Millions of Afghans, determined to shape their own future, defied Taliban threats and voted Thursday in the country’s second-ever presidential elections. That courage deserves to be rewarded with far better governance than Afghans have experienced in the four years since the last presidential vote. President Obama has rightfully defined success in Afghanistan as essential to America’s struggle against Al Qaeda. He has backed that up with more troops - there are 62,000 now with 6,000 on the way - stronger American military leadership and a more careful use of air power devised to limit civilian casualties.

--New York Times

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN

Afghan Election Officials Urge Patience on Ballot Returns - Meredith Buel, Voice of America. The two top candidates in Afghanistan's presidential election are claiming victory, although elections officials are saying it is too early to know who won this week's vote. Analysts say what appears to be an uneven voter turnout coupled with possible claims of fraud could have an impact on the credibility of the election. Election officials in Afghanistan are urging candidates to refrain from declaring victory, although that has not stopped the campaigns of incumbent President Hamid Karzai and his chief challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, from claiming a first-round win. Election officials say preliminary returns and accurate figures on turnout will not be available for days. "In the provinces under high security threat level maybe the turnout was low. But there are many provinces where the participants were high. Now it's very difficult for us, because we could not receive the final figures from the provinces. That is why I cannot say the turnout. Soon, we will announce the turnout when we get the final figure," said Afghanistan's chief electoral officer is Daoud Ali Najafi.

Afghan Election Poses New Tests for Washington - Helene Cooper and Carlotta Gall, New York Times. Obama administration officials hoped the Afghan election would demonstrate that eight years after the American invasion, the country was stable enough to justify an expanded commitment of money and troops from an increasingly skeptical American public. Instead, the election did more to underscore the challenges Afghanistan faces, particularly if the election goes to a runoff, as seems increasingly likely, between President Hamid Karzai and his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah. Both men claimed to be winning as ballots were counted Friday, though officials said preliminary results would not be announced until Tuesday, and final results at least two weeks later. In the meantime, complaints of fraud and specific episodes of ballot stuffing mounted, and they may assume increasing importance. Western officials here expressed relief that many Afghans defied Taliban threats of reprisals and came out to vote. But they were clearly concerned on Friday that a second round of voting could extend the paralysis of a government that already barely functions and deepen ethnic tensions, in the worst case, to the point of a north-south civil war.

Karzai, Abdullah Teams Both Expect Election Win - Pamela Constable and Joshua Partlow, Washington Post. President Hamid Karzai and his top election rival both claimed Friday that they were comfortably ahead in Thursday's nationwide polling and expected to win the presidency, while election officials admonished all candidates against making such claims until official results are announced. The competing assertions of likely victory by spokesmen for Karzai and by his chief challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, came amid widespread tension and uncertainty over the legitimacy of the election, which was marred by low turnout and threats of violence in numerous provinces. The major question is whether any candidate will obtain the simple majority of votes needed to prevent a run-off. Pre-election voter surveys indicated that neither Karzai nor Abdullah would be able to reach that goal, but that Karzai would probably win a second round of polling in early October.

Afghan Contenders Claim Leads - Anand Gopal and Matthew Rosenberg, Wall Street Journal. The top two contenders for Afghanistan's presidency, incumbent Hamid Karzai and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, both claimed significant leads in the vote count Friday, each seeking to position himself as the eventual victor. Both Mr. Karzai's and Dr. Abdullah's supporters said reports from their observers, who were monitoring the tally, indicated that their candidate had won more than 50% of the vote and wouldn't need a second-round runoff election. "We are ahead in many places," said Nasrine Gross, a member of Dr. Abdullah's campaign staff. "We're confident we will win despite all the fraud that we have seen." The Karzai campaign brushed off allegations that it had committed fraud, saying its rivals were seeking only to detract from the president's victory. "It's absolutely clear that we will have over 50% of the votes in our favor. This is indicated by our initial observations," said Seddiq Seddiqi, a Karzai campaign spokesman.

Karzai, Abdullah Both Claim Victory in Afghan Election - Ben Arnoldy, Christian Science Monitor. The top two candidates in Afghanistan's presidential race both claimed to be on their way to victory after Thursday's vote. Meanwhile, the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) has received roughly 150 official allegations of election fraud and expects a significantly larger number to arrive in the coming days. With preliminary vote-count results days away, each camp is working to influence public perceptions and gather legal ammunition for appealing a possible loss. "I would say that we were expecting a much better process," says Abdullah Abdullah, the main rival of incumbent Hamid Karzai. "The incompetence of the election commission- its independence was under question anyway- its incompetence was very evident and interference was evident." He complained that his campaign could not deploy some 9,000 of 29,000 poll monitors because of a slow accreditation process and interference from local government officials in five provinces. "Our observers were stopped by government officials from getting to these stations. There were a lot of threats and intimidations," says Dr. Abdullah, who says this is among the more than 100 complaints his campaign has officially filed. The spokesman for the Independent Election Commission, the Afghan body that ran the election, says both campaigns got their badges "in a short time" and within two or three days of the vote.

Aghanistan Candidates Warned Against Early Claims of Election Victory - Laura King and Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times. Election officials and Western diplomats Friday warned candidates against making premature claims of victory after aides to President Hamid Karzai said it appeared he had won Thursday's vote. Karzai's chief rival, Abdullah Abdullah, meanwhile, declared that if the president had gotten more than 50% of the vote - as required to avoid a runoff - it would signal that Karzai's supporters had committed massive fraud. Many Western observers are concerned that the competing claims could set the stage for clashes between the candidates' partisans and usher in a prolonged period of tension and instability while an official count is compiled. A final tally is not scheduled to be disclosed until early September. A partial preliminary count was initially due today, but now is not expected until Tuesday. Afghans defied Taliban threats and a rash of preelection violence, coming out by the millions to vote. But election officials acknowledged that turnout was lower than hoped, perhaps less than 50%.

Taliban Cut Off Fingers of 2 Afghan Voters - Heidi Vogt, Associated Press. Taliban militants cut off the ink-stained fingers of two Afghan voters in the militant south during the presidential election, the country's top election monitoring group said Saturday. Two voters who had dipped their index fingers in purple ink - a fraud prevention measure - were attacked in Kandahar province shortly after voting Thursday, said Nader Nadery, the head of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan. Kandahar is the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban. Rumors that militants would cut off voters' ink-stained fingers spread before the vote. A Taliban spokesman had said militants would not carry out such attacks, but the Taliban is a loose organization of individual commanders who could carry out the threat on their own. Millions of Afghans voted in the country's second-ever direct presidential election, although Taliban threats and attacks appeared to hold down the turnout, especially in the south where President Hamid Karzai was expected to run strongly among his fellow Pashtuns. At least 26 Afghan civilians and security forces died in dozens of militant attacks.

Gen. McChrystal Assessing Afghan Forces - Jessica Weinstein, Washington Times. As Afghan officials counted ballots from Thursday's key election, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan was making his way through the Jalrez Valley on Friday, conducting an on-the-ground assessment of the troubled nation. The journey has brought Gen. Stanley McChrystal to the site of the Afghan Public Protection Program (AP3) - a pilot effort begun under his predecessor Gen. David D. McKiernan - in which Green Berets have been recruiting and training local Afghans to police their own neighborhoods since March. Gen. McChrystal made it clear that one of the main issues that he wants to address is increasing the Afghans' ability to secure themselves. "We're working to grow the Afghan National Security Forces more quickly," he said, asking the AP3 commander, Sayad Ali Abbas, what he would need to help recruit more AP3 guards. "We get one meal a day but we are a 24-hour on-call force. If we could improve our food [situation], that would help," answered Mr. Abbas. "That's what I hear everywhere," nodded Gen. McChrystal. The general, who was tapped by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gatesin May to take over command in Afghanistan, has been working on a set of recommendations on the strategy to stabilize Afghanistan.

