It's still too early to say whether Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mr. Ahmadinejad will succeed in their hard-line coup; de facto opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi remains publicly defiant. Yet it is becoming quite clear - for all who care to see it - what the Khamenei-Ahmadinejad regime will offer if it survives: harsh repression at home and unrelenting hostility toward the West.
AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN
Karzai Urges Taliban to Cast Votes - Dexter Filkens, New York Times. President Hamid Karzai on Saturday called on the Taliban to refrain from disrupting the nationwide election to be held here in August and to cast ballots themselves. “I want them not only to support the election,” Mr. Karzai said of the Taliban insurgents, “but also to stop the war forever.” Those pleas seemed unlikely to be met. Taliban leaders have steadfastly refused to accept the Afghan Constitution or to take part in the election, which is scheduled for Aug. 20. Indeed, Mr. Karzai’s remarks, made at a news conference at the presidential palace in downtown Kabul, pointed to concerns Afghan and American officials here have about their ability to protect the voters on election day. Afghans are scheduled to choose a president and members of provincial councils. So far, Taliban leaders have remained silent about whether they intend to disrupt the election.
Taliban Losses Are No Sure Gain for Pakistanis - Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah, New York Times. For the past month and a half, the Pakistani military has claimed success in retaking the Swat Valley from the Taliban, clawing back its own territory from insurgents who only a short time ago were extending their reach toward the heartland of the country. Yet from a helicopter flying low over the valley last week, the low-rise buildings of Mingora, the largest city in Swat, now deserted and under a 24-hour curfew, appeared unscathed. In the surrounding countryside, farmers had harvested wheat and red onions on their unscarred land. All that is testament to the fact that the Taliban mostly melted away without a major fight, possibly to return when the military withdraws or to fight elsewhere, military analysts say. About two million people have been displaced in Swat and the surrounding area as the military has carried out its campaign. The reassertion of control over Swat has at least temporarily denied the militants a haven they coveted inside Pakistan proper. The offensive has also won strong support from the United States, which has urged Pakistan to engage the militants.
New Course for Antidrug Efforts in Afghanistan - Rachel Danadio, New York Times. The Obama administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan told allies on Saturday that the United States was shifting its drug policy in Afghanistan away from eradicating opium poppy fields and toward interdicting drug supplies and cultivating alternative crops. “The Western policies against the opium crop, the poppy crop, have been a failure,” the representative, Richard C. Holbrooke, told reporters on the margins of the Group of 8 conference in the northern Italian city of Trieste, Reuters reported. “They did not result in any damage to the Taliban, but they put farmers out of work and they alienated people and drove people into the arms of the Taliban.” Mr. Holbrooke said the United States would begin phasing out eradication efforts, which generally have involved spraying or plowing under poppy fields, often under fire from Taliban militants or angry farmers. Instead, he said, more emphasis would be placed on helping Afghan farmers make a living through other crops and on seizing both drugs coming out of the country and growing and processing supplies coming in.
US to Shift Drug Strategy in Afghanistan - Associated Press. The US is phasing out funding for opium-eradication programs in Afghanistan while significantly boosting funding for alternate-crop and drug-interdiction efforts, the US envoy for Afghanistan said Saturday. The aim of the new policy: to deprive the Taliban of the tens of millions of dollars in drug revenues that are fueling its insurgency while promoting viable crop alternatives for Afghan farmers and cracking down on the illicit cross-border heroin trade. The US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, told the AP that the US eradication programs were only driving Afghan farmers into the hands of the Taliban. "Eradication is a waste of money," Mr. Holbrooke said on the sidelines of a Group of Eight foreign ministers' meeting on Afghanistan, during which he briefed regional representatives on the new policy.
IRAQ
Iraq Trembles as US Troops Pull Back - Hala Jaber, Ali Rifat Amman and Tony Allen-Mills, The Times. Sitting in a Baghdad park last week, Amal Nadhim recalled the day she saw a giant American military truck plough down a busy street, crushing cars that stood in its way. The Iraqi driver of one of the cars was “crazy with anger” after his vehicle was destroyed, but he dared not challenge the US soldiers. “Images like these will remain in our minds for ever,” said Amal, a 33-year-old childminder who, like many Iraqis, does not know whether to cheer or dread the planned withdrawal of US forces from Iraqi cities by Tuesday’s deadline. It is the first big step in a phased draw-down of American troops that is due to be completed by December 2011. After a spell of comparative calm, a wave of bombings has raised questions about the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over security duties from US combat troops.
