Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's request for more troops and other resources to fund the expanded counterinsurgency campaign he has proposed in Afghanistan will arrive at the Defense Department by the end of this week but will not be immediately turned over to the White House, a Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday. "It is simply premature to consider additional resources until General McChrystal's assessment has been fully reviewed and discussed by the president and his team," spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

--Washington Post

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN

Karzai Backers Want Troops - Yaroslav Trofimov, Wall Street Journal. Senior Afghan officials, alarmed by the Obama administration's reappraisal of its Afghanistan strategy, said an increased US military commitment is needed to roll back an emboldened insurgency. They also cautioned about what they said would be dire consequences of any US attempts to edge out President Hamid Karzai. Results from a presidential election last month gave Mr. Karzai a majority, but allegations of widespread ballot-stuffing have stalled the confirmation of his victory and undermined his credibility in the eyes of many Afghans. These admonishments come after the top US and allied commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, warned that the war here may become unwinnable unless troop levels are raised and the momentum of insurgents is reversed in the next 12 months. The Obama administration has yet to endorse these findings, and has called for a review of the US-led war effort before making a decision on troop levels. Vice President Joe Biden in particular has expressed skepticism about the proposed troop increase. Senior administration officials said the review was necessary because the war plan that President Barack Obama announced in March was based on the assumption that the election would give Mr. Karzai new legitimacy.

The Taleban: Masters of Chaos Thrive on Bombs and Charity - James Hider, The Times. Next to the mud huts of a refugee camp on the edge of Kabul the bright clothes of displaced Helmand tribesmen look incongruous. The men, eyes rimmed with kohl and hands stained henna-red, wear their best robes for the festival of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan. Little girls in spangled dresses sparkle like mermaids. But the hovels they live in are barely fit for the sheep that they once herded in their troubled homeland far to the south, now a battleground between British troops and Taleban guerrillas. The men cluster round visitors, begging for money to feed their families or look for their kidnapped children. One shows a photo of dead infants, relatives killed in a US airstrike. The 800 families in the camp live entirely off charity, with no running water, sanitation or other facilities. “We are starving, no one is helping us,” shouted Wakil, a farmer. “If the Government does not help us, we’ll go back and join the Taleban.” As his neighbours angrily denounced President Karzai’s rule, Wakil admitted that he did not like the Taleban. But he added: “We just want anyone who can bring security.” For years, the Taleban have been taking advantage of an impoverished population disillusioned with the corruption of Mr Karzai’s Government, which is propped up by Western troops whose very presence is an affront to many in this insular country. According to the gloomiest estimates, the Taleban now have a permanent presence in 80 per cent of the country.

Can US Win War the Canadian Way? - Allan Woods, Toronto Star. Canada is backing calls for an overhaul of the failing Afghan mission, but likely won't be around to ensure the success of a new strategy that appears to be based on its own counter-insurgency efforts. Top Canadian military and government officials were briefed on a grim US report, leaked yesterday (Monday), that said insurgents in Afghanistan have the momentum and benefit from official Afghan corruption and ineptitude as well as the coalition's record of civilian casualties. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of the 100,000 US and NATO forces in the country, said those facts have sparked a "crisis of confidence" in the Afghan government and international troops that is driving fearful locals into Taliban hands. He may not have mentioned it, but McChrystal appears to have had Canada in mind when he spelled out his winning conditions. Just a few months into his job and in deep contemplation about the state of the war, McChrystal travelled in July to Deh-e-Bagh, a tiny village south of Kandahar city that the Canadian military has made the centre of its counter-insurgency effort. There McChrystal saw a mini-surge of security forces, economic development, medical care and education. Foreign troops were supporting the local population and the locals were supporting the Afghan government.

Anti-US Wave Imperiling Efforts in Pakistan, Officials Say - Karen DeYoung and Pamela Constable, Washington Post. A new wave of anti-American sentiment in Pakistan has slowed the arrival of hundreds of US civilian and military officials charged with implementing assistance programs, undermined cooperation in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and put American lives at risk, according to officials from both countries. In recent weeks, Pakistan has rejected as "incomplete" at least 180 US government visa requests. Its own ambassador in Washington has criticized what he called a "blacklist" used by the Pakistani intelligence service to deny visas or to conduct "rigorous, intrusive and obviously crude surveillance" of journalists and nongovernmental aid organizations it dislikes, including the Congress-funded International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute. "It would be helpful if the grounds for action against them are shared with the Embassy," Ambassador Husain Haqqani wrote in late July to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry and the head of its Inter-Services Intelligence agency. Tension has been fueled by widespread media reports in Pakistan of increased US military and intelligence activity - including the supposed arrival of 1,000 Marines and the establishment of "spy" centers in houses rented by the US Embassy in the capital, Islamabad. US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson has publicly labeled the reports false, and she told local media executives in a recent letter that publishing addresses and photographs of the houses "endanger[s] the lives of Americans in Pakistan."

Pakistanis Look on US Embassy Plans with Suspicion - Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times. Ask Pakistanis why the United States needs to expand its embassy here in the capital and you'll hear a host of alarming answers. It's a cover for the construction of a Guantanamo-like prison. It's part of a US attempt to colonize Pakistan. It's the first step in a covert plan to take over Pakistan's nuclear weapons. What you don't hear is the reason cited by American officials: the need for a bigger embassy operation to better manage the increased financial aid that Washington will be channeling to Pakistan in coming months. The United States is planning to send Pakistan $1.5 billion in nonmilitary aid annually for the next five years, triple what it sends now. The Senate approved the aid package Thursday as President Obama was meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in New York. The House is expected to follow suit in coming days. Embassy officials have held briefings for Pakistani reporters to put out the word that the expansion is all about distributing funds more efficiently. And Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says the aid illustrates long-term support for Pakistan. The message is having trouble getting through.

Senate Approves Increase in Aid for Pakistan - Reuters. The United States Senate on Thursday approved legislation to triple nonmilitary aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for the next five years as part of a plan to fight extremism. President Obama had urged passage of the measure to promote stability in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed country that is essential to the efforts by NATO to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan, despite concerns that the Pakistan military may support some extremist Islamic groups. Mr. Obama got word of the vote while in New York, and he announced it at a meeting of nations that offer aid to Pakistan that took place on the sidelines of the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly. The announcement drew applause.

