As the Obama administration debates whether to shift its aims in Afghanistan, officials at the Pentagon and National Security Council have begun developing "middle path" strategies that would require fewer troops than their ground commander is seeking.

--Los Angeles Times

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN

76 Days Since Request for More Troops, Obama Accused of Stalling - Christina Lamb, The Times. In Afghanistan they would call it a shura, the traditional tribal way of listening to elders’ views before reaching a consensus. In Washington, where President Barack Obama has now held five war councils, they are starting to call it dithering. With another council on the Afghan war scheduled for this week, US officials admit it could be November before a decision is finally taken on whether to agree to General Stanley McChrystal’s request for more troops. One participant revealed that the protagonists have not yet discussed troop numbers. Latest polls show a majority of Americans now disapprove of Obama’s handling of a war which may come to define his presidency. Many senior members of his own party are in open revolt. Senator Robert Byrd, at 91 a Democratic institution, was so incensed that he dragged himself from his hospital bed last week to make a 13-minute speech. “Does it really take 100,000 troops to find Osama Bin Laden?” he wondered. “And how much will this cost? How much in terms of more dollars? How much in terms of American blood?”

Military Seeks $1.3 Billion For Projects in Afghanistan - Walter Pincus, Washington Post. While the Obama administration weighs whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan, the U.S. military is spending billions of dollars on construction projects to ensure the country's infrastructure can support American and coalition personnel in 2010 and years beyond. The military has already spent roughly $2.7 billion on construction over the past three fiscal years. Now, if its request is approved as part of the fiscal 2010 defense appropriations bill, it would spend another $1.3 billion on more than 100 projects at 40 sites across the country, according to a Senate report on the legislation. At the main US base in Afghanistan, Bagram, the military is planning to build a $30 million passenger terminal and adjacent cargo facility to handle the flow of troops, many of whom arrive at the base north of Kabul before moving onto other sites. Under the proposed schedule, those facilities will not be completed until late 2010 and go into operation early in 2011, according to military sources. Officials say such projects are absolutely essential given the inadequate and dilapidated nature of the existing infrastructure.

Runoff Vote Possible in Disputed Afghan Presidential Election - Voice of America. International pressure was mounting Saturday, as Afghans waited for the release of a report by a United Nations-backed panel, which could lead to a runoff vote following the country's disputed presidential election. Several high-level foreign officials, including French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and US Senator John Kerry, were in Kabul Saturday ahead of a long-delayed announcement by the Electoral Complaints Commission. The ECC is investigating allegations of widespread fraud in the August 20 vote. Preliminary election results gave Afghan President Hamid Karzai 54-percent of the vote. His main challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, has 28 percent. But the ECC's findings could push Mr. Karzai's lead below 50-percent, forcing a runoff. Saturday's announcement of the ECC's report was delayed, as officials were said to be meeting with members of Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission. Afghan election officials will announce the final result after double-checking the tally.

'Brick Wall' Feared In Afghan Election - Joshua Partlow, Washington Post. There is a growing fear among Western officials in Afghanistan that President Hamid Karzai and the nation's Independent Election Commission will not accept the findings of a United Nations-backed fraud investigation that is expected to call for a runoff to settle Afghanistan's disputed presidential election. Such a decision by Karzai would deepen Afghanistan's political crisis and leave no clear method for resolving the allegations of massive fraud that have undermined the credibility of the election, which was held nearly two months ago. It would also be a setback for the Obama administration, which has urged the candidates to follow the electoral process to yield a legitimate winner. "That's the brick wall," said one Western official in Kabul familiar with the process. "It's going to be quite chaotic and confusing." After an audit of suspicious votes and an investigation into the most serious complaints, the UN-supported Electoral Complaints Commission found that the number of votes that must be discarded would drop Karzai below the 50 percent majority needed to claim victory, according to officials familiar with the process. The public announcement of the commission's findings may come Sunday, officials said.

