IRAQ

GAO Report Faults Post-'Surge' Planning - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post

The administration lacks an updated and comprehensive Iraq strategy to move beyond the "surge" of combat troops President Bush launched in January 2007 as an 18-month effort to curtail violence and build Iraqi democracy, government investigators said yesterday. While agreeing with the administration that violence has decreased sharply, a report released yesterday by the Government Accountability Office concluded that many other goals Bush outlined a year and a half ago in the "New Way Forward" strategy remain unmet.

GAO Criticizes Measures of Progress - James Glanz, New York Times

Beyond the declines in overall violence in Iraq, several crucial measures the Bush administration uses to demonstrate economic, political and security progress are either incorrect or far more mixed than the administration has acknowledged, according to a report released Monday by the Government Accountability Office. Over all, the report says, the American plan for a stable Iraq lacks a strategic framework that meshes with the administration’s goals, is falling out of touch with the realities on the ground and contains serious flaws in its operational guidelines.

Pentagon, GAO See Good News and Bad - Julian Barnes, Los Angeles Times

Two new government reports, one by the Pentagon, pointed Monday to encouraging security improvements in Iraq, but were decidedly pessimistic about prospects for political and economic progress and warned that costly military gains would remain fragile. One report, by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, concluded that many political reconciliation efforts have stalled, that Iraq's security forces remain largely unable to operate without US assistance and that its central government has not fulfilled commitments to spend its own money on reconstruction.

Iraqi Council Member Opens Fire - Ernesto Londoño, Washington Post

Two US soldiers were killed and three were wounded Monday when a council member opened fire on them after a meeting in a small town south of Baghdad, the US military said. An Iraqi interpreter also was wounded in the shooting in Salman Pak Nahia, which is about 20 miles south of Baghdad, said Capt. Charles Calio, a US military spokesman.

Two US Soldiers Killed in Ambush - Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times

Two US soldiers were killed and three were injured in a shootout Monday outside a local council building southeast of Baghdad, the military said. News of the attack came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki promised to extend a military crackdown to Diyala province, north and east of the capital, after at least 25 people were killed and scores injured there Sunday in a suicide bombing and mortar fire.

There Is a Plan, and It Is Working - David French, National Review opinion

The news from here - even when accurately reported - so often obscures more than it reveals. By now we all know what a counterinsurgency is not: It is not a conflict that can be measured in ground taken, armies defeated, and generals surrendering. You can’t watch progress on a map, and the great moments are few and far between. Instead, Americans at home are left with discrete reports of individual events and with endless reports about numbers, some of them depressing, some of them encouraging, but all of them isolated from context or narrative. 51 civilians killed in Baghdad market bombing. Eleven militants killed in raid on safe house. American casualties rise. American casualties fall. While trends do exist, those trends represent perhaps the driest, least compelling way of describing what is increasingly undeniable reality: we have a plan, and it is working.

Facts in Iraq Changing - Michael Barone, Washington Times opinion

As we enter the second half of the campaign year, facts are undermining the Democratic narrative that has dominated our politics since about the time Hurricane Katrina rolled into the Gulf coast - most importantly, the facts about Iraq. During the Democratic primary season, all the party's candidates veered hardly a jot or tittle from the narrative that helped the Democrats sweep the November 2006 elections. Iraq is spiraling into civil war, we invaded unwisely and have botched things ever since, no good outcome is possible, and it is time to get out of there as fast as we can. In January 2007, when George W. Bush ordered the surge strategy, which John McCain had advocated since the summer of 2003, Barack Obama informed us that the surge couldn't work. The only thing to do was to get out as soon as possible.

Death to al-Qaeda - Carter Andress, National Review opinion

The war in Iraq is not yet finished for US combat forces but you can almost see the end, just over the horizon, from my office perched in the Red Zone of downtown Baghdad. This last May saw the lowest monthly American military deaths of the entire war: 19 to include 4 non-combat fatalities. Attacks on US Department of Defense contractor convoys have dropped by a phenomenal 20 times from one in five incidents at the beginning of 2007 to approximately one percent of cargo movements presently suffering attack. Oil production has exceeded pre-war volumes and the Iraqi government is on its way to financial self-sufficiency. Provincial elections are sure to happen this fall - which will further reintegrate the once-estranged Sunni minority back into local governance.

