IRAQ

Sunni Insurgents Targeted - Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post

US and Iraqi forces launched a new offensive in the restive province of Diyala, targeting Sunni insurgents who have turned lush farmlands northeast of Baghdad into one of the toughest regions to pacify since the US-led invasion. On Tuesday morning, the Iraqi military tightened security around Baqubah, the provincial capital, imposing an indefinite vehicle curfew. Iraqi soldiers and police searched houses but faced no resistance, Iraqi military officials said. The Iraqi government is hoping to build upon previous offensives in the southern cities of Basra and Amarah and the northern city of Mosul, which US and Iraqi officials have said show that Iraq's security forces are prepared to handle security responsibilities on their own.

Iraqi Army Seeks Out Insurgents - Campbell Robertson, New York Times

The Iraqi Army began a major operation on Tuesday to root out insurgents from Diyala Province, where suicide attacks and roadside bombings are still common in the area’s untamed corners, despite an overall drop in violence around Iraq. Before dawn, the Iraqi Army and police forces, backed by the American military, fanned out across the province, north and east of Baghdad, searching for weapons caches and arresting suspected insurgents in villages, farms and violence-ravaged cities. The drive is the fifth in recent months aimed at further reducing violence and extending the reach of both the Iraqi Army and the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. While American troops and aircraft took part, Iraqi soldiers were in the lead as part of the drive for the nation to defend itself and, eventually, to allow American troops to withdraw.

Iraq Army Flexes its Muscle - Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times

The Iraqi government's most ambitious effort yet to assert its authority over long-troubled parts of the country began Tuesday with polite requests to search homes in and near this capital of Diyala province. It was a modest and carefully prepared launch of a campaign that Iraqi commanders say will make use of nearly 30,000 Iraqi troops and eventually stretch across a region east of Baghdad that is roughly the size of Maryland. The government's previous crackdowns focused on individual cities. Iraqi soldiers and national police encountered no resistance as they knocked on doors in Baqubah and the town of Khan Bani Saad, about 15 miles south. But this is well-trod ground for the Iraqi forces and their US counterparts, who have conducted repeated operations in the area since last year.

Diyala Operation Targets al Qaeda - Selcan Hacaoglu, Associated Press

US and Iraqi forces launched a new operation Tuesday aimed at clearing al Qaeda in Iraq from the volatile Diyala province, considered the last major insurgent safe haven near the capital. New checkpoints went up across the province - one of the hardest areas to control since the US-led war began in March 2003 - and authorities banned unofficial traffic as troops searched for insurgents around the provincial capital of Baqouba, according to witnesses. Many residents said they were afraid to leave their houses. The US-backed Iraqi military is hoping to build on recent security gains from similar offensives against Sunni insurgents in the northern city of Mosul and Shi'ite militiamen in Baghdad and the southern cities of Basra and Amarah.

Love, Blackmail and Rape - Deborah Haynes, The Times

A woman pretending to be pregnant walks up to a hospital in one of Iraq’s most dangerous regions and blows herself up. Minutes later a man, also laden with explosives, attacks the rescue workers who rushed to the scene in Diyala province, north of Baghdad. Thirty-two people are killed and 52 wounded. The co-ordinated bombings that ripped through the town of Baladruz in May are one of twelve attacks involving thirteen women suicide bombers to strike Diyala so far this year - a huge jump, signalling a new tactic by insurgents. US officials suspect that al-Qaeda has built a network of cells that recruit women and turn them into killers. Women are the perfect weapon in a country where it is frowned upon culturally for a man even to approach a woman without her husband or father in tow, let alone frisk her for weapons at one of the many checkpoints that are the bombers’ favourite targets. In addition, it is easy to hide a vest packed with explosives under the traditional Islamic robes worn by women in Iraq without drawing suspicion.

