Vital Perspective

Sec. Rumsfeld, VP Cheney Mark 9/11 Anniversary With Remarks at Pentagon

A short time ago Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney spoke at the Pentagon to military personnell, chaplains, families and friends of victims, and the American people. Below are their remarks:

SEC. RUMSFELD: Mr. Vice President and Lynne, thank you so much for being here on this important day. Members of the Congress, Chairman Pace and Lynne, members of the Joint Chiefs and service secretaries and senior department officials.

Dick Myers, I see you there today. I remember working -- working our way through that -- that long, tragic day.

Chaplains, thank you for your thoughts and remarks.

I believe all the families and friends have lapel patches, sort of in a double American flag, and we certainly welcome all of you and thank you for being here. And know that you are always in our -- in our thoughts and prayers.

Five years have passed since our country was drawn into a war not of our making. And we all remember where we were that day, what we were doing, and we, of course, recall our president, who stood in the rubble in lower Manhattan with a bullhorn vowing justice. And we recall members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats and independents, joined together on the steps of the Capitol singing defiantly "God Bless America."

And we remember the grief that we all felt for our countrymen, grief that soon hardened into resolve.

Five years ago, while much of the nation and the world mourned, our enemies celebrated. They sought to change the way we live and to undermine the trust that we have in one another, which is really the essence of a free society. On this fifth anniversary and on the anniversaries to come, we must ask ourselves, are they succeeding? Well, in many ways, the enemy's failing. Americans are not an intimidated people. Americans have not stopped flying on airplanes. We can see that this morning. And Americans have stopped -- not stopped working in skyscrapers or here at the Pentagon.

Military Intelligence Determines Iran Faked Video of Sub-to-Surface Missile

U.S. military intelligence has determined that a video released on August 27 by the Iranian government - just days before the Security Council deadline to suspend uranium enrichment and reprocessing - purporting to show a test of a new submarine missile is bogus, three Pentagon officials confirmed. The test apparently was designed to intimidate Iran's neighbors, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, regional experts said.

The video showed what appeared to be a successful test of a submarine-fired missile that flies above the water's surface to attack ships, but U.S. intelligence officers analyzed the plume of smoke from the missile and determined it matched a video of an earlier Chinese test. "It's the identical launch," a Pentagon official said. "The plume, everything, is the same."

After the video was released, Iranian navy commander Gen. Sajjad Kouchaki said "The army successfull test fired a top speed long-range sub-to-surface missile off the Persian Gulf," and that the sub-fired missile could be fired from any vessel and could escape enemy radar.

U.S. officials have been unable to confirm whether any test took place at all. They are certain, however, that the video of the purported test is not of an Iranian sub in the Persian Gulf.

Bush Describes How U.S. Brings Terrorists to Justice; Declares Gitmo Transfers

President Bush announced in a speech this afternoon that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, and 11 others in CIA custody have been transferred to the custody of the Department of Defense at Guantanamo.

These men have provided valuable information that has saved innocent lives in the U.S. and around the world. In addition to terrorists held at Guantanamo, some terrorist leaders and operatives have been held and questioned outside the U.S., in a separate program operated by the CIA. The detainees recently transferred to Guantanamo were previously held and questioned by the CIA. The CIA program focused on a number of suspected terrorist leaders and operatives - dangerous men with unparalleled knowledge about terrorist networks and plans for new attacks.

The CIA program has been, and remains, one of the most vital tools in our war against the terrorists. Questioning of detainees in the program has given us information that has saved innocent lives by helping us to stop new attacks in America and abroad.

According to the intelligence community, the program has produced information that has saved lives. Some examples include:

• Abu Zubaydah told us that al-Qaeda operatives were planning to launch an attack inside the U.S. Based on information he provided, the operatives were detained, one while traveling to the U.S. Zubaydah also disclosed that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks.
• Information provided by Zubaydah also helped lead to the capture of Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, one of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's accomplices in 9/11. Together, these two terrorists provided information that helped in the planning and execution of the operation that captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
• Khalid Sheikh Mohammed provided information that led us to the capture of a terrorist operative Named Zubair, who provided information that helped lead to the capture of Hambali - the leader of al-Qaeda's Southeast Asian affiliate known as Jamal Islamia. After Hambali's arrest, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was questioned again, and he identified Hambali's brother as the leader of a JI cell, and Hambali's conduit for communications with al-Qaeda. Hambali's brother was soon captured, and he in turn led us to a cell of 17 Southeast Asian JI operatives. When confronted with the news that his terror cell had been broken up, Hambali admitted that the operatives were being groomed at Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's request for attacks inside the U.S., possibly using airplanes.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed also told us many details of other plots and provided vital information on al-Qaeda's efforst to obtain biological weapons for terrorist attacks. He described the design of planned attacks on buildings inside the U.S. and how operatives were directed to carry them out. He told us the operatives had been instructed to ensure the explosions went off at a point that was high enough to prevent the people trapped above from escaping out of the windows.

