According to initial reports Wednesday morning, the local police and fire department and bomb squads from Minneapolis and Crow Wing County were responding to reports of suspicious packages at the post office, high school, and public utilities building in Princeton, Minnesota. 

By afternoon, the packages had been “contained” and removed from the sites. The Princeton school superintendent described the package found outside the high school as an “incendiary device” and quoted the police chief as saying the objects were “very suspicious,” containing “some explosive material.”

On Wednesday night, it was reported that in addition to the initial three suspicious packages, five more items, described as “MacGyver bombs,” were discovered around the city.

Subsequent tests showed the packages discovered Wednesday morning contained only “inert powders and were negative for hazardous materials” — an apparent hoax.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Postal Inspection Service at 1-877-876-2455 or the Princeton Police Department at (763) 389-4879 or  Crime Stoppers of Minnesota at 1-800-222-TIPS.

Original news report

Police Find Suspicious Package at Post Office

A bomb disposal unit secures a suspicious object at the Princeton post office. A selection of 61 photos may be viewed or purchased here. 
(Photo: Chris Schafer / Princeton Union Eagle)

By Chris Schafer
Princeton Union-Eagle
Sept. 30, 2009

The Princeton police and fire departments responded to a call of a suspicious-looking package located at the back door of the Princeton Post Office early on the morning of Sept. 30. By 6:30 a.m. officers had blocked Rum River Drive at the intersections of 1st Street and 3rd Street, diverting traffic to the side streets.

Officers also used police tape to block off the entire parking lot of the post office.

Princeton Police Chief Brain Payne couldn’t say much about the situation at this early stage other than to comment that a suspcious package had been found on the step behind the post office. He added that the package was a box and it was sitting on the step, not taped to the door.

Officers have also confirmed that a similar package has been found at the high school and the Princeton PUC.

School has been canceled for all buildings and students at the high school have been placed in lockdown and will be bused to the middle school to be bused home.

Update 9:45 AM: Bomb squads from both Minneapolis and Crow Wing County have arrived outside the Princeton post office.

Update 10:40 AM: A press conference will take place at 11 a.m. near the Princeton Library. More information will be posted after that press conference.

Update 11:26 AM: Photos will be posted shortly of crews working with the object in question at the post office. The photos will appear in the mycapture section of the page on the right side of the page.

Update 9:20 PM: Sources have confirmed that in addition to the three mysterious packages, five additional items described as “McGyver bombs” were discovered around the city. The objects were judged to not be dangerous. …  They were collected and delivered to the BCA [Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension] for further research.

Check http://unioneagle.com/ for updates to this story.

——

Later reporting

3 Suspicious Packages Investigated in Princeton

By Bob Von Sternberg
Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Sept. 30, 2009

Residents of Princeton, Minn., were breathing somewhat more easily this afternoon after an early-morning bomb scare.

Three suspicious packages were discovered shortly after 6 a.m. at the city’s post office, high school and public utility building, all of which were cordoned off by police.

The packages were “contained” and removed from the sites and by early this afternoon, staff members had returned to the school and the post office. City streets that had been blocked off for most of the morning were reopened.

The city’s school officials closed all of the district’s schools at 9:30 a.m. because of the potential bomb threat.

Princeton Superintendent Rick Lahn said the package found outside the high school by a custodian contained an incendiary device, the Associated Press reported.

Lahn said he was told that by Police Chief Brian Payne, who gave him no details, told him it was “very suspicious and it contained some explosive material,” Lahn said.

FBI spokesman E.K. Wilson said this afternoon that no direct threat had been received where the packages were found.

“There’s no threat associated with these packages, no claim of responsibility or demand at this point,” he said.

Princeton Mayor Jeremy Riddle said that public buildings throughout the city had been swept, but that no other packages had been found.

The packages “have been contained” and “we don’t currently consider those areas [where they were found] to be dangerous,” Riddle said. He said investigators still aren’t sure precisely what’s inside the packages.

City Council member Victoria Hallin said officials were baffled by the appearance of the packages. “There is not a hot-button issue in the community that would inspire anyone to do anything so vile,” she said.

Hallin said authorities told her that the packages, left at the buildings’ doorways, had no identifying marks and weren’t addressed to any person in particular.

No note was left or call made from the person who left the packages, she said.

The school district’s web site announced shortly before 8:30 a.m. that it was sending all of its 3,500 students home as what it called “a precautionary measure.”

Police blocked several city streets early this morning as they cordoned off the three buildings. Rum River Drive, the city’s main street, was reopened late this morning.

The St. Paul police department dispatched members of its bomb squad to Princeton to assist local officers. Also assisting were FBI agents and sniffer dogs from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Sherburne County sheriff’s office.

According to the school district, students from the high school and an elementary school were taken to the middle school and North Elementary, where buses picked them up.

Children were allowed to get off buses only if adults were present at bus stops, the district said. Children who are not met by adults were returned to the middle school.

High school junior Brock Hermansen was turned back from the school this morning and said “it was just surrounded by cops.”

Princeton is a community with about 4,500 residents, about 50 miles north of Minneapolis.

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Follow-up reporting

Tests Show Princeton Packages Were Not Bombs

KSTP-5 TV (Minneapolis)
Oct. 1, 2009

Tests on three suspicious packages that forced schools to close in Princeton Wednesday revealed they were not bombs and did not contain any incendiary material.

The Princeton Police Department issued a statement that said the Public Health Laboratory completed tests on the packages Thursday.

The tests showed the packages contained “inert powders and were negative for hazardous materials.”

The packages were found at a post office, the high school and the Public Utilities Commission building. The discovery of the packages prompted school district officials to call off classes and explosives experts to comb the town of 4,500 with bomb-sniffing dogs. They gave the all clear Wednesday afternoon and students returned to class Thursday morning.

Police Chief Brian Payne says each package contained some sort of bottle that was heavily wrapped was tape with wires running into it.

He said investigators are pursuing several leads.

The Postal Inspection Service is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in this case.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Postal Inspection Service at 1-877-876-2455 or the Princeton Police Department at 763 389-4879.

2 Teens Arrested for Princeton Chemical Bombs

KSTP-5 TV (Minneapolis)
Oct. 2, 2009

Two teenagers are under arrest in connection with a series of suspicious packages that shut down schools in Princeton, Minnesota.

Jeremiah Anthony Molitor, 18, of Princeton, and a 17-year-old boy from Dalbo were taken into custody late Thursday night.

Both are students at Princeton High School according to classmates.

Police say the teenagers are connected to five small chemical bombs found on Princeton streets Wednesday, but not necessarily the three packages found outside the high school, the public utilities building and a post office. …

[Video report at link]

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — September 30, 2008

After the Primary Election: Day 21

One year ago today, on the 21st day after losing my 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my focus on national security, I reported on the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and U.S. military deaths and persistent violence in Iraq.

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U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009, at least 4,346 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. …

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,514 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally. …

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identifications:

None

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009, at least 773 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. …

Latest identifications:

• Army Spc. Kevin J. Graham, 27, Benton, Ky., died Sept. 26, 2009 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
• Marine Lance Cpl. John J. Malone, 24, Yonkers, N.Y., died Sept. 24, 2009 while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay.
• Army Sgt. Titus R. Reynolds, 23, Columbus, Ohio, died Sept. 24, 2009 in Omar Zai, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
• Army Sgt. Edward B. Smith, 30, Homestead, Fla., died Sept. 24, 2009 in Omar Zai, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
• Army Spc. Joseph V. White, 21,  Bellevue, Wash., died Sept. 24, 2009 in Omar Zai, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
• Army Pfc. William L. Meredith, 26, Virginia Beach, Va., died Sept. 21, 2009 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 569th Engineer Company, 4th Engineer Battalion, Fort Carson, Colo.
• Air Force Tech Sgt. James R Hornbarger, 33, Castle Rock, Wash., died Sept. 12, 2009 as a result of a non-hostile incident in the Mediterranean, supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. He was assigned to the 9th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Beale Air Force Base, Calif.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

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4,000 More Troops to Come Home from Iraq

Sept. 29, 2009

WASHINGTON – The top general in Iraq is sending home 4,000 more U.S. troops by the end of October as the American military winds down the six-year war.

Army Gen. Ray Odierno said in remarks prepared for a congressional hearing Wednesday that the number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq will total about 120,000 over the next month. …

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Iraq Bomb Attacks End Ramadan Lull

 
Sept. 28, 2009

BAGHDAD – A series of bomb attacks across Iraq killed at least 13 people on Monday, police said, ending a period of relative quiet following the Muslim holy month.

