Anthony Cordesman

Professor Anthony H. Cordesman holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and is an analyst for ABC News on a number of global conflicts. He has occasionally criticized the Bush Administration's efforts in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cordesman has authored a "wide range of studies of US security policy, energy policy, and Middle East policy." He is a former National Security Assistant to Senator John McCain...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Cordesman

http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_experts/task,view/id,3/

'France played major role in Rwanda genocide'

Rwanda governemnt report, definitely not authoritative.

"The release of the report comes against a backdrop of tense relations between France and Rwanda.

In November 2006, Kigali severed diplomatic ties with France after French investigating magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere accused Kagame of involvement in the death of the then president, Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/france-played-major-role-in-rwanda-genocide/2008/08/06/1217702077638.html

Death of Syrian general escalates tensions

Brigadier General Mohammed Suleiman was little known in Western or Israeli intelligence circles until he was killed by a sniper in a Syrian port on Saturday.

"He was taken out by a sniper, which is the last in a long list of ways to assassinate someone. It's very dangerous and could easily lead to a catastrophic failure."

"He was a man who knew a lot, probably too much. We have seen people like him taken out in Syria before. When you know where all the bodies are buried, you will eventually join them."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24134285-2703,00.html

Senate committee recommends White Paper on peacekeeping

It also says the ADF and Australian Federal Police should develop effective inter-operability strategies, after troubles in the field caused by different work cultures.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24111976-31477,00.html

Reality of collateral damage

This is an edited extract from Running the War in Iraq: An Australian General, 300,000 Troops, the Bloodiest Conflict of Our Time, by major-general Jim Molan (HarperCollins, $32.99).

We did everything we could to avoid killing innocents. The coalition did not fight just for the sake of fighting. The coalition commander, US general George Casey, and his field commanders did not want to aggravate an already difficult situation, and their first guiding principle was often expressed as the old medical dictum: "First, do no harm."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24041644-31477,00.html

Downside of the Petraeus Strategy

They did not save the small American combat outpost at the village of Wanat in the Weygal valley. Two days after it was built, just after the 4.15am call to prayer on July 13th, intense gunfire streaked into the base from the village. Insurgents breached the defences. In fierce fighting, nine American soldiers were killed, more than in any single battle since 2005. Another 15 Americans and four Afghans were injured, out of a garrison of 45 Americans and 25 Afghans. The attackers were beaten back, and reportedly also took heavy casualties. But the “temporary” outpost has since been abandoned to the Taliban.

Such tiny combat outposts are an innovation of the past couple of years. They are designed to put American troops—sometimes just a few dozen—among the populace, usually alongside Afghan forces. The aim is to extend American influence outward from larger bases, which can provide artillery support. However, they are vulnerable to surprise attacks. At Wanat the defences had barely been finished, and the insurgents brought in several hundred fighters—a rogues’ gallery, say local officials, of Taliban, al-Qaeda and others.

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11751374

Crisis States Research Centre

http://www.crisisstates.com/