Mass Atrocity Response Operations

[Harry Phillips]

Thank you all for the last set of questions and comments.

for RB: I think anyone with insights to the Anfal campaigns would be of very high value to the MARO project. I especially believe individuals such as Peter Galbraith and Mike Amitay would bring a lot of credibility to the project at large. I would very much like to see them in dialogue with Sarah Sewell, the MARO project's lead.

MARCT: regarding political legitimacy. There is much work to be done regarding this issue and will be addressed in 2008 and 2009 after completion our initial work during this phase of the project. At this stage, the MARO project's focus is U.S. national authority and the annotated planning framework is intended for use by planners at the combatant commander level. There is however an awareness of the international community on the part of the project. A meeting is planned for the November timeframe to engage and inform international partners. Ultimately, Security Council or alliance resolutions backing U.S. initatives vis a vis genocide intervention, using the MARO construct, could potentially serve to provide international political authority. Again, there is much work to be done in this arena.

davidbfpo: very tough question. As a retired Army MI officer I've already sounded the alarm with respect to this and even made a recommendation for indepent/autonomous research to support our efforts through avenues such as the intelligence analysis program at Mercyhurst College. Your second point regarding access...anyone who has ever been on a UN mission understands it is only done after agreement on the part of parties to a conflict indicating they accept such a force. It's not always permissive as we know from places like Bosnia, Rwanda and now Darfur. Your question requires much more study.

Harry

[marct]

Harry,

Thanks for the response on political authority. It is one of my bugaboos .

Let me toss out a (possibly) silly suggestion for monitoring and reporting. If I remember correctly, Stephen Marrin is at Mercyhurst and has been doing a lot of work on the issue of professionalization of "intelligence". You might want to talk with him and see if he would be interested in creating something like "Analysts Without Borders" (hey, I think I'm going to copyright that ) as an international, professional service group that monitors genocide and genocide in the making.

[Harry Phillips]

Mark,

I very much agree that such an effort is warranted. MARO's leadership has to determine if such an effort is possible...I think Stephen Marrin and Kris Wheaton would jump at the opportunity to explore this subject...Kris has already told me as much. It would greatly enhance the project in my professional opinion.

Harry

[Cavguy]

You may want to contact the Stimpson Center for International Peace on the subject, they're doing a study on genocide prevention you may be interested in. Ms. Victoria Holt is leading it, she gave an interesting interview session here at Leavenworth about two months ago. Several high-profile individuals are participating.

One of her points in discussion with me was that the UN has really cleaned up its peacekeeping act the last few years organizationally. The problem is overcoming the negative perceptions from the failed 1990's interventions.

[Harry Phillips]

Thanks,

Tori is very well informed about the MARO project. I last spoke to her just before her trip to Addis.

FYI: My last active duty assignment was as the UN's military planning officer for south Sudan and Darfur. I spent two years working for DPKO in New York, with UNMIS and AMIS in Sudan/Darfur, and with the AU in Addis. The planning I did set the stage for UNAMID...now let's see how it gets executed.

Harry



Harry

[davidbfpo]

Link goes to a lengthy paper on preventing genocide and appropriate to add here: http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=7061

davidbfpo

[AdamG]

Wired picked up on this -

When the Pentagon released its master strategy document earlier this year, the document contained an interesting phrase: The military needed to focus on “preventing human suffering due to mass atrocities or large-scale natural disasters abroad.”

The insertion of that line into the Quadrennial Defense Review marked a paradigm shift: Previous versions of the strategic plan included no such references to stopping “mass atrocities” as a military imperative. It was a quiet victory for advocates of a new vision of U.S. national power that would make genocide prevention a military priority.

Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010...#ixzz0nHv2b84a

[davidbfpo]

This is the thread I know of on genocide / atrocities, if there's is a more recent one let me know. (Added) Maybe some of the issues have been covered in this newer thread 'Responsibility To Protect' aka R2P:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...&highlight=R2P

I've not seen any other reports so hat tip to the UK-based blogsite Open Democracy and their article opens with:

In a speech at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) on 23 April 2012, President Barack Obama launched a "comprehensive strategy" to "prevent and respond to atrocities". He has charged his new Atrocities Prevention Board (APB) with "helping the US government identify and address atrocity threats, and oversee institutional changes that will make us more nimble and effective".

Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/martin-...ity-prevention

After the initial post (above) courtesy of a FP Blog emailing there are two points of view:http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/...pisrc=obinsite and http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/...ard_a_chance_0

Zenpundit has a commentary, try this for a critique:

The Atrocity Prevention Board is a great sounding bad idea that represents an impossible task in terms of Ways, unaffordable in terms of Means and unacheivable in relation to Ends. (Later) This is a bureaucratic brief for global micromanagement by the United States that makes the Bush Doctrine appear isolationist and parsimonious in comparison.

Link:http://zenpundit.com/?p=8197

[Ken White]

I rarely agree with Stephen Walt but generally do agree with Zenpundit. In this case, both of them have it right. That APB should have an All Points Bulletin issued to be killed on sight...

[jmm99]

As mentioned in this SWC post,

From "At Water's Edge" (which accords with Anne-Marie Slaughter) Whither the Atrocities Prevention Board?:

Back in August, President Obama signed into existence PSD-10, a Presidential Study Directive on Mass Atrocities. When it was first released, PSD-10 was well-received by liberal interventionists and those who believe that preventative diplomacy and coordinated action can head-off mass killings, Anne-Marie Slaughter and myself included. ...
...
... The Directive determined that an interagency study, led by the National Security Advisor, would be complete within 100 days, to determine the full mandate and make-up of the body, as well as its processes. The resulting Atrocities Prevention Board was to begin its work 120 days after the signature of PSD-10, on August 4, 2011. It has now been 147 days.

Since August 4th, precisely nothing has come out of the White House on the matter. There have been no stories written, in the mainstream media on the development of the Board since late August. None. Nothing on interagency squabbles that would prevent its creation, nothing on how close it is to launch, nothing on how David Pressman’s War Crimes, Atrocities and Civilian Protection directorate at the NSC is proceeding. Nothing.

That was posted on December 29, 2011 (BTW: David Pressman and George Clooney are friends).

From Human Rights First:

DNI Testimony Reiterates Administration Priorities on Genocide Prevention
2-10-2012
By Crimes Against Humanity Program

Last week, a little-noticed passage on mass atrocities made its way into the Director of National Intelligence’s (DNI) annual testimony to Congress. The passage reaffirmed the President’s proclamation that the prevention of mass atrocities and genocide is a core U.S. national security interest and moral responsibility, and committed the U.S. intelligence community (IC) to play a significant role in the forthcoming Atrocities Prevention Board.

The personnel appointed to the board and its staff will show its direction, since they will shape its findings and proposed COAs. As the President stated in the Directive:

In the face of a potential mass atrocity, our options are never limited to either sending in the military or standing by and doing nothing. The actions that can be taken are many: they range from economic to diplomatic interventions, and from non combat military actions to outright intervention. But ensuring that the full range of options is available requires a level of governmental organization that matches the methodical organization characteristic of mass killings.

The President appointed Samantha Power, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, as chair. Nuff said.

Regards

Mike

[J Wolfsberger]

I rarely agree with Stephen Walt but generally do agree with Zenpundit. In this case, both of them have it right. That APB should have an All Points Bulletin issued to be killed on sight...

And as Zenpundit so succinctly put it: "This is not likely to end well."

During the Balkan Wars and Rwandan Genocide in the 90s I was infuriated by the moral posturing of various political factions who clearly felt that expressions of disapproval and armed note taking were appropriate and effective responses to mass murder. This just institutionalizes the posturing.

I will be shocked if this APB turns out to accomplish anything more than allowing D.C. insiders and their friends to feel good about themselves, with the occasional small scale troop action thrown in when domestic political concerns indicate a distraction is needed to move the poll numbers.

[JMA]

Did this project make any progress?

[davidbfpo]

Did this project make any progress?

JMA,

The contact author's email is:ben.goldsmith@sydney.edu.au

[davidbfpo]

This should be read alongside a separate thread:Responsibility to Protect (R2P): Catch All

[davidbfpo]

Popped up via Twitter and I think sits here best. The intro:

The report of the 2016 Fort Leavenworth Ethics Symposium is now available. This symposium focused on the ethical issues inherent in humanitarian military operations and interventions. In this report, readers will find discussions on a broad series of topics such as the ethical challenges posed by genocide, hybrid warfare, and humanitarian operations conducted in megacities.

Link:http://www.armyupress.army.mil/Books...um-report-2016