In western Anbar province, a suicide bomber driving a water tanker packed with explosives blew himself up near a police station, killing seven policemen and wounding 10, said Hussein Ali, a police major in the area west of the city of Ramadi.

The attack burned out several cars and damaged the building. …

Earlier in the day, a bomb planted on a minibus traveling north toward Baghdad exploded, killing at least three passengers and wounding two just north of Diwaniya, 95 miles south of the Iraqi capital, police said. …

Later, two bombs in western Baghdad — an initial explosion followed by another just as people gathered at the blast site — killed at least three people, including the commander of the local army battalion.

Baghdad security sources said that nine soldiers were wounded in the attack in Ghazaliya district, but a second police source said the bombs wounded 28 people. …

Iraqi police and soldiers remain a prime target for insurgents. Increasingly common are attacks using “sticky bombs,” explosives planted on cars using magnets or other means.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — September 29, 2008

After the Primary Election: Day 20

One year ago today, on the 20th day after losing my 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my focus on national security, I reported on mass-casualty bombings in Baghdad and a lecture by Juan Cole on the foreign policy implications of the Iraq war.

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Young Americans for Liberty “refuse to publicize” Michele Bachmann’s appearance with Ron Paul 

“We don’t feel that we can promote her in good faith, because she represents none of the libertarian principles that we joined this group for,” says vice president of University of Minnesota’s Young Americans for Liberty chapter.

Paul, Bachmann Seek Common Ground at U of M Rally

Supporters of Ron Paul hold up signs during a town hall event at the University of Minnesota on Friday, Sept. 25, 2009. Rep. Ron Paul’s comments about monetary reform and personal liberty received the biggest applause. (Photo credit: MPR  / Madeleine Baran)

By Jessica Mador and Madeleine Baran
Minnesota Public Radio
Sept. 26, 2009

Minneapolis — More than 1,000 people rallied Friday night at a Minneapolis town hall meeting hosted by Reps. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. and Ron Paul, R-Texas.

The two very different Republican members of Congress don’t usually share the spotlight, but they do share a strong disdain for what they see as excessive government spending.

Organizers billed the town hall, held at the University of Minnesota’s Northrop Auditorium, as a discussion on monetary reform, limited government and free market economics, all mainstays of Ron Paul’s Libertarian-leaning platform. …

“Do you remember last year’s $700 billion dollar bailout? Well, that is how Ron Paul and I got really acquainted. We voted no on every bailout, on every stimulus, on every scheme that came before the Congress and it was a privilege to vote no.”

Bachmann says she’s been attending Paul’s regular fiscal policy meetings and has worked to align herself with his views on monetary reform.

But the two congressmembers remain far apart on other issues, including foreign policy. Paul advocates a non-interventionist foreign policy.

The Texas Congressman took the stage to enormous applause and then talked for almost an hour about free market principles. He urged his supporters to organize, saying the voice of the conservative movement needs to be heard.

“And yet we are losing the argument. Conservatives and Libertarians do not give a good case and say that if you truly care about your fellow man what you ought to do is promote liberty and limited government and more people will be taken care of better than any other way,” he says.

Afterwards, College Republican Chair Abdul-Rahman Magba-Kamara was satisfied with the event, although he acknowledged that Paul and Bachmann have little in common.

“I think it’s just important thing that they have a large group of people who want to have our liberty stood up for and Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann are perfect examples of people that can do that for us.”

Some political analysts say we could see more strange political bedfellows as the National Republican Party struggles to define itself heading into the next election cycle.

The local chapter of Young Americans for Liberty, a national libertarian group that hosted the event, refused to publicize Bachmann’s appearance.

“We don’t feel that we can promote her in good faith, because she represents none of the libertarian principles that we joined this group for,” said Jennifer Schreiter, the chapter’s vice president.

Chris Huxtable, the chapter’s president, said he was surprised by the pairing. “It is a weird combination,” he said. “And a lot of people don’t really appreciate that she’s going to be there because they think that she’s crazy, or they just call her a lot of different names.”

Huxtable said he hopes that Paul can move Bachmann toward a more libertarian ideology.

“If Michele can agree that the government has out of control spending, then maybe Ron can help her to understand that a large part of our funding is going to an overseas empire that is having bases in every country and wars waging in countries,” Huxtable said. “So, maybe small steps in the right direction might be able to help her understand things like that.” …

Audio

Rice University politics professor Bob Stein talks about the event on MPR’s “All Things Considered”

Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at the University of Minnesota

——

Related report (Opinion)

What Happens When the ‘Ron Paul Revolution’ Meets Michele Bachmann

By Faiz Shakir
ThinkProgress
Sept. 26, 2009

Yesterday, the Young Americans for Liberty sponsored an event at the University of Minnesota that brought together the odd pairing of Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Ron Paul (R-TX). Bachmann solicited Paul for the event, hoping that his presence would help her attract support from young conservatives and libertarians.

Writing for The Daily Beast, Maureen O’Connor notes that the event melded two “wingnut worlds”: “the fanatically religious Bush-era neocon, a flag-waving patriot who likens gay sex to bestiality and fantasizes about lobbing nukes at Iran” and the libertarian “Ron Paul Revolution.” Indeed, for Bachmann, the presence of Paul created numerous awkward moments, particularly as the Texas congressman sermonized at length about his isolationist views. For example, Paul said:

– We should never go to war if they’re telling us a lie about what’s happening. … We took the position, over my strong objection, we took the position that we had to have regime change in Iraq.

– What they’re getting ready to do is put very, very strong sanctions on Iran. … But sanctions, and blockades, and prevention like this is an act of war.

– The proper foreign policy under the Constitution is non-intervention and mind our own business.

– I say bring all the troops home — Japan, Korea, and Germany.

For Bachmann — a typical neoconservative on foreign policy issues — Paul’s rhetoric stunned her into stone-cold silence. O’Connor describes the scene:

As Paul spoke passionately about ending all military operations and keeping government out of people’s “lifestyles,” a lone heckler began to shout, “Tell her!” Bachmann remained serene, hands folded in her lap, facing Paul. Bringing up Obama’s announcement that Iran had secret underground nuclear facilities, Paul announced that he had had enough of “fear-mongering” for the sake of the “military-industrial complex.” Bachmann, who once advocated nuking Iran, kept her eyes trained on Paul as her heckler repeated, “Tell her! Tell Michele! Tell her!”

Bachmann issued a very simple statement saying that she believes in “the mission of our men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The UpTake has posted video of Ron Paul’s speech last night. Watch it:

Related report (Analysis)

Has Ron Paul Converted Michele Bachmann to Libertarianism? 

Eric Ostermeier of “Smart Politics” (the blog of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs) analyzes Michele Bachmann’s reaction to Ron Paul’s speech, noting “which of those key moments in Paul’s town hall address that engendered widespread applause from the audience also inspired applause from Congresswoman Bachmann, and which did not.”

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — September 28, 2008

After the Primary Election: Day 19

One year ago today, on the 19th day after losing my 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my focus on national security, I reported on violence in Iraq’s disputed Kurdish region and bombings in Baghdad, posted a daily summary of security incidents in Iraq, and documented political assassinations and kidnappings in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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Acknowledgment: Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Bachmann in St. Louis: Defund the Left, Beware One-World Currency

By David Weigel
The Washington Independent
Sept. 26, 2009

ST. LOUIS — Speaking to a packed hotel ballroom at the conservative How to Take Back America Conference, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said that exposés of “criminal tomfoolery” inside of ACORN could kick off a campaign to “defund the left.”

Bachmann was introduced warmly by Phyllis Schlafly, the iconic conservative activist whose Eagle Forum was the chief sponsor of the event. “She’s one of our Republican stars,” said Schlafly, “and some of you came here just to see her.” She got a second introduction from Dick Bott, a conservative radio host who briefly broke down talking about Bachmann’s hospitality to foster children.

Taking the stage, Bachmann thanked Schlafly, calling her an inspiration as a mother who transitioned into conservative politics, and said she considered the conference “a farewell party for ACORN” [link added]. The community organization group, she said, was the first, not the last, weak link in the liberal establishment.

“Defunding the left is going to be so easy,” said Bachmann, “and it’s going to solve so many of our problems.” She praised James O’Keefe III and Hannah Giles, the people behind the ACORN sting. “Hannah and James used Saul Alinsky’s ‘Rules for Radicals’ — that’s the community organizer’s bible — against ACORN! Brilliant!”

