In The Accidental Guerrilla, Kilcullen draws on his vast experience not only as a dedicated field researcher, but also as a soldier - he commanded an infantry company in counterinsurgency operations in East Timor in 1999. The most extensive sections of his book concentrate, naturally, on Iraq and Afghanistan (which he still sees as “winnable” with a long-term commitment), but his analysis leads him as well to smaller movements in such places as Chechnya, Thailand, Indonesia and the Horn of Africa.

--Janine di Giovanni, New York Times Book Review

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS

Pakistani Forces Kill 30 Taliban in Northwest - Voice of America. Pakistani officials say paramilitary forces backed by helicopter gunships have killed at least 30 Taliban militants, including a commander and five deputy commanders, in a northwestern district. The officials say Sunday's offensive targeted suspected Taliban bases in Lower Dir district, which is part of the Malakand division of North West Frontier Province. They say the operation began after militants opened fire on a convoy of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, wounding four soldiers.

Pakistan Rebuffs Taliban Advance - Zahid Hussain, Matthew Rosenberg and Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal. Pakistan showed signs of heeding US calls to robustly battle the Taliban as government troops, backed by helicopter gunships, clashed with militants near the Swat Valley and an official who brokered a peace deal with the insurgents was removed. The Obama administration has been talking with Pakistan's leadership in recent days to "encourage" its military not to cede more ground to the Taliban, according to senior US officials. To support the effort and bolster stability in Pakistan, the State Department is seeking to accelerate delivery of $1 billion in aid, senior US officials said. "Pakistan is in an emergency situation," Richard Holbrooke, the US special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan, said in an interview Sunday. "An argument could be made for the acceleration of the aid."

Many Reported Dead as Pakistani Army Attacks Taleban Near Swat - Zahid Hussain, The Times. Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships fought Taleban militants yesterday after strong US pressure on the Government to confront the insurgents’ advance towards the capital. The battle was raging in the Dir district, next to the Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan, where the Government signed a controversial accord with the Taleban allowing the imposition of Sharia courts. The Government threatened to revoke the agreement.

Pakistani Army Tries to Stem Taliban Advance - Ismail Khan, New York Times. Pakistani paramilitary troops assisted by helicopter gunships attacked Taliban militants in the Malakand Agency on Sunday. The offensive was the first significant action since insurgents took control of Buner, a district only about 60 miles from Islamabad, the capital, last week. The operation, in the Lower Dir district west of the Taliban-controlled Swat Valley, killed 30 militants and one paramilitary soldier, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry said.

Pakistan Kills at Least 30 Militants - Mubashir Zaidi and Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times. Pakistan launched a military operation against militants Sunday in a district that has been covered under a controversial peace deal with the Taliban, suggesting a tougher line by the government - at least temporarily. The military said at least 30 militants were killed, including a commander of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban, a Pakistani umbrella group of extremists, as armed helicopters attacked their positions in the Lower Dir district in northwestern Pakistan.

Air Assault Repels Taliban Militants - Nasir Khan, Washington Times. Pakistani security forces attacked Taliban militants with helicopter gunships Sunday in an area covered by a peace agreement that the US fears could lead to a Taliban takeover and to Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into terrorist hands. Pakistan insisted that its peace accord remained intact, even as its forces claimed to have killed up to 30 militants in Lower Dir, a district that lies between the Taliban stronghold in the Swat Valley and the Afghanistan border.

Pakistani Forces Move Against Taliban - Isaam Ahmed, Christian Science Monitor. A Pakistani military launched an operation Sunday into an area covered by a peace accord with the Taliban. The offensive underscores rising tensions between the government and militants as the Taliban in the past week have moved closer to Pakistan's capital. Pakistani forces engaged militants Sunday in the district of Lower Dir following a Taliban attack on a convoy carrying Frontier Corps paramilitary soldiers, according to the Pakistani military. One paramilitary and several militants were reported killed after fierce gun battles. Farhatullah Babar, the spokesman for Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, was quick to reassure the public that the peace-deal remains intact. But he also reiterated the government's desire "to root out the militants hell-bent on destroying the law and order situation."

