Etats-Unis, Irak - Rumsfeld’s Memo of Options for Iraq War
NYT December 3, 2006

"Following is the text of a classified Nov. 6 memorandum that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld sent to the White House suggesting new options in Iraq. The memorandum was sent one day before the midterm Congressional elections and two days before Mr. Rumsfeld resigned..."


Etats-Unis, Irak - Text of U.S. Security Adviser’s Iraq Memo
NYT November 29, 2006

"Following is the text of a Nov. 8 memorandum prepared for cabinet-level officials by Stephen J. Hadley, the national security adviser, and his aides on the National Security Council. The five-page document, classified secret, was read and transcribed by The New York Times..."


Etats-Unis, Irak - IRAQ NOT RIPE FOR DEMOCRACY; TIME FOR A RETURN TO REALISM IN U.S. POLICY
Henry Kissinger, a former U.S. Secretary of State, has been a frequent outside adviser to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney over the past two years. He was interviewed for Global Viewpoint by Los Angeles Times Washington Bureau chief Doyle McManus last week in New York.
NPQ 20/11/06

"...Kissinger: For a time. We have to do a number of things. We have to avoid the situation where the moderate states panic, and we have to create a balance. We can’t avoid it..."


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Mideast allies near a state of panic
LATimes 03/12/06

"President Bush and his top advisors fanned out across the troubled Middle East over the last week to showcase their diplomatic initiatives to restore strained relationships with traditional allies and forge new ones with leaders in Iraq.

But instead of flaunting stronger ties and steadfast American influence, the president's journey found friends both old and new near a state of panic. Mideast leaders expressed soaring concern over upheavals across the region that the United States helped ignite through its invasion of Iraq and push for democracy — and fear that the Bush administration may make things worse..."


Etats-Unis, Irak - Brookings Institution’s Iraq Index

"The Iraq Index is a statistical compilation of economic, public opinion, and security data. This resource will provide updated information on various criteria, including crime, telephone and water service, troop fatalities, unemployment, Iraqi security forces, oil production, and coalition troop strength..."


Etats-Unis, Moyen-Orient - The New Middle East
Richard N. Haass, Foreign Affairs November/December 2006

"The age of U.S. dominance in the Middle East has ended and a new era in the modern history of the region has begun. It will be shaped by new actors and new forces competing for influence, and to master it, Washington will have to rely more on diplomacy than on military might..."


Etats-Unis, Irak, Afghanistan - On “Other War”
Austin LONG, RAND Corp. November , 2006 

"Tactics used to battle Cold War-era insurgencies – such as offering amnesty to combatants and securing national borders – could help the United States as it confronts insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new RAND Corporation report..."


Etats-Unis, Iran - A Win-Win U.S. Strategy for Dealing with Iran
The Washington Quarterly Winter 06/07

"In its nuclear negotiations with the rest of the world, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been pursuing a strategy of “heads you lose, tails we win.” In its carefully crafted and creatively ambiguous response to UN Security Council Resolution 1696, the Iranian regime claims that it is willing to negotiate on all issues, including suspension of enrichment activities, but will not accept any precondition for such negotiations. Their strategy is clear: delay, obfuscate, and prevaricate to buy time to race ahead with technical efforts to master the complex uranium-enrichment process. At the same time, by appearing flexible, they offer China and Russia enough ammunition to impede the West, the United States in particular, from pursuing any serious coercive action endorsed by the United Nations..."


Iran, Liban - The Hizballah-Iran Connection: Model for Sunni Resistance
Graham E. Fuller, The Washington Quarterly Winter 06/07

"Hizballah’s growing power reflects a broad intensification of resistance to the status quo throughout the Middle East. Although invoking a “Shi‘ite axis” with Iran and others may be a good political scare tactic, the phenomenon really signifies political change that is broader than sectarianism..."



Etats-Unis, Intelligence - Committee Activities - Senate Report 109-360, November 16 2006
Mr. Roberts, from the Select Committee on Intelligence

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has belatedly issued a report summarizing its activities during the 108th Congress (2003-2004)


Etats-Unis - La "Présidence Impériale" de Dick Cheney

Hail to the chief
Boston Globe 26/11/06

"Dick Cheney's mission to expand -- or 'restore' --the powers of the presidency...

...over the course of his career, Cheney came to believe that the modern world is too dangerous and complex for a president's hands to be tied. He embraced a belief that presidents have vast "inherent" powers, not spelled out in the Constitution, that allow them to defy Congress.

Cheney bypassed acts of Congress as defense secretary in the first Bush administration. And his office has been the driving force behind the current administration's hoarding of secrets, its efforts to impose greater political control over career officials, and its defiance of a law requiring the government to obtain warrants when wiretapping Americans. Cheney's staff has also been behind President Bush's record number of signing statements asserting his right to disregard laws.

A close look at key moments in Cheney's career -- from his political apprenticeship in the Nixon and Ford administrations to his decade in Congress and his tenure as secretary of defense under the first President Bush -- suggests that the newly empowered Democrats in Congress should not expect the White House to cooperate when they demand classified information or attempt to exert oversight in areas such as domestic surveillance or the treatment of terrorism suspects..."


Mexique - 1960-1980 - La sale guerre mexicaine

Offical Report Released on Mexico's "Dirty War"
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 209 November 21, 2006

"Government Acknowledges Responsibility for Massacres, Torture, Disappearances and Genocide

Mexican authorities released a groundbreaking report over the weekend on the government's use of violent repression to crush its opponents during the 1960s-80s..."

"...The report by the Office of Special Prosecutor Ignacio Carrillo Prieto, named by President Vicente Fox in 2002 to investigate past human rights crimes, accuses three Mexican presidents of a sustained policy of violence targeting armed guerrillas and student protesters alike, including the use of "massacres, forced disappearance, systematic torture, and genocide." The report makes clear that the abuses were not the work of individual military units or renegade officers, but official practice under Presidents Díaz Ordaz (1964-1970), Echeverría (1970-1976) and López Portillo (1976-1982).

The document's release marks the first time the Mexican government has accepted responsibility for waging a secret and illicit war against its perceived enemies. Unlike prior investigations into the Mexican "dirty war," the Special Prosecutor's report draws on thousands of secret records from the vaults of Mexican military, intelligence and police agencies. It traces for the first time the flow of orders from the President, the Defense Secretary and the Interior Ministry down to the soldiers and security agents in the field, and the returning flow of reports back to Mexico City. The official sources are complemented by testimonies and eyewitness accounts gathered by the investigators..."


Liban - The Economic Impact of the War on Lebanon
Walid AL-SHEIKH, International Politics Journal October , 2006 

"The recent Israeli war on Lebanon has caused major damage to Lebanese infrastructure and the economy. Political disunity has also increased as a result of disagreements between various groups over both the extent of the country's losses and how reconstruction should be implemented. Some lay responsibility for damages estimated as high as $15bn with Hizbullah. Others have quoted figures much lower. Ghaleb Abu Mosleh, a former Senior director of Banque du Liban, Lebanon's central bank, for example, estimates the damage at between $3bn and $4bn, attributing the country's economic deterioration to the failures of successive governments. Others consider that exaggerated figures are likely to result in greater financial aid, which will help in the development of the economy. Yet others have expressed fear that aid received will serve the interests of certain national groups at the expense of others - ie that control over funds will rest with the 14 March alliance that currently dominates the government..."