Another Surge Needed - Robin Harris, National Review opinion

In Iraq the “surge” is working, but at the same time the Iraqi Christian community is dying. Hardly anyone seems to know, and those who know don’t seem to care. In former times, the violent persecution of Christians in a country effectively under the rule of a Western, Christian power would have been unthinkable. But not, it seems, in the enlightened 21st century. The names may be complicated. The facts are not. The Chaldo-Assyrians constitute what remains of the original, non-Arab, population of the area. Iraq’s principal Christian communities today belong to the Chaldean (Catholic) Church, Syrian Orthodox Church, and the Assyrian Church of the East. All use Aramaic, the language spoken by Christ. Despite successive persecutions and constant pressures, Christianity has continued in Iraq since, according to tradition, it was brought there by St. Thomas the Apostle.

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS

Extremists Celebrate and Exaggerate Exploits - Imtiaz Ali, Washington Post

While al-Qaeda and its allies use the Internet to promote their causes around the globe, extremist elements on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border have unleashed a media campaign at home, producing professional-quality DVDs for distribution among sympathizers. Extremist propaganda has long been produced in the lawless haven for the Taliban and al-Qaeda known as the "tribal belt." Lately, however, there has been a regional boom in DVDs celebrating al-Qaeda operations, beheadings of purported U.S. spies and scenes of Taliban fighters attacking US forces.

Dozen Militants Killed in Afghanistan - Associated Press

Afghan officials say an airstrike has killed more than a dozen militants in the east of the country. Police and militants fought a gunbattle in Sayid Karam district of Paktia province at about midnight Monday. When the gunmen withdrew toward nearby mountains, a warplane attacked them.

IRAN

Two US Businessmen Charged - Eric Lichtblau, New York Times

Two American businessmen were charged Monday with selling military parts to Iran to help prop up its aging air fleet, the latest in a string of cases that American prosecutors say violate longstanding bans on exports to Tehran. Federal prosecutors in Florida said the two men - Hassan Saied Keshari, a naturalized citizen from Iran who runs an aviation parts company in Northern California, and Traian Bujduveanu, a naturalized citizen from Romania who ran an aviation company in the Fort Lauderdale area - shipped parts to the United Arab Emirates for resale to Iran. Some of the parts, prosecutors said, were for the repair of Iran’s aging F-14 jet fighters, while others were for military helicopters.

Obsessing About Iran - H.D.S. Greenway, Boston Globe opinion

The war drums are beating hard in this the last summer of the Bush presidency. Israel practices bombing runs far out in the Mediterranean, refueling more than 100 fighter bombers in midair, in what is advertised as practice against Iranian nuclear facilities. President Bush goes to Europe to garner support and issue threats in the cause of confrontation. Israeli politicians line up to replace the politically ailing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as he struggles to swim against a current of corruption charges, jockeying for who can make the most belligerent threats against Iran.

THE LONG WAR

Al-Qaeda's Growing Online Offensive - Craig Whitlock, Washington Post

The war against terrorism has evolved into a war of ideas and propaganda, a struggle for hearts and minds fought on television and the Internet. On those fronts, al-Qaeda's voice has grown much more powerful in recent years. Taking advantage of new technology and mistakes by its adversaries, al-Qaeda's core leadership has built an increasingly prolific propaganda operation, enabling it to communicate constantly, securely and in numerous languages with loyalists and potential recruits worldwide. Every three or four days, on average, a new video or audio from one of al-Qaeda's commanders is released online by as-Sahab, the terrorist network's in-house propaganda studio.

Court Invalidates Detainee's 'Enemy' Status - White and Wilber, Washington Post

A federal appeals court in Washington has invalidated the Bush administration's finding that a detainee held for more than six years in the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba is an "enemy combatant," and has ordered the government to release him, transfer him or offer him a new hearing. In a ruling decided Friday but released yesterday, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Huzaifa Parhat, an ethnic Chinese Uighur captured during the early stages of the US war in Afghanistan, was inappropriately designated an enemy combatant at a hearing before a Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

Bush Doctrine Relevant Again - Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal opinion

Here's a prediction: Zimbabwe's Morgan Tsvangirai will win this year's Nobel Peace Prize. He would be its worthiest recipient since the prize went to Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi (one of the prize's few worthy recipients, period) in 1991. He deserves it for standing up – politically as well as physically – to Robert Mugabe's goon-squad dictatorship for over a decade; for organizing a democratic opposition and winning an election hugely stacked against him; and for refusing to put his own ambition ahead of his people's well-being when the run-off poll became, as he put it last weekend, a "violent, illegitimate sham." Here's another prediction: Mr. Tsvangirai's Nobel will have about as much effect on the bloody course of Zimbabwe's politics as Aung San Suu Kyi's has had on Burma's. Effectively, zero.

