IRAQ

Iraqis Lead Final Purge of Al-Qaeda - Marie Colvin, The Times

American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror. After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul. A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10. Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.

Al-Maliki: Terrorists in Country 'Defeated' - Associated Press

Iraq's prime minister said Saturday that the government has defeated terrorism in the country - a sign of growing confidence after recent crackdowns against Sunni extremists and Shi'ite militias. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched the crackdowns to extend the authority of the government over areas in Baghdad and elsewhere that have largely been under the control of armed groups since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Al-Qaeda Driven From Mosul - Marie Colvin, The Times

Brigadier-General Abdullah Abdul, a senior Iraqi commander, said: “Al-Qaeda in Mosul is pretty much not able to do the attacks that they could do previously. They are doing small attacks and trying to do big ones but they are mostly not succeeding.” The Iraqis and Americans have got Al-Qaeda on the run. How have they come so far, so fast? ON the night of May 9, 87 “target packets” landed on the walnut desk of Abdul, the commander of the Iraqi army’s 2nd Division. The details of each named target were specific. One read: “Action: capture. Characteristics: white hair, hazel eyes, sunburnt skin. Alias: Abu Mohamed. Car: drives a station wagon. Residence: a two-storey house painted black (with map attached showing location). Credibility of source: reliable.” By early the next morning – the launch day for Operation Lion’s Roar to recapture Mosul – hundreds of police and army checkpoints had been set up across the city.

Parties Agree on Principles - Campbell Robertson, New York Times

After years of vicious fighting among Iraq’s fractious groups and some incomplete attempts at reconciliation, a ceremony here on Saturday marked a tiny step forward, at least symbolically. The event was the result of several meetings in Helsinki, Finland, attended by a range of Iraqi politicians, as well as veterans from two other seemingly intractable conflicts, in Northern Ireland and South Africa, who have gone on to become political leaders. The meetings, organized by a professor from the United States skilled in conflict resolution, included all of the main Iraqi political parties. They produced a document, unveiled Saturday, that outlined several principles for Iraq that the parties agreed upon, a first step in a process that experts in reconciliation say could take decades.

Iraqi Officials Mark Deaths of Martyrs - Suzanne Presto, Voice of America

Iraq's political leaders struck a hopeful tone as they marked five years since the killing of prominent Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and dozens of others in a car bombing in the holy city of Najaf in 2003. Iraq's prime minister and high-level officials gathered in Baghdad on Saturday to commemorate Iraqis who have been killed in violence, particularly Ayatollah Hakim. In late August of 2003, he and at least 80 worshippers were killed by a car bomb blast as they left a mosque after Friday prayers.

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS

UN to Urge Revamp of Afghan Aid - BBC News

The United Nations' envoy to Afghanistan is to outline a new plan on spending foreign aid, amid fears that millions of dollars have been wasted. Kai Eide told the BBC that too much aid money was spent on salaries and goods in the countries that provided it. Mr Eide advocates spending aid money through the Afghan government in return for a crackdown on corruption.

Premature Blast Kills 10 Taliban Planting Bomb - Associated Press

Gunmen in a dangerous part of southern Afghanistan assassinated an Afghan lawmaker, while a roadside bomb militants were planting detonated prematurely, killing 10 Taliban, officials said Saturday. The gunmen killed parliament member and former military commander Habibullah Jan after he visited an Afghan army compound in the Zhari district of Kandahar late Friday, said Kandahar provincial council member Bismillih Afghanmul.

Marines Act as Paymasters to Afghans - David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times

Gola Akar, a black-bearded farmer, did not seem certain whether a monthlong Marine assault here had improved or retarded his business prospects. On the one hand, the Marines killed or drove out Taliban fighters who had commandeered his mud-wall compound. But the fighting came at the height of the poppy harvest, costing Akar thousands of dollars in drug profits. "Since you came, things are better," Akar told 1st Lt. Shaun Miller, a slender, easygoing Marine who led a patrol past his compound one recent morning. "But who's going to pay me for my lost poppies?"

