Iraq welcomes Vice President Joseph Biden's encouraging words about America's commitment to Iraq, but government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Saturday that political reconciliation is an internal matter best handled by Iraqis.
AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN
New US Offensive in Southern Afghanistan Puts Pakistani Military on Alert - Catherine Maddux, Voice of America. As thousands of U.S. Marines push deep inside Taliban territory in southern Afghanistan, there is concern in Pakistan that fleeing Afghan insurgents will cross the porous border, putting more pressure on the army as it wages its own campaign to rid Pakistan of Islamic extremists. Before this week's surge of 4,000 Marines and hundreds of Afghan forces into Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, the issue of how such a bold move would impact Pakistan was already on the minds of top US policy makers. The top US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, was very public about his concerns regarding the possible influx of Islamic fighters into Pakistan during a visit to Islamabad last month. "We are concerned that there may be some spillover effect, as there was in the past," he said. "I've raised it repeatedly in Washington and here [Pakistan] and in Kabul. I don't want to be an alarmist here."
Afghan-Pakistani Hostility Impedes US Troops - Greg Jaffe, Washington Post. Senior US and Pakistani officials have stepped up efforts in recent months to tame the chaotic border area, used by the Taliban as a base from which to fire rockets at US positions in Afghanistan and smuggle fighters and weapons. But high-level talks have not led to cooperation on the ground, where US troops are struggling to overcome decades of enmity between Afghanistan and Pakistan. "I am not sure why the [Pakistanis] are even here, except to stick a thumb in the eye of the Afghans," said Maj. Jason Dempsey, the No. 3 officer in the US battalion on the border. When 800 troops from the Army's 10th Mountain Division moved into the area in February, it marked the first large-scale US presence on the border in Konar province since the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. The Americans had been in place only a few weeks when the local Pakistani commander summoned them and the senior Afghan commander in the area for an emergency meeting to discuss his fears that Afghan forces, backed by US air power, were planning to attack Pakistani posts.
Attack in Pakistani Garrison City Raises Anxiety About Safety of Nuclear Labs and Staff - Salman Masood, New York Times. A suicide attack Thursday on a bus in Rawalpindi was the first that singled out workers of Pakistan’s prized nuclear labs, military analysts and prominent national newspapers said, raising new questions about the government’s ability to withstand increasingly bold assaults by the Taliban against the country’s military complex. The attack comes as Pakistan’s army is fighting the Taliban on several fronts and is about to begin an even more ambitious campaign in the insurgents’ heartland in Waziristan. Government officials have said that the attack hit a bus carrying workers from a nonnuclear military plant, but military analysts said they believed that was an effort to avoid the embarrassment of admitting that a vehicle connected with the nuclear program had been hit. The Taliban and Al Qaeda have announced that their goal is to topple the government and gain control of its nuclear arsenal. Singling out nuclear workers, even though they were miles outside the weapons lab, military analysts say, carries heavy symbolism in a nation that believes its ultimate strength lies in its nuclear capability. It also suggested a worrisome level of sophistication.
British Islamists Plot Against Pakistan - Nicola Smith, The Times. British militants are pushing for the overthrow of the Pakistani state. Followers of the fundamentalist group Hizb ut-Tahrir have called for a “bloodless military coup” in Islamabad and the creation of the caliphate in which strict Islamic laws would be rigorously enforced. Members of the group, which describes itself as the Liberation party in Britain but is banned in Pakistan, revealed last week that it had targeted the country as a base from which to spread Islamic rule across the world. The Sunday Times has obtained the names of a dozen British Hizb ut-Tahrir activists based in Lahore and Karachi, or commuting between Britain and Pakistan. There are believed to be many more. Tayyib Muqeem, an English teacher from Stoke-on-Trent, said he had moved to Lahore to convert Pakistanis to the movement. At Lahore’s Superior College, where Muqeem has set up a Hizb ut-Tahrir student group, he said the organisation’s aim was to subject Muslim and western countries to Islamic rule under sharia law, “by force” if necessary.
