IRAQ

The General's Knowledge - Charles Sennott, Sunday Times

General David H Petraeus, the commander of US forces in Iraq, looked exhausted. A competitive miler who loves to challenge young field commanders to five-mile running races and push-up contests (which he usually wins), he appears fit as ever. But there are dark circles under his eyes. Leading this war has begun to exact a visible toll.

Occupation Plan Faulted in Army History - Michael Gordon, New York Times

The story of the American occupation of Iraq has been the subject of numerous books, studies and memoirs. But now the Army has waded into the highly charged debate with its own nearly 700-page account: “On Point II: Transition to the New Campaign.” The unclassified study, the second volume in a continuing history of the Iraq conflict, is as noteworthy for who prepared it as for what it says. In essence, the study is an attempt by the Army to tell the story of one of the most contentious periods in its history to military experts - and to itself. It adds to a growing body of literature about the problems the United States encountered in Iraq, not all of which has been embraced by Army leaders.

Army's History of After Hussein Faults Pentagon - Josh White, Washington Post

A new Army history of the service's performance in Iraq immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein faults military and civilian leaders for their planning for the war's aftermath, and it suggests that the Pentagon's current way of using troops is breaking the Army National Guard and Army Reserve. The study, "On Point II: Transition to the New Campaign," is an unclassified and unhindered look at US Army operations in Iraq from May 2003 to January 2005. That critical era of the war has drawn widespread criticism because of a failure to anticipate the rise of an Iraqi insurgency and because policymakers provided too few US troops and no strategy to maintain order after Iraq's decades-old regime was overthrown.

On Point II: Transition to the New Campaign - US Army

On Point II is the US Army's first historical study of its campaign in Iraq in the decisive eighteen months following the overthrow of the Baathist regime in April 2003. The book examines both the high-level decisions that shaped military operations after May 2003 as well as the effects of those decisions on units and Soldiers who became responsible for conducting those operations.

Group Claims Responsibility for Iraq Attack - Alissa Rubin, New York Times

The insurgent group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia claimed responsibility on Saturday for a suicide bombing in Anbar Province that killed 20 Iraqis and three American marines on Thursday. In a communiqué posted on jihadi Web sites and translated by the SITE Institute monitoring group, the insurgents declared “open war” on members of Sunni Awakening groups in Anbar that have been recruited by the United States to fight Islamic extremists. The statement condemned Awakening members for fighting insurgents and for standing by the “filthy crusaders,” meaning the United States and the Shiite-led Iraqi government.

Reported US Raid Triggers Outrage - Londoño and Sarhan, Washington Post

Iraqi officials in the home town of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki are calling for an investigation into a reported raid by the US military early Friday that resulted in the death of a man identified by some Iraqi officials as a relative of the prime minister. The raid was carried out shortly after midnight in the town of Hindiyah, 50 miles southwest of Baghdad in Karbala province. According to Iraqi officials in Karbala, a team of about 60 US soldiers traveling in four helicopters descended on a sparsely populated area a few miles from the town, where the prime minister owns a villa.

Rise and Fall of a Sons of Iraq Warrior - Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times

Abu Abed's rise and fall encapsulates the complexities of the US-funded Sons of Iraq program. Although the Shiite-led Iraqi government has regarded the Sons of Iraq as little more than a front for insurgent groups, the Sunni fighters' war helped end the cycle of car bombings and reprisal killings by Shiite militias that had sent Baghdad headlong into civil war. America's new friends also helped bring down the death rate of US forces in Iraq. The Defense Department's report to Congress last week emphasized the vital nature of the program, saying, "The emergence of the Sons of Iraq to help secure local communities has been one of the most significant developments in the past 18 months in Iraq."

For Oil Contracts, a Question of Motive - Peter Goodman, New York Times

The question hanging over Iraq is whether its natural endowment will be used to help create a sustainable new state, or will instead be managed in ways that reward the cronies and allies of the country whose army toppled Mr. Hussein. Or perhaps both at the same time. That basic question was yanked back to the fore recently when word emerged from Baghdad, in a report in The New York Times, that the Iraqi oil ministry was close to awarding contracts to service its oil fields to some of the largest Western oil companies. While relatively small, these contracts could serve as a foot in the door for much more lucrative licenses to explore widely for Iraqi oil. Some 40 companies from around the world had jockeyed for the contracts, but they were being awarded without competitive bids, the report said.

