President Barack Obama says he will announce his highly anticipated decision on US strategy in Afghanistan over the next several weeks. The president says the decision will put the United States and its NATO allies on a path toward winning the war. During his visit to Beijing Wednesday, President Obama told NBC television his long-awaited decision on Afghanistan will address every aspect of US strategy in the war. "I am confident that at the end of this process I am going to be able to present to the American people, in very clear terms, what exactly is at stake, what we intend to do, how we are going to succeed, how much it is going to cost, how long it is going to take," he said.

-- Voice of America

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN

Debate Shifts to Afghan Exit Plan - Peter Spiegel and Yochi J. Dreazen, Wall Street Journal. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have turned the focus of Afghan war planning toward an exit strategy, publicly declaring that the US and its allies can't send additional troops without a plan for getting them out. The shift has unnerved some US and foreign officials, who say that planning a pullout now - with or without a specific timetable - encourages the Taliban to wait out foreign forces and exacerbates fears in the region that the US isn't fully committed to their security. "It's not a good idea," said Rep. Ike Skelton (D., Mo.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. "When the area has been stabilized...then it's time to go home. But to set up a timetable for people in that neck of the woods, they'll just wait us out," said Rep. Skelton, a prominent supporter of proposals by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Kabul, to send more troops for a counterinsurgency campaign. Mr. Obama isn't asking for the firm, publicly declared handover dates in Afghanistan that were the feature of early Iraq war plans, according to senior administration and military officials. Instead, the officials said, the administration wants the Pentagon to identify key milestones for Afghanistan to meet, in its governance and the capability of its security forces, and then give a rough sense of when each objective is likely to be achieved. Reaching these goals would allow the US role to shift away from direct combat, allowing troop levels to decline.

Obama: Afghanistan Decision Due in Next Several Weeks - Kent Klein, Voice of America. President Barack Obama says he will announce his highly anticipated decision on US strategy in Afghanistan over the next several weeks. The president says the decision will put the United States and its NATO allies on a path toward winning the war. During his visit to Beijing Wednesday, President Obama told NBC television his long-awaited decision on Afghanistan will address every aspect of US strategy in the war. "I am confident that at the end of this process I am going to be able to present to the American people, in very clear terms, what exactly is at stake, what we intend to do, how we are going to succeed, how much it is going to cost, how long it is going to take," he said. The president said he wants to ensure that when US forces eventually finish their mission, they will leave behind a stable Afghanistan. "Creating a situation in which our footprint is smaller and Afghan security forces can do the job of keeping their country together," he said. "They are not there yet. They need help from us, and that is exactly what our strategy is going to be designed to do."

Decisions Will Pave Path to End War, Obama Says - Michael J. Carden, American Forces Press Service. A range of decisions still remain for President Barack Obama and his administration to finalize the US strategy in Afghanistan, the president said in Beijing today. In separate interviews with traveling press, Obama said Afghans have to responsible for their own security and Pakistan has to be more effectively involved. “There are a range of things that we know we have to do,” the president told CBS correspondent Chip Reid. “At this point, it’s a matter of fine-tuning a strategy that we can be confident will be successful and also won’t be open-ended.” Obama has endured complaints that the process for deciding the way forward in Afghanistan is taking too long. Underscoring the importance of the decision, today he said, "This decision will put us on a path towards ending the war." The overall goal in Afghanistan is national security, protecting US allies and American interests around the globe, Obama said. Also, Afghanistan must be stable enough to eventually create a smaller US footprint there. The president also cited his anger about the recent information leaks regarding the Afghan strategy discussions, calling them inappropriate because of the seriousness of the matter and the lives at risk. The source of the leaks will “absolutely” be fired, he said.

Karzai Sworn In for Second Term as Afghan President - Alissa J. Rubin and Alan Cowell, New York Times. Tainted by a flawed election and allegations of high-level corruption in his regime, President Hamid Karzai was inaugurated Thursday for a second term, saying the Afghan Army should assume full control of the country’s security within five years. “We will decrease the role of international forces,” Mr. Karzai said at a midday ceremony held at the presidential palace in Kabul. “We want our security within five years to be entirely within the hands of the Afghan government and led by Afghans.” The ceremony was the culmination of a fraught and chaotic electoral process that began on Aug. 20 when Afghans went to the polls. Mr. Karzai was proclaimed the winner earlier this month when his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister, withdrew from a run-off after a United Nations-sponsored inquiry found evidence of widespread electoral fraud. His inauguration at this pivotal moment - eight years into the Afghan war as the United States is weighing a new battle strategy - raises the question of what Afghans and American officials can expect of him over the next five years amid doubts about whether he can complete his term. Mr. Karzai faces calls from ordinary Afghans, Western donors, and the United States to root out corruption by overhauling his government. In his inaugural address Thursday, Mr. Karzai said corruption was “very dangerous issue,” news reports said, and he promised that a conference would be held soon in Kabul to address the issue.

Karzai Sworn in as Afghanistan President - Laura King, Los Angeles Times. Hamid Karzai was sworn in today for a second-five year term as Afghanistan's president, assuming leadership of a war-battered nation and a government that the West is demanding be cleansed of corruption. The ceremony took place in a soaring, white-columned chamber in the fortresslike presidential palace, before an audience of Afghan and foreign dignitaries, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clad in his trademark multicolored cape and lambs-wool hat, Karzai strode into the palace, greeted by a military guard standing at smart attention. He waved and saluted, to the strains of a slightly out-of-tune brass band. The oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Abdul Salam Azimi. Standing at a flower-bedecked podium, Karzai was solemn-faced as he intoned, "I swear to uphold the constitution of the country and protect the people of Afghanistan." For many Afghans, though, the spectacle underlined an acute sense of disillusionment with their leader.

Karzai Sworn In, Offers Few Specifics on Corruption - Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times. President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second full term Thursday, promising to fight corruption but offering little in terms of specifics, as hundreds of foreign dignitaries watched for signs of his determination to rid his government of graft and cronyism. In his speech, Mr. Karzai, 51, also set the ambitious goals of having Afghan forces take over security across the country and ending Afghanistan's reliance on private security companies by the end of his new five-year term. "Corruption is a very dangerous enemy of the state," he said, a day after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pressured him to implement meaningful reforms across the government. "Those who spread corruption should be tried and prosecuted." However, Mr. Karzai did not say what concrete measures he will take beyond convening an international conference in Kabul in ways to tackle corruption. On Monday, he announced the creation of an anti-corruption unit, but US officials are skeptical about implementation. Mrs. Clinton urged Mr. Karzai upon her arrival in Kabul late Wednesday to "seize this moment" and implement serious anti-corruption measures. "They have done some work on that, but in our view, not nearly enough to demonstrate a seriousness of purpose to tackle corruption," she told reporters traveling with her. "We are concerned about corruption. We obviously think it has an impact on the quality and capacity of governance." Mr. Karzai's legitimacy with both Afghans and Western leaders suffered after August elections that were marred by massive fraud. A UN-backed probe declared about a third of the votes he received as invalid.