Ships, Planes Deliver Stryker Brigade to Afghanistan - Gerry J. Gilmore, American Forces Press Service. Military transportation experts used ships and planes to deploy an Army combat unit that arrived in Afghanistan last month, marking a notable milestone for US Transportation Command. The 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis, Wash., began departing from nearby Tacoma by ship in early May; the unit’s equipment arrived in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province July 25, about five days earlier than requested by US Central Command, Army Lt. Col. John Kaylor, a transportation expert assigned to Transcom’s headquarters at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., said yesterday. More than 3,800 troops and 900 pieces of the unit’s equipment, including more than 300 Stryker armored combat vehicles, were deployed to Afghanistan during the movement, Kaylor said. This latest large-scale movement, he added, avoided millions of dollars in costs and improved Transcom’s Joint Task Force Port Opening operations. The movement to Afghanistan was the Stryker brigade’s first combat deployment. “It worked out great,” Kaylor said of the unit’s successful, nearly 7,000-mile deployment. The deployment is part of US plans to bulk up forces in Afghanistan to confront resurgent Taliban activity in the south of the country. The 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team officially took up its duties in southern Afghanistan on Aug. 9.

Afghanistan Contractors Outnumber Troops - August Cole, Wall Street Journal. Even as US troops surge to new highs in Afghanistan they are outnumbered by military contractors working alongside them, according to a Defense Department census due to be distributed to Congress - illustrating how hard it is for the US to wean itself from the large numbers of war-zone contractors that proved controversial in Iraq. The number of military contractors in Afghanistan rose to almost 74,000 by June 30, far outnumbering the roughly 58,000 US soldiers on the ground at that point. As the military force in Afghanistan grows further, to a planned 68,000 by the end of the year, the Defense Department expects the ranks of contractors to increase more. The military requires contractors for essential functions ranging from supplying food and laundry services to guarding convoys and even military bases - functions that were once performed by military personnel but have been outsourced so a slimmed-down military can focus more on battle-related tasks. The Obama administration has sought to reduce its reliance on military contractors, worried that the Pentagon was ceding too much power to outside companies, failing to rein in costs and not achieving desired results.

Pakistani Extremists in Punjab Seen as Rising Threat - Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times. Villagers on the outskirts of this southern Punjabi city knew that Riaz Ali lived and breathed jihad. They read the jihad literature he freely passed out. They saw the mullahs regularly meeting at his home, where his sister drilled the Koran into the minds of schoolchildren. It didn't matter. They admired his devotion to Islam, they said, and always knew that the enemy Ali narrowed his sights on was elsewhere, far away from the rutted dirt roads and cotton fields of their sleepy mud-hut hamlet. Then, on a sunny July morning, their neighborhood blew up. Nine people died and 70 were injured in the explosion, which destroyed dozens of homes within a half-mile radius. The blast's epicenter was Ali's home, where police say he had stored half a ton of explosives, suicide jackets, rocket-propelled grenades and other munitions that probably detonated accidentally. Ali's home, police would later learn, was a depot and staging point for militants preparing terrorist attacks elsewhere in Punjab, the province regarded as Pakistan's heartland and home to densely populated cities such as Lahore and Rawalpindi. Investigators are now piecing together Ali's network of suppliers and facilitators, which may include a Taliban leader. Ali survived the blast and is in custody, as are several people suspected of working with him, including two brothers and a stepbrother. Police cannot explain how Ali, 36, amassed such large amounts of explosives or built bombs undetected for what they believe was nearly a year.

US Missiles Strike in Pakistan - Associated Press. A missile fired from a suspected U.S. unmanned plane destroyed a suspected militant hide-out in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least nine people in a stronghold of a jihadi leader blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, intelligence officials said. The United States has launched more than 40 missile strikes on al-Qaeda and Taliban targets close to the Afghan border since last year, reportedly killing several top commanders, but also civilians. Earlier this month, one such strike is believed by US and Pakistani officials to have killed the Pakistani Taliban chief, Baitullah Mehsud. The attack Friday was on a housing compound in the village of Dande Darpa Khel, near Miran Shah in North Waziristan, three intelligence officers said condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. They said several people were wounded. Authorities stepped up security in the region following the attack and the officials said efforts were under way to get details about the victims. Dande Darpa Khel and surrounding areas are strongholds of Afghan Taliban leader Siraj Haqqani whose network is powerful in eastern Afghanistan. He has a large Islamic school in the village that was hit by a US missile in October 2008, killing about 20 people.

We're Not the Soviets in Afghanistan - Frederick W. Kagan, Weekly Standard opinion. Comparisons between our current efforts in Afghanistan and the Soviet intervention that led to the collapse of the USSR are natural and can be helpful, but only with great care. Below are a number of key points to keep in mind when thinking about the Soviet operations, especially when considering the size of the US or international military footprint. War did not begin in 1979 when the Soviets invaded. It started in 1978 following the Saur Revolution in which Nur M. Taraki seized power from Mohammad Daoud. Taraki declared the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and set about bringing real socialism to the country. Soviet advisors recommended that Taraki proceed slowly with social and economic reforms. They recognized that the socialist party (People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan or PDPA) had the support of a tiny minority. They feared that Taraki's plans for aggressive "modernization" would generate an awful backlash. They were right.

IRAQ

After Blasts, Iraqi Officials Point Fingers - Marc Santora and Abeer Mohammed, New York Times. Two of Iraq’s top ministers bitterly accused each other of failing to meet the security challenges posed by a still potent insurgency during a private meeting on Friday called in response to a string of deadly bombings aimed at the heart of the Iraqi government. The mutual recriminations highlighted the dangerous and deep divisions among the various government agencies that control the security forces, according to several lawmakers who attended the meeting. As the Americans have steadily detached themselves from a day-to-day role in Iraq’s security operations, the responsibility has fallen to a disparate group of security agencies - each with competing loyalties and political agendas and unclear chains of command, the lawmakers said. The shortcomings of that system, lawmakers alleged, had created the conditions allowing for the two huge truck bombs that struck Baghdad on Wednesday and killed nearly 100 people. “There is failure and negligence among the intelligence services and an absence of coordination” between all the agencies, said Ammar Tu’mma, a Shiite member of Parliament.

Iraq Officials Scramble to Respond to Deadly Blasts - Chip Cumins and Ben Lando, Wall Street Journal. Iraqi lawmakers called a special parliamentary session for next week to assess and try to reform the country's security services, as officials scrambled to contain popular anger over blasts this week that killed more than 100. At a closed-door meeting Friday, parliamentary leaders questioned the ministers of defense and interior, in charge of the bulk of Iraq's security. They also questioned the head of the Baghdad Security Command, a separate security unit in the capital. Lawmakers criticized the security services for what many see as a convoluted and sometimes overlapping bureaucracies. "The problem is that there is no strategic coordination between the heads of the security apparatus," Azhar al-Samaraei, a Sunni lawmaker, told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting. At a news conference following the meeting, lawmakers and ministers vowed a thorough investigation of the attacks and closer vetting of detainees before they are released. The US State Department initially had said Wednesday that Iraqi officials hadn't requested any additional military help after the Baghdad bombing. But on Friday, officials said Baghdad did ask for assistance.

