http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/16/AR2007071601680_2.html?referrer=email
Exit Strategies
The bottom line, one participant said, was "pretty much what we are seeing" since the Bush administration began intermittent talks with Damascus and Tehran: not much progress or tangible results.
Amid political arguments in Washington over troop departures, U.S. military commanders on the ground stress the importance of developing a careful and thorough withdrawal plan. Whatever the politicians decide, "it needs to be well-thought-out and it cannot be a strategy that is based on ‘Well, we need to leave,’ " Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, a top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Friday from his base near Tikrit.
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How Not to End a War
As President Bush and Congress debate a drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq, past wars offer cautionary lessons on how not to withdraw from a prolonged conflict.
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History is replete with bad withdrawal outcomes. Among the most horrific was the British departure from Afghanistan in 1842, when 16,500 active troops and civilians left Kabul thinking they had safe passage to India. Two weeks later, only one European arrived alive in Jalalabad, near the Afghan-Indian border.
The Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, which began in May 1988 after a decade of occupation, reveals other mistakes to avoid. Like the U.S. troops who arrived in Iraq in 2003, the Soviet force in Afghanistan was overwhelmingly conventional, heavy with tanks and other armored vehicles. Once Moscow made public its plans to leave, the political and security situations unraveled much faster than anticipated. "The Soviet Army actually had to fight out of certain areas," said Army Maj. Daniel Morgan, a two-tour veteran of the Iraq war who has been studying the Soviet pullout at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., with an eye toward gleaning lessons for Iraq. "As a matter of fact, they had to airlift out of Kandahar, the fighting was so bad."
War supporters and opponents in Washington disagree on the lessons of the departure most deeply imprinted on the American psyche: the U.S. exit from Vietnam. "I saw it once before, a long time ago," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a Vietnam veteran and presidential candidate, said last week of an early Iraq withdrawal. "I saw a defeated military, and I saw how long it took a military that was defeated to recover."
Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), also a White House hopeful, finds a different message in the Vietnam retreat. Saying that Baghdad would become "Saigon revisited," he warned that "we will be lifting American personnel off the roofs of buildings in the Green Zone if we do not change policy, and pretty drastically."
The Al-Qaeda Threat
________________________________________
What is perhaps most striking about the military’s simulations is that its post-drawdown scenarios focus on civil war and regional intervention and upheaval rather than the establishment of an al-Qaeda sanctuary in Iraq.
For Bush, however, that is the primary risk of withdrawal. "It would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al-Qaeda," he said in a news conference last week. "It would mean that we’d be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It would mean we’d allow the terrorists to establish a safe haven in Iraq to replace the one they lost in Afghanistan." If U.S. troops leave too soon, Bush said, they would probably "have to return at some later date to confront an enemy that is even more dangerous."
Withdrawal would also "confuse and frighten friends and allies in the region and embolden Syria and especially Iran, which would then exert its influence throughout the Middle East," the president said.
Bush is not alone in his description of the al-Qaeda threat should the United States leave Iraq too soon. "There’s not a doubt in my mind that Osama bin Laden’s one goal is to take over the Kingdom of the Two Mosques [Saudi Arabia] and reestablish the caliphate" that ended with the Ottoman Empire, said a former senior military official now at a Washington think tank. "It would be very easy for them to set up camps and run them in Anbar and Najaf" provinces in Iraq.
U.S. intelligence analysts, however, have a somewhat different view of al-Qaeda’s presence in Iraq, noting that the local branch takes its inspiration but not its orders from bin Laden. Its enemies — the overwhelming majority of whom are Iraqis — reside in Baghdad and Shiite-majority areas of Iraq, not in Saudi Arabia or the United States. While intelligence officials have described the Sunni insurgent group calling itself al-Qaeda in Iraq as an "accelerant" for violence, they have cited domestic sectarian divisions as the main impediment to peace.
In a report released yesterday, Anthony H. Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies warned that al-Qaeda is "only one part" of a spectrum of Sunni extremist groups and is far from the largest or most active. Military officials have said in background briefings that al-Qaeda is responsible for about 15 percent of the attacks, Cordesman said, although the group is "highly effective" and probably does "the most damage in pushing Iraq towards civil war." But its activities "must be kept in careful perspective, and it does not dominate the Sunni insurgency," he said.