Militant Ambush in NW Pakistan Kills 9, Including Tribal Elders - Sean Maroney, Voice of America. Pakistani police say militants ambushed a pro-government citizen's group in Bannu district Thursday, killing nine people, including tribal elders. Authorities say gunmen ambushed the group as it was traveling by car to meet security officials in a nearby village. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but officials say the tribal elders killed had opposed the Taliban in the region. Several of their associates also were injured. The ambush followed a separate attack that killed two members of another anti-Taliban citizen's group in the Swat Valley. Local officials say the attackers struck overnight as the members slept. The Pakistani government has encouraged the formation of such groups, known as lashkars, as a way to combat the Taliban in the volatile areas of northwestern Pakistan.

Taliban Ambush in Pakistan Kills 9 Militiamen - Salman Masood, New York Times. At least nine people, including an influential tribal elder, were killed Thursday morning by Taliban militants while traveling in northwestern Pakistan, government officials said. Six others were wounded in the attacks, some of them critically, the officials said. The victims - Malik Sultan, the tribal elder, and other men from the Jani Khel tribe - were part of one of the local self-defense militias that have sprung up over the past few months in restive areas of northwest Pakistan. These militias, sometimes called lashkars, have been encouraged and armed by the government to resist Taliban incursions. “The Taliban had threatened them against entering into any agreement with the government,” said Mawaz Khan Afridi, a Bannu District official, in a telephone interview.

Officials: Suspected US Drone Kills 12 in Pakistan - Rasool Dawar, Associated Press. A suspected US missile strike killed 12 people in northwestern Pakistan, intelligence officials said - the latest in a spate of attacks close to the Afghan border that have squeezed al-Qaida and the Taliban. Such strikes have killed high-ranking militant commanders, including Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, but have also killed civilians and drawn protest from Pakistani leaders. Two intelligence officials said the latest strike took place late Thursday near the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan tribal region. They said 12 people were killed in the attack, but gave no information on their identities.

The Afghan Imperative - David Brooks, New York Times opinion. Always there is the illusion of the easy path. Always there is the illusion, which gripped Donald Rumsfeld and now grips many Democrats, that you can fight a counterinsurgency war with a light footprint, with cruise missiles, with special forces operations and unmanned drones. Always there is the illusion, deep in the bones of the Pentagon’s Old Guard, that you can fight a force like the Taliban by keeping your troops mostly in bases, and then sending them out in well-armored convoys to kill bad guys. There is simply no historical record to support these illusions. The historical evidence suggests that these middling strategies just create a situation in which you have enough forces to assume responsibility for a conflict, but not enough to prevail. The record suggests what Gen. Stanley McChrystal clearly understands - that only the full counterinsurgency doctrine offers a chance of success. This is a doctrine, as General McChrystal wrote in his remarkable report, that puts population protection at the center of the Afghanistan mission, that acknowledges that insurgencies can only be defeated when local communities and military forces work together.

Commit to Afghanistan or Get Out - Kori Schake, Wall Street Journal opinion. In his inaugural address in 1961, John F. Kennedy said the United States would “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend” in defense of liberty. Less than three months later, he decided not to supply air support to US-trained Cuban exiles who tried to overthrow Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs Invasion. It wasn’t a shining moment for American foreign policy. But JFK was right to turn off the spigot of American assistance if he wasn’t committed to the fight. President Barack Obama now faces a similar tough decision. The war in Afghanistan is not going well. The rebuilding effort isn't going well. The effort to create a competent government isn't going well. So should he commit American support if he isn't committed to doing what is needed to succeed? Mr. Obama owns the war in Afghanistan. He bought it, on credit. But he is fulminating at the cost now that the bill is coming due. Gen. Stanley McChrystal has made clear what the bill will be in terms of additional troops. And the president now wants a review to determine whether we're pursuing the right strategy. It is disappointing that this review comes after the president decided to keep 68,000 Americans risking their lives in Afghanistan. But Mr. Obama is right to give himself a chance to decide whether he is willing to follow through on this war, given what it will cost in blood, treasure, and other things.

IRAQ

Qaeda Members Escape Prison in Iraq - Steven Lee Meyers, New York Times. Sixteen prisoners, including leaders of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and other extremist groups who had been sentenced to death, escaped from a prison in northern Iraq, in what officials described as a brazen breach of security that prompted a manhunt across a large part of the country on Thursday. Iraqi officials imposed a curfew and, with American search dogs and aircraft, began a large-scale search after the prisoners slipped out of a detention center in the city of Tikrit just before midnight on Wednesday, officials said. One of the prisoners was captured Thursday in an orchard about 12 miles away, but the others remained at large, prompting tightened security at checkpoints as far away as Baghdad, roughly 90 miles to the south. Mutashar Hussein Allawi, the governor of the province, Salahuddin, north of Baghdad, said in a telephone interview that there was “a high probability of collusion” by prison officials. The region’s director of counterterrorism was suspended pending an investigation, as were the warden of the prison and several other officials. “There is neglect by guards and prison officials,” Mr. Allawi said, adding that it was the fourth prison escape in five years in the province.

16 Prisoners Escape in Northern Iraq - Ned Parker and Saif Hameed, Los Angeles Times. In a daring escape, 16 prisoners, five of them awaiting execution, apparently crawled through a window of an Iraqi jail before fanning out in different directions, police and local officials said Thursday. The escape in the northern town of Tikrit, which raised concerns about corruption within security forces, resulted in a curfew in the birthplace of the late dictator Saddam Hussein, as authorities hunted for the men. At least two of the fugitives were later captured, one at a checkpoint in Tikrit and another elsewhere in Salahuddin province, outside Samarra, the provincial capital, police said. Four prison guards were under investigation on suspicion of helping the detainees escape. The prison director was dismissed and detained while under investigation, officials said. The prisoners had been sharing a cell and escaped through the window late Wednesday after they cut out its metal bars, then managed to get out of the prison yard and swim across a nearby river before separating, police said. The most prominent escapee was identified as Waleed Ayash, a suspected leader of the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq who the government blames for the killing of police and civilians in Dhuluiya, another town in Salahuddin.