Hamid Karzai Sworn in for Second Term as Afghanistan President - Ben Farmer, Daily Telegraph. Hamid Karzai pledged to tackle corruption and said he wanted Afghan forces to take over security of the country within five years as he was sworn in for a second term as president. Mr Karzai also called for a national tribal council to seek peace with Afghanistan’s insurgents. He made his announcement as 800 guests watched him inaugurated amid tight security in his fortified palace in the heart of Kabul. His inauguration speech had been keenly awaited by western backers losing patience with his government which is widely seen as corrupt and ineffective. London and Washington had both said they wanted clear signals he would clear up his regime as they both face growing domestic opposition to their involvement in the county. During the speech he said the country's "culture of impunity" would come to an end, saying corruption was a “dangerous problem”. "We will soon organise a conference in Kabul to organise new and effective ways to combat this problem," he added. He said a Loya Jirga council was necessary for peace and reconciliation and also vowed action against the production and trafficking of drugs. As he took office, took an oath swore on the Koran to implement the constitution, defend Afghanistan's territorial integrity and independence and improve the lives of ordinary Afghans.

Clinton: Afghanistan Faces Critical Moment With Karzai's Second Term - Sean Maroney, Voice of America. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Afghanistan to join foreign dignitaries and Afghan leaders Thursday for President Hamid Karzai's inauguration ceremony. Secretary Clinton says Afghanistan is at a critical moment in its history on the eve of the inauguration of President Hamid Karzai's second term. Speaking alongside US Ambassador to Kabul Karl Eikenberry, Clinton addressed a few hundred members of the US Embassy staff. "There is now a clear window of opportunity for President Karzai and his government to make a new compact with the people of Afghanistan to demonstrate clearly that we will have accountability and tangible results that will improve the lives of the people who live throughout this magnificent country," she said. The Obama administration and other Western leaders have repeatedly urged President Karzai to use his next five-year term to eliminate endemic corruption. Earlier in the week, the Afghan government announced it plans to form a major anti-corruption unit for investigating graft among senior officials. In Kabul, Clinton reaffirmed US support for Afghanistan, which has suffered from its deadliest year for foreign troops and emerged from a fraud-ridden presidential election.

US Demands Clear Results From Afghan Reforms - Peter Baker and Mark Landler, New York Times. President Obama’s top diplomat privately pressed Afghan President Hamid Karzai to deliver “measurable results” on governance and corruption as the White House prepared specific new demands to accompany an American troop buildup. In an unannounced visit Wednesday to Kabul, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Mr. Karzai that future civilian aid would depend in part on how his government performed in areas like developing an effective army and curbing cronyism, according to an American official. Publicly, she told reporters that Mr. Karzai had begun to tackle corruption but “not nearly enough.” The trip, coming on the eve of Mr. Karzai’s inauguration for a second term after a chaotic election marred by charges of rampant fraud, represented part of a broader effort by the Obama administration to tie the pending troop increase in Afghanistan to more effective efforts by its partners in the region. The White House is developing “clear targets” for both the Afghan and Pakistani governments, possibly with specific timelines, as a way to signal that the American military presence will not last indefinitely, American officials said. It is not yet clear what the administration is willing to do if the targets are not met.

$30m Bribe Claim Sours West’s Hope that Karzai Can Show He is Fit to Lead - Richard Beeston, The Times. New claims of corruption will hang over Hamid Karzai today as he tries to use his inauguration to persuade Western allies that he is capable of changing his ways and arresting Afghanistan’s downward spiral. Every word from the Afghan leader, when he speaks to about 300 foreign dignitaries at his inauguration ceremony in Kabul, will be scrutinised in London and Washington for evidence that he is serious about tackling abuses of power and that he can turn the tide in the war against the Taleban. Hopes of an end to corruption were put into doubt last night when the Minister of Mines was forced to deny that he had accepted a $30 million bribe from a Chinese company two years ago in exchange for awarding a $2.9 billion contract for a copper mine in Logar province. Mohammed Ibrahim Adel denied the allegations, about Afghanistan’s biggest foreign investment project, in The Washington Post, which quoted US sources. It is not clear whether he will be in Mr Karzai’s next Government. Thousands of soldiers and police sealed off the city and today has been declared a public holiday. Main roads in Kabul have been closed and the airport will be shut to civilian traffic. The preparations have added to the sense that this will be more than a routine swearing-in ceremony. Journalists are barred from the ceremony amid suspicions that the President does not want the public to know which figures have been invited.

Pakistan: Suicide Bomber Kills 30 Outside Peshawar Court - Daily Telegraph. A suicide bomber has killed an estimated 30 people and wounded 36 outside a Pakistan court in the latest attack to strike the northwest city of Peshawar. The bomb exploded at the main gate of the building near the five-star Pearl Continental Hotel, where at least nine people were killed when attackers shot their way through a security checkpost and blew up a truck bomb in June. Six suicide bombings in 11 days have now hit the sprawling city of 2.5 million people, which lies on the edge of Pakistan's lawless tribal belt, where US officials say al-Qaeda militants are plotting attacks on the West. Attacks in the northwest have soared as 30,000 Pakistani troops press into Taliban strongholds in the hostile terrain near the border with Afghanistan, where 100,000 NATO and US troops are fighting a deadly insurgency. Police and paramedics rushed to the scene of Thursday's attack, where a fork-lift vehicle towed away the mangled wreckage of a car and blackened debris scorched the main road outside the court building, television footage showed. "It was a suicide blast. The attacker was on foot and was trying to enter the judicial complex. When the security personnel stopped him, he blew himself up," Sahib Zada Anis, head of the city's administration, told reporters.