2 US Soldiers Killed in Taliban Attack - Associated Press. Taliban militants fired rockets and mortar shells at an American base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing two United States soldiers and wounding several more in a two-hour battle, officials said. During the clash, which ended only after United States forces called in airstrikes, a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck toward the base’s gates. It blew up when American troops fired on it. The multipronged attack in Paktika Province, near the Pakistan border, was hundreds of miles from the major Marine assault in southern Afghanistan and underscored the militants’ ability to fight the American-led coalition on multiple fronts. More than 30 insurgents were killed in the battle, in Zerok District, said Hamidullah Zawak, the provincial governor’s spokesman. Seven American soldiers and two Afghan soldiers were wounded, a United States military spokesman said.
Roadside Bomb Kills Two British Soldiers in Afghanistan - Associated Press. A roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan killed two British soldiers, while gunmen in the east abducted 16 mine-clearing personnel working for the United Nations, officials said Sunday. The UK Ministry of Defense said a soldier from 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment was killed by a rocket propelled grenade attack, and another soldier from the Light Dragoons was killed in an explosion. Both attacks took place near Gereshk in Helmand province on Saturday, the ministry said, adding that the soldiers' next of kin had been informed. A total of 173 British personnel have died in Afghanistan since 2001. The blast that killed the troops came as thousands of US Marines pour into the Taliban's southern heartland, in the biggest US military offensive operation in Afghanistan since the toppling of the militants in 2001.
Running Out Of Options, Afghans Pay For an Exit - Adam B. Ellick, New York Times. Through two decades of war, Abdul Ahad never contemplated leaving Afghanistan. But as his country started to deteriorate rapidly in 2007, so did his life. He was laid off from his full-time driving job and forced to take the only work he could find: a once-a-week driving gig through Taliban territory. In the past eight months, a suicide bomb and a firefight nearly took his life. Now, Mr. Ahad, 26, has had enough. He has begun scouting potential smugglers to take him to Europe, he said, looking to join the surge of young Afghans who are abandoning their country, frustrated by endless war, a lack of prospects and the slow pace of change. While foreign diplomats hold out hope that the August presidential elections and President Obama’s new troop deployments could change things here, Afghans are voting with their feet.
The 'Moderate' Taliban - Hassina Sherjan, Washington Times opinion. For the past five years, President Hamid Karzai has been trying negotiation and reconciliation with the "moderate Taliban" to resolve the insurgency and establish peace in Afghanistan. This approach has failed every time. In the process, it has revealed the weakness of the Afghan government and its international allies in the fight against terrorism. As preconditions for talks, the Taliban clearly demanded, time and time again, the departure of all foreign forces from Afghanistan and implementation of Shariah law in order to start a dialogue with the Afghan government. President Obama recently suggested a dialogue with the moderate Taliban. Shortly thereafter, the Taliban rejected that proposal, saying there were no extremist or moderate groups within their ranks. On this point at least, the Taliban are right - at least if one thinks in terms of the formal hierarchy of the organization. As Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News, "Taliban were united under the leadership of Mullah Mohammad Omar. All the fighters follow and obey orders of one central command. The existence of moderates and extremists elements within the ranks and files of Taliban is a wishful thinking of the West and Afghan government."
IRAQ
Link Between Iraq Violence, Troop Withdrawals Considered - Greg Jaffe, Washington Post. A recent spike in violence in Iraq is prompting senior defense officials to ask whether the gradual withdrawal of US troops from Iraqi cities over the past several months has provided an opening to extremist groups eager to spark sectarian attacks between Sunnis and Shiites. The latest bombings have highlighted the still-fragile state of the Iraqi government and security forces as the war enters a new phase and US influence in the country continues to wane. Some senior defense officials speculated that the recent increase was part of a last push by Sunni extremist groups, who appeared to be marshaling their resources in May, to make their presence felt before the formal deadline for the US withdrawal from Iraq's cities. "We knew that if al-Qaeda in Iraq had only five bombs left, they were going to use them all as the last of our forces left the cities," said a senior defense official who follows Iraq. "They wanted to create the narrative that they had driven us from Iraq. Next, they'll want to build the narrative that the Iraqi security forces can't protect the people."