Restoring Past Glory in Old Kabul - Candace Rondeaux, Washington Post

The road that rings the old city district of Murad Khane is thick with smoke from the hearths of a row of blacksmiths. Until recently, few people in the Afghan capital had much reason to venture beyond the plumes of black smoke into the district. For decades, Murad Khane has been crushed beneath tons of garbage, a monumental wasteland to the conflict that has gripped Afghanistan for 30 years. The trash heaps made the homes there so inaccessible in places that residents had to burrow through the refuse to enter their front doors. These days, however, many of those who walk the warren of residences and tumbledown Silk Road inns that make up Murad Khane are there to rebuild the district in what some have billed one the most ambitious efforts yet to pump new life into the long-ailing city.

Afghan Escalation - Washington Post editorial

Each year since 2002, the number of US and allied troops in Afghanistan has grown. And each year, during the "fighting season" of spring and summer, the number of attacks by the Taliban has also increased, prompting commanders to conclude that still more troops are needed. This year is no exception. There are 66,000 foreign troops from 40 countries in Afghanistan, including 37,500 Americans; the force under NATO command has grown by 20,000 in 18 months. But Taliban attacks are up 40 percent in eastern provinces this year compared with 2007, and there has been another spike in coalition casualties. In May and June, more Western soldiers died in Afghanistan than in Iraq. Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says that "at least" three additional brigades, or about 10,500 more troops, are needed for combat operations and training of the Afghan army.

We’re Building a New Afghanistan - Douglas Alexander, The Times opinion

On a dusty highway in open country outside Kabul, a class of young girls, heads covered with hijabs, are being put through their paces in a primary school. It is a scene replicated around the world. The difference is that in Afghanistan a few years ago it would have been unthinkable. The Taliban refused to allow it. Now the feeling of hope is palpable. The girls, none of them older than seven, are already raising their sights beyond the wildest dreams of their mothers. I asked them if they wanted to work when they grew up. The answer, overwhelmingly, was yes. One wanted to be a doctor, another a teacher, a third hoped to break into the all-male ranks of the Afghan police. I thought of my own mother and my grandmother, both pioneering female doctors. I thought, too, of my own daughter, due to start school in September, and our perhaps casual assumption that ahead lies secondary school, perhaps university and, if all goes to plan, a well paid job. The education system that we take for granted in Britain is still a distant dream here, where the government struggles to find teachers and classrooms. But the girls at the Qala-e-Baig school in Shakar Darra are among 2m attending schools across the country. They are a visible sign of real progress.

Back in Kabul, Never at Peace - Tyler Hicks, New York Times opinion

My first trip to Kabul was in 2001. I arrived as Northern Alliance soldiers were fighting Taliban gunmen in and around the Afghan capital. Those who resisted were killed, and those captured were more likely to be executed than taken prisoner. There was a power vacuum in Kabul, a brief moment when one set of rulers fled and the next had not yet taken over. This can be a liberating time for a photographer. There were no clear rules, no central authority that might restrict you from taking pictures. I’ve returned to Afghanistan nearly every year since then. Today, at first glance, Kabul’s dusty stalls and kebab joints, with their bearded men and covered women, look much the same - in at least one important way - as they did when the Taliban were forced to flee. Ordinary people seem stoic under the circumstances, which are better than they were in 2001 but still deeply uncertain. Generations of conflict have numbed the senses. From the Russian occupation during the 1980s, through the years of Taliban rule in the 1990s, and now the intensifying coalition war against the Taliban insurgency, violence has become ingrained in their lives. After a recent period being embedded with the United States Marines in southern Afghanistan, I stopped in Kabul to wander the streets and take photos of a city forever in transition. The Western presence was something not tolerated during Taliban rule, so there have been some changes.

Afghanistan Needs Infrastructure - Christopher Booker, Daily Telegraph opinion

The problem with the outside world's intervention in Afghanistan, as informed observers point out, is not that NATO forces are unable to defeat militarily the various insurgents lumped together as the Taliban. Rather, it is that almost nothing is done to encourage the Afghans to stand on their own feet economically, and to eliminate the poverty and hopelessness which the Taliban exploit to win support against both the foreigners and the corrupt and ineffectual Kabul regime. Eighty five per cent of Afghans live by agriculture, in which their country has far more potential than much of its bleak terrain might suggest. The fertile parts are ideal for a wide range of crops, from apricots and pomegranates to almonds and tomatoes.