SOI Made Iraq Safer. What Now? - Tom Peter, Christian Science Monitor

In a month of patrolling Baghdad, US Army Capt. Ryan Williams has seen the best and the worst of the Sons of Iraq (SOI) – the community policing group instrumental in restoring calm here. When a child went missing, SOI members identified and helped detain his kidnappers. But another SOI group also reportedly took over a gas station "for security reasons" and sold the fuel on the black market. Other problems include infighting among SOI units, with the homegrown Iraqi lawmen giving US forces bogus tips about their rivals' supposed criminal activity. "We learned pretty quick that they were just trying to get us to fight their battles," says Captain Williams, a Newport Beach, Calif., native. These issues indicate that the shelf life of SOI groups is finite. US and Iraqi officials are now figuring out what to do next with the 103,000 SOI members in Iraq. Many officials worry that if the SOI units are dissolved without transitioning members into steady employment, Baghdad's security will pay the price.

Auditor: Rebuilding Funding Should Cease - Peter Spiegel, Los Angeles Times

Rising production and skyrocketing prices could more than double the Iraqi government's expected bonanza in oil revenue this year, leading a top US government auditor to call for an end to American funding of Iraqi reconstruction projects. The Iraqi government had projected 2008 oil revenue of about $35 billion. But a US report to be issued today by the special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction will say that oil production in the second quarter of the year hit 2.43 million barrels per day, a post-invasion record.

Security Fears Limit Tourism Growth - Christopher Torchia, Associated Press

Someone had fun tinkering with the airline board at the old, unused terminal at Baghdad International Airport. It advertises a "special flight" on Japan Airlines from Basra to Sydney, Australia, while a flight from Baghdad to Mexico City is "delayed." In reality, Iraq has been a no-go zone for most civilian aircraft for almost two decades. First, there were UN sanctions after Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Then US-led forces toppled the dictator in 2003, and violence engulfed the country. Yet now that insurgent attacks and sectarian bloodshed have ebbed over the past year, Iraq's government is beginning to promote tourism. It will be a tough sell - and even if officials can grab the attention of the adventuresome, Iraq's tourism facilities are shabby.

IOC Lifts Ban on Iraq - Amit R. Paley, Washington Post

Two Iraqi athletes will be allowed to participate in the Beijing Olympics after a last-minute pledge by the Iraqi government Tuesday not to interfere politically in the country's Olympic movement. The agreement reversed a decision last week by the International Olympic Committee to ban Iraq from competing because of allegations that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had compromised the independence of the national Olympic committee. The government dissolved the panel in May and replaced it with a new group headed by a cabinet minister. But after negotiations between Iraqi officials and the international committee at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, the government agreed to reestablish an independent committee and hold transparent elections for it by November, Olympic officials said.

Olympic Reprieve - Washington Post editorial

The International Olympic Committee partly reversed its ban on Iraq yesterday, grudgingly allowing two of the country's seven athletes to enter the upcoming Games in Beijing. The concession, an IOC spokesman said, was based on a promise by the Iraqi government to resolve a dispute over its national Olympic committee by holding free elections for its members under IOC observation. The eleventh-hour reprieve is good news for the two track and field competitors, including 21-year-old sprinter Dana Hussein Abdul Razzaq, the only woman on Iraq's team. But it's difficult to accept that five other Iraqi athletes, including would-be competitors in archery, judo, rowing and weightlifting, remain banned by bureaucratic fiat - and even harder to stomach is the IOC's pretense of enforcing impartial rules and democratic principles.

Is Victory in Iraq Worth the Damage? - Los Angeles Times online debate

Today's question: Would victory in Iraq be worth the war's cost? Previously, Cirincione and Rivkin debated whether declining violence in Iraq signals a major turnaround for US forces.

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS

Pakistan Links With Militants - Mazzetti and Schmitt, New York Times

A top Central Intelligence Agency official traveled secretly to Islamabad this month to confront Pakistan’s most senior officials with new information about ties between the country’s powerful spy service and militants operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas, according to American military and intelligence officials. The CIA emissary presented evidence showing that members of the spy service had deepened their ties with some militant groups that were responsible for a surge of violence in Afghanistan, possibly including the suicide bombing this month of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the officials said. The decision to confront Pakistan with what the officials described as a new CIA assessment of the spy service’s activities seemed to be the bluntest American warning to Pakistan since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks about the ties between the spy service and Islamic militants.

