Hondurans have good cause for calling on divine intervention: Reason has gone AWOL in places like Turtle Bay and Foggy Bottom. Ruling the debate on Mr. Zelaya's behavior is Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez, who is now the reigning international authority on "democracy." Mr. Chávez is demanding that Mr. Zelaya be reinstated and is even threatening to overthrow the new Honduran president, Roberto Micheletti. He's leading the charge from the Organization of American States (OAS). The United Nations and the Obama administration are falling in line.
AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN
Added US Troops Enable Afghanistan Strategy, Mullen Says - Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service. Additional American troops in Afghanistan are making it possible to institute the new strategy in the country, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union program, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said Operation Khanjar, which means Strike of the Sword, will challenge the Taliban and al-Qaida in the Helmand River valley in southern Afghanistan. The area has been a terrorist safe haven and which has most of the opium poppy cultivation in the country. “This is really the most concentrated area for opium growing and we expect a significant combat challenge from the Taliban,” he said. About 4,000 Marines and 650 Afghan soldiers are conducting operations in the river valley. The fighting is going on in the area of Garmsir and Khan Neshin, Mullen said. In the past, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force has not been able to hold the area to allow assistance efforts to have an impact on the economy and government, he said. “It’s this extra footprint of Marines that will allow us to not just secure the are for the Afghan people, but also to hold it and start to move in the right direction economically and from a governance perspective,” the admiral said. The resistance has been what planners expected, he said.
Earn Our Trust Or Go, Afghan Villagers Tell Marines - Peter Graff, Reuters. The mullah's message was blunt. We don't trust you and if you don't earn our trust, our first meeting will be our last. With that, he stood abruptly and walked out of his first "shura," or council meeting, with US Marines. US forces who have moved deep into formerly Taliban-controlled territory in southern Afghanistan this week say they are here to stay and will not leave until they have improved the lives of ordinary people. But locals - used to seeing NATO troops come through to fight but fail to follow through on promises of development - may not be won over easily. This week, the Marines, sent by President Barack Obama, launched operation Strike of the Sword, one of the biggest operations by ground forces in Afghanistan since Soviet forces withdrew in 1989. Their goal has been to seize quickly the lower Helmand River valley, a Taliban stronghold and the world's biggest opium producing region, where fighters resisted advances by an overstretched British-led NATO force for years.
Karzai's Challengers Face Daunting Odds - Pamela Constable, Washington Post. As US Marines launched a major offensive against Taliban insurgents in southern Helmand province, the presidential campaign unfolding in more peaceful parts of northern and eastern Afghanistan last week seemed to be taking place on another planet. Whether addressing rallies, chatting with voters in the streets or receiving delegations of tribal leaders, candidates barely mentioned the violent insurgency that international experts fear could sabotage the Aug. 20 polling. Instead, the presidential hopefuls stuck to themes they knew would resonate with Afghan audiences. They denounced civilian casualties by foreign forces and called for a negotiated settlement with the Taliban. They railed against corruption in government, evoked past military triumphs and hyped their personal ties to late national leaders.
Britain Loses 3 Soldiers Against Taliban - Fisnik Abrashi, Associated Press. Insurgent attacks killed three British soldiers in the southern Afghanistan region where thousands of US Marines pushed forward with the biggest anti-Taliban offensive since the hard-line Islamist regime was toppled. The British deaths came as gunmen in the east abducted 16 mine-clearing personnel working for the United Nations. A soldier from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards died in an explosion while on a foot patrol near Gereshk in Helmand province Sunday, the Ministry of Defense said. In the same area Saturday, a rocket-propelled grenade killed one soldier and a roadside bomb killed another soldier, the British Defense Ministry said Sunday.
Army NCO Receives Silver Star for Valor in '08 Battle at Wanat - Kent Harris, Stars and Stripes. Almost a year after the Army’s deadliest battle to date in Afghanistan, troops who took part in that fight continue to receive recognition for acts of valor. Staff Sgt. Sean Samaroo, a squad leader with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment during a battle in the village of Wanat, is the latest after receiving a Silver Star in a ceremony last month at Fort Jackson, S.C. More than a dozen troops who participated in the July 13, 2008, battle - in which an estimated 200 enemy fighters ambushed a US force about a quarter that size - have been awarded the Silver Star. More than two dozen others have received Bronze Star Medals for valor or Army Commendation Medals for valor. That number includes not only members of “The Rock,” but also Marines embedded with Afghan forces and six soldiers from Company C, 62nd Engineer Battalion, based at Fort Hood, Texas. “They all fought well,” Samaroo said in a recent phone interview. “They had to.” Nine soldiers from 2-503 died during the battle.
ADF Quizzes its Own on Afghan Civilian Casualties - Joe Kelly, The Australian. The Australian Defence Force is conducting three separate investigations into civilian casualties linked to its operations in Afghanistan amid allegations that Australian troops have lost the goodwill of the Afghan people. Defence Minister John Faulkner confirmed last night that six civilians had died in incidents involving "ADF elements" and stressed that "extremely dangerous" conditions prevailed in the southern province of Oruzgan. However, questions have emerged over the appropriateness of Defence conducting its own investigations into civilian casualties in Afghanistan linked to ADF operations. Legal expert Donald Rothwell, who teaches military law at the Australian National University, told the SBS Dateline program it was a case of the "Australian Defence Force, Department of Defence, investigating itself and clearly, that can't be appropriate for the purposes of pure independence in these types of matters". Senator Faulkner, speaking to The Australian before the program aired last night, said "the Australian government and certainly myself as Defence Minister (take) the issue of civilian casualties very seriously indeed". He stressed that Defence strived to ensure credible allegations were investigated. One of Australia's harshest critics in Afghanistan, Hajii Abdul Khaliq, one of three members from Oruzgan to be elected to Afghanistan's national parliament, told Dateline popular opinion was turning against the Australian soldiers.
Pakistani Airstrikes Kill 6 Militants in North Waziristan - Voice of America. Pakistani warplanes and helicopters have attacked Taliban positions in the country's northwest, killing at least six suspected militants and wounding several others. Security officials say the airstikes Sunday targeted several locations in the North Waziristan region. Also, Pakistani sources say a close aide of Maulana Fazlullah, the Taliban's commander in Pakistan's Swat valley, has been killed during a separate combat operation. Pakistan's military has been fighting Taliban militants in the northwestern Swat valley for more than two months. It is now targeting Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and his network, based in South Waziristan along the Afghan border. Islamabad deployed soldiers there to stop insurgents from fleeing into Pakistan after a major US offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, which borders Pakistan.
