"Not every Taliban is an extremist ally," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said last week. One of the primary tasks of President Obama's Afghanistan strategy review, she said, is "trying to sort out who is the real enemy." Trying to persuade those insurgents deemed less extreme to lay down their arms or switch sides will be a major component of the Obama administration's new approach.

--Washington Post

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN

White House Seeks to Explain its Hesitations on Afghanistan - Giles Whittell and Jerome Starkey, The Times. The White House has issued its strongest warning yet that President Karzai cannot count on continued US support if he fails to accept that Afghanistan’s fraudulent election has critically undermined his authority. President Obama was said yesterday to be more concerned at “whether there’s an Afghan partner” worth defending than with the politically fraught question of how many more troops to send, according to Rahm Emanuel, Mr Obama’s chief of staff and a central figure in White House deliberations on Afghanistan. His rare public remarks were echoed by comments from Senator John Kerry, who has flown to Kabul to join efforts to persuade Mr Karzai to either accept a second round of voting or enter a power-sharing deal with his opponent, Dr Abdullah Abdullah. The Karzai campaign has said it will not negotiate unless the incumbent is declared the outright winner of the August election. It raised the stakes further at the weekend by continuing to defy the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission.

Decision on Afghan Troops May Wait - Peter Baker and Sabrina Tavernese, New York Times. The White House signaled Sunday that President Obama would postpone any decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan until the disputed election there had been settled and resulted in a government that could work with the United States. As an audit of Afghanistan’s Aug. 20 election ground toward a conclusion, American officials pressed President Hamid Karzai to accept a runoff vote or share power with his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister. Although Mr. Karzai’s support appeared likely to fall below 50 percent in the final count, together he and Mr. Abdullah received 70 percent, in theory enough to forge a unity government with national credibility. The question at the heart of the matter, said President Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is not “how many troops you send, but do you have a credible Afghan partner for this process that can provide the security and the type of services that the Afghan people need?” He appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” and CBS’s “Face the Nation.” He echoed the thoughts of Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, a top Obama ally and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, who said in a separate interview from Kabul.

US Says Credible Partner in Afghanistan is Crucial - Peter Nicholas and Laura King, Los Angeles Times. Before President Obama commits additional troops to Afghanistan, the US needs assurances that Afghan leaders preside over a stable government that is legitimate in the eyes of its citizens, top Democratic officials said in TV appearances Sunday. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, on CNN's "State of the Union," said the overriding question facing the Obama administration is whether it has "a credible Afghan partner for this process that can provide the security and the type of services that the Afghan people need." The White House is in the midst of a full-scale review of its strategy in Afghanistan. Options include adding tens of thousands of troops in a renewed bid to stabilize the country, as US Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal wants, or narrowing the mission to focus on subduing the Taliban. The White House has devoted five meetings to its Afghan review, with more scheduled over the next two weeks, Emanuel said. Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who is visiting Afghanistan, endorsed the White House's approach, saying Sunday that it would be premature to deploy more troops without a clear picture of the nation's overall political condition. Kerry held talks with McChrystal, the US and allied commander in Afghanistan, and also met with officials in Pakistan.

Questions About Al Qaeda's Next Move - Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times. The plot for the Sept. 11 attacks was set in motion in late 1999 from a cluster of Al Qaeda training camps near Kandahar. In those dusty Afghan compounds, Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants signed off on the plan, set up a special training program, and selected lead members of the hijack team. Ten years later, could Al Qaeda return to Afghanistan and use it again as a launching pad for terrorist strikes? The question has taken on heightened urgency as the Obama administration searches for a new war strategy, and Pakistan carries out its first major military offensive in the tribal region that Al Qaeda has called home since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The issue is also a source of surprising disagreement within the counter-terrorism community. Some are skeptical that Al Qaeda would return to Afghanistan, even in the event of a substantial US military drawdown. Doing so would mean leaving a sanctuary in Pakistan that has afforded significant protection for eight years, despite a barrage of US Predator drone strikes. Others argue that Al Qaeda is under mounting pressure in Pakistan, and that a return to Afghanistan is all but inevitable if President Obama endorses anything other than a full-scale, counterinsurgency campaign there.

US Sets its Sights on Taliban's 'Little T' - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post. "Not every Taliban is an extremist ally," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said last week. One of the primary tasks of President Obama's Afghanistan strategy review, she said, is "trying to sort out who is the real enemy." Trying to persuade those insurgents deemed less extreme to lay down their arms or switch sides will be a major component of the Obama administration's new approach, regardless of whether the president approves the massive troop deployments requested by his military commander, according to administration officials. But sorting the "reconcilables" - what the US military calls the "little T" - from the "big T" of hard-core Taliban members is no small task. Even if the Americans and Europeans are able to tell them apart, neither they nor Afghan officials have a comprehensive plan to persuade them to stop fighting. And many analysts, particularly in the CIA, do not believe that a substantial "little T" exists among what the agency estimates is a total of about 25,000 fighters in the Afghan Taliban and related insurgent groups.

A Variety of Sources Feed Into Taliban’s War Chest - Eric Schmitt, New York Times. The Taliban in Afghanistan are running a sophisticated financial network to pay for their insurgent operations, raising hundreds of millions of dollars from the illicit drug trade, kidnappings, extortion and foreign donations that American officials say they are struggling to cut off. In Afghanistan, the Taliban have imposed an elaborate system to tax the cultivation, processing and shipment of opium, as well as other crops like wheat grown in the territory they control, American and Afghan officials say. In the Middle East, Taliban leaders have sent fund-raisers to Arab countries to keep the insurgency’s coffers brimming with cash. Estimates of the Taliban’s annual revenue vary widely. Proceeds from the illicit drug trade alone range from $70 million to $400 million a year, according to Pentagon and United Nations officials. By diversifying their revenue stream beyond opium, the Taliban are frustrating American and NATO efforts to weaken the insurgency by cutting off its economic lifelines, the officials say. Despite efforts by the United States and its allies in the last year to cripple the Taliban’s financing, using the military and intelligence, American officials acknowledge they barely made a dent.