US Wary of Pakistani Appeal - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post

Bush administration officials have responded with skepticism to an appeal by visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani for increased intelligence cooperation, which he said would help his country attack militant groups and terrorist encampments near its border with Afghanistan. "The problem from our perspective has not been an absence of information going into the Pakistani government," said one Bush administration official familiar with discussions this week between the two governments. "It's an absence of action." Both governments stressed that their meetings have been cordial, and public statements underlined a shared commitment to counterterrorism.

Bush Blasted by Pakistan PM - Bruce Loudon, The Australian

Pakistan's Prime Minister lashed out at George W. Bush during talks in Washington yesterday, "reproaching" the US President over a US Hellfire drone missile strike inside Pakistani territory only hours before the leaders met. The missile strike that reportedly killed an al-Qa'ida chemical and biological weapons expert came hours before new Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met Mr Bush and warned him not to launch "unilateral" strikes on Pakistani soil. Speaking immediately after his meeting with the US President, Mr Gilani said: "This action should not have been taken by the United States. It's our job because we are fighting the war for ourselves." If the missile strike was proven to have been a US operation, it would be a violation of Pakistani sovereignty, he said.

A Convergence of Enemies - Olivia Ward, Toronto Star

As the battle against the Taliban rages in Afghanistan, fingers are pointed increasingly across the border to Pakistan, where growing numbers of militants have found sanctuary. Concerns about Pakistan's willingness to crack down on the fighters were played down by US President George W. Bush when he met with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani this week. But an American missile attack aimed at militants in the Pakistani border town of Azam Warsak underscored the tacit mistrust of Pakistan's control over its lawless frontier region. And it fuelled accusations that the Pakistani spy service is conducting a secret proxy war against Afghanistan by arming and training the Taliban.

Rivalry to Taliban 'Not Welcome' - Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times

The Bush administration's senior official for South Asia said Tuesday that a reported buildup of the US-backed Northern Alliance's forces in Afghanistan to counter the Taliban's expanding influence is "not welcome" and that "ethnic politics" should not impede the central government's efforts to unite the country. Although Richard A. Boucher described the reports as "chatter" by South Asian media and Afghan politicians, he said the buildup of any ethnic group at the expense of the Kabul government is worrisome.

Taliban's War of Words - Aunohita Mojumdar, Christian Science Monitor

Arbitrary detentions by United States forces in Afghanistan and the aerial bombardment by the international forces has not only increased public discontent, it has also given the Taliban opportunities to cash in on a sophisticated media strategy, observers say. The International Crisis Group (ICG) has pointed to the dangers of the Taliban's successful propaganda in a July 24 report and argues that the result is "weakening public support for nation building, even though few actively support the Taliban." While Taliban propaganda is often rudimentary and crude, the ICG report says, the Taliban is adept at exploiting local disenfranchisement. Its use of local languages and traditional cultural medium like songs and poems give it greater outreach than that of international organizations and the government. The ICG report also points out that the Taliban has also begun using DVDs and photographs, which it had earlier prohibited.

IRAN

Strike on Iran Still Possible - Richter and Barnes, Los Angeles Times

Bush administration officials reassured Israel's defense minister this week that the United States has not abandoned all possibility of a military attack on Iran, despite widespread Israeli concern that Washington has begun softening its position toward Tehran. In meetings Monday and Tuesday, administration officials told Defense Minister Ehud Barak that the option of attacking Iran over its nuclear program remains on the table, though US officials are primarily seeking a diplomatic solution. At the same time, U.S. officials acknowledged that there is a rare divergence in the US and Israeli approaches, with Israelis emphasizing the possibility of a military response out of concern that Tehran may soon have the know-how for building a nuclear bomb.

Iran’s Leader Blames US and Its Allies for Global Ills - Associated Press

Iran’s president on Tuesday blamed the United States and other “big powers” for global ills like nuclear proliferation and AIDS, and he accused them of exploiting the United Nations for their own gain and the developing world’s loss. But, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, time was on the side of the poor countries. “The big powers are going down,” he said at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Nonaligned Movement in Tehran. “They have come to the end of their power, and the world is on the verge of entering a new, promising era.” The movement is made up of such diverse members as Cuba, Jamaica and India, and it depicts itself as independent. But most of the more than 100 member nations share a critical view of the United States and the developed world in general.