Allies Press Karzai to Accept Election Audit Results - Sabrina Tavernese and Mark Landler, New York Times. Western officials have been pressing Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, to accept the results of a United Nations-led audit in a last-minute effort to smooth what has become an increasingly contentious election process. A ruling on the extent of fraud in this country’s Aug. 20 presidential election is expected Sunday, and if Mr. Karzai’s vote slips below 50 percent, as expected, a second round would be required. Western officials say privately that Mr. Karzai seems to be balking at accepting the results, and a flurry of visits and phone calls from officials on Saturday was aimed at averting a crisis. Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, met with Mr. Karzai at least twice and met separately with his main competitor, Abdullah Abdullah, emphasizing “the necessity of a legitimate outcome.” Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner of France, who traveled to Kabul “in the context of tension” provoked by the election, pressed both candidates to “respect” the audit process, the French Foreign Ministry said.

Armed Riots Threatened as Karzai Scorns Election Inquiry - Jerome Starkey, The Times. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has threatened to ignore the findings of an investigation into widespread fraud that made it appear he had won an election victory over his rival in August. The country’s Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) had been due to announce yesterday that Karzai’s share of the ballots was being cut from 54.6% to about 47% as a result of the inquiry, triggering a second round of voting. But the announcement was delayed amid diplomatic efforts to convince Karzai to abide by the decision. Karzai insists that he should be declared the outright winner and has dismissed reports of widespread fraud as “totally fabricated” and “politically motivated”. In a bleak assessment to foreign ambassadors in Kabul last night the head of the United Nations in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, warned that the situation was “very tense”. “He was encouraging the ambassadors to get their foreign ministers to call up Karzai and underline the importance of sticking to the constitution and accepting the ECC’s decision,” said an insider at the meeting. The American senator John Kerry met the president for the second time in two days to emphasise “the need for a legitimate outcome”, an embassy official said. French diplomats said a surprise visit by their foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, was also intended to defuse “tension created by the repeated delays in announcing the election results”.

We're Making a Difference, US Colonel Tells Despondent Troops in Afghanistan - Martin Fletcher, The Times. An American commander in Afghanistan has responded to a report in The Times that his men are demoralised by sending each an optimistic message that insists they are playing a pivotal role in the war. “I just wanted to take the opportunity to let every single member of Task Force Spartan, and attachments, know how very proud I am of each and every one of you,” Colonel David Haight, of the 10th Mountain Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, wrote in an unusual letter to the 3,500 soldiers under his command. “I wanted to ensure that everyone understands that the CSM [Command Sergeant Major] and I recognise that every single person in the Task Force plays a very pivotal role and that means EVERY single [soldier] serving out there.” The letter was a direct response to an article in The Times last week in which the chaplains of two battalions said that the men felt they were risking their lives - and that colleagues had died - for a futile mission that was making little discernible progress. The battalions - the 2-87 Infantry Battalion and 4-25 Field Artillery Battalion - have been waging an unexpectedly ferocious battle with the Taleban since last spring for control of Wardak province. They have been hit by more than 300 roadside bombs and lost 19 men, with a hundred flown home with serious injuries. Colonel’s Haight’s missive comes as President Obama conducts a weeks-long review of whether the US military should deploy more troops to confront the Taleban-led insurgency in Afghanistan, or focus more narrowly on countering al-Qaeda terrorism. As the review drags on, US soldiers continue to risk their lives daily.

Pakistani Military Launches Ground Offensive into South Waziristan - Sean Maroney, Voice of America. Pakistani officials say the military has launched its much anticipated ground offensive against the Taliban in the South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Pakistani ground troops moved out of their bases in and around South Waziristan Saturday, hours after top military and political leaders met in the capital, Islamabad. Pakistan has experienced a wave of terror attacks, including suicide blasts targeting international and security organizations, coordinated attacks around the country's cultural center, Lahore, and an audacious assault on the army's headquarters near Islamabad. Some 175 people have died in the past two weeks. The government has blamed the Pakistani Taliban, which is based in South Waziristan, for the violence. Hours ahead of Saturday's offensive, Pakistani authorities imposed a curfew and turned off mobile phone service in some areas. Army officials say nearly 30,000 troops have been deployed to take on an estimated 10,000 Taliban fighters. In recent days, the military has launched several air and artillery strikes on suspected militant positions.