IRAN

Pressure Grows on Iran as UN Passes 'Historic' Nuclear Resolution - Catherine Philp, The Times. Pressure mounted on Iran yesterday to halt its nuclear programme as world leaders at the United Nations warned of the threat posed by Tehran to a global consensus on disarmament. President Obama praised the unanimous passing of a “historic” UN Security Council resolution aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons - but the spectre of the unsolved crisis over Iran’s nuclear ambitions loomed over the meeting, prompting President Sarkozy of France to caution against symbolic gestures at the expense of tough action. “We’re living in the real world,” Mr Sarkozy said, turning to face Mr Obama, the first US president to chair the Security Council. “President Obama has said himself, ‘I dream of a world without nuclear weapons’. But two countries are doing the exact opposite right now. There will come a moment when we’ll have to agree and take sanctions.” Gordon Brown said that the Iranian nuclear crisis was coming to a head and indicated that “far tougher sanctions” must await Iran if it failed to answer international concerns at a pivotal meeting with Western powers next week. The calls to action came a day after Russia finally conceded that sanctions may be inevitable, after intense lobbying by the Americans.

China Opposes Iran Sanctions Sought by US - Andrew Jacobs, New York Times. China will not support increased sanctions on Iran as a way to curb its nuclear program, a government spokeswoman said Thursday. Although China has generally opposed the use of sanctions, the announcement is sure to complicate President Obama’s efforts to impose tougher penalties on Iran, should international talks over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, scheduled for Oct. 1, fail to make headway. “We always believe that sanctions and pressure are not the way out,” said Jiang Yu, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, during a news conference. “At present, it is not conducive to diplomatic efforts.” On Wednesday, the White House savored success after Russia, a longtime opponent of economic sanctions, said it would consider tough new sanctions against Iran. As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China has veto power over any decision by the body to impose sanctions.

Exiles Accuse Iran of Working On Detonators - Edward Cody, Washington Post. An Iranian exile group said Thursday that it has identified two previously unknown sites in and near Tehran where it says Iranian scientists are researching and trying to manufacture detonators for nuclear weapons. The allegation, from the Paris-based Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or MEK, was designed to reinforce the exiles' long-standing contention that the Iranian government, despite repeated denials, has an active program to develop a nuclear arsenal under the aegis of the Defense Ministry and the Revolutionary Guard Corps. The announcement was timed to coincide with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's appearance at the UN General Assembly and with intensified pressure from the United States and other major powers for Iran to allow full inspection of its nuclear-related facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Officials: Iran Has Second Enrichment Plant - George Jahn, Associated Press. Iran has told the UN nuclear agency that it is running a new, previously undeclared, facility to enrich uranium, officials told The Associated Press Friday. Iran is under three sets of UN Security Council sanctions for refusing to freeze enrichment. The officials said that Iran revealed the existence of a second enrichment plant in a letter sent Monday to International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei. It had previously said it was operating only one plant, which is being monitored by the IAEA. The Islamic Republic insists that it has the right to the activity to generate fuel for what it says will be a nationwide chain of nuclear reactors.

Israeli Leader Blasts Ahmadinejad at UN - Colum Lynch, Washington Post. Brandishing Nazi orders for the extermination of the Jews, Israel's prime minister blasted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday for continuing to deny that the Holocaust occurred and rebuked U.N. delegates who politely listened to the Iranian leader's speech Wednesday, demanding, "Have you no shame?" "Here's a copy of the minutes of the meeting of senior Nazi officials instructing the Nazi government exactly how to carry out the extermination of the Jewish people," Netanyahu said in a General Assembly speech that questioned the morality of engaging the Iranian leader. "Is this protocol a lie?" Ahmadinejad accused Israel on Wednesday of manipulating the United States and European government in the pursuit of "racist ambitions." The remark prompted walkouts by the United States and other European and Latin American delegations. But the Iranian leader also signaled during an interview earlier in the day with The Washington Post and Newsweek that he is willing to step up nuclear cooperation, including allowing Iranian nuclear experts to meet with scientists from the United States and its allies. Netanyahu appealed to the UN delegates to stand up to Iran, saying that its government could not be trusted and that its nuclear program posed the greatest threat to democratic governments. "Will the international community stop the terrorist regime of Iran from developing atomic weapons?" he said. "Well, ladies and gentleman, the jury is still out on the UN, and recent signs are not encouraging."

THE LONG WAR

An Afghan-Born Man Is Indicted For Possible Terrorist Acts - Carolyn Weaver, Voice of America. A young Afghan-born man has been indicted in New York on a charge of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction against targets inside the United States. And two other Afghan-born men accused of making false statements to federal investigators investigating the case were ordered released under court supervision. A New York grand jury indicted 24-year-old Najibullah Zazi, a resident of the western state of Colorado, on a charge that he conspired with unnamed others to make and use improvised bombs inside the US. Federal prosecutors in New York and Colorado allege that Zazi received bomb-making instructions on a trip to Pakistan in 2008 and that he later searched out and purchased bomb components such as hydrogen peroxide and acetone.They say that he traveled to New York City on September 10 "in furtherance of his criminal plans." Zazi, a Denver airport shuttle bus driver who formerly lived in New York City, was arrested on September 19, on a charge of making false statements to federal investigators. His father, 53-year-old Mohammed Zazi, who lives in Colorado, and a New York city imam, Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, were also arrested and charged with making false statements. On Thursday, the elder Zazi was ordered released under court supervision and electronic monitoring.

Terror Case Called One of Most Serious in Years - David Johnston and Scott Shane, New York Times. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, senior government officials have announced dozens of terrorism cases that on closer examination seemed to diminish as legitimate threats. The accumulating evidence against a Denver airport shuttle driver suggests he may be different, with some investigators calling his case the most serious in years. Documents filed in Brooklyn against the driver, Najibullah Zazi, contend he bought chemicals needed to build a bomb - hydrogen peroxide, acetone and hydrochloric acid - and in doing so, Mr. Zazi took a critical step made by few other terrorism suspects. If government allegations are to be believed, Mr. Zazi, a legal immigrant from Afghanistan, had carefully prepared for a terrorist attack. He attended a Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, received training in explosives and stored in his laptop computer nine pages of instructions for making bombs from the same kind of chemicals he had bought. While many important facts remain unknown, those allegations alone would distinguish Mr. Zazi from nearly all the other defendants in United States terrorism cases in recent years. More often than not the earlier suspects emerged as angry young men, inflamed by the rhetoric of Osama bin Laden or his associates.

