The first African-American president came to the continent of his father to exhort Africans on Saturday to rid themselves of corruption, embrace democracy and move from the grand, often violent, struggles of liberation and tribalism to the quieter, more potent movement of stability and economic growth.
AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN
Another Insurgency Gains in Pakistan - Carlotta Gall, New York Times. Three local political leaders were seized from a small legal office here in April, handcuffed, blindfolded and hustled into a waiting pickup truck in front of their lawyer and neighboring shopkeepers. Their bodies, riddled with bullets and badly decomposed in the scorching heat, were found in a date palm grove five days later. Local residents are convinced that the killings were the work of the Pakistani intelligence agencies, and the deaths have provided a new spark for revolt across Baluchistan, a vast and restless province in Pakistan’s southwest where the government faces yet another insurgency. Although not on the same scale as the Taliban insurgency in the northwest, the conflict in Baluchistan is steadily gaining ground. Politicians and analysts warn that it presents a distracting second front for the authorities, drawing off resources, like helicopters, that the United States provided Pakistan to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Suicide Bombings Paralyze Peshawar - Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times. The markets of this chaotic city are usually cacophonous places, alive with the din of motorcycle rickshaws and legions of Pakistanis sizing up the pyramids of mangoes in one stall, office furniture in the next. But on a recent dusky evening at Sadar market, shopkeepers sipped tea and looked out into an empty street. No one, they fretted, wants to risk being there the next time a suicide bomber strikes. "Almost every shop here is empty," said Nisar Ahmed, 35, manager of a small clothing store in the bazaar. "No customers come. There are days when we just close early and go to sleep. We can't sustain this." Pakistan's bid to subdue the Taliban has unleashed a wave of retaliatory suicide bombings in several major cities, from Islamabad, the capital, to the country's cultural center, Lahore.
Swat Taliban Chief 'Near Death' - Syed Shoaib Hasan, BBC News. The leader of Taliban militants in Pakistan's Swat district has been critically wounded and is close to death, the BBC has learned. The information about Maulana Fazlullah confirms statements from senior government and security officials. Former village cleric Fazlullah founded the branch of the Taliban which eventually took over the Swat valley. After a recent offensive, Pakistan's army says it has almost defeated rebels in that sector of the north-west. It has been battling Taliban militants there for about two months and the government says it has regained control of the region.
Ambush Kills 5 Police in NW Pakistan - Associated Press. Gunmen ambushed five police officers and a forestry official responding to reports of a dead body in northwestern Pakistan, killing all six, police said Sunday. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but authorities did not rule out Taliban militants. The insurgents, who have run roughshod over the Pakistani region bordering Afghanistan in recent years, have frequently targeted security forces, though usually through roadside bombs and suicide attacks. The ambush took place late Saturday in a forested area in the Mansehra district, police officer Rashid Khan said. A bullet-riddled body of an unknown man also was found at the scene along with the dead security officials. The gunmen also set fire to the responding police van and took away the victims' weapons, Khan said.
Stop Bombing Us: Osama Isn’t Here, Says Pakistan - Christina Lamb, The Times. Osama bin Laden and the top Al-Qaeda leadership are not in Pakistan, making US missile attacks against them futile, according to the country’s interior minister. “If Osama was in Pakistan we would know, with all the thousands of troops we have sent into the tribal areas in recent months,” Rehman Malik told The Sunday Times. “If he and all these four or five top people were in our area they would have been caught, the way we are searching.” He added: “According to our information Osama is in Afghanistan, probably Kunar, as most of the activities against Pakistan are being directed from Kunar.” Washington does not directly acknowledge its missile attacks on Pakistani territory by unmanned drone aircraft but Pakistani officials say the US has carried out more than 40 attacks inside its borders in the past 10 months, killing hundreds of people.
A Fight for Ordinary Peace - Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post. Most of the mud-brick stalls that line the street in this sweltering town on the Helmand River closed down a year ago when Taliban fighters began swaggering through the bazaar, levying taxes on merchants and seeding the roads with homemade bombs. Shopkeepers placed their wares behind padlocked tin doors, teachers shuttered the school, the doctor abandoned the health clinic and residents with means fled to other parts of southern Afghanistan. This town does not merit a dot on most maps of Afghanistan. But US civilian and military officials believe what happens to the chockablock market here will be a key indicator of whether President Obama can salvage a war the United States has been losing. About 4,000 troops - most of them US Marines - descended upon Nawa and other towns along the lower Helmand River valley 10 days ago in a massive operation to root out the Taliban. Their aim is to combat the insurgency in a new way: Instead of targeting extremist strongholds, they will aim to protect communities from the Taliban. In Nawa, that means getting life back to normal. If that occurs, military commanders reason, it will be much more difficult for the insurgents to hold sway here.
US Military Wants a Quick Boost in Afghan Security Forces - Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times. The US military commander in Afghanistan has told top Pentagon officials that Afghan security forces must expand faster and beyond current target levels to more quickly secure the country, Defense officials said. A dramatically stepped-up training program would probably require additional US forces, but it is not clear whether American commanders in Afghanistan will request more, and if so, how many. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, is to make a formal report with his recommendations in August. Defense officials emphasized that though McChrystal believes more Afghan security forces are needed sooner, he has not yet made formal recommendations. US military leaders in Afghanistan repeatedly have said they need more Afghan army soldiers and police officers to help secure cities and villages as they expand their operations against Taliban fighters. The Afghan army, generally considered far more skilled than the police forces, has about 85,000 members and is scheduled to grow to 134,000.
19 Militants Killed in Afghan Clashes - Associated Press. Afghan police and coalition forces killed 19 suspected militants in two separate clashes in southern Afghanistan, while four Afghan guards were killed near the capital, officials said Saturday. The militants died in two clashes in Uruzgan's Charchino district Friday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. There were no casualties among police of foreign troops, it said. Southern Afghanistan is the central battlefield in the fight against the Taliban, which has made a comeback as an insurgency since the US-led invasion that toppled its hard-line government in 2001. In neighboring Helmand province, thousands of US Marines are conducting their biggest American anti-Taliban operation since the invasion, but it is Britain that has been losing most of the troops in that region. In the last 10 days, 15 British soldiers have been killed, one of the worst periods for that county's troops here.
US President Sets Afghan Target - BBC News. The increasingly deadly conflict in Afghanistan is a "serious fight" but one essential for the future stability of the country, the US president says. Insisting that US and allied troops have pushed back the Taliban, Barack Obama said the immediate target was to steer Afghanistan through elections. The country is due to hold a presidential vote in August. Mr Obama spoke to Sky News as concern grew in the UK at the rising British death toll in Afghanistan. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was also forced on Saturday to justify British involvement in Afghanistan. Mr Brown said the UK's military deployment there was aimed at preventing terrorism in the UK. Fifteen British troops have died in the past 10 days, pushing the country's number of deaths in Afghanistan past the number killed in action in Iraq.