Pakistan Launches Full-Scale Offensive - Karin Brulliard, Washington Post. The Pakistani military launched a major ground offensive Saturday in the insurgent haven of South Waziristan, starting a much-awaited fight that could define the nation's increasingly bloody domestic struggle against Islamist extremism. Pakistani officials said nearly 30,000 troops were deployed in the Taliban and al-Qaeda stronghold, from which militants have planned a two-week-long string of attacks against the nation's formidable security forces. The assaults have killed nearly 200 people and have further destabilized a weak government that the United States has pressed to take a tougher stand against militancy. Now, with public alarm rising and winter snowfall approaching, Pakistani officials indicated they could wait no longer. "There has to be consensus in the face of what is clearly now a war," said Sherry Rehman, a ruling party lawmaker. "We have to treat this as a battle for Pakistan's survival." The offensive is a gamble. Pakistani forces earlier retreated after three far smaller incursions into South Waziristan, an essentially ungoverned terrain of ridges and peaks that is unfamiliar to most except the tribes that live there. It is a potential vortex for the Pakistani army, which has been trained to battle archenemy India on the plains of the Punjab province, not conduct alpine counterinsurgency operations.

Pakistan Opens Offensive in a Militant Stronghold - Jane Perlez, New York Times. Pakistan moved thousands of troops into the militant stronghold of South Waziristan on Saturday, the army said, beginning a long-anticipated ground offensive against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in treacherous terrain that has stymied the army in the past. The operation is the most ambitious by the Pakistani Army against the militants, who have unleashed a torrent of attacks against top security installations in the last 10 days in anticipation of the military assault. The militants’ targets included the army headquarters where planning for the new offensive had been under way for four months. The United States has been pressing the army to move ahead with the campaign in South Waziristan, arguing that it is vital for Pakistan to show resolve against the Qaeda-fortified Pakistani Taliban, which now embrace a vast and dedicated network of militant groups arrayed against the nuclear-armed state. The groups include some nurtured by Pakistan to fight India.

Pakistan Rounds on Taliban Enemy Within - Humayun Gauhar and Daud Khattak, The Times. More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers were launched on a long-awaited ground offensive to “uproot” Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in their strongholds near the Afghan border yesterday. The Pakistani army attacked militants in South Waziristan, a lawless tribal area, with troops advancing from three directions, strongly supported by fighter planes and helicopter gunships. Heavy fighting was reported. Before the operation was launched, Pakistan, a nuclear-armed state, had appeared to be weakening in the face of a sustained bombing campaign from terrorists living within its borders but beyond its reach. Some analysts said last week that the components of nuclear weapons could be at risk from the penetration of military bases, although Pakistani officials strongly denied that. More than 100,000 refugees fled from South Waziristan after the government in Islamabad warned of imminent action against militants, who have masterminded a relentless series of attacks on Pakistan’s cities and on the army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi. In recent weeks 150 people have died.

Pakistan Invades Taliban Stronghold - Anjum Herald Hill, Washington Times. Pakistan's army launched a huge air and ground offensive in the Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold of South Waziristan on Saturday, deploying 30,000 troops, in a critical effort to crush the insurgents, who threaten the stability of the nuclear-armed country. Troops carried out attacks on several militant bases in the region on the Afghan border, but faced strong resistance from the insurgents on the first day of the offensive that left 11 militants and five soldiers dead. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told reporters that NATO forces in Afghanistan have been informed of the offensive but that no help would be sought from them during the operation. He said the military thinks that about 2,000 foreign militants could be present in South Waziristan and that 80 percent of the terrorist attacks carried out in Lahore and other parts of the country were planned in this Taliban sanctuary. He said the operation would continue for the next six to eight weeks. However, a strong resistance is expected from the militants. Intelligence officials said the offensive also could provoke backlash attacks by the militants.