It's a Bust - Graeme Smith, New York Post opinion

The prison cells that once held Taliban sit almost empty, with little remaining except rubbish: plates of rice ready for meals never eaten, and sandals discarded by fugitives who ran away in bare feet. Some of the debris inside Sarpoza prison offer hints about what happened amid the chaos last month when the Taliban accomplished one of the largest jailbreaks in modern history, freeing at least 800 prisoners and rampaging into Kandahar without facing any serious resistance from Canadian troops or the other forces assigned to protect the city. Details of the June 13 attack show not only why the city defenses fell apart; they also illustrate how the notorious problems of the Afghan mission - corruption, poor intelligence, a distrustful population, weak Afghan security forces, a lack of foreign troops - made the ingredients of a disaster.

IRAN

Iran Says Its Nuclear Policy Has Not Changed - Elaine Sciolino, New York Times

Iran’s nuclear policy has not changed, an Iranian government spokesman said Saturday in Tehran, confirming that Iran would not comply with Security Council resolutions requiring it to stop enriching uranium. “Iran’s stand regarding its peaceful nuclear program has not changed,” the spokesman, Gholam Hossein Elham, said in his weekly meeting with reporters. His remarks came a day after Iran formally responded to a proposal of incentives aimed at resolving the impasse over the country’s nuclear program. Iran’s response failed to address the crucial issue of its uranium enrichment activities, according to officials involved in the diplomacy.

Syria Prepared to Break Links With Iran - Carolynne Wheeler, Daily Telegraph

Syria is ready to break off its close links with Iran if America gives it financial and military backing, a former Israeli diplomat involved in unofficial peace talks has revealed to The Sunday Telegraph. According to the official, who has been engaged in low-key "second track" discussions with Syrian representatives for many months, Syria's President Bashar Assad is increasingly open to a deal which would greatly weaken Iranian influence in the region. Alon Liel, a former director of Israel's foreign ministry, said the prospect of a peace agreement with Syria was growing, though it might require a new American president before a deal could be agreed. Syria's support for radical groups including Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese Hizbollah, both also backed by Iran, has played a large part in fomenting trouble in the Middle East.

Iran's Leaders Divided on US - Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post

A senior adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected a proposed expansion of the US diplomatic presence in Iran, saying in an interview that the idea is a "propaganda pose." Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, in an interview last Sunday, said that to improve relations with Iran, the United States would have to withdraw its military forces from Iraq and accept Iran's nuclear program. During a visit to the United Nations last week, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki signaled willingness to allow the first US diplomats to work in Tehran, at an interests section now staffed by non-Americans. He also called for direct flights between Tehran and New York, repeating an Iranian proposal made in 2007.

Presidential Adviser Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi - Washington Post interview

A transcript of correspondent Thomas Erdbrink's interview with Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, special adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on June 28 at the presidential building in Tehran.

‘Germ Warfare’ Fear Over Traded Monkeys - Daniel Foggo, The Times

Hundreds of endangered monkeys are being taken from the African bush and sent to a “secretive” laboratory in Iran for scientific experiments. An undercover inquiry by The Sunday Times has revealed that wild monkeys, which are banned from experiments in Britain, are being freely supplied in large numbers to laboratories in other parts of the world. All will undergo invasive and maybe painful experiments leading ultimately to their death.

Avoiding Military Option in Iran - San Francisco Chronicle editorial

When it comes to confronting Iran, which President Bush will it be - the new international hand-holder who blessed a first step in curbing North Korea's nuclear stockpile, or the old unilateralist who went it alone in Iraq? It's anything but a diplomatic parlor game. Bush has six months left in office, and despite low poll ratings and draining wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the question is a serious one. Might he really launch an attack on Iran, which has refused to halt nuclear research that could lead to weapons?