Deadly Blast at Pakistan Courthouse - Sahar Habib Ghazi, New York Times. A suicide blast near the judicial complex in Peshawar on Thursday killed at least 16 people and injured more than two dozen others, a senior police official said. The official, Sahibzada Anis, said in Peshawar that a suicide bomber stepped out of a taxi and attempted to make his way to the main gate of the courthouse complex after his car was stopped for a security check. When a police officer ran at the man to challenge him, the bomb exploded. Three police sentries at the gate were among the dead. Photos of the scene showed documents, bicycles and bodies scattered near the gate. In an interview with a local television channel, a man with bloodstained clothes who had helped in the rescue effort, said three lawyers also had been killed. The judicial complex is located on the main Khyber Road, and the High Court and the Pearl Continental Hotel are located nearby. Eleven people were killed and 55 were wounded when the hotel, which has been popular with aid workers and journalists, was attacked in June. “There is a war going on,” Bashir Bilour, a senior minister in the government of the North-West Frontier Province, said in a television interview. “They can target us, even our children, but we will always stand up against them.”

Mr. Obama’s Task - New York Times editorial. There is no doubt that the prospects for success in Afghanistan are so bleak right now because former President George W. Bush failed for seven long years to invest the necessary troops, resources or attention to the war. But it is now President Obama’s war, and the American people are waiting for him to explain his goals and his strategy. Mr. Obama was right to conduct a sober, systematic review of his options. We all know what happens when a president sends tens of thousands of Americans to war based on flawed information, gut reactions and gauzy notions of success. But the political reality is that the longer Mr. Obama waits, the more indecisive he seems and the more constrained his options appear. It has been more than eight months since Mr. Obama first announced his strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, warning Americans that, for them, the border between the two - where Taliban and Qaeda forces have found safe haven - is “the most dangerous place in the world.” And it has been more than a month since his top general in Afghanistan asked for 40,000 more troops, warning that “failure to gain the initiative” over the next year could make it impossible to defeat the Taliban. Americans are deeply anxious about the war. As the debate among his advisers has dragged on, and became increasingly public, many are asking whether the conflict is necessary or already a lost cause. Democratic leaders are among the loudest questioners. It has become a cliché in Washington that there are only bad choices in Afghanistan. But it seems clear that this is not the time for a precipitous withdrawal, nor can the United States cling to the status quo while the Taliban gains ever more territory and more power. To move forward, Mr. Obama needs to explain the stakes for this country, the extent of the military commitment, the likely cost in lives and treasure and his definition of success.

IRAQ

Iraq January Election on Hold - Edward Yeranian, Voice of America. Plans to hold Iraqi parliamentary elections in January are once again facing uncertainty, after Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi indicated that he was vetoing part of the electoral law, passed on November 8. As a result, Iraq's electoral commission says it has halted preparations for the general election scheduled for January. Word that the Iraqi vice president was vetoing the much debated and only recently passed electoral law casts the specter of raucous new debate and possibly a political vacuum if parliamentary elections are postponed. Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, whose community has complained repeatedly about being marginalized in the post-Saddam Hussein political arena, insists Iraqis living abroad should have greater representation in Iraq's new parliament. He says that he has told the speaker of parliament that he is vetoing the (recently passed) electoral law, and sending it back to legislators to be amended. He insists that Iraqis living abroad were under-represented in parliament and their number of seats should be increased. He stressed, however, that he was only vetoing one clause of the electoral law and that he does not believe the veto will force a delay in elections (scheduled for January).

Iraqi Election Measure Vetoed - Anthony Shadid, Washington Post. Iraq's Sunni vice president on Wednesday vetoed legislation to organize parliamentary elections in January, throwing the measure back to a fractious parliament that spent months haggling over it and threatening to further delay a vote the US military has deemed essential to its plans to withdraw from Iraq. The veto by Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi was the latest setback amid growing criticism of the election by the country's biggest minorities - Sunni Arabs and Kurds - both of whom are effectively demanding the allocation of more seats in the next parliament, which is almost assured of having a Shiite Muslim majority. Any change could have a bearing on which group emerges as the parliament's second-largest bloc, winning a pivotal role in determining who rules Iraq. By blocking the legislation's passage, Hashimi cast Iraqi politics into turmoil yet again. While some sympathized with his insistence that the measure would provide too few seats to Iraqis living abroad, others accused him of grandstanding. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called the veto "a dangerous threat to the democratic and political process." Some lawmakers even suggested that the election might be canceled or delayed past Jan. 31, the last date by which the constitution allows the vote. Frustrated election officials declared that they had suspended preparations for the vote, which was planned for between Jan. 18 and 21.

Veto of Iraq’s Election Law Could Force Vote Delay - Rod Nordland and Riyadh Mohammed, New York Times. Iraq was thrown into a fresh political crisis on Wednesday after a vice president vetoed a newly passed election law, delaying the vote, setting off fresh sectarian wrangling and possibly complicating plans to withdraw American troops. In a move that caught American officials by surprise, one of two vice presidents, Tariq al-Hashemi, said Wednesday that he had vetoed the new election law the night before; he had threatened a veto but the Americans did not expect him to follow through. Shortly afterward, the chief executive of Iraq’s United Nations-supported electoral commission said in an interview for the first time that the elections would have to be delayed. The veto touched off a political explosion. Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, condemned it as constitutionally questionable, while President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, warned that delaying the elections risked creating a constitutional vacuum during which the Iraqi government would lose its legitimacy. “Parliament could amend this law in a day,” Mr. Hashemi said. “We have no time to lose.” But with Kurdish leaders also objecting to provisions of the law, a much more protracted debate in Parliament is likely. Kurdish leaders also want a greater share of parliamentary seats and on Tuesday had threatened to boycott the elections unless their demand was met.

Iraq Vice President Vetoes New Election Law - Liz Sly and Raheem Salman, Los Angeles Times. One of Iraq's vice presidents vetoed the country's new election law Wednesday, throwing into fresh doubt the feasibility of holding crucial national balloting in January and possibly disrupting the withdrawal next year of US troops. Vice President Tariq Hashimi, a Sunni Arab, carried out his threat to veto the law because, he said, it does not provide for enough seats to represent Iraqi refugees who fled the violence of recent years, most of them living in Syria and Jordan. A majority of the refugees are Sunni Muslims. Iraqi law gives the nation's two vice presidents as well as its president the power to veto legislation. Addressing a news conference held to announce his decision, Hashimi said he did not expect his veto to delay the election because parliament could fix the problem "maybe in one session." But parliament spent months haggling over the law as it is written, and it was unclear whether legislators would quickly be able to find a compromise that would satisfy Hashimi.

