| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Hezbollah drums up fiction around Lebanese-American partnership |
| 2007-10-20 |
| Hezbollah on Friday denounced a senior Pentagon official's call for a U.S. "strategic partnership" with Lebanon's army, saying American attempts to boost military ties were a ploy for domination and could turn the country into another Iraq. Washington has dramatically increased military aid to Lebanon's pro-Western government over the past year. On Thursday, Eric Edelman, undersecretary of defense for policy, said the U.S. wants to make military ties even closer, with a "strategic partnership" to strengthen the country's forces. Edelman said in an interview with Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. television that the buildup of the military would mean the Shiite Muslim guerrilla group Hezbollah would have no excuse to bear arms. His comments came on the same day that a Lebanese opposition newspaper reported that Washington is proposing a treaty with Lebanon that would make it a strategic partner and lead to the creation of American bases. The Lebanese government and the U.S. ambassador in Beirut denied the report in the opposition-leaning As-Safir newspaper, and Edelman made no mention of bases in his comments. The comments and the newspaper report brought quick condemnation from Hezbollah, which is an ally of Syria and Iran and leads Lebanon's political opposition to the anti-Syrian government. The opposition, which is locked in a power struggle with the government, already accuses Prime Minister Fuad Saniora of being too close to the United States. In a statement Friday, Hezbollah said the American efforts were "part of a comprehensive plan to link Lebanon with the American project for the region ... under deceitful banners such as strategic partnership," it said. Hezbollah, which Washington accuses of being a terrorist organization, accused the United States of "interference" in Lebanese affairs, saying the American plans "and the dangers it encompass could turn the country into another Iraq." It did not elaborate. Some in Lebanon have expressed fears that a foreign military presence could attract al-Qaeda and other militants, as has happened in Iraq. Syria, meanwhile, accused the United States of threatening Lebanon's stability with its backing of the government in the country's political turmoil. In a letter sent to the United Nations on Thursday, it said U.S. interference "has so far deepened divisions" by "clearly and openly siding with one Lebanese side after the other." The United States and anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon accuse Damascus of fueling Lebanon's instability with its backing of Hezbollah, and say Syria is trying to restore the political domination it held over Lebanon for nearly 30 years until 2005. The opposition, in turn, accuses Saniora's government which came to power after the end of Syrian rule of putting Lebanon in the U.S. camp. The opposition has tried for months to remove his government and the two sides are in a dangerous deadlock over the choice of the country's next president. After last year's war between Hezbollah and Israel, the United States sharply increased its military assistance to Lebanon to US$270 million in 2007 more than five times the amount provided a year ago in a show of support to Saniora. The military in Lebanon has long been weak, numbering 56,000 personnel, with about 220 battle tanks, no effective air power and no air defense system. Hezbollah guerrillas are widely considered a stronger, more experienced force, and they were able to fight Lebanon's military to a standstill last year. Since the battle with Israel, Lebanese forces and U.N. peacekeepers have deployed in the south Hezbollah's stronghold in part with a mandate to prevent new arms flows to the guerrillas. But they have not taken steps to disarm Hezbollah. Asked whether helping the Lebanese army aimed at eventually taking on Hezbollah, Edelman said that as the army strengthens its capabilities "there will be less excuse for other armed groups to continue to bear arms." |
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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | ||
| Hezbollah denounces U.S.-Lebanon plan | ||
| 2007-10-20 | ||
 Hezbollah on Friday denounced a senior Pentagon official's call for a U.S. "strategic partnership" with Lebanon's army, saying American attempts to boost military ties were a ploy for domination and could turn the country into another Iraq.
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| Home Front: WoT |
| Overhaul planned for Rummy's office |
| 2006-02-03 |
 Senior planners for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld have presented him with confidential recommendations for the first overhaul of his policy office since the Cold War.Some officials fear the overhaul will dilute the power of the civilian subordinate office within the policy office that oversees special operations, the lead force in tracking and killing al Qaeda terrorists. Eric Edelman, undersecretary of defense for policy, and Ryan Henry, his chief deputy, spearheaded the study designed to make the policy-writing shop within Mr. Rumsfeld's office, which had been run by Douglas Feith, more compatible with fighting terrorists and to interact with the increasingly powerful U.S. combatant commanders around the globe. Mr. Feith was a key architect of the Iraq war. Mr. Rumsfeld takes a keen interest in policy development, choosing an "iterative" process whereby the plan matures and changes through research and discussion. A senior defense official, who confirmed the study's existence, said it is "very premature" to speculate on specific changes, but he added "the secretary always has a sense of urgency." The policy bureaucracy under Mr. Feith has played a prominent role in the war on terror. It devised a key objective in the war of denying territory as the best way to stop al Qaeda. It also developed the blueprint for vastly increasing Special Operations Command's power and numbers, and augmented plans for war and post-war operations in Iraq. But to some, the policy shop's structure has one foot in the Cold War. Principal offices for overseeing policy in Europe and Asia -- International Security Policy and International Security Affairs respectively -- were set up under President Reagan. And some officials complain of poor liaisons between policy and the new undersecretary of defense for intelligence. "The idea is that a lot of the organization for policy is stuck, despite our best attempts, more or less in the Cold War," the senior defense official said. The source declined to provide specific options but did say one focus is "a way to align the undersecretary of intelligence and special operations." The policy shop oversees commandos through the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low intensity conflict (SOLIC). That post is now held by Thomas O'Connell, a former commando. The office has limited influence with Mr. Rumsfeld, according to defense officials who say it had little involvement in the soon-to-be released Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). The QDR contains significant new programs for special operations, yet most of the initiatives came not from SOLIC, but from U.S. Special Operations Command (SoCom) in Tampa, Fla., the sources said. Some in the defense establishment fear the Edelman study is a route to abolishing SOLIC altogether and putting policy oversight closer to Mr. Rumsfeld's office. Mr. Rumsfeld takes a special interest in SoCom, and frequently discusses missions with Gen. Doug Brown, who heads the organization. |
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