[osint] Leadership
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 10:27 AM Subject: Fw: Leadership Thought you might appreciate this. It is a tribute only a few could understand and relate to. I sent this to you because I thought you should get a glimpse in to the brotherhood of leadership, especially, and expressly of the United States Army Rangers. ~ Dining-in speech at U.S. Military Academy 2003, by Lieutenant Colonel Guy Lofaro... Let me say before beginning, that it has been my pleasure to attend several dinings-in here at West Point and hence, I have some basis for comparison. You people have done a fine job and you ought to congratulate yourselves. In fact, why don't we take this time to have the persons who were responsible for this event, stand, so we can acknowledge them publicly. I guess I am honored with these invitations because there exists this rumor that I can tell a story. Cadets, who I have had in class, sometimes approach me beforehand and request that, during my speech, I tell some of the stories I've told them in class.For the longest time I have resisted this. I simply didn't think this the right forum for story-telling, so I tried instead, with varying degrees of success, to use this time to impart some higher lesson - some thought that would perhaps stay with one or two of you a little longer than the 10 or 15 minutes I will be standing here. I tried this again last week at another dining-in and I bombed. Big time. Of course, the cadets didn't say that. They said all the polite things - Thank you, sir, for those inspiring words - You've provided us much food for thought - We all certainly learned something from you tonight, sir. And I'm thinking - yeah - you learned something all right. You learned never to invite that SOB to be a dining-in speaker again. So in the interim, I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about what I would say to you tonight. What can I say that will stay with you? And as I reflected on this I turned it on myself - what stays with me? What makes a mark on me? What do I remember, and why? How have I learned the higher lessons I so desperately want to impart to you? Well - I've learned those higher lessons through experience. And as I thought further, I realized that there's only one way to relate experience - that is to tell some stories. So I'm going to try something new here this evening. I'm going to give you your stories and attempt to relate what I've learned by living them. I'm going to let you crawl inside my eye-sockets and see some of the things I've seen these past 18 years. Lesson One Imagine you are a brand new second lieutenant on a peacekeeping mission in the Sinai Peninsula . You are less than a year out of West Point , and only a few weeks out of the basic course. You are standing at a strict position of attention in front of your battalion commander, a man you will come to realize was one of the finest soldiers with whom you've ever served, and you are being questioned about a mistake - a big mistake - that you've made. You see, your platoon lost some live ammo. Oh sure, it was eventually found, but for a few hours you had the entire battalion scrambling. Your battalion commander is not yelling at you though, he's not demeaning you; he's simply taking this opportunity to ensure you learn from the experience. And you do - you learn that people make mistakes, that those mistakes do not usually result in the end of the world, and that such occasions are valuable opportunities to impart some higher lessons. Then, out of the corner of your eye, you see your platoon sergeant emerge from behind a building. He's an old soldier - a fine soldier though - whose knees have seen a few too many airborne operations. He sees you and the colonel - and he takes off at a run. You see him approaching from behind the colonel and the next thing you see is the back of your platoon sergeant's head. He is now standing between you and your battalion commander - the two are eyeball to eyeball. Your platoon sergeant says, a touch of indignance in his voice, Leave my lieutenant alone, sir. He didn't lose the ammo, I did. I was the one who miscounted. You want someone's ass, you take mine. And you learn another lesson - you learn about loyalty. Lesson Two It's a few months later, and you are one of two soldiers left on a hot PZ on some Caribbean island. There's been another foul up - not yours this time, but you're going to pay for it. It's you and your RTO, a nineteen-year-old surfer from Florida who can quote Shakespeare, because his Mom was a high school literature teacher, and who joined the Army because his Dad was a World War II Ranger. The last UH-60 has taken off on an air assault and someone is supposed to come back and get you guys. But the fire is getting heavy, and you're not sure anything can get down there without getting shot up. You're taking fire from some heavily forested hills. At least two