Mullah Sprung from GITMO Now Leads Foe in Afghanistan Campaign - Seth G. Jones, New York Post opinion. As Marine Corps forces roll into southern Afghanistan, they face an enemy familiar to US officials - Mullah Zakir, a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner who now leads a reconstituted Taliban. Abdul Qayum Zakir, also known as Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, is from Helmand Province and has taken a circuitous route to become head of the radical Islamic group. Zakir was a senior fighter during the Taliban regime in the 1990s. In a memorandum prepared for his administrative review board at Guantanamo, Zakir apparently "felt it would be fine to wage jihad against Americans, Jews, or Israelis if they were invading his country." And he acknowledged that he was "called to fight jihad in approximately 1997," when he joined the Taliban. In 2001, he surrendered to US and Afghan forces in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif as the regime was collapsing. He spent the next several years in custody, was transferred to Guantanamo around 2006, then to Afghanistan government custody in late 2007, and was eventually released around May 2008. American officials won't say why he was let go and have not released a photograph of him.
IRAQ
America Searches for Means of Influence in Iraq - Allisa J. Rubin, New York Times. Behind the high walls of the American Embassy here, diplomats are casting about to find a new formula to influence politics in Iraq. With most troops now on large bases outside the cities, America’s day-to-day involvement in Iraqi life has vanished. The decisions, big and small, that American commanders made are now largely being made by Iraqis; American soldiers no longer have daily contact with tribal sheiks, mayors, insurgents and shopkeepers - a change welcomed by the majority of Iraqis. Although President Obama has made it clear that his strategic priority is the war in Afghanistan, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. arrived in Baghdad last week to emphasize that America still cared about Iraq. Many Iraqis say that since the Obama administration took office, America’s policy has seemed unfocused and distant. In interviews, more than a dozen Iraqi policy makers felt Iraq had been displaced by concerns about Afghanistan and Pakistan and the administration had not given much thought to Iraq beyond its resolve to get the troops out.
Iraqis Say Reconciliation Is an Internal Matter - 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.
Soldiers Train for New Mission: Leaving Iraq - Lara Jakes, Associated Press. It was just another day for the US Army in war-weary northern Iraq: insurgents in Mosul, political turf battles in Kirkuk, an attack on the Beiji oil refinery in Salah ad Din. All needed to be dealt with immediately. And all by an infantry unit that wasn’t even in Iraq. The recent war-gaming took place half a world away as the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division wound down a two-week exercise to prepare to go to Iraq this fall. The first Army combat unit to invade Baghdad in 2003, the division will be among the last military units to leave as the US withdraws its troops, overseeing the transition from combat to departure in northern Iraq. The military mission in Iraq has changed a lot over six years. No longer are most daily US troop operations deadly. Soldiers are as consumed with helping local governments build sewer systems and train Iraqi security forces as they are with shutting down insurgents. That has required an equally big shift in how the Army trains its troops - not just to help stabilize Iraq, but to hand off the job and leave as planned at the end of 2011.
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.
Closer to an Israeli Strike on Iran’s Nukes? - Mark Sappenfield, Christian Science Monitor. Speculation about a potential Israeli strike against nuclear facilities in Iran gained momentum Sunday. The Sunday Times has reported that Saudi Arabia would allow Israel to use its airspace for such an attack. By doing this, Israel would eliminate the need to get American approval to fly over Iraq. Yet Vice President Joe Biden refused to condemn a potential Israeli strike on ABC’s This Week. “We cannot dictate to a sovereign nation what it can and cannot do,” Mr. Biden said. Pressed further, he added: “Israel has the right to determine what is in its best interests.” Though Biden refused to be drawn into speculation, the vice president’s statement will be welcomed by Israel. With President Obama openly trying to court the Arab world, many in Israel worry that Israel’s historic, intimate relationship with the US is deteriorating. This appears to be one of the reasons Israel sought Saudi Arabia’s approval for an attack on Iran – it sought a plan that would not require American complicity. For its part, Saudi Arabia, which is a Sunni Muslim country, sees Shiite Iran as a rival and does not want Iran to gain nuclear weapons. Israeli fighters could do significant damage to Iranian nuclear facilities, Chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen told The Wall Street Journal in April.
Despite Crisis, Policy on Iran Is Engagement - David E. Sanger, New York Times. President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., in separate interviews this weekend, said that the accelerating crackdown on opposition leaders in Iran in recent days would not deter them from seeking to engage the country’s top leadership in direct negotiations. In an interview with The New York Times, a day before his scheduled departure for Moscow on Sunday, Mr. Obama said he had “grave concern” about the arrests and intimidation of Iran’s opposition leaders, but insisted, as he has throughout the Iranian crisis, that the repression would not close the door on negotiations with the Iranian government. “We’ve got some fixed national security interests in Iran not developing nuclear weapons, in not exporting terrorism, and we have offered a pathway for Iran to rejoining the international community,” Mr. Obama said. Mr. Biden echoed the same themes in an interview conducted in Iraq and broadcast Sunday on the ABC News program “This Week.” But in a rare foray into one of the most sensitive issues in the Middle East, the vice president argued that the United States “cannot dictate” Israel’s decisions about whether to strike the plants at the heart of Iran’s nuclear program. He said only Israelis could determine “that they’re existentially threatened” by the prospect that Iran would gain nuclear weapons capability.
Iran Clerics Declare Election Invalid and Condemn Crackdown - Martin Fletcher, The Times. Iran’s biggest group of clerics has declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election to be illegitimate and condemned the subsequent crackdown. The statement by the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom is an act of defiance against the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has made clear he will tolerate no further challenges to Mr Ahmadinejad’s “victory” over Mir Hossein Mousavi. “It’s a clerical mutiny,” said one Iranian analyst. “This is the first time ever you have all these big clerics openly challenging the leader’s decision.” Another, in Tehran, said: “We are seeing the birth of a new political front.” Professor Ali Ansari, head of Iranian Studies at St Andrews University, said: “It’s highly significant. It shows this is nowhere near resolved.”
Clerics Split on Iran Poll Decision - The Australian. Leading Iranian clerics have blasted the official results of Iran's June 12 presidential election, dismissing the poll watchdog and exposing a rift in the religious establishment. The Assembly of Qom Seminary Scholars and Researchers said the Guardians Council - which upheld the disputed re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - no longer had the "right to judge in this case as some of its members have lost their impartial image in the eyes of the public". Government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham is a member of the unelected 12-member council, which dismissed complaints lodged by defeated candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, as well as protests by hundreds of thousands of voters since the June 12 ballot. "The voice of people seeking justice was marred by violence, which unfortunately left several dead and wounded and hundreds arrested," the assembly said yesterday. "How can one accept the legitimacy of the election just because the Guardians Council says so? "Can one say that the government born out of these infringements is a legitimate one?" The group from Qom, the clerical nerve-centre of Iran, is a pro-reformist body seen as a counter to the conservative Qom Seminary Scholars Association. The reformist clerics urged the authorities to release those arrested in post-election protests.