Feds Disrupt 3 US Terror Plots - Ben Conery, Washington Times. The Justice Department brought charges Thursday in three unrelated bombing plots, but in only one - the case of a 24-year-old man accused of taking part in an al Qaeda plot to unleash a bombing campaign against Americans - was the public in any potential danger. In the other two cases, two men were caught in stings by the FBI. Unbeknownst to the men in both investigations, the FBI made sure the bombs they planted were fakes. In the most serious case, Najibullah Zazi, an airport shuttle driver from Denver, was indicted Thursday in New York on charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction - explosive bombs - against persons or property in the United States. He faces life in prison if convicted. The new charge represents a serious escalation of the legal issues facing Mr. Zazi, who was charged last weekend with the far less-serious charge of lying to FBI agents investigating a purported al Qaeda bombing plot involving several people in the U.S. and Pakistan.

2 NC Men Now Accused Of Targeting US Military - Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post. Two North Carolina men accused this summer of being at the center of a homegrown terrorism threat cased the US Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va., with plans to kill U.S. military personnel, federal prosecutors alleged Thursday. A federal grand jury on Thursday filed an additional charge of conspiring to murder military personnel against Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, and Hysen Sherifi, 24, according to the US attorney for the eastern district of North Carolina. The indictment, which was not immediately available, alleges that Boyd obtained maps and undertook reconnaissance of the base and that Boyd owned armor piercing ammunition that he said was "to attack the Americans," US Attorney George E.B. Holding said in a statement. The charges were the first to indicate a domestic target for the group and carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. A federal grand jury this summer charged Boyd, a Muslim convert raised in Alexandria, with leading a group of seven men in their 20s and early 30s who wanted to export violent jihad to the Middle East. The others, all US citizens except for Sherifi, a legal US resident from Kosovo, were indicted on charges conspiring to kidnap and kill people overseas. All are being held without bond at a prison in Virginia.

Obama Will Not Seek New Legislation on Holding Guantanamo Detainees - Voice of America. Reports in US newspapers say the Obama administration has decided against establishing a new system of preventative detention for terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Washington Post and The New York Times quote administration officials as saying they have decided they do not need additional permission from Congress to continue holding detainees at the facility. The Justice Department said it already has the authority to hold the detainees indefinitely under a 2001 congressional resolution that allows the president to use force against al-Qaida and the Taliban. There are currently more than 200 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, including suspects in the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Many have filed suit challenging their detention without trial. The Justice Department says its position is consistent with what the administration has said before on the issue. Justice officials informed human rights groups of the position at a meeting last week.

White House Regroups on Guantanamo - Anne E. Kornblut and Dafna Linzer, Washington Post. With four months left to meet its self-imposed deadline for closing the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Obama administration is working to recover from missteps that have put officials behind schedule and left them struggling to win the cooperation of Congress. Even before the inauguration, President Obama's top advisers settled on a course of action they were counseled against: announcing that they would close the facility within one year. Today, officials are acknowledging that they will be hard-pressed to meet that goal. The White House has faltered in part because of the legal, political and diplomatic complexities involved in determining what to do with more than 200 terrorism suspects at the prison. But senior advisers privately acknowledge not devising a concrete plan for where to move the detainees and mishandling Congress. To address these setbacks, the administration has shifted its leadership team on the issue. White House Counsel Gregory B. Craig, who initially guided the effort to close the prison and who was an advocate of setting the deadline, is no longer in charge of the project, two senior administration officials said this week.

Marine Officer Who Set Up Guantanamo Prison Dismayed by What it Has Become - Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times. In late 2001, when the Pentagon decided to put detainees at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the task of setting up a camp and establishing its rules went to Marine Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert. Lehnert planned to rely on what he learned while running a camp at Guantanamo in the mid-1990s for nearly 19,000 Cubans and Haitians trying to flee to the United States. And he was determined to follow the spirit, if not the letter, of the Geneva Convention, providing decent food, banning extreme interrogation and allowing religious services. He brought in a Muslim chaplain and permitted visits by the Red Cross. When detainees went on a hunger strike, he spoke to them, even allowing one to get a phone message from his wife in Afghanistan. But in the bureaucratic jostling that followed, Lehnert's approach was supplanted by that of a hard-nosed Army general.

Terror, Still - Wall Street Journal editorial. The streets of New York this week are filled with scenes of squads of cops standing in front of buildings on the east side, while the avenues are filled with long, high-speed police escorts. This is the week the United Nations General Assembly opens, and the high-visibility show of force, including sharp-shooters on roofs, is meant to deter an attack on the many heads of state and ministers in the city. As a telling apostrophe to this effort, federal prosecutors in New York yesterday indicted terrorism suspect Najibullah Zazi on charges of conspiring to blow up something or somebody. The Obama Administration may prefer not to call it a war on terror, but whatever it is sounds like it's still dangerous. Let it be noted most prominently that at the moment Zazi - an Aghan-born Pakistani who emigrated to the US in 1999 - was preparing to drive from his home in Colorado to New York City, the authorities were racing to obtain warrants to wiretap his phone conversations in the city. The long fight during the Bush years over electronic surveillance often left the impression that the government was overstating the threat or couldn't be entrusted with this authority. If what the indictment suggests of Zazi's intentions holds up, the need for aggressive intelligence could hardly be clearer.

Keep Gitmo - Judith Miller, Los Angeles Times opinion. It's been a busy summer at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The joint task force in charge of the 226 remaining detainees is spending about $440,000 to expand the recreation yards at Camp 6. At nearby Camp 4, which offers communal living for the most "compliant" captives, the soccer yard is being enlarged. At Camp 5, a maximum-security facility, a $73,000 classroom is under construction. In March, the task force added art classes to the thrice-weekly instruction it offers in Arabic, Pashtu and English, courtesy of the US taxpayer. Though President Obama vowed on his second day in office to close the detention center within a year, Gitmo's officers say they intend to continue spending previously budgeted funds to improve life at the center until the last detainee leaves. "It's business as usual around here," the task force's deputy commander, Brig. Gen. Rafael O'Ferrall, told me two weeks ago during one of the official tours that Gitmo offers outsiders. The point of the tour is to show that Gitmo, which Obama called a "stain" on America's reputation, has become a model, if somewhat surreal, detention center. And therefore that closing it and relocating its inmates is a largely empty political gesture that makes little sense.