Parents of Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan Lash Out at Government - Patrick Hennessy, Sean Rayment and Miles Amoore, Daily Telegraph. The parents of soldiers killed in Afghanistan have accused the Government of starving British forces of urgently needed equipment. They joined politicians and former Armed Forces chiefs in demanding that ministers provide more money to pay for helicopters and armoured vehicles for troops fighting in Helmand. They spoke as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) named some of the eight soldiers killed during a 24-hour period last week - the most devastating day for British ground troops in Afghanistan. Jane Ford, whose son Ben was killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan two years ago, said: ''It is our sons who are suffering because of [ministers'] stingy attitude. It is their blood that is paying. If we are not careful the Government will just waste money on things that are not necessary - like giving the money to MPs for their luxury apartments. Why can't we have luxury bombs?" Ian Sadler, the father of 21-year-old Jack Sadler, who died in Afghanistan in 2007 when his Snatch Land Rover went over a mine, said: "Our soldiers must have a lot better than the vehicles they are being given at the moment. A Land Rover or a high-mobility truck are just not suitable for travelling in a mined environment. We also need more helicopters."
Labour Clashes with Army as Afghan Death Toll Mounts - Jonathan Oliver and Michael Smith, The Times. Senior Labour figures last night accused the head of the army of playing politics as he warned that there were too few troops and helicopters in the Afghan war zone. One minister expressed fury that General Sir Richard Dannatt, the chief of the general staff, had attended a private dinner with Tory MPs and suggested an extra 2,000 troops were needed in Helmand province. The general’s remarks put him at odds with the official government line that the 9,000 British troops already in Afghanistan are sufficient to cope with the current offensive. A Labour minister said: “General Dannatt has crossed an important line. He is playing a high-risk game.” David Crausby, a Labour member of the Commons defence committee, added: “It is not appropriate to play party politics at this time. Dannatt should just get on with the job. After the conflict if there are lessons to be learnt we should do so in a considered manner.” Eight British soldiers died in a single 24-hour period last week, with a total of 15 losing their lives in 10 days.
Criticism of Afghan War Is on the Rise in Britain - John F. Burns, New York Times. Just as President Obama’s plan to nearly double American troop strength in Afghanistan gets into high gear, Britain’s involvement in the war has come under the fiercest criticism yet at home as a result of a steep increase in British casualties, including the deaths of 15 soldiers in the past 10 days. The latest losses are the heaviest British forces have suffered in any comparable period since the 1982 Falklands war. With the Defense Ministry’s announcement of eight soldiers’ deaths on Friday, Britain’s toll in Afghanistan is now 184 killed, five more than its total losses in Iraq, where Britain’s combat commitment ended this spring. The deaths have generated grim images that have led the nightly television news, of slate-gray transport aircraft carrying coffins landing at a military air base in Wiltshire and being driven slowly in hearses past crowds lining the high street in Wootton Bassett, a nearby town. Partly because of Britain’s 19th-century history of catastrophic military ventures in Afghanistan, when it sought to secure the outer defenses of British imperial rule in India, the government faces an uphill task in rallying public opinion to the current conflict.
Troops 'Fighting for UK's Future' - BBC News. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has insisted fighting in Afghanistan is key to ensuring UK security, after eight soldiers were killed in 24 hours. Some 184 service personnel have died there since 2001, more than the 179 killed during the war in Iraq. But Mr Miliband dismissed calls for UK forces to withdraw, saying they were stopping Afghanistan becoming "a launch pad for attacks" by terrorists. "This is about the future of Britain," he added. Fifteen soldiers have died in 10 days in southern Afghanistan as UK troops continue Operation Panchai Palang, or Panther's Claw.
UK Defends Afghan Role After Deaths - Associated Press. Foreign Secretary David Miliband defended Britain's role in Afghanistan on Saturday after fighting claimed eight soldiers' lives in 24 hours. The deaths pushed Britain's overall toll in Afghanistan to 184 five more than the total British deaths in the Iraq war. Britain's influential media placed the news on the front pages, inevitably increasing pressure on the government both to explain the and to say whether it is giving the military the support it needs to fight the war. Miliband told the BBC that Britain would not be safe until it had built security in Afghanistan. He said it is essential to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming an "incubator for terrorism" that serves as a launching pad for attacks on the West. "This is about the future of Britain because we know that the badlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan that border area have been used to launch terrible attacks, not just on the United States, but on Britain as well.
New York Times: Bush Team Discouraged Probe of Mass Taliban Deaths - Voice of America. A US newspaper reports the Bush administration repeatedly discouraged efforts to investigate the 2001 mass killings of Taliban prisoners by the militia of an American-backed warlord. The New York Times reports the FBI, State Department and Red Cross pushed for a probe, but the White House failed to act because the warlord, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, was being paid by the CIA at the time of the killings. Dostum and his fighters are accused of killing hundreds, and perhaps thousands of Taliban prisoners who surrendered after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Authorities believe the bodies were placed in a mass grave found in Dasht-e-Leili in 2002. The report says the Bush White House was also worried about undermining US-backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who named Dostum to his defense team. The US-based Physicians for Human Rights called for a criminal probe into the alleged massacre Friday.
US Inaction Seen After Taliban POW’s Died - James Risen, New York Times. After a mass killing of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Taliban prisoners of war by the forces of an American-backed warlord during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, Bush administration officials repeatedly discouraged efforts to investigate the episode, according to government officials and human rights organizations. American officials had been reluctant to pursue an investigation - sought by officials from the FBI, the State Department, the Red Cross and human rights groups - because the warlord, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, was on the payroll of the CIA and his militia worked closely with United States Special Forces in 2001, several officials said. They said the United States also worried about undermining the American-supported government of President Hamid Karzai, in which General Dostum had served as a defense official. “At the White House, nobody said no to an investigation, but nobody ever said yes, either,” said Pierre Prosper, the former American ambassador for war crimes issues. “The first reaction of everybody there was, ‘Oh, this is a sensitive issue; this is a touchy issue politically.’ ” It is not clear how - or if - the Obama administration will address the issue. But in recent weeks, State Department officials have quietly tried to thwart
IRAQ
6 Are Killed and 67 Hurt in Bombings in Iraq Cities - Sam Dagher and Amir al-Obeidi, New York Times. At least 6 people were killed and 67 others wounded Saturday in bombings in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, according to witnesses and Iraqi security officials. The attack in Mosul killed at least 4 and wounded 35 and involved a car bomb on a street in the neighborhood of Kokjali on the city’s eastern side, said a police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the attack with the news media. The area is mainly inhabited by Shabak, a Kurdish-speaking minority group who are mostly Shiite. The bombing came two days after a double suicide bombing killed 35 and wounded dozens in Tal Afar, a city 40 miles west of Mosul inhabited by another ethnic group, the Turkmens. Nineveh Province, which includes Mosul and Tal Afar, remains one of Iraq’s most volatile areas. Like neighboring Kirkuk Province, it is embroiled in a bitter territorial dispute involving Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens and other ethnic and sectarian groups.