In Islamabad, a Sense of Foreboding - Pamela Constable, Washington Post. Islamabad, a placid, park-filled city of 1.5 million people, was built in the 1960s as a symbol of Pakistan's modern and democratic aspirations. Its boulevards are lined with grandiose federal buildings, and its shady side streets are home to an elite class of politicians and professionals. Until several years ago, the orderly capital seemed immune to the religious violence that bedeviled the country's wilder rural fringes.

Taliban Gunmen Shooting Couple Dead for Adultery Caught on Camera - Saeed Shah, Daily Telegraph. Taliban gunmen have been filmed executing a surprised couple whom they repeatedly shot for the alleged crime of adultery. Their deaths were squalid, riddled with bullets in a field near their home by Taliban gunmen as the execution was captured on a mobile telephone. In footage which is being watched with horror by Pakistanis, the couple try to flee when they realise what is about to happen. But a gunman casually shoots the man and then the woman in the back with a burst of gunfire, leaving them bleeding in the dirt.

60 Miles From Islamabad - New York Times editorial. If the Indian Army advanced within 60 miles of Islamabad, you can bet Pakistan’s army would be fully mobilized and defending the country in pitched battles. Yet when the Taliban got that close to the capital on Friday, pushing into the key district of Buner, Pakistani authorities sent only several hundred poorly equipped and underpaid constabulary forces. On Sunday, security forces were reported to be beginning a push back. The latest advance by the Taliban is one more frightening reminder that most Pakistanis - from top civilian and military leaders to ordinary citizens - still do not fully understand the mortal threat that the militants pose to their fragile democracy. And one more reminder to Washington that it can waste no time enabling such denial.

IRAQ

Iraqi PM: Deadly US Raid Violates Security Pact - Voice of America. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says he considers a deadly US military raid in southern Iraq a crime that violated the U.S.-Iraqi security pact. Mr. Maliki demanded Sunday that US forces deliver those responsible for the raid to Iraqi authorities. Earlier, hundreds of Iraqis demonstrated against US military forces, following the late night raid that killed two people in al-Kut. The provincial governor also condemned the military operation.

Deaths in US Raid Elicit Anger in Iraq - Ernesto Londoño and Zaid Sabah, Washington Post. Iraq's prime minister on Sunday denounced a predawn American raid in southern Iraq during which two Iraqis were killed, saying his government intends to prosecute US soldiers who carried out the operation. The incident marked the first time Iraq's government has called for the prosecution of US soldiers and sets the stage for a showdown between the two countries at a time when sectarian violence appears to be spiking.

After a US Raid: 2 Iraqis Dead, Protests and Regrets - Steven Lee Meyers, New York Times. American troops killed two Iraqis on Sunday during an early morning raid in southern Iraq that set off public protests and drew a pointed complaint from Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki that the operation violated a new security agreement between Iraq and the United States. The raid was not the first violent episode involving American forces to provoke a public dispute since the security agreement took effect in January, but it quickly became the most serious test so far of the agreement’s carefully negotiated provisions.

US Raid Tests Iraq Security Pact - Charles Levinson and Nada Raad, Wall Street Journal. Iraq's prime minister demanded that American commanders turn soldiers responsible for a predawn raid on Sunday that left two dead over to Iraqi courts for possible trial, in a first test of the US-Iraqi security pact concluded last year. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement calling the raid a "crime" and said it violated the terms of the security agreement, which requires the US military to coordinate maneuvers with Iraqi counterparts. The US military said it had informed Iraqi authorities ahead of the raid. The military said the raid - in the city of Kut, about 100 miles southeast of Baghdad - targeted members of Shiite militias allegedly funded by Iran. It said US troops shot and killed one suspected weapons smuggler and detained six militants, and that a woman was killed in the crossfire.

Exceptions to Iraq Deadline Are Proposed - Rod Nordland, New York Times. The United States and Iraq will begin negotiating possible exceptions to the June 30 deadline for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraqi cities, focusing on the troubled northern city of Mosul, according to military officials. Some parts of Baghdad also will still have combat troops. Everywhere else, the withdrawal of United States combat troops from all Iraqi cities and towns is on schedule to finish by the June 30 deadline, and in many cases even earlier. But because of the level of insurgent activity in Mosul, United States and Iraqi military officials will meet Monday to decide whether to consider the city an exception to the deadline in the Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA, between the countries.