Iraqi Veto Threatens Parliamentary Vote - Ben Lando, Wall Street Journal. Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi vetoed a recently approved election law, throwing a parliamentary vote slated for January into question. The veto is the latest holdup for the legislation, which election officials say they need in place before national polls early next year. The elections have become a factor in US planning for a large-scale military withdrawal scheduled for 2010. The Obama administration aims to withdraw all but about 50,000 military personnel from Iraq by the end of August, down from around 115,000 currently. Military officials said they would gauge the pace of the withdrawal after the national polls. A peaceful vote could accelerate the drawdown, they have said. Parliament passed the legislation this month, but election officials haven't set an exact date. Army Gen. Ray Odierno, the US's top general in Iraq, told a news conference Wednesday that despite the veto, he remains optimistic an election will take place as scheduled some time in January. The election law appears headed back to parliament, which approved it after months of sectarian squabbling and heavy US lobbying. The sticking point in the final weeks of debate was how to carry out the vote in Kirkuk, a province claimed by Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen.

IRAN

Obama Takes Stern Tone on North Korea and Iran - Helene Cooper and Martin Fackler, New York Times. President Obama delivered a stern message on Thursday to North Korea and Iran that they risk further sanctions and isolation if they do not rein in their nuclear ambitions. Appearing at a joint press conference with President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea, Mr. Obama singled out Iran, where leaders have apparently rejected an offer from the West to take Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium to another country to turn it into fuel rods, which would buy time for diplomatic negotiations. “We’ve seen indications that for internal political reasons or perhaps because they are stuck in some of their own rhetoric, they are unable to get to ‘yes,’ ” Mr. Obama said. “As a consequence, we have begun discussion with our international partners” on sanctions, he said. He said that over the next few weeks the United States would be developing a package of “potential steps we can take that will indicate our seriousness.” Mr. Obama’s words were his strongest to date and seemed to signal that he was ready to move to sanctions. On the North, Mr. Obama said he was sending his North Korea envoy to Pyongyang next month for talks designed to try to get the nation back to the bargaining table. But he warned that even getting the North back to the table would not be enough.

Iran Imperils Western Nuclear Deal - Chip Cummins and Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal. Iran's foreign minister appeared to renege on a pact that the US had hoped would curtail the Islamic Republic's ability to build a nuclear bomb, dealing a blow to the Obama administration's efforts to try to resolve the West's standoff with Tehran. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Wednesday in Tehran that Iran wouldn't send any of its uranium out of the country, as envisioned in a deal struck Oct. 1 between Iranian negotiators and counterparts from the US, France, Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Two United Nations Security Council diplomats said they view the deal as essentially dead, but expect council members to wait until the end of the year before pushing for fresh sanctions against Iran. There is growing concern among Washington's European and Middle East allies that with the deal potentially evaporating, the White House's engagement policy toward Tehran is adrift. Mr. Obama has set a year-end deadline for Iran to respond to his overtures, but Western diplomats said there remains little confidence that China or Russia will agree to coercive action. The US has yet to significantly push its own allies to begin taking steps against Iran, arguing that Iran should be given more time. "We're headed towards crunch time on Iran in the next few months," said a Middle East diplomat involved in Iran diplomacy.

Iran Rejects Notion It Has Not Responded to Nuclear Plan - Voice of America. Iran's foreign minister says his country has already responded to a UN-brokered nuclear fuel plan, while countries involved in negotiations say they are still waiting for a reply. Iranian state media quote Manouchehr Mottaki as saying Wednesday that Western nations are trying to tell Iran that it must respond to the plan in "the manner that they expect." US President Barack Obama recently said Iran is running out of time to respond to the proposal, and warned of consequences if Iran fails to show its nuclear program is peaceful. Mottaki says Iran has rejected a part of the plan that would have Iran send its enriched uranium abroad in exchange for nuclear fuel. He says Iran would consider a uranium-for-fuel swap inside the country. The deal, brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency, is designed to ease concerns about Iran's nuclear program, which Western nations say is aimed at creating weapons. Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. The deal was agreed to by the other parties involved in negotiations including Russia, the United States and France.

How Iran's Revolution Was Hijacked - Mark Bowden, Wall Street Journal opinion. It has been three decades since Iranian college students overran and occupied the American Embassy in Tehran, and we are still dealing with that country's revolution. Americans at the time were understandably preoccupied with the fate of 66 countrymen who were held captive, accused of being spies, and threatened with prosecution and punishment - which in the Iran of those days tended to mean firing squads or the noose. We still refer to this outrage as the Iran Hostage Crisis. Yet this way of remembering the episode ignores its larger significance in Iran, and impedes our understanding of the political drama unfolding there today. The movement to oust the Shah was primarily a nationalist one, albeit colored by the religious rhetoric of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Many of those who took to the streets in 1978 and 1979 were motivated not by a desire to establish a theocracy but by the same thing that stirs the reform movement there today - a desire to cast off authoritarianism and establish democracy. The seizure of the US Embassy was the pivotal event in the takeover of the revolution by the mullahs of Qom. The seizure of the embassy and the kidnapping of the American mission was not only a crime against it and the US: It was a crime against international diplomacy. The pretense for the embassy takeover was false. The presence of a working US Embassy in Tehran in November 1979 was not evidence that the US was plotting to overthrow the revolution, as the hostage-takers claimed. It was evidence of America's acceptance of the revolution, and of its willingness to work with Iran's new leaders, whoever they turned out to be.

THE LONG WAR

Guantanamo Likely to Miss Closure Deadline, Obama Says - Michael J. Carden, American Forces Press Service. Despite progress being made in closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, President Barack Obama acknowledged today that the administration likely will not make the January deadline he set when he took office. “We had a specific deadline that we missed,” the president told reporters accompanying him on a weeklong trip to Asia. He added that his administration won’t set a new deadline, but does expect the facility shut down sometime next year. “We are on a path and a process where I would anticipate Guantanamo will be closed next year,” Obama told Fox News. “I’m not going to set an exact date, because a lot of this is also going to depend on cooperation from Congress.” Obama signed an executive order in January that suspended military commissions for detainees held at Guantanamo and ordered the detention facility closed within a year. Congress recently approved reforms to the Military Commissions Act, allowing officials to move forward with determining how and where the detainees are tried. Decisions this week to pursue the prosecution of 10 Guantanamo detainees pave the way toward resolving the disposition of others there and eventually closing the detention facility, a senior Defense Department official said on background Nov. 13.

Obama and Holder Defend Plans to Try Sept. 11 Suspects - Josh Meyer, Los Angeles Times. The Obama administration on Wednesday strongly defended its decision to try the alleged plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks in a civilian New York court, but faced criticism from Republican senators who called it a "perversion" of justice that would risk freeing some of the world's most notorious terrorists. President Obama supported such a trial in interviews with several US television networks before leaving Beijing for South Korea on Wednesday. Obama said those offended by the constitutional protections being given to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators ultimately won't find it "offensive at all when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him." But in Washington, some Republican lawmakers sparred with Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. over his announcement Friday that he was transferring the case of the five men from the US military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a federal courthouse just blocks from ground zero in Manhattan. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama said the transfer to New York was proof that the Obama administration was wrongly "criminalizing" a war on terrorism in which those captured should be tried as "enemy combatants" in war crimes tribunals. Others said Mohammed would use a trial expected to be followed by millions worldwide as a stage from which to spew violent anti-American rhetoric, and that it could make New York a prime target for another terrorist strike.