Diplomats Urge Karzai to Accept Election Results - Voice of America. Global pressure continues to mount Sunday on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to accept a possible runoff in Afghanistan's disputed election. Senior foreign officials have urged Mr. Karzai to accept the findings of a fraud investigation by a UN-backed panel that could decide whether the nation's disputed election goes to a runoff. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, US Senator John Kerry and former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad met with Mr. Karzai in Kabul Saturday ahead of the long-delayed announcement by the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC). Senator Kerry said, in an interview with CNN, it would be irresponsible for the United States to send more troops to Afghanistan when the outcome of the Afghan election is not clear. Preliminary results released last month gave Mr. Karzai 54 percent of the vote. His main challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, had 28 percent. But if the EEC discards enough ballots to drop Mr. Karzai's total below 50 percent, a second round of voting will be necessary.

Emanuel Says US Must Gauge Viability of Government in Kabul - Joshua Partlow and John Amick, Washington Post. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Sunday that before a decision is made on whether to send more US troops to Afghanistan, the United States must assess the strength and viability of the Afghan government. "It would be reckless to make a decision on US troop level if, in fact, you haven't done a thorough analysis of whether, in fact, there's an Afghan partner ready to fill that space that the US troops would create and become a true partner in governing the Afghan country," Emanuel said on CNN's "State of the Union." Afghanistan's recent presidential election has been tainted by allegations of fraud, and the results of an investigation have been stalled. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) said President Obama should not commit more troops to the region until the election is legitimately settled.

Karzai Backers Take Harder Line on Recount - Anand Gopal, Wall Street Journal. Supporters of incumbent President Hamid Karzai demonstrated to protest "foreign interference" in Afghanistan's drawn-out election process, as results of a vote recount were postponed and Karzai campaign officials suggested his camp may not accept the official results. As they await the recount, which aims to throw out fraudulent votes, officials from the Karzai campaign cast aspersions on the process, centering their criticism on the United Nations-backed Electoral Complaints Commission, which is re-tallying the numbers. Although the ECC finished its audit Thursday, it said it was reviewing the results to ensure there were no mistakes before releasing it to the Independent Electoral Commission in coming days; the ECC didn't give a precise date. The Independent Electoral Commission will then subtract from the total count the votes disqualified by the ECC. The ECC is likely to be under pressure to wait until an understanding has been reached by all sides before handing over the audit results to the IEC, according to Western officials familiar with the process. If Mr. Karzai is found to have less than 50% of the vote, it could force a runoff with his top challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.

Afghan Leaders Under Pressure to Avoid Election Run-off - Ben Farmer in Kabul and Alex Spillius, Daily Telegraph. Afghanistan's political leaders are coming under intense pressure to do a power-sharing deal to avoid a second-round run off which would put the lives of Nato troops at risk. An Electoral Complaints Commission investigation into allegations of fraud is understood to have knocked support for Hamid Karzai, the president, down to between 47 and 49 per cent. Under electoral rules, the result should trigger a run-off between him and his nearest rival Abdullah Abdullah, who came second in the Aug 20 poll. But the official result, which was due to be announced on Saturday, was delayed as the West asked the men to reach an agreement that would avoid another round of voting. Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said on Sunday the two were ready to "work together" to find a settlement. Senior US officials meanwhile made it clear that President Barack Obama will not send the multiple troop reinforcements Mr Karzai craves until a government acceptable to the majority of Afghans is established. Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, told CNN: "It would be reckless to make a decision on US troop levels if, in fact, you haven't done a thorough analysis of whether in fact there is an Afghan partner ready to fill that space the US troops would create, and become a true partner in governing."

Pakistan Troops Battle Militants in South Waziristan - Voice of America. Pakistani forces exchanged heavy fire on Sunday with militants defending their heartland in the mountains of the South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Pakistani troops, backed by fighter jets, continue to advance into the main sanctuary of militants, on the second day of a full-scale ground offensive against Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents. Officials say 60 militants and five Pakistani soldiers have been killed in the first 24 hours of the operation. A Pakistani army spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, said some 30,000 soldiers moved into the insurgent stronghold from three directions Saturday to take on some 10,000 militants and foreign fighters. The military says soldiers captured a Taliban mountain base Saturday around Spinkai Raghzai. The long-awaited operation follows a string of brazen attacks that has killed more than 175 people in the last two weeks. The government has blamed the Pakistani Taliban based in South Waziristan for the violence.

By Air and Ground, Pakistani Soldiers Penetrate Militant Heartland - Jane Perlez, New York Times. The Pakistani military moved deeper into South Waziristan on Sunday, hitting Taliban targets with F-16 fighter jets, as troops supported by helicopter gunships climbed higher into the mountainous terrain, according to military personnel and a spokesman for the militants. Pakistani Air Force fighter jets struck the militant-held towns of Makeen, Ladha and Kotkai in the heart of Taliban territory, and ground forces have occupied territory on the edge of the militant enclave, Pakistani military personnel said. Sounding a confident tone on the second day of the campaign against the forces of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, a senior military official said “the level of resistance from the militants is not very high.” Even so, said the official, who declined to be identified, the area was heavily mined and Pakistani forces encountered many homemade bombs. But the Taliban said part of their strategy was to encourage the military to progress deeper into the militant enclave in the center of South Waziristan, and then tie the soldiers down with hit-and-run tactics that would keep the soldiers in a protracted campaign in the inhospitable terrain over the winter.

Pakistan Claims Gain In Offensive On Taliban - Matthew Rosenberg and Remat Mehsud, Wall Street Journal. Pakistan soldiers moved to try to encircle Taliban and al Qaeda militants in the South Waziristan mountains near the Afghan border, in a high-stakes offensive aimed at crushing the insurgency in its toughest stronghold. Military reports Sunday indicated soldiers, whose offensive began before dawn Saturday, were making advances amid stout resistance. Some 30,000 Pakistani soldiers were moving into the area from three directions to face as many as 10,000 Pakistani and foreign militants, many of them veterans of battles in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were said to be fleeing South Waziristan to neighboring areas. "There is a full-fledged war-like situation here, and we are packing to flee however we can find a way, but there is no safe passage," said Muhammad Nawaz, 29 years old, in a telephone interview from the Taliban-controlled town of Makeen. The area is closed to reporters. The army has failed in previous attempts to reassert its control over the area. Instead, the government made peace deals with the Taliban faction that controls the region. But officials say a wave of terror attacks that left more than 160 people dead in the past two weeks has stiffened their resolve, and there will be no deals in South Waziristan this time.