Eight Dead in Iraq Bombings - Associated Press. A car bomb exploded in an alley Saturday in a village in northern Iraq, killing at least four people, wounding others and destroying eight homes, police said. Another four people died in a bombing in Baghdad. Thirty-eight people were wounded and several shops and cars were also damaged in the 3 p.m. explosion in the northern village of Kugjeli, according to a police officer in Ninevah Province, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists. Most of the victims were inside their homes when the bomb exploded near the main street of the predominantly Shiite village, about five kilometers (three miles) east of the city of Mosul. In the Baghdad attack, a bomb was placed at the gate of a billiards hall in the central district of Karrada. Four civilians died and 15 were injured, all of them youths in the hall, a police officer and a hospital medic said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. A bomb in the same area wounded four police on patrol. Violence remains at low levels in Iraq compared with previous years, but bombings continue to kill scores of people. The attacks have raised concerns as the US military draws down troop numbers and Iraq prepares for parliamentary elections on Jan. 30.
Iraq Reconstruction Funds May be Squandered - Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes. Provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq are scrambling to submit a large number of multimillion-dollar aid project proposals by July 15, something critics suggest will result in a rash of big construction projects they were never intended to run. Further, they say, big-budget projects are being put forward too quickly, are too ambitious given the scheduled 2011 withdrawal from Iraq and are crowding out simpler schemes. “Our goal is not necessarily to help [Iraqis] with building projects,” said Rick Gohde, an engineer with the Diwaniyah provincial reconstruction team, known as PRT. “We are supposed to be beyond that. We are supposed to be training them to sustain themselves as we are getting ready to leave.” Capt. Doug Weaver, 28, a civil affairs soldier who acts as a liaison between the military and the Diwaniyah PRT, said Monday that close to $600 million of military aid funding was made available to the PRTs last month countrywide through the Commanders Emergency Relief Program, or CERP. The funds, made available by Congress, are only available through September 30 and the deadline for project proposals exceeding $1 million is next Wednesday, officials said.
Iraqi Shi'ite Lawmakers Protest British Troop Extension - Voice of America. A group of Iraqi lawmakers loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has staged a protest against a proposal allowing British troops to remain in the country. The Sadrist politicians walked out of a session of parliament Saturday, suspending consideration of the proposal. The deal would allow up to 100 British troops to stay in Iraq beyond a previously approved withdrawal date. They would be responsible for helping the Iraqi navy protect oil installations off the southern coast. Moqtada al-Sadr has been a vocal and influential critic of the foreign military presence in Iraq, led by the United States. US troops withdrew from Iraqi cities at the end of June, transferring security responsibilities to Iraqi forces. Since then, there have been a several deadly bombings across the country.
For Relatives of Detainees, Visits Bring Mostly More Worries and Anxieties - Washington Post. A dozen or so Iraqis sat quietly on wooden benches in a dimly lighted room, their eyes fixated on a television playing the American movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks" at a little past noon on a recent day. Despite Arabic subtitles, few seemed to follow the plot. They were the relatives of 15 Iraqi prisoners and had made the journey to spend an hour or so with them at Camp Cropper, a prison on a US base near Baghdad. For the detainees and their families, the fleeting minutes that followed, punctuated by hope and frustration, anxiety and relief, were meant to answer fears. But often they inspired only more worries and raised more questions: How was a sick mother getting by in a distant village? How was a wife, left alone, supporting a detainee's family? More important, they dwelled on clues of an anticipated release, in a country in which hundreds, perhaps far more, have been jailed for years without charges in what many Iraqis deem an appalling miscarriage of justice.
Obama Frees Iranian Terror Masters - Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review opinion. There are a few things you need to know about President Obama’s shameful release on Thursday of the “Irbil Five” - Quds Force commanders from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) who were coordinating terrorist attacks in Iraq that have killed hundreds - yes, hundreds - of American soldiers and Marines. First, of the 4,322 Americans killed in combat in Iraq since 2003, 10 percent of them (i.e., more than 400) have been murdered by a single type of weapon alone, a weapon that is supplied by Iran for the singular purpose of murdering Americans. As Steve Schippert explains at NRO’s military blog, the Tank, the weapon is “the EFP (Explosively Formed Penetrator), designed by Iran’s IRGC specifically to penetrate the armor of the M1 Abrams main battle tank and, consequently, everything else deployed in the field.” Understand: This does not mean Iran has killed only 400 Americans in Iraq. The number killed and wounded at the mullahs’ direction is far higher than that - likely multiples of that - when factoring in the IRGC’s other tactics, such as the mustering of Hezbollah-style Shiite terror cells. Second, President Bush and our armed forces steadfastly refused demands by Iran and Iraq’s Maliki government for the release of the Irbil Five because Iran was continuing to coordinate terrorist operations against American forces in Iraq (and to aid Taliban operations against American forces in Afghanistan). Freeing the Quds operatives obviously would return the most effective, dedicated terrorist trainers to their grisly business.
In the City of Cement - Anthony Shadid, Washington Post opinion. There is a hint of an older Baghdad in old Baghdad. You might call it more of a taunt. It's there at the statue of the portly poet Marouf al-Rusafi, pockmarked by bullets, who gives his name to an untamed square. Around him revolves a city, storied but shabby, that American soldiers have finally, ostensibly, left. The past is here. A turquoise dome, fashioned from brick and adorned in arabesque, peeks from beneath a shroud of dust. A stately colonnade buttresses British-era balconies and balustrades. A forlorn call to prayer drifts from an Ottoman mosque. But few can see the dome. A spider web of wires delivering sporadic electricity obscures the view. You can't navigate the colonnade. Blast walls block the way. And rarely does the call to prayer filter out from a deluge of car horns. "It's all become trash, broken windows and crumbling buildings," complained Hussein Karim, a porter looking out from his perch atop a flap of cardboard on the statue's granite pedestal. "Baghdad," added his friend, Hussein Abed, "has become a shattered city."
IRAN
Inside the Iranian Crackdown - Farnaz Fassihi, Wall Street Journal. When the protests broke out here last month, Mehdi Moradani answered the call to crush them. On the first day of the unrest, the 24-year-old volunteer member of Iran's paramilitary Basij force mounted his motorcycle and chased reformist protesters through the streets, shouting out the names of Shiite saints as he revved his engine. On the fourth day, he picked up a thick wooden stick issued by his Basij neighborhood task force and beat demonstrators who refused to disperse. By the eighth day, demonstrators alleging that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had rigged his re-election were out by the hundreds of thousands. Mr. Moradani says he mobilized in a 12-man motorcycle crew, scouting out restive neighborhoods across Tehran. He battled protesters with a baton and tear gas. The demonstrators fought back with rocks, bricks and bottles. Mr. Moradani says he handcuffed scores of demonstrators and dragged them away as they kicked and screamed. "It wasn't about elections anymore," says Mr. Moradani, a short, skinny man with pitch-black hair and a beard. "I was defending my country and our revolution and Islam. Everything was at risk."
Advisor to Iran Supreme Leader Calls for Tolerance of Dissent - Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times. A top advisor to Iran's supreme leader Saturday urged the country's establishment to be more tolerant of dissent, even as military officials stepped up their rhetoric in the latest signs of divisions created by the marred reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad one month ago. Mohammad Mohammadian, a midranking cleric who heads Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's office of university affairs, acknowledged the simmering discontent over the vote, which sparked massive protests and a violent crackdown last month. "We cannot order public opinion to get convinced," Mohammadian said, according to the Mehr news agency. "Certain individuals are suspicious about the election result, and we have to shed light on the realities and respond to their questions." Providing an unyielding counterpoint, Maj. Gen. Hassan Firoozabadi, the armed forces chief of staff, issued stern warnings against protesters.
