NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN: Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend officially took over the fight against the Islamic State over the weekend, and vowed to defeat the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria “on our watch.” Townsend was speaking at a change-of-command ceremony in theater presided over by U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Joseph Votel. Townsend had high praise for his predecessor Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, who he said led an affort over the past year that had “done incredible work to degrade and dismantle ISIL’s oppressive and brutal regime.” McFarland declared “the enemy in retreat on all fronts,” and said Iraqi security forces have proved themselves in battle demonstrating that they can conduct complex and decisive operations.” Votel is expected to brief reporters at the Pentagon next week when he returns from the region.
SHOOT DOWN THREAT: In an telephone interview with CNN Saturday, Townsend repeated the not-so-veiled warning to Syrian warplanes to steer clear of U.S. special operations forces and their partners on the ground in northeastern Syria. “We’ve informed the Russians where we’re at … [they] tell us they’ve informed the Syrians, and I’d just say that we will defend ourselves if we feel threatened,” Townsend said from his Baghdad headquarters. After a close call Thursday in which a pair of Syrian Su-24s bombed dangerously close to a small number of U.S. troops advising Kurdish fighters battling ISIS, the U.S. scrambled fighters with orders to defend American forces from Syrian air attack by whatever means necessary. When Syrian planes showed up again Friday, they were quickly intimidated into leaving by the coalition air patrol.
YOUNG BOMBER: One of the most shocking things about the bombing of a Turkish wedding party that killed more than 50 people, including more than 20 children, was the age of the alleged suicide bomber, between 12 and 14, according to Turkish authorities. It’s not clear if the bomb was detonated remotely, or who was behind the attack, although Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said initial findings pointed to ISIS. Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Turkey Wednesday to meet with Erdogan for talks about issues raised by last month’s failed coup. At the same time, Secretary of State John Kerry will be in Saudi Arabia to meet with senior Saudi leaders.
TRUMP’S “ENEMY OF MY ENEMY” STRATEGY: Former CIA and NSA Director retired Gen. Michael Hayden is taking aim at Donald Trump’s willingness to ally with countries like Russia to battle the Islamic State and other terrorists. Writing in the Cipher Brief, Hayden argues that remaining “indifferent to what nations otherwise do as long as they are willing to help us kill jihadists” is perversely “a pretty good formula for ensuring that we are going to have to kill jihadists for a very long time.” Hayden doesn’t mention the negotiations between the Obama administration and Russia over possible coordinated air operations in Syria.
George David Banks, a former CIA analyst and diplomat, writes in the Washington Examiner however that Trump’s comments questioning the value of NATO or exploring a potential alliance with Russia are “not so outlandish.” “While Russia’s recent actions in Ukraine violate international law,” Banks writes, “Washington should consider its relationship with Moscow through the realpolitik lens.”
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PUTIN’S SOCK PUPPET?: On the Sunday shows, Hillary Clinton‘s campaign manager charged Trump with potentially being a “puppet” of the Kremlin and demanded that the Republican presidential nominee disclose whether members of his campaign are conducting meetings with Russian officials. On ABC, Robby Mook said, “The hand of the Kremlin has been at work in this campaign for some time. It’s clear that they are supporting Donald Trump, but we now need Donald Trump to explain to us the extent to which the hand of the Kremlin is at the core of his own campaign.”
BLAME SHIFTING: Former Joint Chiefs Chairman and Secretary of State retired Gen. Colin Powell says don’t blame him for the Hillary Clinton’s private email server debacle. “Her people have been trying to pin it on me,” he told PEOPLE magazine. “The truth is, she was using [the private email server] for a year before I sent her a memo telling her what I did.” Powell added that he “has no recollection of the dinner conversation” where Clinton alleged he advised her to use her own system for sending classified information, though he said he did send her “an email memo describing his use of his personal AOL email account for unclassified messages and how it vastly improved communications within the State Department.”
MCCAIN’S TRUMP PROBLEM: It got awkward really quickly last week when Sen. John McCain held a press conference in Arizona to talk about veterans’ issues and all anyone wanted to talk about was Trump, Ryan Lovelace reports. “I have covered that issue, I have covered that issue, I have covered that issue completely and I have nothing more to say about it,” McCain said, talking down the reporter. “I am supporting the nominee of the party and I will continue to run my own campaign.”