Bachmann touched on the priorities of Republicans if they retook Congress in 2010, to “pass repealer bill after repealer bill,” to prevent the creation of a one-world currency [link added], and to pull the government back from the “36 percent of private business profits” that she claimed it now controlled. And she said Michigan residents were “depressed enough” without Gitmo prisoners being relocated to state facilities where they could inspire more terrorists.

“This is where they learn conversion to Islam!” said Bachmann. “In the prisons!”

After the speech, Bachmann had only a few minutes to sign autographs and collect a stack of CDs and books from fans who’d followed her into the lobby. I caught up to her as she headed outside and asked if she had any response to the murder of a Kentucky census worker [Bill Sparkman], having noticed that the Census, a constant target for Bachmann [link added], did not figure into her speech. Bachmann recoiled a little at the question and turned to enter her limo.

“Thank you so much!” she said. 

——

Related report

Bachmann Refuses To Answer Question About Dead Census Worker

Rachel Weiner
The Huffington Post
Sept. 27, 2009

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) refused to answer a question this weekend on the death of a census worker in Kentucky.

Bill Sparkman was found earlier this month hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery had the word “fed” scrawled on his chest. The FBI has been investigating whether the killing was related to his job as a Census worker.

Bachmann … has proclaimed that she will not fill out her Census forms and suggested that the survey could lead to internment camps …

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — September 27, 2008

After the Primary Election: Day 18

One year ago today, on the 18th day after losing my 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my focus on national security, I reported on a skirmish between Kurdish security forces and Iraqi police in Iraq’s northeastern Diyala province near the disputed Kurdish autonomous region and provided a daily summary of security incidents in Iraq.

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U.S. Demands ‘Unfettered Access’ to Nuke Plant

Video

Obama: Iran ‘must now cooperate fully’ (NBC Nightly News, Sept. 26, 2009) – Iranian leaders declared Saturday that international inspectors would be allowed access to a newly disclosed nuclear site as President Barack Obama continued his push for more transparency from Iran during his weekly internet address. NBC’s Mike Viqueira reports. (03:15)

Sept. 26, 2009

WASHINGTON – The U.S. and its five partners trying to stop Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program plan to tell Tehran in a key meeting on Thursday that it must provide “unfettered access” to its previously secret Qom enrichment facility within weeks, a senior administration official said.

The U.S., Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia … will demand that Iran prove to the increasingly skeptical group that its intentions with its various sites are peaceful and energy-related, as Iran claims, and not for weapons development, as the West believes, the official said Saturday.

These nations now agree that they are less inclined to listen to suspect arguments or incomplete evidence — viewing it as a stall tactic, the official said. …

Earlier Saturday, President Barack Obama offered Iran “a serious, meaningful dialogue” over its disputed nuclear program, while warning Tehran of grave consequences from a united global front. …

“My offer of a serious, meaningful dialogue to resolve this issue remains open,” Obama said, urging Tehran to “take action to demonstrate its peaceful intentions.”

Evidence of the clandestine facility was presented Friday by Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh. …

Soon after, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, at his own news conference, urged Iran to cooperate, as did Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei. He, however, did not endorse penalties against Tehran.

At a news conference in New York, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country had done nothing wrong and Obama would regret his actions.

“What we did was completely legal, according to the law. We have informed the agency, the agency will come and take a look and produce a report and it’s nothing new,” he said.

Ahmadinejad said the plant — which Iranian officials say was reported to nuclear authorities as required — would not be operational for 18 months. But he sidestepped a question about whether Iran had sufficient uranium to manufacture a nuclear weapon.

Video

Ahmadinejad: Nuclear plant in ‘beginning stages’ (NBC Nightly News, Sept. 25, 2009) – Iranian president insists that Iran’s nuclear plant is in compliance with international rules. NBC’s Ann Curry reports. (01:22)

The Personality Profile of Iran’s President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Aubrey Immelman
Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics
June 2009

Video profile

Mystical populist (NBC News Web Extra) — Watch an in-depth profile of the Iranian president: firebrand, soccer fan, and true believer in Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution. Produced by Baruch Ben-Chorin. (11:01)

Abstract

A remote psychological assessment of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was conducted from 2005 to 2009, mining open-source data in the public domain. Information concerning Ahmadinejad was collected from media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the second edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Ahmadinejad’s primary personality patterns were found to be Distrusting/suspicious (paranoid) and Ambitious/exploitative (narcissistic), with secondary Dominant/controlling (sadistic) and Dauntless/dissenting (antisocial) patterns. In addition, the personality profile contained subsidiary Aggrieved/unpresuming and Contentious/resolute features.

The amalgam of Distrusting (paranoid) and Ambitious (narcissistic) patterns in Ahmadinejad’s profile suggests the presence of a syndrome that Theodore Millon has labeled the fanatical paranoid — a personality composite that overlaps substantially with the construct of “malignant narcissism” described in modern reformulations of psychoanalytic theory.

Characteristically, these personalities harbor intricate fantasies, make extravagant claims, fabricate stories to enhance their self-worth, and endow themselves with illusory powers. In their own minds, they are inspired leaders, talented geniuses, holy saints, or demigods, perceiving themselves as righteous saviors standing up to the evils of the universe. Behaviorally, these personalities present as smug, arrogant and expansive, with an air of contempt toward others. In the face if adversity, delusions of grandeur constitute their chief coping mechanism.

The major political implication of the study is the inference that Ahmadinejad is relatively impervious to influence by diplomatic or economic means and not conflict averse, which heightens the risk that he would be psychologically inclined to use military force with minimal provocation to counter perceived threats to regime survival.

Appendix: Paranoid Personality Subtypes

Technical References

Immelman, A. (1999). Millon inventory of diagnostic criteria manual (2^nd ed.). Unpublished manuscript, St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minn.

Immelman, A. (2003). Personality in political psychology. In I. B. Weiner (Series Ed.), T. Millon & M. J. Lerner (Vol. Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Vol. 5. Personality and social psychology (pp. 599-625). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Immelman, A. (2005). Political psychology and personality. In S. Strack (Ed.), Handbook of personology and psychopathology (pp. 198-225). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Immelman, A., & Steinberg, B. S. (Compilers) (1999). Millon inventory of diagnostic criteria (2^nd ed.). Unpublished research scale, St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minn.

Millon, T. (with Davis, R. D.). (1996). Disorders of personality: DSM-IV and beyond (2^nd ed.). New York: Wiley.

Millon, T., & Davis, R. D. (2000). Personality disorders in modern life. New York: Wiley.

(Note: Originally published on this site June 11, 2009)

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — September 26, 2008

After the Primary Election: Day 17

One year ago today, on the 17th day after losing my 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my focus on national security, I reported on a skirmish between U.S. and Pakistani ground forces across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and a speech at the United Nations by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, in which he told world leaders (in an apparent reference to U.S. cross-border raids) that his country cannot allow its territory to “be violated by our friends.”

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Obama: I Know Public Tiring of Afghan War

Five Americans killed in Afghanistan attacks

Sept. 25, 2009

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Friday that he understands that Americans are tiring of the war in Afghanistan, and that he is examining whether the U.S. is pursuing the right strategy there.

Obama gave no hints about whether he plans to add more troops, as his commanding general in Afghanistan wants him to do. He said he has to make sure the core goal of defeating al-Qaida is served by any move he makes.

The president spoke in Pittsburgh, where the Group of 20 nations met on the world economy.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, submitted his request for additional troops to the Pentagon’s top military officer, two Pentagon sources said Friday.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, flew to Ramstein Air Base in Germany to meet with McChrystal, according to the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Mullen received McChrystal’s report on how many troops he thinks he needs to defeat the insurgency, the sources said. They declined to confirm what others have said privately for weeks — that McChrystal wants 40,000 more troops. …

In Afghanistan, military officials said Friday that five U.S. troops died in attacks in the south, adding to this year’s record death toll as American public support is dwindling for operations in the country that once hosted Osama bin Laden.

Four soldiers died Thursday in the same small district of southeastern Zabul province. Three were killed when their Stryker vehicle triggered a bomb in its path, and the fourth was shot to death in an insurgent attack, said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Robert Carr. The Stryker brigade arrived in Zabul as part of the summertime surge to try to secure the region ahead of Afghanistan’s Aug. 20 presidential election.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Marine was fatally shot while on foot patrol in southwestern Nimroz province, said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a military spokeswoman.

21,000 U.S. troops there now

The Obama administration is debating whether to add still more troops to the 21,000-strong influx that began pouring into Afghanistan over the summer. Most of those have gone to the south, where they’ve been assailed by roadside bombs and ambushes as they battle to take back Taliban-controlled areas.

McChrystal, told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that the strength of the militant group took him by surprise when he arrived this summer.