INTELLIGENCE / COUNTERINTELLIGENCE

Catching Spies Updated - Ed Timperlake, Washington Times

In this new century, with the continuing pressure of pacifist demilitarization, a new military threat is upon us as a country. With the emergence of world-altering computer technology, the Internet brings a new dimension of war and counterintelligence. A People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) submarine does not have to surface off the American coast, and a team of PLAN frogman Marines do not have to come ashore for espionage and sabotage. Instead spies, saboteurs and agents of influence, half-a-world away from the People's Republic of China (PRC) can attack America. Pentagon leaders and others in the executive branch are already under attack. In our legislative branch, members of Congress have recently made public that attacks against them originated in the PRC.

US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Army General's Nomination Called Historic - Josh White, Washington Post

President Bush has nominated Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to take over the Army's Materiel Command as a four-star general, and if confirmed by the Senate she would be the first woman in US history to receive such a high military rank. In announcing the nomination yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates praised Dunwoody's "extraordinary leadership and devotion to duty" and called the choice "an historic occasion." There are 57 active-duty female general officers in the US armed forces, five of whom are three-star generals. About 5 percent of the Army's general officers are women.

Nominee Withdrawn over 'Conflict' - Shaun Watterman, United Press International

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin has blocked the Pentagon´s nominee to head the Defense Information Systems Agency, because her husband is a senior executive at the nation´s No. 3 defense contractor and the perceived conflicts of interest made the nomination "untenable." A senior congressional aide told United Press International that during a routine investigation into the background of the nominee, Rear Adm. Elizabeth Hight, committee staff noted that her husband, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Gary Salisbury, is vice president of business development and sales for Northrop Grumman's mission systems sector.

Wounds You Can’t See - Bob Herbert, New York Times opinion

The US has been at war for years now, but ordinary Americans have never been asked to step up and make the kind of sacrifices that wars have historically required. That’s actually an added danger for the young men and women who have volunteered to fight in those far-off lands. It’s too easy for the larger society to put them out of sight and out of mind.

US DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Ammunition Shipment Came From China - Walter Pincus, Washington Post

A House investigative committee has learned that the American ambassador to Albania knew evidence of Chinese origins was being removed last year from an ammunition shipment before a US contractor sent the material to Afghanistan, said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the panel. This month, Maj. Larry Harrison, a Pentagon official at the US Embassy in Albania, told staff members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that Ambassador John L. Withers II held a late-night meeting with Albania's defense minister. After the Nov. 19 meeting, the order was given to Albanian officers "to remove all evidence of Chinese packaging" from the ammunition, Waxman said in a letter sent yesterday to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Envoy Is Linked to Arms Deal Cover-Up - Eric Schmitt, New York Times

An American ambassador helped cover up the illegal Chinese origins of ammunition that a Pentagon contractor bought to supply Afghan security forces, according to testimony gathered by Congressional investigators. A military attaché has told the investigators that the United States ambassador to Albania endorsed a plan by the Albanian defense minister to hide several boxes of Chinese ammunition from a visiting reporter. The ammunition was being repackaged to disguise its origins and shipped from Albania to Afghanistan by a Miami Beach arms-dealing company.

Embassy Row - James Morrison, Washington Times

The State Department Monday defended the US ambassador to Albania against congressional charges that he was involved in an attempt to cover up suspected illegal weapons sales to Afghanistan. "We have no information that would support the idea that US officials were involved in some kind of illicit activity," spokesman Tom Casey told reporters. "But obviously any allegations made [and] certainly questions raised by the chairman of a major committee in Congress is something that we will be happy to look at."

AFRICA

UNSC to Zimbabwe: Halt Violence - MacFarquhar and Dugger, New York TImes

With Zimbabwe’s opposition under siege and its leader taking refuge at the Dutch Embassy, the Security Council on Monday issued its first sweeping condemnation of the violence gripping the nation, saying it would be “impossible for a free and fair election to take place.” Zimbabwe has been reeling from a widening campaign of violence and intimidation ever since Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president for nearly 30 years, came in second in the initial round of voting on March 29. On Sunday, only five days before a runoff, Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition standard-bearer, pulled out of the race, citing the extensive violence against his supporters.