Iran Clerics Defy Election Ruling - BBC News. A group of clerics in Iran has called Iran's presidential vote invalid, contradicting official results. The pro-reform group's statement pits it against the top legislative body, which last week formally endorsed the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. On Saturday, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said that post-election events had caused bitterness. Britain said one of two UK embassy employees detained for "inciting protests" would be released. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in the aftermath of the poll to protest at what they alleged was a fraudulent election. The protests died down after the authorities deployed lethal force, killing at least 20 demonstrators. More than 1,000 were arrested. On Sunday, state news agency Irna quoted Iran's police chief as saying about two-thirds of those arrested had been released.
Mousavi Reportedly will Launch Political Party in Iran - Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times. The top figure of Iran's nascent political reform movement, opposition presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, will launch a political party to pursue his goals, a reformist newspaper reported Sunday. Iranian officials, meanwhile, released a jailed European journalist and the lawyer of an imprisoned employee of the British Embassy in Tehran said he was confident that his client's case would be resolved. Beleaguered President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated calls for a live "debate" with President Obama late Saturday in a possible sign Iran was seeking to ease diplomatic strains over his disputed reelection and its violent aftermath. Iran continues a wide-ranging crackdown on opposition figures and reformists after the June 12 election, on Sunday blocking the website of a small reformist clerical bloc in the holy city of Qom. The group sharply criticized the recent vote and subsequent recount effort by the Guardian Council, whose members are appointed directly and indirectly by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who supports Ahmadinejad.
Iranians Find New Ways to Keep Protests Alive - Dan Murphy, Christian Science Monitor. The Iranian regime continued this weekend in its bid to paint citizens protesting the announced results of its June 12 presidential election as tools of outside powers. In a scathing editorial published Saturday in the influential state-run newspaper, Kayhan, editor-in-chief Hossein Shariatmadari said opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi had committed "terrible crimes," including "murdering innocent people, holding riots, co-operating with foreigners, and acting as America's fifth column." This comes on the heels of a leading Iranian cleric's call Friday for some Iranian employees of the British Embassy to be tried for allegedly inciting pro-democracy protests. In spite of those efforts, however, the movement for change inside the country continues to make it very unlikely the events of past few weeks are remembered as the product of outside meddling. Using social networking sites like Twitter and video sites like Youtube, protesters have compiled powerful evidence of a legitimate outpouring of anger. Raw videos like this one of a clash between demonstrators and police. And more polished ones like this compilation of protesters and the wounds they've received for their pains set to patriotic music.
US NATIONAL SECURITY / DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Pentagon Warns US Arms May be Obsolete - Sarah Baxter, The Times. America's traditional means of projecting power abroad is growing “increasingly obsolete” and its billion-dollar military hardware could be as ineffectual against future threats as the heavily fortified Maginot line was in defending France against the Nazis, a senior Pentagon adviser has warned. In a wake-up call to US military chiefs, Andrew Krepinevich, a leading architect of the counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan, argues that the Pentagon is ill-equipped to counter rising powers such as China, hostile states such as Iran, the threat from irregular forces such as Hezbollah, and terrorists such as Al-Qaeda. It is also wasting billions on weaponry that could be outdated before it rolls off the production line. In an interview, Krepinevich said the military, like many bureaucracies, was in danger of “drinking its own bathwater” and discounting new challenges, including the proliferation of precision-guided weapons and threats from space and cyberspace. Last week Robert Gates, the defence secretary, rewarded him for his prescience with a seat on the influential defence policy board at the Pentagon. Aircraft carriers, navy destroyers, short-range fighter aircraft and forward bases such as Guam and Okinawa in the Pacific Ocean are becoming increasingly vulnerable to technology and tactics being developed by America’s rivals, Krepinevich argues in the July issue of Foreign Affairs journal.
Obama's Strategic Blind Spot - Andrew J. Bacevich, Los Angeles Times opinion. 'Are there not other alternatives than sending our armies to chew barbed wire in Flanders?" During the bitter winter of 1914-15, the first lord of the Admiralty posed this urgent question to Britain's prime minister. The eighth anniversary of 9/11, now fast approaching, invites attention to a similar question: Are there not other alternatives than sending our armies to choke on the dust of Iraq and Afghanistan? A comparable failure of imagination besets present-day Washington. The Long War launched by George W. Bush in the wake of 9/11 has not gone well. Everyone understands that. Yet in the face of disappointment, what passes for advanced thinking recalls the Churchill who devised Gallipoli and godfathered the tank: In Washington and in the field, a preoccupation with tactics and operations have induced strategic blindness. As President Obama shifts the main US military effort from Iraq to Afghanistan, and as his commanders embrace counterinsurgency as the new American way of war, the big questions go not only unanswered but unasked. Does perpetuating the Long War make political or strategic sense? As we prepare to enter that war's ninth year, are there no alternatives?
US Armed Forces Stretched Thin - Richard Halloran, Washington Times opinion. Today, US forces are smaller and stretched even further around the world. The US base at Bagram, Afghanistan, for instance, is halfway around the world from the center of the 48 contiguous states near Lebanon, Kan. On any given day, about one-third of the armed forces are deployed abroad. Moreover, on Independence Day, America's military stretch was aggravated by national political and economic turmoil. In its 233rd year, it would seem the nation is badly in need of retrenchment - not a retreat into the isolation of yesteryear, but a step back to take a deep breath, reflect a bit and sort out priorities. A debate over how deeply the United States should be engaged with the rest of the world has been running off and on since World War II left the United States standing as the world's most powerful nation. Perhaps nowhere were opposing views better expressed than in the visions of President Kennedy, a Democrat, and President Nixon, a Republican.
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.
Defense For a Real Threat - Trey Obering and Eric Edelman, Washington Post opinion. The East-West Institute released a study in late May by US and Russian "experts" on the Iranian missile threat that concluded the threat "is not imminent and that in any event the system currently proposed would not be effective against it." The next day, Defense Secretary Robert Gates says, Iran apparently tested a multistage, solid-propellant missile with a range of 1,200 to 1,500 miles, putting much of Europe within range. The apparent reelection of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his frequently expressed commitment to pursue nuclear and ballistic missile capability, underscore the importance of proposed US radar sites and missile defense interceptors in Eastern Europe. Critics of the plan frequently recycle the arguments repeatedly invoked by Russian diplomatic and defense officials during rounds of US-Russian diplomacy throughout 2007-08, including two meetings between their foreign and defense ministers. That thinking goes: There is no near-term, long-range Iranian missile threat; the proposed US system could not defeat such a threat anyway, but placing that system in Europe will threaten Russia's nuclear deterrent. These tired arguments are not persuasive.