Attorney General Defends Decision to Try 9/11 Suspects in Civilian Court - Cindy Saine, Voice of America. US Attorney General Eric Holder has strongly defended his decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other alleged plotters of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in a New York federal court. Facing tough questions from Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, Holder rejected concerns that a public, civilian trial will give the suspected terrorists a platform to voice their anti-American views. Attorney General Eric Holder rejected criticism from Republican leaders about his decision to use a New York federal court in downtown Manhatten to try five of the accused plotters of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon eight years ago. Holder said the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, would have no bigger platform in civilian court to present hateful rhetoric than he would have had at a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay. Holder said federal judges control their courtrooms, and can control the behavior of unruly defendants. He also rejected charges made by some Republican lawmakers that a public, civilian trial could compromise national security. But Republican members of the Senate panel and other Republican leaders passionately disagree with Holder and President Barack Obama on the decision to use civilian courts to try high-ranking terrorist suspects.

Holder Defends Decision to Use US Court for 9/11 Trial - Charlie Savage, New York Times. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday defended his decision to prosecute five men accused as co-conspirators in the Sept. 11 attacks in federal court in Manhattan, declaring that while he believes “we are at war,” that the venue was the best place to pursue the case against them. Despite criticism that holding such a trial presented greater risks than a military commission, Mr. Holder argued that there were fewer differences between the rules for federal court and the military panels than some critics realize. And, he argued, the Southern District of New York has a long history of successfully prosecuting terrorism suspects. “We need not cower in the face of this enemy,” Mr. Holder said, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Our institutions are strong, our infrastructure is ready, our resolve is firm, and our people are ready.” But Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican, objected to characterization of opposition as cowardice. He argued that there were strong reasons to prosecute the accused, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, before a military court. “It’s not cowering in fear of terrorists to decide the best way for this case to be tried is to be tried by a military commission,” Mr. Sessions said, adding: “I think there are clear advantages to trying cases by military as opposed to what can become a spectacle of a trial, with high-paid defense lawyers and others focused on using that as a forum.”

Holder Answers to 9/11 Relatives About Trials in US - Carrie Johnson, Washington Post. After enduring four hours of hostile questions in a crowded Capitol Hill hearing room about his decision to send the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes to Manhattan for trial, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. submitted himself to one more round of interrogation Wednesday. The nation's chief law enforcement officer pivoted from the senators who had challenged him all morning and stood to face unexpected queries from a gathering of family members who lost loved ones in the al-Qaeda attacks eight years ago. In quiet yet persistent tones, Alice Hoagland of Los Gatos, Calif., told Holder that she took "great exception to your decision to give short shrift to military commissions." "I can't help feeling that it does make New York City a much more dangerous place and a target," said Hoagland, who had pinned a white ribbon and a large button honoring her son Mark Bingham to her muted purple suit. Holder, who had reacted with flashes of steely irritation and amusement throughout the debate with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, ratcheted down his demeanor during a brief and respectful conversation with family members.

Born in US, a Radical Cleric Inspires Terror - Scott Shane, New York Times. In nearly a dozen recent terrorism cases in the United States, Britain and Canada, investigators discovered the suspects had something in common: a devotion to the message of Anwar al-Awlaki, an eloquent Muslim cleric who has turned the Web into a tool for extremist indoctrination. Mr. Awlaki, 38, the son of a former agriculture minister and university president in Yemen, has never been accused of planting explosives himself. But experts on terrorism believe his persuasive endorsement of violence as a religious duty, in colloquial, American-accented English, has helped push a series of Western Muslims into terrorism. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., on Nov. 5, is only the latest suspect accused of perpetrating or plotting violence to be linked to the cleric. In 2006, for example, a group of Canadian Muslims listened to Mr. Awlaki’s sermons on a laptop a few months before they were charged with plotting attacks in Ontario to have included bombings, shootings, storming the Parliament Building and beheading the Canadian prime minister. In 2007, one of six men later convicted of plotting to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey was picked up on a surveillance tape raving about Mr. Awlaki’s audio clips. “You gotta hear this lecture,” said the plotter, Shain Duka. Mr. Duka called the cleric’s interpretation of Muslim duties “the truth, no holds barred, straight how it is!” Last year, Mr. Awlaki exchanged public letters on the Web with Al Shabaab, a Somali Islamist group that has attracted recruits among young Somali-Americans living in Minnesota. The message from Al Shabaab praised the cleric as “one of the very few scholars” who “defend the honor of the mujahideen.”

Ex-Military Officer in Pakistan Is Linked to 2 Chicago Terrorism Suspects - David Johnston and Eric Schmitt, New York Times. The arrests last month of two Chicago men accused of planning an attack on a Danish newspaper have widened into a global terrorism inquiry that has led to arrests in Pakistan and implicated a former Pakistani military officer as a co-conspirator, government officials said Wednesday. In India, where the pair from Chicago are said to have wanted to attack the country’s national defense college, investigators are trying to determine whether the two men played a role in attacks a year ago in Mumbai in which more than 160 people were killed. Officials said they had not clearly established a connection. The case is one of the first criminal cases in which the federal authorities seem to have directly linked terrorism suspects in the United States to a former Pakistani military officer, though they have long suspected connections between extremists and many members of the Pakistani military. Intelligence officials believe that some Pakistani military and intelligence officials even encourage terrorists to attack what they see as Pakistan’s enemies, including targets in India. The two men, David Coleman Headley, 49, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, were accused in complaints unsealed on Oct. 27 of plotting against the employees of a newspaper in Copenhagen that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005 that offended many Muslims.

Lithuania Investigates Facility That May Have Been CIA 'Black Site' - Craig Whitlock, Washington Post. Residents of this village were mystified five years ago when tight-lipped American construction workers suddenly appeared at a mothballed riding stable here and built a large, two-story building without windows, ringed by a metal fence and security cameras. Today, a Lithuanian parliamentary committee is investigating whether the CIA operated a secret prison for terrorism suspects on the plot of land at the edge of a thick forest for more than a year, from 2004 until late 2005. Lithuanian land registry documents reviewed by The Washington Post show the property was bought in March 2004 by Elite LLC, an unincorporated US firm registered in the District. Records in Lithuania and Washington do not reveal the names of individual officers for Elite but identify its sole shareholder as Star Finance Group and Holdings Inc., a Panamanian corporation. There is no record of Elite owning other property in Lithuania. The company, which has since had its registration revoked by DC authorities, in turn sold the property to the Lithuanian government in 2007, two years after the existence of the CIA's overseas network of secret prisons known as black sites - including some in Eastern Europe - was first revealed by The Washington Post.