Iranian Foreign Minister Says Tehran Preparing 'Package' for West - Edward Yeranian, Voice of America. Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is saying, Saturday, that Tehran is preparing to present a "new package" of proposals concerning international, political and security issues to the West for talks, soon. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad also indicated that a "package" was being prepared, several months ago. Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki alluded, Saturday, to Tehran's yet-to-come, but apparently imminent, new "package of proposals." He says that Iran is preparing a package on various political, security, economic and international issues and he says Iran considers this package a good basis for talks over different issues that the region and the world is struggling with today. During a press conference, with visiting Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah, Mottaki insisted that Iran had not received anything new from the just-concluded Group of Eight summit in Italy.
Iran Prepares Plan for Talks With the West - Reuters. Iran is preparing a new package of “political, security and international” issues to put to the West, its foreign minister said Saturday. “The package can be a good basis for talks with the West,” the minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said at a news conference. The statement was Iran’s first response to comments on Wednesday by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France at the Group of 8 summit meeting in Italy, where he said the major powers would give Iran until September to accept negotiations over its nuclear program or face tougher sanctions. President Obama made a similar warning on Friday. On Saturday, though, Mr. Mottaki said Iran did not see the ultimatum as a unified statement from Western leaders.
10 Weeks - New York Times editorial. The world’s wealthy nations have given Iran until late September to agree to restraints on its nuclear program. If there is no progress, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France declared at this week’s Group of 8 summit, “we will have to take decisions” on imposing tougher sanctions. We hope Mr. Sarkozy and the other G-8 leaders mean it. For seven years, the world powers have pursued a feckless strategy that failed to halt Iran’s efforts to master nuclear fuel production, the hardest part of building a weapon. More deadlines, without any real follow-through, will send a dangerous message to nuclear wannabes who already see Iran and North Korea defying repeated demands from the United Nations Security Council to cease and desist. We don’t know if there is any mix of incentives or sanctions that would work. Certainly President George W. Bush, for all his tough talk and bullying ways, never tried to find it. We also know that if any strategy has a serious chance of success, it must be fully embraced not only by the Europeans but also by Russia and China. So it was disheartening to hear Russian officials boasting in Italy about watering down the G-8 statement on Iran.
THE LONG WAR
Probe of Alleged Torture Weighed - Carrie Johnson, Washington Post. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is leaning toward appointing a criminal prosecutor to investigate whether CIA personnel tortured terrorism suspects after Sept. 11, 2001, setting the stage for a conflict with administration officials who would prefer the issues remain in the past, according to three sources familiar with his thinking. Naming a prosecutor to probe alleged abuses during the darkest period in the Bush era would run counter to President Obama's oft-repeated desire to be "looking forward and not backwards." Top political aides have expressed concern that such an investigation might spawn partisan debates that could overtake Obama's ambitious legislative agenda. The White House successfully resisted efforts by congressional Democrats to establish a "truth and reconciliation" panel. But fresh disclosures have continued to emerge about detainee mistreatment, including a secret CIA watchdog report, recently reviewed by Holder, highlighting several episodes that could be likened to torture.
Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of CIA Project - Scott Shane, New York Times. The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday. The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it, suggesting that the Bush administration had put a high priority on the program and its secrecy. Mr. Panetta, who ended the program when he first learned of its existence from subordinates on June 23, briefed the two intelligence committees about it in separate closed sessions the next day. The question of how completely the C.I.A. informed Congress about sensitive programs has been hotly disputed by Democrats and Republicans since May, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the agency of failing to reveal in 2002 that it was waterboarding a terrorism suspect, a claim Mr. Panetta rejected.
Official: Cheney, Tenet Hid CIA Program - Eli Lake, Washington Times. Top Bush administration officials, including former CIA Director George J. Tenet and former Vice President Dick Cheney, opted not to brief Congress on a secret program belatedly disclosed to Congress last month by CIA Director Leon E. Panetta, according to an intelligence official with direct knowledge of the program. The official, who asked not to be named because of the classified nature of the program, said that the decision to keep the details of the program secret in the past was made in part because the program remained "in the capability stage," meaning it had been developed but not necessarily implemented. "These activities lasted, if you will, for years," this official said. "There were other conversations about whether this should be taken to Congress. The same decision was made again by senior officials at the time." The New York Times first reported on its Web site Saturday that the program was concealed from Congress at the direction of Mr. Cheney, who was and remains a strong proponent of harsh measures to prevent terrorist attacks. The Associated Press, quoting an unnamed source, reported that Mr. Cheney had directed the CIA not to inform Congress about the program.
Report Cites Weaknesses in Wiretapping Program - Siobhan Gorman, Wall Street Journal. Extensive secrecy limited the effectiveness of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program, according to an internal review of the program completed Friday. The review, the first comprehensive independent look at an unprecedented program that roused extensive debate during the Bush administration, also questioned the legal basis for the original program and cast doubt on some of the administration's justifications. For the first month of its existence in October 2001, the program was running without a Justice Department legal opinion. The first legal memo for the program wasn't drafted until the following month, the report found. The report by the inspectors general of five government bodies involved in the program also recommended that the current version of the program, which Congress authorized last year, "should be carefully monitored."
A Call to Jihad, Answered in America - Andrea Elliott, New York Times. The Carlson School of Management rises from the asphalt like a monument to capitalist ambition. Stock prices race across an electronic ticker near a sleek entrance and the atrium soars skyward, as if lifting the aspirations of its students. The school’s plucky motto is “Nowhere but here.” For a group of students who often met at the school, on the University of Minnesota campus, those words seemed especially fitting. They had fled Somalia as small boys, escaping a catastrophic civil war. They came of age as refugees in Minneapolis, embracing basketball and the prom, hip-hop and the Mall of America. By the time they reached college, their dreams seemed within grasp: one planned to become a doctor; another, an entrepreneur. But last year, in a study room on the first floor of Carlson, the men turned their energies to a different enterprise. In November, Mr. Hassan and two other students dropped out of college and left for Somalia, the homeland they barely knew. Word soon spread that they had joined the Shabaab, a militant Islamist group aligned with Al Qaeda that is fighting to overthrow the fragile Somali government. The students are among more than 20 young Americans who are the focus of what may be the most significant domestic terrorism investigation since Sept. 11.
Undoing the Damage - New York Times editorial. Nearly three years after Congress created the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay, lawmakers and the Obama administration are working to undo the grievous damage to the Constitution, American justice and the nation’s global image. Senator Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has produced a good first draft of a new military tribunals law that was approved unanimously by his committee. Mr. Levin showed courage taking on an issue long tainted by George W. Bush’s campaign of fear. And he set a standard all Americans can understand: Military tribunals must not subject prisoners to anything that Americans would not accept if the trials were in another country and a United States citizen was in the dock. After years of watching government lawyers undermine the rule of law, it has been especially gratifying to see President Obama’s lawyers urging senators to do even more to create a system that will fairly try prisoners and no longer shame Americans.
