Can There Be Peace in the Middle East?

Russell (Russ) Thaden is a retired US Army Colonel who spent almost all of his 34 years on active duty working as an intelligence officer.  That meant he was intimately involved in gathering and assessing intelligence on the capabilities and plans of actual or potential enemies. 

Upon graduation he was commissioned back into Military Intelligence and spent 15 years focused on the Soviet Union and preparing for any potential war in Europe aside from a short deployment to support US operations in Saudi Arabia during the Iran-Iraq War in 1982.  He spent the next 15 years largely consumed with actual wars in the Balkans and Middle East. 

From the Balkans he went back to the Middle East for the remainder of his deployments.  In 2002-03 he volunteered to serve as the Deputy Chief of Intelligence for the US Army V Corps for the actual invasion of Iraq and move to Baghdad.  From there he deployed almost immediately as part of the NATO move into Afghanistan where he served as both the Chief of Intelligence and as the Senior US Officer for the NATO forces in Kabul.  He provided intelligence which help prevent what would have been a massive truck bomb attack on the NATO Headquarters compound. 

Russ is believed to be the only US officer to ever serve as chief of intelligence operations in three different armed conflicts.  He has spoken to his local Rotary club in Atchison on international and military affairs at least annually since 2004 and has been an active member of the club since 2014.