UNITED STATES

Senators Press Obama on Fort Hood Probes - Paul Kane, Washington Post. A bipartisan group of senators began a concerted push Wednesday to get more cooperation from the Obama administration in its reviews of the Fort Hood shootings, which left 13 dead and a raft of questions about information-sharing among intelligence agencies. In addition to the public hearings that Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) is set to begin Thursday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) demanded Wednesday that his panel receive the results of a White House review of agency investigations of suspect Nidal M. Hasan's communications with a radical Muslim cleric who has ties to al-Qaeda. Congressional Democrats have not been nearly as aggressive in their oversight of the Obama administration as they were during the Bush administration. The actions on Capitol Hill this week, however, demonstrate a growing impatience, particularly among senators, with the White House's preference that lawmakers slow down their inquiries. Lieberman's hearing Thursday, the first on Capitol Hill regarding the Texas shootings, will start what potentially could be a more assertive approach to administration oversight, at least on matters of national security.

AFRICA

Foiled Pirate Attack Encourages Defense Officials - Michael J. Carden, American Forces Press Service. Defense Department officials are pleased with the Maersk Alabama’s successful defense against suspected pirates today off the coast of Somalia, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. Four suspected pirates in a skiff used small-arms weapons in an attempt to board the US-flagged ship, but were unsuccessful. The ship’s security team responded with evasive maneuvers, acoustic devices and small-arms fire, which deterred the attack without assistance from US military in the region. “We are pleased that we had a ship that was able to take appropriate actions to prevent itself from being hijacked,” Whitman told Pentagon reporters. Whitman noted that the international shipping industry has been very engaged in sharing best practices against pirates. Pentagon officials have encouraged such talks, which involve evasion techniques, transit routes and protection teams, he said. “It’s clear, at least in this particular case, some of those practices were employed,” he said, adding that there was no specific US military involvement in the repelled attack. But piracy in the region remains a concern, Whitman said, and the department is looking for ways to help in reducing the threat. But in addition to US military involvement, he said, efforts from the international community and continued measures within the shipping industry are necessary.

AMERICAS

Sides Gear Up For Fight Over US Ban On Travel to Cuba - Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post. A battle over Cuba policy is escalating in Congress, with proponents saying they have their best chance in years of repealing the ban on US tourist travel to the island. The House Foreign Affairs Committee has scheduled a hearing Thursday to galvanize support for scrapping the ban as opponents rally to block any changes. Proponents have lined up a powerful and diverse roster of supporters, including US farmers, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and Cuban American veterans of the Bay of Pigs and the Iraq war. The travel site Orbitz has collected over 100,000 signatures on a petition to eliminate the ban. The congressional maneuvering comes as the Obama administration makes small-scale efforts to engage the Cuban government. President Obama in April removed limits on Americans' visits to relatives on the island and allowed US telecommunications companies to operate more freely there. But Obama has insisted that Cuban democratic reforms precede normalized relations. A report issued Wednesday by Human Rights Watch said there had been little change in Cuba's repressive policies since Fidel Castro relinquished power to his brother Raul three years ago, with scores of Cubans detained as political prisoners in that period.

ASIA PACIFIC

Obama Winds Up Asia Tour With South Korea Summit - Kurt Achin, Voice of America. US President Barack Obama has arrived in South Korea, where he is expected to show solidarity with the country's president in demanding North Korea move toward ending its nuclear weapons programs. The president landed at a US air base Wednesday evening, and is to hold talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak Thursday here in the South Korean capital. South Korea and the United States are trying to coax the North back to six-nation talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons. President Obama has indicated he will send an envoy to Pyongyang before the end of the year for one-on-one discussions, but only in the context of restarting the multinational process. Apart from the nuclear issue, Mr. Obama's visit is seen as fairly routine. Scott Snyder is the director of the Center for US Korea Policy. "Frankly, the relationship is in pretty good health right now, so there aren't necessarily any real burning issues," Snyder said. "They'll coordinate on North Korea, they'll talk about other issues in the alliance. President Obama will thank South Korea for its contributions to Afghanistan." The run-up to President Obama's arrival here in Seoul has been relatively free of protests.

Obama's Story Infused Asia Tour - Anne E. Kornblut, Washington Post. After taking his message as the "first Pacific president" through four countries in eight days, President Obama wrapped up his tour of Asia on Thursday with talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and a planned visit to US troops stationed in the shadow of nuclear-armed North Korea. At a news conference here, Obama said he and Lee had agreed that their countries will no longer engage the North in endless, inconclusive disarmament talks. Obama emphasized "the need to break the pattern of the past," but neither leader offered new proposals or timetables for a resolution of the nuclear impasse. Obama also said that the United States and its allies are working on ways to send a "clear message" to Iran on its nuclear program. The Seoul stop was the last on a trip that has notably lacked concrete achievements but has seen Obama's personal narrative on full display, as he reminisced about the ice cream he ate during a childhood visit to Japan, invoked his "historic ties" to Indonesia and recalled his mother's work in the villages of Southeast Asia. After more than a week of using his biography to connect to audiences in Asia - perhaps the last corner of the globe where he had yet to take his story - Obama appeared as popular as ever among ordinary citizens in the region.

Obama Takes Stern Tone on North Korea and Iran - Helene Cooper and Martin Fackler, New York Times. President Obama delivered a stern message on Thursday to North Korea and Iran that they risk further sanctions and isolation if they do not rein in their nuclear ambitions. Appearing at a joint press conference with President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea, Mr. Obama singled out Iran, where leaders have apparently rejected an offer from the West to take Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium to another country to turn it into fuel rods, which would buy time for diplomatic negotiations. “We’ve seen indications that for internal political reasons or perhaps because they are stuck in some of their own rhetoric, they are unable to get to ‘yes,’ ” Mr. Obama said. “As a consequence, we have begun discussion with our international partners” on sanctions, he said. He said that over the next few weeks the United States would be developing a package of “potential steps we can take that will indicate our seriousness.” Mr. Obama’s words were his strongest to date and seemed to signal that he was ready to move to sanctions. On the North, Mr. Obama said he was sending his North Korea envoy to Pyongyang next month for talks designed to try to get the nation back to the bargaining table. But he warned that even getting the North back to the table would not be enough.