[osint] Leadership Disputes Plague Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Good, but these are personality not policy conflicts...won't matter in the long run. B http://www.jamestow http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373676 n.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2373676 Leadership Disputes Plague Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb By Andrew Mcgregor A battle is underway for control of the leadership of Algeria's last major armed Islamist group. A country exhausted by violence has used a combination of amnesties and military action to reduce the once powerful Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) to a few hundred fighters. Under the leadership of Abu Mus'ab Abd al-Wadoud (also known as Abdelmalek Droudkel), the commander since 2004, the GSPC has been reorganized into Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Droukdel's decision to align the group with Osama bin Laden and adopt al-Qaeda-style tactics has led to a further loss of personnel. There are now reports that the GSPC leader has been deposed by a three-day meeting of group leaders in the Lakhdaria region east of Algiers. GSPC amirs loyal to Droukdel have already been replaced, but the congress was unable to decide on a new leader (Liberté, September 18). Several factors were involved in Droukdel's dismissal, including the controversial transformation of the GSPC into a regional branch of al-Qaeda without consultation with the rest of the movement (as required), the inequitable distribution of funds from extortion and kidnapping rackets, the adoption of suicide bombings and the recruitment of teenagers to carry out such attacks (Terrorism Monitor; September 13; Terrorism Focus, September 18). Surprisingly, former GSPC leader Hassan Hattab is reported to have taken part in the congress that ousted Droukdel. Hattab has been part of the Islamist insurgency since it began in 1992. A former paratrooper, Hattab joined the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) at its inception, becoming the group's amir in the Kabylie mountains two years later. Hattab formed the GSPC in 1998 in reaction to the brutal violence and civilian massacres that characterized GIA operations. Hattab conceived the movement as a guerrilla force that, unlike the GIA, would avoid inflicting civilian casualties in favor of targeting government and military personnel. Hattab was forced out of the GSPC leadership in 2001 and has been inactive since 2004, other than a recent public debate (via the internet and press interviews) with Droukdel over insurgent methods. Despite numerous reports of his death and a death sentence delivered in absentia earlier this year, the ex-GSPC leader remains a fugitive in the Algerian mountains. Hattab insists he is still the legitimate leader of the GSPC/AQIM and denies reports from his rivals that he resigned from the organization (Terrorism Focus, November 14, 2005). In March 2006, Hattab urged AQIM members to take advantage of the government amnesty offer, but did not do so himself. A month later, Hattab denounced the AQIM suicide attacks in Algiers in an open letter to President 'Abd al-Aziz Bouteflika, repeating his call for AQIM to abandon the armed struggle. Hattab also suggested the Islamist movement had begun to drift from its original goals (Magharebia, April 17, May 10). Further criticism of AQIM's jihad came last week from Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian Muslim Brother who has made himself an influential figure in political Islam through his embrace of modern communications technology, including internet and television broadcasts from his base in Qatar. Known for views that frequently conflict with those of Salafis, al-Qaradawi rebuked AQIM for its extremism while receiving medical treatment in an Algerian military hospital: You should follow in the footsteps of the Islamic group in Egypt which has announced that they are shunning violence Regret your actions and join the Islamic mainstream (The Peninsula [Doha], September 20). On the same day, a call for greater violence in Algeria came from al-Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri. In a statement, al-Zawahiri urged the people of Algeria and other North African states to carry out an ethnic cleansing of French and Spanish residents as part of the effort to restore al-Andalus (Muslim rule in the Iberian peninsula) (Reuters, September 20). AQIM faces financial problems, has lost many of its leaders and is opposed by most of the population, including many Algerian Islamists. Operations are now largely restricted to six eastern provinces and two provinces in the south after the GSPC sustained heavy losses in government offensives. Most of the remaining units are infiltrated by Algerian intelligence operatives who seek to inflame divisions within the movement. Hattab has also complained of GIA extremists infiltrating the GSPC, creating deviation from its goals and methods. Since 1999, 8,000 militants have taken advantage of the amnesty, with only 300 still in the field (al-Sharq al-Awsat, September 16). Many of those who have accepted the
[osint] Leadership in a Time of Crisis: How King Abdullah Guided Saudi Arabia Through the 9/11 Storm.