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS

Pakistani Forces Move In On Taliban - Candace Rondeaux, Washington Post

Hundreds of Pakistani soldiers and police moved into the key northwestern city of Peshawar on Saturday to head off a possible attack by the Taliban and other Islamist insurgents, marking the first major military operation in Pakistan's fractured border region since a new government was elected in February. The buildup of security forces in Peshawar, a provincial capital of 3 million about 30 miles from Afghanistan, and a nearby tribal area may signal a strategic shift in the country's struggle to quell extremist activity. Meanwhile, a top Taliban leader in Pakistan said he was suspending talks between his allies and the government.

Pakistan Shells Islamic Militants Near Peshawar - Jane Perlez, New York Times

With Islamic militants tightening their grip around Peshawar, kidnapping residents and threatening the city itself, the new coalition government of Pakistan delivered its first military response to the Islamists on Saturday. The action was limited, with security forces shelling territory outside Peshawar held by an extremist leader. Army forces were not used, and the intent apparently was merely to push the militants back from the city’s perimeter. But the shelling was the first time the new civilian government, which has been committed to negotiating peace accords with Pakistani Taliban and other Islamic militants, resorted to military action.

Pakistan Launches Strike at Taliban Hideouts - Kathy Gannon, Associated Press

Pakistan's newly elected government launched the first major assault against militants in the country's volatile northwest on Saturday, destroying a militant leader's headquarters and shelling suspected hideouts of other fighters. The offensive in the Khyber tribal region appeared to mark a refinement in strategy by the new government, backing its calls for peace deals in the tribal areas along the Afghan border with the threat of forceful action against militants who get out of line.

Bagram, Next Guantanamo? - Del Quentin Wilber, Washington Post

Jawed Ahmad, a driver and assistant for reporters of a Canadian television network in Afghanistan, knew the roads to avoid, how to get interviews and which stories to pitch. Reporters trusted him, his bosses say. Then, one day about seven months ago, the 22-year-old CTV News contractor vanished. Weeks later, reporters would learn from Ahmad's family that he had been arrested by US troops, locked up in the US military prison at Bagram air base and accused of being an enemy combatant. Lawyers representing Ahmad filed a federal lawsuit early this month challenging his detention on grounds similar to those cited in successful lawsuits on behalf of captives at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

IRAN

Iran Ready to Strike at Israel - Uzi Mahnaimi, Sunday Times

Iran has moved ballistic missiles into launch positions, with Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant among the possible targets, defence sources said last week. The movement of Shahab-3B missiles, which have an estimated range of more than 1,250 miles, followed a large-scale exercise earlier this month in which the Israeli air force flew en masse over the Mediterranean in an apparent rehearsal for a threatened attack on Iran’s nuclear installations. Israel believes Iran’s nuclear programme is aimed at acquiring nuclear weapons.

Israel Has a Year to Stop Bomb - Wheeler and Shipman, Daily Telegraph

A former head of Mossad has warned that Israel has 12 months in which to destroy Iran's nuclear programme or risk coming under nuclear attack itself. He also hinted that Israel might have to act sooner if Barack Obama wins the US presidential election. Shabtai Shavit, an influential adviser to the Israeli parliament's defence and foreign affairs committee, told The Sunday Telegraph that time was running out to prevent Iran's leaders getting the bomb. Mr Shavit, who retired from the Israeli intelligence agency in 1996, warned that he had no doubt Iran intended to use a nuclear weapon once it had the capability, and that Israel must conduct itself accordingly.

Tribal Leaders Backing Iranian Dissidents - Elizabeth Bryant, Washington Times

Some Iraqi tribal leaders have reached out to an Iranian dissident group blacklisted by the United States and the European Union as a bulwark against Tehran's interference in their country's affairs. The Iraqi leaders were among supporters from Europe and the Middle East who joined a thousands-strong rally organized by the group, the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, outside Paris on Saturday.

THE LONG WAR

Britain to Free LAX Bomb Suspect - Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times

British authorities will soon free an accused Algerian leader of Al Qaeda who had been charged as the mastermind of a foiled plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport in 1999, British officials say. The recent court order to release the 45-year-old Algerian on bail after seven years in custody comes after authorities freed Abu Qatada, a Jordanian cleric who allegedly was Al Qaeda's top ideologue in Europe.