Pakistan Presses Drive Against Militants - Karin Brulliard and Haq Nawaz Khan, Washington Post. The Pakistani army pushed farther into a mountainous Taliban and al-Qaeda haven Sunday, as civilians continued to flow out of an area that has become a full-fledged battleground. On the second day of a ground offensive in the restive border region of South Waziristan, the military said at least 60 militants and five soldiers had been killed. The Pakistani Taliban, which the government says has plotted a cascade of recent attacks on security forces from its base in the area, told the Associated Press that its fighters had inflicted "heavy casualties" against the army. The fight in South Waziristan is a key test for Pakistan's military, which is tasked with shattering a rising Islamist insurgency that has killed nearly 200 people in bombings and gunfights in the past two weeks. American officials, who have urged Pakistan to get tougher on militants operating on its soil, say the region is also a hub for militants who plan attacks on US-led forces across the border in Afghanistan. There was no way to independently verify the army or Taliban statements. The military, which has deployed about 30,000 troops to the region, has blocked entry points into the war zone. But residents who left the area this weekend said they had heard explosions and shootouts and seen masked, heavily armed militants swarming outside towns.

Pakistan Closes in on Taliban Leader's South Waziristan Strongholds - Saeed Shah and Daud Khan, Daily Telegraph. Pakistan's armed forces are closing in on the stronghold of Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, with heavy losses reported on both sides. Troops were advancing towards the towns of Makeen and Ladha in the mountainous region of South Waziristan, in a military offensive that could prove decisive in the country's struggle against Islamic extremism. On the second day of the long-awaited ground operation, soldiers on three sides approached the area held by the fearsome Mehsud tribe, which forms the backbone of the Pakistani Taliban movement. The Pakistan army reported killing 60 militants while claiming it had lost nine soldiers and 11 were injured. Azam Tariq, a Taliban spokesman, said: "They're trying to enter our land from all sides but we've repulsed their assault and they've suffered heavy losses. "The government has put the country's sovereignty at stake to please [Barack] Obama ... we'll attack his well-wishers everywhere." Soldiers moving from the southeast captured a Taliban base at Spinkai Raghzai on Saturday after the militants fled to nearby mountains. On Sunday, troops advancing from the southwest met dogged resistance as they tried to push into the Taliban-held town of Khaisora. The main stronghold of Hakimullah Mehsud is Makeen and the advancing troops have yet to reach into that zone.

Taliban Resists Major Assault by Pakistan - Amanda Hodge, The Australian. Pakistani troops pounded Taliban forces for a second day yesterday in the lawless South Waziristan tribal area as reports emerged that as many as 12,000 local and foreign militants were fiercely resisting the long-awaited ground offensive. As many as 28,000 soldiers have flooded the South Waziristan tribal agency in recent days, sealing off the Taliban stronghold in the central west of the Mehsud clan-dominated region, away from the Afghanistan border, and seizing several Taliban bases. Officials said yesterday the military had established checkpoints on all fronts to prevent militants spilling over the porous Pakistan-Afghan border or north into the bordering North Waziristan agency, dominated by the Wazir tribe. "The operation will continue until the objectives are achieved. The army has blocked all entry and exit points of Waziristan," Major General Athar Abbas said. The military operation in South Waziristan follows repeated requests from the US to eliminate Taliban and al-Qa'ida safe havens within Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas that now serve as the launching pad for attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan and terrorist plots against the West. The Tehrik-e-Taliban (Pakistan Taliban) is believed to control about half of South Waziristan, home to the Mehsud tribesmen who are veterans of every major campaign in the region, including the 1980s Afghan war against the Soviet Union. Security officials said 20 militants and five soldiers had been killed in the operation, which has displaced 150,000 civilians.

Taleban Militants Put Up Stern Resistance to South Waziristan Offensive - Zahid Hussain, The Times. The Pakistani Army faced resistance from the Taleban on the second day of an assault on the mountainous tribal region of South Waziristan yesterday, raising fears of a drawn-out battle. The army said that it had made significant advances and killed at least 60 militants in the first 24 hours of the long-awaited ground offensive on a region considered to be the main Taleban and al-Qaeda stronghold in Pakistan. Residents and local officials from the area on the Afghan border said that the insurgents were attacking military convoys as they advanced from three directions on the area controlled by Hakimullah Mehsud, the Taleban leader. “They have sophisticated weapons and are trying to block the troops’ advance,” a local reporter in Wana, the regional headquarters, said. The Taleban said that it repelled the attack, inflicting heavy casualties but losing only one of its fighters. Azam Tariq, a spokesman for the Taleban, said: “The Government has put the country’s sovereignty at stake to please Obama ... we’ll attack his well-wishers everywhere.” About 30,000 army troops, backed by fighter jets and helicopter gunships, began the assault on Saturday. They aim to kill or capture Mr Mehsud and his followers, who have been blamed for attacks across Pakistan in the past fortnight.

Pakistan Says 60 Militants Killed; Taliban Says it Pushed Back Troops - Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times. On the second day of Pakistan's major offensive to uproot the Taliban from tribal areas along the Afghan border, the military claimed to have killed 60 militants, while the Taliban countered that it had fended off the troops' initial onslaught. Wildly differing interpretations of progress being made on both sides are expected to continue as the military proceeds with its most crucial ground operation so far in its war against Islamic militants. Pakistani army officials said Sunday that 60 militants and five soldiers were killed during the first 24 hours of the offensive, in which thousands of troops have been moved into a large section of South Waziristan considered a stronghold for militants loyal to Taliban leader Hakimullah Mahsud and his predecessor, Baitullah Mahsud, as well as Al Qaeda fighters. Baitullah Mahsud was killed in a US drone strike Aug. 5. The military also said it had destroyed six Taliban antiaircraft gun positions and found locations that Taliban militants fled, leaving behind their firearms and ammunition. Pakistani fighter jets Sunday pounded suspected Taliban hide-outs in the villages of Ladha and Makeen, military officials said.