THE LONG WAR

Al-Qaeda Threatens to Kill British Hostage Unless Abu Qatada is Released - Catherine Philp, The Times. Al-Qaeda’s North African arm has threatened to kill a British hostage within 20 days unless Britain releases the extremist cleric Abu Qatada from a maximum security jail. In a message posted on a well-known jihadist website, the group demanded the release of the Palestinian preacher in return for that of a British hostage captured this year.

US Weighs Release of More CIA Memos - Kara Scannall, Wall Street Journal. The Obama administration and senior national-security officials are reviewing whether to release additional Central Intelligence Agency memos on interrogation methods, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Former Vice President Dick Cheney has requested that the administration declassify additional CIA memos that he said would show the tactics worked. Mr. Gibbs said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that the review process would take about three weeks.

Did CIA 'Enhanced Interrogation Techniques' Work or Not? - Tom A. Peter, Christian Science Monitor. Controversy over the recently released torture memos is escalating as new information indicates that the Central Intelligence Agency may have used harsh interrogation techniques for seven years without officially evaluating their efficacy. As early as 2003, several prominent intelligence officials expressed concern that the agency was using these methods without examining what results they yielded. That year John Helgerson, the inspector general of the CIA, issued a draft of a report calling for analysis by outside investigators to research the effectiveness of water boarding and other methods to evaluate how well they worked.

Taking on Torture - Los Angeles Times editorial. Little more than a week ago, President Obama tried to still the controversy about how his administration should respond to the torture of suspected terrorists by the CIA during the Bush administration. He failed, only partly because of his own administration's miscalculations. It's now clear that if the country is to move beyond what the president called a "dark and painful chapter in our history," there must be a credible and comprehensive accounting of what went wrong and a serious study of whether the architects of the Bush policy violated the law. Equally important is the need to move strategically to secure two sometimes conflicting goals: punishment for any official who knowingly broke the law and accountability to the public.

Say No to Show Trials - Washington Times editorial. President Obama jabbed a political hornet's nest last week when he suggested that Congress might establish a bipartisan review panel to look into the authorization of extraordinary interrogation methods during George W. Bush's presidency. Now the White House and some congressional Democrats want the issue to go away. "They are really hoping this dies down," one senior Senate Democratic aide with knowledge of the situation told us. We wholeheartedly agree.

Tortured Public Stance - Donald Lambro, Washington Times opinion. The White House's smoothly run message-making machinery broke down last week in contradictory statements that have reignited the terrorist-interrogation controversy. In the space of a week, the West Wing turned into a Tower of Babel as administration officials from President Obama to his chief of staff to his national intelligence adviser delivered wildly different positions. At the core of their disagreements was the issue of whether to pursue legal action against Bush administration officials who gave the go-ahead to the CIA to conduct carefully "enhanced interrogation techniques" on high-value terrorist prisoners.

UNITED NATIONS

Kafka Meets Orwell - Roger Simon, Washington Times opinion. I am writing on the long flight back to Los Angeles from Geneva, where I have just attended the so-called Durban Review Conference of the United Nations, aka Durban II. How was it? Well, when early 20th-century journalist Lincoln Steffens returned from the Soviet Union after the October Revolution, he famously proclaimed he had been "over to the future, and it works." To paraphrase, I have been to the UN present, and it's nuts! Steffens was proved wildly wrong, but I strongly suspect I am more accurate. A conference on racism and human rights that features Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as, in essence, its keynote - indeed only significant - speaker is on the edge of a psychotic nightmare. It makes you think you're living in some alternative universe out of George Orwell's "Animal Farm" among a society of multilingual bureaucrats nostalgic for Josef Stalin.