‘Serious Consequences’
________________________________________
Moderate lawmakers such as Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) have concluded that a unified Iraqi government is not on the near horizon and have called for redeployment, change of mission and a phased drawdown of U.S. forces. Far from protecting U.S. interests, Lugar said in a recent speech, the continuation of Bush’s policy poses "extreme risks for U.S. national security."
Critics of complete withdrawal often charge that "those advocating [it] just don’t understand the serious consequences of doing so," said Wayne White, a former deputy director of Near East division of the State Department’s Intelligence and Research Bureau. "Unfortunately, most of us old Middle East hands understand all too well some of the consequences."
White is among many Middle East experts who think that the United States should leave Iraq sooner rather than later, but differ on when, how and what would happen next. Most agree that either an al-Qaeda or Iranian takeover would be unlikely, and say that Washington should step up its regional diplomacy, putting more pressure on regional actors such as Saudi Arabia to take responsibility for what is happening in their back yards.
Many regional experts within and outside the administration note that while there is a range of truly awful possibilities, it is impossible to predict what will happen in Iraq — with or without U.S. troops.
"Say the Shiites drive the Sunnis into Anbar," one expert said of Anderson’s war-game scenario. "Well, what does that really mean? How many tens of thousands of people are going to get killed before all the surviving Sunnis are in Anbar?" He questioned whether that result would prove acceptable to a pro-withdrawal U.S. public.
White, speaking at a recent symposium on Iraq, addressed the possibility of unpalatable withdrawal consequences by paraphrasing Winston Churchill’s famous statement about democracy. "I posit that withdrawal from Iraq is the worst possible option, except for all the others."
An ‘exit strategy’ is nothing but a recipe for defeat.
hell naw they visit mexico all the time but they dont show it on tv
Is the 2008 International Society of Poets Summer Convention and Symposium in Las Vegas, Nevada during July 24-27, 2008 actually real?? or is it a fraud?
because i entered the amateur poetry contest (you know the one with $20,000 and a $10,000 publishing contract as 1st place prizes) and i got an email one day saying that i was a semi-finalist? so i dont know whether to believe this or not because that was the first time i ever submitted any poem online and i dont write poems often.
who is going to the convention in Las Vegas btw?
yeah i refused to buy the book. but i kept on getting messages asking me if i wanted to buy one. sheeesh..
Welcome to the biggest scam on the internet! If you’re into ‘vanity publishing’, then by all means enter the IPS. It’s no coincidence, however, that the initials closely resemble those of IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME, though, because it’s all drek. Anyone that writes a poem gets published, if they pay the fee. but your poem only appears in the books you buy. These assholes only care about your $$$, not your poetry.
Special Invitation,
Dear Welfare Bodies and Others Concerned,
As a result of discussions among many Welfare Bodies / Peace Builders in Canada and across, Society of Humanitarian Foundation (SOHF) is using this opportunity to invite Ngos, Ingo, Governmental parastals, geo-political cum-ethnic Communities, cutting across the nation to our double edge Open Space Conference with themes:
"Fight against global Unemployment Ontario, Canada from December 1st – 4th,
Also ‘War against Poverty, Cape-Verde Island, Africa December 7th – 11th, 2009.
We will be following the principles of the United Nations Culture of Empowering Employment and Eradicating Poverty (EEEP)
You may wish to take some or all of these into account in your planning to visit Ontario, Canada and Cape-Verde Island; Africa. Our conferences and symposium are a rare chance for International Bodies from across the globe to high-light ways in tackling this dilemma.
Your email information was sent to us by The Student Union Association in your country of resident.
Visa procurement for all delegate(s) to both Conferences will be taking care by the Society of Humanitarian Foundation (SOHF).Our Independent Donors will also take charge of all delegates to and fro Tickets.
For your information the Conference Program is only open to a group of at least three to ten persons (3-10) to either represent a country or organization.
Do contact the Society of Humanitarian Foundation (SOHF) for further information via the below.
Secretary General
Dr. Franklin Roberts.
Society of Humanitarian Foundation.
Tel: +1(206)-984-0903
Fax: +1(206)-666-2182
Email: sohf@secretary.net
conf@societyhumanitarianfoundation.com
Our Regards,
Stephanie D. Comb.