Flow of Terrorist Recruits Increasing - Craig Whitlock, Washington Post. Midway through a propaganda video released last month by a group calling itself the German Taliban, a surprise guest made an appearance: a cleanshaven, muscular gunman sporting the alias Abu Ibrahim the American. The gunman did not speak but wore military fatigues and waved his rifle as subtitles identified him as an American. The video contained a stream of threats against Germany if it did not withdraw its troops from the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan. Although the American's part in the film lasted only a few seconds, it has alarmed German and US intelligence officials, who are still puzzling over his background, his real identity and how he became involved with the terrorist group. US and European counterterrorism officials say a rising number of Western recruits - including Americans - are traveling to Afghanistan and Pakistan to attend paramilitary training camps. The flow of recruits has continued unabated, officials said, in spite of an intensified campaign over the past year by the CIA to eliminate al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders in drone missile attacks.

Why South Waziristan Offensive Won't Help US in Afghanistan - Mark Sappenfield, Christian Science Monitor. Pakistan's offensive into South Waziristan is targeting the terrorists who have wreaked havoc in Pakistan during recent weeks and not those attacking American troops in Afghanistan. None of the three terror groups singled out as the greatest threat to American troops - according to the commander of US forces in Afghanistan - is based in South Waziristan. This has been a notable feature of Pakistani antiterror efforts from 9/11 to today. The Army and its intelligence resources have focused their attention on terrorists seen to be a threat to the Pakistani state and done much less to curb those focusing on India or Afghanistan. After 9/11, former Preisdent Pervez Musharraf turned over several top Al Qaeda leaders but refrained from cracking down on the Taliban. Now, one element of the Taliban, known as the Tehreek-i-Taliban, has turned against Pakistan, and the Pakistan Army is focusing on their stronghold in South Waziristan. The same was true earlier this year, when the Pakistani Army routed terrorists attacking Pakistan from the Swat Valley.

Inside the Islamic Emirate - David Rohde, New York Times. I was one of dozens of journalists who had written articles detailing how Al Qaeda and the Taliban had turned the tribal areas into their new stronghold after being driven from Afghanistan in 2001. I had watched the Pakistani government, then led by President Pervez Musharraf, largely stand by as the Taliban murdered tribal elders and seized control of the area. Now, an abstract foreign policy issue was deeply personal. When my wife and family learned that I was in the tribal areas, their distress would increase exponentially. They would expect that I would never return. We arrived in a large town, and I spotted a sign that said “Wana” in English. Wana is the capital of South Waziristan, the most radical area of the seven administrative districts that make up the tribal areas. We stopped in the main bazaar, and I was left alone in the car with the young driver. Desperate rationalizations swirled through my mind. Our captors wanted a ransom and prisoners. Killing us got them nothing. The three of us would survive. They were all delusions, of course. Simply getting us this far was an enormous victory for them. We would be held here for months or killed.

An Intermediate Option - Stephen J. Solarz and Michael O'Hanlon, Washington Times opinion. Many ideas for "intermediate options" for Afghanistan are gaining momentum in the Washington debate. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's request for tens of thousands of additional NATO (meaning US) troops stands at one extreme, and a return to the minimalist counterterrorism strategy associated with former Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld stands at the other. Those uncomfortable with both are proposing alternatives. The motivations for such intermediate options are understandable. But in fact, most of the ideas are already inherent in the new concepts that Gen. McChrystal, supported by US Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry, have brought to the mission since their arrival in the spring. They are not alternatives to current strategy; they are elements of it. One intermediate option is both promising and different from Gen. McChrystal's concept: the idea of tying our future increases in American resources for Afghanistan to reciprocating measures by the Afghan government. This conditionality approach, if successful, ultimately will lead us toward the path favored by the existing US command, but only if Afghans do their part and only over time.

Yes, the Taleban are Being Thumped But... - Anatol Lieven, The Times opinion. The Pakistani Government and Army have finally decided to heed the words of a former ruler: “No patchwork scheme - and all our recent schemes, blockades, allowances etc are mere patchwork - will settle the Waziristan problem. Not until the military steamroller has passed over the country from end to end will here be peace.” Did Pervez Musharraf, the former President, say that? No, it was Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, more than 100 years ago. And for both strategic and humanitarian reasons Curzon added: “I do not want to be the person to start the machine.” The inhabitants of Waziristan have resisted outside conquest since time immemorial. That is why Pakistan continued the British tradition of indirect rule, and kept only minimal forces in the region. So crushing the local Taleban and establishing Pakistani authority in South Waziristan is going to be a long, bloody business in the face of bitter opposition backed by much of the local population - a population motivated as much by old tribal traditions of resistance as by support for the Taleban. This operation will cause great suffering to civilians and lead to deep unhappiness among many Pashtun troops in the Pakistani Army. That is why, like Curzon’s government of India, Pakistan has hesitated for so long before “starting the machine”. The last time it did so on a large scale under US pressure in 2004-05, it suffered humiliating reverses and was forced to make a series of peace deals.

Europe's Angst over Afghanistan - Jackson Diehl, Washington Post opinion. As the president and his National Security Council privately debate whether to send tens of thousands of troops to war, America's European allies watch with a mixture of anxiety and anguish. They know that if the deployment goes forward, they will be asked to make their own difficult and politically costly contributions of soldiers or other personnel. But they are, if anything, even more worried that the American president will choose a feckless strategy for what they consider a critical mission. And they are frustrated that they must watch and wait - and wait and wait - for the president to make up his mind. "Everyone is waiting for what is going to be decided in the Oval Office, without having any chance to have our say," moans a senior commander in one European army. No, Norwegian Nobel Committee, this is not George W. Bush but Barack Obama, the president lionized for favoring harmonious collaboration with the rest of the world. It's fair to say that Obama has tried harder than Bush to coordinate policy with US allies. But his deliberations on Afghanistan are demonstrating how some fundamentals of being a superpower never really change. For example, when you're supplying 70 percent of the troops for a war and doing 90 percent of the fighting, your allies may just have to cool their heels while you decide whether to escalate, hold steady or blow up your strategy.