Suspected terrorists in the CIA program have provided everything from initial leads to photo identifications to precise locations of where terrorists were hiding - helping us take potential mass murderers off the streets before they were able to kill or kill again. Detainees in this program have helped us identify individuals that al-Qaeda deemed suitable for Western operations, including terrorists sent to case targets inside the U.S. Detainees in this program have identified al-Qaeda travel routes and safe havens, and explained how al-Qaeda's senior leadership communicates with its operatives in Iraq. They have identified voices in recordings of intercepted calls and helped us understand the meaning of potentially critical terrorist communications. Read the text of this very interesting speech on the war on terror below the fold.

Pentagon Preparing Aid Package for Lebanese Army to Counter Hezbollah

InsideDefense reports that the Pentagon is preparing an aid package for the LAF that is designed to increase ground force deployments across Lebanon's southern region, allowing the LAF to better challenge Iranian and Syrian backed Hezbollah terrorists.

The $10.6 million bundle of aid -- intended to improve ground mobility through purchases of spare parts needed to get more of Lebanon's military trucks, helicopters and APCs operational -- may soon expand to improve other military capabilities, according to a Pentagon official involved in preparing the assistance package who called it "the first phase of... a multiyear effort."

The official declined to specify what additional capabilities the Pentagon, in close coordination with the State Department, might be willing to provide Lebanon, but said plans are in the works for a second aid package that could move forward as soon as this fall. DOD would like to see Lebanon's army use the assistance to repair its 5-ton military trucks, M113 APCs and UH-1H utility helicopters to counter militias and terrorist organizations within its borders.

"We need to see how they use these first items we’re sending," the official said. "If they take advantage of the equipment and really get around and do their patrolling and assert themselves, then you’ll see different kinds of equipment going in that we can provide to help them more. It is safe to say we would be increasing their capabilities more broadly."

Pentagon to Create New High-Level GWOT Task Force to Streamline Analysis

InsideDefense (subscription only) is reporting that the Pentagon is establishing a high-level task force designed to marshal counterterrorism efforts across the defense bureaucracy, as part of a sweeping new reorganization of its policy directorate.

The Global War on Terrorism Task Force is expected to comprise as many as 20 experts drawn from across the Pentagon. It will provide a day-to-day focus on issues related to the U.S. military's fight against Islamic extremists around the world. These experts will periodically rotate and assist the defense secretary in dealing with a wide range of issues related to the war on terror -- from weapon system investments to contingency plans to public diplomacy.

"The organization will have a focus that is near term and operational and also long term, reaching out to the joint capability requirements [which influence weapon system needs] that we might need 10 to 15 years down the road," said a senior Pentagon official involved in crafting the new task force.

Defense Department officials involved in helping establish the charter for the new task force said it is the result of work conducted last year during the Quadrennial Defense Review, during which the Pentagon's leadership concluded the military required “new horizontal organizations” for the global war on terrorism.

While the final Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) report recommended further study of the issue, a January 13 briefing prepared by officials in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) concluded the global war on terror mission "is so complex that no single, expert organization can manage it end-to-end." So far, Pentagon officials have been mum on the new task force's specific charter.

However, the January briefing, which argued for establishing a task force, proposed a new organization that would establish measures of success and monitor their progress; ensure a unified Defense Department message to other parts of the federal government, international partners and adversaries; facilitate "rapid policy decisions during ongoing operations"; ensure "integration of combat and non-combat" considerations; and advise on the "probability of success of proposed uses of military" capabilities.

Rumsfeld Pushes to Convert Nuclear Missiles for Preventative Terror Strikes

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made his strongest public case yesterday for a plan, opposed by some in Congress and by Russia, to convert some of the Navy's nuclear long-range missiles to a conventional role for potential use against terrorist targets anywhere in the world. Opponents of the plan argue that it could create a situation in which a non-nuclear U.S. Trident SLBM would be mistaken for a nuclear launch and risk the possibility of a retaliatory nuclear strike.