KIRK’S ACCUSATION: Sen. Mark Kirk has compared President Obama to a drug dealer after the U.S. acknowledged that the $400 million paid to Iran was contingent on that country’s release of four prisoners, T. Becket Adams writes. “We can’t have the president of the United States acting like the drug dealer in chief,” Kirk said this week in an interview with the State Journal-Register’s editorial board, “giving clean packs of money to a … state sponsor of terror. Those 500-euro notes will pop up across the Middle East,” he added. “We’re going to see problems in multiple [countries] because of that money given to them.”
IN CASE YOU’RE WONDERING WHY THE PENTAGON ISN’T A FAN OF RUSSIA: A United Nations-sanctioned human rights group has determined that Russia has killed more Syrian civilians than the Islamic State has, Nicole Duran writes. The Syrian Network for Human Rights concluded that Russia’s bombing campaign has claimed at least 2,704 civilian lives while the Islamic State has murdered at least 2,686. On the other hand the U.S. military prides itself on conducting what it argues is the most precise and accurate bombing campaign in the history of warfare. U.S. Central Command claims that out of 15,000 airstrikes only 1.5 percent have resulted in just an allegation of civilian casualty, and of those allegations, civilian casualties were confirmed 0.34 percent of the time.
THE 67-POINT PLAN: In the Republican weekly radio address Rep. Mimi Walters touted the Republican Party’s 67 ideas for improving U.S. national security, part of the GOP’s Better Way initiative, which congressional leaders rolled out this year. “It’s not enough to sit on the sidelines. It’s not enough to criticize. We have to propose an alternative. And we have.”
THE $6.7 MILLION PENALTY: The former Navy SEAL who wrote No Easy Day under the pen name “Mark Owen” has agreed to forfeit earnings from the best-selling book for failing to get clearance for classified details of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011. Matt Bissonnette denied he revealed any secrets harmful to national security, but agreed to the settlement to avoid criminal prosecution for failing to get Pentagon clearance for his book.
BOMBING IN SOMALIA: The terror group Al-Shabaab is claiming responsibility after two suicide bombers targeted a government building in Somalia, killing at least 23 people. The blast struck a nearby school and market, and the victims were mostly students and merchants, according to Somali officials said. A second bomb targeted the crowd that had gathered to help the victims of the first blast.
BERGDAHL IN COURT: There’s another court date today in Fort Bragg for accused deserter Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Last Friday, his civilian attorney moved to disqualify the convening authority and has also argued the case was improperly influenced by Arizona Sen. John McCain when he suggested last year he might hold a Senate hearing if the Army doesn’t punish Bergdahl.
SOUTH KOREA EXERCISES “EXERCISE” THE NORTH: The U.S. and South Korea have begun the annual Ulchi Freedom military exercise which simulates, mostly by computer, how the South would defeat an invasion from the North. Some 50,000 South Korean and 25,000 U.S. troops are involved, and predictably the defensive drill has provoked fiery rhetoric from the North. According to AFP, the North Korean Foreign Ministry today condemned exercise as an “unpardonable criminal act” that could bring the peninsula to “the brink of war.” The AP quotes the North’s military as threatening to turn Seoul and Washington into “a heap of ashes through a Korean-style pre-emptive nuclear strike” if they show any signs of aggression toward the North’s territory.
BOMBS AWAY: The Air Force made history last week when all three types of bombers — B-52, B-1 and B-2 — took off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam and flew simultaneous missions in the area. Check out the video here.
THE RUNDOWN
AP: Iran: Russia has stopped using Iran base for Syria strikes
CNN: Iraq executes 36 people for Camp Speicher massacre
Military Times: The ISIS war has a new commander — and ISIS may be the least of his worries
Navy Times: Trump’s controversial new adviser promoted conservatism even in the Navy
Washington Post: A cocky arms dealer fleeced the Pentagon in ‘War Dogs.’ Now he’s fighting for movie profits
Air Force Times: U.S. fighter jets protect Hasakah air space after Syrian government airstrikes
CNN: US military distances itself from Saudi-led war in Yemen
Fox News: How F-35A fighter pilots are harnessing high-tech ‘see-through’ helmets
Agence France-Press: Iran Releases Images of New Missile Defense System
Reuters: Gaza militant rocket hits Israel, Israel responds with airstrikes, shells
Times Record News: HASC chairman proposes defense strategy for next president
Reuters: Libyan forces say they capture mosque, prison from Islamic State in Sirte
Calendar
THURSDAY | AUGUST 25
10 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, speaks at CSIS about the future of military innovation and joint capabilities. csis.org