Iranians Shift Tone and Tactics - Trudy Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer opinion

There has been a flurry of speculation in Washington about whether President Bush will authorize an attack on Iran's nuclear sites before his term ends. Sy Hersh has a new piece in the New Yorker detailing Bush's authorization of escalated covert ops against Iran. Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz has warned that military action looks "unavoidable" given Iran's nuclear program. Israel recently carried out expanded air exercises over the Mediterranean. But the really interesting Iran story is not whether there will be an American or Israeli attack. I believe either is highly unlikely. The big story is whether Iran will preempt such a risk by re-engaging in talks on the nuclear issue.

Time for Iran to Face More Sanctions - Peter Zimmerman, Boston Globe opinion

The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency said last month that there was no danger that we would wake up one morning to find Iran the next nuclear power. He said that Iran would first have to leave the Nonproliferation Treaty, evict the IAEA's inspectors, "and then it would need at least... six months to one year." That puts an Iranian nuclear capability well into the future, next year. Mohammed ElBaradei's comments came after Israel conducted a military exercise in which its warplanes flew the equivalent of a one-way mission to Iran, an effort possibly intended to remind Iranian hardliners that Israel has the capability to strike at their "peaceful" uranium enrichment facilities.

THE LONG WAR

Post-9/11 Dragnet Turns Up Surprises - Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post

In the six-and-a-half years that the US government has been fingerprinting insurgents, detainees and ordinary people in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa, hundreds have turned out to share an unexpected background, FBI and military officials said. They have criminal arrest records in the United States. There was the suspected militant fleeing Somalia who had been arrested on a drug charge in New Jersey. And the man stopped at a checkpoint in Tikrit who claimed to be a dirt farmer but had 11 felony charges in the United States, including assault with a deadly weapon.

Russian Spies Hit Britain's Terror Fight - Raymente and Aldersone, Daily Telegraph

The activities of Russian spies in Britain are seriously undermining the fight against terrorism, security sources have disclosed. The distraction of combating espionage by President Dmitry Medvedev's agents makes it significantly more likely that one of the many Islamist terror plots will succeed, Whitehall officials believe. The warning comes after it was revealed last week that Russia is now considered the third most serious threat facing the country. The "league table" of threats to the nation's security is headed by al'Qa'eda terrorism, with Iranian nuclear proliferation second.

Forgotten Lessons on Torture - Boston Globe editorial

There are several obvious reasons, both ethical and practical, for the United States to reject the use of torture. But a sad new reason was added during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month, when it was revealed that US military trainers instructed Army and CIA interrogators at Guantanamo in 2002 on "coercive management techniques" derived from Chinese communist practices. Trainers and trainees alike were unaware that these techniques - keeping detainees awake, exposing them to extreme temperatures, or forcing them to stand in one position for an extended period - were drawn from a 1957 article on Chinese interrogation methods by a sociologist in the Air Force. The original study was titled "Communist Attempts to Elicit False Confessions from Air Force Prisoners of War." Its chart of Chinese torture techniques had been used to teach Americans how to resist physical pressure of the kind that elicited flagrantly false confessions from American POWs during the Korean War.

The Truth Commission - Nicholas Kristof, New York Times opinion

When a distinguished American military commander accuses the United States of committing war crimes in its handling of detainees, you know that we need a new way forward. “There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes,” Antonio Taguba, the retired major general who investigated abuses in Iraq, declares in a powerful new report on American torture from Physicians for Human Rights. “The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account.” The first step of accountability isn’t prosecutions. Rather, we need a national Truth Commission to lead a process of soul searching and national cleansing.

US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Baseline Maneuvers - New York Times editorial

In an act of common sense and foresight, troops deploying overseas will now undergo computerized neurological screening before they leave. The aim is to have a baseline measurement of a soldier’s brain function in case she or he is wounded. Since a battlefield injury in Afghanistan or Iraq is likely to involve a roadside bomb and a traumatized brain, anything that can improve the diagnosis and treatment of such injuries, and preserve a soldier’s mental health, is highly welcome.