AUSTRALIA

Millions Needed to Plug Gaps in Defence - Matthew Franklin, The Australian. Taxpayers face tens of millions of dollars in extra spending commitments because billions have been spent on hi-tech military hardware without the allocation of funds for its maintenance or operations training. The Rudd Government will use the upcoming release of its defence white paper to highlight what it describes as a chronic lack of proper planning by the Howard government, which it says made at least five big-ticket purchases of hi-tech equipment without budgeting for the associated funding. The white paper, to be released within days, will outline massive spending in "remediation" to fill the funding gaps so the new military assets can be properly used.

AFRICA

Italian Cruise Ship Guards Fire Shots to Repel Pirates Near Seychelles - Richard Owen, The Times. The captain of an Italian cruise ship with 1,527 people on board described yesterday how his ship fought a running battle with pirates. Commander Ciro Pinto of the MSC Melody, carrying 991 passengers and 536 crew, said the ship was left with smashed windows and bullet holes on its port side after six pirates trying to board the vessel fired at least 200 rounds with assault rifles from their dinghy. Israeli security guards on the ship responded by firing pistols into the air and spraying them with a firehose.

AMERICAS

Mexican Tourism, Already Hurt by Violence, Bears Blow of a Health Scare - Marc Lacey, New York Times. Mexico’s tourism industry was in crisis even before the government announced the presence of a deadly influenza virus a few days ago and began handing out surgical masks by the millions and shuttering virtually all public gathering spots in the capital. The industry has been grappling in recent months with fears that Mexico’s drug war has made the country too risky to visit. Now comes a mysterious virus that runs the risk of turning the country into a no-go zone in the minds of many travelers.

US Plans Informal Meetings With Cuba - Ginger Thompson, New York Times. Seizing the momentum from recent meetings with Latin American leaders, the Obama administration is quietly pushing forward with efforts to reopen channels of communication with Cuba, according to White House and State Department officials. The officials said informal meetings were being planned between the State Department and Cuban diplomats in the United States to determine whether the two governments could open formal talks on a variety of issues, including migration, drug trafficking and other regional security matters.

Hard Lines on Havana Soften in Miami - Nick Miroff, Washington Post. In the nearly two weeks since the policy change was announced, demand for flights to the island has exploded, according to Miami-based charter companies licensed to operate them. At the same time, conversations with Cuban immigrants here at the airport and along Southwest Eighth Street in the heart of Miami's Little Havana neighborhood suggest that hard lines are softening, and that the engagement approach advocated by Obama has set into motion a wide-ranging reexamination of US efforts to bring change to the island.

The Castros are Dr. King's Disciples? - Nat Hentoff, Washington Times opinion. "This is the beginning of a new day! In my household [Fidel] is known as the ultimate survivor." Fidel himself, in a letter in the state-run Granma newspaper, saluted "this legislative group. The aura of Martin Luther King is accompanying them." To others of us who honor King, there is a barely surviving black Cuban disciple of King (and Mohandas Gandhi) whom the caucus visitors did not meet because he has been in a Castro brothers' cage for many years and was off-limits to them. He is Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, and he is among those designated by Amnesty International as "prisoners of conscience" in Cuban gulags.

Ecuador Re-elects President, Preliminary Results Show - Simon Romero, New York Times. President Rafael Correa appeared headed for victory in elections on Sunday as the old political establishment was unable to muster a coherent alternative to his combination of asserting nationalistic control of the economy with broadly popular social welfare programs for the poor. According to preliminary results, Mr. Correa won 51 percent of the vote, with his closest challenger, Lucio Gutiérrez, a former army colonel ousted as president in 2005, getting 29 percent. The victory would further cement the power of Mr. Correa, an American-educated economist first elected in 2006 when voters repudiated an elite that had overseen a chronically unstable political system.

ASIA

US Faces N. Korea Nuclear Dilemma - Peter Alfrod, The Australian. North Korea's announcement it has resumed plutonium production points to an intent to conduct a nuclear bomb test, confronting the Obama administration with a strategic dilemma. A bomb test is "a better than 50 per cent probability" said Peter Beck, the Korea expert who correctly called the North's first atomic test in October 2006.

Kim’s Son Joins North Korean Defense Panel - Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times. The youngest son of the ailing North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, has begun an apprenticeship in the country’s most powerful governing agency, a South Korean news report said. Kim Jong-un, in his mid-20s and lately considered by many analysts in Seoul as a likely successor to his father, was recently given a low-ranking job at the National Defense Commission, according to Yonhap, a South Korean news agency, quoting anonymous sources in its report.