It seems to be questionable. From their web site, the contacts are in Minett, a cottage community in Ontario – not even a large corporate center. The web site posts an incorrect postal code for Minett. Their area code for that area is either 905 or 705, not that 206 code they list under their pictures (of the contact people in Minett). Area code 206 is actually Washington State. The "bookings" seem to be for a western Africa country’s hotel.
Visas are not required for most visitors to Canada – again falsehoods in the letter…
Way too many "ifs" on this one, I smell rat…. To boot, they have this phrase in their travel arrangements on their web page:
"The Canadian Homeland security force will be assigned to the international conference venues both in the Canada and in Cape-Verde Island."
There is no such thing as a "Homeland Security" in Canada, that’s an American thing…
I suspect they want to get your credit card numbers…
i added a poem about a month ago and they recently sent me a message it said-
The Board of Directors and the Advisory Committee of
The International Society of Poets
hereby nominate Mary Ryan
for this year’s Poet of the Year competition.
You are cordially invited to attend the poetic event of the year where you will compete for this prestigious prize of $20,000.00 cash
and a $10,000.00 publishing contract.
We request your presence at the
International Society of Poets Convention & Symposium
is it legit? or fake?
ok so the poem went like this, its not in poetry form.. but if you read it right it still rhymes
She stands there.. Cold and broken.. This love she thought existed was gone in a glimpse. That tragic day her heart shattered left her lying there broken and battered.. Her heart alone in a state beyond melancholy. Breaking the haunting silence with a gasp she cried. Oh how sullen was this day her heart died. She was so close but yet so far away. This idea she had hold of, ripped from her grasp. Her heart cries out to breathe but at last…she suffocatesit. The Pain feels good numbing her hurt within. She reaches for the love she once had for him.. but cant find it.These tears of blood flow down her cheeks. Her bones breaking slowly while her heart leaks. So much love that was overflowing suddenly gone as with her life that she was so used to knowing.
Only way to find out, is to email the head of the site, or site owners. And copy and paste that email, and ask them if it’s real.
Serving Global Capital Market and the Global economy: a view from the CEOs of the international audit networks .A public policy symposium held in november 2006.
This is your link.
http://www.gti.org/Publications/Vision-of-international-CEOs.asp
Login here and then go to vision of international ceos :-
TO GET http://www.gti.org/files/CEO_vision.pdf.
==================================================
Fossil reef found in Aussie outback
Monday, 22 September 2008Heather Catchpole
ABC
Australian scientists have discovered an ancient reef that may push back the evolution of the earliest animals by 80 million years.
The unpublished research, by geoscientists Associate Professor Malcolm Wallace, Estee Woon and Jonathan Giddings from the University of Melbourne, will be presented at the Geological Society of Australia’s Selwyn Symposium on Thursday.
The researchers say they have uncovered complex organisms that in some ways resemble multicellular life in a large reef located in the Northern Flinders Ranges, 700 kilometres north of Adelaide in South Australia.
If the fossils, which are around 650 million years old, are of multicellular organisms, they would be the earliest examples of primitive animal life discovered so far, the researchers say.
The fossils are yet to be described scientifically, but look like cauliflowers and were probably sponge-like organisms up to two centimetres in diameter, Wallace says.
‘Nothing else like them’
He says the reef-building organisms were "certainly more complex than any fossil of their age anywhere on Earth".
"They’ve never been described from anywhere else in the world.
There’s nothing else like them," says Wallace.
The ancient reef, which is now exposed on the surface, was 10 times higher than the Great Barrier Reef, and consisted partly of stromatolites, layered structures built by microbes, and partly of the sponge-like organisms.
The find is especially significant because it may be the missing piece of the puzzle in the evolution of early animal life.
Before the Ediacaran geological period, 635 million years ago, the only life forms were simple, single-celled organisms.
Then suddenly, 570 million years ago, very complex animals appear in the fossil record.
Scientists have long debated just what caused this evolutionary explosion in life.
"When you see the Ediacara they resemble jellyfish and modern arthropods [the group that contains insects and spiders]," Wallace says.
"There is no doubt they are animals. The real puzzle is why they appeared 570 to 540 million years ago.
"Maybe this reef system will tell us something about that."