Chairman Addresses Iraq, North Korea, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ - Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff addressed the situation in Iraq, relations with North Korea, China and Russia and possible changes to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy during an appearance on a television news show today. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen told CNN’s John King, on the network’s State of the Union program, he is confident that the withdrawal of American forces out of Iraqi cities and towns has been a very positive step. Mullen said US forces are alert during this period of transition, but there has been no indication that sectarian violence is returning. “We have had an uptick in some major, high-profile attacks, but June of this year was the lowest level of violence (in Iraq) since the war started,” he said. Leaders in Iraq are pleased with the start of the transition, but the chairman reminded people that the transition is only five days old. “We’re aware of this period of vulnerability, but up to now it’s gone pretty well,” he said. There are 130,000 American troops in Iraq today. By this time next year, plans call for that number to be down to 35,000 to 50,000, with all American forces out of the country by the end of 2011. The next big events in Iraq are the elections at the beginning of 2010, and Mullen said he sees nothing that will change these plans. The chairman discussed North Korea’s missile program. North Korea fired seven missiles yesterday in violation of United Nations resolutions. “They continue to thumb their noses at the international community,” Mullen said. The international community - including long-time North Korean allies Russia and China - are continuing to put pressure on North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, and that must continue, he said. The US military is working to maintain dialogue with the Chinese, the chairman said. The chairman will accompany President Obama to Russia for talks with President Dmitriy Medvedev. They will discuss cutting nuclear arsenals and other issues. “We have areas where we have common interests - Iran is certainly one of those areas,” Mullen said. Russia also has common interests with the United States in Afghanistan, in regards to piracy and in counterterrorism writ large. “We have things that we can discuss and are very positive and can move forward on,” Mullen said. Mullen also spoke about the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The US military will continue to carry out the law until the law changes, he said.
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.
AFRICA
Zimbabwe Army 'To Go From Mines' - BBC News. Zimbabwe's government has agreed to withdraw soldiers from diamond mining fields amid criticism over human rights abuses, state-run media reports. It quoted the deputy mines minister in the unity government as saying soldiers would be withdrawn "in phases". Troops deployed to the Marange diamond fields last year after disputed polls. The army says it was to prevent illegal mining, but rights groups accuse them of involvement in forced labour and an alleged massacre of diamond diggers. A team from the Kimberley Process - the organisation which aims to stop the use of diamonds to fund conflict - is currently in Zimbabwe investigating the allegations of abuse.
African Move on Bashir Dismissed - BBC News. The African Union's (AU) decision not to help arrest Sudan's president will not affect the International Criminal Court's work, its prosecutor says. Luis Moreno Ocampo told the BBC Omar al-Bashir was still a wanted man and that it was up to each African state to decide whether to arrest him. Mr Bashir was indicted over alleged atrocities in Darfur in March. But on Friday an AU meeting in Libya agreed a resolution saying they would not co-operate in his arrest. In a statement, the AU pointed out that its request to the UN Security Council to delay Mr Bashir's indictment had been ignored. Mr Ocampo told the BBC that the AU decision was no victory for Sudan or Mr Bashir. "No-one is saying he's innocent," he said. He said each of the 30 African states that signed up to the Rome treaty establishing the court would have to decide for themselves whether to arrest the Sudanese leader.
Charity Plea over Kidnapped Pair - BBC News. The head of an Irish charity whose aid workers were kidnapped in Darfur has appealed for their safe return. Goal chief executive John O'Shea said he was very concerned for Irish woman Sharon Commins, 32, from Dublin, and Ugandan colleague, Hilda Kuwuki, 42. They were taken hostage by six armed men at a compound in the town of Kutum, northern Darfur, on Friday. "We have had no contact with the kidnappers and we are very concerned for their safety," Mr O'Shea said. "We have no indication as to who did this or why and I would appeal directly to the kidnappers to immediately release both these women who are valued colleagues of ours. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of Sharon and Hilda at this very difficult and distressing time."
Somali Civilians Killed by Shells - BBC News. Twelve civilians have died in the Somali capital as government soldiers retaliated to mortars fired at the presidential palace by insurgents. "Most of the shells landed on deserted houses but three hit places where people stay," a witness told the BBC. Since May more than 165,000 people have fled Mogadishu as militant Islamists hardliners battle government forces. Meanwhile, the prime minister says he was assured at the African Union summit that more peacekeepers will be sent. The African Union has a 4,300-strong force in Mogadishu, but its mandate prevents peacekeepers from attacking the insurgents except for in self-defence.
AMERICAS
For US and OAS, New Challenges to Latin American Democracy - Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post. The Obama administration has signaled its support for democracy in Latin America by condemning the coup in Honduras, reducing military cooperation and joining with other countries in the hemisphere yesterday in a rare suspension of a nation from the Organization of American States. But bayonet-wielding soldiers are not the biggest threat to democracy in the region, where more than a dozen presidents have been removed prematurely since 1990. In recent years, a crop of elected, authoritarian-minded leaders has packed courts with supporters, held dubious elections and curtailed press freedoms. Legislatures have also pushed the boundaries of democratic order, giving legal cover to "civilian coups" in which protest groups have forced the ouster of presidents. "The threats against democracy in Latin America, and I don't in any way minimize what's happened in Honduras ... are not those coming from military coups, but rather from governments which are ignoring checks and balances, overriding other elements of government," said Jeffrey Davidow, a retired US ambassador who served as President Obama's special adviser for the recent Summit of the Americas.
Standoff in the Air in Honduras - William Booth and Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post. In a high-stakes standoff that played out in the skies over Honduras, the airplane carrying ousted president Manuel Zelaya was forced to circle the nation's main airport twice before flying away Sunday evening after coup leaders who deposed Zelaya blocked his landing with troops on the runway. The turn-back of Zelaya's white jet left thousands of his supporters shouting in disappointment and anger. Minutes earlier, security forces fired tear gas and bullets at the crowd to keep demonstrators away from the airport, which was surrounded by soldiers and military vehicles. The Red Cross said people 30 people were wounded in the melee, but there were conflicting reports about fatalities. An Associated Press photographer reported that one man was shot in the head.
Honduras Is Rattled as Leader’s Return Is Blocked - Marc Lacey and Ginger Thompson, New York Times. An airborne drama that held Honduras in suspense for most of the day ended Sunday evening with the ousted president’s plane circling over the airport here in the capital, where soldiers and riot police officers blocked the runway and used tear gas and bullets to disperse supporters who had awaited what was supposed to have been his triumphal return. As the plane carrying the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, swept in low and made two passes over the city, cheers erupted from the crowds below. An air force jet then streaked across the sky and Mr. Zelaya’s plane flew off to Nicaragua, where he made a brief stopover before heading to El Salvador. “The runway is blocked,” Mr. Zelaya said in an interview from the sky that was broadcast over loudspeakers to his supporters on the ground. “There is no way I can land.” He vowed to make another attempt soon.