Iraqi Leadership Appeals For Unity - Associated Press. Iraq's prime minister appealed for national unity on Saturday and the country's vice president said he was worried about deteriorating security after more than 250 people were killed in the week before a US withdrawal from cities. The Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, blamed a series of bombings on the remnants of al Qaeda in Iraq and said they were aimed at triggering violence between Shiites and Sunnis. "Today we are in need of unity, as they have shown their teeth against us," Mr. al-Maliki said of the extremists responsible for the attacks. "Our system falls when we return to sectarianism." Nearly all the bombings and deaths in the past week have targeted Shiite areas, including the two deadliest attacks - a June 20 bombing that killed 82 people outside a mosque in northern Iraq and another in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City that killed 78. Iraq nearly slipped into civil war two years ago and tens of thousands of people died in attacks between Sunni extremists such as al Qaeda and Shiite militias and death squads. It was brought back from the brink by a huge inflow of US troops in 2007 in what became known as the "surge."
Iraq Set to Seek Foreign Oil Bids - Ernesto Londoño and K.I. Ibrahim, Washington Post. Iraq is poised to open its coveted oil fields to foreign companies this week for the first time in nearly four decades, a politically risky move in a country eager to shake off the stigma of occupation. Iraqi politicians and some veteran oil officials have said the deals are unduly beneficial to oil giants, which are viewed warily by many in this deeply nationalistic but cash-strapped country. Oil executives have been following the matter with apprehension, industry analysts said, but they are eager to get a foothold in Iraq, which has the world's second-largest proven crude reserves and is seen as the only major penetrable market. "It's something the industry really wants," said Ben Lando, editor of Iraq Oil Report, an Iraq energy news Web site. "The number of reserves around the world that they have access to is declining. And Iraq has so much oil."
No Ban on Mine-Resistant Vehicles in Iraqi Cities, US Says - Ernesto Londoño, Washington Post. The US military said Saturday that its soldiers will not be barred from using mine-resistant armored vehicles during the daytime in Iraqi cities after Wednesday, a departure from guidance that officers and squad leaders said they received in writing in recent days. The reported rule banning the use of the hulking vehicles in urban areas starting Wednesday raised safety concerns among soldiers. A Washington Post report Friday said soldiers were worried that using the smaller, less-armored Humvees would leave them more vulnerable to armor-piercing roadside bombs and grenades. Lt. Col. Brian Maka, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said in an e-mail Saturday that the information provided by the officers about a ban on Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, during daylight hours was "absolutely wrong."
British Hostage 'May be Freed' in Iraq Prisoner Handover - Hala Jaber, The Times. The transfer of dozens of Shi’ite militants from American to Iraqi custody in Baghdad may lead to the release of one of three British hostages kidnapped in May 2007, a source close to the captors claimed yesterday. American officials have already agreed to hand over a key group of prisoners to the Iraqis and two further transfers are likely to be finalised this week, the source said. “In return for the men’s release, a hostage will be freed,” he added. The source, who spoke on condition that his identity would be withheld, said the three hostages were alive. The Foreign Office has been unable to confirm this and stresses that the case has been surrounded by misinformation from the start. The bodies of two other hostages, Jason Swindlehurst, 38, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Jason Creswell, 39, from Glasgow, who died months ago, were flown to Britain on Friday after being recovered a week earlier.
IRAN
In Tehran, a Mood of Melancholy Descends - Nazila Fathi, New York Times. An eerie stillness has settled over this normally frenetic city. In less anxious times, the streets are clogged with honking cars and cranky commuters. But on Saturday, drives that normally last 45 minutes took just a third of the time, and shops were mainly empty. Even Tehran’s beauty salons, normally hives of activity, had few customers; at one, bored workers fussed over one another’s hair. People who did venture out said they were dispirited by the upheaval that has shaken this country over the two weeks since the contested presidential election, and worried they would get caught up in the brutal government crackdown of dissent that has followed. Even in areas of the city not known for liberal politics, the sense of frustration, and despair, was palpable. Those who accuse the government of stealing the election said they had lost the hope for change they had during the protests that drew tens of thousands of people into Tehran’s streets. But others also confessed to feeling depressed.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Regime Plots Purge After Iran Election Protests - Marie Colvin, The Times. Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, are bracing themselves for a purge if, as expected, he returns to office following the country’s bitterly disputed presidential election. His defeated rival, Mir Hos-sein Mousavi, who came a distant second in a poll he insists was rigged by the regime, has continued to defy what he has called “huge pressures” to halt his campaign for a new vote. Last week his communications with the outside world were severely restricted, his web page was taken down and his newspaper was closed, with 25 of its employees arrested. Supporters said they feared Mousavi could become another Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy leader who has spent 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest.
