As President Obama nears a decision on a troop increase for the war in Afghanistan, he is facing increasingly vocal criticism from senior Congressional Democrats over the war’s cost, the size of the United States troop commitment and the reliability of America’s allies. Mr. Obama met with his war council for two hours on Monday night - his ninth such session and, aides said, perhaps the final meeting before Mr. Obama announces his decision, which is expected next week.

-- New York Times

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN

Obama Calls for Security Meeting on Afghanistan - Voice of America. US President Barack Obama has called another meeting of his national security team as he moves closer toward a decision on whether to send more US troops to Afghanistan. Top administration officials are expected to attend the national security meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan Monday, including Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Mr. Obama first called the national security team together in August as he began wrestling with a new US strategy in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. The president is weighing a request from the top US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, for up to 40,000 additional troops to support the war effort. President Obama has said he will announce his plans by the end of the year.

Pressure Builds Over Obama’s Afghanistan Plan - Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper, New York Times. As President Obama nears a decision on a troop increase for the war in Afghanistan, he is facing increasingly vocal criticism from senior Congressional Democrats over the war’s cost, the size of the United States troop commitment and the reliability of America’s allies. Mr. Obama met with his war council for two hours on Monday night - his ninth such session and, aides said, perhaps the final meeting before Mr. Obama announces his decision, which is expected next week. Administration officials are already working on the big, and potentially contentious, rollout of Mr. Obama’s Afghanistan strategy. Aides on the Senate and House committees dealing with military and foreign affairs were tentatively preparing for hearings next week. The aides and administration officials said witnesses might include Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. White House officials are bracing for opposition in Mr. Obama’s own party.

McChrystal and US Ambassador to Testify on Afghanistan War - Michael D. Shear and Scott Wilson, Washington Post. The top US general and the US ambassador in Afghanistan have been told to prepare to testify before Congress as early as next week, according to White House and other US officials, giving an indication of how and when President Obama plans to announce his war strategy. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans have yet to be announced, said Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal and Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry have not been given a date for their appearance before committees that would consider additional war funding requests. But, the officials said, the two have been told that their testimony would quickly follow Obama's announcement, so that they could offer details and support for the president's strategy for how to proceed with the eight-year-old war. Opinion polls show that most Americans believe it is no longer worth fighting. On Monday night, Obama met in the White House Situation Room with his senior national security advisers, including Eikenberry and McChrystal, who was expected to join the session by teleconference from Kabul. In an effort to weaken the Taliban insurgency and destroy al-Qaeda, Obama is choosing from several strategic options, all of which call for deploying thousands of additional US troops and would cost tens of billions of dollars a year.

Marines in Afghanistan Hear a Plea: Don't Leave Too Soon - Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times. It was at the end of a recent after-lunch meeting, with the two sides sitting cross-legged on a tattered rug, exchanging pleasantries and enjoying sweet tea and stone-baked bread. Haji Mohammed Khan, district administrator for Nawa, a government bureaucrat with three decades' experience in war and shaky peace, had something he wanted to ask the Marines, some of whom will soon return to bases in the United States. "Please," Khan said in a low voice, his sad eyes looking directly at his guests, "don't let us be here alone. You used your young people, your vehicles, your helicopters to help us. Please don't turn around and leave unfinished your business here." Khan's quiet plea echoes but one view of the hot-button issue of proper troop levels in Afghanistan, and Khan's countrymen in Helmand province appear as divided as officials in Washington. "There are two kinds of people in Nawa," said Taimour Shah, a farmer. "There are those who like the Americans, but others listen to the religious leaders who don't want the Americans here." There is also a third group: Those who are afraid to get too close to the Americans lest they be left vulnerable to the Taliban if the Americans leave as abruptly as they arrived. Since a combat battalion of US Marines arrived unexpectedly one hot night in July to replace a platoon of British soldiers and break Taliban dominance in the region, the US mission has been a counterinsurgency operation, which is slow, incremental, labor intensive and frequently frustrating for all involved. And with the American public agonizing over the US death toll and impatient for the troops to come home, time may be the greatest enemy.

US Cautious on Afghan Outreach to Taliban - David Gollust, Voice of America. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday that the United States is open to the prospect of Afghan government peace talks with elements of the Taliban, but she advised Kabul officials to proceed cautiously. Clinton spoke in advance of another top-level White House meeting convened by President Obama on whether he should send thousands more US troops to Afghanistan. The Obama administration is giving a cautious nod of approval to possible peace contacts between the Kabul government and Taliban factions, as it nears a decision on whether to add as many as 40,000 troops to the Afghan war effort. A spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that the Afghan leader, newly sworn in to a second term in office, might invite Taliban elements and other militant opponents of the government to a Loya Jirga, or grand council meeting, aimed at bringing peace and reconciliation to the war-torn country. At a press event with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Rumiana Zheleva, Clinton said the United States backs the concept of outreach to the Taliban, but that Kabul authorities should proceed with caution.