Honduran Army Blocks Runway to Keep Zelaya Out - Tracy Wilkinson and Alex Renderos, Los Angeles Times. Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, ousted a week ago in a military coup, failed Sunday in his attempt to return home to reclaim power, his flight forced to detour after the nation's de facto rulers said it could not land here and placed army trucks on the runway. Thousands of Zelaya's supporters, pressing toward the heavily guarded Tegucigalpa airport in hopes of greeting him, reacted with anger and clashed with soldiers and police who pushed them back. Troops lined the landing strips and snipers took up positions on the roof of the terminal, which was shut Sunday afternoon after most commercial flights were canceled. Protesters hurled rocks and debris over fences toward the police. Witnesses reported one death and several injuries after security forces fired tear gas and what appeared to be live rounds at people attempting to force their way onto the airport grounds. Military aircraft patrolled overhead.
Honduras Standoff Heats Up - Jose de Cordoba and David Luhnow, Wall Street Journal. Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya tried - and failed - to fly to this Central American nation on Sunday to reclaim his post, as clashes at the airport here appeared to lead to the first two deaths in the country's deepening political crisis. Accompanied by a small flotilla of other Latin leaders and journalists, Mr. Zelaya flew to Tegucigalpa in a jet loaned by the Venezuelan government, and even circled the airport to the cheers of his supporters below, but had to abandon the attempted landing after the military blocked the runway with vehicles. Mr. Zelaya diverted to Managua, Nicaragua, and conferred with President Daniel Ortega, then followed the rest of his entourage to El Salvador. Shortly before Mr. Zelaya's plane appeared over Honduras, thousands of pro-Zelaya protesters began to clash with army troops guarding the Tegucigalpa airport. Protesters, some wearing bandannas to cover their face, threw rocks at soldiers and tried to break through one of the fences surrounding the runway. Troops responded by firing tear gas.
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Prevented from Returning - Hannah Strange, The Times. The military government of Honduras tightened its grip on power last night as it prevented the ousted President from landing in the capital and fired on protesters who had gathered to support him. Manuel Zelaya’s jet circled over Tegucigalpa as he begged the Army to let him land, but troops blocked the runway with military vehicles and unleashed live rounds and teargas on the ground, killing at least one protester and injuring dozens. Mr Zelaya was forced to divert to Nicaragua. Stephen Ferry, a photographer working for The Times, who was at the airport in the capital where the Army fired on protesters said the protests had been peaceful before soldiers started firing. “I saw a kid being shot in the head, I think he is dead,” Mr Ferry said. “There are lots of injured - I don’t know how many. They just opened fire - it was completely unprovoked.”
Honduras Isolated as Coup Violence Looms - The Australian. The Organisation of American States suspended Honduras's membership of the group yesterday, with fears rising of a violent showdown as crowds gathered in the capital, Tegucigalpa, before ousted president Manuel Zelaya's expected return overnight. Thirty-three out of 34 members of the pan-American body, gathered in Washington for an extraordinary session of its general assembly, voted in favour of the suspension. Honduras's interim government has already said it is quitting the organisation rather than meet demands to reinstate the ousted president. "The suspension takes effect immediately," Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana said. 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. Mr Zelaya, 56, who originally planned to return to Honduras on July 2, delayed his trip until the OAS decision. The new government of interim president Roberto Micheletti has said Mr Zelaya will be arrested when he lands.
Honduras at the Tipping Point - Mary Anatasia O'Grady, Wall Street Journal opinion. Hundreds of emails from Hondurans flooded my in-box last week after I reported on the military's arrest of President Manuel Zelaya, as ordered by the Supreme Court, and his subsequent banishment from the country. Mr. Zelaya's violations of the rule of law in recent months were numerous. But the tipping point came 10 days ago, when he led a violent mob that stormed a military base to seize and distribute Venezuelan-printed ballots for an illegal referendum. All but a handful of my letters pleaded for international understanding of the threat to the constitutional democracy that Mr. Zelaya presented. One phrase occurred again and again: "Please pray for us." Hondurans have good cause for calling on divine intervention: Reason has gone AWOL in places like Turtle Bay and Foggy Bottom. Ruling the debate on Mr. Zelaya's behavior is Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez, who is now the reigning international authority on "democracy."
Not So Fast, Amigas y Amigos - Robert Killebrew, Small Wars Journal opinion. The United States has always had mixed feelings about our relationship with Central America, so when the Honduran Army sent President Manuel Zelaya packing last week, we joined with a chorus of regional leaders, including Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, in condemning the soldier’s putsch. But now that we’ve exercised our moral indignation, we ought to step back and take a deep breath. As reports continue to come in, it appears that it was Zelaya, not the army, that was most egregiously breaking the law. The president was apparently involved in his own takeover, against the courts and Honduran Congress, and was about to stage a Chavez-style “referendum” on ballots printed in Venezuela and looted from an army warehouse where they were being safeguarded. The army’s move was legitimized by the Honduran Supreme Court and applauded by the Congress, which has appointed a stand-in president until regular elections this November. Certainly we deplore military coups, just as we deplore sin. But in the tangled web of Central American politics, Honduras has long been the US’ most staunch ally. Among the four states from Nicaragua north, it has tried hardest to convert from a military-run banana republic to a constitutional democracy and, until just the other day, with some success.
A Coup for Democracy? - Edward Schumacher-Matos, Washington Post opinion. Honduras is guilty of two sins: impatience and size. The rest of the world is committing two more: hubris and hypocrisy. It is now clear that if the Honduran Supreme Court or Congress had used legal means such as impeachment before asking the army to remove President Manuel Zelaya, we would be calling events there a constitutional crisis rather than a coup d'etat. This would be especially true if Honduras were a larger country such as Brazil or Pakistan and its court, Congress, attorney general, human rights ombudsman and electoral commission were all saying afterward, as they do in Tegucigalpa, that the army moved legally in alliance with them. The Honduran army never took political control.
A Coup for Democracy - Jaime Daremblum, Weekly Standard opinion. To say that people in Latin America are sensitive about military coups would be an understatement. Due to the often tumultuous and bloody histories of their respective countries, they have a strong aversion to anything that looks like military interference in civilian politics. Recent events in Honduras have struck many Latin Americans as a return to the bad old days when power-hungry generals routinely dislodged elected officials and stomped on democracy. Yet upon closer examination, the removal of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya bears very little resemblance to traditional Latin American military coups. Indeed, it was not really a "coup." Rather, it was a response to a leader who had trampled the law and attempted to hold an illegal referendum on constitutional reform. Zelaya's ouster was approved by Honduras's Congress, Supreme Court, Electoral Tribunal, attorney general, and national prosecutor. Zelaya started this whole imbroglio when he ignored a Supreme Court ruling and tried to use thuggish mob tactics to impose his will on the Honduran political system.
Mexico's Ruling Party Is Seen Losing Ground - David Luhnow, Wall Street Journal. Mexico's former ruling party made a strong comeback in midterm elections Sunday, defeating President Felipe Calderón's conservative party and setting the stage for more gridlock in a country already politically divided, early returns showed. With roughly a third of the votes counted, the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, won 35% of the vote compared with 27% for Mr. Calderón's National Action Party, or PAN, in the race for 500 congressional seats, 565 mayors and six governorships. The biggest loser on the day was the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, which came within a hair of winning the presidency in 2006. Early returns showed it winning just 12% of the vote. Smaller parties and blank votes made up the rest of the tally. "It's a big victory for us and sets us up well for 2012" presidential elections, said PRI official Pedro Joaquin Coldwell.