Iraq Arrests Former Baathists in Baghdad Bombings - Liz Sly and Saif Hameed, Los Angeles Times. The Iraqi government said Friday that it had detained members of a network loyal to the former Baath Party of Saddam Hussein in the deadly bombings at two ministries in the heart of Baghdad this week. The arrests came as recriminations continued to fly over the devastating bombings, which killed nearly 100 people, wounded more than 500 and shattered faith in the ability of the Iraqi security forces to maintain order now that US forces have withdrawn from the cities. Top lawmakers called for a comprehensive review of the nation's security strategies and for the resignation of key security officials, intensifying pressure on Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's government to apprehend those responsible for the attacks. Speaking on state television, Iraqi army spokesman Maj. Qassem Atta said members of the network had been arrested hours after the attacks Wednesday, and that "initial investigations show the involvement of the dismantled Baathist regime directly in the planning and execution" of the attacks. He declined to provide further details. Previous arrests trumpeted by the government proved to have been based on false assumptions.

Iraqi FM: Baghdad Bombings Possible Inside Job - Sinan Salahedden, Associated Press. Iraq's foreign minister said Saturday that those who carried out bombings that targeted government buildings in the Iraqi capital received help to pull off the attacks, possibly from Iraqi security forces. The comments come as anger mounts over the bombings that have lead lawmakers to scrutinize the readiness of Iraqi security forces and raised questions about the loosening of security measures in Baghdad. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has ordered security tightened and concrete blast walls to remain around potential targets in the aftermath of the attacks, reversing an order earlier this month to remove the walls in Baghdad by mid-September. "Regrettably, we accepted the order to remove concrete walls and removal of a joint checkpoint near the ministry," Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters during a press conference in Baghdad.

Iraq Violence Persists Despite Pledge for Increased Security - Associated Press. A bomb attached to a small truck exploded Friday at the entrance of a wholesale vegetable market, an Iraqi police official said, a day after Iraq's prime minister promised increased security at checkpoints near government buildings and markets. The truck passed through an Iraqi police checkpoint in southern Baghdad but wasn't searched minutes before exploding at the front gate of the market, killing two and wounding 20, said the official. The bombing is the latest in a series of attacks this week to strike Baghdad, shaking public confidence in the ability of Iraqi security forces and raising questions about the pace of the transition of security from US to Iraqi hands. The Iraqi government said it was increasing security at checkpoints near government buildings and markets and keeping concrete blast barriers around potential targets. The decision was made Wednesday night, hours after a wave bombings targeted primarily government buildings killed at least 101 people and wounded more than 500. While Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has blamed al Qaeda in Iraq for using the attacks to stoke sectarian violence that nearly tore the country apart two years ago, authorities have detained 11 members of Iraq's security forces on suspicion of negligence.

IRAN

US Calls Iranian Cabinet Choice 'Disturbing' - David Gollust, Voice of America. The United States Friday expressed concern about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's choice of a suspected international terrorist figure as the country's new defense minister. The cabinet nominee, Ahmad Vahidi, is sought by Interpol in connection with a deadly 1994 bomb attack on a Jewish center in Buenos Aires. The United States has joined Israel and others including Jewish groups in voicing its concern about the nomination of Vahidi, a former top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard corps, to be the country's defense minister. Vahidi, who has been deputy defense minister, was placed on a most-wanted list by the international police agency Interpol in 2007 at the request of Argentine prosecutors, who accused him and four other Iranian officials of involvement in the 1994 attack. The bombing at the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires killed 85 people and wounded hundreds of others and was the region's most serious terrorist attack. In 2006, Argentine prosecutors formally accused the Iranian government of directing the attack, which they said was carried out by members of the pro-Iranian Lebanese militia Hezbollah. At a news briefing, State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly said the United States is troubled by the reported nomination of Vahidi, which like the rest of the new cabinet, awaits approval by the Iranian parliament.

Ahmadinejad Nominee Is Wanted in ’94 Bombing - Michael Slackman, New York Times. The man nominated to serve as Iran’s defense minister is wanted by Interpol in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires, confronting Iran with yet another challenge to its international reputation after an electoral dispute undermined its legitimacy at home and abroad. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nominated Ahmad Vahidi on Wednesday to serve as defense minister when he submitted his list of 21 nominees to Parliament. Mr. Vahidi was the head of the secret Quds Force, an arm of the Revolutionary Guards that carries out operations overseas. He was one of five Iranian officials sought by Interpol on Argentine charges of “conceiving, planning, financing and executing” the 1994 attack, which killed 85 people and wounded hundreds, said a statement issued by the Anti-Defamation League condemning the nomination. The hand of Tehran was suspected early in the investigation. However, some criminal justice experts have raised questions recently about Iran’s having had a direct role in the attack, saying it was more likely the work of an Iranian proxy group, Hezbollah, and others in South America.

Iran Cleric Calls for Arrest of Opposition Leaders - Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times. A high-ranking Iranian conservative cleric called for the arrest of opposition leaders Friday and a counterpart demanded the release of political prisoners as Iran's political and religious establishment showed no signs of reconciliation after the disputed June 12 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In addition, many lawmakers and clerics in Ahmadinejad's conservative political camp fumed over his proposed Cabinet, including his decision to nominate three women. And an Argentine prosecutor confirmed that Ahmadinejad's choice for defense minister, Ahmad Vahidi, is wanted by Interpol on terrorism charges. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, head of the powerful ultraconservative Guardian Council, said the leaders behind recent antigovernment protests should be put on trial. His is the latest in a series of calls by hard-liners to arrest opposition figures such as Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, challengers in the presidential election who have since protested the results.

Iranian Boy Who Defied Tehran Hardliners Tells of Prison Rape Ordeal - Homa Homayoun, The Times. The 15-year-old boy sits weeping in a safehouse in central Iran, broken in body and spirit. Reza will not go outside - he is terrified of being left alone. He says he wants to end his life and it is not hard to understand why: for daring to wear the green wristband of Iran’s opposition he was locked up for 20 days, beaten, raped repeatedly and subjected to the Abu Ghraib-style sexual humiliations and abuse for which the Iranian regime denounced the United States. “My life is over. I don’t think I can ever recover,” he said, as he recounted his experiences to The Times - on condition that his identity not be revealed. A doctor who is treating him, at great risk to herself, confirmed that he is suicidal, and bears the appalling injuries consistent with his story. The family is desperate, and is exploring ways of fleeing Iran. Reza is living proof of the charges levelled by Mehdi Karoubi, one of the opposition’s leaders, that prison officials are systematically raping both male and female detainees to break their wills. The regime has accused Mr Karoubi of helping Iran’s enemies by spreading lies and has threatened to arrest him.

ISLAM

Obama Sends Video Greetings For Ramadan - Kent Klein, Voice of America. US President Barack Obama has welcomed the beginning of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in a video address posted on the White House website. Mr. Obama begins the video greeting with wishes for a blessed month for Muslims worldwide. "On behalf of the American people, including Muslim communities in all 50 states, I want to extend best wishes to Muslims in American and around the world. Ramadan Kareem," he said. In the nearly five minute message, Mr. Obama mentions US initiatives to isolate violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "All of these efforts are a part of America's commitment to engage Muslims and Muslim-majority nations on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect. And at this time of renewal, I want to reiterate my commitment to a new beginning between America and Muslims around the world," he said. Mr. Obama's Ramadan message is intended to build on the goodwill generated by his June speech in Cairo to the Muslim world. He says US embassies around the world have reached out to people in Muslim-majority countries in the past two months, to learn how America can find common ground with them. "We have listened. We have heard you. And like you, we are focused on pursuing concrete actions that will make a difference over time, both in terms of the political and security issues that I have discussed, and in the areas that you have told us will make the most difference in people's lives," he said.