IRAQ

Awakening Leader's Tale Illustrates Iraq's Volatility - Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times. The Sunni Muslim paramilitary leader's campaign slogan holds the promise of imminent rescue: "Hold on, we are coming." But the aspiring parliamentary candidate, Mustafa Kamal Shibeeb, may not be in a position to deliver on his slogan: He's a fugitive, with murder charges hanging over his head from events at the height of the US troop buildup two years ago. Already, police commandos have tried to grab him twice, only to be blocked by an Iraqi army unit, with tacit support from US forces. Shibeeb's story reveals the volatility of today's Iraq, where Sunni-Shiite tensions are just one of the conflicts at play. His vulnerability illustrates how the Iraqi government and security forces remain subject to competing political and tribal pressures, and score-settling, that risk igniting new violence. If Shibeeb is jailed, it could leave a power vacuum in Dora, a region of sprawling urban neighborhoods and pristine farmland that served as a launching pad for suicide attacks into Baghdad before Shibeeb asserted control. His incarceration also could be seized upon as further indication of the limits of reconciliation in Iraq, where Sunni former military commanders and insurgents are viewed with suspicion and sometimes targeted because of old grudges or political rivalries.

IRAN

Suicide Blast in Iran Kills Top Revolutionary Guard Leaders - Elizabeth Arrott, Voice of America. Iranian state media report that a suicide bomber in the troubled southeast killed at least 30 people early Sunday, including six commanders of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard force. Iranian state media say the suicide bomb blast killed the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards ground forces and the commander of the Guards in the troubled Sistan Baluchistan region, which borders Pakistan. The reports say the attacker targeted people gathering in the city of Pisheen for a reconciliation meeting between local Shi'ite and Sunni leaders. Minority Sunni groups, in particular ethnic Baluchis, have long complained of discrimination in the Shi'ite dominated country. The chief prosecutor in the region was quoted as saying the Sunni insurgent group Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, claimed responsibility for the attack. There has been no direct word from the group, which has carried out anti-government attacks in the past.

Suicide Bomber Strikes in SE Iran - Najmeh Bozorgmehr, Washington Post. At least five senior commanders in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps and more than 20 tribal leaders and others were killed by a suicide bomber Sunday in the deadliest attack against the Islamic regime in more than two decades. The deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard's ground forces, Nourali Shoushtari, was among those killed. The attack in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, highlights the pressures facing the government at a critical time in its nuclear negotiations with the West. It also will raise speculation that Iran's ethnic and religious minorities are seeking to take advantage of unrest in the wake of June's disputed presidential election. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose reelection in June prompted mass opposition protests in the capital, accused unspecified foreigners of complicity. "The criminals will soon get the response for their anti-human crimes," he said, according to Iran's official news agency.

Twin Bombings Kill Guard Commanders in Iran - Michael Slackman, New York Times. At least five commanders of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps were killed and dozens of other people were left dead and wounded on Sunday in two bombings in the restive southeast along Iran’s frontier with Pakistan, according to Iranian state news agencies. The coordinated strike, one of the largest against the Guards in the region, appeared to mark an escalation in hostilities between Iran’s leadership and the Baluchi ethnic minority. Iranian officials accused foreign enemies of supporting the insurgents, singling out the United States the day before Iran is set to meet for another round of delicate talks on its nuclear program with several Western countries. “There is no doubt that this violent and inhumane act was part of the strategy of foreigners and enemies of the regime and the revolution to destroy unity between Shias and Sunnis and create divisions among the unified ranks of the great Iranian people,” said a statement issued by the Revolutionary Guards through the official IRNA news service.

Suicide Bomb Kills 5 Senior Iran Military Officers - Farnaz Fassihi, Wall Street Journal. A suicide bombing in Iran's restive southeast on Sunday killed at least 42 people - including five senior Revolutionary Guard Corps officers - and injured dozens of others, according to state media. The attack took place in the Sistan-Baluchistan province, a region long plagued by Sunni insurgents who have in the past targeted Iranian soldiers and Revolutionary Guard officers. But Sunday's violence comes as Tehran struggles on another front: keeping a lid on protests and opposition activities across the country after contested presidential elections in June. Poll-related unrest had largely died down after months of crackdowns on demonstrators, the opposition and the media. But authorities haven't been able to completely stifle an antiregime movement that, in the days immediately after the election, staged the country's biggest protests since the Iranian Revolution 30 years ago. Iranian state media said a Sunni insurgency group, Jundallah, which had claimed responsibility for a series of previous attacks, said it was responsible for Sunday's bloodshed. The claim couldn't be independently verified. Mr. Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials vowed swift reprisal, and blamed foreign backing for the attacks.

Dozens killed in suicide attack on Iran's Revolutionary Guard - Jeffrey Fleishman and Ramin Mostaghim, Los Angeles Times. In a brazen attack on Iran's military elite, a suicide bomber on Sunday killed six Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders and 36 others at a gathering of tribal leaders in a southeastern province near the Pakistani border known for drug running and religious extremism, according to the official Iranian news agency. The assault was carried out by a lone man who reportedly disguised himself in tribal dress and detonated an explosives belt at a gymnasium in the city of Pisheen in Sistan-Baluchistan, a harsh land beset by heroin smuggling and ethnic animosities. At least 28 people were wounded, and images of carnage were broadcast across a stunned nation. State media said the Sunni Muslim militant group Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, which operates along the Iranian-Pakistani border, claimed responsibility for the attack. The organization, part of a regional Sunni insurgency in Shiite-dominated Iran, has for years killed and kidnapped Iranian soldiers and police officers. The bombing highlighted the increasing dangers in a region near the intersection of Iran and two of its troubled neighbors: Afghanistan, where US forces are battling a resurgent Taliban, and Pakistan, where the military this weekend launched a major offensive against Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

Suicide Attack on Iran's Revolutionary Guard Leaves 42 Dead - Catherine Philp and Sheera Frenkel, The Times. Iran vowed revenge on Britain and the US yesterday after blaming them for a devastating suicide attack against the elite Revolutionary Guards that killed 42 people, including six senior commanders. The bombing, at a Revolutionary Guards gathering in the turbulent southeast of the country, was the worst attack on the powerful unit in recent years. Responsibility was swiftly claimed by Jundallah, a militant Sunni group that has regularly attacked the Guards in its battle against the Government and the Shia majority. It is thought to operate across the lawless border with Pakistan. Last night Islamabad’s Ambassador to Tehran was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, which protested against “the use of Pakistani territory by the terrorists” against Iran. But the harshest words were reserved for the US and Britain, which Tehran accused of backing Jundallah in an attempt to overthrow the Islamic regime. The Guards blamed the bombing on “terrorists” backed by “the Great Satan America and its ally Britain”. An official military statement added: “Not in the distant future we will take revenge. There is no doubt that this savage and inhuman act falls within the Satanic strategy of the foreigners and enemies of the regime, who are trying to break the unity among the Shias and Sunnis.”

