A Mediterranean Battlefield - Syria

[Peter Lemkin]

Redrawing the Map of the Middle East

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5366[/ATTACH]Click on Map to Enlarge

Known as the Peters Map, after Ralph Peters its producer, the map below represents a vision of the MIddle East in which virtually all the boundaries have been changed as a result of NATO military operations, aided by auxiliary forces described as "rebels". Peters is a former military officer and intelligence expert with access to the highest levels of the US government. The map appears in a book published by Peters in 2008.

The map dovetails neatly with the plans for regime change spelled out in the PNAC (Project for a New American Century) Document. That document is a policy statement framed by the Council of Foreign Relations in 1997. The document not only calls for regime change throughout the Middle East and North Africa, but claims that a "new Pearl Harbor" would be needed to set it off. Some commentators believe that 9/11 was the New Pearl Harbor and that the War on Terror is essentially the plan of regime change being put into action.
The map above is an expanded version of the Peters Map. By passing your mouse over the map, you will see the boundaries change from old to new, giving you a more acute sense of the changes in territory involved. By moving your cursor below the map and clicking on the red instruction, you will see a superimposed map of oil resources. Note how the oil deposits would, after "regime change", lie almost entirely within the newly formed NATO-friendly states. This is thought by some to be the main driver of the entire operation of "regime change".
An essential military ingredient of the War on Terror is called Fourth Generation Warfare. It does not involve declarations or war between nation states nor does it involve armies facing each other en masse, as in past centuries. Instead it involves a "blurring of the lines" between civilian and military action and a reopening of tactics previously outlawed or thought too horrendous to use. The key operational factor is deception, representing an event as perpetrated by A when in fact it was perpetrated by B, giving B an excuse to attack A
Examples of Fourth Generation Warfare in the 21st Century
Here is a brief summary of the War on Terror to this point
Pseudo victim: United States
Event: 9/11
Real victim Islamic world. broadly considered
OperatIon: War on Terror initiated
Pseudo victim: NATO nations
Event: Alleged threat of "weapons of mass destruction"
Real victim: Iraq
Operation: Invasion of Iraq, replacement of government
Pseudo victim: NATO nations
Event: Lockerbie bombing blamed on Ghadaffi
Real victim: Libya
Operation: Rebellion in Libya, no fly zone, replacement of government
Pseudo victim: Israel
Event: Alleged threat of nuclear weapons
Real Victim: Iran
Operation: Pending
Pseudo victim: Syrian population
Event: alleged use of military force on own citizens
Real victim: Syria
Operation: Rebellion in Syria. ongoing with invasion immanent
More to come on this section . . .
DOWNLOADS
High resolution map of traditional (2012) borders
High resolution map of traditional (2012) borders
High resolution map of traditional (2012) borders WITH OIL deposits
High resolution map of proposed borders WITH OIL deposits
REFERENCES
Ralph Peters on Wikipedia
Plans for Redrawing the Middle East: The Project for a "New Middle East"
Counterpoint/Disinformation References
The fallacy behind Ralph Peters' new Middle East map
CARTOGRAPHIC DATA

All Maps have been been created by hand using Google Maps data. All boundaries are accurate to within one arc-minute.
The indicated oil bearing regions were recompiled from data displayed at the following URLs:
Middle East Map of the Future
http://www.matthieuthery.com/energy/foss...ddle-east/
http://www.matthieuthery.com/wp-content/...u-iran.jpg
http://www.gregcroft.com/area4indexmap.ivnu
http://libertarian-neocon.blogspot.com/2...i-oil.html
http://energeopolitics.com/2010/04/09/us...palestine/
http://iv-g.livejournal.com/296018.html
http://pictorial-guide-to-energy.blogspo...-east.html
\http://www.geoexpro.com/article/The_Cent...bc466.aspx
http://www.heatingoil.com/blog/iraq-begi...anies1201/
---------------------------------

Ralph Peters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


This article is about the military officer, novelist and essayist. For the president of the Long Island Rail Road, see Ralph Peters (LIRR).
[TABLE="class: infobox biography vcard, width: 22"]
[TR]
[TH="colspan: 2, align: center"]Ralph Peters[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Born[/TH]
[TD]April 19, 1952 (age 61)
Pottsville, Pennsylvania, US[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Nationality[/TH]
[TD="class: category"]United States[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Ethnicity[/TH]
[TD="class: category"]Welsh and German[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Citizenship[/TH]
[TD="class: category"]United States[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Education[/TH]
[TD]St. Mary's University, Texas,[SUP][1][/SUP]M.A. (international relations), 1988[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Alma mater[/TH]
[TD]Pennsylvania State University[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Occupation[/TH]
[TD="class: role"]Retired U.S. Army officer
Military analyst, writer[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Home town[/TH]
[TD]Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania, U.S.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Political party[/TH]
[TD="class: org"]Independent[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Spouse(s)[/TH]
[TD]Janice (nee Stickler) Peters (divorced)
Marion Ann Martin (divorced)
Katherine McIntire (June 4, 1994 present)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Parents[/TH]
[TD]Ralph Heinrich Peters
Alice Catherine (née Parfitt) Peters[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Ralph Peters (born 1952) is a retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel and author. As a novelist he has sometimes written under the pen name Owen Parry.