Middle East Going MAD? - Ariel Cohen, Washington Times opinion

The forthcoming Russian anti-aircraft system in Iran may precipitate an early Israeli strike - or promote the posture of mutually assured destruction (MAD) between Israel and Iran. Both options look bad. In March 2009, Russia will deploy modern S-300 long-range anti-aircraft missiles in Iran. By June 2009, they will become fully operational, as Iranian teams finish training with Russian instructors, according to US and Russian sources. Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Senate, visited Washington last week. He said Iran is likely to produce a nuclear bomb "soon." Given the blood-curdling rhetoric of its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it is feared that Iran may use it against Israel.

THE LONG WAR

Gitmo Prosecution Doesn't Rest - Carol Williams, Los Angeles Times

At the war crimes court here, the prosecution never rests. Government lawyers announced Tuesday that they had finished presenting their case against Salim Ahmed Hamdan, whom they have portrayed as a trusted cog in the Al Qaeda machinery. Hamdan was a driver for Osama bin Laden. But Justice Department lawyer John Murphy told the court that he didn't want to rest until the military judge in the case decided whether he could call one more federal agent to the stand. Pentagon counterintelligence agent Robert McFadden is expected to testify that in a May 17, 2003, interrogation, Hamdan said he had once sworn an oath of loyalty to Bin Laden. It is the only time in more than 40 known interrogations that Hamdan allegedly made that admission.

How Terrorist Groups End - Jones and Libicki, Rand

All terrorist groups eventually end. But how do they end? The evidence since 1968 indicates that most groups have ended because (1) they joined the political process (43 percent) or (2) local police and intelligence agencies arrested or killed key members (40 percent). Military force has rarely been the primary reason for the end of terrorist groups, and few groups within this time frame have achieved victory. This has significant implications for dealing with al Qa'ida and suggests fundamentally rethinking post-9/11 US counterterrorism strategy: Policymakers need to understand where to prioritize their efforts with limited resources and attention. The authors report that religious terrorist groups take longer to eliminate than other groups and rarely achieve their objectives. The largest groups achieve their goals more often and last longer than the smallest ones do. Finally, groups from upper-income countries are more likely to be left-wing or nationalist and less likely to have religion as their motivation. The authors conclude that policing and intelligence, rather than military force, should form the backbone of US efforts against al Qa'ida. And US policymakers should end the use of the phrase “war on terrorism” since there is no battlefield solution to defeating al Qa'ida.

From Gitmo to Miranda - Debra Burlingame, Wall Street Journal opinion

The poem, "To My Captive Lawyer, Miranda," was written by Abdullah Saleh Al-Ajmi while he was a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. No doubt, it would have given the former detainee, who was released in 2005, immense satisfaction to know that his last earthly deed was referenced in Justice Antonin Scalia's dissenting opinion in Boumediene v. Bush. That's the recent Supreme Court decision that gave Guantanamo detainees the constitutional right to challenge, in habeas corpus proceedings, whether they were properly classified by the military as enemy combatants. Al-Ajmi, a 29-year-old Kuwaiti, blew himself up in one of several coordinated suicide attacks on Iraqi security forces in Mosul this year. Originally reported to have participated in an April attack that killed six Iraqi policemen, a recent martyrdom video published on a password-protected al Qaeda Web site indicates that Al-Ajmi carried out the March 23 attack on an Iraqi army compound in Mosul.