“I think that in some areas that the breadth of the violence, the geographic spread of violence, is a little more than I would have gathered,” he said in the interview to be broadcast on Sunday.

This has been the deadliest year for American troops since the 2001 invasion to oust the Islamic extremist Taliban. The five deaths announced Friday bring to 214 the number of troops killed so far this year, well ahead of the 151 who died in all of 2008.

The U.S. appears on track to have 68,000 troops in Afghanistan by the end of 2009. Some question the wisdom of sending more troops to support a government facing allegations of widespread fraud in last month’s disputed vote. …

About half of all Americans oppose increasing troop levels in Afghanistan, according to a poll released Friday. The New York Times/CBS News poll found that only 29 percent of respondents believed the U.S. should add troops in Afghanistan, down from 42 percent in February. The survey, conducted Sept. 19-23, had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

General urges ’some risk’

In a report to the White House, McChrystal argued that military commanders need to be less preoccupied with protecting their troops and send them out into Afghan communities more. He acknowledged this “could expose military personnel and civilians to greater risk in the near term,” but said the payoff in terms of forging ties with the Afghan people would be worth it.

“Accepting some risk in the short term will ultimately save lives in the long run,” he wrote.

The light-armored Stryker vehicles were sent to Afghanistan as part of a plan to take over a large swathe of the south. The idea behind the vehicles is that they can deploy quickly over large distances, exercising control over a wider area than can be held by foot soldiers. However, they are more vulnerable to roadside bombs than more heavily armored vehicles.

Bombs planted in roads, fields and near bases now account for the majority of U.S. and NATO casualties and have proven especially dangerous in the south. With the five deaths, a total of 34 U.S. forces have died in Afghanistan in September. August, which was the deadliest month of the war for American troops, saw 51 deaths.

Related reports

U.S. supply route threatened in N. Afghanistan (AP, Sept. 25, 2009) – Growing Taliban influence in northern Afghanistan is threatening a new military supply line painstakingly negotiated by the U.S., as rising violence takes hold on the one-time Silk Road route. The north has deteriorated over just a few months, showing how quickly Taliban influence is spreading in a once peaceful area. …

Taliban guns down tribal elders (AP, Sept. 24, 2009) — Militants ambushed a convoy of prominent anti-Taliban tribal elders in volatile northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, spraying their cars with gunfire and killing nine people, police said. …

People unload victims of a Taliban attack at a local hospital in Bannu, Pakistan, on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009. (Photo credit: Ijaz Mohammad / AP)

9/26/09 Upate

Suicide Bombs Kill 16, Wound 150 in Pakistan

A man walks on debris at the site of a suicide bomb attack in the town of Bannu, Pakistan, on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009. (Photo credit: Adil Khan / Reuters)

Sept. 26, 2009

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Two suicide car bombs killed 16 people and wounded about 150 others in separate attacks in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, just days after the Taliban warned suicide strikes were coming if the military pressed forward with an offensive. A third bomb injured four in the restive region.

Pakistan’s mountainous, lawless northwest region along the Afghan border — where the government holds little control — is a favored area for insurgents to plan attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, as well as on Pakistani security forces and government workers. …

Taliban warning

The latest strikes came two days after the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan said it was ready to stage more suicide attacks in the region after it was ousted from the Swat Valley in July by an army offensive. [*]

Qari Hussain Mehsud — known for training Taliban suicide bombers — warned of more attacks in an AP interview at a secret location in North Waziristan on Thursday, just hours before U.S. missiles hit the area and killed 12 people. …

The U.S. has fired dozens of missiles from unmanned drones to take out top Taliban and al-Qaida leaders in the northwest over the past year. Although Pakistan routinely protests the strikes, it is widely believed to secretly cooperate with them.

A CIA drone attack felled former Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud on Aug. 5. …

Taliban attacks surged in the region last week. Militants ambushed a convoy of prominent anti-Taliban tribal elders in Bannu district on Thursday, spraying their cars with gunfire and killing nine people. Pakistani authorities have urged tribal elders to speak out against the Taliban, and in turn the militants have killed scores of local leaders.

* Militants issued a similar threat a year ago, when a suicide attack was mounted in Quetta, Pakistan.

 ——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — September 25, 2008

Pakistani schoolchildren are admitted to a hospital after they were injured in a suicide attack in Quetta, Pakistan on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008. Militants threatened to escalate the violence if Pakistan did not cease cooperating with the United States on the war in Afghanistan. (Photo credit: Arshad Butt / AP)

After the Primary Election: Day 16

One year ago today, on the 16th day after losing my 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my focus on national security, I reported on a speech at the United Nations by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in which he decried civilian casualties in his country from foreign bombing raids, telling world leaders that innocent deaths can seriously hurt legitimate efforts to fight terrorism. I also reported on continuing violence in Iraq and threats by militants in Pakistan to escalate the violence in that country if Pakistan did not cease cooperating with the United States.

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On Wednesday, September 23, 2009, former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance at Georgetown University, delivered the Third Annual Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. The address was titled after Hagel’s recent book, “America: Our Next Chapter — Tough Questions, Straight Answers.” 

Listen to audio of Sen. Hagel’s address

Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance at Georgetown University, delivers the Third Annual Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at St. John's University, Collegeville, Minn., Sept. 23, 2009. (Photo: Silu Ma / The Record -- CSB|SJU)

Hagel Promotes Civility

By Hannah Wittmeyer
The Record (CSB|SJU student newspaper)
Sept. 25, 2009

After a delayed flight and a hearty lunch consisting of a Snicker’s bar, former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) was eager to speak with and discuss foreign policy, public life, and the ills of partisan politics with Johnnies and Bennies on Wednesday afternoon.

Following a senior seminar discussion about war, Hagel also met with members of the International Affairs club and affirmed his confidence in President Obama in regard to current policy considerations in Afghanistan. In an unstable world, the former senator stresses proper engagement and dialogue as a means for cooperation.

“Force is an effective instrument of power,” he stressed, “but force cannot be the centerpiece of your foreign policy.”

Hagel shares a striking parallel with Eugene McCarthy, the honored senator and St. John’s alumnus for whom the McCarthy Center is named. As McCarthy publicly criticized the Johnson administration’s foreign policy during the Vietnam War, Hagel was among the first Republican senators to criticize the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq.

His lecture in the Stephen B. Humphrey theater boasted nearly full attendance by students and faculty. The former senator, now teaching foreign policy at Georgetown University, emphasized the importance of civility, honesty, and integrity in politics. Those were qualities McCarthy likewise upheld.

Adamant that young people represent the best of humanity, Hagel said he was impressed with the many avenues of civic participation that students engage in, including volunteering. In response to a St. John’s student’s question, Hagel said the problem with the state of public service is the nasty categorization it receives because of a few bad people. He stressed moving away from partisan politics.

“Public discourse has gotten so wrong, so rude, so embarrassing, that it debases our system and debases us all,” Hagel said.

Rather than tearing others down, the former senator stated that politics depends on constructive dialogue and debate. He urged any CSB|SJU students considering public office or foreign services to bring back this lost art to politics. Regarding foreign policy, Hagel remarked that major threats such as the environment, nuclear weapons, pandemics, and terrorism depend on nations working together to build seamless networks of intelligence and relationships. …

With much conflict and debate surrounding the recent policy change considerations in Afghanistan, which may include a U.S troop increase, Hagel encouraged Obama to examine each available option. He believes there is nothing as passionate or deep as war, making the consequences dangerous and usually unintended. Hagel himself is a Vietnam War veteran.

——

Hagel: Rudeness in Politics Must End 

By Dave Aeikens
St. Cloud Times
Sept. 24, 2009

COLLEGEVILLE — Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said the political discourse in the country has turned so poor that it threatens democracy and America’s international standing.

Hagel spoke for about 40 minutes Wednesday night at the Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at St. John’s University. Hagel, who served in the Senate from 1997-2009, was the first Republican senator to speak out against the Iraq war.

“I am concerned our country has lost a good deal of what Eugene McCarthy is all about,” Hagel said.

Addressing an audience of more than 400 students and other guests that included McCarthy’s family and former U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger and former U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy, Hagel questioned whether the country will allow rudeness to take over the political system.

“Public discourse has gotten so raw, so rude, so embarrassing it has really debased our system,” Hagel said.

He said any fool can stand up and scream and any fool can stand up and call names.

“It takes conscience and courage to find a solution to a problem,” Hagel said.

The world is as combustible and interconnected as it has ever been, Hagel said. But the U.S. has great capacity to solve the problems of the world.

“We will never get there if we so debase the process we use to get there,” Hagel said.