Rumsfeld said he thought little of that argument. He said the Pentagon would be "fully transparent" with Moscow about any conversion of strategic missiles, so that there was no room for miscalculation.

The idea is that this prospective weapon would be used as a way of maximizing U.S. options for "preventive strikes," meaning attacks against terrorist targets that are launched not in response to a terrorist act but in order to destroy a terrorist weapon before it can be used.

This plan has already been in the works for several months. Earlier this year, the Pentagon developed the Conventional Trident Modification program to diversify its strategic options. The $503 million program would have converted existing Trident II missiles (presumably those scheduled for decommissioning of their warheads) into conventional weapons. It offered the promise of accurate conventional strikes with little warning and flight time.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear the Moscow is in the mood to embrace it. Ivanov made clear that his government opposes the idea. "These are preliminary plans, and for sure these U.S. plans raise Russian concerns," Ivanov said. "There are different solutions" to that problem, such as cruise missiles, which traditionally carry conventional warheads and would not be mistaken for a possible nuclear strike.

Pentagon Plans to Sell Nearly $5 Billion in Tanks, Helicopters to Arab States

This morning it was reported by al-Jazeera that the U.S. plans to sell arms worth $4.6 billion to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman. In the newly proposed sale, battle tanks worth $2.9 billion and AH-64 Apache helicopters worth $400 million will be sold to Saudi Arabia. The UAE would get $808 million worth of UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters and Bahrain would get $252 million worth. Jordan would get a potential $156 million in upgrades to 1,000 of its M113 A1 armored personnel carriers (APCs). Javelin anti-tank missiles worth $48 million would go to Oman under the deals put forward by the Pentagon's defense security agency, which administers all  government-to-government arms sales.

Notices of proposed U.S. arms sales are required by law once they pass certain value thresholds. Congress may block a sale if both houses pass resolutions of disapproval within 30 days of formal notification.

Restraint and Ceasefire Simply Incompatible; Civilian Casualties in Perspective

Please, somebody, tell us what other county on this planet warns people that an attack is coming in their area? Last night, the Israelis warned all of the civilians south of the communities running from Qlaile in the west, through Siddiqine, Sultaniye, Majdel Silim and up to a point west of the village of Houla near the Israeli-Lebanese border that there would be an aerial attack after 10:00 a.m. today. Those warning were issues through local sources and Arabic media.

Meanwhile, the EU & Co. call for a ceasefire, but urge Israeli restraint. You can't have your cake and eat it, too. Either Israel shows no restraint and finishes the job quickly, or they show respect for civilian life and act methodically and with precision. The job still needs to be done regardless, and we think that minimizing the loss of innocent civilian life is certainly the way to go.

For comparison, as the world throws a fit over the "staggering" civilian casualties, let's compare the losses in Afghanistan over the same time span that Israel has been operating against Hezbollah in Lebanon. From our count, over the same period of time, somewhere betwen 895 and 969 civilians were killed in the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban. The U.S. tactics were not disproportionate, and neither are the Israeli.

White House Gives OK for Rush Delivery of Precision-Guided Bombs to Israel

The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

U.S. officials said the decision to ship the weapons quickly came after relatively little debate within the administration, and noted in its report that its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others who could perceive Washington as aiding Israel in the manner that Iran has armed Hezbollah. However, as we reported earlier this week, the Pentagon approved the sale of 24 UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters, 2,300 long-range military radios, 724 armored vehicles and other military equipment to Saudi Arabia -- a deal worth a total of $6 billion.

The munitions are actually part of a multimillion-dollar arms-sale package approved last year which Israel is able to tap when it needs to. Israel’s request for expedited delivery of the satellite and laser-guided bombs was described as unusual by some military officers, and as an indication that Israel still had a long list of targets in Lebanon to strike. Israel has been using precision-guided munitions in order to neutralize the military capabilities of Hezbollah and to minimize harm to civilians, but neither the U.S. or Israel is confirming the deal.

Pentagon Green Lights $6 Billion in Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia

The Bush administration has approved the sale of 24 UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters, 2,300 long-range military radios, 724 armored vehicles and other military equipment worth more than $6 billion to Saudi Arabia. Congress has 30 days to block the sales, although such action is rare.

The Pentagon's Defence Security Cooperation Agency said in a mandatory notice to Congress that the arms sales would help strengthen Saudi Arabia's military and help make Saudi Arabia more capable of defending stability in the region, less reliant on deployment of U.S. forces and help the U.S. fight terrorism around the world.