IRAN -- GATES SAYS WAR WITH IRAN 'WOULD BE DISASTROUS,' IT'S 'THE LAST THING WE NEED': In the summer issue of the U.S. Army War College's quarterly journal "Parameters," Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote an article titled "Reflections on Leadership." The article examined the "three principles of war for a democracy" espoused by General Fox Conner — whom Gates wrote was "a tutor and mentor to both" General Dwight D. Eisenhower and General George Marshall. Gates claimed that Conner's "never fight unless you have to" principle "looms over policy discussions today regarding rogue nations like Iran that support terrorism." But while Gates believes Iran is "hell-bent on acquiring nuclear weapons," he added that "[a]nother war in the Middle East is the last thing we need." "In fact, I believe it would be disastrous on a number of levels," he wrote. Gates said that "the military option must be kept on the table," but his overall assessment echoed a recent statement by Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Michael Mullen. Last week on Fox News Sunday, Mullen said, "I'm fighting two wars, and I don't need a third one" in Iran.
IRAQ -- WAR ARCHITECT RICHARD PERLE SEEKING ENTRY INTO IRAQ OIL BUSINESS: The Wall Street Journal reports that Richard Perle, a key architects of the Iraq war, "has been exploring going into the oil business in Iraq and Kazakhstan." Perle "has been discussing a possible deal with officials of northern Iraq's Kurdistan regional government, including its Washington envoy." Perle was the chairman of the Defense Policy Board during the run-up to the Iraq war, and repeatedly suggested that Iraq and Saddam Hussein played a role in 9/11. At the start of the war, Perle was forced to resign his position on the Defense Policy Board after the reports disclosed his "links to an intelligence-related computer firm that stands to profit from war with Iraq." Last month, the New York Times disclosed that four Western oil companies were close to obtaining no-bid contracts to service Iraq's largest oil fields. The Times also revealed that the State Department "played an integral part" in negotiating these deals.
ETHICS -- AUDIT FINDS BLACKWATER IMPROPERLY AWARDED SMALL BUSINESS CONTRACTS: According to a federal audit released yesterday, "Blackwater obtained dozens of small business contracts worth more than $110 million even though the private security company may have exceeded size limits for a small business." The Inspector General of the Small Business Administration (SBA) reported that from 2005 to 2007, Blackwater "won 32 small-business contracts worth more than $2.1 million even though the work was restricted to companies with revenue of $6.5 million or less." Blackwater's revenue exceeded $200 million each of those years, more than 30 times the small business revenue ceiling. Blackwater's airline affiliate, Presidential Airways, also "won more than $107 million in contracts set aside for companies with revenue of less than $25.5 million or fewer than 1,500 employees." The audit noted that Blackwater may have "misrepresented its revenue for those contracts" and "questioned the math behind the claim that it had fewer than 1,500 employees." Blackwater was initially awarded the contracts because the SBA "decided that for Afghanistan and Iraq security contracts, workers trained by Presidential would be considered independent contractors, not company employees." Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell claimed in a statement that "expert accounting and outside legal counsel have determined that the firm's classification of security personnel as independent contractors is reasonable, correct and legally protected."
by Paul J. Saunders and Brooke Leonard Barack Obama has a lot to learn when it comes to dealing with Russia—but so does John McCain.