Reconciliation an Internal Matter, Says Iraq - Gina Chon, Wall Street Journal. Iraq welcomes Vice President Joseph Biden's encouraging words about America's commitment to Iraq, but government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Saturday that political reconciliation is an internal matter best handled by Iraqis. Mr. Biden arrived in Iraq on Thursday to visit troops for the July 4 holiday and to also urge Iraq's political, ethnic and sectarian factions to make more progress on divisive issues. The Obama administration recently announced that Mr. Biden would overseeing Iraq policy for the US government, part of which included encouraging more political progress from Iraq's leaders. "Any party that is not Iraqi will not add to the success of this issue," Mr. Dabbagh said of political progress. Mr. Biden began Independence Day by greeting more than 200 US soldiers from 59 countries who were becoming American citizens at a naturalization ceremony in a marble domed hall at one of Saddam Hussein's palaces at Camp Victory, the US military headquarters on the outskirts of Baghdad.
Biden Celebrates US Independence Day with Troops in Iraq - Voice of America. US Vice President Joe Biden spent the final day of his trip to Iraq celebrating the US Independence Day holiday with American troops in Baghdad. The vice president attended a ceremony Saturday at one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces for more than 200 soldiers from 59 countries who were becoming US citizens. Biden told the new citizens "you are the reason America is strong." He said Saddam, the former Iraqi dictator, is "rolling over in his grave right now." The US vice president had been scheduled to visit the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq later Saturday, but was forced to cancel those plans because of a severe sandstorm that blanketed Baghdad. This is the first US Independence Day celebration since the country withdrew its troops from Iraqi cities and towns. Biden warned Iraqi leaders the United States may not be around to help if Iraq is allowed to revert to sectarian violence.
In Iraq, Biden Paints a Holiday Ceremony With Colorful Talk - Sheryl Gay Stolber, New York Times. Back home, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. prides himself on being a plainspoken guy, the kind who says whatever is on his mind. And on the Fourth of July in Iraq, he did not disappoint. Mr. Biden spent Saturday morning presiding over a naturalization ceremony for 237 soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen - including 12 from Iraq - who became American citizens. He had come here, just days after American combat troops withdrew from cities, on a diplomatic mission. But Independence Day is about patriotism more than diplomacy, and the vice president struck a down-home theme. “As corny as it sounds,” Mr. Biden declared, “damn, I’m proud to be an American.” Mr. Biden, along with President Obama, campaigned on a platform of ending the Iraq war. He said Saturday that the United States was “on track” to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, as Mr. Obama has promised.
Iraqi Seizes the Chance to Make War Profitable - Marc Santora, New York Times. For most Iraqis, life after the American invasion has been a tale of loss: loss of loved ones, loss of property, loss of dignity, loss of security. But not for Araz M. Mohsin. Every war has its spoils, and while much has been written about the multinational corporations whose profits soared as the battle raged, there are also hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people like Mr. Mohsin. There is no suggestion that he did anything illegal, but in his description of the rise of his business, the Future Company, it is possible to see writ small how such vast sums of money from American taxpayers and the treasuries of other countries could have been poured into Iraq with so little to show for it. Even an American contract for something as simple as hauling gravel has brought Mr. Moshin tens of thousands of dollars. The basic infrastructure of the country is still a shambles, and with security remaining relatively stable, Iraq’s political leaders have turned their rhetoric to the evils of corruption.
IRAN
Saudis Give Nod to Israeli Raid on Iran - Uzi Mahnaimi and Sarah Baxter, The Times. The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites. Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility. The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials. “The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” a diplomatic source said last week.
Top Iran Hardline Paper Calls for Mousavi Treason Trial - Edward Yeranian, Voice of America. Iran's conservative Kayhan daily newspaper is calling opposition leader and defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi a "US agent" and demanding that he be tried for allegedly collaborating with foreign governments to incite post-election violence. The editorial printed Saturday in Kayhan, asks if Mr. Mousavi's actions during several weeks of post-election unrest were in response to instructions by American authorities. Written by a close ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, the article also called for Mr. Mousavi and for Iran's former president and leading reformist, Mohammad Khatami, to be tried for treason. Mr. Khatami has accused Iran's leaders of a "coup" against democracy for upholding the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A wave of attacks against alleged foreign involvement in Iran's internal crisis is being waged by hardliners in an apparent bid to legitimize the re-election of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, despite multiple charges of fraud.
