IRAQ

Pentagon Identifies Two Soldiers - Tyson and Elmer, Washington Post

The Pentagon announced yesterday that it has identified the bodies of two US soldiers recovered in Iraq earlier this month, nearly 14 months after they went missing after being ambushed by insurgents south of Baghdad. Sgt. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence Mass., and Pfc. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich., were struck near the village of Al Taqa on May 12, 2007, when insurgents attacked using automatic weapons and roadside bombs. In all, seven soldiers from the Army's 10th Mountain Division based in Fort Drum, N.Y., perished.

Iraqis Raid Mosque With Links to Sadrists - Campbell Robertson, New York Times

Government forces in the southern city of Diwaniya burst into a mosque attended by followers of the rebel Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr on Friday, arresting the imam and four worshipers, including another cleric, Iraqi security officials said. The raid on the Imam Ali mosque underscored the bitter, often violent feuding across southern Iraq between those loyal to Mr. Sadr and forces allied with the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The Iraqi police in Diwaniya are controlled by the Badr Organization, the paramilitary wing of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, which is a close ally of Mr. Maliki and his Dawa Party.

Shiites Reclaim a Village Razed by Sunnis - Alissa Rubin, New York Times

Once a well-tended Shiite farming community in a part of Diyala Province with many Sunnis, it (Al Etha) is now little more than piles of shattered concrete. Half-fallen roofs slant earthward at odd angles; the skeletons of rooms are filled with debris. Almost every house here was bombed by Sunni militants in a campaign to drive Shiites from this rural area during the explosion of sectarian killings that engulfed Iraq in 2006. The village’s 80 Shiite families fled. Now, after nearly two years, 60 of the families have returned, offering a glimpse both of the tentative new peace that is becoming visible in many places throughout Iraq and of the tremendous difficulties ahead. The displaced return not only to destroyed houses, but also destroyed lives.

Public-sector Employees Get Salary Boost - Ashraf Khalil, Los Angeles Times

Ali Bassem plans to start saving for a new car now that the extra money is rolling in. The Baghdad University architecture professor regards his 75% salary increase as a fitting reward for having stayed in Iraq while so many other people of means fled. The extra dinars in his paycheck, Bassem said, are proof of a tentative step forward from the darkness and violence. They mean that years after the 2003 US-led invasion, "the government is beginning to take root and establish itself," he said. A nationwide increase in public-sector salaries took effect at the end of June for civil servants, from rookies to department heads at public hospitals. The lowest-paid civil servants, who earned $100 a month, now receive at least an extra $16 or so.

A Bookseller, Bound to His Country - Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post

In the long anthology of Iraq's tragedies, the Hayawis represent the promise of the country's future. Despite their grief, they tenaciously refuse to surrender to the current turmoil. They belong to the fading but still influential group of middle-class Iraqis who are alarmed by their society's sectarian fissures and emerging Islamic identity and determined to preserve its cosmopolitan, secular nature. In a country hobbled by a lack of basic services, high unemployment and scarce foreign investment, the family stands for a vibrant alternative. Violence has driven out more than 2 million people, draining Iraq of skilled professionals, but the rebuilt bookshop remains, an engine for fresh ideas and intellectual growth. Every day on Mutanabi Street, a Hayawi sells books, educating a new contingent of lawyers, doctors and computer programmers.

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS

Canada Notes Failed Soviet War - Steven Chase, Globe and Mail

The Canadian military has been studying the Soviet debacle in Afghanistan for clues on how to prevent similar mistakes as NATO tries to beat back a persistent insurgency and ready the country's weak but pro-Western government to assume greater control. It began a research project in 2006, a year in which fighting intensified for Canada in the war against the Taliban. “The project was undertaken... for the purpose of determining whether this history offered any lessons to be learned for the Canadian Forces,” an executive summary of some of the research said. The Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, and pulled out combat forces in 1989 after a costly decade of fighting mujahedeen. They left behind a weak, pro-Soviet government that collapsed in 1992.