Blanket of Fear Covers Zimbabwe - Los Angeles Times

Things have changed a lot in the land of the billion-dollar plastic shopping bag in the last couple of months. Before the March 29 presidential election, the biggest bank note was $50 million. Now, in the wake of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's decision to pull out of the runoff vote scheduled for Friday, there is a $50 billion bank note and one US dollar buys more than 7 billion Zimbabwean dollars.

World Leaders Rebuke Zimbabwe - Washington Post

Heavily armed police officers raided the headquarters of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party on Monday, dragging away about 60 people -- including children -- on a day when world leaders condemned violence by the Zimbabwean government in increasingly strong terms. As Tsvangirai took refuge in the Dutch Embassy here, the UN Security Council unanimously agreed in New York that the violence and restrictions on Tsvangirai's party "have made it impossible for a free and fair election to take place" on Friday.

Tsvangirai Hails UNSCl Statement - Jenny Booth, Times of London

A United Nations Security Council statement regretting the election violence in Zimbabwe was today hailed by the country's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as a "very important" step. In a statement agreed late last night, the 15-nation Security Council said that a free and fair election was impossible because of President Robert Mugabe's regime's campaign of violence against opposition supporters and the restrictions placed on campaigning.

Opposition Leader Seeks Refuge - Los Angeles Times

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai sought refuge in the Dutch Embassy here just hours after he pulled out of the presidential runoff election scheduled for Friday, citing rising violence by supporters of longtime President Robert Mugabe. Despite the opposition's withdrawal, the Zimbabwe ruling party's crackdown continued unabated Monday, with 60 opposition activists arrested by riot police in a lunchtime raid at the opposition headquarters. Curfews and door-to-door searches also continued in suburbs of Harare, the capital.

Police Raid Zimbabwe Opposition Headquarters - Associated Press

Zimbabwe's opposition leader took refuge in the Dutch Embassy after pulling out of the presidential runoff, and the UN Security Council condemned a "campaign of violence" in the African nation that has made a fair election impossible. After Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the vote - reportedly fearing for his safety - police raided his Harare headquarters and hustled away dozens of his supporters.

Last of the 'Big Men' - Wall Street Journal editorial

The flickering hope that elections would force Robert Mugabe from power died this weekend in a campaign of state-organized terror that forced opposition presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai out of this Friday's runoff. So an African dinosaur - the tyrant willing to destroy his country in the service of his vanity - will live on in Zimbabwe. How much longer only God or, perhaps, Zimbabwe's neighbors know. Mr. Mugabe may be a dying breed, but he is all too able to kill and harass the democratic opposition. Outside intervention, preferably by the Africans themselves, now appears the one remaining way to end this nightmare.

Zimbabwe’s Stolen Election - New York Times editorial

Zimbabwe’s presidential runoff election is still scheduled for Friday. But President Robert Mugabe has already stolen the vote. For months, Mr. Mugabe’s henchmen have brutalized opposition politicians and voters who dared to imagine an end to the dictatorship. On Sunday, Morgan Tsvangirai - the opposition leader and winner of the first round - withdrew from the runoff. That night, he also took refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Zimbabwe’s capital while police raided his party headquarters. This cannot continue.

Mr. Mugabe Wins - Washington Post editorial

Robert Mugabe's campaign of terror against the people of Zimbabwe is succeeding. On Sunday, Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader who defeated him in the March 29 presidential election, withdrew from a runoff election that had been scheduled for Friday, citing the murder of 86 of his supporters and the torture, beating or displacement of tens of thousands of others. Yesterday, Mr. Tsvangirai sought refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Harare; he has been repeatedly detained by police while attempting to campaign, and his deputy has been imprisoned on treason charges. As a host of world leaders affirmed, Mr. Tsvangirai's decision was justified. But it also opened the way for Mr. Mugabe to hold a rigged vote and then award himself another mandate as president.

Zimbabwe: Making it Personal - Times of London editorial

Zimbabwe for too long has been a country about which it has become difficult to speak, and impossible to stay silent. There will now, quite rightly, be calls for more effective action against Robert Mugabe's wilful tyranny. But before the international community considers intervention that puts its blood and treasure at risk, it should take measures that put precisely what Mr Mugabe's men treasure most - their families and their fortunes - in jeopardy. With Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, taking refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Harare yesterday after having withdrawn his party from Friday's presidential run-off vote, the moment has arrived when even the most optimistic observers have acknowledged that all last hope for a legitimate transition to a new government has evaporated like water on a hot griddle. The time has come for the political to become personal.