Iran's President Rebukes Obama; Candidates Reject Election Review - Thomas Erdbrink and William Branigin, Washington Post. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad added new fuel to an intensifying spat with President Obama on Saturday, denouncing what he called "insulting" comments about a crackdown on protesters, and two opposition presidential candidates rejected participation in a special committee aimed at resolving the disputed June 12 election on the government's terms. In televised remarks to judiciary officials Saturday, Ahmadinejad struck back at Obama a day after the US president praised protesters for showing "bravery in the face of brutality," described violence against them as "outrageous" and said opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has "captured the imagination" of Iranians who want a more open society. Obama also dismissed Ahmadinejad's demand for an apology for previous criticism and suggested that the Iranian leader apologize to the families of those who have been arrested, beaten or killed in the crackdown. Noting that Obama has spoken of "reforms and changes," Ahmadinejad asked, "Why did he interfere and comment in a way that disregards convention and courtesy?" He said Western leaders who made "insulting and irrelevant comments will be put on a fair trial" by Iran at international gatherings.
In Iran, Protests Have Quieted, But the Protesters are Simmering - Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times. The young men and women enter Haft Tir Square tentatively. Their pace slows as they discreetly glance around. They spot the club-wielding uniformed security officials and plainclothes Basiji militiamen, scan the square for other would-be demonstrators. A woman in a form-fitting mini-coat looks left, then right. There is safety in numbers, but there are few of her kind here for the scheduled gathering, so she quietly moves along, glancing at the shop windows. Maybe she'll circle back in a few minutes. "The authorities have beaten people up, and killed some," says Hamad, a 26-year-old business student among those navigating the square, cautiously examining eyes and dress. "Their legitimacy has been damaged," he says. "Now I wait. I do not know what will happen. But the atrocity and cheating will linger in the collective memory. And someday an eruption will occur." The streets of Tehran are quiet once again. But the multitudes who protested the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad haven't gone home and put their rage in a closet.
THE LONG WAR
Turks Increasingly Turn to Islamic Extremism - Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times. In an audio message from a hide-out in South Asia this month, an Al Qaeda chief did something new: He sang the praises of an ethnic group that once barely registered in the network. "We consider the Muslims in Turkey our brothers," said Mustafa Abu Yazid, the network's operations chief. Lauding Turkish suicide bombers killed in recent attacks near the Afghan-Pakistani border, he declared, "This is a pride and honor to the nation of Islam in Turkey, and we ask Allah to accept them amongst the martyrs." The message is the latest sign of the changing composition of Islamic extremism, anti-terrorism officials and experts say. The number of Turks in Al Qaeda, long dominated by Arabs, has increased notably, officials say. And militant groups dominated by Turks and Central Asians, many of whom share Turkic culture and speak a Turkic language, have emerged as allies of and alternatives to Al Qaeda in northwestern Pakistan. "We are aware of an increasing number of Turks going to train in Pakistan," said a senior European anti-terrorism official who asked to remain anonymous because the subject is sensitive. "This increase has taken place in the past couple of years."
For Radical Islam, the End Begins - Joshua Muravchik, Washington Post opinion. Is history ending yet again? Much as the hammers that leveled the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the end of the Cold War, so might the protests rocking Iran signal the death of radical Islam and the challenges it poses to the West. No, that doesn't mean we'll be removing the metal detectors from our airports anytime soon. Al-Qaeda and its ilk, even diminished in strength, will retain the ability to stage terrorist strikes. But the danger brought home on Sept. 11, 2001, was always greater than the possibility of murderous attacks. It was the threat that a hostile ideology might come to dominate large swaths of the Muslim world. Not all versions of this ideology - variously called Islamism or radical Islam - are violent. But at the core of even the peaceful ones, such as that espoused by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, is the idea that the Islamic world has been victimized by the West and must defend itself. Even before the United States invaded Iraq, stoking rage, polls in Muslim countries revealed support for Osama bin Laden and for al-Qaeda's aims, if not its methods. If such thinking were to triumph in major Muslim countries beyond Iran - say, Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia - violent extremists would command vast new stores of personnel, explosives and funds.