Afghan Panel: Airstrike Killed 47 Civilians - Associated Press

A US military airstrike this week killed 47 civilians traveling to a wedding, the head of an Afghan government commission investigating the incident said Friday. The airstrike Sunday in the Deh Bala district of Nangahar province also wounded nine civilians, said Burhanullah Shinwari, the deputy chairman of the Senate, who led the commission. The US military on Sunday denied that any civilians were killed in the incident. At the time, Afghan officials said 27 civilians had been killed.

Chairman Commends Marines for Impact, New Mission - Michael Carden, AFPS

The US military’s top-ranking officer met today with US Marines based just northwest of here who are charged with the “critical, top-priority mission” of training the Afghan National Police. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Infantry Regiment, at Camp Barber to encourage the Marines and remind them of the important role they’re playing in improving the country’s security. “You represent a different mission than other units,” Mullen said to the Marines. “You’re really on the leading edge of the kind of change that’s going to continue with our presence here in Afghanistan.” The unit is one of two recently deployed Marine battalions that arrived in Afghanistan in early April. The 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Infantry Regiment, based out of Kandahar is focused on counterinsurgency operations, while the 2-7th Marines’ mission primarily is training. Both are the first US Marine battalions to deploy to Afghanistan since the initial phases of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Prophet's Cloak Can't Shelter Kandahar - Graeme Smith, Globe and Mail

At the heart of Kandahar's dirty labyrinth of streets stands a clean square and a lavishly decorated building housing a religious artifact that's key to understanding why this city has suffered the worst of the insurgency. For more than two centuries, the legendary cloak of the Prophet Mohammed - one of Islam's most treasured symbols - has rested here in a locked silver box, itself protected by two wooden chests. The keys are held by a grey-bearded man named Mullah Masood Akhundzada, and these days he's afraid for his life. His family has held the sacred responsibility of protecting the cloak in its shrine ever since Afghanistan's founder, Ahmed Shah Durrani, brought the shimmering garment from Central Asia in 1768.

IRAN

Deceptions in Iran’s Military Display - William Broad, New York Times

Iran’s war games this week featured more bluff and exaggeration than displays of menacing new power, military analysts said Friday. The half-truths, the analysts said, included not only a doctored photo of a salvo firing but also misleading statements about the range of the largest missile and two videos that made the firings seem more numerous and fearsome than they really were. “Deception was rampant,” said Charles P. Vick, an expert on the Iranian missile program at GlobalSecurity.org, a research group in Alexandria, Va. “The bottom line is that the Iranians are tweaking our noses.”

What the Mullahs Should Mull - Mona Charen, National Review opinion

I warn you to abandon the filthy Zionist entity, which has reached the end of the line.” That, from earlier this year, was but one of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hysterical verbal assaults on a fellow member of the United Nations. If there is a regime anywhere on the globe whose leader regularly and volubly looks forward to the “destruction” of another nation, I’m not familiar with it. (Ahmadinejad actually anticipates the annihilation of two nations, since he has also spoken of a world without the United States.) In the past several days, Iran has punctuated its threats against Israel and others with a display of missile might, firing intermediate range ballistic missiles that can reach the entire Middle East and parts of Europe. Attack Israel, and the response will not be a Security Council resolution.

THE LONG WAR

A Blind Eye to Guantanamo? - Joby Warrick, Washington Post

A CIA analyst warned the Bush administration in 2002 that up to a third of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay may have been imprisoned by mistake, but White House officials ignored the finding and insisted that all were "enemy combatants" subject to indefinite incarceration, according to a new book critical of the administration's terrorism policies. The CIA assessment directly challenged the administration's claim that the detainees were all hardened terrorists -- the "worst of the worst," as then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said at the time. But a top aide to Vice President Cheney shrugged off the report and squashed proposals for a quick review of the detainees' cases, author Jane Mayer writes in "The Dark Side," scheduled for release next week.

PARC’s Anti-Israel Polemics - Jonathan Schanzer, National Review opinion

For more than a decade, the allocation of hundreds of thousands of dollars in US funded doctoral and post-doctoral grants on Palestinian issues has been decided by a group of Middle Eastern-studies professors that includes some of the most polarizing and radical figures in the field. The Bethesda, Maryland–based Palestinian American Research Center (PARC), a registered nonprofit, receives controversial Title VI funding from the US State Department and Department of Education for “Palestinian studies.” Yet, the organization perpetuates the failures of Middle Eastern studies in America - namely, the admixture of polemics and academia.