Iran Bombing Kills 5 Revolutionary Guard Leaders - Ali Akbar Dareini and Brian Murphy, Associated Press. A suicide bomber killed five senior commanders of the powerful Revolutionary Guard and at least 37 others Sunday near the Pakistani border in the heartland of a potentially escalating Sunni insurgency. The attack - which also left dozens wounded - was the most high-profile strike against security forces in an outlaw region of armed tribal groups, drug smugglers and Sunni rebels known as Jundallah, or Soldiers of God. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised sharp retaliation. But a sweeping offensive by authorities is unlikely. Iranian officials have been reluctant to open full-scale military operations in the southeastern border zone, fearing it could become a hotspot for sectarian violence with the potential to draw in al-Qaida and Sunni militants from nearby Pakistan and Afghanistan. The region's top prosecutor, Mohammad Marzieh, was quoted by the semi-official ISNA news agency as saying Jundallah claimed responsibility for the blast in the Pishin district near the Pakistani border.

Iran Blames Britain and US for Suicide Bombing - Richard Spencer, Daily Telegraph. Iran accused Britain and America of orchestrating a suicide bomb attack that killed 49 people including seven senior officers in the Revolutionary Guard. The attack on a group arriving at a meeting with tribal leaders in the city of Sarbaz, near the border with Pakistan, was claimed by a Sunni rebel group, state media said. But officials said it was backed by "elements linked to the global arrogance" - a euphemism for the United States and Britain. State television news said: "Some informed sources said the British government was directly involved in the terrorist attack... by organising, supplying equipment and employing professional terrorists." The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ari Larijani, directly accused the United States. "We consider the recent terrorist attack to be the result of US action," he said. "This is a sign of America's animosity against our country. Mr. Obama has said he will extend his hand towards Iran, but with this terrorist action he has burned his hand." The rebels, known as Jundullah or Soldiers of Allah, are ethnic Baluchis from the south-east corner of Iran. They are Sunni Muslims, in contrast to Iran's Shia majority, and have close ties to Pakistan's Baluchistan province. The group has committed a string of attacks in recent years against government and Shia targets, most recently a bombing in a mosque in the city of Zahedan which killed 25 people.

Volatile Sistan-Baluchistan Region Is Base for Insurgents - Chip Cummins, Wall Street Journal. Sunni insurgency in Sistan-Baluchistan has presented Tehran with one of its most vexing domestic security problems. The region, which is located in Iran's southeast corner, borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and is one of the largest and poorest of Iran's 30 provinces. Sistan-Baluchistan is home to a large concentration of Sunni Muslims. Ethnic Baluchi tribes are prevalent in the region, which straddles all three countries. The province's border areas are considered key smuggling routes for products including opium. Increasingly, Tehran has grown worried about the influence of the Taliban and al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan on criminal and militant groups operating on the Iranian side of the border. Apart from its drugs trade and lawlessness, the region is seen by Tehran as a top security priority because of Pakistan's close ties to Iranian arch-nemesis Saudi Arabia. The two Muslim powerhouses have backed rival proxies across the Middle East. Tehran has long suspected Saudi Arabia of backing Sunni insurgents, such as Jundallah - the group Iran blamed for Sunday's attacks. Saudi Arabia has denied those accusations. A spokesman for Pakistan's foreign ministry said Sunday that Islamabad was looking into the attack, but said it wasn't planned from Pakistan.

Russia Worries About the Price of Oil, Not a Nuclear Iran - Garry Kasparov, Wall Street Journal opinion. Last Wednesday in Moscow, the remaining illusions the Obama administration held for cooperation with Russia on the Iranian nuclear program were thrown in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's face. Stronger sanctions against Iran would be "counterproductive," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, just days after President Dmitry Medvedev said sanctions were likely inevitable. This apparent inconsistency should remind us that Mr. Medvedev is little more than a well-placed spectator, and that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who discounted sanctions in a statement from Beijing, is still the voice that matters. This slap comes after repeated concessions - canceling the deployment of missile defenses in Eastern Europe, muted criticism of Russia's sham regional elections - from the White House. Washington's conciliatory steps have given the Kremlin's rulers confidence they have nothing to fear from Mr. Obama on anything that matters. And nothing matters more to Mr. Putin and his oligarchs than the price of oil. Even with oil at $70 a barrel, Russia's economy is in bad straits. Tension in the Middle East, even an outbreak of war, would push energy prices higher. A nuclear-armed Iran would, of course, be harmful to Russian national security, but prolonging the crisis is beneficial to the interests of the ruling elite: making money and staying in power. The Obama administration's foreign policy has directed a great deal of optimism and good will toward friends and foes. Such a cheery outlook is commendable as long as it does not clash with reality. Unfortunately, there were several clashes in the past week.

THE LONG WAR

Civilian Courts Are No Place to Try Terrorists - Michael B. Mukasey, Wall Street Journal opinion. The Obama administration has said it intends to try several of the prisoners now detained at Guantanamo Bay in civilian courts in this country. This would include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and other detainees allegedly involved. The Justice Department claims that our courts are well suited to the task. Based on my experience trying such cases, and what I saw as attorney general, they aren't. That is not to say that civilian courts cannot ever handle terrorist prosecutions, but rather that their role in a war on terror - to use an unfashionably harsh phrase - should be, as the term "war" would suggest, a supporting and not a principal role. The challenges of a terrorism trial are overwhelming. To maintain the security of the courthouse and the jail facilities where defendants are housed, deputy US marshals must be recruited from other jurisdictions; jurors must be selected anonymously and escorted to and from the courthouse under armed guard; and judges who preside over such cases often need protection as well. All such measures burden an already overloaded justice system and interfere with the handling of other cases, both criminal and civil.