EUROPE

Idealism Amid the Cynicism of Russian Politics - Philip P. Pan, Washington Post. n a country where complaints of vote-rigging are common - and commonly ignored - Anton Chumachenko's stands out: The authorities say he won an election, but he insists he lost. A first-time candidate for office and a member of Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party, Chumachenko won a seat on a local legislative council in St. Petersburg last month. Three weeks later, he publicly renounced his own victory, expressing disgust that votes had been falsified in his favor.

MIDDLE EAST

Obama Outreach Weighed in Mideast - Paula Wolfson, Voice of America. US President Barack Obama has made dialogue with the Middle East a priority in his early months in office. As the Obama administration approaches the 100 day mark, regional leaders are assessing the result.

Obama Move Alarms Israel Supporters - Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times. The Obama administration, already on treacherous political ground because of its outreach to traditional adversaries such as Iran and Cuba, has opened the door a crack to engagement with the militant group Hamas. The Palestinian group is designated by the US government as a terrorist organization and under law may not receive federal aid. But the administration has asked Congress for minor changes in US law that would permit aid to continue flowing to Palestinians in the event Hamas-backed officials become part of a unified Palestinian government.

Israel Confuses Policy on Syria - John Lysons, The Australian. Confusion is growing about Israel's foreign policy, with two contradictory statements yesterday from Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman about Syria. Mr Lieberman was quoted in an Austrian newspaper, Kleine Zeitung, saying he could not see Syria as a real partner for peace because it supported "Hezbollah and its arms trafficking into southern Lebanon and Iran's nuclear program". But in an interview after that was published, Mr Lieberman said he would negotiate with Syria immediately and without preconditions.

Ahmadinejad: Iran Not Ready for US Talks Without Preconditions - Voice of America. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he is not ready for talks with US officials without preconditions. Mr. Ahmadinejad said he wants a "clear framework and agenda" for talks and that any discussions with US and European officials must be based on "justice and mutual respect."

Iran's President 'Would Support Two-state Solution' for Israel - Alex Spillius, Daily Telegraph. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has recognised Israel's right to exist for the first time, saying it would be "fine with us" if the Palestinians reached a two-state solution. Asked if he would support an agreement between the Palestinians and Tehran's arch enemy, he said: "Whatever decision they take is fine with us. We are not going to determine anything. Whatever decision they take, we will support that.

US Seeks to Assure Arabs on Iran - Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal. The Obama administration is dispatching its point man on Iran, Dennis Ross, to the Middle East this week in an effort to win greater Arab support for Washington's engagement strategy toward Tehran, US officials said. A number of Arab governments in recent weeks have voiced concern about the US outreach, fearing it could help entrench Iran as a Mideast power while failing to end its nuclear program, the US officials said.

Clinton Assures Support for Lebanon - Edward Yeranian, Voice of America. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made an unannounced stop in Lebanon. Clinton expressed hope that Lebanon's June parliamentary elections will be free and fair. Clinton's visit to Lebanon, on the heels of her trip Saturday to Baghdad, comes less than six weeks before parliamentary elections in early June.

Clinton Offers Support for Lebanon - Charles Levinson and Nada Raad, Wall Street Journal. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stopped in Beirut Sunday, meeting with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman in a sign of American support ahead of polls that will pit the country's Western-leaning political establishment against a newly invigorated Hezbollah. While brief, the timing of the trip was interpreted as sending a strong message of support to Washington's political allies, who are gearing up for parliamentary elections in early June. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite group, consolidated its political power after its gunmen seized swaths of Beirut last year. As part of a peace deal, the group joined Western-backed politicians in a power-sharing government. It also won veto power in the deal.

Clinton Visits Lebanon as Key Elections Loom - Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Lebanon on Sunday in a show of support for its pro-Western government, weeks before critical elections that could increase the influence of Iran and Syria. US authorities are concerned that an alliance of parties led by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah could win the June 7 balloting. The United States considers the Iranian-financed group a terrorist organization.