Hagel pointed to the tenor in the debate on health care policy changes as an example of where the public discourse has gone off the tracks. He said the screaming and rudeness has to stop.

“This is not what a civilized society does,” Hagel said.

Hagel said McCarthy, a St. John’s graduate from Watkins who served in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, worked to solve problems and disagreed with others in a respectful and honorable way. McCarthy in 1967 was among the first to challenge President Lyndon Johnson, a fellow Democrat, on the U.S. policy in Vietnam.

“That is another dimension on why McCarthy was so important at a very important time,” Hagel said.

Hagel said President Obama is confronting more problems than Abraham Lincoln.[*]

He said he has seen how the country has lost its ability to self-govern because it is paralyzed by partisanship.

“We have to bring some semblance back of a governing coalition in the country,” Hagel said.

* My recollection is that Sen. Hagel said President Obama confronted more problems upon taking office than any president since Abraham Lincoln – including Franklin D. Roosevelt, who did not inherit two wars, like Obama.

——

Chuck Hagel on Iraq and What Needs to be Done with Iran

U.S. Commander in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus, center, shares a laugh with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama and Sen. Chuck Hagel during an aerial tour of Baghdad upon their arrival in Iraq on July 21, 2008. (Photo credit: Reuters / SSG Lorie Jewell / U.S. Army — via MinnPost)

By Nick Hayes[*]
MinnPost
Sept. 22, 2009

“I wish someone had told me when I was sitting on a burning tank in a Vietnamese rice paddy that I was fighting for a lost cause just to save a president’s legacy.” — Chuck Hagel, “America: Our Next Chapter” (2008).

Chuck Hagel, two-term senator from Nebraska is coming to Minnesota, and there’s a bit of irony behind this story.

A combat veteran who served in the most deadly years of the Vietnam War and later a staunch defender of the war against its critics, Hagel comes to Minnesota at the invitation of the center dedicated to a Minnesota senator whose name was a synonym for opposition to the Vietnam War. …

The Republican Hagel and Democrat McCarthy have at least one political trait in common. Both dared to stand alone challenging their respective political parties and an incumbent president of their own party over a failed war — Vietnam, for McCarthy; Iraq, for Hagel. Although he is likely to draw more Democrats than Republicans to his talk, both would hear from Hagel a voice they have almost forgotten: a Midwestern Republican with feet planted firmly in the center of American politics.

If you have any doubts about the Republican right’s attitude toward Hagel and his views on the war in Iraq, tune in to Rush Limbaugh, who refers to him as “Senator Betrayus.” (Limbaugh coined the phrase to discredit Hagel, by the way, well before MoveOn.org used it for Gen. David Petraeus.) …

Modesty and candor

Last Friday, Hagel took time out for a telephone interview with me on foreign policy. Hagel can pack enough knowledge and expertise into a few minutes of conversation about foreign policy to qualify for tenure as a professor of international relations.

Yet … Hagel displays a modesty, candor and willingness to listen that is about as far away from right-wing talk radio as a conversation can get. …

There is another part of Hagel’s biography that is never far below the surface in his conversation and writing. In 1967-1968, he served in the U.S. Army infantry in Vietnam during the Tet offensive.

Patriotic Nebraska boys, he and his younger brother, Tom, volunteered, served together side by side. They saw each other near-fatally wounded, and each at one time had to treat the wounds of the other. They brought home five Purple Hearts, somehow got out of Vietnam alive, went on to live very different lives, and came to disagree sharply with each other on the war.

The story of the Hagel brothers’ war and the post-war years forms the most unforgettable section of Myra MacPherson’s “Long Time Passing: Vietnam and the Haunted Generation” (1985).

Tom and Chuck Hagel shown in Vietnam in a video screen grab from MSNBC's "Hardball." (Photo credit: Politico.com; image not part of MinnPost article)

Unlike his brother Tom, who became a war protestor and political dissident on the left, Chuck became a conservative, successful entrepreneur and defender of the Vietnam War. 

He held that view for decades until he could not deny the evidence that he had been duped by his government. In 1997 he heard a tape recording. NPR broadcast a tape from a 1964 conversation between President Lyndon B. Johnson and Sen. Richard Russell of Georgia. LBJ admits that he can’t see a way in which the war could be won. Yet he’s not about to accept the political fallout for being the first U.S. president to lose of war.

In Hagel’s recent writings and his public talks, he returns often to the Johnson/Russell conversations. 

“The duplicity and dishonesty,” Hagel explained to me, “that I heard in these tapes has affected me to this day and prove the lesson of Vietnam: You must have honesty and you cannot bog down great armies in complicated parts of the world that you don’t’ understand.”

The lesson was not learned. Three years ago, Hagel called the Bush administration’s war in Iraq “an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent of Vietnam.”

At best, he envisions a situation in Iraq now that offers us only the possibility of “an honorable withdrawal.”

First of all, this requires recognition that our policy toward the Iraq war is “not a partisan debate,” he said. Republicans have to accept that there is no military solution. Democrats have to accept that perhaps as many as 20,000 U.S. troops will remain in Iraq indefinitely.

Second, he said, an international approach must replace the unilateral approach of the Bush years.  This approach, moreover, may require a role for the UN as a mediator along the fault lines of the Iraqi conflict — the tensions between the government in Baghdad and the Kurdish region in the north, the Sunni Shiite divide and conflicts of the sharing of oil and hydrocarbon-fuel revenues.

Third, Hagel suggested, we should try a little more humility in our goals. “We must accept that every policy is going to be flawed,” he warns, “and that extremism and terrorism is never, never going to be fixed.”

Problems with Iran

Hagel is too modest to predict the long-term future of Iraq. He’s inclined to believe the predictions of a few of Iraq’s neighbors, which they share in private, if not in public. “Most likely,” he suggests passing along their views, “we will end up with an Iraqi strongman who may or may not be pro-Western.”

If the war in Iraq was the greatest catastrophe in the history of recent U.S. foreign policy, Hagel suggests that our policy — or our lack of a policy — toward Iran may be a far greater catastrophe waiting to happen in the near future.

My first mention in our conversation of Iran immediately prompted Hagel to say that “engagement is not appeasement.” In one sentence, he turned the logic of the Bush administration policy toward Iran on its head.

His specific recommendations read like a clear, crisp and brief memo: (1) The U.S. must continue to work with the U.N. Security Council to keep up the pressure on Iran on the nuclear issue; (2) The U.S. “should offer a wide-ranging diplomatic agenda for bilateral negotiations with Iran”; (3) The U.S. needs to recognize that Iran has a role to play in the Persian Gulf and our policy must involve Iran’s neighbors in the region. Finally, we need to remember that even the best of policies can fail and “containment and confrontation” may be our last and final resort.

There’s a clarity and a healthy dose of Midwestern common sense to Hagel’s ideas. There’s also a problem. As former GOP Sen. Dave Durenberger explained, “Hagel’s problem is there is so little center left in the Washington politics of the 21st century.” It’s not just his problem. It’s our problem. …

[This article has been excerpted. Read the complete article at MinnPost.]

* Nick Hayes, Ph.D., is Professor of History and University Chair in Critical Thinking at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. 

SIDEBAR

After years of war, Iraqis hit by frenzy of crime (AP, Sept. 21, 2009) — The kidnappers holding an Iraqi auto mechanic’s 11-year-old son gave him just two days to come up with $100,000 in ransom. When he could not, they were just as quick to deliver their punishment: They chopped off the boy’s head and hands and dumped his body in the garbage. The boy’s final words to his father came in an agonizing phone call. “Daddy, give them the money. They are beating me,” Muhsin Mohammed Muhsin pleaded a day before he was killed. …

Relatives pray Sept. 9, 2009 at a memorial for Muhsin Mohammed Muhsin, who was beheaded by kidnappers in Baghdad, Iraq. (Photo credit: Karim Kadim / AP)

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — September 24, 2008

Medics tend to an Iraqi man injured after a roadside bomb detonated on Sept. 23, 2008 in Baquba, northeast of Baghdad. (Photo credit: STR / AFP / Getty Images)

After the Primary Election: Day 15

One year ago today, on the 15th day after losing my 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my focus on national security, I reported on the downing of a U.S. drone amid strains between the United States and Pakistan over cross-border incursions; the attempted assassination of the Kabul police’s head of criminal investigations in Afghanistan; and security incidents and U.S. casualties in Iraq.