Getting Mugabe Out - Los Angeles Times editorial

'Only God will remove me." With this public vow, Zimbabwe's strongman president, Robert Mugabe, officially ended the campaign for the presidential runoff election that is to be held on Friday. The campaign had already turned brutal, with Mugabe's thugs making nightly visits to opposition supporters, beating them, arresting them and forcing tens of thousands of people out of their homes. At least 85 opposition figures have reportedly been killed. Still, other African leaders -- notably Mugabe's chief enabler, South African President Thabo Mbeki -- looked the other way. But when Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 28 years, announces that only God and not mere voters will remove him from office, why bother with an election?

Little Hope and Change There - National Review editorial

Robert Mugabe is stealing the election in Zimbabwe. His Zanu thugs have successfully intimidated the electorate. In dreadful scenes of man-hunting, they have butchered at least 80 people, wounded and maimed hundreds, and displaced tens of thousands, many of them missing, presumed dead. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, the opposition party, faced a truly difficult choice. In the first round of elections, he was evidently the winner. Refusing to concede, Mugabe preferred to unleash violence and bully his way into a run-off vote. To see the electoral process through, Tsvangirai concluded, would cost many innocent supporters their lives - and with no guarantee of a reasonably honest vote. His colleagues and helpers were targeted and imprisoned, their wives raped and murdered; the police were ordered not to respond. In this predicament, Tsvangirai decided to withdraw from the electoral process. Many are disappointed, and some are critical, to find that Mugabe has driven away the MDC and has the field to himself. Zimbabweans are pacific on the whole, but even so, civil war is a possibility.

Zimbabwe's Pain, and Africa's - Boston Globe editorial

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition to Zimbabwe's despotic President Robert Mugabe, had little choice but to withdraw from a presidential run-off scheduled for Friday. To contest an election Mugabe has said Tsvangirai would not be allowed to win would expose his followers to suffering, and even death, for no purpose. Ever since Tsvangirai won the first round of voting March 29 - with a tally Mugabe's electoral commission claimed to be just short of the 50 percent needed to avoid a run-off - Mugabe's thugs have killed more than 80 members of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change and chased thousands of supporters from their homes. Lately, the violence turned yet more vicious; Mugabe's gangs began mutilating and burning alive the wives and children of Tsvangirai supporters.

Intervention the Only Solution - David Aaronovitch, Times of London opinion

Maybe this time,” sang Lord Malloch-Brown on the Today programme yesterday. “Something's bound to begin. It's got to happen, happen sometime. Maybe this time I'll win.” Well, all right, I am - like postmodernist scholars - decoding the metatext. What the Minister of State for Africa, Asia and the UN actually said was that the mood around the world had so turned against Robert Mugabe and his various cronies that their combined diplomatic effort would bring him down. Till now, Lord Malloch-Brown allowed, there had only been a “fairly limited set of measures” taken against the Zimbabwean President. This was changing. The Australians were kicking out the kids of Zanu (PF) officials being educated in Oz. The EU would be freezing bank accounts. The African Union and the Southern African Development Community would not be recognising Mr Mugabe's imminent second-round election theft thus delegitimising him, and the UN would “force in” election observers to monitor that second-round (from which Morgan Tsvangirai had already withdrawn) or - in a manner unspecified - “force some change of government”. These were “powerful steps - as long as you accept that there are pressures short of military action”.

Will Anyone Stop Mugabe? - New York Post editorial

There were signs late yesterday that the wall of African solidarity that has long protected Zimbabwean strongman Robert Mugabe might finally be starting to crumble. It's about time. South African President Thabo Mbeki reportedly was headed to Zimbabwe with a strong warning that Mugabe make a deal with the opposition party. International condemnation, meanwhile, grew after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai took refuge at the Dutch embassy just hours after pulling out of Friday's scheduled presidential election runoff.

AMERICAS

US Withholding Aid to Haiti - Marc Lacey, New York Times

An array of human rights groups has strongly criticized the United States government, saying it withheld money meant to provide clean drinking water to Haiti as leverage for political change in the country. The activists, in a report released Monday, called the delay of $54 million in international loans to the Haitian government “one of the most egregious examples of malfeasance by the United States in recent years.”