Opposition Wins Majority in Mexican Vote - Elisabeth Malkin, New York Times. President Felipe Calderón suffered a setback in midterm elections Sunday when the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party unseated his party as the dominant force in Mexico’s fractured Congress. The vote heralded a renaissance in the opposition party, known as the PRI, which dominated Mexican politics for much of the 20th century. Its comeback reflected both the effects of the global economic crisis and voter weariness with the violence caused by the government’s crackdown on drug traffickers. With 59 percent of the tally sheets counted late Sunday, the PRI had won 36 percent of the vote to 27 percent for the president’s National Action Party, known as the PAN. In a televised speech, Mr. Calderón recognized what he called the new composition of Congress and promised to work with legislators. But he neither mentioned the PRI by name nor congratulated it.
Calderon's Ruling Party Slips in Mexico - Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times. With a sagging economy and bloody drug war as a backdrop, voters across Mexico dealt a blow Sunday to the conservative party of President Felipe Calderon as they elected members of Congress, a handful of governors and hundreds of state and local officials. Calderon's National Action Party, or PAN, conceded defeat in the 500-seat lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, after exit polls and early returns showed the once-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, with a solid lead. The PAN, with 206 seats in the outgoing chamber, lacked a majority. Sunday's results would leave the PRI - which currently holds 106 seats - short of a majority too. Most analysts predicted the vote would leave things pretty much as they are by forcing compromise between the PAN and the PRI, whose leaders want to show voters they are a mature, constructive opposition ready to rule again. "They are going to make agreements," said Alfonso Zarate, a political analyst in Mexico City. "Politicians, especially Mexican politicians, have a healthy dose of pragmatism." The vote capped a campaign in which no single issue dominated.
Mexican Ruling Party to Struggle at Mid-term Vote - Alistair Bell, Reuters. Mexicans voted on Sunday in mid-term elections for Congress where President Felipe Calderon's party is likely to lose ground, leaving him with an uphill struggle to achieve economic reforms. Mexico's economy is in deep recession, mostly due to the downturn in the United States, and oil output is falling fast. Calderon, a conservative, wants to overhaul the energy sector to allow more private investment in the search for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. He also seeks to reform the tax system. But his National Action Party, or PAN, trails the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, by around 5 percentage points in opinion polls. Even if the PAN wins, Calderon will probably fall short of the majority he needs to push reforms through the lower house of Congress without long, difficult negotiations.
Chavez Seen Behind Unrest in Peru - Kelly Hearn, Washington Times. A national strike by thousands of rain-forest Indians is spawning accusations of a proxy war involving Venezuela and an emboldened peasant movement seeking to undermine Peru's pro-US president. For more than two months, thousands of natives have been protesting land reforms issued by President Alan Garcia. The laws - required by a US-Peru Free Trade Agreement - open vast tracts of rain forest to private energy and agriculture investment. In April, natives angered by the new laws donned war paint and grabbed spears, overran roads and rivers, seized control of jungle oil facilities and blocked rural airports. Mr. Garcia initially said that the protesters would not force his hand. But he backtracked after a June 5 confrontation in the oil-rich Amazon region of Bagua left more than 30 police and protesters dead. Congress voted down two of the laws on June 18, handing Mr. Garcia a defeat and the natives a new sense of power.
ASIA-PACIFIC
Riots in Western China Amid Ethnic Tension - Edward Wong, New York Times. At least 1,000 rioters clashed with the police on Sunday in a regional capital in western China after days of rising tensions between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese, according to witnesses and photographs of the riot. The rioting broke out Sunday afternoon in a large market area of Urumqi, the capital of the vast, restive desert region of Xinjiang, and lasted for several hours before riot police officers and paramilitary or military troops locked down the Uighur quarter of the city. The rioters threw stones at the police and set vehicles on fire, sending plumes of smoke into the sky, while police officers used fire hoses and batons to beat back rioters and detain Uighurs who appeared to be leading the protest, witnesses said. At least 3 Han Chinese and one police officer were killed in the rioting and 20 were injured, according to Xinhua, the official news agency. Dozens of Uighur men were led into police stations with their hands behind their backs and shirts pulled over their heads, one witness said. Early Monday, the local government announced a curfew banning all traffic in the city until 8 p.m.
140 Slain as Chinese Riot Police, Muslims Clash in Northwestern City - Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times. China's worst ethnic violence in years broke out Sunday in the northwestern city of Urumqi, leaving 140 people dead and more than 800 injured. Images from the city of 2 million showed flames raging from overturned cars and black smoke billowing over downtown. Urumqi was virtually closed down today, with vehicles barred in much of the city, telephone lines and the Internet down. The unrest pitted members of the long-aggrieved Uighur minority against the dominant Han. Chinese bloggers wrote that at least one bomb exploded during the incident and that about 100 public buses were destroyed. The Chinese government accused the Uighur leadership in the US of masterminding what was described by state television as a rampage of "beating, smashing, robbing and burning." But representatives of the Uighurs, a Muslim minority, countered that they were holding a peaceful demonstration that turned ugly because of government brutality.
Muslim Minority Riots Erupt in China's West - Gordon Fairclough, Wall Street Journal. Hundreds of Muslim ethnic minority demonstrators clashed with armed police Sunday in northwest China in riots that left a number of people dead and cars and shops smashed and burned. China's state-run Xinhua news agency said "a number of civilians" as well as one police officer were killed in battles between protestors and police on the streets of Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, a region that is home to Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking, predominantly Muslim ethnic group. An official at the Urumqi Public Security Bureau said parts of the city remained locked down Monday morning. The official said 20 to 30 people had been injured or killed in the clashes. Uighurs have long chafed at restrictions on their civil liberties and religious practices imposed by a Chinese government fearful of political dissent in strategically important Xinjiang, which covers one-sixth of China's territory and is also an important oil-producing region.
Ethnic Violence in China' Xinjiang Region, 140 Dead - Voice of America. Chinese officials say 140 people have died in rioting in western China's Xinjiang region. State-run Xinhua news agency says Sunday's fighting left more than 800 injured in the provincial capital Urumqi. Several hundred people are reported to have been arrested. Witnesses say 1,000 members of the Uighur ethnic group demonstrated against what they say is unfair treatment by the Han, who make up the vast majority of China's population. The Uighurs are largely Muslim. Xinhua quotes officials in Xinjiang as blaming Sunday's violence on Uighur exiles and what they call "foreign instigators". China tightly controls Xinjiang province, where it refers to some Uighurs as "violent separatists" looking to create an independent country called "East Turkestan." Uighur activists say Chinese authorities have exaggerated the threat to justify their cultural and religious controls on the Uighurs.