Pakistan Fights 'Mother of all Battles' with the Taliban - Saeed Shah and Dean Nelson, Daily Telegraph. Within hours of leaving their camps early on Saturday morning to fight what is being hailed as the decisive battle in the war against terror, 12 soldiers had been killed in the first ferocious gunfights. Pakistan's generals have called the offensive the "mother of all battles" for the survival of a country under siege. There were reports of Taliban compounds coming under aerial bombardment from Pakistan gunships as troops moved out in three columns from Razmak to the north, Jandola to the east and Shakai in the west, and advanced on notorious Taliban target towns like Makeen and Ladha. The significance of Pakistan's army having Makeen in its sights will not have been lost on Pakistan's president, Asif Zardari: the late Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was in Makeen when he was allegedly recorded on a telephone intercept claiming responsibility for the assassination of Mr Zardari's wife, Benazir Bhutto, the former Pakistan prime minister. The remote, dusty town close to the Afghan border, had expected as much. It has been the scene of American Predator drone attacks on Taliban commanders, kidnappings of Pakistani troops, and fierce gun battles between security forces and militants.

Pakistan Launches Risky Offensive Into Taliban-Al Qaeda Stronghold - Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times. The move by Pakistan's military into the Taliban and Al Qaeda stronghold of South Waziristan on Saturday launched a risky offensive widely seen as the key to crushing a militancy that has destabilized the nuclear-armed nation. The challenges are daunting: The military will face unforgiving terrain along the Afghan border that has long been viewed as a possible hide-out for Osama bin Laden, as well as a battle-hardened enemy likely to respond by stepping up bloody attacks across the country. The government believes that more than 80% of the terrorism inflicted on Pakistan originates in the region. Although the Pakistani military, bolstered by US aid, is a formidable force, it must also cope with ferocious foreign militants who, unlike their Taliban counterparts, cannot flee and blend into Pakistani society, and therefore will fight to the last man, analysts say. Moreover, a surge in the number of attacks in the last two weeks has revealed burgeoning collaboration between Taliban fighters and militants from Punjab, Pakistan's heartland and its most populous province. Analysts see the potential for a countermove relying on Punjabi militants to unleash a wave of terrorist strikes in Islamabad, the capital, and Punjab's largest cities, Lahore and the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

A Reporter’s Account of His Kidnapping - David Rohde, New York Times. The car’s engine roared as the gunman punched the accelerator and we crossed into the open Afghan desert. I was seated in the back between two Afghan colleagues who were accompanying me on a reporting trip when armed men surrounded our car and took us hostage. Another gunman in the passenger seat turned and stared at us as he gripped his Kalashnikov rifle. No one spoke. I glanced at the bleak landscape outside - reddish soil and black boulders as far as the eye could see - and feared we would be dead within minutes. It was last Nov. 10, and I had been headed to a meeting with a Taliban commander along with an Afghan journalist, Tahir Luddin, and our driver, Asad Mangal. The commander had invited us to interview him outside Kabul for reporting I was pursuing about Afghanistan and Pakistan. The longer I looked at the gunman in the passenger seat, the more nervous I became. His face showed little emotion. His eyes were dark, flat and lifeless.

Don't Settle for Stalemate in Afghanistan - Ike Skelton and Joe Lieberman, Washington Post opinion. Six months ago the Obama administration concluded that the only way to stop Afghanistan's slide into insecurity and prevent the reemergence of a terrorist haven was to put in place an integrated counterinsurgency strategy focused on protecting the Afghan population, building up the Afghan national security forces and improving Afghan governance. We strongly supported the president's decision and continue to believe that he was right. He also made the right decision last week when, in a meeting with congressional leaders, he ruled out withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan. The key question confronting the administration now is not whether to pursue counterinsurgency in Afghanistan but whether to provide that counterinsurgency effort with the resources it needs. We believe that providing those resources will be critical. Gen. Stanley McChrystal's assessment states that his new strategy requires additional resources and the proper execution of an integrated civilian-military counterinsurgency campaign. To this end, he has reportedly forwarded to the president a range of resource options, each with differing levels of risk to the mission. We hope that President Obama will carefully weigh these recommendations and provide his commander with the necessary forces and civilian resources he needs to properly execute a counterinsurgency campaign.