ASIA PACIFIC

Burma's New Capital Isolates Junta - New York Times

Naypyidaw is Burma’s new capital, built in secret by the ruling generals and announced to the public two and a half years ago, when it was a fait accompli. A nine-hour drive north from the former capital, Yangon, it looks like nothing else in this impoverished country, where one out of three children is malnourished and many roads are nothing more than dirt tracks.

EUROPE

Unexpected Peace - Hugh Pope, Wall Street Journal opinion

Nobody has ever lost money betting on the failure of the Cyprus peace process. But this year, the best chance in decades to end this conflict has quietly crept up on local and international policy makers, and the European Union now has one last opportunity to undo past mistakes. The first to switch direction were the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey, both eager to get closer to the EU. In 2004, the 250,000 Turkish Cypriots voted out their hard-line leader, Rauf Denktash, and agreed to the so-called Annan Plan, a United Nations-mediated, EU-approved plan for a new Cyprus federation and a Turkish troop pullout. The troops have been in place since 1974, when the Turkish military invaded the island's northern part to head off a planned Greek Cypriot coup designed to unite the island with Greece.

Genghis Putin - Michael Auslin, Wall Street Journal opinion

While Washington continues to fixate on Iraq, a resurgent Russia is steadily expanding its influence in Eurasia. If the next American president ignores Moscow's inroads, democratic development in Asia will come under threat and the United States may soon be faced with a strategic challenge in one of the world's most resource-rich regions. Russia's main target of late is Mongolia, one of Asia's most vibrant democracies. Since first holding elections in 1990, Mongolia has developed a stable electoral system with more than 15 political parties and seen two peaceful handovers of power. Mongolians will vote on June 29 to elect a new parliament. Polls suggest the ruling ex-Communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, which regained power in 2000, could lose power to the opposition Democratic Party.

MIDDLE EAST

Move to Quell Fighting in N. Lebanon - Raed Rafei, Los Angeles Times

Army troops moved into the streets of Tripoli on Monday, restoring a precarious calm in northern Lebanon after 10 people died in heavy clashes in recent days, military officials said. "The situation is back to normal since this afternoon, when the army entered all the neighborhoods where the fighting happened," said a high-ranking military officer, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. "Our intervention came after a political agreement between all parties." The fighting between supporters of the Western-backed, Sunni-led government and a minority group allied with Hezbollah, which has links to Iran and Syria, further strained a political agreement reached in May that ended Lebanon's worst civil violence in years.

Olmert's Government in Jeopardy - Joshua Mitnick, Washington Times

On the eve of a summit in Egypt with President Hosni Mubarak on strengthening the cease-fire with Hamas, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may be hours from losing his job. A caucus of lawmakers from the Labor Party voted 14-1 to back legislation coming up for approval on Wednesday to dissolve parliament, following suit with Labor leader Ehud Barak's vow to bring down the government unless Mr. Olmert steps down or is replaced by his Kadima party. Kadima and Labor are the dominant parties in Mr. Olmert's coalition government.

UN Nuclear Team Inspects Syrian Site - Reuters

UN nuclear inspectors Monday examined a site in Syria that the United States says housed a secretly built nuclear reactor nearing completion when it was bombed by Israel nine months ago, a diplomat said. Syria denies that it has a covert nuclear weapons program and says the Israelis hit an ordinary military structure being built at Al Kibar, in the northeastern desert. Neither Syria nor the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency has issued any information about the visit of the inspectors since their arrival Sunday in Damascus, the Syrian capital.

Middle East Nuclear Renaissance? - Claude Salhani, Washington Times opinion

A comprehensive and well-detailed report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, released last week, sheds a pile of information on the state of nuclear proliferation in one of the world's most volatile regions - the Middle East. Indeed, as John Chipman, director general and chief executive of IISS, points out in a publication entitled "Nuclear Programs in the Middle East: In the Shadow of Iran," the worrying factor lies in the sudden awakening of several Middle Eastern countries that, now sensing a threat from Iran, feel the urge to jump onto the nuclear bandwagon.

SOUTH ASIA

Leadership Void Seen in Pakistan - Carlotta Gall, New York Times

Pakistan is in a leaderless drift four months after elections, according to Western diplomats and military officials, Pakistani politicians and Afghan officials who are increasingly worried that no one is really in charge. The sense of drift is the subject of almost every columnist in the English-language press in Pakistan, and anxiety over the lack of leadership and the weakness of the civilian government now infuses conversations with analysts, diplomats and Pakistani government officials.