UNITED STATES

The Danger of Obama's Dithering - John R. Bolton, Los Angeles Times opinion. Weakness in American foreign policy in one region often invites challenges elsewhere, because our adversaries carefully follow diminished American resolve. Similarly, presidential indecisiveness, whether because of uncertainty or internal political struggles, signals that the United States may not respond to international challenges in clear and coherent ways. Taken together, weakness and indecisiveness have proved historically to be a toxic combination for America's global interests. That is exactly the combination we now see under President Obama. If anything, his receiving the Nobel Peace Prize only underlines the problem. All of Obama's campaign and inaugural talk about "extending an open hand" and "engagement," especially the multilateral variety, isn't exactly unfolding according to plan. Entirely predictably, we see more clearly every day that diplomacy is not a policy but only a technique. Absent presidential leadership, which at a minimum means clear policy direction and persistence in the face of criticism and adversity, engagement simply embodies weakness and indecision. Obama is no Harry Truman. At best, he is reprising Jimmy Carter. At worst, the real precedent may be Ethelred the Unready, the turn-of the-first-millennium Anglo-Saxon king whose reputation for indecisiveness and his unsuccessful paying of Danegeld - literally, "Danish tax" - to buy off Viking raiders made him history's paradigmatic weak leader.

UNITED KINGDOM

Hillary Clinton Suffers ‘Mis-speaking’ Relapse with Belfast Bomb Claims - David Sharrock, The Times. Hillary Clinton has been caught out “mis-speaking” again in a manner that suggests that she hasn’t learnt from past experiences of her globe-trotting, “lily-gilding” speeches. The US Secretary of State was exposed during her battle with Barack Obama to become the Democratic presidential nominee over her claims to have landed in Bosnia under sniper fire. She was even described as “a wee bit silly” for claiming greater credit than was her due for the Irish peace process, having made several visits to Northern Ireland as First Lady. She was back in Belfast last week, giving a gentle push to politicians dragging their heels over a final piece in the peace process jigsaw. But according to the Sunday Life newspaper, during a speech she made to the Stormont parliament she said that Belfast’s landmark Europa Hotel was devastated by an explosion when she first stayed there in 1995. The Europa, where most journalists covering the decades-long conflict stayed, was famed as Europe’s most bombed hotel, earning the moniker “the Hardboard Hotel”. However, the last Provisional IRA bomb to damage the Europa was detonated in 1993, two years before President Clinton and his wife checked in for the night.

AFRICA

ZANU-PF Says Zimbabwe Gov't Will Operate Without MDC - Voice of America. Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF party says government business will continue despite the MDC party's decision to stop working with its unity government partner. The state-run Sunday Mail newspaper quotes Information Minister George Charamba as saying a cabinet meeting will go ahead as scheduled on Tuesday and that binding decisions will be made. On Friday, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said the MDC was "disengaging" from ZANU-PF, though he stopped short of withdrawing from the government. The prime minister called ZANU-PF a dishonest and unreliable partner and said the party has ignored last year's power-sharing deal. Charamba was dismissive of the MDC's protest, saying President Robert Mugabe has been too busy with ceremonial duties to react. Tensions between ZANU-PF and the MDC have been constant since the unity government was formed early this year. Regional leaders pressured the parties to share power after last year's disputed and violence-plagued elections.

Party Rift Grows Wider in Zimbabwe - Celia W. Dugger, New York Times. The spokesman for President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe dismissed the decision made by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party to boycott cabinet meetings as “a non-event” and declared that the cabinet would meet Tuesday as scheduled, the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper reported. The newspaper further quoted the spokesman, George Charamba, as saying the cabinet would make binding decisions, in what appeared to be a further indication of the rift between Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangirai. As officials in Mr. Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change countered that Mr. Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF, could not unilaterally impose their will, they also asked regional leaders to help resolve a set of bitter disputes that threaten to bring down the power-sharing government. Tomas A. Salamao, executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community, a 15-nation bloc, confirmed that Mr. Tsvangirai would meet Tuesday with the president of Mozambique, Armando Guebuza, representing the regional grouping. In recent months, the bloc has declined to get involved in the festering issues that have plagued the unlikely partnership of Mr. Mugabe, who has ruled the country since 1980, and Mr. Tsvangirai, a former union leader who led the political opposition to Mr. Mugabe for a decade.

African Union Backs Arms Embargo on Guinea - Scott Stearns, Voice of America. The African Union is backing a West African arms embargo on Guinea following last month's killing of opposition protesters. The African Union is extending its deadline for military ruler Captain Moussa Camara to declare that he is not running for president. The AU had given Captain Camara until midnight Saturday to make that promise in writing or face unspecified sanctions. But the group's Peace and Security Commission is delaying that decision so it can consult with Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore, who is leading West African efforts to mediate an end to the crisis. The Economic Community of West African States imposed an arms embargo on Guinea Saturday, accusing the military of "mass human rights violations" during a demonstration last month against Captain Camara's expected presidential candidacy. Human rights groups say at least 157 were killed when troops opened fire on protesters. The military government says 57 people died, most in the crush of people fleeing the main sports stadium. The International Criminal Court has opened a preliminary investigation into possible crimes against humanity during that violence.

AMERICAS

Brazil Promises Safe Olympics Despite Gang Wars - Associated Press. At least 2,000 Brazilian police officers patrolled this coastal city Sunday as officials pledged to hold a violence-free 2016 Olympics despite bloody drug gang shootouts that left 14 people dead. An hours-long gun battle Saturday between rival gangs in one of the city's slums killed at least 12 people and injured six. A police helicopter was shot down and eight buses set on fire during the incident. Police said Sunday that they had killed two suspected drug traffickers in overnight clashes near the Morro dos Macacos ("Monkey Hill") slum where the gangs fought for territory. But the area was largely peaceful. Two officers died and four were injured Saturday when bullets from the gang battle ripped into their helicopter hovering overhead, forcing it into a fiery crash landing on a soccer field. Officials said they did not know whether the gangs targeted the helicopter or it was hit by stray bullets. Gunfire on the ground killed 10 suspected gunmen and wounded two bystanders. Authorities said the violence had only toughened their resolve to improve security ahead of the Olympics and before 2014, when Brazil will host the World Cup soccer tournament with key games in Rio, the second-biggest city.