US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

The Air Force’s Tanker Mess - New York Times editorial

Defense Secretary Robert Gates must take over the troubled contracting process for the Air Force’s new midair refueling tankers. The current tankers are decades old and the Air Force needs the new planes. But its repeated bungling of the procurement process shows that it is incapable of doing the task on its own. Healthy competition among defense contractors - on both sides of the Atlantic - is the best way to ensure that the Pentagon buys the best possible gear for the lowest possible price. But according to a scathing report by the Government Accountability Office, there was nothing healthy about how the Air Force awarded the $35 billion tanker contract to the team of Northrop Grumman and the European company EADS over rival Boeing. The government watchdog agency did not say which was the best plane. But it accused the Air Force of breaking its own contracting rules.

UK MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

Land Rover Snatch to be Scrapped - Sean Rayment, Daily Telegraph

Commanders have been told to establish whether the vehicle, which was designed for operations in Northern Ireland almost 20 years ago, is critical to the Afghan mission. The move means the Snatch is expected to be removed from service in the near future and to be replaced by another vehicle better equipped to cope with the threat of landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). More than 30 soldiers have been killed while patrolling in Snatches in both Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. While the vehicle offers passengers protection from gunfire and small mines, it is highly vulnerable to powerful IEDs.

US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Obama May Recruit Gates - Sarah Baxter, Sunday Times

In defiance of traditional party labels, Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, may ask the defence secretary of President George W Bush to stay on if he wins the White House. Obama’s top foreign policy and national security advisers are pressing the case for keeping Robert Gates at the Pentagon after he won widespread praise for his performance. The move would be in keeping with Obama’s desire to appoint a cabinet of all the talents.

UNITED NATIONS

US Backs UN Official in Darfur - Colum Lynch, Washington Post

The State Department has urged the United Nations to retain a Rwandan general as the second-highest-ranking UN peacekeeper in the Darfur region of Sudan, even though he has been indicted for allegedly committing war crimes in Rwanda during the mid-1990s, according to US and UN officials. Rwandan Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Karake Karenzi, the UN deputy force commander in Darfur, was charged by a Spanish magistrate in February with responsibility in the killings of thousands of ethnic Hutus during the mid-1990s. The Rwandan government says the charges are baseless and has asked the United Nations to renew his contract for another year when it expires in October.

AFRICA

Mugabe’s Thugs: ‘Let’s Kill the Baby’ - Christina Lamb, Sunday Times

A baby boy had both legs broken by supporters of President Robert Mugabe to punish his father for being an opposition councillor in Zimbabwe. As Mugabe, 84, the only candidate in the election, prepared to be sworn in as president today, it emerged that his forces of terror plan to pulverise opponents to prevent them from ever threatening his leading Zanu-PF again.

Zimbabwe Faces Arms Embargo - Stolberg and Dugger, New York Times

President Bush called Saturday for an international arms embargo against Zimbabwe in the wake of last week’s “sham election,” and announced that the United States is drafting new economic sanctions that, for the first time, would take aim at the entire government of President Robert Mugabe. The announcement came a day after Zimbabweans voted in a presidential runoff that has been widely denounced by Western leaders because of state-sponsored violence and widespread efforts to intimidate voters with threats of beatings if they failed to cast their ballots for Mr. Mugabe, the sole candidate.

Crisis Eclipses Mugabe's Comeback - Washington Post

President Robert Mugabe has emerged from the most tumultuous election in Zimbabwe's history with his grip on power restored but his nation's daunting problems - including hyperinflation, international isolation and an exodus of skilled workers - dramatically worsened. Between March 29, when he lost a first-round vote to a surging opposition, and Friday, when Mugabe presumably romped to victory unopposed in a runoff election, sparsely stocked store shelves here emptied, long bread lines grew longer, and inflation soared from several hundred thousand percent to millions. The crisis has become so severe that Mugabe's peers on the continent have broken with their long tradition of not criticizing fellow African leaders.