Iran Newspaper Calls for Mousavi to Face Trial - Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times. A right-wing newspaper close to Iran's supreme leader on Saturday accused the country's main opposition figure of being a dupe for Iran's foreign enemies and said he should face trial. But Mir-Hossein Mousavi, defeated presidential candidate and leader of a nascent reform movement, remained unbowed. The soft-spoken but defiant former prime minister responded by releasing his most detailed account yet of what he maintains was vote-rigging and irregularities in last month's reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, including an allegation that only the incumbent's allies were allowed to witness vote-counting on election day. In a sign of potential escalation of Iran's confrontation with the West, an Iranian military official said the "ground has been set" for a takeover of the British Embassy residence in north Tehran. Iranian officials have accused Britain of stirring up the large-scale public protests that roiled Tehran for several weeks after the June 12 election.
Iranian Details Alleged Fraud - Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post. Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leading opposition candidate in last month's disputed election, released documents Saturday detailing a campaign of alleged fraud by supporters of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that assured his reelection, while an adviser to Iran's supreme leader accused Mousavi of treason. Hossein Shariatmadari, a special adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused Mousavi of being a "foreign agent" working for the United States and a member of a "fifth column" determined to topple Iran's Islamic system of governance. The accusation of treason was the highest and most direct issued by an Iranian official since the June 12 election. Many in Iran say that government forces are laying the groundwork for arresting Mousavi, who has not been seen in public in more than a week.
Leading Clerics Defy Ayatollah on Disputed Iran Election - Michael Slackman and Nazila Fathi, New York Times. The most important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment. A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as criminals and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult - if not impossible.
British Embassy Analyst Faces Prison Sentence - Marie Colvin, The Times. A respected Iranian political analyst employed by the British embassy in Tehran is facing a lengthy prison sentence after he was charged yesterday with “acting against national security”. The charge was a sharp escalation of the hardline Iranian regime’s campaign to blame Britain for instigating demonstrations against last month’s disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Hossein Rassam, the senior Iranian employee at the embassy and a close confidant of the ambassador, Simon Gass, was arrested last Saturday at his home. Eight other Iranian employees of the embassy were also detained. Seven have been released and another locally employed member of staff from the political section is expected to be freed soon. However, Rassam, 44, has been incarcerated at the notorious Evin prison.
US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Pentagon Optimistic on Missile Defense System - Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times. Top Pentagon officials have grown increasingly confident in the nation's missile defense system at a time when North Korea is threatening to conduct a long-range launch, leading to speculation of a possible showdown in the exosphere. Though military officials said a clash between missiles of opposing nations was unlikely, preparations for possible action are at the most advanced stage yet. That is in part because of fears that a North Korean test as early as this weekend could involve a missile directed toward Hawaii. Citing a potential threat to Hawaii, the US last month deployed a gigantic sea-based radar system that officials say can guide underground interceptor missiles in Alaska and California toward long-range missiles in flight. The military also has intermediate-range land-based missiles, as well as specially equipped ships from which interceptors could be launched. Last month, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. James Cartwright, said he was "90%-plus" confident in the ability of the US missile defense system. And Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said there was a "high probability" the system would work if used.
Why We Need Better Ships - James Lyons, Washington Times. Congressional testimony by the leadership of the U.S. Navy has crystallized key issues facing the seagoing service. In making its case for its current shipbuilding plan, a mixture of high- and low-end ships, the Navy says it is on the right course in seeking significant numbers of low-end Littoral Combat Ships (LCS). But costs have spiraled out of control. Rep. Gene Taylor, chairman of the House Armed Services sea power and expeditionary forces subcommittee, wants to place a cap on LCS costs and, if the contractors are unable to meet the cost cap, reopen the competition. The LCS concept when it was conceived was to be a very "inexpensive stealthy" ship that would provide the larger force structure needed for the Navy to carry out its forward-deployed mission. In execution, however, LCS has become emblematic of everything wrong in our acquisition and strategic thinking.
AUSTRALIA DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE
White Paper Doesn't Target Any Nation: Faulkner - The Australian. Defence Minister John Faulkner has defended the federal government's 2009 defence white paper, which former prime minister Paul Keating describes as "ambivalent". In his John Curtin Prime Ministerial lecture, delivered in Perth on Thursday and published in Fairfax newspapers on Friday, Mr Keating said he found himself to be "at odds'' with some of the white paper. "Recognising that China will be the strongest Asian military power, it discusses 'the remote but plausible potential of confrontation' between us and a major power adversary, not suggesting who that power might be,'' Mr Keating said. "Obviously it will not be the US. You are then left with China, Japan, India or Indonesia. "The paper struck an ambivalent tone about our likely new strategic circumstances and what we should do.'' Senator Faulkner said on Friday that the white paper was designed to prepare the nation for future challenges.