Obama, FISA and the Hard Left - Washington Times editorial

The Senate's passage this week of legislation renewing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) while granting retroactive immunity to telecommunications firms is a victory for common sense. It ensures that US intelligence agencies are not deprived of the invaluable assistance of telecommunications companies in monitoring foreign terrorists. The bill, which passed the Senate by an overwhelming 68 to 29 vote, provides retroactive liability protection for telecommunications companies who assisted the federal government's terrorist surveillance efforts after Sept. 11. And it ensures that the United States will continue to be able to monitor newly discovered foreign terrorist cells without first obtaining judicial approval. The lion's share of the credit belongs to National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell and lawmakers like Sen. Kit Bond, Missouri Republican, and ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The two fought tirelessly to ensure that US intelligence agencies would be able to prevent future attacks on the United States.

US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Spy Gets 57 Months in Prison - Ben Conery, Washington Times

A former Department of Defense analyst who passed secrets to a spy from the Chinese government was sentenced Friday to nearly five years in prison. Gregg W. Bergersen, 51, had pleaded guilty last March in US District Court in Alexandria. “Mr. Bergersen predicted he would go to jail if anyone discovered he was unlawfully providing classified information to a foreign government,” Chuck Rosenberg, US attorney for eastern Virginia, said in a statement. “We did. He is.”

Army Secretary Asks for Probe of Firing - Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post

Army Secretary Pete Geren has asked his staff for an internal review to examine the Army's firing last month of Gina Gray, the former public affairs director of Arlington National Cemetery who had worked to restore media coverage of military funerals. "The goal is to strike the right balance between the family's needs and wishes, which always are our top priority, and the interest of the press," Army spokesman Paul Boyce said in an e-mail.

AFRICA

UN Zimbabwe Measure Vetoed by Russia, China - Colum Lynch, Washington Post

Russia and China on Friday vetoed a US-sponsored Security Council resolution that would have imposed an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and sanctioned President Robert Mugabe and his top advisers for rigging the country's presidential elections. Russian and Chinese envoys said UN sanctions amounted to unwarranted interference in Zimbabwe's domestic affairs and would have threatened preliminary talks between Mugabe's government and representatives of his chief political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, to resolve the country's crisis.

Vetoes Quash UN Sanctions on Zimbabwe - Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times

An American-led effort to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe failed in the Security Council on Friday, with Russia and China exercising a rare double veto to quash a resolution that they said represented excessive interference in the country’s domestic matters. The United States, having earlier in the week mustered the nine votes needed to pass the sanctions, stalled on bringing the resolution to a vote until it became absolutely clear that Russia was determined to stop it. Once the Russians announced on Friday that they would exercise their veto, the Chinese, often leery of taking a lone stand on delicate human rights issues, followed suit.

West Suffers Historic Defeat - Bone and Robertson, The Times

Britain’s diplomatic strategy in Zimbabwe collapsed last night in an historic defeat for the West in the UN Security Council that will have repercussions across Africa and beyond. Russia and China wielded their veto to kill a resolution imposing UN sanctions on President Mugabe and his inner circle in a defining vote in the 15-nation council. Sir John Sawers, the British Ambassador to the UN, said: “The people of Zimbabwe need to be given hope that there is an end in sight to their suffering. The Security Council today has failed to offer them that hope.”

UN Effort to Sanction Zimbabwe Fails - Maggie Farley, Los Angeles Times

China and Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution Friday that would have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and members of his regime for rigging the June 27 presidential runoff election. The US-sponsored resolution, which would have frozen the leaders' assets, barred them from leaving the country, and prohibited arms imports, aimed to pressure Mugabe to reach a political settlement with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

UK and US Condemn Zimbabwe Veto - Sebastian Berger, Daily Telegraph

Britain and the US described the Russian and Chinese veto of United Nations sanctions on Zimbabwe as "incomprehensible" and "raising questions" about Russia's reliability as a G8 partner. Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Friday that he was "very disappointed that the UN Security Council should have failed to pass a strong and clear resolution on Zimbabwe". "It'll appear incomprehensible to the people of Zimbabwe that Russia, which committed itself at the G8 to take further steps including introducing financial and other sanctions, should stand in the way of Security Council action. Nor will they understand the Chinese vote," Mr Miliband said.