CYBER WARFARE
Securing the Internet - Washington Post editorial. Where is our cyber-czar? As recent attacks on government and private Web sites illustrate, cyber-security is a critical national issue. That's why President Obama was right when he moved to create a high-ranking "cyber-czar" to guide the development of cyber-defense. Now, months later, there is work to be done, and there is still no one in place to do it. Mr. Obama's initial notion of a dual-role coordinator reporting to the National Economic Council and the National Security Council may be the problem -- its nebulous authority has scared off even top potential contenders. Attracting someone to this vital job may mean giving the czar clearer authority to monitor and coordinate security efforts that are spread across multiple agencies. But the need for someone to develop a coherent cyber-policy is pressing. Thousands of cyber-attacks occur every day on private and public networks, jeopardizing the data of more than 280 million people last year. But Mr. Obama's report on cyberspace policy found that "government is not organized to address this growing problem effectively now or in the future.
UNITED STATES
Stavridis at Forward Edge as Military Embraces Social Media - Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service. The very day he assumed his post as NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe last week, Navy Adm. James Stavridis reached out in a way none of the previous 15 NATO commanders since Army Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower had: he posted a blog. Stavridis has had a lot of firsts in his military career. He’s the first sailor to hold NATO’s top military post and command of US European Command. But before that, he was the first geographic combatant commander, at US Southern Command, to use Facebook and a personal blog to convey the importance of partnership and cooperation to confront threats facing Latin America and the Caribbean. Now in his new post, he’s wasting no time using the social media to get word out about his goals for Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and Eucom. Stavridis named his new blog, “From the Bridge,” a reference to the two commands’ focus on bridging the Atlantic to link the United States and Europe. With headquarters in both Mons, Belgium, and Stuttgart, Germany, he acknowledged in his inaugural blog the importance of being able to communicate Eucom’s and NATO’s message intelligently - and his own leadership principles effectively.
All Active-Duty, Most Reserve Components Meet Recruiting Goals - John J. Kruzel, American Forces Press Service. All active-duty military components met or exceeded their recruiting goals in June, with the Marine Corps adding the highest percentage of its target to its ranks, Defense Department officials announced today. Military reserve components, with the exception of the Army National Guard, also met or exceeded their goals. Data published on the Defense Department Web site shows that the Marine Corps goal was to add 3,655 new Marines, which it exceeded by 14 percent, recruiting a total of 4,155. The Marine Corps Reserve more than doubled its goal of 565, adding more than 1,200 Marines. The Army National Guard fell short of its mark, recruiting 84 percent of its goal to add 3,209 soldiers. The Army National Guard has reduced its accession mission as part of its end-strength management program, officials said, and is on track to achieve its year-end goal.
Why We Don't Want a Nuclear-Free World - Melanie Kirkpatrick, Wall Street Journal opinion. 'Nuclear weapons are used every day." So says former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, speaking last month at his office in a wooded enclave of Maclean, Va. It's a serene setting for Doomsday talk, and Mr. Schlesinger's matter-of-fact tone belies the enormity of the concepts he's explaining -- concepts that were seemingly ignored in this week's Moscow summit between Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev. We use nuclear weapons every day, Mr. Schlesinger goes on to explain, "to deter our potential foes and provide reassurance to the allies to whom we offer protection." Mr. Obama likes to talk about his vision of a nuclear-free world, and in Moscow he and Mr. Medvedev signed an agreement setting targets for sweeping reductions in the world's largest nuclear arsenals. Reflecting on the hour I spent with Mr. Schlesinger, I can't help but think: Do we really want to do this?
McNamara Apologized. Will Rumsfeld? - Bradley Graham, Washington Post opinion. Late in his life, Robert McNamara became a sad study in what can happen when a Pentagon leader eventually regrets taking a country into a disastrous war and attempts to atone. His belated acknowledgment of doubts and error in managing the Vietnam War came too late for many, and after his death last week he was remembered as a tragic and sorrowful figure. With the United States enmeshed in a new war with more than its share of poor planning, misguided strategy and failed leadership, McNamara's haunting example prompts the question: Will anyone apologize for Iraq? While in office, Bush administration officials who played important roles in deciding to invade Iraq and in directing the early years of US occupation showed great reluctance to acknowledge error, let alone express regret. Although President George W. Bush eventually recognized the need to change strategy and approved a surge in US forces, neither he nor his senior staff ever hinted at doubts about the basic enterprise.
AFRICA
Obama Exhorts Africans to Fight Corruption, Embrace Democracy - Jonathan Weisman and Will Connors, Wall Street Journal. The first African-American president came to the continent of his father to exhort Africans on Saturday to rid themselves of corruption, embrace democracy and move from the grand, often violent, struggles of liberation and tribalism to the quieter, more potent movement of stability and economic growth. In a half-hour speech described as a major foreign policy address, US President Barack Obama stood before Ghana's boisterous parliament, with a backdrop of festive kente cloth and adoring crowds cheering outside. The speech was broadcast on radio stations throughout the continent. US embassies in Africa held watch parties, movie theaters carried it live and what Internet access there is in Africa crackled with Twitter feeds and e-mailed snippets. The message was one that perhaps only Mr. Obama could have delivered: Africa's excuses are over. Africans must lift themselves up. "In my country, African-Americans, including so many recent immigrants, have thrived in every sector of society. We have done so despite a difficult past, and we have drawn strength from our African heritage. With strong institutions and a strong will, I know that Africans can live their dreams in Nairobi and Lagos; in Kigali and Kinshasa; in Harare and right here in Accra," he said. "It won't be easy. It will take time and effort. There will be suffering and setbacks. But I can promise you this: America will be with you, as a partner, as a friend."
Obama Delivers Call for Change to Africa - Peter Baker, New York Times. President Obama traveled in his father’s often-troubled home continent on Saturday as a potent symbol of a new political era but also as a messenger with a tough-love theme: American aid must be matched by Africa’s responsibility for its own problems. “We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans,” Mr. Obama said in an address to Parliament in the capital, Accra, that was televised across the continent. While citing Africa’s sometimes “tragic past” and acknowledging the ravages of colonialism, he said, “It is easy to point fingers and to pin the blame for these problems on others.” “But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants,” he said.
In Ghana, Obama Urges African Nations to Embrace Democracy - Michael A. Fletcher, Washington Post. President Obama, making his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office, called on people of the oft-troubled continent today to seize control of their future by building strong, democratic institutions and eliminating corruption. Obama, who is being feted by Ghanaians thrilled by the historic visit of the United States' first black president, did not revel in the adulation he received here during a speech to a special session of parliament. Rather, he delivered a blunt but optimistic message about how Africa can shape its destiny. "We must start with a simple premise that Africa's future is up to Africans," he said. While Obama nodded to the continent's colonial past as a factor in its struggles, he said that Africa's contemporary problems could hardly be blamed on its former European overseers. "The West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants," Obama said.
President Obama Urges Africans to Help Themselves - Christi Parsons and Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times. The words had never been spoken by a US president: "I have the blood of Africa within me." President Obama's roots, as the son of a Kenyan economist and his personal journeys to the continent over the last 25 years, enable him to speak authoritatively about Africa in a way none of his predecessors could. It's no surprise that his first presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa has filled many people in the vast region with hope and pride. But being a "son of Africa" has also raised expectations. And even as he was flooded with a warm welcome on the streets of the capital, Accra, his much-anticipated speech to the Ghanaian parliament Saturday left some Africa-watchers disappointed, questioning whether Obama is committed to making the continent one of his foreign-policy priorities.