After Brutality, Mugabe Offers an Olive Branch - Celia Dugger, New York Times

President Robert Mugabe once boasted he had a degree in violence, and he has surely added a doctorate in the savage presidential runoff season that is likely to stagger to a close this weekend with his proclaiming himself the Zimbabwean people’s choice despite an election denounced across the globe as a sham. In the three months since the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat him in the general election, Mr. Mugabe, 84, has accomplished much of what governing party insiders say he and his coterie of strongmen set out to do in the long delay they engineered before the runoff on Friday.

Tsvangirai on "Unity Government" - Louis Weston, Daily Telegraph

Despite boycotting the election the MDC chief insists that a unity government is the only way forward and holds out an offer of "ceremonial presidency" to the tyrant of Harare. Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said last night that Robert Mugabe might be allowed to stay on as titular head of a transitional government.

What Makes Monster Mugabe Tick? - Heidi Holland, Daily Telegraph

The world knows Robert Mugabe as a hideous tyrant who has destroyed his country. His ruinous economic policies have caused a 30-year drop in life expectancy for Zimbabwe's people. He holds lavish birthday parties for himself and his wife while children starve in the streets. He has murdered opponents, threatened anyone who fails to vote for him with death, and pledged that "only God will remove me" from ruling ­Zimbabwe. How does a man turn into a monster?

Mugabe Inauguration Scheduled - Angus Shaw, Washington Times

President Robert Mugabe was preparing to be sworn in for a new term Sunday and extend his nearly three decades as Zimbabwe's ruler, claiming victory in a violent and widely discredited runoff election. Ministry of Information officials told reporters to be at the presidential residence for the Sunday afternoon inauguration ceremony before results from Friday's runoff had even been announced.

Toppling Mugabe May Be Only Option - Martin Ivens, Sunday Times opinion

Today humanitarian intervention has, in any case, been widely discredited after the disaster that followed the toppling of the genocidal dictator Saddam Hussein, hasn’t it? The anti-American left and the little England right unite in scorn for the Texan cowboy and his British poodle. But what’s that I hear? Massacres of Muslims by Muslims have approached genocidal proportions in Darfur, Sudan. “Something must be done,” cry the do-gooders of the left. In Burma, the generals let their people die in the wake of devastating floods rather than accept contaminating western aid. “Send in the US air force,” bellow the critics of American bombers. The little Englanders have changed their tune, too. Fire-eaters are now calling for Britain and America to oust Mugabe, even though they have condemned all other allied interventions.

If Only Mugabe Were White - Nicholas Kristof, New York Times opinion

Patson Chipiro, a democracy activist, wasn’t home when Robert Mugabe’s thugs showed up looking for him. So they grabbed his wife, Dadirai, and tormented her by chopping off one of her hands and both of her feet. Finally, they threw her into a hut, locked the door and burned it to the ground. That has been the pattern lately: with opposition figures in hiding, Mr. Mugabe’s goons kill loved ones to send a message of intimidation. Even the wife of the mayor-elect of Harare, the capital, was kidnapped and beaten to death. When the white supremacist regime of Ian Smith oppressed Zimbabweans in the 1970s, African countries rallied against it. Eventually, even the white racist government in South Africa demanded change and threatened to cut off electricity supplies if it didn’t happen. Yet South African President Thabo Mbeki continues to make excuses for Mr. Mugabe.

Mugabe Could be Toppled in a Month - Malcolm Rifkind, Daily Telegraph opinion

It is a curious compliment to democracy that even a vicious tyrant like Robert Mugabe believes that it is necessary to go through a bogus election to continue in office. The half-empty polling stations on Friday were an eloquent response by the millions of brave Zimbabweans who refused to be cowed and stayed at home. As the African Union leaders meet at their summit in Egypt tomorrow they should respect the people's verdict. But if the rhetoric of denunciation, alone, could bring down Robert Mugabe he would have cleared his desk already. Sadly, that is not the case and it is necessary to look for practical proposals if the people of Zimbabwe are to have any serious prospect of a liberation from tyranny in the near future.

