BBC – US officials have ruled out a deal to exchange 15 Royal Navy personnel captured in the Gulf for five Iranians seized by American forces in Iraq.

Meanwhile, let David Ignatius put this crisis in context for you???

Washington Post – 15 Britons In a Sea Of Intrigue.
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Daily Telegraph – Patrick Bishop, who sailed 8,000 miles with the Task Force to recapture the Falklands, and is the author of Winter War which I think is one of the best histories of the Falklands War, describes the highs and lows of the campaign against the Argentines, and explains how victory transformed the national mood and ushered in the brash new Thatcher era.
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StrategyPage – In an unusual move, the commander of U.S. special operations troops in the region, ordered a unit of 120 U.S. Marines out of Afghanistan on March 23rd. This was because of the way the marines handled a March 4th incident where they were ambushed by a suicide car bomber and gunfire.
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New York Times – More on the US wargames in the Gulf.
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Bloomberg – The U.S. Navy, after nearly six years of warnings from Pentagon testers, still lacks a plan for defending aircraft carriers against a supersonic Russian-built missile, according to current and former officials and Defense Department documents.
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BBC – Iranian state television has broadcast an interview with captured British sailor Faye Turney and footage of the 14 servicemen seized with her.
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BBC – The US Navy has begun its most extensive manoeuvres in the Gulf region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but denies sabre-rattling aimed at Iran.
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BBC – The UK government is attempting to “discreetly” talk to the Iranians to secure the release of 15 Royal Navy personnel.
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BBC – The 15 Royal Navy personnel who were seized on Friday are being held at an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps base in Tehran.
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New York Times Magazine – Many female soldiers have lived through the terrible violence of the war in Iraq. Others have experienced sexual assault – or worse, a combination of the two. They have found themselves struggling to cope with their lives.
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New Yorker – Can the United States be made safe from nuclear terrorism?
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NOSI is taking a spring break and will next update on Tuesday March 27. See you then!
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The Times – As Nato begins its biggest offensive in the country since 2001, two Times journalists report from a risky mission into the insurgentsí heartland in lawless Helmand province. The Royal Marines of J Company, 42 Commando, sometimes sat down with local Pashtuns and sometimes skirmished. Then they fought them in pitched battle.
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Vanity Fair – As a former C.I.A. agent, the author Robert Baer knows how mercenaries work: in the shadows. But how did a notorious former British officer, Tim Spicer, come to coordinate the second-largest army in Iraq – the tens of thousands of private security contractors?
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Defense and the National Interest – An interesting essay from William Lind on what military intelligence *should* be – “a correction from below.”
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Wired – Heat-resistant. Cold-proof. Tireless. Tomorrowís soldiers are just like todayís – only better. Inside the Pentagonís human enhancement project.
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Wired – The Pentagon says its millimeter-wave pain ray won’t be ready until 2010, despite years and years of tests. Marines in Iraq can’t wait that long. They want the weapon — which uses invisible waves to heat up the top layer of the skin and cause a whole lot of hurt — ASAP
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Washington Post – Thomas Ricks says eager to appear resolute and reluctant to provide fodder for skeptics, U.S. officials rebuff questions about failure with a mix of optimism and evasion.
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Washington Post – Meet the new boss, not like the old boss — according to Thomas Ricks.
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Washington Post – At least eight Afghan civilians were killed Sunday in eastern Afghanistan when U.S. Marines traveling in a convoy were hit by a car bomb and responded by firing in a way that some witnesses called reckless.
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