Strategy Against Al-Qaeda Faulted - Joby Warrick, Washington Post

The Bush administration's terrorism-fighting strategy has not significantly undermined al-Qaeda's capabilities, according to a major new study that argues the struggle against terrorism is better waged by law enforcement agencies than by armies. The study by the nonpartisan Rand Corp. also contends that the administration committed a fundamental error in portraying the conflict with al-Qaeda as a "war on terrorism." The phrase falsely suggests that there can be a battlefield solution to terrorism, and symbolically conveys warrior status on terrorists, it said. "Terrorists should be perceived and described as criminals, not holy warriors," authors Seth Jones and Martin Libicki write in "How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al-Qaeda," a 200-page volume released yesterday. But the authors contend that al-Qaeda has sabotaged itself by creating ever greater numbers of enemies while not broadening its base of support. "Al-Qaeda's probability of success in actually overthrowing any government is close to zero," the report states.

Al-Qaeda's Creep into North Africa - Amir Taheri, The Times opinion

On Monday the Iraqi Army launched a large-scale offensive in Diyala north of Baghdad to wipe out al-Qaeda's last remaining hideouts in the country. Since the tide of the war turned last winter, thousands of al-Qaeda jihadists have fled Iraq. Some returned home and resumed normal life. Others, looking for new places to pursue their holy war against “Zionists and Crusaders”, ended up in Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Thailand and helped to reignite the fires of jihad. However, North Africa appears to have attracted the largest number of returnees. According to the buzz in jihadist circles, confirmed by officials and analysts, a new arc of terror is taking shape in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania - the five countries of the so-called Arab Maghreb in North Africa.

US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Schwartz Faces More Questions - Julian Barnes, Los Angeles Times

The Bush administration's nominee to become the next head of the Air Force is facing trouble in the Senate and will undergo an unusual second round of closed-door questioning today. Air Force Gen. Norton A. Schwartz is being called before the Senate Armed Services Committee for a second classified session focused on testimony he gave after the initial invasion of Iraq, said military and congressional staff members. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before the committee in another secret session Tuesday evening, attempting to press the case for Schwartz.

Will Extra Cash Improve Readiness? - Winslow Wheeler, United Press International

Since early 2001, the U.S. Air Force has received more than $200 billion above and beyond what was then planned for it in the medium-term future. This $200 billion "plus-up" does not include any of the approximate $80 billion that the Air Force has received to support its operations in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Has this extra money been put to good use? Is today's Air Force any larger? Is its equipment inventory more modern? Is it more ready to fight?

Scolding Donald Rumsfeld - Tom Ricks, Washington Post

How does an Army chief of staff chew out his boss, the defense secretary? Gen. Eric K. Shinseki shows how it's done in this letter written to Donald H. Rumsfeld just before Shinseki stepped down in June 2003. During the run-up to the war, the general told Congress that more troops would be needed to secure Iraq, which earned him a famously public rebuke by then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz. Shinseki was said to still be angry about the dust-up when he retired. The general's letter may be more history than news at this point, but its criticism of the way Rumsfeld's office worked does shed some additional light on the development of the mess in Iraq. And Shinseki's comments are particularly interesting because he has maintained an almost total silence in the five years since his retirement. This may be the most we ever learn about his perspective.

AFRICA

Zimbabwe Crisis Talks Adjourn - Christian Science Monitor

It's been a little more than one week since President Robert Mugabe shook the hand of his bitter rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, in what was billed as a historic first step toward a power-sharing government for Zimbabwe. But negotiations - which are closed to the media - were adjourned on Tuesday amid reports that the two teams could not agree who would sit at the top of a unity government. Lead mediator and South African President Thabo Mbeki insisted that the talks had not broken down, but the antagonism between Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and Mr. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is so strong on such a wide array of issues that negotiators should prepare for a protracted struggle, experts say.

School Attacks Shock Kenya - Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times

In a country where education is still considered a privilege and children beg parents to attend school, Kenyans have been shocked by the latest violence to rock their East African nation: students trying to burn down their schools. An unprecedented wave of student strikes and riots has closed about 250 high schools over the last month. There have been arson attacks at about half of them. Scores of teenagers have been arrested and thousands more sent home. One student died in a dormitory blaze. "We don't understand this sudden attachment to burning," said Karega Mutahi, the Education Ministry's permanent secretary. Students cite poor facilities, overcrowding, abusive administrators and the schools' failure to prepare them for national graduation exams.