Obama Marks Beginning of Muslim Holy Month - Associated Press. President Barack Obama today cast US military efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of his drive to forge a new relationship between America and the Muslim world. Relations with the world's 1.5 billion Muslims soured after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. In a video message to Muslims getting ready for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Obama said US efforts to end the war in Iraq and to isolate extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan are in keeping with America's responsibility to build a more peaceful and secure world. He said that also includes US support for a two-state solution recognizing the rights of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security. "All of these efforts are part of America's commitment to engage Muslims and Muslim-majority nations on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect," Obama said in the message posted on the White House Web site. "And at this time of renewal, I want to reiterate my commitment to a new beginning between America and Muslims around the world." Ramadan, a monthlong period of prayer, reflection and sunrise-to-sunset fasts, begins Saturday in most of the Islamic world.

THE LONG WAR

Report Reveals CIA Conducted Mock Executions - Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff, Newsweek. A long-suppressed report by the Central Intelligence Agency's inspector general to be released next week reveals that CIA interrogators staged mock executions as part of the agency's post-9/11 program to detain and question terror suspects, Newsweek has learned. According to two sources - one who has read a draft of the paper and one who was briefed on it - the report describes how one detainee, suspected USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, was threatened with a gun and a power drill during the course of CIA interrogation. According to the sources, who like others quoted in this article asked not to be named while discussing sensitive information, Nashiri's interrogators brandished the gun in an effort to convince him that he was going to be shot. Interrogators also turned on a power drill and held it near him. "The purpose was to scare him into giving [information] up," said one of the sources. A federal law banning the use of torture expressly forbids threatening a detainee with "imminent death." The report also says, according to the sources, that a mock execution was staged in a room next to a detainee, during which a gunshot was fired in an effort to make the suspect believe that another prisoner had been killed. The inspector general's report alludes to more than one mock execution.

CIA Used Gun, Drill in Interrogation - Joby Warrick and R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post. CIA interrogators used a handgun and an electric drill to try to frighten a captured al-Qaeda commander into giving up information, according to a long-concealed agency report due to be made public next week, former and current US officials who have read the document said Friday. The tactics - which one official described Friday as a threatened execution - were used on Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, according to the CIA's inspector general's report on the agency's interrogation program. Nashiri, who was captured in November 2002 and held for four years in one of the CIA's "black site" prisons, ultimately became one of three al-Qaeda chieftains subjected to a form of simulated drowning known as waterboarding. The report also says that a mock execution was staged in a room next to one terrorism suspect, according to Newsweek magazine, citing two sources for its information. The magazine was the first to publish details from the report, which it did on its Web site late Friday.

US Still Using Security Firm It Broke With - Mark Landler and Mark Mazzetti, New York Times. Despite publicly breaking with an American private security company in Iraq, the State Department continues to award the company, formerly known as Blackwater, more than $400 million in contracts to fly its diplomats around Iraq, guard them in Afghanistan, and train security forces in antiterrorism tactics at its remote camp in North Carolina. The contracts, one of which runs until 2011, illustrate the extent to which the United States government remains reliant on private contractors like Blackwater, now known as Xe (pronounced zee) Services, to conduct some of its most sensitive operations and protect some of its most vital assets. Disclosures that the Central Intelligence Agency had used the company, which most people still call Blackwater, to help with a covert program to assassinate leaders of Al Qaeda have touched off a storm in Washington, with lawmakers demanding to know why this kind of work is being outsourced. New details about Xe’s involvement in the covert program emerged Friday.

Reports Revive Debate on Contractor Use - Walter Pincus, Washington Post. The disclosure that the CIA once hired Blackwater USA for elements of an assassination program has brought back into focus the wide range of intelligence and military activities that are being contracted out to private firms. Some lawmakers have balked at the shift of intelligence operations away from government employees. This week, Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said she has "believed for a long time that the intelligence community is overreliant on contractors to carry out its work." She called it a particular problem "when contractors are used to carry out activities that are inherently governmental." That phrase, though, is subject to interpretation, and the Office of Management and Budget stipulates that agencies in the executive branch have a good deal of discretion. Moreover, there is no legal prohibition to contracting out what may appear to be a government function.

Immigration Judge Clears Egyptian Student Previously Acquitted in Terrorism Case - Damien Cave and Yolanne Almanzar, New York Times. A federal immigration judge on Friday reached the same conclusion as the jury that acquitted Youssef Megahed on terrorism-related charges in April: The government did not prove its case. The judge, Kenneth S. Hurewitz, said the evidence put forward by lawyers from the Department of Homeland Security did not show that Mr. Megahed, 23, a former engineering student at the University of South Florida and originally from Egypt, was engaged in or would probably engage in terrorist activities. The government plans to appeal, but the decision - in a court system with a low burden of proof, where deportations are the norm - set Mr. Megahed free after a two-year ordeal that began when a road trip with a friend led to arrests on explosives charges after the police found model rocket propellants in the car’s trunk. The ruling seemed to surprise nearly everyone involved. When Mr. Megahed’s lawyer, Charles Kuck, told the Megahed family what had happened, disbelief preceded joy.

Ridge: Bush Officials Linked to Terror Alerts - Deb Riechmann and Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press. Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge says pressure from fellow Cabinet members to raise the nation's terror alert level just before the 2004 presidential election helped convince him it was time to quit working for President George W. Bush. In a new book, Ridge says that despite the urgings of former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and then-Attorney General John Ashcroft he objected to raising the security level, according to a publicity release from the book's publisher. In the end the alert level was not changed. Bush's former homeland security adviser, Frances Townsend, said Thursday that politics never played a role in determining alert levels.

US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Obama, Gates Lead Defense Acquisition Reforms - Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service. President Barack Obama threw his weight behind the Defense Department’s acquisition reform efforts earlier this week, emphasizing that unnecessary spending hurts not only taxpayers, but also warfighters on the front lines. “Every dollar wasted in our defense budget is a dollar we can’t spend to care for our troops or protect America or prepare for the future,” the president told participants at the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ 110th convention, in Phoenix. Obama made clear that he’s 100 percent behind reforms Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates made a top priority – second only to succeeding in Iraq and Afghanistan – the day he assumed his post two and a half years ago. “We cannot build the 21st-century military we need and maintain the fiscal responsibility that America demands unless we fundamentally reform the way our Defense Department does business,” Obama told the veterans. “It’s a simple fact.” Talk about changing the way the Defense Department does business is nothing new. What’s new, a senior Pentagon official told American Forces Press Service, is that the issue has percolated to the highest levels, turning rhetoric into action. Gates, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III and other defense leaders have demonstrated that they’re willing to make the difficult decisions about which programs to support and which to curtail, said Shay Assad, acting deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and technology.

WORLD

UN: Modern Forms of Slavery are Flourishing - Lisa Schlein, Voice of America. Roger Plant heads the International Labor Organization's (ILO) special action program to combat forced labor. "You are in a forced labor situation when you enter work or service," he said. "It does not have to be legal work. It can be begging. It can be all kinds of activity. You enter it against your freedom of choice, and you cannot get out of it without punishment or the threat of punishment." Plant says this definition, which first appeared in a 1930 ILO Convention Against Forced Labor, is still valid today. He says most forced labor is in the private economy, and it is usually for several months or years. While lifetime cases of forced labor, slavery and bonded labor do exist, he says they are the exception. "What we are finding is that migrant workers, particularly irregular migrant workers, very often young women, around the world are at tremendous risk of serious exploitation," said Plant. "We are finding that this is not only in the backward economy of developing countries, even though most forced labor today is indeed in the informal or the background agricultural sector of Asia, Latin America and then Africa." Plant says every single country in the world is encountering problems of forced labor. That is because the victims are vulnerable to exploitation, laws against this practice are not vigorously enforced and it is a hugely profitable trade.