Pakistan Court Bars Sharif From Election - Jane Perlez, New York Times

A high court on Monday barred the leader of the junior partner in the government, Nawaz Sharif, from running for Parliament in a by-election later this week, a decision that is bound to intensify the hostilities within the fractious ruling coalition. Mr. Sharif, who was twice prime minister and is now the most popular politician in the nation, according to some opinion polls, has differed with the leader of the coalition, Asif Ali Zardari, over the reinstatement of judges fired last November during emergency rule.

Sharif Barred from Pakistan Election - Laura King, Los Angeles Times

One of Pakistan's most popular politicians was barred by a court Monday from running for a seat in parliament, a ruling likely to heighten tensions within the governing coalition and intensify debate over the status of the country's judiciary. The provincial high court in Lahore, in eastern Pakistan, declared Nawaz Sharif ineligible to run in a by-election scheduled for Thursday because of a disputed criminal conviction. Sharif is the head of the junior party in the ruling coalition, which soundly defeated the party of President Pervez Musharraf in February elections.

Pakistan Party Sees Musharraf Behind Sharif Poll Bar - Reuters

The party of former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday blamed President Pervez Musharraf for Sharif's disqualification from a by-election for a National Assembly seat. Sharif, the prime minister that army chief at the time Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, had been expected to return to parliament in a by-election this week, but on Monday a high court in the eastern city of Lahore barred him from running.

EVENTS OF INTEREST

24-25 June - 16th Annual Expeditionary Warfare Wargame (Public Event - Wargame). Quantico, Virginia. Sponsored by the Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC) and National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). The purpose of the war game series is to provide education and familiarization to members of the Association concerning current issues, capabilities, and expeditionary force trends in the United States Marine Corpsand to identify areas where NDIA can provide assistance. The Purpose of the 2008 NDIA Expeditionary Warfare Division/USMC War Game is to examine C2 Integration issues concerning Sensor Fusion, Information Management, and Fusion and the Commander's Visualization Requirements and Realities using seabased Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief operations at the MEB level for a background.

11-15 August - Counterinsurgency Leaders Workshop (Official Event - Workshop). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency (COIN) Center is hosting a five-day program for prospective counterinsurgency leaders, 11-15 August 2008, at the Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The program is focused on equipping leaders with an understanding of the insurgency and counterinsurgency environments, as well as close consideration of the kinds of persons and organizations that usually emerge from insurgencies in contrast to those of conventional conflicts. This event will be held at the Battle Command Training Center (BCTC) Training Facility on Fort Leavenworth. Seating is limited. However, registration is open to any person who serves in any official capacity with regard to dealing with insurgencies, with priority is given to those applying from invited organizations. Other applicants will be reviewed for eligibility on a space-available, case-by-case basis. The duty is uniform/business casual. Application must completed on-line at the link above. The deadline for application is 1 August 2008. For more information, contact the COIN Center at 913-684-5196.

11-12 September - DNI Open Source Conferece 2008 (Public Event - Conference). Washington, DC. Sponsored by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Office of the DNI is pleased to announce the "DNI Open Source Conference 2008" to be held on Thursday, 11 September and Friday, 12 September, 2008 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington DC. The conference is free; however, all who wish to attend must register online in advance (deadline 31 July). The two-day conference will explore a wide range of open source issues and open source best practices for the Intelligence Community and its partners. We invite participants from the broader open source community of interest including academia, think tanks, private industry, federal, state, local and tribal entities, international partners, and the media to attend. The conference will include speakers from across the broader open source community participating in panel discussions and focus group sessions. Information about the agenda and break-out sessions is now available. The DNI Open Source Conference 2007 was held 16-17 July 2007 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. More than 900 registered participants and speakers attended. Presentations made at the conference break-out sessions are available on the DNI Open Source Conference 2007 website.

16-18 September 2008 - The U.S. Army and the Interagency Process: A Historical Perspective (Public Event - Conference / Call for Papers). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Sponsored by the U.S. Army Combat Studies Institute. The symposium will include a variety of guest speakers, panel sessions, and general discussions. This symposium will explore the partnership between the U.S. Army and government agencies in attaining national goals and objectives in peace and war within a historical context. Separate international topics may be presented. The symposium will also examine current issues, dilemmas, problems, trends, and practices associated with U.S. Army operations requiring close interagency cooperation.