Obama's Afghan Squeeze Play - Jim Hoagland, Washington Post opinion. Is President Obama dithering on Afghanistan, as critics claim? Or do loyalists praising his deliberate pace have it right? Both camps rush past the obvious: The president is almost certainly applying a calculated, cold-blooded squeeze on his partners in the Afghan endeavor to get what he needs for a successful policy. Obama is orchestrating a drawn-out review that is actually a policy instrument itself. That reality is (happily for Obama) obscured by the miasma of leaks, counter-leaks and guesswork that has settled over official Washington. But three things are absolutely clear: First, Hamid Karzai cannot be accepted as the legitimate ruler of Afghanistan on the basis of August's election. He should either accept an immediate runoff ballot or agree to become Afghanistan's ceremonial president and appoint a national unity government to run the country. Only then can the United States and its allies move forward to significantly expand military and civilian aid to Kabul. Second, NATO's European members must greatly increase their involvement (and spending) in civilian reconstruction projects and provide some more manpower. Little noticed in Washington's overheated debate about troop numbers, a new U.S.-European bargain on counterinsurgency is an essential feature of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's bestseller of a secret report to the president. Third, the Obama administration must not slip back into letting Pakistan present itself as an aggrieved party whose delicate national sensibilities are unjustly offended by suggestions that its army and intelligence services might be ripping off US aid and covertly encouraging terrorism.

Risking a Rights Disaster - Wazhma Frogh, Washington Post opinion. As an Afghan woman who for many years lived a life deprived of the most basic human rights, I find unbearable the thought of what will happen to the women of my country if it once again falls under the control of the insurgents and militants who now threaten it. In 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began, the liberation of Afghan women was one of the most important justifications for military intervention. Has the world now changed its mind about Afghan women? Is it ready to let them once again be killed and tortured by militants? Does the world no longer believe in the principles it supported in 2001? Handing over Afghanistan to those who intend to keep the country centuries behind most of the world - to men who do not view women as human beings - would not only call into doubt the global commitment to human rights, it would also raise questions about the commitment of Western democracies to such rights and to democratic values. Bearing in mind how fragile the Afghan government is at this moment, it will not take long for the country's women to come under attack again. The consequences will be even more bitter this time because no matter how limited our success, we have at least managed to act in the forefront of public life in Afghanistan. We have had a taste of what it's like to have rights,

IRAQ

Insurgents Destroy 2 Bridges In Anbar - Uthman al-Mokhtar, Washington Post. Insurgents detonated a truck loaded with five tons of explosives Saturday on a bridge here that links western Iraq to Jordan and Syria, pulverizing part of the overpass and paralyzing traffic for hours. Another, smaller bridge was also destroyed in Fallujah, where a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi military patrol on the highway, killing four soldiers and wounding 14 others, said Sulaiman al-Dulaimi, a spokesman for the Fallujah General Hospital. The attacks underlined the potency that insurgents still wield in a long-restive Anbar province that the US military and Iraqi government tout as a showcase of their success in defeating the insurgency. They come after numerous attacks that have led many Anbar residents to fear that fighting may worsen as the US military withdraws, insurgents remain and tribal rivalries mount ahead of parliamentary elections in January. Residents have blamed the attacks on al-Qaeda in Iraq, a homegrown insurgent group said to be led by foreigners, and fallout from months of negotiations over alliances for the January elections, particularly in Fallujah, which is in Anbar province.