MARINE CORPS UNIVERSITY COUNTERINSURGENCY LEADERSHIP SEMINAR

Military Leaders Cite Adaptability as Key to Fighting Insurgents - Ian Graham, American Forces Press Service. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been learning experiences, forcing military leadership to reassess and modify tactics to effectively counter an irregular foe. That was the assessment of military and civilian defense leaders who attended the “Counterinsurgency Leadership in Afghanistan, Iraq and Beyond” conference yesterday at the National Press Club here. The focus was lessons learned in Afghanistan and Iraq and how they can be applied to current counterinsurgency operations. “The need for leadership goes beyond today’s conflicts and lies at the heart of current debates of the future of our national security organizations and strategy,” Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Robert B. Neller said. “Although most of the public discourse thus far has concentrated on questions of equipment and future threats, leadership will also be a crucial variable.” Neller is the commanding general for Marine Corps Education Command and president of Marine Corps University in Quantico, Va., which hosted the conference. “Selecting the right commanders became more important than ever to unit effectiveness” in 2002 and 2003, he said. “We have come a long way in recent years, but opportunities for further improvement in leadership development and command selection remain.” Marine Corps University worked to get a group of counterinsurgency “all-stars” together to provide a wide scope of perspectives and opinions for the conference, said Mark Moyar, a professor of national security affairs and one of the organizers of the event. “Counterinsurgency leadership seemed to be a subject that hadn’t gotten the attention it deserved,” Moyar said.

Petraeus Cites Need for Critical Warfighting Specialties - Gerry J. Gilmore, American Forces Press Service. The US military needs more people trained in specialties critical to the fight against global extremism, the chief of US Central Command said here today. "The fact is, there are a number of, still, very-high-demand, low density skill areas" that need to be addressed by military personnel planners, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus told attendees at a one-day, symposium held at the National Press Club. After overseeing the successful 2007 surge-of-forces campaign in Iraq, Petraeus later became chief of Centcom, which has responsibility for operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other parts of the region. Petraeus recently queried the Army and Air Force about training up more joint tactical air controllers. JTACs maintain communications and provide close-air support to ground units. There's a "big shortage" of JTACs that regularly serve with platoon-sized security teams and Special Forces' units, he said. Electronic warfare is another critical specialty, Petraeus said. Electronic warfare specialists manage and protect military communications. For example, the enemy has used cell phone transmissions to detonate improvised explosive devices. The enemy may also attempt to jam friendly communications. Information operations specialists also are in demand, the general said, noting that Internet communications "is a battleground that cannot be uncontested."

US Mideast Commander Endorses Afghanistan Assessment, Current Strategy - Al Pessin, Voice of America. The commander of all US forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, who was also the architect of the Iraq turnaround two years ago, has endorsed the grim assessment by the US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, and General David Petraeus says the only way to fight terrorism is to take the multi-dimensional approach embodied in the current strategy there. General Petraeus says he and the top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, both endorsed the secret assessment made late last month by the new commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal. Most of that largely grim assessment was made public Monday by the Washington Post. McChrystal described a situation in which the Taliban and related groups are advancing, and said he needs more resources to avoid mission failure. Speaking to a conference of military and civilian counterinsurgency experts, General Petraeus declined to discuss the specifics of the McChrystal assessment or the ongoing deliberations, but he did repeat a point he has often made about how he believes extremists must be fought. "To counter terrorism, and I'm talking about terrorism writ large, extremism, requires more than just your special mission unit forces. It really requires a whole of governments, counterinsurgency approach. Many different government agencies, civil-military partnerships and, again, a comprehensive approach to these problems is the answer," he said.

Counterinsurgents Grapple With Next Afghanistan Moves - Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent. US Army Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of all US forces in the Middle East and South Asia, told conference attendees that he would not discuss “pre-decisional” aspects of the Afghanistan strategy and resource debate, but did provide something of a defense of Obama’s review. “We said we expected some form of assessment that we thought would take place in the fall,” said Petraeus, the US military’s foremost theorist-practitioner of counterinsurgency. While the Afghan election remains unfinished, the election “looks like it may not produce a government with greater legitimacy in the eyes of the people,” an event that might prompt a reconsideration of strategic assumptions. Petraeus said he expected Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, to provide his request for additional resources to the administration in “a few days” and anticipated “several multi-hour meetings” over the “next two weeks” where senior leadership will consider the fundamental questions of the war. Instead of the Afghanistan debate, Petraeus emphasized several core counterinsurgency principles: the need to provide security for civilians beleaguered by both insurgencies and poor governance; getting what he termed a “whole-of-governments” approach to counterinsurgency, incorporating civilian, military and foreign partners for a united effort; and pushing the “big concept” within the Army that warfare can rapidly transition from offensive operations to stability operations. “I think we have developed leaders as well who are capable of full-spectrum operations,” Petraeus said.

UNITED NATIONS

Obama Leads Security Council Session on Sidelines of UN General Assembly - Margaret Besheer, Voice of America. President Barack Obama chaired a summit level-session of the Security Council Thursday that unanimously adopted a resolution committing to work toward a nuclear weapons-free world. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the second day of the UN General Assembly where the annual debate continued. The Security Council session focused on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, and the resolution urged action to prevent the spread of atomic weapons. President Obama presided over the meeting, the first time a US president has done so. He told the council that the United Nations has a "pivotal role to play" in preventing a nuclear crisis. "The historic resolution we just adopted enshrines our shared commitment to the goal of a world without nuclear weapons," said President Obama. "And it brings Security Council agreement on a broad framework for action to reduce nuclear dangers as we work toward that goal." Among its goals, the resolution aims to strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to keep nuclear materials out the hands of terrorists, and to ensure the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Security Council Adopts Nuclear Weapons Resolution - Glenn Kessler and Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post. The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a US-drafted resolution Thursday morning that affirms many of the steps President Obama plans to pursue as part of his vision for an eventual "world without nuclear weapons." In a first for a US president, Obama presided over the 15-member meeting, joined by such leaders as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Chinese President Hu Jintao and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The meeting marked only the fifth head-of-state summit in UN history, and Obama's presence was intended to signal the importance of the issue for the administration. Addressing the leaders, Obama said nuclear weapons pose a "fundamental threat" to the world. "Just one nuclear weapon exploded in a city - be it New York or Moscow, Tokyo or Beijing, London or Paris - could kill hundreds of thousands of people and would badly destabilize our security, our economies and our very way of life," he said. While the resolution passed on a 15-0, China and Russia balked at a French proposal to cite Iran and North Korea by name. In a diplomatic fudge, the text therefore refers only to Security Council resolutions concerning the countries. Obama mentioned the two countries by name in his speech, saying he was not trying to single out any country but that "international law is not an empty promise."