Obama and Lee Urge North Korean Talks - The Times. US President Barack Obama and Lee Myung-bak, the President of South Korea, today urged the nuclear-armed North Korea to return to the negotiating table. The two leaders promised Pyongyang significant economic aid and Mr Obama said that he would send the US special envoy Stephen Bosworth to North Korea for direct talks on December 8 to coax the North back to the six-party nuclear disarmament talks which it left in April, a month before staging a second atomic weapons test. After talks with Mr Lee at the presidential Blue Palace in Seoul, the South Korean capital, Mr Obama said that it would be good for the people of North Korea to rejoin the international community. The North's nuclear ambitions were the key topic during Mr Obama's visit to Seoul, the fourth and last stop on his Asian tour, which has taken the US President to China, Japan and Singapore. The North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il said last month that his country is ready to return to the six-nation talks but only if the bilateral discussions with the United States are satisfactory.

Obama, S. Korea Agree on New Approach to North - Blaine Harden, Washington Post. With none of the tension presented by a rising China and a willful Japan, President Obama's visit Thursday to South Korea was short, congenial in substance and splendid in form. Ending a sometimes bumpy week-long tour of East Asia, Obama said the welcoming ceremony here - a glorious, sun-drenched mingling of music, flags and traditional garb - was the "most spectacular" he has seen in his travels. In his talks with South Korean President President Lee Myung-bak, whose right-of-center government has embraced political cooperation with the United States, Obama also found much to his liking. They agreed on a common approach to dealing with North Korea, with Obama announcing that his special envoy, Stephen Bosworth, would travel to Pyongyang on Dec. 8 to try to persuade the government of Kim Jong Il to return to stalled six-party disarmament talks in Beijing. And they played down lingering differences over the US-South Korean free trade agreement, which has not been ratified in either country, primarily because of American objections to South Korean rules that limit US car sales.

This Time, Promises Alone May Not Feed North Korea - Blaine Harden, Washington Post. For the Obama administration, North Korea has followed a familiar script. It has made trouble, exploding a nuclear device. It has made nice, inviting US officials to visit. And it has made a mess of growing food, needing handouts from the rich countries it threatens. President Obama, in a meeting here Thursday with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, focused on North Korea's vexingly repetitive behavior and discussed strategies to lure the isolated state into giving up its nuclear program. One lure was announced last week: The administration will satisfy the North's desire for high-level personal contact with the United States, sending a special envoy, Stephen W. Bosworth, to Pyongyang. His limited mission - which Obama said here Thursday would begin Dec. 8 - will be to persuade North Korean officials to return to Beijing and resume disarmament talks with China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and the United States. But Obama is not planning to win concessions from Kim Jong Il's government by sending food, even though a food crisis is again developing in the North.

Obama’s Pacific Trip Encounters Rough Waters - Helene Cooper and Martin Fackler, New York Times. For all of President Obama’s laying claim to the title of “America’s first Pacific president,” Asia was always going to be a tough nut for him to crack. Without the first lady at his side, he would not have the kind of round-the-clock coverage the first couple got during their inaugural tour of Europe. Without a popular gesture like elevating the plight of the Palestinian people to equal status of the Israelis, he would not be showered with the kind of praise he got for his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo. And without a stop in Indonesia, his boyhood home, he would not bask in the kind of adulation he received in Accra, Ghana. Instead, with the novelty of a visit as America’s first black president having given way to the reality of having to plow through intractable issues like monetary policy (China), trade (Singapore, China, South Korea), security (Japan) and the 800-pound gorilla on the continent (China), Mr. Obama’s Asia trip has been, in many ways, a long, uphill slog. So it is no wonder that on the last day of the toughest part of his trip - the China part - Mr. Obama took a hike: a brisk, bracing 30-minute climb up the Great Wall. Around 3:30 Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Obama’s mile-long motorcade arrived at the Badaling section of the Great Wall, which snakes over jagged, rocky mountains.

White House Tries to Put Positive Spin on Asia Trip - John M. Glionna and Peter Nicholas, Los Angeles Times. Even before President Obama boarded his home-bound flight for Washington, capping his exhausting weeklong Asian tour, the White House was scrambling to combat perceptions that the trip failed to produce concrete results. Compared to Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, the US is putting its alliances "on a firmer footing" and has "reasserted our leadership in the region," the White House said in a statement released to reporters hours before the president's flight home. "Overall, American leadership was absent from this region for the last several years,'' the release said. Obama met today with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, calling for North Korea to take "serious steps" to give up its nuclear weapons and committing himself to reviving a free-trade deal between Seoul and Washington that has stalled in the US Congress. In a nationally televised joint news conference, Lee said the two presidents agreed to offer North Korea a "grand bargain" designed to provide the North with security guarantees and economic assistance in exchange for dismantling its core nuclear programs. This last stop on Obama's Asia tour was a bit of a diplomatic breather after the sticky foreign policy issues the US president faced during more formal stops in Japan and China, where it times he seemed to struggle to get his message out to the Chinese people.

In China, Obama Leaves More Questions Than He Takes - Dana Milbank, Washington Post. Listening to President Obama and his Chinese counterpart this week, it was hard to tell who was Hu. One is the leader of a great democracy. The other is the head of a repressive regime. But as the two men faced reporters in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Obama deferred to the wishes of President Hu Jintao: They would not take questions. In lieu of this rite of freedom, the two leaders exchanged platitudes. "We reached agreement in many important fields," the communist leader assured everybody. "Our two governments have continued to move forward in a way that can bring even greater cooperation in the future," the democratic leader reciprocated. It was, to put it charitably, a low-key way of spreading American values. A decade earlier, in that very same hall, President Bill Clinton criticized China's Tiananmen Square crackdown during a news conference with then-President Jiang Zemin. President George W. Bush, no fan of the media, made Hu squirm at the White House three years ago when he insisted that they take questions from US and Chinese journalists. Obama, by contrast, didn't hold a news conference in China. Instead, he answered questions in Shanghai from students, who were apparently members in good standing of the Communist Youth League (even so, the authorities declined to broadcast the session on state television). Elsewhere in Asia, Obama eschewed the usual format for news conferences with the leaders of Japan and South Korea, instead allowing one reporter from each side to ask a question at each appearance.