Leadership in a Time of Crisis: How King Abdullah Guided Saudi Arabia Through the 9/11 Storm. 18/09/2007 http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3 http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=3id=10246 id=10246 By Khalil bin Abdullah Khalil* Terrorist attacks, deception and sabotage have drained much of Saudi Arabia's political assets and resulted in throwing the kingdom into a historical crisis with the world's only superpower. This has pushed the kingdom to play an important role in controlling the negative impacts of such attacks and restoring its prestige in the eyes of the world. The fierce battle began on September 11, 2001, when 15 Saudis took part in the terrorist attacks in New York that have been followed by numerous statements and video recordings by leaders of the Al Qaeda network in which they threatened the US with more attacks, declared war on the world, and promised to liberate the Arab Peninsula from the polytheists and the crusaders. Suddenly, Saudi Arabia; a country known for its political composure and moderate positions, found itself forced to confront international events. Al Qaeda brought down the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City as well as the face of the US economy in particular and capitalism in general. One plane hit the Pentagon [the headquarters of the US Department of Defense] setting it ablaze and this was a violation of a strong source of power in the US in particular and in the West in general. After witnessing such events, what other economic landmarks and military strongholds can America have confidence in? Suddenly, the spotlight was on Saudi Arabia for objective reasons as the leadership of the enemy and the soldiers and followers of Al Qaeda were linked to Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, most of the perpetrators of these frenzied attacks were Saudi and the stated religious slogans were in line with the Salafist jihadist trend. The media storm raged violently. Meanwhile, the US administration made the decision to engage in battle. However, the enemies are wandering ghosts who have no countries, armies or rules. In addition, armies and fleets were dispatched to strike Afghanistan and topple the Taliban regime. The US achieved this target within 36 days as the military strikes began on October 7, 2001. However, attention and debate in the media, research centers and universities focused on Saudi Arabia as, according to the prevailing opinion, it was considered the incubator of terrorism, financer of terrorists, exporter of Wahhabism, protector of Salafist Jihadi groups and exporter of the culture of hatred, in addition to other ideas that have been put forward in earnest for discussion. For example, American writer Maureen Dowd called for waging war in a Kingdom that gives medieval a bad name in her article that was published in the New York Times, August 28, 2002, and was republished the next day in the British newspaper, the Guardian. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia was not ready for this encounter and took time to recover from the shock of being embroiled in a historical confrontation, in which it had no previous experience. Past confrontations that it has experienced have been with Arab and Islamic countries such as Egypt, Yemen and Iran. The scope of dispute was limited and confrontations were, in most cases, on a media level with a few exceptions. Undoubtedly, the current confrontations are with the world's superpower, namely, the United States, with all its military, economic, political, media and scientific potentialities, not only with the US administration. Over 6,000,000 Saudis over 50 years have lived in the US and have witnessed distinguished bilateral relations. In addition, more than 40,000 Saudis bear US citizenship. In the early 1980s, the number of scholarships given to [Saudi] students numbered over 23,000. Universities and institutes in western America were replete with Saudi students and tourists because of its beauty and mild weather. Meanwhile, the Saudi embassy in Washington served as a reference to Arabs and Muslims, where it supported and shared their concerns and aspirations. Arab ambassadors believe that the reason Prince Bandar bin Sultan was celebrated in Washington was due to the fact that he understood US policy. He confidently and professionally used it to consolidate Saudi-US relations and to serve his country and the issues of Arabs and Muslims. Storms have raged in the aftermath of the disastrous events of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Consequently, Saudi Arabia has been forced to confront the US despite the close relations between the political leaderships of the two countries, the distinguished relations during the Cold War, the cooperation during the liberation of Kuwait, and the history of the distinct fruitful relations for over 70 years. Saudi Arabia has been thrown into the eye of the storm that weakened its diplomacy and subjected it to investigation, pursuit, and