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. Defense analysts in several countries, including the US and South Korea, will take several weeks to determine whether Saturday's tests showed that North Korea is advancing its ability to carry nuclear warheads on those missiles.
N. Korea Possibly Tested Improved Scud - Associated Press. A barrage of ballistic missiles that North Korea test-fired over the weekend may have included a new type of a Scud with an extended range and improved accuracy that poses a threat to Japan, a South Korean newspaper reported Monday. Pyongyang launched seven missiles into waters off its east coast Saturday in a show of force that defied UN resolutions and drew international condemnation. On Monday, South Korea's mass-circulation Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported the launches were believed to have included three Scud-ER missiles with a range of up to 620 miles (1,000 kilometers). The paper said the Scud-ER has a longer range and better accuracy compared with previous Scud series so is "particularly a threat to Japan."
Admiral: UN Resolution Made North Korean Ship Change Course - David J. Carter, Stars and Stripes. Amid a new round of missile launches by North Korea since Thursday, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead called the situation in North Korea and its recent military posturing “not helpful to the peace and security of the region.” The US Navy’s top admiral, visiting Yokosuka Naval Base near Tokyo on Saturday, spoke to media only hours after South Korean officials reported that North Korea launched more missiles off its eastern coast. The launches mark the second time this week that North Korea has demonstrated its missile capabilities. Pyongyang reportedly fired four additional missiles Thursday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. “North Korea’s behavior is very unhelpful, but the forces that we have are here to protect the safety and security of the region,” Roughead said. Addressing the recent tracking of the North Korean cargo ship Kang Nam, which reportedly has carried munitions exported to other countries, Roughead declined to speculate on its current contents.
With No Clear Path Out of a Diplomatic Thicket, a Push to Redraw the Map - Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times. Some people from this country despair at the rigid choreography of what might be called the Myanmar diplomatic minuet. United Nations interlocutors come and go, declaring that the moment is at hand for the military junta to release the endlessly prosecuted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but the generals do not budge. Over the weekend, it was Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, who, despite the weight of his personal intervention, failed to secure so much as a chat with Asia’s most famous political prisoner, much less any concessions. The fact that Mr. Ban emerged empty-handed after his two-day visit that ended Saturday provides the strongest evidence yet that a different approach is overdue, analysts of Myanmar said.
Campaign Quiets Down in Indonesia Ahead of Elections - Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times. The five men and one woman vying to become president or vice president in Indonesia’s election on Wednesday are familiar faces. All but one made their names during Suharto’s 32-year military rule, which ended more than a decade ago. Half of them, tellingly, are retired generals. But after crisscrossing this archipelago for three weeks, the candidates wound up their campaigns over the weekend promising to shepherd the country into a new era. The election, only the second time Indonesians will directly choose their president, will take place after a three-day cooling-off period during which campaigning is banned.
Indonesia's President Looks Ahead as Vote Nears - Tom Wright, Wall Street Journal. On the eve of a national election this week, Indonesia is re-emerging as one of the world's hottest developing economies, a remarkable turnaround for a country that was once widely viewed as a basket case. Despite the global financial crisis, Indonesia's economy is on track to grow nearly 4% this year, making it one of only a handful of major economies -- including China and India -- that International Monetary Fund expects to expand in 2009. Its stock market is up 50% for the year, and companies including Volkswagen AG and British American Tobacco PLC are making new investments there. Much of the credit goes to Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a former army general who is widely expected to win re-election after five years in power. Under his watch, the government has stamped out Islamic terrorism and ended its civil war in the resource-rich province of Aceh. He has brought state spending under control and launched a popular anti-corruption drive, landing a number of senior politicians and central bank officials, including one whose daughter is married to Mr. Yudhoyono's son, in jail.
Bomb Hits Philippine Church-goers - BBC News. A bomb blast outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines has killed five people and injured at least 26 others, officials say. The military immediately blamed the attack in the town of Cotabato, Mindanao, on a militant group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The group has been fighting to establish a separate Islamic state. One of its leaders denied any involvement in the attack, saying there was no religious conflict in the south. The bomb went off outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception as people were leaving Mass, the army said. Police told AFP news agency that two of the dead were soldiers guarding the cathedral.
EUROPE
In Moscow, Obama to Focus on Arms Control - Philip P. Pan, Washington Post. President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will try to break a deadlock in talks to replace a vital nuclear-arms-control treaty when they meet here Monday, with US missile defense plans and Russian demands for sharper cuts in launchers presenting the key obstacles. "Right now, there are very serious gaps in the Russian and American positions," said Sergei Rogov, director of the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies in Moscow, who has been monitoring the talks through Russian negotiators. If the presidents emerge without the outline of a deal, it may be impossible to adopt an accord to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty before it expires in December, analysts say. That would unravel verification mechanisms that have been critical to reducing both countries' nuclear arsenals and could undermine global efforts against nuclear proliferation.
Dmitry Medvedev Starts Nuclear Arms Talks with Missile Shield Demand - Tony Halpin and Catherine Philp, The Times. President Medvedev threw down the nuclear gauntlet on the eve of President Obama’s landmark visit to Moscow today, challenging him to roll back a planned missile shield in Eastern Europe in return for making huge cuts in Russia’s nuclear arsenal. The challenge came as the two prepared for historic talks on nuclear arms reduction with both already pledging major and reciprocal cuts. Mr Medvedev raised the stakes in an interview with Italian media in which he insisted that any agreement would have to include concessions on the European-based missile shield proposed by President Bush.
Progress Expected on US-Russian Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty - Christi Parsons, Los Angeles Times. Before President Obama had even arrived here for this week's nuclear arms talks, officials in his administration on Sunday were predicting a joint announcement from him and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that the two sides were making strides toward an arms reduction treaty. Significant obstacles remain, however, and in the same breath White House officials downplayed expectations for today's scheduled summit. In an interview with Russian TV broadcast over the weekend, Obama said only that he hoped to win agreement on the "framework" of a treaty during the four hours of meetings. He also emphasized the importance of sending a message of general agreement as the two sides work toward crafting a strategic arms reduction treaty to replace the one that expires in December.
A Chill in Air for Obama in Russia - Stephen Dinan, Washington Times. Despite calling for an end to the Cold War mentality, when President Obama sits down with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday it may seem like the Cold War is still raging. From the main issue - the two men will face off over nuclear-arms reductions - to the two publics, which dramatically distrust each other's leaders, it may seem like a throwback to the days of "The Hunt for Red October." Mr. Obama and Mr. Medvedev expect to produce some sort of framework agreement that would set the stage for eventually signing a treaty to reduce the number of nuclear warheads and delivery systems in each country's arsenal, a US official said in the run-up to the meetings Monday. "I expect that there will be an announcement," said Gary Samore, who handles White House policy on weapons of mass destruction. The sticking points include how to count delivery systems - the US has converted some former warhead systems such as several Trident submarines to conventional weaponry - and what to do about US plans for a missile-defense system in Eastern Europe.