Another Detainee Debacle - Washington Post editorial. Abdulrahim Abdul Razak Al Ginco traveled to Afghanistan in 2000 and spent several days in a guest house used by Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives before setting off for an al-Qaeda training camp. The Syrian citizen, who now uses the surname Janko, claims that he was taken to the camp against his will. After three weeks there, al-Qaeda leaders suspected him of being a US spy; Mr. Janko, the US government acknowledges, was tortured for three months before falsely confessing to the charge. Mr. Janko was then imprisoned by the Taliban for 18 months in the notorious Sarposa prison in Kandahar. When the Taliban abandoned the prison after the US invasion in late 2001, Mr. Janko was detained by US forces. He was sent in early 2002 to the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the Bush administration argued that he was an enemy combatant and subject to indefinite detention. Seven years and an administration later, the government continues to argue that it has the right to hold Mr. Janko because he was "part of" the Taliban or al-Qaeda at the time of his capture - despite the prolonged torture and inhumane treatment he received at the hands of his supposed comrades.
CYBER WARFARE
US and Russia Differ on a Treaty for Cyberspace - John Markoff and Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times. The United States and Russia are locked in a fundamental dispute over how to counter the growing threat of cyberwar attacks that could wreak havoc on computer systems and the Internet. Both nations agree that cyberspace is an emerging battleground. The two sides are expected to address the subject when President Obama visits Russia next week and at the General Assembly of the United Nations in November, according to a senior State Department official. But there the agreement ends. Russia favors an international treaty along the lines of those negotiated for chemical weapons and has pushed for that approach at a series of meetings this year and in public statements by a high-ranking official.
AFRICA
Fragile Nation in Disarray Holds Few Hopes for Vote - Adam Nossiter, New York Times. First the general was blown up. Then the president was shot dead, the former prime minister was arrested and tortured, a presidential candidate was killed in his villa, and the former defense minister was ambushed and shot on the bridge outside town. Despite those chilling messages - reportedly carried out by men in military uniform - Sunday’s election to replace the assassinated president, João Bernardo Vieira, will go on. There is jolly music and dancing in the decaying streets; earnest international observers crisscross Bissau, the capital; the remaining candidates hold buoyant rallies in preparation for the vote; and trucks packed with chanting supporters bounce up and down over the little city’s deep potholes. Underneath, though, there is anxiety and doubt here in Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony that is pitch-black at night because of a lack of electricity and that is so fragile it is being abandoned even by the drug traffickers, according to a United Nations expert.
AMERICAS
Agencies Clash on Military's Border Role - Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post. A proposal to send National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border to counter drug trafficking has triggered a bureaucratic standoff between the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security over the military's role in domestic affairs, according to officials in both departments. The debate has engaged a pair of powerful personalities, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, in what their subordinates describe as a turf fight over which agency should direct the use of troops to assist in the fight against Mexican cartels and which one should pay for them. At issue is a proposal to send 1,500 additional troops to the border to analyze intelligence and to provide air support and technical assistance to border agencies. The governors of Texas, Arizona, California and New Mexico began making the requests in January, drawing support from Napolitano but prompting objections from the Pentagon, where officials argue that it could lead to a permanent, expanded mission for the military.
ASIA PACIFIC
Do Not Forget Burma - Laura Bush, Washington Post opinion. For two weeks, the world has been transfixed by images of Iranians taking to the streets to demand the most basic human freedoms and rights. Watching these courageous men and women, I am reminded of a similar scene nearly two years ago in Burma, when tens of thousands of Buddhist monks peacefully marched through their nation's streets. They, too, sought to reclaim basic human dignity for all Burmese citizens, but they were beaten back by that nation's harsh regime. Since those brutal days in September 2007, Burma's suffering has intensified. In the past 21 months, the number of political prisoners incarcerated by the junta has doubled. Within the past 10 days, two Burmese citizens were sentenced to 18 months in prison. Their offense: praying in a Buddhist pagoda for the release of the jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. That is only the tip of the regime's brutality.
EUROPE
Russia and NATO Work to Repair Frayed Ties - Clifford J. Levy, New York Times. NATO and Russia on Saturday took another step toward rebuilding ties that were damaged by the war in Georgia last year, holding a high-level meeting of foreign ministers and pledging to resume full military cooperation. The ministers gathered on the Greek island of Corfu and, under the auspices of the NATO-Russia Council, discussed potential areas of cooperation, including the war in Afghanistan, nuclear proliferation, piracy, terrorism and drug trafficking. The sides did not appear to make any progress on the issue of Georgia, and Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, reiterated Russia’s objections to NATO activities there, officials said. Still, the relatively conciliatory outcome of the meeting may signal improving relations between Russia and the West, a little more than a week before President Obama is scheduled to visit Moscow for a summit meeting.