The Knock on the Door - George Will, Washington Post opinion

"The curtains pull away. They come to the door. And they know. They always know." -- Maj. Steve Beck. Sometimes Beck would linger in his vehicle in front of an American home, like that of the parents of Lance Cpl. Kyle Burns in Laramie, Wyo. Beck knew that, as Jim Sheeler writes, every second he waited "was one more tick of his wristwatch that, for the family inside the house, everything remained the same."

Welcome Back, Veterans - Keane and O'Hanlon, Washington Times opinion

After World War II, some 10 million Americans in arms came home to a grateful nation. Together with a citizenry steeled by the sacrifices of wartime economic conditions and guided by a can-do spirit and the newfound wonders of 20th-century industrial methods, they built the most prosperous nation the world had ever seen. Tom Brokaw was right to call them the greatest generation. Today's veterans are beginning to return from wartime theaters in Iraq and Afghanistan, too. But of course, everything is different now. Relatively modest in numbers, they do not define a whole generation the way World War II veterans did. In fact, never has this country asked so much of so few for so long, while the rest of us have generally continued on with our lives as before. These veterans' transition to civilian life is much more gradual. Like the case in Korea and even more so in Vietnam, the cause they pursue abroad is not as universally accepted by their fellow Americans (though, thankfully, the overwhelming majority of Americans are grateful to individual servicemen and -women for their personal sacrifice). Perhaps most of all, the economy to which these patriots return is not as able to provide them with needed jobs.

Virginia Weighs Future of Historic Fort - Associated Press

Fort Monroe, a Union oasis where fugitive slaves flocked during the Civil War, will return to Virginia’s control in 2011 when the Army pulls out, and historians are trying to protect the future of the so-called Freedom Fortress. Many slave descendants trace the arrival of slavery in the United States in 1619 to Old Point Comfort, the hatchet-shaped peninsula where Fort Monroe sits, and where slavery would be ushered into its final stages nearly 250 years later. Some want to see the fort become a national park. A state-appointed authority on Monday presented a reuse plan to Gov. Tim Kaine that proposes preservation and strict limits on new development.

AUSTRALIAN DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

Gen Y Set to Fight Next War - Patrick Walters, The Australian

When Peter Leahy joined the Australian Army 37 years ago, our soldiers were highly proficient in counterinsurgency warfare. Coming out of the New Guinea campaign in World War II, the army had been engaged continuously in unconventional conflict, including the Malayan emergency in the 1950s and confrontation with Indonesia in the early 1960s, followed by Vietnam. Nearly four decades on, the army is back in the counterinsurgency game in Afghanistan, acquiring new war-fighting skills. Army planners are now writing a new counterinsurgency doctrine that embraces a wholly different battlefield to that experienced in the jungles of South Vietnam. Lieutenant-General Leahy, 55, retired from the army on Thursday as the longest serving army chief since Harry Chauvel 80 years ago. But unlike Chauvel, who stepped down in 1930 at the onset of the Depression, leaving a budget-starved permanent land force of barely 1500 men, Leahy is leaving when the army is flourishing and in the middle of a 10-year, $10 billion rebuilding program.

UNITED NATIONS

Rights Official Raised Volume on Issues - Marlise Simons, New York Times

She has been doing a job with a mandate that many would call impossible: to safeguard human rights around the globe. Yet as Louise Arbour steps down after four years as the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, she is not entirely pessimistic. True, she has no illusions that human rights abuses are on the wane. She also says plainly that the 47 members of the United Nations Human Rights Council often use it as a forum for pushing national or regional interests rather than defending people against assorted horrors. Nonetheless, Ms. Arbour, 61, a former Supreme Court judge in Canada and, before that, the chief prosecutor of the United Nations tribunals for war crimes in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, said she saw some progress.

AFRICA

South African President Meets with Mugabe - Voice of America

South African President Thabo Mbeki has met with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to try to help end Zimbabwe's political crisis. Mr. Mbeki also met Saturday with leaders of a breakaway faction of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Saturday, however the main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, declined to participate in the meeting. A spokesman for the opposition said the party is waiting for the African Union to join the mediation efforts. The MDC has criticized Mr. Mbeki's mediation bid as being biased in favor of President Mugabe.