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Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance at Georgetown University, will deliver the Third Annual Eugene McCarthy Lecture on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater on the campus of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Sen. Hagel will address the life of the late Sen. Eugene McCarthy (a 1935 St. John’s University graduate) and discuss issues raised in his recent book with Peter Kaminsky, America: Our Next Chapter — Tough Questions, Straight Answers (Ecco, 2008).

News release: Sept. 1, 2009

Former Sen. Chuck Hagel delivers Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – In 1967-68, Minnesota Sen. Eugene McCarthy opposed President Lyndon Johnson’s policies regarding the Vietnam War — even though McCarthy initially supported the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that authorized American use of force in Vietnam.

On Aug. 25, 2005, Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel became the first Republican senator to publicly criticize the Iraqi War and call for the withdrawal of American troops — even though Hagel initially supported the use of force in Iraq.

Almost 40 years apart, McCarthy and Hagel spoke out and challenged a U.S. foreign policy position advocated by the sitting president of their own party.

Hagel will deliver the third annual Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23 at the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater, Saint John’s University. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by The Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy and Civic Engagement, and is co-sponsored by the SJU University Chair in Critical Thinking.

Hagel, a native of North Platte, Neb., served in the Senate from 1997 to 2009 (he was not a candidate for reelection in 2008). He served on four Senate committees: Foreign Relations; Banking; Housing and Urban Affairs; and Intelligence and Rules.

A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Hagel served in Vietnam with the U.S. Army, where he earned two Purple Heart medals. Following his tour of duty, he was a newscaster and talk-show host in Omaha.

His career in Washington began in 1971, when he became an administrative assistant to Nebraska Congressman John McCollister, serving until 1977. Hagel then became manager of government affairs for the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (1977-80) before returning to the governmental sector as deputy administrator of the U.S. Veterans Administration (1981-82).

After leaving the Veterans Administration, he became an investment banker and business executive in Washington and Omaha. Hagel was named deputy director and chief executive officer of the Economic Summit of Industrialized Nations (G-7) in 1990.

Hagel has also co-written a book, America: Our Next Chapter: Tough Questions, Straight Answers (Ecco Press, 2008), with Peter Kaminsky. Former Secretary of State and retired Gen. Colin Powell said that Hagel “writes with insight, expertise, authority and with the credentials that come from his dedicated service in war and peace.”

The Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture was established in January 2006. McCarthy spent seven years as a student at Saint John’s Preparatory School and University, and nearly one year as a member of the Benedictine community of Saint John’s Abbey.

The lecture series carries on McCarthy’s deep commitment to the ideals and principles of democratic self-government. It seeks to inspire a new generation of young people to pursue fresh ideas, to challenge the status quo, to effect positive change in their communities and, like McCarthy himself, to lead with honesty, integrity and courage.

Past lecturers in the series have included newspaper columnist, author and commentator E.J. Dionne (2007), and civil rights leader Julian Bond (2008).

——

Additional Information About Sen. Chuck Hagel

Biographical note

Chuck Hagel served two terms in the U.S. Senate. In 1968 he served alongside his brother Tom in Vietnam, where both were infantry squad leaders with the U.S. Army’s 9th Infantry Division. Hagel earned several military decorations and honors, including two Purple Hearts.

Purple Heart

Book description – America: Our Next Chapter

Sen. Chuck Hagel has long been admired by his colleagues on both sides of the Senate floor for his honesty, integrity, and common-sense approach to the challenges of our times. The Los Angeles Times has praised his “bold positions on foreign policy and national security” and wondered, “What’s not to like?” In America: Our Next Chapter, Nebraska-born Hagel offers a hard-hitting examination of the current state of our nation and provides substantial, meaningful proposals that can guide America back onto the right path.

In America: Our Next Chapter, Hagel speaks the truth as he sees it — in a direct and refreshingly unvarnished manner. Basing his suggestions on thorough research and careful thought, as well as on personal insight from his years as a political insider, successful businessman, and decorated war hero, he discusses domestic issues — including the health care crisis, immigration, and Social Security and Medicare reform — and global climate change.

He confronts foreign policy problems that the Bush administration bungled or ignored, including China’s growing economy; control of U.S. debt; India’s and Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities; and Iran’s aggressive political, ideological, and nuclear stances. He decries the pervasive disease of Third World poverty, arguing convincingly that this is where the real fight against terrorism must begin.

Always true to the beliefs instilled in his childhood on the prairie, he speaks passionately about service — to one’s country and to one’s fellow citizens — as the path toward a renewed America. And, of course, he gives a candid examination of the debacle that was the Iraq War.

A staunch Republican … Hagel asks the tough questions and delivers straight answers to America’s most pressing problems. America: Our Next Chapter is a serious, honest, and, ultimately, optimistic look at our nation’s future, from an American original.

——

Sen. Chuck Hagel on National Security

Read Sen. Hagel’s Washington Post op-ed, “The limits of force” (Sept. 3, 2009). This op-ed was published in the Star Tribune on Sept. 5. Here are some reader comments:

Thank you for your insight Sen. Hagel

This is the kind of sensible thought that made me proud to be a Republican so many years ago. Alas, where have the likes of you gone?

Posted by daidalus on Sept. 4, 2009 at 7:01 PM

These are Statesman words

Chuck Hagel is a man of vision, integrity and true patriotism. He has earned the respect of all Americans. It is sad that this man of wisdom is not the leader of his party.

Posted by reasonable2 on Sept. 5, 2009 at 10:52 AM

A refreshing perspective

How wonderful to hear a Republican speak something sensible. Not just Rush Limbaugh, FOX news, Shawn Hannity and O’Reilly. There is actually someone who thinks in the party and not just another bomb throwing, paranoid disperser of disinformation, ideology and hyperbole. There is hope for us yet.

Posted by roosevelt194 on Sept. 5, 2009 at 12:39 PM

Kudos to Hagel

Wish he had a larger platform in the party! What a thoughtful piece.

Posted by marciacarlso on Sept. 5, 2009 at 2:44 PM

My hat is off to you, Sir!

Thank you Senator Hagel for such a reasoned and non-partisan piece about something so important to our country — This type of thoughtful analysis is what I believe most of us in this country really desire …. and so rarely see in today’s world of “politics.”

Posted by 2bornot2b on Sept. 5, 2009 at 8:05 PM

How great to hear Republicans speak well of a man like Hagel!

It helps to know that what I call “real” Republicans still exist. For what has happened to your party, see Max Blumenthal’s new book, “Republican Gomorrah,” and his recent article about it in the NY Times. He notes that Eisenhower warned not just about the military industrial complex, but about the rise of extremism within the Republican Party, likening it to Eric Hoffer’s description of the “True Believers” who need strong leaders to follow. Over the years, right wing church leaders like (especially) James Dobson and politicians transformed the party until it now harbors the angry, abusive crowds we see at health care forums around the country. They are its base and Sarah Palin its idea of a good mom and a good vice president. Mr. Blumenthal also appeared on Amy Goodman, so you can find the interview with him there. Very enlightening.

Posted by bernice3 on Sept. 7, 2009 at 12:52 PM

——

In the Media

Former Sen. Chuck Hagel to Speak in Collegeville, Minn.

Photo: Deborah Feingold

Bob Von Sternberg
Star Tribune
September 3, 2009

Former U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel will deliver the annual Eugene McCarthy Lecture at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., this month.

The speech by Hagel represents something of a historical convergence: Dedicated to the memory of one of the most trenchant Democratic opponents of the Vietnam War, it’s being delivered by the first Republican senator to oppose the war in Iraq.

McCarthy, whose 1968 presidential run effectively toppled President Lyndon Johnson, attended St. John’s and was a member of the Benedictine community at St. John’s Abbey. He served in Congress from 1949 until 1971.

Hagel represented Nebraska in the Senate from 1997 until this year. A Vietnam veteran, he was considered a maverick in the GOP and his name was floated last year as a potential running mate or Cabinet member for President Obama.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 23.

Hagel Plans to Speak His Mind At Event

By David Aeikens
St. Cloud Times
Sept. 23, 2009

COLLEGEVILLE — Chuck Hagel said politicians owe it to their country to speak their minds.

The former U.S. Senator, a Republican from Nebraska, spoke his mind four years ago when he said the U.S. ought to get out of Iraq. Tonight, he will deliver the third Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture at St. John’s University and will compare some of the lessons from McCarthy to today’s political environment.

“The worst thing they can do is not speak out at a time when they know in their own minds and heart, they know something is wrong for America. McCarthy had that courage. He was very much a standard and role model for politicians,” Hagel said in a phone interview from Washington, D.C.