Afghanistan Investigating 5 Current and Former Cabinet Members - Joshua Partlow, Washington Post. Afghanistan's attorney general said Monday that his office is investigating five current and former cabinet ministers on allegations including embezzlement and fraud, a sign of growing momentum within the Afghan government to address the widespread corruption that has hobbled President Hamid Karzai's administration. Combating corruption has emerged as a top priority here for the Obama administration as Karzai deliberates over appointments to the cabinet and to provincial governor posts for his new term. Despite his pledge last week to force top officials to declare their assets and the announcement of a new anti-corruption unit, many officials are skeptical about Karzai's willingness to remove his allies from power. The investigations center on two current and three former cabinet ministers, Attorney General Mohammed Ishaq Aloko said in an interview. Although he declined to name them, other Afghan officials said one of the probes is looking at the minister in charge of organizing the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, a trip known as the hajj, which is made by tens of thousands of Afghans each year.

Hamid Karzai ‘Angry’ at Taskforce for Arrest of Police Chief Accused of Drug Links - Jerome Starkey and Richard Beeston, The Times. Afghan intelligence officials expected high praise from their political masters after they arrested a police colonel accused of running a sophisticated drug-smuggling ring. It was, after all, the first operation of the country’s new Major Crimes Taskforce; a “textbook” mission praised by Western mentors for taking a top scalp in the war on government corruption. Acting on information from a series of intercepted telephone conversations, Afghan commandos seized 80kg (176lb) of opium and almost four tonnes of marijuana in two raids in July. The colonel in question was arrested, along with his driver and two bodyguards, as he tried to board an aircraft at Kandahar airport. However, instead of congratulations there were “howls of protest” from the Presidential Palace, officials said. A triumphant press conference was cancelled abruptly. The Interior Minister was furious, intelligence sources told The Times, because the target - a border police chief in the southern province of Kandahar - was linked to President Karzai’s half-brother. “He was part of Ahmed Wali Karzai’s network,” said a senior government official involved in the case. “The President was very angry when he was arrested. Ahmed Wali was also very unhappy.”

IED Threat Shadows Marines' Every Move - Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times. A long, dusty road under a bright blue Afghan sky. To the left, a stagnant irrigation canal; to the right, drying cornfields. Marines from Charlie Company walk slowly, eyes fixed on the dirt, the drainage culverts, the weeds, the mud houses. Suddenly, at the front of the column, a metal detector in the hands of a young lance corporal begins to buzz. Staff Sgt. Sam McDaniel moves quickly into place, gently probing the ground for evidence of a buried bomb, by far the No. 1 killer of US forces in Afghanistan - and responsible for three of the four American deaths reported Sunday and Monday. It is part of a cat-and-mouse game repeated countless times here in the insurgent stronghold of Helmand province and across the country. Route clearance teams, alert for constantly shifting tactics, comb the roads by day. Searches also uncover small stashes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, the main bomb-making ingredient. At night, Marines using night-vision goggles and sniper rifles, and given shoot-to-kill orders, watch for insurgents burying the bombs. Almost 300 US military personnel have been killed in Afghanistan this year. An estimated 70% to 80% of the deaths are attributed to IEDs, the shorthand for improvised explosive devices. Of the four Marines from the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment, killed here, three died of injuries suffered in IED explosions.

Attacks in Afghanistan Kill 4 US, 8 Afghan Soldiers - Voice of America. International security forces in Afghanistan say recent attacks in the country's south and east have killed four US and eight Afghan soldiers. A NATO statement said a bomb Monday killed one US soldier in eastern Afghanistan. On Sunday, three US troops died in gun and bomb attacks in the south. Afghan officials said a roadside bomb in Helmand province killed three Afghan soldiers and wounded two others Sunday. Earlier Sunday, a border security commander said a roadside bomb in Kandahar province killed five Afghan soldiers. Meanwhile, US officials have agreed to hand out nearly $39 million in development aid for Afghan provinces that showed a reduction in poppy cultivation in the past year. The funds are part of a US initiative aimed at curbing opium production by providing aid to provinces that have reduced or eliminated the crop. The Taliban stronghold Helmand province, one of a few in southern Afghanistan that account for vast majority of the total poppy crop, will receive $10 million under the program. The province recorded a 33 percent drop in cultivation in the past year.