Girls Raped at Mugabe Torture Camps - Douglas Marle, The Times

Dozens of teenage girls have been made pregnant after being taken into the bush and raped in torture camps by President Robert Mugabe’s youth militia operating near Mudzi, a town 100 miles northeast of Harare, human rights workers allege. Amid the continuing chaos, there are as yet no clear statistics, but the sharp rise in teenage pregnancies seems almost certain to have been repeated elsewhere in rural districts. Some of the victims will have contracted HIV-Aids, which has ravaged Zimbabwe for years and helped reduce average life expectancy to 34 for women, the lowest in the world.

Explosion Kills Somali Official - Associated Press

An explosion killed a Somali official, his wife and four other people on Saturday in Mogadishu, witnesses and officials said. In a separate attack, Islamist rebels said they had ambushed a convoy of Ethiopian troops allied to Somalia’s shaky transitional government, but details on the number of casualties were not immediately known.

AMERICAS

Colombian Officials Recount Rescue Plan - Juan Forero, Washington Post

Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told a special team of intelligence agents assigned with drawing up a hostage rescue operation to be inventive and bold. The country's largest rebel group held more than 700 hostages throughout the vast jungle, and Santos knew that the insurgents would have the advantage in the face of a conventional rescue. Other army rescues had failed miserably, with guerrillas immediately shooting their captives dead as military helicopters approached. The agents devised a complex operation that on Wednesday tricked the rebels into handing over their four most prized hostages, including three Americans, along with 11 other prisoners. Since then, attention has focused on how Colombian intelligence officers hatched a ruse with no apparent precedent and what its success says about the internal disorder in what was once Latin America's most powerful rebel group.

Daring Sting Freed Colombian Hostages - Tony Allen-Mills, The Times

There was one awful moment when General Freddy Padilla de Leon, Colombia’s most senior military officer, feared that months of secret planning to free Ingrid Betancourt from six years of jungle misery had been lost to a guerrilla answering the call of nature. Padilla’s troops were in position along the Apaporis River, deep in the wilderness of Guaviare province, 400 miles southeast of Bogota. Weeks earlier, Colombian special forces had infiltrated the region and spotted three American and two Colombian hostages bathing in the river as their captors watched. Outmanned and at that point uncertain about the whereabouts of the other hostages, the soldiers kept their distance. With the help of US intelligence agents, the Colombians later planted video and motion-sensor devices at several points along the river.

The End of FARC - Los Angeles Times editorial

The Colombian military's spectacular rescue of 15 hostages Wednesday, including Franco-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt and three American military contractors, will go down in history as a marvel of military cunning and brilliant execution. Most noteworthy is that the soldiers, disguised as rebels, duped the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia into turning the hostages over without bloodshed. Colombia rejoiced as did France, where freeing Betancourt -- a former Colombian legislator with dual citizenship -- had become a cause celebre. The faces of the American contractors -- Keith Stansell, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes -- are less well known, but their freedom brings joy to all who prayed for their release during five years of captivity. The end appears to be near for the FARC, and not a moment too soon.

`The Country is Turning the Corner' - Frida Ghitis, Miami Herald opinion

When I was growing up in Colombia many years ago, kidnappings were already becoming common occurrences. The prospect of captivity was terrifying, even if the news of acquaintances and their families falling into that dreaded purgatory became less and less rare. The daring rescue last week of hostages held by Colombian rebels marks a milestone in Colombia's transformation, a transformation the Colombian people had already recognized. Now, the rest of the world should acknowledge Colombia's imperfect, but no less miraculous turnaround.

Reporters Risk Lives in Mexico - Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times

In many ways, Mexico's democratic evolution has afforded the news media greater freedom than at any time in modern history. But at the same time, reporters are working on a battlefield: Mexico is considered the most dangerous Latin American nation in which to be a journalist, and one of the riskiest in the world. "Every day it's more difficult to practice journalism in Mexico, especially from the middle of a war between the government and narcos," said Ricardo Ravelo, a reporter at the national weekly magazine Proceso who covers drug trafficking. "We are in a no man's land."