Obama's Visit to Russia Stirs Hope for a Renewed Partnership - Fred Weir, Christian Science Monitor. President Obama arrives Monday for two days of meetings with Kremlin leaders, which may help him to determine whether, going forward, Russia will be an ally of the US, an adversary, or just another distraction amid a rising sea of global woes. A very full schedule for Mr. Obama, which includes a lengthy working session with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday, breakfast with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, plus a major foreign policy address and meetings with Russian civil society activists, has done little to calm worries that the agenda holds out scant hope for any strategic breakthrough between the two countries, whose relations have descended into Cold War-style shouting matches at several points in recent years. "Unfortunately, our agenda contains too many difficult issues; I'll be surprised if we can solve any of them," says Andrei Klimov, deputy chair of the Russian State Duma's foreign affairs commission. "The main task of the presidents is to give an impulse to their respective administrations, to get them moving on mutual problems so that maybe we'll see some results by the end of this year." Both Obama and Mr. Medvedev issued the obligatory pre-summit statements, accentuating the positive and laying out ambitious hopes for progress in arms control, nonproliferation, counter-terrorism, energy cooperation, and economic development.
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.
As Obama Visits, Russian TV Alters Take on US - Ellen Barry, New York Times. When Barack Obama and Dmitri A. Medvedev meet behind closed doors here on Monday, among those on tenterhooks will be the television commentator Mikhail V. Leontyev, who has built a career on his relentless hectoring of the West. In his prime-time slot on state-controlled Channel One, Mr. Leontyev, equal parts Rush Limbaugh and Oliver Stone, has derided the United States as “a great power with a broken back,” “a country where armed psychopaths regularly roam educational establishments” and “a parasite that owes the world $53 trillion.” Now, though, there is a sense of uncertainty here about what lies next in the Russian-American relationship. In sync with the Kremlin, Russian news media have reflected this state of suspended animation, muting their criticism of Washington and especially of President Obama. That is not good news for Mr. Leontyev.
Obama and Putin's Russia - Wall Street Journal editorial. An American President lands in Moscow today to negotiate an arms control treaty. Befitting that retro theme, thousands of Russian troops are in the midst of the biggest war games in the south Caucasus since the end of the Cold War, menacing the small, independent nation of Georgia. President Obama's two days in Moscow are supposed to foster, in an adviser's words, "a more substantive relationship with Russia" - the substance being Iran's atomic ambitions, the war in Afghanistan and a replacement for the soon-to-expire Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. You know, the stuff of a quasi-superpower partnership. But Russia hardly looks super, or inclined to forge a partnership, except on its own terms. Instead, Supreme Leader Vladimir Putin wants to settle old scores and establish what he calls "a zone of privileged interest." He must appreciate Mr. Obama's eagerness to change the subject from Russian belligerence to nuclear weapons, which plays up Russia's remaining claim to superpower status. How that serves America's interests isn't clear.
Obama in Russia - The Times editorial. On taking office, President Obama made an early signal of his wish for improved relations with Russia. He has the opportunity to advance that goal today when he arrives in Moscow to meet Dmitri Medvedev, his Russian counterpart. There are important issues on which the two sides are far from agreement, however. These include Nato expansion, ballistic missile defence, Afghanistan and Iran. Mr Obama is unlikely to revise the US position. Nor should he. When Mr Obama and Mr Medvedev met for the first time, in April, their joint statement spoke of common interests and declared an intention to co-operate on various issues. Their most obvious shared concern is the reduction of nuclear arms. Mr Obama is right to focus on that issue.
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.
Socialist Coalition Loses in Bulgaria Election - Matthew Brunwasser, New York Times. Mayor Boyko Borisov of Sofia, a burly former black-belt bodyguard with a penchant for tough talk, cigars and leather jackets, led his center-right opposition party to a larger-than-expected election victory on Sunday over Bulgaria’s governing Socialist-led coalition, which was weakened by a severely deteriorating economy and voter fatigue with chronic corruption. With nearly two-thirds of the vote counted on Sunday night, Mr. Borisov’s party, the Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria, had 42 percent of the vote, while the Socialist-led coalition had 18 percent, less than had been anticipated. Mr. Borisov will probably be the next prime minister, if negotiations to form a coalition government are successful. Mr. Borisov’s party has become the leading political force in the country, campaigning on promises of change and bringing accountability to government.
MIDDLE EAST
Netanyahu Calls for 'Two States for Two Peoples' - Robert Berger, Voice of America. As Israel's new right-wing government marks a milestone, it is softening its position on the creation of a Palestinian state. But the Palestinians are skeptical. Under pressure from the United States, Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used this formula on Palestinian statehood for the first time. He told the weekly Cabinet meeting that Israel supports the concept of "two states for two peoples." The Cabinet met on Mr. Netanyahu's 100th day in office, and he said the greatest achievement of his government, so far, is the agreement on the issue of Palestinian statehood. It is a major about-face for a man who has long opposed a Palestinian state and supported Jewish settlement in all the biblical Land of Israel.
Israel's Settlements in West Bank Present a Major Hurdle - Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times. This sprawling, well-manicured Israeli settlement - with its rows of red-tile roofs, palm trees and air-conditioned shopping mall - could almost pass for Orange County. Except the guards in this gated community sometimes pack automatic weapons. Settlements such as the city-sized Maale Adumim, about four miles east of Jerusalem in the West Bank, are viewed by much of the world as illegal because they are built on land seized by Israel during the 1967 Middle East War. Many Israelis see Maale Adumim as part of their country. Now the long-simmering dispute over this and other fast-growing settlements has become a major obstacle to restarting peace talks. Palestinians have refused to resume talks unless settlement growth is frozen, including so-called natural growth of existing settlements as families grow. Israelis have refused, despite pressure from the Obama administration, saying a complete freeze would unfairly disrupt the "normal life" of settlers. The issue has sparked the most public rift between the US and Israel in years.
SOUTH ASIA
Victims of Tamil Tiger War hit by Sri Lanka Tax on Aid Workers - Jeremy Page, The Times. The Sri Lankan Government is trying to siphon off millions of pounds of humanitarian aid by imposing a 0.9 per cent tax on all funding for aid groups, including the British charities Oxfam and Save the Children Fund, The Times has learnt. Aid workers said that Burma was the only other country that they could remember imposing such a tax - one of several new measures hampering their efforts to help victims of Sri Lanka’s recent civil war. The new tax regime was unveiled in 2006 but not enforced immediately. Most agencies did not comply, as they hoped to persuade the Government to change it, according to aid workers. In the past year, however, the Government has grown increasingly hostile towards foreign aid groups and Western donors, accusing many of sympathising with the Tamil Tiger rebels, who were defeated in May.
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.
