Military Support

The leaders of last year's military coup in Thailand withdrew their support Saturday from the man designated by a pro-army coalition to lead the country back to democracy, political and military sources said. Narong Wongwan's selection as Thailand's 19th prime minister has been in question since the United States revealed recently that he was denied an American visa in 1991 because of suspected links to the international drug trade.

WASHINGTON -- The debate over U.S. intervention in Syria threatened to derail the confirmation of America's top military officer Thursday when a senior Republican senator vowed to block Army Gen. Martin Dempsey's second-term appointment as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will hold up the nomination “until he gets answers to the legitimate questions he asked of Gen. Dempsey on Syria,” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said after McCain and Dempsey clashed during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all countries Thursday to provide urgent military support to Somalia's beleaguered transitional government, warning that its survival is at stake. Two allied Islamist insurgent groups -- Shabab and the Islamic Party -- launched an offensive after the return of an exiled insurgent leader in April that has killed hundreds of Somalis and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The "Arab Spring" seems a long way from Pakistan's winter of discontent. Still, when religious scholar Tahirul Qadri talks about his hopes for the massive rally he is planning in Islamabad on Monday, one that he hopes will lure more than a million people into the streets of the quiet capital, the image he uses is that of Cairo's Tahrir Square. Government leaders have tried to warn the gray-bearded mullah, respected by many for his denunciations of the Taliban and his espousal of tolerance, that a gathering on the scale he is planning would give militants the opportunity to carry out a major terrorist act. Pakistanis haven't forgotten that it was at a large rally in Islamabad's twin city, Rawalpindi, that former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by a suicide bomber in 2007.

The conflict in Syria was "extremely bad and getting worse. " That's what Lakhdar Brahimi, special envoy to Syria for the United Nations and the Arab League and one of the world's most skillful diplomats, told the Security Council in late September. The major powers listened but offered no new ideas on how to end the crisis. We need to change direction. Up to now, two strategies have been pursued. Kofi Annan, the former U.N. secretary-general and Brahimi's predecessor as special envoy, tried to negotiate a cease-fire and forge a consensus among the great and middle powers.

As diplomatic options for ending the conflict in Syria have failed, calls to arm and provide air support for Syrian rebels are becoming more widespread - with several senators, a former Bush administration senior official and a former Obama State Department official leading the charge. Although we share their commitment to a humanitarian end to the brutality of the Assad regime, arguments to support the rebels militarily are based on three common assumptions that do not withstand scrutiny: Military support will make the war shorter and enable the rebels to win . Analysis by close observers, such as the widely respected and nonpartisan International Crisis Group, suggests that a protracted civil war based on sectarian divides would probably continue even after President Bashar Assad falls.

The editorial (Aug. 22), "Trouble for U.S. in the Philippines," said that Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator, is unmoved and increasingly confident that he can perpetuate his 20-year hold on power. With the backing of the United States, there is no reason for Marcos not to be confident. Earlier, when Marcos declared martial law, Sen. Raul Manglapus said Marcos wouldn't last long without U.S. support. Ever since, the Filipinos have pleaded with the American Administration to stop its military aid only to be answered with much more military support.

Syrian President Hafez Assad, ending a three-day visit to the Soviet Union, received strong assurances of increased military support from Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev. Syria already owes an estimated $8 billion to the Soviet Union for military hardware. In a joint statement, the two leaders also said they approved of efforts by factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization to close ranks after a four-year rift.

As a public service for those confused by Arlen Grossman's "Glossary for Latin America" (Letters, March 16), here is a supplement to his listing to help clear up misunderstandings arising from Soviet publications and speeches: "Revolutionaries"-- Peace-loving, heroic freedom fighters (and also some imported trained paramilitary personnel) who are trying to substitute truly democratic, socialist (read communist) government for existing imperialist regimes. "Counter Revolutionaries" --Imperialist trained, paid mercenaries supported by the U.S. CIA attempting to thwart the truly democratic rights of the common people who had previously "elected" their government by nearly unanimous vote.

Your June 10 headline quotes a Yugoslav general saying, "The war has ended." What war? I know war. In a war, you shoot, shell, bomb and kill people and they shoot, shell, bomb and kill back. In this shameful Kosovo exercise we have killed and brutalized a small country on the other side of the world that was unable to retaliate, until its leaders said "uncle." This is war? Please don't mention those evil Serbs. They have been, are now and will be "their" problem--and "their" is defined as the ever-boiling Balkans and, at most, the neighbors on the Eurasian continent.