UN Readies War Crimes Indictment of Bashir - Betsy Pisik, Washington Times

Monday's expected indictment of Sudanese President Omar Bashir on charges of crimes against humanity could score points for justice even as it derails hopes for peace, U.N. diplomats and bureaucrats said this week. The indictment, which is to be unsealed at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, is expected to name Mr. Bashir and at least one of his senior officials in connection with the widespread displacement, murder and rape committed by government troops and their militias against the people of Darfur. ICC prosecutor Luiz Moreno Ocampo is expected to present evidence against the Sudanese leader and ask the court to issue a warrant for his arrest - the second time in history a sitting African president has been indicted for war crimes. In 2003, a UN-created tribunal indicted then-Liberian President Charles Taylor.

Pursuit of Sudan’s Leader Incites Debate - Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times

The International Criminal Court’s pursuit of Sudan’s president set off fierce debate at the United Nations on Friday, with the Sudanese ambassador accusing the court of trying to destabilize his country and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressing concern about the safety of United Nations personnel in the African nation. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor at the court, is expected to announce on Monday that he is seeking an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan in connection with the widespread killing of civilians in the Darfur region since 2003. The United Nations estimates that the conflict has left 300,000 people dead and 2.7 million displaced, and some diplomats worry that the Sudanese will retaliate against the prosecutor’s move by evicting the relief agencies that the civilians depend on to survive.

UN Faces Attack over Genocide Charges - James Bone, The Times

International peacekeepers in Sudan were bracing themselves yesterday for revenge attacks as diplomats announced that the country’s President would soon be charged with genocide and crimes against humanity by a court in The Hague. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the international prosecutor, plans to seek an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir from judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday. He will become the first sitting head of state and the first Arab leader to be charged by the ICC. Abdalmahmood Mohamad, Sudan’s Ambassador to the UN, gave warning that the repercussions of charging Mr al-Bashir could be disastrous. “It’s playing with fire. We want to caution and alert the international community to the possible consequences,” he said. “All options are open for us. All reactions are open.”

Sudan Shrugs Off Arrest Talk - Sanders and Farley, Los Angeles Times

Sudanese officials on Friday largely shrugged off reports that the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor is seeking the arrest of the country's president on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, reiterating their rejection of the court's authority. Officials also discounted fears that Sudan would retaliate against United Nations peacekeepers and aid workers if warrants are issued, but warned that such an action would disrupt peace efforts and unite Sudanese citizens against outside interference.

Africa Faces Another Rising Expense: Fuel - Lydia Polgreen, New York Times

Rising global food prices have sent discontent rippling across Africa in recent months, prompting riots and demonstrations from Zambia to Senegal, Tanzania to Niger. Now fuel prices are causing rumblings as well. On Friday, fuel tanker drivers in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, went on strike over rising prices of diesel fuel and poor road conditions, a move that could cripple the economy. In Africa, fuel prices are a much less emotional issue than food prices. Food takes up 50 percent or more of a household’s budget, but since most people do not have cars, the price of gas is meaningful only as it relates to bus and taxi fares.

AMERICAS

Rival South America Leaders Meet - Simon Romero, New York Times

It seemed like just yesterday that President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela was calling President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia a “pawn of the American empire” and comparing him to Don Vito Corleone, with Mr. Uribe lashing back by threatening to sue Mr. Chávez for the “financing of genocidists.” But the name calling was put aside Friday when the two leaders met in Venezuela, trying to mend relations after months of bickering over issues ranging from Colombia’s claims that Mr. Chávez tried to finance leftist guerrillas to Venezuela’s ire over the possible transfer of an American military base to Colombia from Ecuador.

Chavez, Uribe Meet to Mend Rift - Rachel Jones, Associated Press

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Colombia's Alvaro Uribe took a stab at normalizing relations Friday after months of sniping that threatened billions of dollars in trade and created a diplomatic crisis between Latin America's top US opponent and closest US ally. Mr. Chavez, who just months ago called reconciliation impossible, said the talks were aimed at a "relaunch of cooperation, peace and integration of Latin America."