Clinton Says Moderation Is Lebanon’s Best Hope - Mark Landler, New York Times. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton touched down in Lebanon on Sunday for a lightning visit to express support for this fragile country, six weeks before crucial parliamentary elections in which the Islamic militant group Hezbollah is expected to make significant gains.

Hillary Clinton Visits Lebanon Ahead of Key Elections - Raed Rafei and Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times. Arriving amid heated preparations for Lebanon's parliamentary elections, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed support Sunday for a Western-backed coalition in a close race against an alliance led by Hezbollah and supported by Iran and Syria. Clinton's brief visit to Beirut, the first since President Obama took office, was a sign of how important it is to Washington that Lebanon not return to factional fighting. The three-hour stopover came as the US is attempting to improve ties with Tehran and Damascus, which for years have been accused of manipulating Lebanese politics with violence and assassinations.

Clinton’s Mideast Pirouette - Roger Cohen, New York Times opinion. The sparring between the United States and Israel has begun, and that’s a good thing. Israel’s interests are not served by an uncritical American administration. The Jewish state emerged less secure and less loved from Washington’s post-9/11 Israel-can-do-no-wrong policy. The criticism of the center-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come from an unlikely source: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She’s transitioned with aplomb from the calculation of her interests that she made as a senator from New York to a cool assessment of US interests. These do not always coincide with Israel’s.

SOUTH ASIA

Sri Lanka Rejects Tamil Tiger Ceasefire - Steve Herman, Voice of America. Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels, on the verge of total military defeat, have declared a cease-fire. But the military immediately rejected it, saying surrender to Sri Lankan forces is the only option. The development comes as the top UN humanitarian official is in the country pressing for greater and immediate access to the dwindling combat zone. Sri Lanka's defense minister, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, is rejecting the cease-fire declared by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He terms the rebel's announcement a joke as they are on the verge of being totally defeated.

With New Offensive, Sri Lanka Rejects Tamil Cease-Fire - Thomas Fuller, New York Times. Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger guerrillas continued to battle Monday as the government dismissed a “unilateral cease-fire” declared by the rebels. The fighting was reported by a pro-rebel Web site that gave an account of a government offensive that began with “firing from all points” just before dawn. News agencies cited a military spokesman who confirmed the government’s assault on the Tigers, who are now surrounded on a narrow strip of land along the Indian Ocean.

Rebels Declare a Cease-Fire, but Sri Lanka Battle Rages - Associated Press. Sri Lanka's rebels declared a unilateral cease-fire on Sunday, but the government refused to halt its offensive into the last strip of land the insurgents hold despite concerns for tens of thousands of civilians trapped there. A top UN official urged Sri Lankan leaders to let aid into the tiny war zone along the northeastern coast, as reports have grown of starvation and casualties among those stuck inside.

Catholics Fear Hindu 'Taliban' - Amanda Hodge, The Australian. The Catholic Church has warned that electoral victory for the conservative Bharatiya Janata Party next month could result in a Hindu-style "Talibanisation" of India and lead to the suppression of human rights for all religious minorities there.

BOOK REVIEWS

The Battlefield Can Be an Unforgiving Teacher - Janet Maslin, New York Times book review of The Unforgiving Minute by Craig M. Mullaney.

Soldiers of Misfortune - James Glanz, New York Times book review of Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage by Donovan Campbell.

A Counterinsurgency Primer - Max Boot, Wall Street Journal book review of The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One by David Kilcullen.

Reluctant Warriors - The Economist book review of both The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 by Thomas Ricks and The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One by David Kilcullen.

BOOKS

Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage - Donovan Campbell.

Donovan Campbell, first as a Marine and then as a writer, shows us that the dominant emotion in war isn’t hatred or anger or fear. It’s love. His story stands as a poignant tribute to his men–their courage, their dedication, their skill, and their love for one another, even unto death.

The Battle for Peace: A Frontline Vision of America's Power and Purpose - Anthony Zinni and Tony Koltz

The intellectual complement to Zinni and Clancy's bestselling Battle Ready (2004), a narrative memoir salted with specific policy recommendations, this volume provides the former US Central Command chief's analysis of America's current global position. Zinni begins by asserting that America's status as "the most powerful nation in the history of the planet" has created a de facto empire. The US has no choice: if it fails to take the lead, nothing significant happens. At the same time, Americans must recognize that, in a global age, there can be no zero-sum games.