My Father Was Loyal to Mugabe. It Didn't Matter. - Washington Post opinion

My father, who lives in Zimbabwe's countryside, sent me a letter the other day. The 74-year-old man wrote that he had not had soap, cooking oil, sugar or tea leaves -- virtually anything -- for a very long time. Could I help? And if I had any old shoes that I was no longer using, could I send them to him? I felt castrated as I read his words. Like many Zimbabweans, I am in no position to aid my loved ones; I had been out of a job for a whole year when I got the letter. My father might have forgotten that, or simply been so desperate that he had to let me know about his plight. The company where I used to work closed down without any fanfare, and severance packages were not paid. In an eerie way, the demise of our business mirrored the demise of our country: The bosses at the top had proven adept at ruining the company, not at running it efficiently with the welfare of the people at heart. So we paid the price.

Scenes From a City Under Siege - Washington Post opinion

Sound sleep is nearly impossible in my suburb these days. For the past three weeks, young people have been singing all night just a few steps from my home. It is winter here, but that has not deterred them from camping in the open, wearing only shorts and blue and white shirts bearing the image of a fist-waving President Robert Mugabe. They chant chilling slogans that remind people of the pre-independence bush war, which resulted in around 30,000 deaths. One particularly popular refrain, especially in the dead of night: "Win or war, win or war." They also go door-to-door denouncing the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. We have not slept easily, really, all spring, since the March 29 presidential election that showed that Mugabe's grip on power might indeed be in jeopardy. But what I have seen in the past few days is something altogether different from those days of hope. No longer are people desperately discussing the country's runaway inflation rates or thinking of an opposition victory; rather, they are scrambling for something, anything, to show that they are with Mugabe and that they should not be made a target in what looks to be Mugabe's last war - one against his own people.

Nigerian Conflicts Tighten Oil Bottleneck - Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times

Amid surging demand for oil, a severe bottleneck has developed in production of high-quality West African crude, alarming world leaders and demonstrating a new vulnerability in fragile oil markets. With production declining elsewhere, consumer nations had been looking hopefully toward Nigeria. But rebels who have waged an increasingly bold campaign in the oil-rich Niger Delta have slashed the country's output in their most recent attacks.

Niger Says Rebel Leader Killed in Army Operation - Reuters

A leader of Niger's Tuareg-led rebel movement was killed when government troops backed by helicopters captured a rebel position in the north of the West African state, a government army officer said on Saturday. Niger's defense ministry had announced on Friday the recapture by the army of Tazerzait, at the foot of Mount Tamgak in the Agadez region, a position which Niger Justice Movement (MNJ) fighters had attacked and taken a year ago. It said 17 members of the rebel MNJ were killed in Friday's army assault.

Workers Held in Somalia Are Released - Associated Press

Two Europeans and a Somali who were kidnapped Saturday in southwestern Somalia were released later in the day, officials said. The three kidnapping victims - a Swede, a Dane and the Somali - had been working with a United Nations program to clear land mines. They will be flown Sunday to Nairobi, Kenya, said Mark Bowden, the United Nation’s humanitarian and resident coordinator for Somalia. No ransom was paid for their release, which was negotiated by clan elders, government officials and others, Mr. Bowden said.

ASIA PACIFIC

11 Killed in Philippine Clashes - Jim Gomez, Washington Times

Communist guerrillas attacked a police station and burned a cellular phone transmission tower in the southern Philippines, sparking clashes with government forces that killed at least 11 people, an army official said Sunday. About 50 New People's Army guerrillas attacked a police station in the town hall of Dapa and burned a cellular phone tower in nearby General Luna town in Surigao del Norte province in coordinated attacks late Saturday, regional military spokesman Maj. Armand Rico said.

Refugees Shot Fleeing North Korea - Michael Sheridan, Sunday Times

North Korean guards, newly armed with Russian Dragunov sniper rifles, have shot dead refugees attempting to ford the river that divides their hungry homeland from China, according to human rights campaigners. The shootings indicate a coordinated change in tactics by North Korea and China to deter refugees from crossing. They want to stamp out bribery among border guards who let the refugees go and to catch those who make it to safety.

15,000 Protesters Defy Government in Seoul - Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times

Thousands of people opposing American beef imports clashed with the police in a protest that continued into early Sunday morning, hours after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged South Koreans to accept their government’s decision to lift an import ban on beef from the United States. More than 15,000 people demonstrated in central Seoul on Saturday evening, despite a warning from President Lee Myung-bak that he would begin to deal sternly with protesters who have been disrupting his government for almost two months.