IRAN

Iran Frees Reporter Held Since June - Nazila Fathi, New York Times. Iran on Saturday released Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian reporter for Newsweek magazine and an internationally known filmmaker, Newsweek announced on its Web site. Iran’s state-run news media reported that Mr. Bahari was released Saturday evening after his family posted bail of about $300,000. Newsweek’s statement did not mention a payment. Mr. Bahari, 42, was arrested June 21 in the unrest after the disputed election, which he had traveled to Iran to cover. It was not clear on Saturday whether Mr. Bahari would be able to leave the country and join his wife at their home in London. Mr. Bahari was accused of being part of a plot to stage a “velvet revolution” against the government and was put on trial in August along with about 100 other detainees. No verdict or sentence was announced. Mr. Bahari’s wife, Paola Gourley, who is pregnant, was rushed to a hospital on Monday, two weeks before her due date, apparently suffering from stress. In an interview with the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, she had appealed to the Iranian government last week to release her husband on humanitarian grounds.

5 Myths About Iran and the Bomb - Joseph Cirincione, Washington Post opinion. Iran's expanding nuclear program poses one of the Obama administration's most vexing foreign policy challenges. Fortunately, the conditions for containing Tehran's efforts may be better today than they have been in years. The recent disclosure of a secret nuclear facility in Iran has led to an apparent agreement to allow in UN weapons inspectors and to ship some uranium out of the country, and the United States and Europe seem to be closing ranks on the need for sanctions and engagement. Of course, the matter is far from resolved; Russia and China are sending mixed signals on their position, while even a weakened Iranian regime remains duplicitous. But the prospects for developing a strategy with a solid chance of success improve if we dispose of five persistent myths about Iran's nuclear program.

AFRICA

New US Policy to Offer Incentives, Pressure for Sudan - Voice of America. US President Barack Obama will soon unveil a new policy for Sudan that takes a softer approach than the president called for during his campaign for the White House. Administration officials say the plan, which will be announced Monday, calls for working with the Sudanese government using a mix of pressure and incentives. The new policy is aimed at convincing Khartoum to stop human rights abuses in the troubled Darfur region, settle disputes with the semi-autonomous south and cooperate more fully in the fight against terrorism. The Obama administration settled on its new strategy after months of heated debate, particularly between US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, and the US special envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration. Rice argued for a more hard line approach than Gration. In a show of unity, Gration and Rice will be present when Secretary Clinton unveils the new policy Monday. Mr. Obama had pledged during his presidential campaign to isolate Sudan whose president, Omar al-Bashir, has been indicted for war crimes.

Sudan’s Critics Relieved That Obama Chose a Middle Course - Ginger Thompson, New York Times. A day after the first details began to emerge of the Obama administration’s long-awaited policy for Sudan - one that proposes working with the government rather than isolating it - advocates of a tougher approach toward Khartoum said they wished the administration had been stronger. But they also expressed relief at what has been released so far, saying they had feared the White House would take an even more conciliatory line toward the government, whose leader has been charged with crimes against humanity. During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama had pledged a harder stance, but on Friday, Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration, retired, said the policy to be announced Monday would make use of a mix of “incentives and pressure” to seek an end to the human rights abuses that have left millions of people dead or displaced in Darfur. Two members of Congress who are deeply involved with Africa issues said that they had been alarmed by recent statements made by General Gration, suggesting that the administration was considering easing sanctions and taking Sudan off the list of nations that sponsor terrorism.

AMERICAS

Rio Drug War Erupts; Police Helicopter Shot Down - Voice of America. Residents of some of Rio de Janeiro's worst slums are fleeing their homes, hoping to escape a drug war that has left part of the city in ruins. Smoke rose from the smoldering wreckage of a police helicopter Saturday, while at least eight buses burned and gunfire filled the air in the slum of Morro dos Macacos. Police say the fighting broke out early Saturday, when one of the city's three main drug gangs invaded the area in an attempt to expand their territory. At least eight suspected gang members were killed in subsequent gunbattles with police, while two police officers riding in the helicopter were also killed. Several other people were injured. Police say the aircraft exploded on a football field after the pilot tried to make an emergency landing. Hundreds of police officers have been sent into the area to end the fighting.