The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education - Craig Mullaney

The Unforgiving Minute is the ultimate's soldier's book - universal in its raw emotion and its understanding of the larger issues of life and death. Mullaney, a master storyteller, plunges the depths of self-doubt, endurance, and courage. The result: a riveting, suspenseful human story, beautifully told. This is a book written under fire - a lyrical, spellbinding tale of war, love, and courage. The Unforgiving Minute is the Three Cups of Tea of soldiering.

Great Powers: America and the World after Bush - Thomas P.M. Barnett

In civilian and military circles alike, The Pentagon’s New Map became one of the most talked about books of 2004. “A combination of Tom Friedman on globalization and Carl von Clausewitz on war, [it is] the red-hot book among the nation’s admirals and generals,” wrote David Ignatius in The Washington Post. Barnett’s second book, Blueprint for Action, demonstrated how to put the first book’s principles to work. Now, in Great Powers, Barnett delivers his most sweeping - and important - book of all.

The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One - David Kilcullen

A remarkably fresh perspective on the War on Terror. Kilcullen takes us "on the ground" to uncover the face of modern warfare, illuminating both the big global war (the "War on Terrorism") and its relation to the associated "small wars" across the globe: Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Chechnya, Pakistan and North Africa.

The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 - Thomas Ricks

Thomas E. Ricks uses hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with top officers in Iraq and extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to document the inside story of the Iraq War since late 2005 as only he can, examining the events that took place as the military was forced to reckon with itself, the surge was launched, and a very different war began.

Why Vietnam Matters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not Learned - Rufus Phillips

Phillips details how the legendary Edward G. Lansdale helped the South Vietnamese gain and consolidate their independence between 1954 and 1956, and how this later changed to a reliance on American conventional warfare with its highly destructive firepower. He reasons that our failure to understand the Communists, our South Vietnamese allies, or even ourselves took us down the wrong road. In summing up US errors in Vietnam, Phillips draws parallels with the American experience in Iraq and Afghanistan and suggests changes in the US approach. Known for his intellectual integrity and firsthand, long-term knowledge of what went on in Vietnam, the author offers lessons for today in this trenchant account.

Baghdad at Sunrise: A Brigade Commander's War in Iraq - Peter Mansoor

This is a unique contribution to the burgeoning literature on the Iraq war, analyzing the day-to-day performance of a US brigade in Baghdad during 2004-2005. Mansoor uses a broad spectrum of sources to address the military, political and cultural aspects of an operation undertaken with almost no relevant preparation, which tested officers and men to their limits and generated mistakes and misjudgments on a daily basis. The critique is balanced, perceptive and merciless - and Mansoor was the brigade commander. Military history is replete with command memoirs. Most are more or less self-exculpatory. Even the honest ones rarely achieve this level of analysis. The effect is like watching a surgeon perform an operation on himself. Mansoor has been simultaneously a soldier and a scholar, able to synergize directly his military and academic experiences.

The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq - Bing West

From a universally respected combat journalist, a gripping history based on five years of front-line reporting about how the war was turned around - and the choice now facing America. We interpret reality through the clouded prism of our own experience, so it is unsurprising that Bing West sees Iraq through the lens of Vietnam. He served as a Marine officer there, and he thinks politicians and the media caused the American public to turn against a war that could have been won. Now a correspondent for the Atlantic, West has made 15 reporting trips to Iraq over the last six years and is almost as personally invested in the current conflict as he was in Vietnam; this book, his third on Iraq, is his attempt to ensure that the "endgame" in Iraq turns out better than in his last war.

Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq - Linda Robinson

After a series of disastrous missteps in its conduct of the war, the White House in 2006 appointed General David Petraeus as the Commanding General of the coalition forces. Tell Me How This Ends is an inside account of his attempt to turn around a failing war. Linda Robinson conducted extensive interviews with Petraeus and his subordinate commanders and spent weeks with key US and Iraqi divisions. The result is the only book that ties together military operations in Iraq and the internecine political drama that is at the heart of the civil war. Replete with dramatic battles, behind-doors confrontations, and astute analysis, the book tells the full story of the Iraq War’s endgame, and lays out the options that will be facing the next president.

