Key aide in 'Charlie Wilson's War' widens his battle against terrorism (Michael Vickers)

WASHINGTON - In the Pentagon's newly expanded Special Operations office Assistant Defense Secretary Michael Vickers is working to implement the US military's highest-priority plan: a global campaign against terrorism that reaches far beyond Iraq and Afghanistan. The wide-ranging plan details the targeting of Al Qaeda-affiliated networks around the world and explores how the United States should retaliate in case of another major terrorist attack. The most critical aspect of the plan, Vickers said in a recent interview, involves US Special Operations forces working through foreign partners to uproot and fight terrorist groups. Vickers's job also spans the modernization of nuclear forces for deterrence and retaliation, and the retooling of conventional forces to combat terrorism - a portfolio so expansive that he and some Pentagon officials once jokingly referred to his efforts as the "take-over-the-world plan," one official said.

. . . Vickers, who has advised President Bush on Iraq strategy, is convinced that more US troops are not enough to solve the conflict in Iraq and that working with local forces is the best long-term strategy for both Iraq and Afghanistan. Working with proxy forces will also enable the United States to extend and sustain its influence, something it failed to do in Afghanistan, he said. "After this great victory and after a million Afghans died, we basically exited that region and Afghanistan just spun into chaos," he said. "It's imperative that we not do that again," he said.

It’s very important to read the last paragraph of the article. Michael Vickers is one of the few that understands and supports the Middle East Polarization Doctrine which our great Country’s top political leaders and the Pentagon have ignored for over 35 years. He also understands the U.S. cannot win our war on terrorism, or even make a dent in it, under our present approach. A number of top intel and military experts have predicted there will be a significant increase in Middle East and Global Terrorism in 2008. Based on activities in the last week, it has already started. One of the primary objectives for the major 2008 M.E. Terrorism Offensive against U.S. military personnel, assets, and those of our allies, is to be successful in getting a Democrat elected President come November 2008. A Democrat President that will pull our troops out of the Middle East and stop our Iraq-Afghanistan War. Bringing our troops home, using a "cut & run" scenario, to stop our M.E. war is the exact same, and well delineated, mission of the George Soros Shadow Party, who I/we also consider very dangerous terrorists to our great Country called the United States of America - FlA

Posted for FlAttorney by TAB

Charlie Wilson's “brain” runs the war on terror?
Foreign Policy by Blake Hounshell
Mon, 12/31/2007

One of my favorite characters in Charlie Wilson's War (the book, not the schlocky Hollywood flick) is Michael Vickers, the wonkish ex-Green Beret and CIA paramilitary officer who, at the tender age of 31, masterminded the weapons and guerrilla warfare strategy used by the Afghan mujahedin to fight the Soviets. By all accounts, Vickers is brilliant, and he was critical to the success of the CIA's covert program, in which the United States funneled hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weapons through Pakistan's intelligence services. Though the CIA never funded al Qaeda and the Taliban did not yet exist, many people blame U.S. policy—in which Vickers played such a key role—for fanning the flames of Islamic radicalism in Afghanistan and Pakistan that later came back to bite the United States on 9/11.

For years, Vickers toiled away on boring but influential reports(1) for the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank with close ties to the Pentagon. But as of July 2007, Vickers is now an assistant secretary of defense with an enormous portfolio: winning the war on terrorism. Vickers oversees Special Operations Command, whose budget has recently doubled to $6 billion in 2008, and he's especially concerned about... Pakistan's growing Islamic radicalism. Funny, that.

Testifying before Congress back in March 2006 (2), before moving to the Pentagon, Vickers predicted that the future of the global war on terrorism (GWOT) would "likely be a protracted, indirect and clandestine fight in scores [of] countries with which the U.S. is not at war." He added:

The GWOT is an intelligence and special operation-intensive war. Getting this aspect of interagency organization right, and making full use of special authorities to wage the indirect and clandestine fight, is imperative. Particularly important in this regard is leveraging the CIA's Title 50 authority for [Special Operations Forces] operations through flexible detailing of SOF personnel to the Agency.

What Vickers is reportedly doing now as assistant secretary, described in Friday's Washington Post(3), seems to reflect the same approach:

Vickers's plan to build a global counterterrorist network... is focused on a list of 20 "high-priority" countries, with Pakistan posing a central preoccupation for Vickers, who said al-Qaeda sanctuaries in the country's western tribal areas are a serious threat to the United States. The list also includes Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, the Philippines, Yemen, Somalia and Iran, and Vickers hints that some European countries could be on it. Beyond that, the plan covers another 29 "priority" countries, as well as "other countries" that Vickers does not name.

Since 9/11, there have been occasional tensions between U.S. diplomats on the one hand, and the DOD and the CIA on the other, over clandestine activities that have gone on without the knowledge of the ambassador. If Vickers is inserting more special ops teams around the world, those tensions are bound to increase.

One of Vickers's former colleagues says he "tends to think like a gangster." It's a mindset that has served Vickers well in the past, yet it carries risks. If Vickers's teams nail Osama bin Laden in northwest Pakistan, he'll be hailed as a genius. If, on the other hand, they cause an international incident...

FOOTNOTES: - FlA
(1) Michael G. Vickers "White Papers", Presentations, and Position Statements

(2) 03.15.06 Implementing GWOT Strategy: Overcoming InterAgency Problems (PDF)
- - By Michael Vickers, Director of Strategic Studies

(3) Military Planning: Sorry, Charlie. This Is Michael Vickers's War
- - - -

Related FR Posts by FlAttorney
12.29.07-FR: Special Michael G. Vickers FR Section

12.29.07-FR: Interview with Michael Vickers

12.29.07-FR: The National Security Archive: Afghanistan: Lessons from the Last War

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/7515

Posted for FlAttorney by TAB

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