Obama Urges Africa to Seize Promise - Stephen Dinan, Washington Times. To adoring crowds, and with a nod to his own success as a black American, President Obama on Saturday used this relatively stable democracy to challenge the rest of Africa to rise above conflict and corruption as it sees the world stage. With a message that was part congratulatory and part warning, Mr. Obama told Ghanaians he has "the blood of Africa within me," and said the continent is at "a new moment of great promise." But he condemned despots who cheat their citizens and said colonialism can no longer be used as an excuse for bad decisions. "Africa's future is up to Africans," he said in a speech to Ghana's Parliament, meeting in a special session at the conference center in the capital. Newspapers proclaimed "Welcome home" to Mr. Obama and his family. Throngs greeted the president when he made an afternoon excursion to Cape Coast Castle, a marketplace started in the 16th century that later became a departure point for slaves about to be shipped off to the New World.
Obama's Rallying Call in Africa - Robin Henry, The Times. Barack Obama has called for African countries to follow the democratic example during a visit to Ghana today. On his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as US president Obama hailed Ghana’s stable democracy saying it should be the ‘model’ for the rest of the continent. Obama said he wanted to assure Africa it was not excluded from world affairs, but called for widespread change in its governance. Speaking after a meeting with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills in Accra this morning Obama said: “We wanted to make sure to come to an African country after the G8 and after my business in Moscow to emphasise that Africa is not separate from world affairs. “We think that Ghana can be an extraordinary model for success throughout the continent. "The 21st Century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Ghana as well.
Barack Obama Tells Africa to Stop Blaming the West for its Woes on Historic Ghana Visit - Mike Pflanz, Daily Telegraph. Barack Obama has delivered the most challenging speech by a US leader in Africa for decades by castigating the continent's leadership for creating a culture of "brutality and bribery". Adopting a tone his white predecessors never dared employ, the US President told Africa it could no longer blame the West for all its woes. "Yes, a colonial map that made little sense bred conflict, and the West has often approached Africa as a patron, rather than a partner," he told the Ghanaian parliament. "But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants." Seeking to jolt Africa's politicians out of a complacent belief that his shared ancestry with them would soften his rhetoric, Mr Obama spoke with withering directness. Condemning tyrannical African leaders who "enrich themselves" amid the continent's chronic poverty, he promised fresh "partnerships" only with states that were well-governed. For the kleptocrats and autocrats who still sprinkle the continent, he had a simple message: enough is enough.
Republic of Congo to Hold Presidential Election - Anne Look, Voice of America. On Sunday, the Republic of Congo will hold its second presidential election since the civil war, amid concerns that the vote could unleash a new round of civil unrest and conflict in the country. This Sunday, incumbent president Denis Sassou-Nguesso faces 12 challengers in his run for a second seven-year term. As of mid-June, there were 17 candidates, but four have since been disqualified by the Constitutional Court, including main opposition candidate, Ange Edouard Poungui. The former prime minister was rejected because he had not continuously resided in the country for the past two years, as required by law. He has said the decision was politically motivated. Mr. Sasso-Nguesso has been president all but five years in the last three decades. He first took power in a 1979 coup before losing in a multiparty election in 1992. He seized power again in 1997 and won a landslide victory in the 2002 presidential elections from which key rivals were either banned or withdrew.
Congo Poll to Open Amid Veto Call - BBC News. People in the Republic of Congo are preparing to go to the polls in an election which opposition leaders say will be neither free nor fair. President Denis Sassou-Nguesso has been in power for most of the past 30 years, and is hoping for another term. But his opponents have urged voters to stay away, saying the government has inflated the electoral roll figures. The BBC's Thomas Fessy in the capital Brazzaville says many people have left the city fearing unrest. Government officials say more than two million people have been registered to vote but Roger Bouka Owoko, head of the Congolese Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH), said that figure was "grotesque".
Mugabe Calls For Unity; Slams Western Nations - Voice of America. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has called for unity in the nation's power sharing government, while criticizing the West for putting conditions on aid to his troubled nation. Speaking Saturday at a state funeral, Mr. Mugabe called on members of the unity government to speak with one voice and show they are truly united. Mr. Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change formed the unity government earlier this year, after months of difficult negotiations and strong pressure from regional leaders. On Saturday, Mr. Mugabe lashed out at western nations that have balked at offering more aid to Zimbabwe without further political reforms. He said Zimbabwe should not humiliate itself any further and only go to those friends who are prepared to work with them on equal terms.
Seven Somalis Beheaded by Extremists for 'Spying for Government' - Tristan McConnell, The Times. Seven people accused of renouncing Islam and spying for the Government were beheaded in Somalia yesterday in a move that underlined the growing authority of the country’s Islamist insurgents. The extremist al-Shabaab group is battling the interim Government in Mogadishu and has implemented a strict interpretation of Sharia in the parts of the country that it controls. “Al-Shabaab told us that they were beheaded for being Christian followers and spies,” a relative said after the killings. A witness described seeing the decapitated bodies in the back of a lorry in the town of Baidoa. The killings were the largest number to take place at one time. They were the latest in a series of beheadings, amputations and stonings to death ordered by al-Shabaab, which is accused of having links to al-Qaeda and is listed as a terrorist organisation by the US.
UN Criticizes Beheadings in Somalia - Joe Lauria, Wall Street Journal. The top United Nations human-rights official said that extremists trying to overthrow a fragile transition government in Somalia are carrying out ad hoc trials and killing prisoners by stoning, decapitation and amputation of limbs - acts that "might amount to war crimes." Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said in Geneva that the al Shabaab militant group, which is attempting to gain control of the capital Mogadishu, had also been using human shields and indiscriminately firing mortars into populated areas where they have also planted bombs and mines. "In this new wave of attacks, it is clear that civilians - especially women and children - are bearing the brunt of the violence," Ms. Pillay said. "Displaced people and human-rights defenders, aid workers and journalists are among those most exposed, and in some cases are being directly targeted." The militants on Friday beheaded seven prisoners, accusing them of abandoning the Muslim faith and spying for the government, the Associated Press reported.
Africa's Bitter Cycle of Child Slavery - Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times. For generations, Ghana and other West African nations have served as a hub for child trafficking and slavery. An estimated 200,000 children in West and Central Africa perform unpaid labor. They are given minimal food and clothing, are deprived of schooling and medical care and are often subjected to physical abuse. Recent laws outlawing slavery in many African countries have had limited effect. Slavery has a long history in these parts. The Elmina Castle on Ghana's Cape Coast, one of the departure points for the 18th and 19th century slave trade to the Americas, each year draws thousands of African American visitors seeking their roots. Elmina's dank, black dungeons lead to the "room of no return," with its moldy green walls and oppressive atmosphere. "May humanity never again perpetrate such inhumanity against humanity," reads a plaque at the fortress.
