researcher finds
Constitutional challenge to new national security laws ruled premature
Williams declares 'Newfie joke' over as N.L. stops receiving equalization
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