End to Colombian Terrorism - Thomson and Laserna, National Review opinion

The past few months have been a heady time in Colombia. It all started in February when an estimated 10 million citizens throughout the country demonstrated against the ongoing murderous activities of the nation’s guerrilla organizations, principally the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and Ejército de Liberacion Nacional (ELN). In March, three of the FARC’s seven directors, known by their aliases as Manuel Marulanda, Raul Reyes, and Ivan Ríos, died. Reyes was killed by the Colombian military and Rios was murdered a few days later by his security chief. Marulanda, the FARC’s founder, soon died of a heart attack. Shortly thereafter, two senior FARC comandantes voluntarily surrendered. FARC guerrilla ranks have plummeted from more than 25,000 to less than 8,000.

Report Cites Abuses by Mexican Military - Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post

The National Human Rights Commission on Friday accused the Mexican military of wrongfully killing eight civilians at roadblocks, torturing witnesses and allowing soldiers accused of rights violations to escape prosecution during its continuing campaign against drug cartels. Most of the abuses have gone unpunished, the report said. For instance, no action has been taken against soldiers suspected of shooting dead four civilians at a roadblock in the central state of Sinaloa, the report said.

ASIA PACIFIC

North Korea Nuclear Talks End With Agreement on Verification - Voice of America

Six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program ended Saturday, with the North agreeing to let outside experts verify that its nuclear facilities are being dismantled. A joint communiqué issued after the three days of talks also said North Korea agreed to disable its main Yongbyon nuclear facility by October and its dialogue partners would complete promised deliveries of energy aid. The parties also agreed to adopt a verification system that would include experts from the six nations visiting facilities, reviewing documents and interviewing technical personnel.

S. Korean Offer to North Is Marred by Killing - Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times

President Lee Myung-bak reversed his tough approach on North Korea on Friday and offered to resume dialogue and provide humanitarian aid, but the move was immediately clouded by the fatal shooting of South Korean woman by a North Korean soldier in the North’s tourism enclave. A tourism company reported that the woman was shot shortly before dawn on Friday after wandering into a fenced-off military area near Diamond Mountain, a tourism zone that was opened to South Koreans in 1998.

S. Korean Tourist Is Shot Dead In North - Blaine Harden, Washington Post

A North Korean soldier shot dead a middle-aged South Korean housewife Friday after she walked into a restricted area near a mountain resort inside the communist North. Word of the shooting, which caused a suspension of a decade-old program that shuttled South Korean tourists to the resort, came just hours after South Korea's president tried in a major speech to mend North-South relations that have frayed in recent months.

EUROPE

Hague’s Docket to Kosovo’s Ballot - Dan Bilefsky, New York Times

In 2005, just after arriving in The Hague to face charges for war crimes, Ramush Haradinaj found himself face to face with Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian strongman, who was being held in a nearby cell. For Mr. Haradinaj, a former commander of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army and a squat hulk of a man who fought a guerrilla war against Mr. Milosevic’s forces, the encounter was a shock. When Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders finally declared independence last February, Mr. Haradinaj’s sense of triumph was tempered by his being forced to watch from prison. Now, Mr. Haradinaj, 40, who was prime minister of United Nations-administered Kosovo for 100 days before surrendering to The Hague in March 2005, vows to once again lead the newborn country.

Czechs See Oil Flow Fall - Andrew Kramer, New York Times

Three days after the Czech Republic signed an agreement with the United States to host a tracking radar for an antiballistic missile system that Russia vehemently opposes, the authorities in Prague said the flow of Russian oil to their country was beginning to dwindle. In a statement on Friday, Czech officials declined to link the reduced supply to the deal signed Tuesday in Prague. Still, though the flow of oil can vary for technical reasons, it was clear that the Czechs suspected a connection and intended to ask the Russians to explain the decline.

Rice Upbeat on Visa Waivers - Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times

Residents of the Czech Republic should be able to visit the United States without visas within the next six months, easing a longstanding source of friction between Washington and one of its Eastern European allies. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the nation's pending eligibility for the visa-waiver program during the same visit in which she sealed a deal with Prague to cooperate on a European missile shield program.