ASIA PACIFIC

Gates to Meet New Japanese Leaders, Talk Security With South Koreans - Al Pessin, Voice of America. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates heads to Japan and South Korea this week with North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and the new Japanese government's defense policies high on the agenda. The visits come just a couple of weeks before President Barack Obama will visit the two countries. Defense officials say the secretary's first stop, Tokyo, will be partly an opportunity to get to know Japan's new leaders. But Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell says serious issues will be discussed related to the new government's decision to end a refueling mission for alliance ships supplying the international effort in Afghanistan and its concerns about plans to relocate some US forces in Japan. "Obviously, I think both those issues will be subject for discussion as the secretary meets with the new Japanese Prime Minister, the foreign minister and his counterpart, the defense minister," he said. The new Japanese ruling party, which took power after 50 years of rule by its political opponents, ran on a platform that promised a more assertive posture toward the United States. Comments by Pentagon officials indicate they hope the new Japanese leaders change their minds and continue the refueling mission, but the US officials also recognize that Japan may decide to help in Afghanistan in other ways, perhaps by training police officers or donating money to development projects.

EUROPE

Decline and Fall - The Times editorial. The German Democratic Republic (GDR) had only three leaders in its 40-year history. The last was Egon Krenz. He succeeded Erich Honecker 20 years ago this weekend. Three weeks later the most visible symbol of communist repression - the prison wall dividing Berlin - came tumbling down. With it fell Mr Krenz’s hopes for a reformed East German socialism. The costs and economic dislocation of a united Germany were huge, but the popular will could not be thwarted. Recalling these events in an interview with The Times, Mr Krenz insists that his role in the transition was noble. He countermanded Honecker’s orders for police to fire on demonstrators. Unsurprisingly, he believes that the financial crisis of the Western economies shows that capitalism cannot be the last word in human affairs. Mr Krenz, now 72, cuts a diminished and impoverished figure. His account of the dying days of communism is valuable, but it should be tested unsparingly against what is known. Mr Krenz played a bit part in a great drama. He concedes that he was late in perceiving the end of the GDR, but his error was not primarily a political judgment. It was a moral one: he fundamentally misunderstood the illegitimacy, as well as the impermanence, of a regime that owed its founding to the Soviet Army and its continued existence to the threat of force. The principal heroes of the fall of the regime were not Mr Krenz and the Politburo but the ordinary East Germans who had taken heart from the visit of Mikhail Gorbachev earlier in October 1989. Some 200,000 protesters assembled in Leipzig to demand free elections.

MIDDLE EAST

Israel's Cabinet Rejects UN War Crimes Report - Robert Berger, Voice of America. Israel is brushing off last week's resolution of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which endorsed a report accusing the Jewish state of war crimes during the Gaza conflict. Israel's Cabinet angrily rejected the United Nations resolution, saying the army's three-week assault on the Gaza Strip last December and January was legitimate self-defense. Israel will defend itself at any price," said Cabinet Minister Yossi Peled. "This is a duty and a right." The Goldstone Report endorsed by the UN Human Right Council on Friday accuses Israel of war crimes during the Gaza conflict. But the Cabinet said Israel was responding to years of Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamic militant group Hamas. The report also accuses Hamas of war crimes, but the international focus has been on Israeli actions which killed at least 1,100 Palestinians, many of them civilians. Cabinet Minster Yuval Shteinitz accused the international community of a double standard. Steinitz said it is an anti-Semitic resolution in which the same right of self-defense that is allowed to the United States in Afghanistan and Russia in Chechnya is denied to Israel in the Gaza Strip. The Goldstone Report will now go to the UN Security Council which could refer it to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Steinitz warned that if the Palestinians continue to incite against Israel in every international forum, it will harm the peace process. He said Israel "will not continue to turn the other cheek."

The UN Sides with Terrorists - Washington Times editorial. Suppose a United Nations investigation team found that the United States had committed war crimes in its response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The report finds that while al Qaeda may have been culpable for the attacks and the carnage they wreaked, America was equally to blame - if not more so - for the civilian deaths caused during Operation Enduring Freedom. The UN instructs the United States to conduct an internal investigation and punish the perpetrators, or face action from the International Criminal Court. This is the framework established by the Goldstone Commission Report, which is the product of an investigation led by South African judge Richard Goldstone. Its target was Israel's war against the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza last January. The United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed the report on Friday, and it will now move to the international body's New York headquarters for further action. On a factual level, the Goldstone report is notoriously flawed and one-sided. Much of the 575-page document was cut and pasted from unsubstantiated and suspect reports from nongovernmental organizations with openly anti-Israel sentiments. Some of the "witnesses" interviewed by the mission were disguised Hamas officials. The fact that Hamas loves the report should raise eyebrows about its contents.

Another Mysterious Explosion in Southern Lebanon Panics Residents - Edward Yeranian, Voice of America. An explosion early Sunday in southern Lebanon, close to the Israeli border, caused residents to panic and reportedly prompted the Lebanese Army to fire anti-aircraft guns into the air. It's not immediately clear what caused the blast, although Hezbollah supporters are rushing to accuse Israel. The explosion, early Sunday, between the southern Lebanese border towns of Houla and Mais al-Jabal is the latest in a series of unexplained blasts to hit the region, over the past month. United Nations peacekeeping forces (UNIFIL) were quickly sent to the area to investigate. Lebanon's Future TV, quoting a UNIFIL official, indicated that it was too soon to determine exactly what happened, but that "results of the investigation would be announced, as soon as they are available." Voix du Liban Radio reported that Lebanese Army troops in the garrison town of Marjayoun fired anti-aircraft guns at Israeli drones, which overflew the area. The radio also claimed that the drones destroyed part of a Hezbollah communications link. Lebanon's official government news agency also accused Israel of blowing up Hezbollah communications equipment, but it was impossible to verify the claim.

SOUTH ASIA

Officials Say Investor's Donations Wound Up With Sri Lanka Rebels - Evan Perez and Eric Bellman, Wall Street Journal. Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge-fund billionaire charged as part of a vast insider-trading case, surfaced in an earlier, separate probe into US fund raising by a Sri Lankan terrorist group, people familiar with the probe said. As part of that investigation, federal agents said they uncovered documents showing Mr. Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group, was among several wealthy Sri Lankans in the US whose donations to a Maryland-based charity made their way to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, these people said. The LTTE, known as the Tamil Tigers, fought against the government of Sri Lanka in a brutal separatist war from 1976 until the LTTE was defeated in May. Mr. Rajaratnam, 52 years old, was among six people arrested Friday in what the Federal Bureau of Investigation said is the largest-ever hedge-fund insider-trading case. Federal prosecutors charged Mr. Rajaratnam with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

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.