EUROPE

Europe Haggles Over Filling Presidential and Foreign Policy Posts - Stephen Castle, New York Times. The European Union has spent eight years trying to modernize its rules and become a bigger global player. But now, facing a vote on Thursday to finally pick a slate of new and more powerful leaders, it is falling back on old-fashioned backroom deal-making that critics say may produce two lackluster choices. Analysts say that the union’s obsession with striking political, geographical and ideological balances, coupled with the egos of national politicians who fear being overshadowed, has hamstrung the selection for new presidential and foreign policy posts. Several leading contenders have little or no international profile, suggesting that the bloc may lower its sights from the original objective of the recently passed Lisbon Treaty: becoming a powerful force able to stand toe to toe with the United States and China. “This process is one of constantly slimming down ambition,” said Joachim Fritz-Vannahme, Europe director of the Bertelsmann Foundation, a German research organization. “The final act will probably be a reflection of a lack of ambition, of a willingness to punch below its weight and of a kind of lack of confidence that has been a feature of European politics for a couple of years.” On Wednesday there was no clear sign of an agreement. Britain was still arguing that the presidential post should go to its former prime minister, Tony Blair, but lower-profile contenders, including the Belgian prime minister, Herman Van Rompuy, were expected to have a better chance.

MIDDLE EAST

Mideast Peace Talks Hang in Balance Over Abbas - Ethan Bronner, New York Times. Two weeks after the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, vowed not to run for re-election and hinted that he might resign, the Middle East peace process has sunk into a deep crisis amid urgent efforts to revive it. The Israeli security establishment is in a state of alarm over the possible departure of Mr. Abbas, whom it considers a genuine moderate. Some of its top members are urging their government to make far-reaching offers - “not just lifting a few roadblocks,” in the words of one - that would persuade him to stay in power and resume negotiations with Israel on a solution that involves creating an independent Palestinian state. Palestinian leaders are looking elsewhere for salvation. Aware of their own weakness, but also of rising disillusionment abroad with Israel over West Bank settlement growth and its war in Gaza in January, they are hoping to turn frailty to their advantage by appealing to the international community to come to their rescue. Meanwhile, the Obama administration and European governments are also seeking ways to restart the peace talks and keep Mr. Abbas in place. “Everyone is running around in circles trying to rebuild this process, to find some way to start it up again,” a senior Israeli official observed. “No one knows if it is possible.”

Obama: Israeli Settlement Construction Could be 'Dangerous' - Voice of America. US President Barack Obama says Israel's latest decision to authorize the construction of new settlements in occupied east Jerusalem does not make Israel safer, and could complicate peace efforts. In an interview Wednesday with US news station Fox News, Mr. Obama said additional settlement building could make it harder for Israel to make peace with its neighbors. He added that he thinks such action, in his words, "embitters the Palestinians in a way that could end up being very dangerous." Israeli officials announced plans Tuesday to construct 900 new housing units in east Jerusalem. Nabil Abu Rdaineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Israel's decision shows it does not want peace. Mr. Abbas has said negotiations cannot resume until Israel freezes construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel annexed the mostly Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 war, in a move that is not internationally recognized.

Palestinians Say Israeli Move Could Kill Peace Process - Luis Ramirez, Voice of America. Palestinian leaders are warning Israel that its approval of 900 new housing units in a disputed area of Jerusalem may kill the peace process. The warning came after the United States condemned the Israeli decision. The Palestinians want Washington to toughen its approach on Israel. The response from Palestinian officials contained no surprises after Israel said this week it would go ahead with construction of 900 new units in Gilo, a Jewish community in East Jerusalem. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told VOA the action threatens to kill the peace process. "This is a clear decision and a clear message, not just for Palestinains but for the American administration itself that Israel is not willing and is not ready to stop settlement activities and much more important than this, that they are not ready for peace," said Rudeineh. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Ramallah's Road Map to Statehood - David Ignatius, Washington Post opinion. Looking at this city, you can imagine what a Palestinian state could someday be like if folks got serious: The streets are clean, there's construction in every direction and Palestinian soldiers line the roads. A visitor sees new apartment buildings, banks, brokerage firms, luxury car dealerships and even health clubs. These are "facts on the ground," as the Israelis like to say. And they are the result of a determined Palestinian effort, with US and Israeli support, to begin creating the institutions of a viable Palestinian state. Even Israeli hard-liners, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, agree that the improvement in Palestinian security forces is real. But here's the tragedy: At the same time there is brick-and-mortar progress in Ramallah and some other West Bank cities, the peace process has nearly collapsed. A wary Netanyahu has been dragging his feet, a frustrated Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been talking about quitting and the Obama administration has been spinning its wheels trying to revive negotiations. It's the same old depressing Middle East story of missed opportunities. But rather than walk away, the United States needs to give the process a harder push.

EVENTS

An Evening of Counterinsurgency at the Pritzker Military Library. Hearts and minds? Overrated. If you want to run a successful counterinsurgency, it all starts with the person at the top. On Thursday, December 3rd, Mark Moyar will appear at the Pritzker Military Library to discuss his new book, A Question of Command: Counterinsurgency from the Civil War to Iraq. This event is free and open to the public. The presentation will begin at 6 p.m., preceded by a reception for Library members at 5 p.m. It will be webcast live on pritzkermilitarylibrary.org and recorded for later broadcast on WYCC-TV/Channel 20. Moyar takes issue with much of the current U.S. Army / Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, which guided the “surge” in Iraq. Though its creation was overseen by Gen. David Petraeus, whose leadership he considers a near-perfect model for counterinsurgency, Moyar finds the general’s most important qualities de-valued in the manual, which suffers from what he calls a “population-centric” emphasis toward defeating an insurgency by depriving it of public support. Using case studies from the Philippines, Vietnam, and other conflicts over the last 150 years, Moyar argues instead that counterinsurgencies succeed or fail based on the leaders involved: their ability to inspire subordinates, adapt to complex situations, unify civilian and military efforts, and identify capable sub-commanders, both from their own ranks and the target population. Though A Question of Command describes historical insurgencies around the world, Moyar posits that the American South, after the Civil War, may have been the best model for the situation in Iraq. Whereas Grant and Sherman had led major victories on the battlefield, it was lesser-known leaders like Brig. Gen. Robert F. Catterson and Maj. Lewis Merrill who had the most success against insurgent forces such as the Ku Klux Klan. A Question of Command attempts to capture the qualities and decisions that set those leaders apart, making their successors easier to find. Mark Moyar is Professor of National Security Affairs at the Marine Corps University. He is also the author of Triumph Forsaken: the Vietnam War, 1954-1965 and Phoenix and the Birds of Prey: Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorism in Vietnam. Moyar’s writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications. He received a B.A. summa cum laude from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Cambridge. Seating for this event is limited, so reservations are recommended. Call 312.587.0234 or email events@pritzkermilitarylibrary.net.

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.