UNITED STATES
Challenges Abound for Obama Abroad - Stephen Dinan, Washington Times. Over the next week, President Obama will be trying to put to bed the Cold War in Russia, rewrite the rules for international finance in Italy and reassure developing countries they retain his attention in Ghana. Three countries, three very different audiences. Mr. Obama will try to set a framework with Russia for nuclear arms reductions and seek Russian help in negotiating with Iran and North Korea, meet in Italy with leaders of about 40 countries to talk about finances, global warming and food security, and cap it off with a speech in Ghana delineating how developing countries fit into geopolitics. Along the way, he will pack in meetings with Pope Benedict XVI and Chinese President Hu Jintao and deliver speeches in Moscow and Accra, Ghana - the final two addresses in a four-piece series that began with an April speech in Prague on nuclear disarmament and continued with the one to the Muslim world from Cairo last month, according to the White House.
Obama’s Youthful Ideals Shaped the Long Arc of His Nuclear-Free Vision - William Broad and David E. Sanger, New York Times. In the depths of the cold war, in 1983, a senior at Columbia University wrote in a campus newsmagazine, Sundial, about the vision of “a nuclear free world.” He railed against discussions of “first- versus second-strike capabilities” that “suit the military-industrial interests” with their “billion-dollar erector sets,” and agitated for the elimination of global arsenals holding tens of thousands of deadly warheads. The student was Barack Obama, and he was clearly trying to sort out his thoughts. In the conclusion, he denounced “the twisted logic of which we are a part today” and praised student efforts to realize “the possibility of a decent world.” But his article, “Breaking the War Mentality,” which only recently has been rediscovered, said little about how to achieve the utopian dream.
AMERICAS
OAS Suspends Honduras; Zelaya's Vow to Return Stirs Controversy - Jose de Cordoba and Paul Kiernan, Wall Street Journal. The stage was set on Sunday for a dramatic confrontation in Honduras, with plans by ousted president Manuel Zelaya to return to the country to take up his post, as the Organization of American States kicked out the Central American nation for refusing to restore him. At an emergency meeting in Washington, 33 nations backed the resolution suspending Honduras's membership, with none opposed and Honduras abstaining. It was the first time in nearly 20 years that the OAS took such a step due to a military coup. "The suspension takes effect immediately," Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana said, reading the resolution before the body. The move temporarily sidelines Honduras from any participation in the OAS, but obliges it to continue observing the body's rules in areas such as human rights.
OAS to Vote on Suspending Honduras - Voice of America. The Organization of American States is meeting Saturday to vote on suspending Honduras, which has refused its calls to re-instate toppled President Manuel Zelaya. In an apparent show of defiance, the country's new government announced late Friday that it no longer recognizes the OAS charter and is withdrawing from the group. OAS officials have dismissed the move, saying the interim government is not recognized and therefore, cannot execute such a decision. After meeting with authorities in Honduras Friday, OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza said they are not willing to restore Mr. Zelaya. The Honduran Supreme Court told Insulza the leftist leader will be arrested if he returns. Mr. Zelaya says he will attempt to go back to Honduras on Sunday.
OAS Votes to Suspend Honduras Over Coup - Ginger Thompson and Marc Lacey, New York Times. The Organization of American States voted Saturday night to suspend Honduras, but after deliberations that lasted until nearly midnight, it stopped short of calling on member countries to impose sanctions on the interim government responsible for ousting President Manuel Zelaya. With a show of hands, all 33 members of the organization voted in favor of a resolution that expressed "deep concern about the worsening of the current political crisis” in Honduras, and called for the country’s immediate suspension. It appeared that Honduras did not vote. Afterward, Mr. Zelaya confirmed that he planned to return to Honduras on Sunday. “I am going back to defend my people,” he said. “I am going back to defend my country.” Honduras is only the second country suspended by the OAS, the Western Hemisphere’s top diplomatic body; Cuba was barred in 1962 as Fidel Castro took the island toward communism in the years after his 1959 revolution.