AFRICA

US Calls Libyan Welcome of Lockerbie Figure Outrageous, Disgusting - David Gollust, Voice of America. The Obama administration has angrily criticized the warm welcome given by Libya to the convicted bomber of a US jetliner in 1988 who was released from prison by Scottish legal authorities Thursday because of ill health. State Department officials said the jubilant greeting given to Abdel Basset al-Megrahi calls into question Libya's promises in recent years to be a responsible actor in world affairs. Obama administration officials had warned Libya not to make a hero out of Megrahi, who was freed by Scottish officials because he is said to be near death from prostate cancer. They are seething over television footage showing the former Libyan intelligence agent being cheered by a flag-waving crowd and showered with flower petals on his late-Thursday arrival in Tripoli. President Barack Obama, in brief comments to reporters, called the greeting highly objectionable while his spokesman Robert Gibbs was more emphatic, describing the airport scene as outrageous and disgusting.

US, Britain Criticize Celebrations for Lockerbie Plotter - Karla Adam, Washington Post. Britain and the United States reacted angrily Friday to homecoming celebrations for a former Libyan secret service agent, convicted in the Lockerbie bombing, who was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds a day earlier. President Obama said the jubilant welcome Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi received was "highly objectionable." Arriving at an airport near Tripoli, Libya, Megrahi was met by hundreds of people, some waving Libyan and Scottish flags, some throwing flower petals. The scene was in stark contrast to his departure from Scotland, where a cluster of local residents jeered at the convoy taking Megrahi to the Glasgow airport. Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, told the BBC that the celebratory images were "deeply upsetting." He warned: "How the Libyan government handles itself in the next few days will be very significant in the way the world views Libya's reentry into the civilized community of nations."

Libya Tactics Change, but Goal Doesn't - Alan Cowell, New York Times. Sometime back, a reporter visiting Libya made a phone call to an American there whom the authorities wanted to keep quiet, in public at least. Almost before the reporter had lowered the handset, the phone rang. If the journalist persisted with his overtures, said an official who had secretly monitored the conversation, he would be dealt with by “the Libyan method.” There was no ambiguity about what that might mean. In the 1980s, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi ran what Dana Moss, an expert on the relationship between Libya and the United States, called “a rogue regime which used terror as its main tactic of foreign policy.” The tally of atrocities stretched from the bombing of the La Belle nightclub in Berlin in 1986 to the downing of airliners. Even before the visit to Tripoli, the same reporter had met in Hamburg with a German gun runner who freely admitted arranging a shipment of Libyan weapons destined for the Irish Republican Army. But nothing in that catalogue of terror paralleled the events of Dec. 21, 1988, when a bomb smuggled onto Pan Am Flight 103 exploded above the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. Of the dead, 189 were American.

More Than 20 Killed in Fighting in Somali Capital - Alisha Ryu, Voice of America. Islamist militants in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, launched a pre-dawn raid on African Union peacekeepers Friday, triggering fierce fighting that killed more than 20 people. Meanwhile, government-led military efforts to take control of insurgent-held towns in the country's central and southwestern regions have reportedly suffered setbacks. As Somalis prepare to observe the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, al-Shabab and Hisbul Islam rebels appeared to have made good on their vow to mark the start of Ramadan with intensified attacks against the government and the African Union mission in Mogadishu known as AMISOM. Residents in Mogadishu say hundreds of Islamist insurgents, led by al-Shabab, fired weapons and mortars at an African Union base in the south of the city. AU peacekeepers and government troops fought back with tank fire and mortars, sending residents diving for cover in their homes and in the streets. The fighting quickly spread to several districts in south Mogadishu.

Mortars Slam Into Mogadishu - Associated Press. At least 24 people were killed in fighting that pitted Islamist insurgents against government forces and African Union peacekeepers in Somalia's capital Friday, witnesses and medical staff said. Residents were hiding in their homes as mortars slammed into the city. The bloodshed came one day after fighting killed at least 40 people in central Somalia as the warring sides tried to gain ground in strategic towns. Somalia has been ravaged by violence and anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, then turned on each other. The al-Shabab insurgent group, which has foreign fighters in its ranks, operates openly in the capital and seeks to overthrow the government and impose a strict form of Islam in Somalia. The rebels launched a pre-dawn attack Friday on an African Union base, prompting a relentless firefight. Mortars slammed into a market as traders were setting up their goods for the day, killing six people. Ali Muse, the coordinator of Mogadishu's ambulance service, said another 18 bodies had been transported Friday.

US Envoy Gathers Darfur Rebels for Unity Attempt - Peter Heinlein, Voice of America. President Obama's special envoy to Sudan is expressing confidence that Darfur rebel groups can unite to send a single message in talks with the Khartoum government. VOA correspondent Peter Heinlein spoke to the envoy in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where he is meeting rebel leaders. US special envoy Scott Gration held talks with the heads of several competing Darfur rebel groups at his makeshift headquarters in an Addis Ababa hotel. Participants included members of Abdelwahid Nur's Sudanese Liberation Army, which has refused to participate in previous unity talks. Gration told VOA he is encouraged by the apparent willingness of rival factions to put aside differences that doomed previous efforts to forge a unified front in talks with Khartoum on ending Darfur's six year war. "There's more unity than I expected, and what I've seen is, in a very short time they've been able to put together a road map that is based on common themes and a common approach, so I believe that the big differences are behind us, and now we're talking about how do we implement, how do we make it happen," he said.

In Parched Nairobi, Politicians Blamed For Drought Crisis - Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post. Across East Africa, drought is again leaving millions of people in dusty countryside hungry, thirsty and dangerously dependent on food aid, the United Nations has warned. But as the weeks wear on, its effects - less drastic but perhaps more politically potent - are also creeping into urban capitals such as this one. In crowded, iron-sheet settlements as well as in high-hedged enclaves of the city's elite, water taps are running dry. With widespread crop failures, the price of staple foods such as corn flour is soaring. Low water levels in dams have led to power cuts, forcing businesses to shut down or switch on expensive, gas-powered generators. And once again, people here are dealing with the nuisance of thousands of cattle wandering along the trash-strewn edges of highways in search of grass or water. Drought in this part of Africa is hardly new, and the scenes playing out in smoggy Nairobi are amounting to repeats of 2005 and 2000. This time, however, the crisis is exacerbating Kenyans' frustration with a coalition government established after weeks of post-election violence last year. People are blaming politicians for the crisis, not nature.

Gaddafi is a Clown, But No One is Laughing - Amir Taheri, The Times opinion. In ten days’ time, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coup that made him master of Libya and the longest-lasting dictator in the world today. At his side will be Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, the “mass murderer” whose release from prison in Scotland on compassionate grounds is billed in Libya as a victory over imperialism. Al-Megrahi, a distant relation of Gaddafi, always claimed his innocence. Had he admitted responsibility for the Lockerbie tragedy he would have implicated the entire Libyan regime headed by the very colonel who has become the toast of Western leaders. Legally speaking, the colonel has no position in Libyan government. He is just the Guide of the Revolution, a philosopher-king who observes and offers advice. In practice, however, no major decision is taken without his approval. Surely if Al-Megrahi was responsible for blowing up the Pan Am jet he would not have done it without a nod from the colonel? The release of al-Megrahi is sure to inflate Gaddafi’s already overblown ego. For the colonel who handed over his relative for trial in The Hague ten years ago had always promised to bring him home “with full honours”. Boosting Gaddafi’s ego is bad news for Libyans who suffer his misrule.

