Recently returned from a trip to Gaza, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) told a packed House conference room earlier today that “I only have one message for you, just one, and that is: The crossings must open.”

The crossings have to open for two reasons. One is, that when we open up the crossings we can cut down on the traffic in the tunnels, and therefore make sure that nothing goes through those tunnels that endangers Israeli security — or, by the way, Gazan security, because some of these rockets misfire and land in Gaza — but also to address the desperate humanitarian conditions that we saw in Gaza…We saw the industrial infrastructure bashed to the ground. We saw the American International School — and we actually have a tape on that — bashed to the ground.

Ellison said that, by creating a black market for basic goods, keeping the crossings closed boosted outlaw elements in Gaza who also controlled the tunnel traffic, which also includes weapons.

Ellison traveled to Israel and the Palestinian territories with his Congressional colleague Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA). The two spoke along with Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), who visited Gaza separately, and Daniel Levy at an event sponsored by the New America Foundation and moderated by Steve Clemons, which I attended.

Rep. Baird noted that it was a challenge to “do validity and honesty to what we have seen and experienced, without at the same time being perceived, as is easy to do, as…taking one side against the other. There are clearly, in my judgment, wrongs on both sides, but that doesn’t necessarily justify one action or another…We witnessed destroyed schools, destroyed hospitals, an entire industrial area that had been leveled.” Baird also noted that the Congressmen had visited nearby Sderot, a frequent target of Hamas rocket attacks, which Baird called “unacceptable.” Read more

Our guest blogger is Peter Juul, Research Associate at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

In an interview with NPR yesterday morning to promote his new book, author Tom Ricks again made the claim that the United States, in violation of the Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government, will keep tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq until at least 2015. This claim is in direct contravention of President Obama’s stated plan to adhere to the SOFA and withdraw all U.S. forces by the end of 2011. But Ricks states he doesn’t “know anyone in Baghdad who thinks that’s going to happen” and “Iraq will change Obama more than Obama changes Iraq.”

So who is Ricks talking to in Baghdad who is so confident the United States will act in bad faith and abrogate an intergovernmental agreement approved by the Iraqi parliament? It certainly isn’t Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, which negotiated hard to extract a 2011 end date in the “withdrawal agreement.” This inattention to Iraqi opinions was first noticed by Marc Lynch in his review of Ricks’ latest book. Ricks’ argument is almost entirely based upon the views of his sources, which are in the U.S. military establishment in Iraq. It’s not a coincidence that Ricks’ view mirrors the one Gen Ray Odierno, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, gives him in the book.

This narrow focus on U.S. military actions ignores the increasing imperative to assert Iraqi prerogatives that Iraqi political actors face. Maliki, while still heading a Shiite Islamist party, achieved a significant victory in the recent provincial elections due in large part to his increasingly nationalist rhetoric. The United States cannot base its future Iraq strategy on the assumption of a compliant Iraqi government. Sooner or later, that government – if it remains representative in some fashion – will reflect the nationalist impulses of the Iraqi population and be less susceptible to U.S. blandishments. In the most recent polling data, 73 percent of Iraqis opposed the presence of U.S. forces while only one percent wanted U.S. forces to “never leave.” This new Iraqi independence isn’t a bad thing, unless one thinks that a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq should be a strategic priority for the United States.

Excessively focusing on the tactical elements of Iraq policy — like training Iraqi troops – diverts attention from the war’s continuing negative impact on U.S. regional interests. By continuing to suck up American resources, tactical tinkering in Iraq threatens the allied effort in Afghanistan as it continues to teeter precariously. Moreover, Ricks’ view – if it indeed reflects the thinking of Gen. Odierno’s command in Baghdad – represents an attempt by the military establishment in Iraq to undermine the stated policy of its commander-in-chief.

As his statement at Camp Lejeune indicated, President Obama intends to slowly shift U.S. Iraq policy from a tactical focus on training and troop levels to a broader strategic approach involving Iraqi and regional politics. Obama will need to face off future pressure from commanders on the ground in Iraq to halt or slow further troop withdrawals in the future, and this task won’t be any easier with stenographers in Washington repeating the ultra-cautious line from U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad.

Our guest blogger is Dr. Awab Alvi, a Pakistani dentist in Karachi and author of the blog Teeth Maestro.

The recent series of terrorist attacks in Lahore have left an entire nation of Pakistan in a state of stunned silence. Not only was it a ruthless gun battle in broad daylight on one of the busiest intersections of Lahore, but it was also an attack on a harmless sporting event. These tragic events could potentially end the future of Pakistan being the center of any International sporting event for at least a few years if not more.

On the morning of March 3rd the convoy of the Sri Lankan team rounded the Liberty Circle barely two blocks away from the cricket stadium, 12 gunmen strategically placed around the roundabout opened fire. The escorting convoy retaliated but was easily out numbered both in personnel as well as ammunition. It is reported that there were only a handful of police mobile escort vehicles accompanied the Sri Lankan entourage, the handful of commandos tried hard to defend the sudden assault which left a trail of six policemen dead and a few injured but none of the attackers sustained any injuries. The most heroic maneuver which probably saved the entire Sri Lankan team was the sheer determination of the police officer who got into the bus after the bus driver was shot dead and he in turn accelerated the bus into the stadium, had if the players been stranded in the midst of the crossfire for 25 odd minutes the world would stand mourning an entirely different saga.

Over the couple of days much has been reported about the event, the finger pointing session has already begun, some blaming the Indian intelligence agency RAW to have orchestrated this attack in response to the Mumbai attack. Some may point fingers to LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba] or even the ever worsening Taliban situation in the northern areas of Pakistan, while some international media outlets chose to brand this upheaval as an Al-Qaeda trademark.

Regardless who might be to blame, one thing that must be clearly understood, that it remains a massive security lapse on behalf of the Punjab police to create an opening for the 12 gunmen to exploit the situation. The threat upon the visiting team was evident to the Pakistani government as far back as a secret memo dated 22nd January which revealed that the Indian intelligence agency [RAW] was planning to target the Sri Lankan team in Lahore while they were being transported from the hotel to the stadium, and this was precisely what happened.

The leaked document which emerged late the same night of the attack exposed the probability that the police might have not taken this warning seriously, and took the security of the visitors lightly. Simon Taufel, an umpire riding along with the Sri Lankan team said:

We were promised a nine (out of ten security) and got delivered a two, You tell me why supposedly 20 armed commandos were in our convoy and when the team bus got going again, we were left on our own?

Quite simply this security lapse can be attributed due to negligence on the part of the police officials. Possibly perpetuated due to the recent political upheaval where the Chief Minister, the administrative head of the province, was dismissed from office replaced by the Governor, the lack of a proper administrative hand over may have potentially lead to the upheaval.

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