Security Council Adopts Nuclear Arms Measure - David E. Sanger, New York Times. President Obama moved Thursday to tighten the noose around Iran, North Korea and other nations that have exploited gaping loopholes in the patchwork of global nuclear regulations. He pushed through a new United Nations Security Council resolution that would, if enforced, make it more difficult to turn peaceful nuclear programs into weapons projects. But as Mr. Obama sat in New York as chairman of the Security Council - a first for an American president, meant to symbolize his commitment to rebuilding the Council’s tattered authority - he received a taste of the opposition he is likely to face on some of his nuclear initiatives. Some developing and nonnuclear nations bridled at the idea of Security Council mandates and talked of a “nuclear free zone” in the Middle East. That is widely recognized as a code phrase for requiring Israel to give up its unacknowledged nuclear arsenal. The Security Council meeting was the last major business at the United Nations before Mr. Obama arrived here for an economic summit meeting of the Group of 20.

UN Wrangling Spotlights Gaps Between Nuclear Hopes, Reality - Glenn Kessler, Washington Post. President Obama wrapped up three days of international diplomacy here by presiding over the UN Security Council on Thursday as it unanimously approved a resolution that urged progress on a laudable but perhaps unachievable vision: a world without nuclear weapons. The six-page resolution was approved 15 to 0 following a bit of diplomatic footwork that ensured it made no mention, except through obscure references, to the world's two biggest proliferation challenges: Iran and North Korea. Obama mentioned the two countries briefly by name in his speech to the council, but French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave a powerful address in which he all but called the exercise a charade. "How, before the eyes of the world, could we justify meeting without tackling them?" he scolded, referring to Iran and North Korea. "We live in the real world, not a virtual world. And the real world expects us to take decisions."

World Leaders Rally in Support for Pakistan - David Gollust, Voice of America. President Barack Obama co-chaired a meeting of world leaders in New York Thursday aimed at generating political and economic support for Pakistan. The meeting coincided with US Senate passage of a five-year non-military aid package for Pakistan. US officials say there was spontaneous applause at the meeting, at a New York hotel, when word arrived of Senate approval of the five-year Pakistan aid plan, which would triple civilian US assistance to about $1.5 billion a year. Expected to win final approval in the US House of Representatives as early as Friday, the unusual multi-year plan is aimed assuring a dependable flow of Washington support to the economically hard-pressed Pakistani government. The New York meeting - co-chaired by President Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari - was the first summit-level session of the informal Friends of Democratic Pakistan grouping, and it brought together leaders of some 25 countries and organizations.

Gaddafi Calmly Takes On the Experts - Keith B. Richburg, Washington Post. The King of Kings of Africa was taking questions on Thursday. A day after delivering a rambling, 95-minute speech before the UN General Assembly - during which he spewed invective and seemed to revel in his own histrionics - Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi had arrived before the Council on Foreign Relations, the Manhattan bastion of America's foreign policy and business elite. For Gaddafi, it was a coming-out party of sorts. He was visiting the United States for the first time since he took power four decades ago. And he was offering an hour of his time for unscripted questions. His answers, spoken through an interpreter, seemed unscripted as well. He scolded a questioner from Human Rights Watch for not understanding his Third Universal Theory of society. He called accusations that his country once supported terrorism a "fallacy." And he denied involvement in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

After Fireworks, Qaddafi Shows His Milder Side - Mark Landler, New York Times. It certainly looked like the same Libyan leader, even if he was clad in a black robe rather than brown, and he had swapped his black lapel pin of the African continent for a green one. But the low-key, almost contemplative Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi who turned up at the Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday had nothing to do with the flamboyant, discursive provocateur who riveted, offended and finally exhausted the United Nations General Assembly a day earlier. For an hour, Colonel Qaddafi offered polite answers to polite questions from an audience of New York financiers, business people, academics and a few journalists, in a conversation that ranged from the roots of Islamic terrorism to Libya’s desire for better relations with the West. “It is in our interest for Libya to have good relations with the US,” Colonel Qaddafi said through an interpreter, speaking Arabic in a low monotone that barely registered above a whisper. “We shall be lucky if we can do that. We are making great efforts vis-à-vis that challenge.” There was no mention of prosecuting those responsible for the “mass murder” in Iraq, as he had demanded at the General Assembly. No call for an investigation of the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. No pawing through a pile of scrawled notes or waving of the United Nations charter.

The Subject Was Nuclear Weapons - New York Times editorial. With President Obama chairing the session and 13 other leaders around the table, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Thursday intended to strengthen the fraying rules that are supposed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. It was a good-news moment. But also a reminder of the past limits of the Security Council’s will and effectiveness. In defiance of its orders, North Korea has tested two weapons and Iran continues to churn out nuclear fuel. The resolution commits all member states to a long list of worthy goals, including ratification of the test ban treaty and adoption of stronger national controls on nuclear exports. But some of the countries around the table will have to do a lot more to prove that they mean it. The resolution commits all United Nations members to enforcing current sanctions on Iran and North Korea. But those measures were seriously watered down - for political and economic reasons - by Russia and China.

GROUP OF 20

In New World Order, Global Forum Expands Permanently - Edmund L. Andrews, New York Times. President Obama will announce Friday that the once elite club of rich industrial nations known as the Group of 7 will be permanently replaced as a global forum for economic policy by the much broader Group of 20 that includes China, Brazil, India and other fast-growing developing countries, administration officials said Thursday. The move highlights the growing economic importance of Asia and some Latin American countries, particularly since the United States and many European countries have found their banking systems crippled by an economic crisis originating in excesses in the American mortgage market. For more than three decades, the main economic group was the Group of 7 - the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. During the Clinton years, Russia was gradually added, not because of the size of its economy, but to help integrate it with the West. Administration officials said the group would still meet twice a year to discuss security issues. But for practical purposes, the smaller group will become more like a dinner club that defers to the broader group on the economic issues that have dominated summit meetings for nearly three decades.