AMERICAS

Mexico Goes After Mother of Cartel Leader - Sara Miller Llana, Christian Science Monitor. The reputed head of the La Familia cartel, an increasingly notorious drug trafficking organization in Mexico, did not mince words in his threat: "If anybody attacks my father, my mother, my brothers, they're going to have to deal with me," Servando Gomez warned the government on local television last month. But instead of backing down, the administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderón, who has deployed 45,000 troops throughout Mexico to clamp down on traffickers, responded this week by detaining not just Mr. Gomez's brother, but his mother too. It is another signal that President Calderón will not succumb to intimidation by well-armed and even-better-financed organized crime outlets. But it also raises the issue of guilt by association, and has some here concerned that targeting families could backfire. Gomez's mother, for example, was released Wednesday, two days after her arrest, for "lack of evidence." Family ties have always bound organized crime networks together. "Obviously if you want someone to trust, it's easier to trust your brother or sister or your son," says Jorge Chabat, a professor of international studies at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE), Mexico City. "But it is very difficult to generalize, and the government should be very careful and go case-by-case."

Mexico Violence is Actually Down, Numbers Show - Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times. This just in: Mexico may not be as violent as everyone thinks. Yes, a drug war has killed more than 11,000 people since the end of 2006. Severed heads and heaps of bodies turn up as traffickers battle Mexican forces and one another. Some days, the nationwide toll from drug-related slayings tops 30. (One Mexican newspaper website tallies the carnage on its "Execute-o-meter.") Looked at another way, though, Mexico isn't as deadly as it used to be. That's the point the nation's attorney general, Eduardo Medina Mora, was pushing this week when he cited figures showing that Mexico's overall homicide rate has fallen since the 1990s. "The levels of violence that the country is experiencing are very serious," Medina Mora told a gathering of advertising executives. "But they are much less than we had 15 years ago."

Mexico Eases Ban on Drug Possession - David Luhnow and Jose de Cordoba, Wall Street Journal. Mexico decriminalized small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin on Friday, in a move that creates one of the world's most permissive narcotics markets and that opponents say could complicate President Felipe Calderón's war against illegal drug cartels. The law goes beyond what is allowed in many other countries by making it legal to possess small amounts of a wide array of drugs. For instance, the new law allows the equivalent of about five joints of marijuana or four lines of cocaine. The softened approach to small-scale drug possession comes as Mexico fights drug gangs that account for a large part of the marijuana and cocaine sold on US streets. In Mexico, more than 12,000 people have died in the past three years in the cartels' battles for turf and clashes with law enforcement. The gangs are also selling more and more drugs domestically, fueling drug addiction. A 2008 government survey found that the number of drug addicts in Mexico had almost doubled in the past six years to 307,000, while the number of those who had tried drugs rose to 4.5 million from 3.5 million. Mexican prosecutors say the law will help the war on drug gangs by letting federal prosecutors focus their attention on traffickers rather than small-time users.

ASIA PACIFIC

N. Korean Envoys Visit South to Pay Respects to Former President - Kurt Achin, Voice of America. For the first time, North Korea has sent a delegation to present formal condolences to the family of a deceased South Korean president. The visit is a tribute to Kim Dae-jung's efforts at North-South reconciliation. But North Koreans who fled to the South at great personal danger to themselves have a skeptical view of the former president's legacy. It was a rare sight Friday in the South Korean capital: Senior North Korean envoys approached a memorial to former President Kim Dae-jung with a giant funeral bouquet bearing the name of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. The six delegates arrived a short time earlier at Seoul's Kimpo airport. They included the North's intelligence chief and the senior officials of the North's ruling communist party. They depart Saturday, before Mr. Kim's state funeral on Sunday.

North Koreans Pay Respects in South - Mark McDonald, New York Times. A high-level North Korean delegation that traveled to South Korea to pay respects to the late President Kim Dae-jung will meet on Saturday with South Korea’s unification minister, the South Korean government announced on Friday. to The meeting, the first between the countries since a conservative government came into power last year, would be the latest in a series of conciliatory steps from the North Koreans. Earlier this month, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, pardoned two American journalists after former President Bill Clinton flew to Pyongyang. North Korea is also easing border restrictions and allowing the resumption of tourism. The six-member North Korean delegation, which includes two envoys known to be close advisers to Mr. Kim, arrived in Seoul on Friday afternoon and were met at the airport by the deputy head of South Korea’s Unification Ministry, Hong Yang-ho, and a former chief minister, Jeong Se-hyun. The group went directly from the airport to lay a funeral wreath at the memorial altar erected at the National Assembly. Along the way, apparently, the leader of the North Korean entourage, Kim Ki-nam, a senior official in the North Korea Workers’ Party, let his hosts know he was in a chatty mood.

Two Koreas Renew Talks After 2 Years - Associated Press. Top South and North Korean officials in charge of inter-Korean relations opened talks Saturday for the first time in nearly two years amid a series of conciliatory moves by North Korea after months of tensions on the divided peninsula. Unification Minister Hyun In-taek met visiting North Korean spy chief Kim Yang-gon, who also handles inter-Korean affairs, ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said. She did not give further details. The last time officials responsible for inter-Korean affairs met was for several days from late November to early December of 2007 during the administration of former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.

In South Korea, Freed US Journalists Come Under Harsh Criticism - Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times. Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two American journalists released after nearly five months in North Korean custody, have been widely portrayed at home as victims of unduly harsh punishment by a repressive government for simply doing their job. But here in South Korea, human rights advocates, bloggers and Christian pastors are accusing them of needlessly endangering the very people they tried to cover: North Korean refugees and the activists who help them. The accusations stem from a central fear repeated in newspapers and blogs here: that the notes and videotapes the journalists gathered in China before their ill-fated venture to the border fell into the hands of the authorities, potentially compromising the identities of refugees and activists dedicated to spiriting people out of the North. Many elements of Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee’s reporting trip remain shrouded in mystery. Neither their employer, Current TV, nor the journalists have revealed details of their work or the circumstances under which they were captured.

Kim Dae Jung's Lesson - Seth Lipsky, Wall Street Journal opinion. The life of free Korea's ex-president, Kim Dae Jung, which came to an end this week, gives new meaning to the phrase "sunshine soldier." In some respects he was like Corazon Aquino of the Philippines, who died last month, a hero of the struggle for democracy in Asia. In other respects, however, Kim had a story that was more complex and dangerous—one that stands as a cautionary tale for Mr. Obama. I met Kim in 1979, when he was being held under house arrest at Seoul and I was the managing editor of the Asian edition of The Wall Street Journal. I'd been told that if I went to his neighborhood, Dong-gyo Don, in the western section of South Korea's capital, and telephoned him from a pay phone, I would receive instructions. They were to walk down a nearby alley and, whatever happened, to avoid stopping, or talking, when approached by government security agents. Sure enough, the moment I ducked into the alley I was swarmed by them. When I declined to speak and kept walking briskly, they fell away. One of Kim's aides waved me on from his gate, which, as soon as I scrambled inside, closed behind me with a welcome clink. Then I was ushered into the modest bungalow of the man who once marshaled crowds of half a million Koreans and nearly toppled the presidency of the country's strongman, Park Chung Hee. Kim had left the country after losing the 1971 election. When President Park declared martial law in 1972, Kim began criticizing him from foreign soil, and in 1973, he was kidnapped from a hotel in Tokyo and brought back to his country. He was arrested in 1976 after he signed a manifesto against the president and drew a sentence of five years. His country was then, as now, in one of the most dangerous military standoffs on the planet.