The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008 - Bob Woodward

Woodward interviewed key players, obtained dozens of never-before-published documents, and had nearly three hours of exclusive interviews with President Bush. The result is a stunning, firsthand history of the years from mid-2006, when the White House realizes the Iraq strategy is not working, through the decision to surge another 30,000 US troops in 2007, and into mid-2008, when the war becomes a fault line in the presidential election. As violence in Iraq reaches unnerving levels in 2006, a second front in the war rages at the highest levels of the Bush administration. In his fourth book on President George W. Bush, Bob Woodward takes readers deep inside the tensions, secret debates, unofficial backchannels, distrust and determination within the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, the intelligence agencies and the US military headquarters in Iraq. With unparalleled intimacy and detail, this gripping account of a president at war describes a period of distress and uncertainty within the US government from 2006 through mid-2008. The White House launches a secret strategy review that excludes the military. General George Casey, the commander in Iraq, believes that President Bush does not understand the war and eventually concludes he has lost the president's confidence. The Joint Chiefs of Staff also conduct a secret strategy review that goes nowhere. On the verge of revolt, they worry that the military will be blamed for a failure in Iraq.

We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam - Harold Moore and Joe Galloway

In their stunning follow-up to the classic bestseller We Were Soldiers Once... and Young, Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway return to Vietnam and reflect on how the war changed them, their men, their enemies, and both countries - often with surprising results. It would be a monumental task for Moore and Galloway to top their classic 1992 memoir. But they come close in this sterling sequel, which tells the backstory of two of the Vietnam War's bloodiest battles (in which Moore participated as a lieutenant colonel), their first book and a 1993 ABC-TV documentary that brought them back to the battlefield. Moore's strong first-person voice reviews the basics of the November 1965 battles, part of the 34-day Battle of the Ia Drang Valley. Among other things, Moore and Galloway (who covered the battle for UPI) offer portraits of two former enemy commanders, generals Nguyen Huu An and Chu Huy Man, whom the authors met - and bonded with - nearly three decades after the battle. This book proves again that Moore is an exceptionally thoughtful, compassionate and courageous leader (he was one of a handful of army officers who studied the history of the Vietnam wars before he arrived) and a strong voice for reconciliation and for honoring the men with whom he served.

In a Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point' Class of 2002 - Bill Murphy

The West Point cadets Murphy follows through their baptism by fire are an admirable sample of young American men and women: intelligent, ambitious and intensely patriotic. Most come from career military families and hold conservative opinions. Murphy describes their four years at West Point with respect even when discussing their love lives and marriages. All yearn for battle, and most get their wish. The book's best passages describe the confusion of moving to Iraq or Afghanistan and fighting insurgents, for which they lack both training and equipment. All feel something is not right but concentrate on the job at hand; some inevitably die or are grievously wounded.

Iraq and the Evolution of American Strategy - Steven Metz

Today the US military is more nimble, mobile, and focused on rapid responses against smaller powers than ever before. One could argue that the Gulf War and the postwar standoff with Saddam Hussein hastened needed military transformation and strategic reassessments in the post–Cold War era. But the preoccupation with Iraq also mired the United States in the Middle East and led to a bloody occupation. What will American strategy look like after US troops leave Iraq? Metz concludes that the United States has a long-standing, continuing problem “developing sound assumptions when the opponent operates within a different psychological and cultural framework.” He sees a pattern of misjudgments about Saddam and Iraq based on Western cultural and historical bias and a pervasive faith in the superiority of America’s worldview and institutions. This myopia contributed to America being caught off guard by Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, then underestimating his longevity, and finally miscalculating the likelihood of a stable and democratic Iraq after he was toppled. With lessons for all readers concerned about America’s role in the world, Dr. Metz’s important new work will especially appeal to scholars and students of strategy and international security studies, as well as to military professionals and DOD civilians. With a foreword by Colin S. Gray.