AMERICAS

Drug Cartels Take Barbarous Turn - Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post

In the past, cartels have killed their rivals, as well as police and public officials. Occasionally even family members have been slain. Yet in recent weeks, an increasing number of innocent bystanders have been gunned down by suspected drug cartel hit men here in Sinaloa, a cartel stronghold on Mexico's Pacific coast, as well as in the brutally contested drug corridors along the US border. In most instances, investigators believe, the victims were merely at the wrong place at the wrong time, gunned down by assassins who were once known for their precision but have now taken to wildly spraying bullets. The effect of the carnage has been widespread terror and a society afraid to demand justice.

Muting the Music of Mayhem - Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times

Since drug traffickers set foot in Tijuana, Mexican musicians have strummed behind, chronicling their exploits in the traditional polka-based rhythms of the corrido. The sub-genre has been a soundtrack for the city, with cover bands like Calor Norteña sprinkling their repertoires with tunes about the city's most feared gunmen. But with drug war violence and kidnappings escalating, the narcocorridos are losing their swagger. Radio stations have stopped playing the songs and promoters have banned the music from many public events. Nightclub owners ask bands to turn down narcocorrido requests. At the cavernous Las Pulgas nightclub downtown, managers banned the music two months ago - a decision tantamount to West Hollywood's Whisky A Go-Go banning heavy metal hair bands in the 1980s.

ASIA PACIFIC

Bush Meets 5 Dissidents From China - Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times

President Bush held private talks with five prominent Chinese dissidents on Tuesday, and urged China’s foreign minister to relax restrictions on human rights, as part of an intensifying White House effort to put pressure on Beijing before Mr. Bush travels there in a little over a week for the summer Olympic Games. Mr. Bush received the dissidents - Harry Wu, Wei Jingsheng, Rebiya Kadeer, Sasha Gong and Bob Fu - in the White House residence, where he “assured them that he will carry the message of freedom as he travels to Beijing,” said his press secretary, Dana Perino. Earlier, Mr. Bush dropped in on a meeting between his national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, and China’s foreign minister, Yang Jiechi. The back-to-back meetings came a week before Mr. Bush leaves for an Asia trip that will include the Olympics.

China Tightens Tibet Security for Olympics - Jane Macartney, The Times

China has announced a sweeping security operation in Lhasa to ensure no anti-Chinese unrest rocks the Tibetan capital during the Beijing Olympic Games in just 10 days. After an emergency meeting at the weekend, the Tibet authorities on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of all holidays for police and all other security personnel until after the August 8-24 Games. Security in Lhasa has been tight, with paramilitary People’s Armed Police patrolling the streets, since a deadly riot on March 14 when angry Tibetans rampaged through the town setting fire to shops and attacking ethnic Han Chinese. A total of 22 people were killed, mostly Han residents who appeared to have been targeted in a rare outburst of ethnic violence.

Trouble in Paradise - Wall Street Journal editorial

In their travels round the globe, US Secretaries of State rarely make it as far as the South Pacific. Yet Condoleezza Rice found herself in Samoa over the weekend, the first Secretary of State to land there since George Shultz paid a visit in 1988. On her agenda: the political strife in the island nation of Fiji. Fiji has had so many coups recently - four in the past 20 years - that's it is better known for its political instability than for its beautiful beaches. Now, the country's military ruler is reneging on his promise to hold elections. In her meeting with Pacific foreign ministers in Samoa Saturday, Ms. Rice called for a return to democracy. "I will try to lend my voice to a very strong regional effort," she said. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama took power in a bloodless military coup in 2006 on the pretext of ridding the island of "racism" and "corruption." If only.

EUROPE

Karadzic Extradited to The Hague - David Charter, The Times

Radovan Karadzic arrived this morning at the UN detention centre in the The Hague where he will face war crimes charges after being whisked out of Belgrade in the dead of night following a violent demonstration in Serbia's capital against his extradition. Dr Karadzic, 63, left the fortified courthouse in Belgrade in a four-car convoy at 3.45am, flying overnight in a Serbian government jet to Rotterdam airport, from where he was transferred by helicopter to the compound for war crime defendants on the Dutch coast. He will today be read his rights and undergo a medical examination and will appear - now shorn of the long beard his grew for his disguise as a New Age healer - within days in a courtroom to be read the 11 charges against him.

