Two Iraq Reports Now Available

The Rand Corporation just released a report analyzing the planning and execution of combat and stability operations in Iraq. Conducted for the U.S. Army, the report begins with prewar planning, revealing that while many government agencies and organizations "identified a range of potential postwar challenges and suggested strategies for addressing them" before the invasion of Iraq, two sets of assumptions by officials in the highest levels of government undermined those suggestions: 1. many senior government policymakers were optimistic about "conditions that would emerge after major combat concluded" and overrode counterarguments, and 2. senior military commanders thought that civilians would be responsible for the postwar period. The report also looks at the role of U.S. military forces after initial combat ended on May 1, 2003 through June 2004, and civilian reconstruction efforts. Both the June 30, 2008 press release and the report entitled After Saddam: Postwar Planning and the Occupation of Iraq are available online. (The report is also available in paper.) This report is one of an eight-volume set analyzing combat and stability planning and execution in Iraq. Six of the volumes are classified; a seventh volume, in process, will be unclassified.

The conduct of the war in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein is the subject of another report just released by the Combat Studies Institute Press at Fort Leavenworth. Entitled The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom, May 2003-January 2005: On Point II: Transition to the New Campaign, the report "examines both the high-level decisions that shaped military operations after May 2003 as well as the effects of those decisions on units and Soldiers who became responsible for conducting those operations." A print copy is also available from the Government Printing Office. A review of the report is available from History News.

Recycled Interrogation Methods

The New York Times revealed in a July 2 article entitled "China Inspired Interrogations at Guantánamo," that interrogation methods used by the Chinese on American prisoners of war during the Korean War were imitated by our military trainers in Guantanamo Bay. Congressional hearings have expressed concerns about using such methods. On July 26, 2007, for example, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s S. HRG. 110-257 entitled Extraordinary Rendition, Extraterritorial Detention and Treatment of Detainees: Restoring Our Moral Credibility and Strengthening Our Diplomatic Standing contains statements from Senators Biden and Feingold denouncing such techniques. Likewise Senator Leahy in the Judiciary Committee’s S.HRG. 110-299 entitled Preserving the Rule of Law in the Fight Against Terrorism, Oct. 2, 2007 denounced similar methods used in Abu Ghraib: “. . . the terrible abuses of Abu Ghraib, which stained us as a country and which were the direct results of a lack of clarity and restraint in the rules of interrogation.”

How do we as a country find an effective yet moral way to gain necessary intelligence, a method showing clarity and restraint? The Intelligence Science Board of the National Defense Intelligence College has been grappling with better ways to solicit information. Its Dec. 2006 Phase 1 report entitled Educing Information, Interrogation: Science and Art, Foundations for the Future, covers a wide variety of subjects such as evaluating intelligence detection devices, the costs and benefits of interrogation, behavior science lessons learned from educing information, and challenges in developing a new educing information paradigm.

"Hot" Tomatoes

"Should I eat that juicy red tomato in my salad?" is a question many people are asking themselves right now. Salmonellosis Outbreak in Certain Types of Tomato by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gives information about the types of tomatoes involved in the recent Samonella outbreak (raw red plum, red Roma, round red tomatoes). It also lists the areas/states still considered safe for raw tomato consumption. (Texas is considered safe.) To date cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and tomatoes with the vine still attached have not been linked with the disease.

Symptoms of Salmonellosis, the infection caused by the Samonella bacteria, are diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps appearing 12 to 72 hours after infection. Most people do not need hospitalization for the disease which usually lasts 4 to 7 days and is normally treated with fluids and rest under a doctor's care. However, if the diarrhea becomes severe the patient may need hospitalization and treatment with antibiotics. Most at risk are the elderly, infants, and those with impaired immune systems.

Measures listed by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to prevent Samonella contamination are:

• Cook poultry, ground beef, and eggs thoroughly. Do not eat or drink foods containing raw eggs, or raw (unpasteurized) milk.
• If you are served undercooked meat, poultry or eggs in a restaurant, don't hesitate to send it back to the kitchen for further cooking.
• Wash hands, kitchen work surfaces, and utensils with soap and water immediately after they have been in contact with raw meat or poultry.
• Be particularly careful with foods prepared for infants, the elderly, and the immunocompromised.
• Wash hands with soap after handling reptiles, birds, or baby chicks, and after contact with pet feces.
• Avoid direct or even indirect contact between reptiles (turtles, iguanas, other lizards, snakes) and infants or immunocompromised persons.
• Don't work with raw poultry or meat, and an infant (e.g., feed, change diaper) at the same time.
• Mother's milk is the safest food for young infants. Breastfeeding prevents salmonellosis and many other health problems.

White House/Presidents Quiz

With the U.S. Presidential race constantly in the news, how much do you know about past Presidents and the White House? The White House Kids page has an assortment of quizzes aimed to test your knowledge of the White House and its inhabitants. For example, can you answer the following questions? (answers at the end)


1. Who was the only president to get married in the White House?

2. What did Lydia Darrah do to help George Washington's troops at Valley Forge?

3. Which President inspired the March of Dimes?

4. Who was the first President to dedicate a new baseball stadium?

5. President Ronald Reagan was the broadcaster for which baseball team?


Answers:
1. Grover Cleveland
2. Provided intelligence about the British troops
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt
4. Lyndon B. Johnson – Astrodome – April 9, 1965
5. Chicago Cubs

Salaries of Federal Employees

Are you interested in pursuing a career with a federal agency? Now you can find out from the Federal Employees database the salaries of various federal employees with the exception of those who work in secure areas such as the FBI, CIA, or Defense Department. You can look up the salary of a particular individual or of a category of workers in a particular locale.

Poet Laureates

When questioned by a reporter, John McCain recently had to admit he didn't know who the poet laureate of the United States or of Arizona is. It would be interesting to see how many members of the general public know that Charles Simic, an immigrant from Yugoslavia who didn't speak English until he was 15, is the current U.S. Poet Laureate. While Arizona does not have a poet laureate, Larry D. Thomas of Houston is the 2008 Texas Poet Laureate. A list of Texas Poet Laureates from 1932 onward is available from The Handbook of Texas Online. Information about U.S. Poet Laureates from 1937 onward is available from the Library of Congress.

2008 Education Statistics

According to "The Condition of Education 2008," an annual report published by the National Center for Education Statistics, the nation's student body is becoming more diverse while school enrollment is at an all-time high. At the college level, the largest growth area for enrollment was from women and minority students. However, Hispanic students were underrepresented among the minorities. The report indicates that only 34 percent of Hispanics aged 25 to 29 completed some college as of 2007 compared to 50 percent of black and 66 percent of white U.S. residents. Hispanics born outside the United States are three times more likely to lack a high-school diploma than those from families who have lived in the United States a generation or more.

More college and advanced degrees are being awarded as of 2005-2006 compared with ten years earlier including 28 percent more bachelor's and associate degrees, 46 percent more master's degrees, and 26 percent more doctorates. The most popular undergraduate majors included business, social sciences and history, and education. At the master's level the greatest number of degrees were conferred for the fields of education and business while at the doctoral level education, engineering, health professions and related clinical sciences, biological and biomedical sciences, and psychology were the most popular.

Earnings of young adults with degrees are still greater than their peers without degrees. In 2005 males with a bachelor’s or higher degree earned 64 percent more than their peers who only completed high school compared to 19 percent more in 1980.

At the elementary and secondary level public school enrollment increased. Public school elementary enrollment is expected to increase annually through 2016, while public secondary enrollment should be about 2 percent higher in 2016 than in 2007 after experiencing a decrease of 2 percent between 2007 and 2011