G20 to Become World's Main Economic Forum - The Times. World leaders have announced that the Group of 20 developed and developing nations would become the top economic forum, spreading influence to emerging powers such as China and India. The dramatic shift was announced by the White House as President Barack Obama hosted his first major summit in Pittsburgh, which was marred by occasional violence as anti-capitalist protesters clashed with police. "Today, leaders endorsed the G20 as the premier forum for their international economic co-operation," said a statement that was released today. "This decision brings to the table the countries needed to build a stronger, more balanced global economy, reform the financial system, and lift the lives of the poorest." The G8, which included only wealthy nations Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States, has served as the premier economic forum for decades and held closely watched annual summits. The announcement came as G20 leaders closed in on a deal to tighten financial regulations after last year's meltdown, with China signalling that emerging countries would be granted more clout on the International Monetary Fund.

UNITED STATES

In Poll, Public Wary of Obama on War and Health - Adam Nagourney and Dalia Sussman, New York Times. President Obama is confronting declining support for his handling of the war in Afghanistan and an electorate confused and anxious about a health care overhaul as he prepares for pivotal battles over both issues, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. But Mr. Obama is going into the fall having retained considerable political strength. At 56 percent, his approval rating is down from earlier in the year but still reasonably strong at this point compared with recent presidents. More Americans are starting to credit his stimulus package with having helped to revive the economy. And Mr. Obama retains a decided advantage with the American public over Republicans on prominent issues, starting with health care. The poll found that an intense campaign by Mr. Obama to rally support behind his health care plan - including an address to Congress, a run of television interviews and rallies across the country - appears to have done little to allay concerns.

UNITED KINGDOM

US Assures Fretful Britons: It’s Much Ado About Nothing - Helene Cooper, New York Times. For the record, no, the White House was not snubbing Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain. Such a thought is “silly and absurd,” the White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said Thursday. The United States still has a special relationship with Britain, he said. The only reason the White House turned down five requests from the British for a meeting between President Obama and Mr. Brown this week is that they talk all the time, he said. “Stop reading those London tabloids,” Mr. Gibbs said, swatting down the fuming by the British news media that the prime minister was being disrespected by the Obama administration. Of course, these are the same media that got all huffy when Mr. Obama gave Mr. Brown some DVDs of American movies last spring when the prime minister visited Washington. Mr. Brown had given Mr. Obama what the British newspapers decided was a much more thoughtful gift, a penholder made from the wood of a Victorian anti-slavery ship. So it was no surprise that when the British newspapers got wind of Mr. Obama’s planned meetings in New York with President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia, President Hu Jintao of China and Japan’s new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, they went into overdrive.

Another Blow to MoD as Major-General Andrew Mackay Resigns from Army - Michael Evans, The Times. Prince Harry’s brigade commander in Afghanistan has resigned from the Army. He is the fifth senior officer to leave the Forces prematurely in two years and the most senior commander to resign since the operation began in Afghanistan. Major-General Andrew Mackay, 52, who played a personal role in the recapture of Musa Qala, in northern Helmand province, from the Taleban in 2007, resigned his commission “for personal reasons” but it is understood that he was concerned about plans to restructure senior levels of the Army. His unexpected departure was announced to all heads of department at the Ministry of Defence yesterday. Among the previous resignations, at least two - Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart Tootal and Major Sebastian Morley - were highly critical of equipment shortages. Major-General Mackay was a brigadier in charge of 52 Brigade when he was given the most sensitive of all jobs when Buckingham Palace and Clarence House agreed that Prince Harry be allowed to serve in Afghanistan.

AFRICA

Barack Obama to Impose US Travel Bans on Kenyan Political Leaders - Tristan McConnell, The Times. President Obama has taken unprecedented action against the country of his African ancestors, warning 15 Kenyan officials, including serving ministers, that they will be banned from travelling to the United States unless they accept reforms. A letter signed by America’s top Africa diplomat accuses the Kenyans of blocking measures promised when about 1,500 people were killed in riots following disputed elections in 2007. The reforms were designed to fix the discredited electoral commission, end arbitrary rule, stop human rights abuses by police and the military and halt the corruption with which Kenya has become synonymous. “I am writing to inform you that your future relationship with the United States is linked to your support for urgent implementation of the reform agenda as well as opposition to the use of violence,” wrote Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.

American Helped Bomb Somalia Base, Web Site Says - Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times. A Somali Web site is claiming that one of the suicide bombers who attacked an African Union base last week in Somalia was from the United States, which, if true, would make him the second known American to carry out a suicide attack. According to Dayniile.com, a mostly Somali-language Web site, the bomber lived in Washington State until 2007, when he left the United States to join the Shabab, a terrorist group with growing ties to Al Qaeda. Several suicide bombers penetrated an African Union base in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, Sept. 17, killing more than 15 peacekeepers, including the second in command of the 5,000-strong African Union mission in Somalia. The bombers used United Nations trucks to slip into the base; they apparently had inside information because they struck precisely at a time when high-ranking Somali officials were meeting with African Union commanders to plan an offensive. Some witnesses said the bombers spoke English. The Shabab took responsibility for the attack. But on Thursday, Shabab officials, when asked about the possible Somali-American connection, said they would not reveal the bombers’ identities.

AMERICAS

Mexico Senate Confirms Arturo Chavez Chavez as Attorney General - Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times. Mexico's Senate on Thursday confirmed Arturo Chavez Chavez as the nation's attorney general, despite objections by human rights activists who assailed his record as prosecutor in the northern state of Chihuahua during the 1990s. Chavez, 49, who was quickly sworn in, becomes Mexico's top law enforcement official at a crucial moment. The government of President Felipe Calderon is at war with drug-trafficking groups that have unleashed waves of violence across the country. A lawyer from Calderon's conservative National Action Party, or PAN, Chavez picked up opposition support to win confirmation by a hefty margin, 75 to 27. He takes over for Eduardo Medina Mora, who resigned this month amid criticism by political opponents that the government's anti-crime offensive is foundering. "I come with my head held high and will work the same way: with honesty, transparency and with a commitment to serve my country," Chavez said after his swearing-in.

Battle for Honduras Echoes Loudly in Media - Elisabeth Malkin and Marc Lacey, New York Times. “The lies of Manuel Zelaya” intones a stern voice as a picture of Mr. Zelaya, the deposed president of Honduras, flashes on the screen. Then to the ring of a cash register, images flash by of Mr. Zelaya’s cowboy hat, horses, a private plane, Times Square. While he was president, Mr. Zelaya bought jewels, paid for trips and maintained his horses with money he stole from the Central Bank and the Treasury, according to the television advertisement produced by the de facto government. Headlines from Honduran newspapers pop up onscreen as if to demonstrate the truth of the accusations. The spot, and others like it, are regular fare on Honduran television and radio, where the fierce political battle dividing Honduras plays out amid assertions of all kinds, no matter whether they are rooted in fact. Mr. Zelaya’s return to the country on Monday has turned up the volume on the media war - one in which the government’s voice is the loudest, but in which Mr. Zelaya is a skilled and equally slippery combatant.