Zelaya Vows to Return to Honduras - Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times. What happens when a government announces that it is withdrawing in protest from an international organization - which doesn't recognize the government in the first place? Are they in or out? That is just one of the quandaries facing Honduras these days. Having ousted its president in a military coup and refusing the world's demand that he be reinstated, the tiny country is in legal limbo. Deposed President Manuel Zelaya vows to return to Honduras today. The man who replaced him after the coup, Roberto Micheletti, promises to arrest Zelaya the minute he sets foot in the country. The stage is set for a tumultuous clash.
US Misread Scale of Honduran Rift - William Booth and Juan Forero, Washington Post. Although the US government knew for months that Honduras was on the brink of political chaos, officials say they underestimated how fearful the Honduran elite and the military were of ousted President Manuel Zelaya and his ally President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. Rumors were buzzing in the capital that the fight between Zelaya and his conservative opponents had reached the boiling point, but diplomatic officials said the Obama administration and its embassy were surprised when Honduran soldiers burst into the presidential palace last Sunday and removed Zelaya from power. US diplomats had been trying to broker a compromise and were speaking to both sides hours before the coup. For decades, Washington has trained the Honduran military, and senior US officials say they did not think that the Honduran military would carry out a coup.
ASIA-PACIFIC
North Korean Missiles Defy UN Resolution - Evan Ramstad, Wall Street Journal. North Korea's test-firing of seven mid-range missiles on Saturday, America's birthday, again demonstrated the ability of the country's authoritarian regime to grab headlines and defy penalties imposed on it by the United Nations, the US and other countries for its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. North Korea tests short- and mid-range missiles several times a year and signaled last month that it was preparing new tests by issuing warnings to domestic vessels to avoid certain areas in the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, through July 10. But the new test on Saturday of seven mid-range missiles capable of hitting Japan violated a UN resolution created last month after North Korea on May 25 tested a nuclear explosive. Among the restraints in that resolution, North Korea was banned from making tests of ballistic missiles that might be capable of carrying a nuclear weapon.
In N. Korea, Missiles Herald A Defiant 4th - Blaine Harden and Joby Warrick - Washington Post. Taunting the United States on its birthday, North Korea fired seven missiles into the Sea of Japan early Saturday in a provocative move that some experts said might have been intended to discourage deployment of new missile defenses against the communist state. The Independence Day launch was the North's biggest one-day barrage of test missiles in three years. It drew strong criticism from countries in the region, as well as renewed resolve from the Obama administration to punish Pyongyang for its continued defiance of UN resolutions. The seven rockets splashed harmlessly into the sea, and US analysts said all appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles capable of striking targets less than 350 miles away.
Seven N. Korea Missile Tests Defy the West - Andrew Salmon, Washington Times. North Korea celebrated US Independence Day by test-firing seven missiles into the waters off the peninsula's eastern coast from morning until evening Saturday, defying UN sanctions and drawing sharp criticism from the US and other Western nations. The missiles, however, were mid-range, not the long-range intercontinental ballistic test that some had feared - a threat which has led Washington to deploy anti-missile systems to Hawaii. "It is a provocative act that clearly violates UN Security Council resolutions 1695, 1718, and 1874 that bar North Korea's every activity related to ballistic missiles," South Korea's Foreign Ministry said.
US Condemns North Korean Missile Tests - Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times. South Korea, Japan and the United States condemned a barrage of short-range missiles fired by North Korea on Saturday, while Russia and China called for calm. North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles into the sea between the Communist state and Japan on Saturday, flouting a United Nations Security Council resolution and sending a message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day holiday. North Korea has a record of timing missile tests to coincide with July 4; the tests on Saturday constituted the North’s biggest one-day missile barrage since it launched seven missiles on July 4, 2006. After a North Korean nuclear test on May 25, the Council adopted a resolution that, among other sanctions, barred the country from testing ballistic missiles. North Korea had promised that it would respond to the resolution with more tests of its ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, and followed through on part of that threat on Saturday.
North Korea Moves to Restrict Economy - Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times. In the markets of Kilju, a city of 100,000 near North Korea's eastern seacoast, the ruling Korean Workers' Party has ordered the removal of Chinese-made cookies, candies and pharmaceuticals. Even soybeans, many articles of clothing and shoes are now forbidden. It is all part of a great leap backward taking place in the secretive autocracy. North Koreans interviewed in China in recent weeks say that the regime of Kim Jong Il has made a concerted effort to roll back reforms that had over the last decade liberalized the most strictly controlled economy in the world. "They're telling us that we don't need markets and that socialism provides everything we need," said an unemployed factory worker in her 50s, who gave her name as Lee Myong Hee. (North Koreans outside their country often give fake names because speaking to foreigners can be considered treason under North Korean law.)