Karadzic Extradited to The Hague - Peter Finn, Washington Post

Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader facing genocide and other charges for his role in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, was flown here early Wednesday to face a UNwar crimes tribunal after the Serbian government ordered his extradition, officials in Belgrade said. Karadzic was captured last week after more than a decade in hiding and had been jailed in Belgrade while a Serbian war crimes court awaited a mailed appeal challenging his transfer. But no legal papers arrived by Tuesday evening, and the Serbian justice ministry issued a decree that allowed his handover to the Netherlands.

Karadzic Arrives in Hague for Trial - Simons and Bilefsky, New York Times

Long one of the most-wanted fugitives in the world, Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader blamed for inciting his followers to join him in a brutal ethnic war, was delivered Wednesday to a prison cell in The Hague for eventual trial by a United Nations war crimes tribunal. Mr. Karadzic, who was arrested in Serbia last week, was taken from the Belgrade war crimes court at roughly 3:45 a.m., escorted by masked Serbian security officers, according to the Serbian war crimes prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic. Mr. Karadzic’s plane landed in Rotterdam, not far from The Hague, about two hours later. He was then transferred by helicopter to the Scheveningen penitentiary in The Hague, where the United Nations has its own modern cellblock.

A Blast, a Warning - Ernesto Londoño, Washington Post

The Sunday evening attack, the deadliest in Turkey since 2004, killed 17 people, wounded nearly 150 and further unsettled a country already on edge. Turks are grimly watching the progress of two legal cases that illustrate the perilous rift between secular Turks and the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party, which broadened its mandate in elections last year. On Monday, Turkey's chief prosecutor told the country's top court that the ruling party should be disbanded and many of its members, including the prime minister, should lose their seats in parliament. Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya argued that Justice and Development had injected Islam into policymaking in violation of the constitution. If seven of the high court's 11 jurists agree, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will have to step down.

MIDDLE EAST

Rights Group Reports Torture - Linda Gradstein, Washington Post

Human Rights Watch says Palestinian security forces in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are responsible for human rights abuses including arbitrary arrests and torture, in a report planned for release on Wednesday. "The political struggle between Hamas and Fatah has resulted in serious human rights violations in Gaza and the West Bank over the past year," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch, a US-based advocacy group. "Security forces from both sides have targeted activists of the other party. Their abusive behavior has victimized Palestinians from all walks of life and weakened the rule of law."

Israelis Kill Palestinian Boy - Isabel Kershner, New York Times

A Palestinian boy was shot and killed by Israeli security forces on Tuesday during a demonstration against Israel’s security barrier near the West Bank village of Naalin, Palestinian witnesses said. Residents of Naalin said the boy, Ahmad Hussam Musa, 12, was hit in the head by a bullet fired by an Israeli soldier. Maj. Avital Leibovich, an Israeli Army spokeswoman, said that the military had no knowledge of the shooting but that it was waiting for the results of an autopsy. Protests in Naalin against the barrier have become increasingly violent recently. Major Leibovich said that two Israeli police officers were wounded by stones thrown by protesters on Tuesday, and that one was in danger of losing an eye. About 15 members of the security forces have been wounded in Naalin over the past two months, she said.

SOUTH ASIA

India and Pakistan in Kashmir Clash - Jeremy Page, The Times

India and Pakistan traded blame yesterday after their troops fought a 16-hour gun battle across a disputed border in Kashmir in what Delhi described as the most serious violation to date of a 2003 ceasefire agreement. It was the latest in a series of violent incidents that threaten to undermine a four-year peace process between the neighbours, which have fought three wars since independence in 1947. Both countries tested nuclear weapons in 1998. The Indian Army said that the battle began when between ten and twelve Pakistani troops crossed the line of control (LOC) between the two sides and shot dead an Indian soldier in the mountains north of Srinagar, Kashmir's capital.

EVENTS OF INTEREST

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.