The conflict in Syria was "extremely bad and getting worse. " That's what Lakhdar Brahimi, special envoy to Syria for the United Nations and the Arab League and one of the world's most skillful diplomats, told the Security Council in late September. The major powers listened but offered no new ideas on how to end the crisis. We need to change direction. Up to now, two strategies have been pursued. Kofi Annan, the former U.N. secretary-general and Brahimi's predecessor as special envoy, tried to negotiate a cease-fire and forge a consensus among the great and middle powers.

As diplomatic options for ending the conflict in Syria have failed, calls to arm and provide air support for Syrian rebels are becoming more widespread - with several senators, a former Bush administration senior official and a former Obama State Department official leading the charge. Although we share their commitment to a humanitarian end to the brutality of the Assad regime, arguments to support the rebels militarily are based on three common assumptions that do not withstand scrutiny: Military support will make the war shorter and enable the rebels to win . Analysis by close observers, such as the widely respected and nonpartisan International Crisis Group, suggests that a protracted civil war based on sectarian divides would probably continue even after President Bashar Assad falls.

Afghanistan's  ambassador to the United States defended his president's harsh comments about America, saying that Hamid Karzai was only reflecting the sentiments of his public, "as any legitimate president would do. " (see video below) Eklil Hakimi, appearing on CNN on Sunday, was reacting to Karzai's comments that Americans "are demons," and that the alleged killing of 16 unarmed Afghans by a U.S. soldier was "not the first incident, it was the 100th, the 200th and 500th incident.

The House of Representatives sent a mixed message Thursday on U.S. involvement in Libya, voting to block direct American support for rebel forces but refusing to cut off funding to the NATO mission. It was the second instance in recent weeks in which the Republican-dominated House voiced disapproval of President Obama's policies in Libya but stopped short of voting to withdraw all funds. Lawmakers refused last month to authorize U.S. military involvement in the conflict, but rejected a bill aimed at cutting off money for drone strikes in Libya.

The House passed a landmark youth immigration bill known as the Dream Act on Wednesday night largely along party lines, but the measure faces a tough test in the Senate as Democrats struggle to pass priority legislation in the waning days of this Congress. Eight Republicans joined in approving the bill, 216 to 198. Thirty-eight Democrats voted no. The measure offers a path to citizenship for young people who were brought to this country illegally before age 16 and who have enrolled in college or entered the military.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all countries Thursday to provide urgent military support to Somalia's beleaguered transitional government, warning that its survival is at stake. Two allied Islamist insurgent groups -- Shabab and the Islamic Party -- launched an offensive after the return of an exiled insurgent leader in April that has killed hundreds of Somalis and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

Re: Robert Gibson's July 20 article "Israel: An Economic Ward of U.S." Gibson's article completely distorts the cooperative and healthy nature of the relationship between the United States and Israel. Our support for Israel is not a gift as much as it is an investment in a stable and secure ally whose goals are consistent with our country's best interests. Compared to the billions expended on NATO or on our military presence in South Korea and the Philippines, our support for Israel is this country's best investment.

I was quite interested by the letter from Lyle and Evelyn Davidson (May 11), "A Few of the Symptoms of Conservative Fever." As a companion piece, I suggest the following, "A Few of the Symptoms of Liberal Fever": --If you demonstrate against the death penalty for convicted murderers one day and the next day do volunteer work at an abortion clinic, you are on your way to being a liberal. --If you protest that liberal feminist Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro was unfairly treated for breaking a few "technical" campaign laws but think that conservative Congressman George Hansen of Idaho "got what he had coming" for violating the same campaign financing laws, you are on your way toward that left-of-center bent.

In the beginning, the meeting might have passed for the kind of briefing that employees and spouses endure in the corporate world, with talk of insurance options, taxes and payroll deductions. But then the session for Marines bound for Iraq and their families ventured onto a topic unique to this kind of employment. The matter was introduced with a euphemism: "What if something happens over there?"

Israel's defense minister urged Thursday that this summer's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip be delayed by three weeks in deference to a solemn Jewish religious commemoration. The recommendation by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz all but guaranteed that Israel's pullout of settlers and soldiers from the Mediterranean enclave would be postponed until mid-August.