Groups in Northern Ireland Say They’ve Disarmed - Reuters. Pro-British paramilitary forces in Northern Ireland said Saturday that they had completed a major milestone in the peace process by scrapping their weapons in front of independent witnesses. The decommissioning of arms, confirmed by the British and Irish governments, reinforces the commitment to ending violence, both among Protestants who want to keep Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom and among predominantly Roman Catholic groups, most notably the Irish Republican Army, seeking unity with Ireland. But it does not remove a threat from hard-line splinter groups operating on both sides. “The leadership of the Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando today confirms it has completed the process of rendering ordnance totally and irreversibly beyond use,” the groups said in a statement. A man representing the groups read the statement to reporters in Belfast.
Jews Remain Stymied In Efforts to Reclaim Art Looted by Nazis - Craig Whitlock, Washington Post. Holocaust survivors and their heirs are still battling museums and governments for the return of thousands of pieces of looted art, despite pledges made by dozens of countries in Washington a decade ago to resolve the claims. At a major conference underway here in Prague, delegates from 49 countries acknowledged that Jews continue to be stymied in their efforts to reclaim art that was stolen by the Nazis and later transferred to museums and galleries around the world, especially in Europe. An estimated 100,000 artworks, from invaluable masterpieces to items of mostly sentimental value, remain lost or beyond legal reach of their victimized owners and descendants. "This is one of our last chances to inject a new sense of justice into this issue before it's too late for Holocaust victims," said Stuart Eizenstat, head of the US delegation to the conference and a former ambassador and deputy Treasury secretary during the Clinton administration.
MIDDLE EAST
Lebanon Chooses Saad Hariri as Premier - Michael Slackman, New York Times. Saad Hariri, the son of Lebanon’s slain former prime minister and the leader of its Western-aligned parliamentary majority, will serve as Lebanon’s next prime minister, the nation’s president announced Saturday. Mr. Hariri, 39, who was thrust into a leadership role when his father, Rafik, was assassinated in 2005, will now begin assembling a cabinet to help manage a state that has been plagued by war, deep political divisions and debt of more than $50 billion. He has already said he would assemble a unity government that would include members of the opposition, although it was unclear if the minority alliance led by Hezbollah, which remains the nation’s most powerful political and military force, would hold the veto power it did in the last government.
In Lebanon, Saad Hariri Assumes Prime Minister's Post - Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times. Saad Hariri, the wealthy leader of an American-backed political coalition, was appointed prime minister of Lebanon on Saturday, an indication that the nation's sectarian political parties, at least for now, are cooperating on the contentious task of forming a unity government. Hariri's ascent is the culmination of a political journey that accelerated after the 2005 assassination of his father, Rafik Hariri, a former prime minister and billionaire developer. Saad Hariri has the support of Washington and moderate voices in the Arab world, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which have been agitated for years by the influence of Lebanon's militant Shiite Muslim group, Hezbollah. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman asked Hariri, who had the support of 86 members of the 128-seat parliament, to serve as prime minister and form a coalition Cabinet from the nation's various parties.
Hariri Becomes New Lebanon Prime Minister - Associated Press. Lebanon's president appointed parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri Saturday to become prime minister after his pro-Western coalition defeated a Hezbollah-led alliance in this month's election. The 39-year-old billionaire businessman and son of a slain former prime minister replaces his ally Fuad Saniora, who held the post since 2005. Mr. Hariri now faces the difficult task of negotiating with other political factions to form a government, a process that can take days or even weeks. Mr. Hariri's alliance fended off a serious challenge from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in the June 7 vote. Since then, rival leaders have been seeking to defuse tensions, and there are calls for a unity government involving Hezbollah and its allies.
Role of Women In Iran Protest Kindles Hope - Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post. Over the past two weeks, Marcelle George has watched with amazement as legions of Iranian women, most wearing black, full-length Islamic garments, defiantly protested Iran's leadership. Even in her native Egypt, where some opposition to the government is permitted, most women would never dare cross that line. "To actually see Iranian women fight for their rights is inspiring," said George, a college student in jeans and a long-sleeve blouse. "I never imagined that it could happen there." As Iran's theocracy appears on the verge of silencing the biggest challenge to its authority since it was established in 1979, female activists in the region say they are inspired by the prominent role women are playing in the country's opposition movement. Many hope it will have a crossover effect on the struggle for women's rights in their own countries and help shatter Western perceptions of Middle Eastern women as subjugated in a male-dominated culture.