Contents

[hide]

• 1 Personal
  
• 2 Military career
  
• 3 Writing career
  
• 4 Views
  • 4.1 Role of United States military
    
  • 4.2 Iraq war
    
  • 4.3 Redrawing borders and regime change
    
  • 4.4 Afghanistan
    • 4.4.1 Bowe Bergdahl
      
    
    
  • 4.5 Donald Rumsfeld
    
  • 4.6 WikiLeaks
    
  
  
• 5 Awards
  
• 6 Books
  • 6.1 Novels
    
  • 6.2 Nonfiction
    
  
  
• 7 References
  
• 8 External links
  

Personal[edit]

Peters was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania and grew up in nearby Schuylkill Haven. His father was a coal miner and unsuccessful businessman. His wife, Katherine McIntire Peters, is a reporter for Government Executive magazine (a property of National Journal Group, Inc.).

Military career[edit]

Peters enlisted in the Army in 1976, after attending Pennsylvania State University.[SUP][2][/SUP]
Peters' first assignment was in Germany. After returning from Germany, he attended Officer Candidate School and received a commission in 1980.[SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][4][/SUP] Subsequently, he served with 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment, then part of the 1st Armored Division.[SUP][5][/SUP]
Peters spent ten years in Germany working in military intelligence. He later became a Foreign Area Officer, specializing in the Soviet Union. He attended the Command and General Staff College. His last assignment was to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence. He retired in 1998 as a Lieutenant Colonel.

Writing career[edit]

Peters's first novel was Bravo Romeo, a spy thriller set in West Germany, and was published in 1981. Since then his novels progressed from futuristic scenarios involving the Red Army to contemporary terrorism and failed state issues. His characters are often presented as military mavericks who have the knowledge and courage to tackle problems others cannot or will not. His novel, The War After Armageddon, was released in 2009. In 2008 he published the non-fiction Looking for Trouble: Adventures in a Broken World. He is a regular contributor to the military history magazine, Armchair General Magazine, and he also serves on its Advisory Board.[SUP][citation needed][/SUP]
He has published numerous essays on strategy in military journals such as Parameters, Military Review, and Armed Forces Journal, reports for the United States Marine Corps (see Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities), formerly wrote a regular opinion column for theNew York Post, and has written essays and columns for USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Monthly and Army magazine. Peters is a member of the Board of Contributors for USA Today's Forum Page, part of the newspaper's Opinion section.

Views[edit]

Role of United States military[edit]

Peters' 1997 article "Constant Conflict"[SUP][6][/SUP][SUP][7][/SUP] stated: "There will be no peace. At any given moment for the rest of our lifetimes, there will be multiple conflicts in mutating forms around the globe. Violent conflict will dominate the headlines, but cultural and economic struggles will be steadier and ultimately more decisive. The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing."

Iraq war[edit]

Peters was a strong supporter of the 2003 invasion and ongoing war in Iraq. Defending the war from critics who claimed that Iraq was descending into civil war, he authored a March 5, 2006 piece in the New York Post, entitled "Dude, Where's My Civil War?", in which he wrote: "I'm looking for the civil war that The New York Times declared. And I just can't find it (...) The Iraqi Army has confounded its Western critics, performing extremely well last week. And the people trust their new army to an encouraging degree."[SUP][8][/SUP] Claims that Iraq was descending into civil war, he wrote, were the politically motivated claims of "irresponsible journalists" who have "staked their reputations on Iraq's failure". By August 2006, Peters had turned more pessimistic on Iraq, stating in an interview with FrontPageMagazine.com that "civil war is closer than it was (...) The leaders squabble, the death squads rule the neighborhoods." He said that while it would be "too early to walk away from Iraq", the fate of the country was threatened by the US's failure after the invasion to provide adequate troop levels to maintain order, as well as "the Arab genius for screwing things up."[SUP][9][/SUP]
On November 2, 2006, he wrote in USA Today: "Iraq is failing. No honest observer can conclude otherwise. Even six months ago, there was hope. Now the chances for a democratic, unified Iraq are dwindling fast (...) Iraq could have turned out differently. It didn't. And we must be honest about it. We owe that much to our troops. They don't face the mere forfeiture of a few congressional seats but the loss of their lives. Our military is now being employed for political purposes. It's unworthy of our nation." In this piece he speculated that "only a military coup which might come in the next few years could hold the artificial country together" and that "it appears that the cynics were right: Arab societies can't support democracy as we know it."[SUP][10][/SUP]
Following the 2006 US Congressional election, Peters wrote: "It's going to be hard. The political aim of the Democrats will be to continue talking a good game while avoiding responsibility through '08. They'll send up bills they know Bush will veto. And they'll struggle to hide the infighting in their own ranks Dem unity on this war is about as solid as the unity of Iraq. Now that they've won on the issue, the Dems would like Iraq to just go away. But it won't. And they've got to avoid looking weak on defense, so the military will get more money for personnel, at least. But we won't get a comprehensive plan to deal with Iraq or, for that matter, our global struggle with Islamist terrorists. No matter how many troops we send, we're bound to fail if the troops aren't allowed to fight under the leadership of combat commanders, not politically attuned bureaucrats in uniform. At present, neither party's leaders want to face the truth about warfare that it can't be done on the cheap and that war can't be waged without shedding blood."[SUP][11][/SUP]
Peters was opposed to what became the Iraq War troop surge of 2007 when it was first proposed. In October 2006 he wrote, "the notion of sending more U.S. troops is strategic and practical nonsense. Had the same voices demanded another 100,000-plus troops in 2003 or even 2004, it would have made a profound, positive difference. Now it's too late."[SUP][12][/SUP] By July 2007, he had changed his mind, writing that U.S. troops were making "serious progress against al-Qaeda-in-Iraq and other extremists", and that while "Iraq's a mess", "we've finally got a general in Baghdad Dave Petraeus who's doing things right."[SUP][13][/SUP]
In January 2008, on the first anniversary of the troop surge, he wrote that "the political progress has been remarkable", adding: "Determined to elect a Democrat president, the 'mainstream' media simply won't accept our success. 'Impartial' journalists find a dark cloud in every silver lining in Iraq. And the would-be candidates themselves continue to insist that we should abandon Iraq immediately as if time had stood still for the past year while hoping desperately for a catastrophe in Baghdad before November. These are the pols who insisted that the surge didn't have a chance. And nobody calls 'em on it."[SUP][14][/SUP]
By 2009, Peters again became optimistic about Iraq. In July 2009, a day before the Iraqi Kurdistan legislative election he wrote, "for all of Iraq's remaining problems and they're vast it looks more and more as if 'Bush's Folly' may work out." He added, "We've all come a long way since the dark days of 2006." He also praised Jawad al-Bolani, head of the Interior Ministry, whom he called, "in the context of Iraq... a miracle worker." He praised the Kurdistan election, calling it "a horse-race toward accountability and transparency."[SUP][15][/SUP]