AMERICAS
Honduras Talks End with No Agreement - Voice of America. Talks between the ousted and interim governments of Honduras have ended, with no solution in sight. Representatives of toppled President Manuel Zelaya and interim President Roberto Micheletti failed to reach an agreement Friday during their second day of talks in Costa Rica. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is mediating the negotiations. He said the two sides have agreed to meet again. Friday's talks took place one day after President Arias met separately at his home with Mr. Zelaya and Mr. Micheletti, who have refused to talk together. The Costa Rican leader has been quoted as saying that resolving the crisis "could possibly take longer than one might have imagined." After the talks Thursday, the two rivals continued to maintain their unconditional right to lead Honduras. The United States supports Mr. Zelaya and has refused to recognize the interim government, but is supporting the Costa Rica negotiations.
Honduras Conflict Talks Yield Little Movement - Ginger Thompson, New York Times. The two sides of the political conflict in Honduras agreed to little more on Friday than that they would meet again “sometime soon,” after two days of talks in which there was little sign of movement toward bridging the divide between them. As the talks failed to gain traction in Costa Rica, much of Honduras was paralyzed by strikes and protests, and tiny cracks were beginning to emerge in the solidarity of the coalition of countries demanding the return of the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya. The talks, which were mediated by President Óscar Arias of Costa Rica, have been shaky from the start, with Mr. Zelaya and the man who replaced him at the head of the de facto government, Roberto Micheletti, refusing to budge from the positions that have polarized their country. They refused to meet face to face and departed the talks shortly after they began Thursday.
A Dose of Realism in Honduras - Edward Schumacher-Matos, Washington Post opinion. Sometimes you have to give political leaders credit. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are on the verge of achieving their own coup in Honduras and advancing American interests with a deftness not seen from Washington in many years. The president's reference to Honduras during his trip to Moscow reflects how the small Central American country is but a pawn as the administration pushes the reset button globally and in the hemisphere. Justice may not be totally served in Honduras, but the country is likely to end up better off anyway. "America cannot and should not seek to impose any system of government on any other country," Obama said in Russia, "nor would we presume to choose which party or individual should run a country. . . . Even as we meet here today, America supports now the restoration of the democratically elected president of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies. We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders."
Gunmen Stage Coordinated Attack on Mexican Cities, Killing Six - Associated Press. Gunmen boldly attacked federal forces across the western state of Michoacan on Saturday, killing five federal agents and two soldiers after the capture of a suspected drug cartel operative. Ten other federal agents were wounded in the ambushes. Convoys of heavily armed gunmen tossed grenades and opened fire on police stations in the state capital of Morelia and in five other cities between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. Saturday. Assailants also shot up a hotel where federal agents were staying in Apatzingan, according to the state attorney general's office. The attacks were among the boldest frontal offenses carried out against the government. They appeared to be in retaliation for the arrest of Arnoldo Rueda Medina, an alleged member of La Familia drug cartel, which is based in Michoacan.
ASIA PACIFIC
China Increases Police Presence on Xinjiang - Voice of America. Chinese armored personnel carriers and trucks loaded with riot police are patrolling the streets of Urumqi, trying to bring calm to the city after deadly riots. Some residents in the capital of Xinjiang province tell news agencies they are afraid to leave their homes because of the unrest. Others mourned the dead or looked for missing relatives. Saturday's show of force by Chinese troops comes as officials raised the death toll in the western region to 184. Officials say 137 where from China's dominant Han ethnic group, and that most of the others were minority Uighur Muslims. The clashes began July 5 when Uighurs attacked Han Chinese. Han Chinese took to the streets two days later seeking revenge against Uighurs. Officials say at least 1,434 people have been arrested.
Death Toll Debated In China's Rioting - Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post. Chinese authorities on Friday raised the official death count to 184 and said more than 1,000 people were injured in the rioting Sunday, making it the deadliest clash in the far western region of Xinjiang since Chinese troops arrived here 60 years ago and one of the worst in the country's modern history. Additional people were victimized in retaliatory attacks in the following days. Of the dead, 137 were Han Chinese, 46 were Uighur and one was part of the Hui Muslim minority group. But other details are scarce. Local officials have declined to release information about how the victims died or were hurt. Nearly all of the 150 or so police snapshots of the dead appear to be of Han Chinese. Most have gashes or cuts on their heads. Only about 10 appear to be Uighur, at least three with apparent bullet wounds near their hearts - a detail that lends credence to charges by Uighur leaders that Chinese national security forces fired into the crowd of protesters.
Uighurs Force Opening of Mosques in Urumqi - Wall Street Journal. Crowds of Muslim Uighurs ignored orders canceling Friday prayers and talked their way in to at least two mosques in neighborhoods hit by ethnic tensions here, as officials raised the death toll and released the first ethnic breakdown of casualties in riots Sunday. The official toll rose to 184 from 156, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Xinhua reported 137 of the victims belonged to the dominant Han Chinese ethnic group, 46 of those killed were Uighur, and one was a member of the Hui ethnic group. The violence grew out of a rights protest by Uighurs, under circumstances that remain unclear. On Tuesday, Han Chinese mobs sought revenge in Uighur neighborhoods. The Chinese government has imposed calm on the city of 2.4 million people with a massive security deployment, but tensions remained high. On Friday, Mosques in areas where severe violence took place were closed for security reasons, according to an official from the city's religious affairs bureau. At the White Mosque near a Uighur neighborhood that saw some of the worst violence Sunday, about 100 men argued with guards, demanding they be let in for prayers.
Now the Uighurs - Washington Post editorial. If the reports of deadly riots and repression in a far-off region of China sounded familiar last week, it's because you have heard them - or something much like them - before. The uprising by ethnic Uighurs in the city of Urumqi in Xinjiang province was the third such popular protest by Uighurs in the past 20 years, and it looked a lot like the trouble that broke out last year in Tibet. What began as a peaceful protest by an aggrieved minority turned to rioting after police responded harshly. Then followed a brutal crackdown by security forces, accompanied by revenge attacks by members of China's Han majority. As always, Chinese authorities have been unsparing in the force used to silence the protests. As always, they are blocking communications from the region (though some Western journalists were allowed to travel to Urumqi) and fomenting Han nationalism with xenophobic diatribes in the state-controlled media. Once again an exiled leader is blamed, without evidence, for fomenting "terrorism" - in this case Rebiya Kadeer, the World Uighur Congress leader, who lives in Fairfax County. And - as always - China is doing and promising nothing to remedy the underlying cause of the unrest, which is its treatment of both Tibet and Xinjiang as if they were colonies, populated by captive nations.
Reports: New Evidence Points to N. Korean in Cyber Attacks - Voice of America. Some South Korean officials say there may be more evidence North Korea launched a series of cyber attacks that hit Web sites around the world. According to South Korean news reports from the Yonhap news agency and the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper Saturday, the country's spy agency obtained documents ordering a North Korean army unit to start the attack. The reports say some top South Korean lawmakers were briefed on the evidence earlier this week. But the National Intelligence Service says it cannot confirm the reports. The multi-day cyber attack affected government Web sites in South Korea and the United States. The Korea Communications Commission warned Friday a new phase of the virus could destroy the data of thousands of personal computers in South Korea.
