It’s just the beginning for Jordan; A ceasefire in Ukraine?; Thickening plot in Williams fib; U.S.-Israel really are besties; And a bit more.
Opening salvos: Jordan says this is just the beginning. Jordan launched airstrikes in Syria yesterday against ISIS as part of the revenge it seeks in the death of its pilot, with plans to launch them into Iraq soon. The armed forces of Jordan, where public anger is boiling over over the immolation of Lt. Muath al-Kasasbeh, released a statement that “This is just the beginning and you shall know who the Jordanians are.”
The Jordanian Foreign Minister, Nasser Judeh, on the campaign against ISIS, which he vowed to destroy, to CNN: "We are upping the ante. We're going after them wherever they are, with everything that we have. But it's not the beginning, and it's certainly not the end." More here.
The air mission in Jordan is called: “Moath the Martyr.”
Jordan yesterday released the sort of hooah video American troops would admire. It’s a moving video in its own right, and won’t even set you back two minutes to watch in full, right here.
As the U.S. accelerates military assistance to Jordan, Duncan Hunter asks the White House, why did you deny a license to provide Predator XPs to Jordan? That letter from Hunter to the administration from yesterday, here.
The right crusades against Obama: Longtime critics of President Obama decried his comments about ISIS and Christianity. On Fox, here.
Meantime: Germany’s Angela Merkel has reportedly reached a breaking point in her patience with Vladimir Putin, and along with French President François Hollande, is on a two-day visit to Kiev and Moscow to avert what Hollande calls “total war” in Ukraine. The Telegraph, here.
A cease-fire for Ukraine would only be the “first step,” Hollande says. AP: “French President Francois Hollande says all parties pushing for a new peace plan for eastern Ukraine see a cease-fire as the first step but must go further to find a lasting accord. Hollande is heading to Moscow on Friday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss a new European peace plan with Russian President Vladimir Putin.” More here.
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen yesterday in Brussels: “More weapons in this area will not bring us closer to a solution.” The Dutch, Danes and Brits were reserved about the idea of a Western-armed Ukraine, as well. Reuters’ Adrian Croft and David Alexander, here.
Meanwhile, separatists and Ukraine forces this morning agreed on a route for evacuating civilians from a key railway hub rebels have been fiercely targeting. AP this hour, here.
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Forget what you’ve heard: The U.S.-Israeli relationship is stronger than ever, writes Derek Chollet, former assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, in Defense One: “[L]isten to Israeli leaders. Former Defense Minister Ehud Barak has said there is more ‘intimacy’ between the two militaries than ever before. Current Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon describes the relationship as ‘deep and intimate, and unprecedented in its scope.’
“For the past three defense secretaries – Robert Gates, Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel – the relationships with their Israeli counterparts have been among the closest of any around the world. This is something I saw up close during many hours of meetings and phone calls Secretaries Panetta and Hagel had with their counterparts…” Read the rest, here.
This week, top Navy leaders described some of the capabilities that they want in America’s futuristic 6th generation fighter jet. Defense One’s tech editor Patrick Tucker explains what “full spectrum dominance” means here, how advanced propulsion might not be as fast as you think it is, and whether or not this thing is even going to have a human pilot. All of that, here.
Massacres in Nigeria, at the whim of Boko Haram. The NYT’s Adam Nossiter on Page One: “… As Boko Haram terrorizes the area surrounding this city, as many as 400,000 people have fled to this island of tenuous government control. The peril these refugees have escaped is pressing in on Maiduguri — the city has sustained three Boko Haram attacks in the past week and explosions can be heard here every night — providing a rare glimpse into the militant group’s dystopian vision of Islamist rule.
Yagana Kabani, who stayed in a town called Bama for three months after Boko Haram took it over: “You would see bodies everywhere… They killed many. They would take their money. They said it was infidel money.” More here.
Is there a counter-Boko Haram strategy in the works? Reps from Western and Central African nations are meeting in Cameroon through Saturday to forge a plan on how to deploy some 7,500 African Union troops in the fight against Boko Haram. Reuters, here.
See also: What AFRICOM’s R4 said last week he’s after in a counter-Boko Haram strategy, here.
A SOCOM spox contextualized some of Joe Votel’s remarks last week that U.S. special operations could soon hand over work in the Horn of Africa to American conventional troops. Sean Naylor at FP, here.
American Drone: An al-Qaeda leader in Yemen who threatened more attacks on France after the Charlie Hebdo killings was killed in a drone strike. AFP: “…Nadhari and three other militants were killed in a January 31 ‘crusader American drone strike against their car’ in the southern Shabwa province, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said on Twitter. AQAP named the others as Said Bafaraj, Abdelsamie al-Haddaa and Azzam al-Hadrami.” Read the rest here.