Turkey Holding 10 in Consulate Attack - Sebnem Arsu, New York Times

Turkish police have now detained 10 suspects in the armed attack on the United States Consulate on Wednesday that killed six people, the governor of Istanbul said Friday. Three policemen and three assailants were killed in a gunfight in front of the consulate. A fourth escaped in car, which the police found abandoned in a remote neighborhood in Istanbul late Thursday. The suspected driver is among those detained.

Attackers Shared Bleak Background - Laura King, Los Angeles Times

The electronic buzzer sounded, and the gaggle of gangly 14- and 15-year-old boys jumped up, scattering pumpkin seeds they'd been cracking between their teeth. Their brief break was over; now they had to hurry back to their jobs in the textile factory. In the impoverished enclave of Kucukcekmece, on the far fringes of Istanbul, the three young attackers who died trying to storm the US Consulate on Wednesday lived within a few blocks of one another in ramshackle, illegally constructed homes known by the evocative Turkish term gecekondu -- built overnight.

Europe's Most Wanted - The Times editorial

Thousands of relatives of those murdered in the worst European atrocity since the Second World War gathered yesterday to remember them, in Srebrenica. The death toll from the massacres in what was meant to be a UN-protected safe haven for Bosnian Muslims in July, 1995, is 8,372. But bodies are still being unearthed. Names are still being added to the list of the dead. The men who ordered the killings, Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, remain at large. For 13 years they have been protected not by vast deserts or impenetrable mountains, but by people who refuse to accept the overwhelming evidence that they are war criminals.

MIDDLE EAST

Israel Braces for Next War - Martin Chulov, The Australian

As gravediggers toiled through the hard-baked dirt of an enemy soldier's cemetery this week, Israel's legislators were sweating on a deal that could bring closure to the war with Hezbollah that has set their political agenda in the two years since. If both sides stick to commitments they have made to a German mediator, Hezbollah will next week receive five of its guerillas freed by Israel, as well as a terrorist and the remains of nine militants killed in combat. In return, the Jewish state will receive, dead or alive, its two captured soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, and more information about the disappearance of airman Ron Arad, who was shot down in 1986, during the first Lebanon war. The two years since the Hezbollah abduction from inside Israel on the morning of July 12, 2006, have been painful for both sides. But the wounds have cut deeper into the Israeli psyche.

Hezbollah, Allies Get Key Ministries - Raed Rafei, Los Angeles Times

Two months after fighting in the capital left scores dead, squabbling Lebanese factions on Friday formed a new Cabinet in which the Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah and its allies control key ministries and have the power to veto major decisions. The Cabinet will serve only until the middle of next year, when elections may determine whether Hezbollah and its allies, which are supported by Iran and Syria, or the Western-backed coalition led by Saad Hariri takes control of the country in coming years.

Militants Gain Heft in Unity Cabinet - Hussein Dakroub, Associated Press

Hezbollah and its allies solidified their hold on Lebanon's government Friday with the formation of a national unity Cabinet that gives them veto power over government decisions. Still, the Western-backed parliamentary majority managed to deny the Hezbollah-led opposition any of the most important Cabinet positions, except for the one it had already held: foreign affairs. The Cabinet's formation ends six weeks of wrangling over how to distribute the posts and is another step toward healing the country's deep political divide.

Olmert Suspected Of Bilking Charities - Griff Witte, Washington Post

Israeli investigators have widened a probe into fraud allegations against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert based on evidence that he cheated several charitable groups, officials said Friday, further imperiling Olmert's prospects for staying in office. The latest accusation, announced in a joint statement by the Justice Ministry and the police, is that Olmert billed charitable organizations and the government for the same flights and then used the extra money to fund personal vacations during his tenure as mayor of Jerusalem and trade minister.

SOUTH ASIA

Pakistan Wants 'Partnership' With US - Glenn Kessler, Washington Post

The new government of Pakistan is seeking a "partnership" with the United States and wants tangible signs that the Bush administration will increase aid and embrace Pakistani democracy, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said yesterday. "We want to be positive, we want to cooperate, we want a long-term relationship, we want a partnership. So how serious are you in broadening that relationship -- that is what we want to know," Qureshi said in a wide-ranging interview with Washington Post editors and reporters.

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.