North Korea's No. 2 Leaves for Egypt Summit - Associated Press. North Korea's No. 2 leader left Saturday for a summit of nonaligned nations in Egypt, state media said. The Korean Central News Agency reported Kim Yong Nam's departure in a brief dispatch from Pyongyang. Kim is president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly. He is regarded as the country's second-highest official after leader Kim Jong Il. The 15th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement is being held through July 16 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Sharm El Sheikh. The movement, set up more than five decades ago during the Cold War, was designed to be a group of countries that do not consider themselves aligned with any particular major power or bloc. Its influence, however, has waned in the post-Cold War era.
What Would War with North Korea Look Like? - Ashley Rowland, Stars and Stripes. Little is known about the secretive country considered the most closed society in the world. Crossing into North Korea, analysts say, you could expect to find crushing poverty, widespread hunger and a massive military that includes nearly one in three of the communist nation’s citizens. Beyond that, it’s anybody’s guess. "It’s such an isolated society that we only have ... glimpses of what’s going on," said Brig. Gen. Richard Haddad, commander of Special Operations Command Korea. Should US forces ever be called on for a mission inside North Korea, it is the unknown that presents the biggest challenge, Haddad said. Special operations forces are trained for unconventional warfare, often executed by teams of guerrilla fighters. Those forces - which include troops who specialize in civil affairs and psychological operations - can also be used after major fighting to track down remnants of the enemy and build up a country’s security forces to restore order, as they are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
WMD on Board - Wall Street Journal editorial. The North Korean ship suspected of carrying missiles or other illicit cargo turned around and headed back to its home port this week, trailed by the US Navy. Now the question is, what will Pyongyang try next? The freighter, Kang Nam I, is believed to have been carrying weapons or missiles, in violation of United Nations sanctions. It set sail in mid-June, not long after the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1874, imposing a global embargo on the North's trade in most arms. It was believed to be heading to Burma via Singapore, though its final destination was unknown. It's unclear why the North called the Kang Nam home. It's possible the military junta that runs Burma said the ship would not be welcome. Perhaps the generals feared more bad global PR during the trial of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Or maybe Beijing, which has a lot of leverage with the generals, leaned on them. It's also possible that the ship would have run out of fuel before it reached Burma, necessitating a port call in Singapore, where it would have faced an inspection. Or - and here's a thought - perhaps Pyongyang worried that the US Navy might actually stop and board it, as it has every legal right to do.
To Board or Not to Board? - Jeremy Rabkin and Mario Loyola, Weekly Standard opinion. For more than a week now, US warships have been tailing a North Korean vessel suspected of carrying illegal weapons while it sails round in circles off the coast of China. The latest UN Security Council resolution on North Korea (RES. 1874) has proved to be nothing to laugh at, and may well have led Burma - the ship's supposed destination - to revoke its invitation for a North Korean port call. That, in turn, may soon compel Pyongyang to bring the vessel back to home port. Resolution 1874 allows our navy to board North Korean ships, but only if North Korea agrees, which is not very likely. A ship, though, in effect consents to inspection when it requests permission to dock in a foreign port, and the resolution directs host countries to inspect any vessels suspected of carrying illegal North Korean weapons and to deny them fuel and water until the grounds for suspicion are dispelled. That is new, and it could well have created a serious problem for North Korea. After many days heading south, the vessel is now - very slowly - heading back north again, and may soon run out of fuel. So far, so good. What's not so good is the ubiquity, in reports and official statements, of arguably the most unfortunate word in the lexicon of American diplomacy: "authorization." In order to secure support for the resolution, Susan Rice, the new US ambassador to the United Nations, agreed that it would not "authorize the use of force" to interdict any suspect North Korean
vessel. The implication is that without the Security Council's authorization, forcible interdiction would be illegal.
On Trial and Under Wraps, a Burmese Icon Tends a Flickering Flame - New York Times. Outside Myanmar, formerly Burma, the trial has energized dissident Burmese exiles, has caused some politicians in neighboring countries to issue rare criticism of Myanmar’s military government and has mobilized Hollywood actors and rock stars to take up the cause of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, the only living Nobel Peace Prize laureate currently in detention. Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, visited Myanmar last weekend in a failed attempt to meet with her. But in a waterlogged hamlet an hour’s drive from the prison where Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi is being held, villagers are preoccupied with their own severe poverty and are only vaguely aware of her trial.
Red Cross Worker Freed in Philippines - Associated Press. Al Qaeda-linked militants in the southern Philippines freed an ailing Italian Red Cross worker Sunday from six months of jungle captivity, officials said. Eugenio Vagni, 63, appeared to be in good health but weak as Abu Sayyaf captors handed him over to a provincial vice governor in a jungle near Maimbung township on southern Jolo Island, officials said. "He was weak but obviously very happy to have regained his freedom," Marine Col. Eugenio Clemen told said. Mr. Vagni, who had difficulty walking because of a hernia, embraced military officers at a Jolo military camp saying "thank you" repeatedly, said Col. Clemen, who helped oversee rescue operations for Vagni.
EUROPE
A Russian Economy In Reverse Gear - David Ignatius, Washington Post opinion. The un-modern face of Russia's economic "modernization" was evident in Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's response to the nation's credit crunch. Last month he ordered state-controlled banks to lend $13 billion - and said that the banks' CEOs couldn't take their summer vacations until they had done his bidding. Russia today often seems to combine the worst aspects of a free market and a command economy. It has the dealmaking and corruption of the new capitalism, and the top-heavy bureaucratic inefficiency of the old communism. The result is an economy that seems stuck in second gear, even as those of the nations Russia sees as its peers - Brazil, India and China -- continue to accelerate. Konstantin Remchukov, a former industrialist who is now publisher and editor in chief of the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, says that the economic mess reminds him of the lyrics of a rock song by the Russian band DDT, which was popular in the last days of the Soviet Union: "We fight to the death Tuesday for Wednesday, without understanding Thursday."
MIDDLE EAST
Israel Must Stay 'Deep in Golan' - BBC News. An aide to Israel's prime minister has said Israel must keep a large part of the Golan Heights, rejecting Syria's major demand for a peace deal. The previous government held indirect talks with Syria, assumed to be based on returning the Golan Heights, occupied in 1967, in return for peace. In June, Syrian President Bashar Assad said there was no partner for talks on the Israeli side. Correspondents say the aide's comments will serve to reinforce this view. Syria has remained in a state of war with Israel since its 1948 foundation. Israel took control of the Golan Heights, a strategic mountainous area now popular with Israeli holidaymakers, during the 1967 Six Day War.
SOUTH ASIA
Pakistan: Trial of Mumbai Attackers to Start Next Week - Voice of America. Pakistan's interior minister says the trial of five men accused of involvement in last year's deadly attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai will likely begin next week. Rehman Malik told reporters on Saturday that Pakistan's investigation into the role of the accused is nearly complete and that based on the evidence, "the culprits will be punished." The interior minister also rejected India's allegations that Pakistan was not serious about carrying out its investigation into the terror attacks that killed 166 people last November in India's financial hub. He said Pakistan went the "extra mile" in its probe. India blames the assault on militants trained in Pakistan.
BOOKS
Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan - Doug Stanton.
Horse Soldiers tells the important story of the Special Forces soldiers who first put American boots on the ground in Afghanistan in 2001. Fighting alongside the Northern Alliance, the troops, often riding on horseback, achieved several important victories against the Taliban.
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.