The Sunset of South Korea's 'Sunshine Policy' - Donald Kirk, Los Angeles Times opinion. No South Korean leader generated such dreams as did Kim Dae-jung, who died on Tuesday. His five-year presidency, and his "sunshine policy" of reconciliation with North Korea reached its spectacular height in June 2000, when he flew to Pyongyang for the first-ever inter-Korean summit. North Korean "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il hosted him in an atmosphere of confidence that the half-century of war and confrontation between the two Koreas was nearing an end. In a joint declaration, the two Kims agreed to resolve "humanitarian" issues, reopen borders and unite families. Four months later, Kim Dae-jung won the Nobel Peace Prize. But although the "sunshine policy" was a glimmering through the dark clouds of the North-South confrontation, it was a misguided effort doomed to fail. Soon enough, the hopes engendered by the summit were shattered. Like every other attempt at rapprochement, the declaration's promises were meaningless. Only 16,000 members of divided families, among several hundred thousand still alive all these years after the Korean War, ever saw each other. There are still no mail or telephone privileges. Visits to North Korea, when the North chooses to allow them, are tightly controlled and monitored. The industrial complex at Kaesong and the tourist zone at Mt. Kumkang have seemed to open and close at will, depending on mood swings in Pyongyang.

Tension Increases as China and Australia Grow Closer - Michael Wines, New York Times. China’s diplomatic relationship with Australia, so recently flourishing despite occasional spats, this month has taken a severe turn toward the governmental equivalent of thrown dinner plates. Public exchanges between the nations, already testy after China’s detention of four employees of the British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, grew sharper when Australia granted a visa to Rebiya Kadeer, the American-based rights advocate for China’s Muslim Uighur minority. Ms. Kadeer was accused by Chinese officials of plotting riots last month in China’s Xinjiang region. The Australians recalled their Chinese ambassador to the capital, Canberra, for talks on Wednesday, after a week in which Beijing’s state-controlled news media excoriated Australia’s “Sinophobic politicians” and suggested that China’s billions were better spent trading with friendlier nations. The Chinese also canceled planned visits by Vice Premier Li Keqiang, the heir apparent to Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, and the vice foreign minister, He Yafei, who was supposed to attend a meeting of Asian nations. Columnists in the Chinese press have also advocated limiting Chinese tourism in Australia and curbing the number of Chinese students studying there.

THE CAUCASUS

Suicide Bombers Kill 4 Police Officers in Chechnya - Michael Schwirtz, New York Times. Suicide bombers on bicycles killed at least four police officers in separate attacks in Chechnya’s capital on Friday, officials said, capping a week of violence in the North Caucasus region of Russia that has left dozens of people dead, most of them law enforcement officials. At least two bombers approached police officials in different parts of Grozny, the capital, and detonated their explosives in what appeared to be coordinated attacks, the investigative wing of the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement. Friday’s attacks come just days after a suicide truck bombing at a police headquarters in Ingushetia, a neighboring North Caucasus republic. The blast killed at least 25 people and wounded about 280, according to the most recent government figures, the Interfax news agency reported. In Ingushetia on Friday, a police officer was shot to death in his car. After a lull in recent years, violence has grown more frequent in the North Caucasus, particularly in Chechnya, where federal forces fought two bloody wars to subdue a potent separatist movement. The bloodshed has sharply increased this summer, with almost daily attacks on the police and government officials.

Suicide Bombings Kill Five in Chechnya - Associated Press. Suicide bombers on bicycles detonated explosives in Chechnya on Friday, killing at least four police officers and a civilian in coordinated attacks in the capital, officials said. The suicide bombers approached police officers in two central locations in Grozny and blew themselves up, killing two officers in each attack, said Chechnya's Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov in televised remarks. Russian emergency services spokesman Alexei Zemskov said three other people were wounded in the attacks, which come at the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. While large-scale battles ended years ago in predominantly Muslim Chechnya, which has been ravaged by two separatist wars since 1994, Islamic militants have continued daily hit-and-run raids against police and other authorities, and the violence has increasingly spilled into neighboring provinces. Friday's violence followed Monday's suicide bombing of a police station in neighboring Ingushetia that killed 25 people and injured more than 160 in the deadliest attack in the volatile North Caucasus region in years. A Chechen rebel group calling itself the Riyadus Salikhin Martyrs' Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack in Nazran in a statement posted Friday on a Web site sympathetic to Chechen rebels. The claim couldn't be independently confirmed, but officials also said the attack had been mounted by militants seeking to avenge recent security raids.

EUROPE

New Questions in Lockerbie Bomber’s Release - John F. Burns, New York Times. In the wake of the sole convicted Lockerbie bomber’s return to a hero’s welcome in Tripoli, questions intensified in Britain on Friday as to whether lucrative Libyan oil contracts were as much a factor in his release as compassion for a dying man. The bomber, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, suffering from terminal prostate cancer, was freed from a Scottish prison on Thursday and flown home in a VIP jetliner to scenes of jubilation in Libya that were broadcast around the world, angering many in Britain and America, including President Obama. On Friday, Lord Trefgarne, chairman of the Libyan British Business Council, said Mr. Megrahi’s release had opened the way for Britain’s leading oil companies to pursue multibillion-dollar oil contracts with Libya, which had demanded Mr. Megrahi’s return in talks with British officials and business executives.

Lockerbie Release Casts Dark Shadow Over Britain's Ties With US - Suzy Jagger, Tom Baldwin and Tim Reid, The Times. The release of the Lockerbie bomber is casting a long shadow over relations between Britain and the United States, where senior figures in the Obama Administration have expressed dismay over the Government’s failure to take a stand. The controversy over the decision to let Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi go home to Libya was further stirred after Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, said in a Libyan television interview yesterday that his release was linked to negotiations over oil and gas contracts. Downing Street insisted that the decision - condemned by the White House yesterday as “outrageous and disgusting” - was a matter solely for the SNP-led Scottish government. However, a senior US official told The Times last night: “We believe it was the wrong decision - I don’t know if the UK thinks so or not. It has been extraordinarily silent on this issue.” The official suggested that it was disingenuous for the Government to claim that responsibility lay only with the devolved Scottish government because the release of al-Megrahi had wider foreign policy implications.

London Condemns Reception Bomber Received in Tripoli - Tom Rivers, Voice of America. The British government has condemned the hero's welcome Libya gave to the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband says it was deeply upsetting for the loved ones of the 270 victims of the Pan Am attack. Abdel Basset al-Megrahi received a warm welcome from flag waving Libyan supporters as he stepped off the plane Thursday in Tripoli, after his release from custody in Scotland on compassionate grounds. Such an option exists under Scottish law, and Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill, announcing Megrahi's release Thursday, said the convicted bomber and former Libyan intelligence officer is near death from prostate cancer. The decision to release him early from prison elicited a firestorm of condemnation from many American family members of victims of Pan Am flight 103, which blew up over Lockerbie on December 21, 1988. In all, 270 people died. In Washington, President Barack Obama called the release a mistake. In London, criticism was limited to the reception bestowed upon Megrahi at home in Libya.