UN Chief Rebukes Burma's Leaders - Voice of America. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is "deeply disappointed" that Burma's military leader rejected his request to meet with jailed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon. Speaking Saturday near the end of his two-day visit to Burma, Mr. Ban said the country's authorities have missed a "very important opportunity." Mr. Ban met twice with Burma's senior general Than Shwe during the trip. He criticized the military leadership, saying Burma's human rights record is a matter of "grave concern." He also urged the government to release all political prisoners. Aung San Suu Kyi has been in detention for 13 of the last 19 years, and is now on trial for allegedly violating the terms of her house arrest.
Myanmar Junta Rebuffs Effort by UN Leader to Meet With Jailed Dissident - Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times. Myanmar’s ruling military junta gave no sign to the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, that it was prepared to accept any outside pressure about the future of democracy here, rejecting his request on Saturday to visit the opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and offering only vague assurances about fair elections. Mr. Ban tried to cast the two-day visit in a positive light, noting that one trip was insufficient to solve problems of several decades and that engaging the country’s military ruler, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, was the lone route to try to effect change in time for the 2010 vote for Parliament - the first elections scheduled in two decades. The election issues that Mr. Ban said he broached with the generals included releasing more than 2,000 political prisoners, publishing an election law, establishing an electoral commission and allowing opposition groups to open offices nationwide.
In Myanmar, Expectations Were Low for UN Visit - Charles McDermid, Los Angeles Times. Aging former political prisoner Win Tin says he wasn't surprised that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's visit to Myanmar to plead for the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi ended in failure. Ban said Saturday he was "deeply disappointed" that Senior Gen. Than Shwe refused to allow him to see Suu Kyi, adding that she should be released "without delay." He said Myanmar's human rights record was a matter of serious concern. But Win Tin, 80, a former journalist and founding member of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, said he didn't expect a breakthrough. "I am not being cynical, but I expected nothing much from the visit. Even though he came at the invitation of the regime, it can be seen as the regime's response to worldwide pressure due to Aung San Suu Kyi's trial," he said by telephone Saturday from Myanmar, also known as Burma. "If there is no real political progress, we will see Burma under a military dictatorship for many years."
Bomb Kills at Least Three in Philippines - Associated Press. Suspected Muslim guerrillas detonated a bomb near a Roman Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines on Sunday, killing at least three people and wounding 48 others. Eight were in critical condition. The bomb exploded outside the Immaculate Conception cathedral in Cotabato City as churchgoers walked out after attending Mass. Two passers-by were killed instantly in the attack and a third died on the way to a hospital, said regional military commander Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton. The improvised explosive was hidden near a row of food stalls selling roasted pig, Mr. Cayton said.
EUROPE
Russia Presents Test for Obama - Michael A. Fletcher and Philip P. Pan - Washington Post. President Obama is scheduled to leave Washington tonight on a week-long trip that will help determine whether his personal popularity and fresh policy approaches can yield concrete results on difficult issues including arms control, missile defense and nuclear nonproliferation. After seeking support for US policies from allies in Europe and appealing for a new relationship with the Muslim world in Cairo on previous trips, Obama arrives in Moscow tomorrow for his first foray into high-profile, nuts-and-bolts negotiations with the leader of a nation that might be deemed an unfriendly rival. On Wednesday, Obama will travel to L'Aquila, Italy, where he will meet with leaders of the world's major industrial powers. Climate change and the continued shaky global economy are expected to dominate the agenda. He is also to meet with Pope Benedict XVI.
Obama Says He Supports Kremlin Chief on More Freedoms for Russia - Reuters. President Barack Obama has used an interview with a Russian opposition newspaper to support Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev's publicly declared aim of building a freer society in Russia. Medvedev, who was sworn in as Russian president in May 2008, has sought to strike a more liberal tone than his predecessor and mentor, ex-KGB spy Vladimir Putin, though officials say Russia's two leaders are united on all major issues. In an interview to be published in Novaya Gazeta newspaper on Monday, the first day of Obama's trip to Moscow, the US leader said he supported Medvedev's statements on improving the rule of law and cleaning up the judicial system. "I agree with President Medvedev when he said that 'freedom is better than the absence of freedom,'" Obama said, according to a text of the interview supplied by the newspaper.