Hagel, who served in the U.S. Senate from 1996-2008, gave some thought to running for president in 2008. He decided an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war could not get the Republican nomination that year and he has stayed active by teaching at Georgetown University, serving on policy boards and committees and advising foreign policy officials in the Obama administration. Throughout it all, he said he has spoken his mind.

Speaking his mind has not always won Hagel favor with Republicans.

“I think there is going to be a fair amount of disagreement with some of the things he says just because he hasn’t toed the party line that much,” said Luke Yurczyk of Sartell, chairman of the Senate District 14 Republican Party. “Throughout the years, there were many instances he was in conflict with rank and file anyway.”

Gary Gross, of St. Cloud, a conservative who writes on a Web site called “Let Freedom Ring,” criticized Hagel last fall as he was being considered for defense secretary.

“I certainly had a few differences with the gentleman,” Gross said.

Gross said Hagel was being intellectually dishonest when he kept demanding the president explain why the U.S. needed to continue its efforts in Iraq. He said that many Republicans have moved on.

“I’m pretty certain they were upset with Senator Hagel about the criticism of a sitting president; whether or not they would stay upset, I would rather doubt that. He certainly served his country with distinction in the military. He is a serious man,” Gross said.

Hagel shrugs at the criticism, saying people often forget he stood with President Bush on immigration and Social Security. He said he was and is a Republican because of his beliefs of the role of government in people’s lives.

“I was never bothered by the fact people disagreed with me. That’s OK,” Hagel said.

Hagel said the country is at a defining moment, similar to what McCarthy faced in 1968 when he criticized Democratic President Lyndon Johnson’s handling of the Vietnam War. He said the country and democracy are being damaged by the tone and partisanship that is driving debates such as health care.

“We need not be paralyzed by the partisanship and the raw political presence that has captured the dynamic,” Hagel said.

Hagel comes to Collegeville almost a year out of office, having flirted with a presidential bid, been floated as a candidate for defense secretary and having written a book with Peter Kaminsky, “America: Our Next Chapter: Tough Questions, Straight Answers.”

Richard Ice, a St. John’s University political science professor, local Democrat activist and member of the committee that helped select Hagel, said he’s not sure what to expect.

“I think the discussion will happen after he comes. That is why we are bringing him in is to start a discussion. He was in the Senate, now he is out. He can kind of reflect back,” Ice said.

For Hagel, who was born in North Platte, Neb., it is a return to Minnesota, where he attended what was then called Brown Institute in Minneapolis. He worked in radio in Omaha for three years before he went to the war in Vietnam, where he received two Purple Heart commendations. He entered politics in 1971 as an top aide to U.S. Rep. Jon McCollister. …

Hagel’s Stand

By Robert D. Novak

April 30, 2007

Sen. Chuck Hagel returned from his fifth visit to Iraq to become one of two Republicans to join Senate Democrats in voting Thursday to begin withdrawal of U.S. troops. It was not an easy vote for a conservative GOP regular and faithful supporter of President George W. Bush’s other policies. A few days earlier, Hagel sat down with me and painted a bleak picture of the war and U.S. policy. …

Hagel faces a political paradox as he ponders a career decision — whether to run for president, to seek reelection next year or to get out of elective politics. His harsh assessment resonates with many Republicans who believe Bush’s war policy has led the party to disaster. …

Hagel certainly is no peace-now zealot. “We’re not going to precipitously pull out,” he told me. “We have [national] interests in Iraq.” While he asserted that “we can’t get out by the end of the year,” he called for “pulling some of our guys out — not all of them, but you’ve got to get them out of [Baghdad] at least, get them out of the middle of civil war.” If not, Hagel said, “then the prospects of the Republican Party are very dim next year.”

What about claims by proponents of the Iraqi intervention that failure to stop the terrorists in Iraq will open the door to them in the American homeland?

“That’s nonsense,” Hagel replied. “I’ve never believed that. That’s the same kind of rhetoric and thinking that neocons used to get us into this mess and everything that [Donald] Rumsfeld, [Paul] Wolfowitz, [Richard] Perle, [Douglas] Feith and the vice president all said. Nothing turned out the way they said it would.”

It is “nonsense,” Hagel said, because “Iraq is not embroiled in a terrorist war today.” Hagel, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, cited “national intelligence” attributing “maybe 10 percent” of the insurgency and violence to al-Qaeda. Indeed, he described Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds as opposed to al-Qaeda: “They don’t like the terrorists. What’s happened in Anbar province is the tribes are finally starting to connect with us because al-Qaeda started killing some of their leadership and threatening their people. So the tribes now are at war with al-Qaeda.”

“So,” said Hagel, “when I hear people say, ‘Well, if we leave them to that, it will be chaos’ — what do you think is going on now? Scaring the American people into this blind alley is so dangerous.”

These judgments come from someone credited with rebuilding Nebraska’s Republican Party and who has earned a lifetime conservative voting rating of 85.2 percent from the American Conservative Union. Hagel represents millions of Republicans who are repelled by the Democrats’ personal assault on President Bush but are deeply unhappy about his course in Iraq.

Hagel’s Dilemma

By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
The American Conservative
April 9, 2007

Excerpt

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) on his vote for the 2002 Senate resolution authorizing the president to go to war in Iraq:

“I laid out all of my reservations about the resolution,” he said, referring to his Oct. 9, 2002 floor speech. “In the end, I voted for it because I was told by the administration that the president would not use military force unless all diplomatic options were exercised — they were not — but I think it’s always dangerous not to give your president leverage and latitude, allowing him to deal with the international arena with unlimited powers.”

“Would I vote for it today? No, I wouldn’t,” he added flatly. “We went into Iraq based on flawed judgment, based on dishonest motives, based on flawed intelligence, and we have a very, very big problem today.” …

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Related report on this site

Chuck Hagel on National Defense (Sept. 3, 2009)

Sen. Chuck Hagel to Speak at SJU (July 29, 2009)

Hagel Lambasts Limbaugh (Nov. 19, 2008)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — September 23, 2008

An Iraqi mother weeps over the body of her dead daughter outside the morgue in the city of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, on Sept. 22, 2008. According to witnesses the 3-year-old child was shot dead by accident when a roadside bomb detonated as an Iraqi army patrol drove past. The army opened fire and a civilian car carrying the child and her family was hit. (Photo credit: STR / AFP / Getty Images)

After the Primary Election: Day 14

One year ago today, on the 14th day after losing my 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my focus on national security, I reported on security incidents and U.S. military deaths in Iraq, a bombing in Afghanistan, and violence in Pakistan.

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U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009, at least 4,346 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. …

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,510 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally. …

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identifications:

• Air Force Senior Airman Matthew R. Courtois, 22, Lucas, Texas, died Sept. 20, 2009 as a result of a non-hostile incident on Abdullah Al Mubarak Airbase, Kuwait. He was assigned to the 366th Security Forces Squadron, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.
• Army Spc. Michael S. Cote Jr., 20, Denham Springs, La., died Sept. 19, 2009 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when the Blackhawk helicopter he was in crashed. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, Task Force 49, Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009, at least 764 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. …

Latest identifications:

• Army Spc. Corey J. Kowall, 20, Murfreesboro, Tenn., died Sept. 20, 2009 in Zabul province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained during a vehicle rollover. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Spc. Damon G. Winkleman, 23, Lakeville, Ohio, died Sept. 20, 2009 in Zabul province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained during a vehicle rollover. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Sgt. David A. Davis, 28, Dalhart, Texas, died Sept. 19, 2009 at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked the base using indirect fire. He was assigned to the 32nd Transportation Company, 68th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 43rd Sustainment Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
• Army Pfc. Jeremiah J. Monroe, 31, Niskayuna, N.Y., died Sept. 17, 2009 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 7th Engineer Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.
• Army Sgt. 1st Class Bradley S. Bohle, 29, Glen Burnie, Md., died Sept. 16, 2009 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle Sept. 15 with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Sgt. Robert D. Gordon II, 22, River Falls, Ala., died Sept. 16, 2009 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, from a non-combat related illness, after becoming ill Sept. 11 in southern Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
• Army Sgt. 1st Class Shawn P. McCloskey, 33, Peachtree City, Ga., died Sept. 16, 2009 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle Sept. 15 with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Sgt. Joshua M. Mills, 24, El Paso, Texas, died Sept. 16, 2009 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle Sept. 15 with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Spc. Demetrius L. Void, 20, Orangeburg, S.C., died Sept. 15, 2009 at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when a military vehicle struck him while conducting physical training. He was assigned to the 57th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, 11th Signal Brigade, III Corps, Fort Hood, Texas.
• Army Sgt. Andrew H. McConnell, 24, Carlisle, Pa., died Sept. 14, 2009 of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
• Army 1st Lt. David T. Wright II, 26, Moore, Okla., died Sept. 14, 2009 of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

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Al-Qaida Video Predicts Obama’s Fall

Sept. 22, 2009

CAIRO – Al-Qaida on Tuesday marked the eighth anniversary of Sept. 11 with a new 106-minute long video predicting President Barack Obama’s downfall at the hands of the Muslim world.