ASIA PACIFIC

Bush 'Concern' at N. Korea Issues - BBC News

US President George W Bush has said he remains concerned about North Korea's alleged enrichment of uranium and other security issues. But, speaking after talks with Japanese PM Yasuo Fukuda ahead of Monday's G8 summit in Japan, he acknowledged North Korea had addressed some concerns.

Dalai Lama's Envoys Disappointed - Jill Drew, Washington Post

Envoys for the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, said Saturday that their meetings with Chinese officials in the past week were so disappointing that they could not even get the Chinese to agree to issue a joint statement committing both sides to further talks. Tibet advocates are now urging leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations to raise concerns about the fate of Tibetans who participated in widespread protests this spring against Chinese rule with Chinese President Hu Jintao at an outreach meeting in Hokkaido, Japan, in the coming week.

MIDDLE EAST

Israel Ready to Toughen Punishments - Martin Chulov, The Australian

Israeli MPs are to consider sharply toughening punitive measures against the families of Jerusalem Arabs who carry out terror attacks, reigniting debate over collective punishment. The Jewish state's Attorney-General, Menachem Mazuz, said there was nothing legally blocking the calls to demolish the family home of Hossam Dawiath, the man responsible for the bulldozer rampage on Wednesday, which police have called a terror attack. While ruling such a move legal, Mr Mazuz foreshadowed a judicial challenge to that and other planned demolitions, including on the home of terrorist Alaa Abu Dheim, who shot dead eight students inside a Jewish seminary in March.

Does the Conflict Between Palestinians, Israelis Still Matter? - Baltimore Sun

That's the question University of Maryland scholar and Brookings Institution fellow Shibley Telhami set out to answer through an analysis of Arab public opinion surveys he conducted in six countries with Zogby International. The countries were Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

Blast One Sign of Yemen's Troubles - Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times

A brutal insurgency rages in the northern highlands. Separatist discontent grows in the south. Al Qaeda is moving in, targeting oil facilities and foreigners as well as ordinary Yemenis. In the latest unrest, at least five people were killed Saturday in an explosion at a post office in the northern town of Sadah, one of numerous hot spots in this Arabian Peninsula country of 23 million. Observers fear that Yemen is descending into chaos -- a prediction made more dire by its proximity to a critical choke point through which one of every 25 barrels of the world's daily oil output passes en route to the United States and Europe.

WORLD

G-8's Relevance is Unclear - Don Lee, Los Angeles Times

As leaders of the world's major developed nations meet this week in a tranquil mountain resort in Japan, their gathering probably will be overshadowed by the turbulent global economy and deepening unrest over soaring oil and food prices. And the question on many minds is whether the Group of 8 leaders will be able to do anything about it.

Man-Made Hunger - New York Times editorial

Thirty countries have already seen food riots this year. The ever higher cost of food could push tens of millions of people into abject poverty and starvation. To a large degree, this crisis is man-made - the result of misguided energy and farm policies. When President Bush and other heads of state of the Group of 8 leading industrial nations meet in Japan this week, they must accept their full share of responsibility and lay out clearly what they will do to address this crisis. To start, they must live up to their 2005 commitment to vastly increase aid to the poorest countries. And they must push other wealthy countries, like those in the Middle East, to help too. That will not be enough. They must also commit to reduce, or even better, do away with their most egregious agricultural and energy subsidies, which contribute to the spread of hunger throughout the world.

Bloc-Buster Idea: Make It The G-3 - Jim Hoagland, Washington Post opinion

John McCain would kick Russia out of the Group of Eight economic powers that meet in Japan this week. But this is no time to think small. The G-8 leaders themselves should declare surrender and disband their high-profile huddle on the state of the world. Think of it as global shock therapy: Using the July 7-9 summit on Hokkaido Island to abandon the bloated, unwieldy G-8 format would be a first step toward acknowledging and rethinking -- at the highest level -- these important international realities.

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.