African Lion kicked off this week in Morocco. Marine Corps Public Affairs, via the Jacksonville Daily News: “International military contingents from Morocco, U.S., Germany, United Kingdom, Tunisia, Mauritania and Senegal will begin the first phase of Exercise African Lion 2015, in Agadir, Morocco Feb. 2. African Lion 15, the largest annual U.S. military exercise on the continent of Africa, will begin with an intelligence capacity building workshop the first week of February. The international coalition will then stand up a Combined Joint Task Force and plan for a simulated international crisis the week after. This will prepare them for the main phase of the exercise scheduled to take place mid-May.” More here.
Mammas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys, and McCain tells the Pentagon: don’t let your aircraft carriers visit China. The WaPo’s Craig Whitlock: “As the Pentagon considers whether to allow a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier to make a historic port visit to China, the idea is drawing flak from Capitol Hill. [McCain] the new chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, urged the Defense Department to scuttle the proposal in a letter dated Monday to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work. Calling the Navy’s Nimitz-class carriers ‘one of the most sophisticated and lethal military tools in world history,’ McCain said it would be a political and symbolic mistake for the Navy to accept a Chinese invitation for one of its massive flattop vessels to swing by for a visit.” More here.
Exactly three weeks ago, U.S. and coalition aircraft carried out their first airstrikes in Afghanistan since the combat mission ended on 31 December, Stars and Stripes’ Carlo Munoz reports from Kabul: “The air attacks [conducted January 16] were carried out in the Dangam district of Kunar province in support of Afghan efforts to push back Afghan and Pakistani Taliban fighters, according to coalition spokesman Col. Brian Tribus and Afghan officials...
“In mid-December, about 2,000 Afghan and Pakistani Taliban fighters descended on the eastern Afghanistan district. Afghan militias battled the insurgents for weeks but were unable to stem the advance, according to Haji Muzamel, a leader of one of the pro-government militias.” More here.
The plot thickens in the Brian Williams war fib narrative. The pilot of Williams’ helo says their Chinook took small arms fire that day and broke from the three-bird formation before linking back up with the group 45 minutes later. NBC News’ problem solved, right? Wrong, CNN’s Brian Stelter explains, here.
Hashtag BrianWilliamsMisremembers: Williams’ apology just got him in more hot water with veterans and it’s still on the front pages. The NYT’s Jonathan Mahler, Ravi Somaiya and Emily Steel, here.
And WaPo's Dan Lamothe rolls up the outrage at Williams from war reporters, including FP's David Kenner who says, "You don't 'misremember' whether your helicopter was shot down by an RPG." Get your righteous outrage fix, here.
The end of exceptionalism? The new national security strategy the White House will unveil today recognizes the limits of what the U.S. can do globally. The NYT’s Peter Baker and David Sanger, on the new strategy, here.
With the White House just hours from releasing its forthcoming national security strategy, here’s one thing we’re told you’re still going to have to wait for: A new AUMF against ISIS. Our politics editor Molly O’Toole lays out the known-knowns ahead of Susan Rice’s big Brookings launch later this morning, here.
CNAS’ Richard Fontaine and Shawn Brimley on why you shouldn’t expect too much from the new strategy, on FP, here.
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker says he’s expecting the new AUMF from the White House the second week of February, too. That from Defense News’ John Bennet, here.
And Sen. McCain expects Ash Carter to be confirmed as the new defense secretary by the end of next week. The Hill’s Martin Matishak, here.
Who’s up to What Today - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Marty Dempsey is wheels up for Camp Lejeune, N.C. for a town hall with Marines and their families. Tomorrow, he’s visiting Chapel Hill to do a talk at the Research Triangle area schools, including Duke, the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State with their ROTC units.
Also today: Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert will be in Hawaii today for meetings and an All Hands Call with sailors and Navy civilians at Pearl Harbor. (Watch a livestream of the event here.) CNO then leaves for Australia and New Zealand for counterpart visits… Air Force Secretary Debbie James and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh will provide remarks today at the 2015 Stars and Stripes Dinner honoring awardees at the 29th Annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards and Science, Technology and Math Global Competitiveness Conference; more information about that dinner here. …
The parents of former Marine and American journalist Austin Tice, who vanished while covering the Syrian war in August 2012, are pleading with the White House to do more to secure his release while advocating for better American handling of hostage cases. AP’s Brett Zongker, here.
Future Marine recruits could well find themselves having to undergo a psychological evaluation prior to joining up, Joe Dunford says. Derrick Perkins of Marine Corps Times: “Lt. Col. John Caldwell, a Marine spokesman at the Pentagon, said that though [Commandant Gen. Joe Dunford's] road map only came out last week, the service already is evaluating psychological screening methods employed by state and federal agencies.” More here.
Producing the Air Force’s new KC-46 refueling tanker could net Boeing more than $15 billion over the next five years, Bloomberg’s Tony Capaccio reports, here.
If sequestration returns this year, the Air Force -- already the smallest that its ever been -- will have to jettison another 10K airmen, said Maj. Gen. James Martin, Air Force deputy assistant secretary for budget. Jeff Schogol for Air Force Times, here.
In case anyone’s counting: The Army just dropped to its lowest active duty end strength in more than a decade. The 31 December troop total: 498,642. Target for 30 September: 490,000. More from Jim Tice at Army Times, here.