Honduras Gets Messier - Washington Post editorial. The last time we addressed the political crisis in Honduras, a tiny Central American country that has become the focal point of a big regional power struggle, we pointed out that the leaders of a de facto government were playing into the hands of their enemies. Roberto Micheletti, the head of that regime, says that he is determined to prevent ousted president Manuel Zelaya from aping the assault on democratic order pioneered by Mr. Zelaya's mentor, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Yet, by refusing to accept an international mediator's plan that would have paved the way for elections and ensured Mr. Zelaya's political retirement, Mr. Micheletti - egged on by a handful of allies in Washington - gave the Chavez camp an opening. The result was this week's Venezuelan-engineered secret return by Mr. Zelaya to the country and his appearance in the Brazilian Embassy, from where he has sought to foment the populist revolution that he has wanted all along. Fortunately, he is failing miserably so far. After a couple of days of street demonstrations, Tegucigalpa was getting back to normal Thursday, and Mr. Zelaya was reduced to making hysterical accusations about being bombarded with radiation and toxic gases by "Israeli mercenaries."

ASIA PACIFIC

Mao’s Grandson Rises in Chinese Military - Andrew Jacobs, New York Times. He enjoys generous helpings of red braised pork, collects Chinese fans and keeps an unapologetically patriotic blog. Now Mao Xinyu, the 39-year-old grandson and only surviving male heir of Mao, appears to have become the youngest major general in the People’s Liberation Army, according to the state media. Although his elevation has not been officially announced by the military and some Web sites have dismissed it as a rumor, the news was reported Thursday by the Changjiang Daily, a state-run newspaper, and has been among the top news items on Chinese Web portals as the nation prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the revolution that brought Mao and the Communists to power. A historian trained at the Central Party School and a steadfast guardian of Mao’s political thought, the younger Mao is one of the Great Helmsman’s four grandchildren. Although the official media afford him considerable respect, he is the object of some derision among other Chinese, who lampoon what they call his mediocre performance as a student, his unkempt ways and his prodigious girth; in recent years, his weight has exceeded 220 pounds.

Burma's Junta Intensifies Bid For Unification - Washington Post. The maps say that the town of Mong La is in Burma, but to the casual observer, it could be China. The shop names are in Chinese. The shopkeepers are mostly Chinese, and they accept only the Chinese yuan. A suggestion of a meeting at 4 o'clock is met with a question: "Burma time or China time?" Mong La is the capital of an area known as Shan Special Region No. 4, one of 13 autonomous enclaves carved out of Burma's mountainous east over the past 20 years as part of cease-fire deals that armed rebel ethnic groups have signed with the generals who run the country. While central Burma has been driven into penury by economic mismanagement and sanctions, areas such as Mong La have thrived, along with the National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State, which controls it. The region has over the years profited from drugs - it lies at the heart of the opium-producing Golden Triangle - and more recently from gambling. In rebel territory, late-model Japanese sedans ferry Chinese punters from Mong La to the neon oasis of Mong Ma, 12 miles away, where they sip French brandy and play baccarat with stacks of 10,000-yuan chips. On the way, they pass the neoclassic pile that Sai Leun, commander of the National Democratic Alliance Army, has built for himself, complete with a golf course. But Mong La's days as a tributary to the river of China's economic growth could be ending.

EUROPE

Senators Disagree on Obama's New Missile Defense Policy in Europe - Cindy Saine, Voice of America. Several US senators have blasted President Barack Obama's decision to change US missile defense policy in Europe, accusing the president of "abandoning" US allies there. Senior Pentagon officials and some other senators defended the new strategy at an Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday, saying the new plan is the best way to deal directly with the nuclear threat from Iran. President Obama surprised the world last Thursday when he announced plans to cancel a missile defense system in Europe proposed by the Bush administration. The Bush-era program would have placed ground-based interceptors in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic to counter any long-range nuclear threat posed by Iran. The Obama administration's plan will replace Bush's anti-missile plan with a re-designed sea- and ground-based system, which destroys short and mid-range missiles instead of intercontinental missiles. Opponents of the president's plan expressed outrage at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday, led by ranking member, Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona.

MIDDLE EAST

Lebanon's Hariri Makes 2nd Attempt at Forming Unity Government - Jessica Desvarieux, Voice of America. Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Thursday launched talks with the country's various political parties in his second bid to form a coalition government since a June election. Hariri, who met with parliament speaker and opposition Amal party leader Nabih Berri, was reappointed as prime minister last week, days after resigning. He left his post after more than 10 weeks of fruitless attempts to form a coalition government. Visiting Hudson Institute fellow Lee Smith says that Hariri's decision to return was expected. "He would come back and have more power to form a government. Whether or not that is the case remains to be seen, but that was the idea behind his resignation," Smith said. The 39-year-old Hariri came to power after parliamentary elections in June. His coalition won 71 of 128 parliament seats, while Hezbollah and its allies took 57. A month later a Lebanese power-sharing system was formed to divide power under religious lines. The president would have to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the Parliament speaker a Shi'ite. Hezbollah-led opposition to his cabinet choices kept him from forming a government and led to his resignation on September 7.

Gap Widens Between Israelis and Palestinians on Settlements - Luis Ramirez, Voice of America. Despite calls by President Obama for peace negotiations to begin, Israel and the Palestinians are not making plans to resume talks. One issue holding up the peace process is Israel's continuing construction inside Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinians have said they will not return to talks unless Israel freezes construction. Israelis living in the settlements say they should have a right to build homes to accommodate growing families. For thousands of Israelis, life in the settlements of the occupied West Bank means spacious homes, tight-knit communities, and peace - at least inside the barbed wire. Pnina Ariel is originally from the US She welcomes journalists on an organized tour, into her home, where she raised several children. "In here, for the children, it's great for them. It's very nice to raise the children here. The ties, the connections, it makes for very strong community ties. A lot of people relate to that and want it for themselves, forgetting about what's around us," she said. What's around them is a Palestinian population that increasingly wants the settlers to go.

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.