Russia to Warn Obama on Georgia - Mark Franchetti, The Times. Russia will seek assurances from President Barack Obama tomorrow that Washington will cease pressing for the former Soviet states of Georgia and Ukraine to join Nato - a policy that was aggressively pursued by George W Bush. On his first visit to Russia as president, Obama is due to hold nine hours of talks with President Dmitry Medvedev and share a breakfast with prime minister Vladimir Putin. Russian sources say both men will warn him about a risk of repeating last year’s war in Georgia. Russia strongly opposes Georgia and Ukraine joining Nato as this would extend the alliance’s reach to its borders. Obama is said to be less enthusiastic than Bush about putting pressure on them to join. Russian military analysts say that in return, Moscow could make concessions over Iran, such as banning future arms sales to the Islamic republic and agreeing more robust UN sanctions to help curb its nuclear programme.
Tough Talks with Russia Await Obama on Trip Abroad - Christi Parsons, Los Angeles Times. On his four previous foreign trips, President Obama was greeted by cheering crowds and smiling world leaders, a carefully planned global introduction that emphasized listening, collaboration and cooperation. But as he prepares to go abroad again today, the White House is resetting its goals. Now the idea is to cast Obama not just as a likable, inspirational figure but also as a tough-minded world leader. His first stop will be a sure test. Obama is scheduled to sit down with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, ostensibly No. 2 in the Kremlin, but who is widely believed to be the real power behind President Dmitry Medvedev. Obama will also meet Medvedev, whom Putin handpicked to succeed him in 2008, with nuclear disarmament at the top of the agenda.
What A 'Reset' Can't Fix - David Ignatius, Washington Post opinion. The Obama administration has talked about a "reset" in Russian-American relations. But a Russian analyst shrugs when he's asked about the term. "What happens when you press the reset button on a computer?" he muses. "It goes dark, and then after a while the same screen comes back again." That skeptical comment offers the right perspective on President Obama's visit here, which starts tomorrow. Both Russians and Americans want to avoid a public failure, and the summit is likely to yield a joint "presidential commission" and other modest agreements. But neither side is ready to address the other's fundamental security concerns. And until that changes, this week's reset will mean more of the same -- and perhaps even a new jolt of static.
Bulgaria to Vote After Corruption Scandals - Voice of America. The people of Bulgaria elect a new parliament Sunday that will have to tackle an economic crisis and widespread corruption, which has cost the Balkan country millions of dollars in crucial European Union aid. Opinion polls suggest a defeat for the ruling Socialists, who have been plagued by financial scandals. Sunday's parliamentary poll in Bulgaria comes after the country lost access to millions in European Union aid for allegedly failing to deal with endemic corruption. Surveys show that most voters will likely vote against the Socialist-led coalition, which has been plagued by financial scandals, including money laundering, dubious expenditures, and fraud. The agriculture and environment ministries, both controlled by an ethnic Turkish party, and the construction and economic ministries, led by the Socialists, have been accused of some of the most notorious schemes in the past few years. In 2008, watchdog Transparency International rated Bulgaria the most corrupt EU nation. Brussels has criticized Sofia for not doing enough to stem corruption. But Bulgarian authorities say they take organized crime seriously. Last week seventeen Bulgarians were detained on charges of distributing more than 16 million euros worth of fake banknotes across Europe.
MIDDLE EAST
In Jerusalem, a Parking Lot War - Howard Schneider, Washington Post. Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews clashed with riot police in central Jerusalem on Saturday night in the latest protest against the city's decision to open a municipal parking lot on the Jewish Sabbath. Dressed in traditional cloaks and fur hats, demonstrators forced the closure of several major streets, and some hurled rocks at motorists along a Jerusalem highway, said police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld. No injuries were reported. Known in Hebrew as "haredim," or those who fear God, ultra-Orthodox Jews make up a growing percentage of Jerusalem's population and have targeted the opening of the parking lot as part of an ongoing struggle over the city's direction. They adhere to a rigid code of behavior, in which strict observance of the Sabbath is a central tenet.
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.