Redrawing borders and regime change[edit]

Before and after maps from "Blood borders: How a better Middle East would look", Armed Forces Journal, June 2006.

In a February 2008 column, Peters called for giving the majority-Serb enclave in northernKosovo to Serbia, calling it a "cancerous issue" that "just promises further conflict down the road like forcing an ex-husband and -wife to share an apartment after a savage divorce."[SUP][16][/SUP] Regarding Iraq, he wrote, "might it not have been wiser as several of us suggested in 2003 to shake off Europe's vicious legacies and give Kurds their state, Iraqi Shias their state, and the country's Sunni Arabs a rump Iraq to do with as they wished?" Regarding all these countries, he wrote, "We needn't launch an endless war to fix the mess Europeans in pinstriped trousers left us but we'd damned well better accept that, when we expend blood and treasure to prop up phony states, we're standing on the tracks in front of the speeding train of history."[SUP][16][/SUP]
In a column for Armchair General Magazine, he wrote in support of regime change in Syria, Iran and Pakistan: "Syria's determination to develop nuclear weapons apes Iran's and North Korea's nuke programs, as well as Pakistan's successful bid to join the club of nuclear powers ... Given a choice between taking out Osama Bin Laden and his entire leadership network and eliminating renegade nuclear engineers, the latter option might do far more for our long-term security."[SUP][17][/SUP]

Afghanistan[edit]

In February 2009 Peters called for U.S. troops to be pulled out of Afghanistan, writing, "we've mired ourselves by attempting to modernize a society that doesn't want to be and cannot be transformed." He continued, "We needed to smash our enemies and leave. Had it proved necessary, we could have returned later for another punitive mission. Instead, we fell into the great American fallacy of believing ourselves responsible for helping those who've harmed us."[SUP][18][/SUP]

Bowe Bergdahl[edit]

Peters expressed sympathy for POW Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's family, but speculated (Fox News, July 19, 2009) that Bergdahl might be "an apparent deserter ... if he walked away from his post and his buddies in wartime I don't care how hard it sounds as far as I'm concerned the Taliban can save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills." He characterized Bergdahl's description (in the Taliban produced video) of U.S. military behavior in Afghanistan as collaboration with the enemy, even if coerced.[SUP][19][/SUP] Peters hoped Bergdahl would be reunited with his family, but argued that the media had glorified one captured soldier who Peter's claimed had shamed his unit and lied, while ignoring genuine heroes and casualties (The O'Reilly Factor, July 21).[SUP][20][/SUP]

Donald Rumsfeld[edit]

Peters was quoted as saying, in regards to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: "I am allergic to Rumsfeld. We did a great thing in Iraq, but we did it very badly. He is an extremely talented man but he has the tragic flaw of hubris. His arrogance is unbearable. My friends in uniform just hate him."[SUP][21][/SUP]

WikiLeaks[edit]

In view of WikiLeaks' release of United States diplomatic cables in late 2010, Peters called for the assassination of Julian Assange on FOX News, accusing him of being a cyber-terrorist guilty of crimes against humanity. In this context he claimed that WikiLeaks puts aid workers, human rights workers, journalists and dissidents at risk of torture, assassination and rape.[SUP][22][/SUP]