New NATO Command in Kabul Focuses on Afghan Training - American Forces Press Service. A newly established NATO command was activated Nov. 21 at Camp Eggers here, as the Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan merged with the new NATO Training Mission - Afghanistan to create a unified command for the training of Afghan security forces. The multination partnership aims to foster new and existing relationships and build on the already expanding task of training and mentoring Afghan national security forces in preparation for the future security and sustainment of Afghanistan. Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, who was tapped to lead the new NATO Training Mission Afghanistan, intends to continue focusing coalition forces efforts on Afghanistan’s sustainability as a free and open society. “Our mission is about teaming with Afghans to build a bright, dynamic future for this sovereign nation. As the…mission has evolved, so has the mindset governing our outlook and perspective,” said US Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, who was tapped to lead the new command. “This new mindset, a mindset that challenges us to focus on the people of Afghanistan, requires us to be agile, adaptive, culturally respectful, and innovative. With this mission, and this new mindset, the path to success for [the command] lies with 3 T’s: teaming, transparency, and transition.” US Commanding General Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who heads NATO’s International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and more than 400 coalition soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, US Defense Department civilians, joined with the Afghan ministers of defense and interior and partner nation representatives at the activation and change-of-command ceremony.

Logistics Chief Lays Out Challenges in Afghanistan - Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service. Everything in Afghanistan - including combating improvised explosive devices - is made more difficult because the nation is at the end of a long and complicated logistics trail, Undersecretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter said today. Carter, who has charge of acquisitions, technology and logistics provided insight about his office during a Pentagon roundtable meeting with reporters today. He said there is no higher mission than devising ways to counter the IED threat. “Getting things into Afghanistan, which we need to do as quickly as we possibly can do it, is very difficult,” Carter said. “Next to Antarctica, Afghanistan is probably the most incommodious place to be trying to fight a war. It’s landlocked, rugged, the road network is much thinner than Iraq and it has fewer airports.” Added to the challenge of supplying Afghanistan is the need to get military materiel out of Iraq on deadline, making for an incredibly complicated process. Some of the things that have worked well in countering roadside and car bombs in Iraq - intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles and additional infrastructure - are more difficult to get into an austere environment like Afghanistan. “It’s not a matter of just make it and fly it over there,” Carter said, citing the MRAP vehicles’ need for concrete slabs as an example. “There’s no place to get concrete in Afghanistan, you have to get it from Pakistan,” he said. “We can produce MRAPs faster than we can introduce them to soldiers and Marines.” The soldiers and Marines need to get the vehicles, learn to drive them, learn their strengths and weaknesses and then get into the fight with them. “For want of a nail - everything is like that in Afghanistan,” Carter said, noting the old proverb that underscores how lack of even the smallest things make Afghanistan a challenge. Carter and Marine Lt. Gen. John Paxton, director of operations for the Joint Staff, are in charge of the Pentagon’s new Counter IED Task Force. “When I was offered this job by Secretary [Robert M.] Gates, he said the troops are at war, the building is not and especially acquisition, technology and logistics,” he said. “I’ve tried to change that.”

Pakistan Military says Significant Progress Made in Fight with Taliban - Meredith Buel, Voice of America. After five weeks of fierce fighting, the Pakistan military says it has made significant progress in an ongoing air and ground offensive against the Taliban and other insurgents in South Waziristan, along the border with Afghanistan. Analysts say top militant leaders appear to have melted away, but at the same time have unleashed a wave of suicide bombers to attack government and civilian targets in Pakistan. Pakistani military commanders say they have captured most major Taliban bases and towns in their offensive, called Operation Path to Deliverance in South Waziristan. Army soldiers have advanced more quickly than expected, killing hundreds of militants and capturing the high ground that encircles towns in this remote and sparsely populated region. Pakistani Army Brigadier Farrukh Jamal: "They had occupied all these surrounding high peaks," said Brigadier Jamal. "From these peaks they gave us a very tough resistance. There was very fierce fighting here. But thank God we managed to capture all these peaks, and we killed them here." Jamal says his men have cut the Taliban's supply lines and are now going after those hiding in forests and caves in this mountainous area.

The Right Debates the War - Tony Blankley, Washington Times opinion. Two noteworthy responses to my column last week ("To die for an exit strategy," Nov. 17) deserve my reply. In Commentary magazine online, Max Boot, one of the most respected foreign-policy voices on the right, explicitly dissented from the central premise of my column. In the Weekly Standard, Bill Kristol and Fred Kagan, though politely not mentioning my column, dedicated their lead editorial to a point-by-point rebuttal to my arguments. In both instances, they sympathized with my sentiments but disagreed with my reasoning. Both articles also assumed that the arguments I raised will be an increasingly common view on the right (which is currently providing most of the public support for fighting the Afghan war). I agree with that latter point, so it is worth reviewing whether they are right on the former one - that my reasoning is wrong. First, let's be clear that Mr. Kristol, Mr. Kagan, Mr. Boot and I all agree that America has vital national security interests in Afghanistan that a fully resourced and well-led American effort has a good chance of vindicating - and that our precipitous exit would have terrible consequences. Where we differ is on the question of whether the likely level of death and serious wounding of American troops in a counterinsurgency war initially fought without sufficient men and materiel (and hesitantly led from the White House) is likely, nevertheless, to uphold sufficient American national security interests to be justified. They say yes; I say no.