The Arabic-language video released on militant Web sites, featured a review of the events of the past year and testimony from several leading al-Qaida figures, but not the leader Osama bin Laden himself.

Similar long messages intercut with news footage have appeared on previous anniversaries as a kind of year’s roundup. Bin Laden released a short message of his own on Sept. 14.

The video sounded similar themes as past ones, including an attempt to conflate Obama with his predecessor, George W. Bush, who was widely disliked by Muslims for his invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Many analysts believe that al-Qaida has been alarmed by Obama’s comparative popularity in the Middle East, especially following his landmark speech to the Muslim world in Cairo in June.

“America has come in a new, hypocritical face. Smiling at us, but stabbing us with the same dagger that Bush used,” said Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri in the message.

“God willing, your end will be at the hands of the Muslim nation, so that the world and history will be free of your crimes and lies.” he said addressing Obama at the end of the two part video. …

Video’s anti-American tone

The message included a lengthy section on U.S. prisons and torture facilities and showed footage of what appeared to be an American torturing an Afghan for information by dunking his head into a bucket of water.

The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist Web sites, identified the person conducting the torture as Jonathan Keith Idema, who also appeared in last year’s al-Qaida video.

The message also discussed the progress of the various jihadi movements around the world, in particular Taliban victories against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The video’s strident anti-American tone and detailed enumeration of what it describes as the U.S. crimes was in sharp contrast to the earlier bin Laden message which appeared to be an appeal to the American people to sever their ties with Israel and end the war with al-Qaida.

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Related reports on this site

Bin Laden Attacks Obama (Sept. 14, 2009)

Bin Laden Rails Against Obama (June 4, 2009)

Al-Qaida Lashes Out At Obama (June 3, 2009)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — September 22, 2008

Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn flags of Israel and the United States to condemn the alleged U.S. strikes in Pakistani tribal areas along Afghanistan border, Monday, Sept 22, 2008 in Karachi, Pakistan. (Photo credit: Shakil Adil / AP)

After the Primary Election: Day 13

One year ago today, on the 13th day after losing my 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my focus on national security, I reported on tensions between Pakistan and the United States stemming from U.S. cross-border incursions from neighboring Afghanistan; bombings and kidnappings in Afghanistan and Pakistan; and ongoing violence in Iraq.

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The AfPak War

McChrystal: More Forces or ‘Mission Failure’

U.S./ NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

By Bob Woodward

September 21, 2009

Excerpts

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict “will likely result in failure,” according to a copy of the 66-page document obtained by The Washington Post.

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal says emphatically: “Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) — while Afghan security capacity matures — risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible.” …

McChrystal concludes the document’s five-page Commander’s Summary on a note of muted optimism: “While the situation is serious, success is still achievable.”

But he repeatedly warns that without more forces and the rapid implementation of a genuine counterinsurgency strategy, defeat is likely. McChrystal describes an Afghan government riddled with corruption and an international force undermined by tactics that alienate civilians.

He provides extensive new details about the Taliban insurgency, which he calls a muscular and sophisticated enemy that uses modern propaganda and systematically reaches into Afghanistan’s prisons to recruit members and even plan operations.

McChrystal’s assessment is one of several options the White House is considering. His plan could intensify a national debate in which leading Democratic lawmakers have expressed reluctance about committing more troops to an increasingly unpopular war. Obama said last week that he will not decide whether to send more troops until he has “absolute clarity about what the strategy is going to be.” …

McChrystal makes clear that his call for more forces is predicated on the adoption of a strategy in which troops emphasize protecting Afghans rather than killing insurgents or controlling territory. Most starkly, he says: “[I]nadequate resources will likely result in failure. However, without a new strategy, the mission should not be resourced.” …

McChrystal is equally critical of the command he has led since June 15. The key weakness of ISAF, he says, is that it is not aggressively defending the Afghan population. “Pre-occupied with protection of our own forces, we have operated in a manner that distances us — physically and psychologically — from the people we seek to protect. … The insurgents cannot defeat us militarily; but we can defeat ourselves.” …

McChrystal’s Plan

The general says his command is “not adequately executing the basics” of counterinsurgency by putting the Afghan people first. “ISAF personnel must be seen as guests of the Afghan people and their government, not an occupying army,” he writes. “Key personnel in ISAF must receive training in local languages.”

He also says that coalition forces will change their operational culture, in part by spending “as little time as possible in armored vehicles or behind the walls of forward operating bases.” Strengthening Afghans’ sense of security will require troops to take greater risks, but the coalition “cannot succeed if it is unwilling to share risk, at least equally, with the people.”

McChrystal warns that in the short run, it “is realistic to expect that Afghan and coalition casualties will increase.”

He proposes speeding the growth of Afghan security forces. The existing goal is to expand the army from 92,000 to 134,000 by December 2011. McChrystal seeks to move that deadline to October 2010.

Overall, McChrystal wants the Afghan army to grow to 240,000 and the police to 160,000 for a total security force of 400,000, but he does not specify when those numbers could be reached. …

McChrystal says the military must play an active role in reconciliation, winning over less committed insurgent fighters. The coalition “requires a credible program to offer eligible insurgents reasonable incentives to stop fighting and return to normalcy, possibly including the provision of employment and protection,” he writes. …

A Three-Headed Insurgency

McChrystal identifies three main insurgent groups “in order of their threat to the mission” and provides significant details about their command structures and objectives.

The first is the Quetta Shura Taliban (QST) headed by Mullah Omar, who fled Afghanistan after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and operates from the Pakistani city of Quetta.

“At the operational level, the Quetta Shura conducts a formal campaign review each winter, after which Mullah Omar announces his guidance and intent for the coming year,” according to the assessment.

Mullah Omar’s insurgency has established an elaborate alternative government known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, McChrystal writes, which is capitalizing on the Afghan government’s weaknesses.

“They appoint shadow governors for most provinces, review their performance, and replace them periodically. They established a body to receive complaints against their own ‘officials’ and to act on them. They install ’shari’a’ [Islamic law] courts to deliver swift and enforced justice in contested and controlled areas. They levy taxes and conscript fighters and laborers. They claim to provide security against a corrupt government, ISAF forces, criminality, and local power brokers. They also claim to protect Afghan and Muslim identity against foreign encroachment.” …

The second main insurgency group is the Haqqani network (HQN), which is active in southeastern Afghanistan and draws money and manpower “principally from Pakistan, Gulf Arab networks, and from its close association with al Qaeda and other Pakistan-based insurgent groups.”

At another point in the assessment, McChrystal says, “Al Qaeda’s links with HQN have grown, suggesting that expanded HQN control could create a favorable environment” for associated extremist movements “to re-establish safe-havens in Afghanistan.”

The third is the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin insurgency, which maintains bases in three Afghan provinces “as well as Pakistan,” the assessment says. This network, led by the former mujaheddin commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, “aims to negotiate a major role in a future Taliban government. He does not currently have geographical objectives as is the case with the other groups,” though he “seeks control of mineral wealth and smuggling routes in the east.”

Overall, McChrystal provides this conclusion about the enemy: “The insurgents control or contest a significant portion of the country, although it is difficult to assess precisely how much due to a lack of ISAF presence.” …

While the insurgency is predominantly Afghan, McChrystal writes that it “is clearly supported from Pakistan. Senior leaders of the major Afghan insurgent groups are based in Pakistan, are linked with al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups, and are reportedly aided by some elements of Pakistan’s ISI,” which is its intelligence service. Al-Qaeda and other extremist movements “based in Pakistan channel foreign fighters, suicide bombers, and technical assistance into Afghanistan, and offer ideological motivation, training, and financial support.”

Toward the end of his report, McChrystal revisits his central theme: “Failure to provide adequate resources also risks a longer conflict, greater casualties, higher overall costs, and ultimately, a critical loss of political support. Any of these risks, in turn, are likely to result in mission failure.”

Analysis: Escalate or scale back in Afghanistan?

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — September 21, 2008

Farooq Naeem / AFP – Getty Images

After the Primary Election: Day 12

One year ago today, on the 12th day after losing my 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in line with my focus on national security, I reported on a truck-bombing of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing more than 50, and violence in Iraq, including an assassination and bombings.

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