Unlikely Ally for Residents of West Bank - Ethan Bronner, New York Times. Ezra Nawi was in his element. Behind the wheel of his well-worn jeep one recent Saturday morning, working two cellphones in Arabic as he bounded through the terraced hills and hardscrabble villages near Hebron, he was greeted warmly by Palestinians near and far. Watching him call for an ambulance for a resident and check on the progress of a Palestinian school being built without an Israeli permit, you might have thought him a clan chief. Then noticing the two Israeli Army jeeps trailing him, you might have pegged him as an Israeli occupation official handling Palestinian matters. But Mr. Nawi is neither. It is perhaps best to think of him as the Robin Hood of the South Hebron hills, an Israeli Jew helping poor locals who love him, and thwarting settlers and soldiers who view him with contempt. Those army jeeps were not watching over him. They were stalking him.
Mideast Hawks, Take Wing - Jim Hoagland, Washington Post opinion. "President" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's brutal clampdown on his opponents is a tragedy for Iranians. But the shredding of Iran's pretensions of being a stable, democratic state may offer positive change in the Middle East in the longer term. Such an outcome is far from guaranteed - and is likely to come only after sharp new regional tensions or even violence sparked by Iran, Israel or both nations acting separately in reinforcing fashion. The idea that the use of force can make things better has not been abandoned in the Middle East. The election crisis has entered the all-important moment of interpretation by Iran and its neighbors. What counts now is not what Washington says or does but what Tehran, Jerusalem, Riyadh and Cairo make of the loss of prestige, political unity and leverage suffered by the Iranian "president" and the hard-line ayatollahs who support him.
What a Freeze Can't Do - David Ignatius, Washington Post opinion. Israel's new foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, seemed perplexed during his visit to Washington this month: At a time when America and Israel agreed on all the big issues - from Iran and North Korea to Afghanistan and Pakistan - how could the little issue of Israeli settlements on the West Bank get in the way? When he met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Lieberman questioned the US demand for a freeze on settlement construction, including the "natural growth" of existing settlements. "We can't suffocate ourselves: Babies are born, people get married. At minimum, we must provide for a normal way of life for these people," Lieberman told Clinton, according to a senior Israeli official. Israeli protests like this usually have had the desired effect. Administrations called publicly for a halt in settlement construction, but they acquiesced in private to the realities of Israeli politics. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu must have assumed that he could play the same game, blunting the White House by appealing to Israel's supporters in Congress.
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
War 2.0: Irregular Warfare in the Information Age - Thomas Rid and Marc Hecker.
War 2.0: Irregular Warfare in the Information Age argues that two intimately connected trends are putting modern armies under huge pressure to adapt: the rise of insurgencies and the rise of the Web. Both in cyberspace and in warfare, the grassroots public has assumed increasing importance in recent years. After the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, Web 2.0 rose from the ashes. This newly interactive and participatory form of the Web promotes and enables offline action. Similarly, after Rumsfeld's attempt to transform the US military into a lean, lethal, computerized force crashed in Iraq in 2003, counterinsurgency rose from the ashes. Counterinsurgency is a social form of war - indeed, the US Army calls it armed social work - in which the local matrix population becomes the center of strategic gravity and public opinion at home the critical vulnerability.
The New Counterinsurgency Era: Transforming the U.S. Military for Modern Wars - David H. Ucko.
Confronting insurgent violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US military has recognized the need to "re-learn" counterinsurgency. But how has the Department of Defense with its mixed efforts responded to this new strategic environment? Has it learned anything from past failures? In The New Counterinsurgency Era, David Ucko examines DoD's institutional obstacles and initially slow response to a changing strategic reality.
Journey into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda - Thomas P. Odom.
In July 1994, Thomas P. Odom was part of the US Embassy team that responded to the Goma refugee crisis. He witnessed the deaths of 70,000 refugees in a single week. In the previous three months of escalating violence, the Rwandan genocide had claimed 800,000 dead. Now, in this vivid and unsettling new book, Odom offers the first insider look at these devastating events before, during, and after the genocide.
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.