Lockerbie Fallout Puts Scotland on the Spot - Alistair MacDonald, Wall Street Journal. The government of Scotland found itself scrambling Friday to control political fallout from a decision to flex its independence by releasing a Libyan man convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. Television footage of a crowd of welcoming Libyans waving Scottish flags has fanned anger about the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer. He was allowed to travel to Libya on Thursday despite demands from victims' family members and a host of US officials that he spend his last days in prison. Both UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denounced the celebrations, with the latter calling them "outrageous and disgusting." In an interview with BBC radio, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said he didn't think the decision to release Mr. al-Megrahi would tarnish Scotland's reputation or hurt its long-term relations with the US "Our relationship with America is a strong and enduring one," he said. "It doesn't depend on always reaching agreement." The Scottish Parliament has been called back from its summer recess to debate the matter, and on Monday Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill will appear before it in Edinburgh to explain why he made the decision to free Mr. al-Megrahi. Among the questions he is likely to face: why Mr. al-Megrahi was released when other seriously ill UK inmates - such as Myra Hindley, a convicted child murderer with heart problems who requested early release several years ago - died in prison.

France Seizes Two ETA Weapons Caches - Scott Sayare, New York Times. French police on Friday seized two weapons caches thought to belong to the Basque separatist group ETA, bringing to five the number of such hiding places discovered this week in the rugged hills of southwestern France. Police also arrested three suspected high-level ETA operatives in a raid in the French Alps on Wednesday. “This all leads us to believe that ETA is extremely active in France,” said Isabelle Montagne, a spokeswoman for the state prosecutor’s office in Paris, which handles anti-terrorism proceedings. The militant group seeks to establish an autonomous state in the Basque country, a region spanning the border between northern Spain and southern France. The discoveries of the buried weapons at two sites in the French Pyrenees and three others outside the southwestern city of Béziers followed on tips from the Spanish authorities, Ms. Montagne said. The caches contained stolen French firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition and several hundred pounds of bomb-making chemicals, along with dozens of detonators, hundreds of yards of fuse and varied electronic equipment, according to French and Spanish officials.

Death Toll from Russia Hydroelectric Plant Explosion Rises to 47 - Voice of America. Russian authorities say the death toll from the accident at the country's largest hydroelectric power station has risen to 47. Officials say they recovered 19 bodies at the Sayano-Shushenskaya power station in Khakassia since Thursday. That leaves 28 people still missing. Authorities say the disaster occurred when an oil-filled transformer exploded Monday and flooded a machine room housing the plant's turbines. The cause of the blast is under investigation. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who visited the plant Friday, ordered payments of $31,650 (1 million rubles) to the families of those killed as well as those missing A Web site frequently used by Chechen separatists says a group calling itself the Battalion of Martyrs claimed it planted explosives at the dam as part of what it called economic war against Russian authorities. But government investigators say they have found no traces of explosives there.

MIDDLE EAST

Israel, Palestinians Trade Blame for Stalled Peace Talks - Robert Berger, Voice of America. US President Barack Obama made a fresh appeal Thursday for Israel and the Palestinians to jump-start stalled peace negotiations. But getting the two sides together will not be easy. Israel and the Palestinians are trading blame after President Obama's call to resume peace talks. The right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it has been ready to return to the negotiating table since it took power five months ago. But Israel says the Palestinians imposed an unacceptable precondition - namely, a complete freeze on settlement expansion. "We are ready to open up a serious dialogue with the Palestinians without preconditions, without any further delay," said Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says his side is not imposing conditions. Rather it is demanding that Israel fulfill its obligations under the internationally-backed "Roadmap" peace plan. "Israel has an obligation under the roadmap to stop settlement activities," said Erekat. President Obama called for a return to peace talks on Thursday, two days after the Israeli government announced a partial settlement freeze in the West Bank. While construction projects already underway will continue, Israel says no new projects have been approved since Mr. Netanyahu took office in March.

Boycott Israel - Neve Gordon, Los Angeles Times opinion. Israeli newspapers this summer are filled with angry articles about the push for an international boycott of Israel. Films have been withdrawn from Israeli film festivals, Leonard Cohen is under fire around the world for his decision to perform in Tel Aviv, and Oxfam has severed ties with a celebrity spokesperson, a British actress who also endorses cosmetics produced in the occupied territories. Clearly, the campaign to use the kind of tactics that helped put an end to the practice of apartheid in South Africa is gaining many followers around the world. Not surprisingly, many Israelis - even peaceniks - aren't signing on. A global boycott can't help but contain echoes of anti-Semitism. It also brings up questions of a double standard (why not boycott China for its egregious violations of human rights?) and the seemingly contradictory position of approving a boycott of one's own nation. It is indeed not a simple matter for me as an Israeli citizen to call on foreign governments, regional authorities, international social movements, faith-based organizations, unions and citizens to suspend cooperation with Israel. But today, as I watch my two boys playing in the yard, I am convinced that it is the only way that Israel can be saved from itself.

SOUTH ASIA

Despite Promises to Bolster Defenses, India Remains Vulnerable - Emily Wax, Washington Post. After nine months of political grandstanding and a high-profile trial of the lone, surviving gunman from last year's terrorist assault on this city, India's security gaps remain so wide that counterterrorism experts and high-ranking police officials fear the country is still vulnerable to a similar attack. India's police and armed forces have yet to receive the promised boost in manpower and modernized equipment needed to stave off another strike, security experts say. Of particular concern are the persistent lapses in monitoring India's coast, which should have been the first line of defense when the attackers sailed here from the Pakistani port city of Karachi and then killed more than 170 people. With extremist violence growing in Afghanistan and Pakistan, India's ability to prevent attacks through intelligence gathering and defensive measures has become more urgent than ever, say security experts and diplomats. The Obama administration sees India as an ally in containing the spread of Islamist militancy in South Asia, and the issue is one of the central sources of tension in India's relations with its neighbor, Pakistan.

BOOKS

Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan - Doug Stanton.

Horse Soldiers tells the important story of the Special Forces soldiers who first put American boots on the ground in Afghanistan in 2001. Fighting alongside the Northern Alliance, the troops, often riding on horseback, achieved several important victories against the Taliban.

War 2.0: Irregular Warfare in the Information Age - Thomas Rid and Marc Hecker.

War 2.0: Irregular Warfare in the Information Age argues that two intimately connected trends are putting modern armies under huge pressure to adapt: the rise of insurgencies and the rise of the Web. Both in cyberspace and in warfare, the grassroots public has assumed increasing importance in recent years. After the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, Web 2.0 rose from the ashes. This newly interactive and participatory form of the Web promotes and enables offline action. Similarly, after Rumsfeld's attempt to transform the US military into a lean, lethal, computerized force crashed in Iraq in 2003, counterinsurgency rose from the ashes. Counterinsurgency is a social form of war - indeed, the US Army calls it armed social work - in which the local matrix population becomes the center of strategic gravity and public opinion at home the critical vulnerability.

The New Counterinsurgency Era: Transforming the U.S. Military for Modern Wars - David H. Ucko.

Confronting insurgent violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US military has recognized the need to "re-learn" counterinsurgency. But how has the Department of Defense with its mixed efforts responded to this new strategic environment? Has it learned anything from past failures? In The New Counterinsurgency Era, David Ucko examines DoD's institutional obstacles and initially slow response to a changing strategic reality.

Journey into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda - Thomas P. Odom.

In July 1994, Thomas P. Odom was part of the US Embassy team that responded to the Goma refugee crisis. He witnessed the deaths of 70,000 refugees in a single week. In the previous three months of escalating violence, the Rwandan genocide had claimed 800,000 dead. Now, in this vivid and unsettling new book, Odom offers the first insider look at these devastating events before, during, and after the genocide.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Iraq and the Evolution of American Strategy - Steven Metz

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