‘Extremely important’
Dr Jim Gehling, a palaeontologist from the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, says if verified the find will be "extremely important" and "very exciting".
"We know these things [the Ediacara] must have had ancestors; when they occurred is the great debate," Gehling says.
He says the find would confirm predictions based on the molecular record that pinpoint evolutionary steps based on the rates of DNA mutation.
Most branching of the molecular tree occurred in the Ediacaran when there was an evolutionary explosion in life.
But according to the molecular record, sponges should have branched off 650 to 680 million years ago, which is about when these reefs occur, Gehling says.
"If he’s found evidence of sponges, and that would need to be verified, that’s exactly what the molecular records predict and that would be very exciting," he says.
The Selwyn symposium will have international and Australian scientists debating theories on what led to the "evolutionary explosion" of life at the time of the first animals.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/09/22/2370844.htm
===============================================
My question is if scientists have found a massive reef in Australia why are their no fish or backboned animals in it ?
If creationism is correct God made all sea creatures at the same time and fossils formed during the "Great Flood" it would be impossible for a total reef system to exist in the oceans without having some fish or backboned creatures in it somewhere, but here it is and scientists have proof it did exist !
after all that good stuff you pick out a small detail of no fish?
there is a complete ecosystem fossilized and youre whineing about no fish?
I have 3 international conference publications including one at IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications-2005. I am in top 20 in a class of 100. I want to pursue MS in area related to Computer Vision in university in US. I am applying to Texas Tech for Spring 2007. I cant spend out of pocket. What are my chances for getting aid? I dont have much choices in universities this season. Should I wait for next fall? Is my score + background gud enuf to get me admission and aid? Thanx for info in advance.
btw, I am in India.
yes you will get there donot worry your profile seems good if you are in 4th year now that increases your chances so apply now also your publications are really good can u pls tell me from whcih college you are?
as far as i know you will get there try TSE so that you can get teaching assistanship there.
Hello all folks,
Please provide links to these books
1) Microwave Transition Design
By Izadian, Jamal S. (Author), Izadian, Shahin M. (Joint Author)
2) Novel Technologies for Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Applications
Kiang, Jean-Fu (Ed.)
3) Microstrip and Printed Antenna Design (Hardcover)
by Randy Bancroft
4) Practical Microstrip Design And Applications (Artech House Microwave Library) (Hardcover) by Gunter Kompa (Author)
5) Design of nonplanar microstrip antennas and transmission lines
By Kin-Lu Wong
6) M. Hougart and C. Aury, “Various Excitation of Coplanar
Waveguides,” IEEE MTT-S International Microwave
Symposium Digest, 1979.
7) J. Burke and R.W. Jackson, “Surface-to-Surface Transition
via Electromagnetic Coupling of Microstrip and
Coplanar Waveguide,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave
Theory & Techniques, Vol. 37, No. 3, March 1989, pp. 519-
525.
Cool L.G. Maloratsky, Miniaturization of Microwave Elements
and Devices, Soviet Radio, Moscow, 1976.
books.google.com or readprint.com
Google books doesn’t usally give you the full book though.
Hello all folks,
Please provide links to these books
1) Microwave Transition Design
By Izadian, Jamal S. (Author), Izadian, Shahin M. (Joint Author)
2) Novel Technologies for Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Applications
Kiang, Jean-Fu (Ed.)
3) Microstrip and Printed Antenna Design (Hardcover)
by Randy Bancroft
4) Practical Microstrip Design And Applications (Artech House Microwave Library) (Hardcover) by Gunter Kompa (Author)
5) Design of nonplanar microstrip antennas and transmission lines
By Kin-Lu Wong
6) M. Hougart and C. Aury, “Various Excitation of Coplanar
Waveguides,” IEEE MTT-S International Microwave
Symposium Digest, 1979.
7) J. Burke and R.W. Jackson, “Surface-to-Surface Transition
via Electromagnetic Coupling of Microstrip and
Coplanar Waveguide,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave
Theory & Techniques, Vol. 37, No. 3, March 1989, pp. 519-
525.
L.G. Maloratsky, Miniaturization of Microwave Elements
and Devices, Soviet Radio, Moscow, 1976.
Regards,
Avin
Start here:
http://openlibrary.org/
http://www.google.com/