Assurances From Rice Fail to Sway S. Koreans - Blaine Harden, Washington Post

Flying toward the Korean Peninsula on Saturday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was compelled by events on the ground to refocus her threat-assessment radar. She shifted from the risks of nuclear weapons produced by North Korea to the risks of beef produced by American ranchers.

EUROPE

Militants, Police Slain in Russia's Volatile South - Associated Press

Russian officials say five militants and four police have been killed and four more people wounded in the violence-plagued south. The local interior ministry says police killed three suspected militants, including a woman, in Dagestan province Saturday. A police spokesman in neighboring Chechnya says that a clash in the province left two militants and four police dead, and four more police wounded.

MIDDLE EAST

Captive Israeli Soldiers in Lebanon Dead - Aron Heller, Washington Times

An Israeli official says Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has told his Cabinet that two soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas two years ago are dead. The official says Olmert told his Cabinet that "we know what happened to them." It is the first time that Israel has said definitively the two men are no longer alive. Hezbollah has given no information on their conditions.

West Bank Torturers Funded by Britain - Marie Colvin, Sunday Times

Millions of pounds of British government money is going to Palestinian security forces which use methods of torture including hanging prisoners by their feet and putting them in “stress” positions for hours at a time. Evidence to be published next month in a report by Human Rights Watch was corroborated last week in interviews by The Sunday Times with victims in the West Bank, ruled by President Mahmoud Abbas’s western-backed Palestinian Authority.

SOUTH ASIA

India's Moderate Muslims See Peril - Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post

On his way out of the town mosque, through a green archway, Ghulam Sarwar Sheikh was handed a copy of the community newspaper. Quietly glancing over the front page, he sighed. The article that had caught his attention was about a series of bombings in an Indian city last month that killed 80 people and injured more than 150. A previously unknown group, calling itself the Indian Mujahidin, claimed responsibility for the attack. It blamed the Hindu-led government for deliberately delaying justice for Muslim victims of religious riots.

Protests Sweep India - Heather Timmons, New York Times

Discontent is sweeping through India in the form of widespread protests over land use, food, fuel and jobs. Indian citizens have long embraced their constitutional right to assemble, and they have done so with fervor this month in large protests over a wide range of issues. Some speculate that India’s weak central government, which is run by an uneasy coalition between the Congress Party and the Left Front, could be contributing to the unrest. Others attribute the upheaval to rapid changes in Indian society.

Sri Lanka: New Fighting Kills 43 - Associated Press

Government troops captured a Tamil Tiger rebel-held village in war-ravaged northern Sri Lanka on Saturday while infantry clashes across the region killed 40 rebels and three soldiers, the military said. Fighting has escalated in the Indian Ocean island in recent months as government forces try to fulfill a pledge to crush the insurgents by the end of the year. In the latest fighting, army troops took control of Parappakadattan village in Mannar district on Saturday, said military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara.

WORLD

More `Near-nuclear' States May Loom - Associated Press

At a recent meeting of members of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the Ukrainian chairman sought to strike an upbeat note about the future, highlighting the "public and political momentum towards a world free of nuclear weapons." Volodyrmyr Yelchenko was right: Statesmen as diverse as Henry Kissinger and Mikhail Gorbachev have taken up the cause of "nuclear abolition." And this year's US presidential contenders both support a more favorable American stance toward arms control. But other forces are pushing back. Renewed interest in nuclear energy, to stem global warming, is expected to give more states the technological building blocks for a bomb. The continuing revelations about the Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan's network, which reportedly had blueprints for a compact weapon, show that globalized nuclear smuggling is growing more sophisticated and dangerous.

EVENTS OF INTEREST

22 July - Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare (Public Event). Washington, DC. The Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) is sponsoring a discussion on counterinsurgency on 22 July 2008, at the National Press Club (the Holeman Lounge), Washington, DC. Dr. John Nagl (Center for a New American Security), Dr. Daniel Marston (Australian National University), and Dr. Carter Malkasian (CNA) recently collaborated on Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare (Osprey, 2008), an edited book that examines 13 of the most important counterinsurgency campaigns of the past 100 years, including the current Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Dr. David Kilcullen (U.S. State Department), the renowned counterinsurgency expert, will moderate the discussion and provide critical commentary. Lunch will be provided. Books will be available to purchase at a discounted rate. For more information, visit the first link above. RSVP at kattm@cna.org or 703.824.2436.

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.