Zelaya Sets Monday Deadline for Agreement - Voice of America. Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has given the de facto government until Monday to consider his counter-proposal for ending the country's political crisis. A representative of the ousted leader, Ricardo Martinez, said if no agreement is reached by then, the dialogue is broken. Mr. Zelaya's proposal would authorize the Honduran Congress to decide whether to reinstate him. The Zelaya camp rejected a proposal by Interim President Roberto Micheletti calling for the Supreme Court to make the decision. The ousted leader's chief negotiator called the proposal "absurd." Mr. Micheletti has been under intense international pressure to restore Mr. Zelaya, since he was removed from power in a June 28 coup. Mr. Zelaya's opponents say he was ousted because he was trying to illegally change the constitution to extend his term in office.

Migrants Going North Now Risk Kidnappings - Marc Lacey, New York Times. For 37 days, the Salvadoran immigrant was held captive in a crowded room near the border with scores of people, all of them Central Americans who had been kidnapped while heading north, hoping to cross into the United States. He finally got out in August, he said, after the Mexican Army raided the house in the middle of the night to free them. “The army said: ‘Don’t run. We’re here to help you,’ ” recalled the migrant, a 30-year-old father of three who insisted that his name not be printed for fear of either being kidnapped again or deported. “I kept running.” Getting to “el norte” has never been a cakewalk. Along with long treks through desert terrain, death-defying river crossings and perilous rides clinging onto trains, there have always been con men and crooked police officers preying on migrants along the way. But Mexican human rights groups that monitor migration say the threats foreigners face as they cross Mexico for the United States have grown significantly in recent months. Organized crime groups have begun taking aim at migrants as major sources of illicit revenue, even as the financial crisis in the United States has reduced the number of people willing to risk the journey.

EUROPE

Last Bosnian Refugees Return Home From Hungary - Stefan Bos, Voice of America. Mental patients who fled the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s have returned home after years in a refugee facility in Hungary. Officials say the patients were the last known Bosnian refugees on the territory of Hungary, which accommodated tens of thousands of people fleeing Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War Two. It comes as a war crimes suspect received a long prison term for his role in the Balkan war. The Ambassador of Bosnia-Herzegovina in Hungary, Nikola Djukic, has confirmed to VOA News Saturday that 19 Bosnian refugees under mental care have returned to their homeland, some 17 long years after they fled the Balkan war. Djukic says the mainly elderly men and women are spending their first weekend at a medical center in the village of Jakes, on the outskirts of the Bosnian city of Modrica. He explained that the convoy that transported refugees left from the refugee facility Thursday was arranged by Hungarian authorities. "They drove them in the bus. There was also an ambulance from them. A medical team from Jakes arrived to be with them during the transport. And also from the Hungarian side, the [Office] of Immigration and Nationality, provided a medical team that also travelled with them and they will stay in Jakes for 10 days," he said.

MIDDLE EAST

Israel Faces Growing Pressure After UN War Crimes Vote - Robert Berger, Voice of America. Israel is facing growing international pressure after the United Nations Human Rights Council approved the Goldstone Report, which accuses the Jewish state of war crimes against Palestinians. The Goldstone Report also accuses Palestinian militants of war crimes during the Gaza conflict of nearly a year ago. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling on him to cooperate with the Goldstone Report. They urged Israel to open an "independent, transparent investigation" into alleged war crimes during the three-week Gaza conflict last December and January. The resolution by the Human Rights Council endorses the Goldstone Report's recommendations that both the Israelis and Palestinian militants show the UN Security Council they are investigating the war crimes accusations. Israel has rejected the report as one-sided and biased and says the Gaza war was a legitimate act of self defense in response to years of Palestinian rocket attacks. Israeli officials say opening a war crimes investigation would be tantamount to accepting guilt.

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 US 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.