IRAQ

Iraqi Lawmakers Amend Election Law - Voice of America. Iraq's parliament Monday approved an amended version of a law, that is required before general elections can be held, but Sunni lawmakers say the new version does not address their concerns. Parliament is now sending the amended law back to the three-member presidency council, where it may be vetoed for a second time. Each delay threatens the likelihood that general elections will be held in January, as scheduled. Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi vetoed the electoral law last week and sent it back to lawmakers for revisions. He said he wanted more representation for Iraqis living abroad, many of whom are Sunni Arabs. The fact that Sunni lawmakers have expressed dissatisfaction with the revised law indicates that the vice president could veto the law again. After the last veto, Iraq's electoral commission halted preparations for the vote. The nation's constitution calls for the general elections to be held by January 31. Iraqis would be casting ballots to fill 323 parliamentary seats. That number is up from 275 in the current parliament, based on a formula that calls for one representative for every 100,000 Iraqis.

Iraqi Parliament Passes Another Election Law - Nada Bakri, Washington Post. Iraqi lawmakers on Monday approved an amended law to organize parliamentary elections next year, a ballot seen as crucial to US plans to withdraw combat troops. The law was pushed through by Shiite and Kurdish legislators over the objection of Sunni Arabs. Its passage was the latest turn in protracted efforts to agree on an election law that has roiled Iraqi politics and underscored the divisions that dominate political life here. The voting also suggested a scenario that US officials have dreaded: a repeat of the 2005 election in which Sunnis were aggrieved and effectively disenfranchised, setting the stage for civil strife. "The biggest losers here are the Sunnis," said Ezzeddine al-Dawla, a lawmaker. Parliament had approved the law Nov. 8 after weeks of wrangling and missed deadlines. Although US officials hailed the vote, Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, one of three members of Iraq's Presidency Council with the right to veto bills, rejected the law last week, saying it gave too little representation to Iraqis living abroad.

Iraq’s January Elections Face Near Certain Delay - Steven Lee Meyers, New York Times. Iraq’s tortuous effort to hold its parliamentary election on schedule in January collapsed Monday, raising the prospect of a political and constitutional crisis next year as the United States begins withdrawing the majority of its combat troops. After two days of divisive sessions and failed talks, Parliament disregarded a veto by one of the country’s vice presidents and approved new amendments that the vice president promptly indicated he would veto as well. The moves deepened a crisis that had fleetingly seemed resolved after months of wrangling over how to set up the vote, widely seen as a barometer of Iraq’s progress toward democracy. The failure to agree on even the terms of the election has inflamed ethnic and sectarian tensions that had waned somewhat in the last year or so. The dispute underscored the depth of mistrust that remains despite improvements in security and campaign pledges by major coalitions to unite Iraq. “Now we have only bad choices,” said Ahlam Asad, a Kurdish lawmaker who supported the new legislation.

IRAN

Iran Expanding Effort to Stifle the Opposition - Robert F. Worth, New York Times. After last summer’s disputed presidential election, Iran’s government relied largely on brute force - beatings, arrests and show trials - to stifle the country’s embattled opposition movement. Now, stung by the force and persistence of the protests, the government appears to be starting a far more ambitious effort to discredit its opponents and re-educate Iran’s mostly young and restive population. In recent weeks, the government has announced a variety of new ideological offensives. It is implanting 6,000 Basij militia centers in elementary schools across Iran to promote the ideals of the Islamic Revolution, and it has created a new police unit to sweep the Internet for dissident voices. A company affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards acquired a majority share in the nation’s telecommunications monopoly this year, giving the Guards de facto control of Iran’s land lines, Internet providers and two cellphone companies. And in the spring, the Revolutionary Guards plan to open a news agency with print, photo and television elements. The government calls it “soft war,” and Iran’s leaders often seem to take it more seriously than a real military confrontation.

UNITED STATES

US Says Men Ran Terror Network - Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post. Federal authorities unsealed terrorism-related charges against eight men Monday, accusing them of recruiting at least 20 young Somali Americans from Minnesota to join an extremist Islamist insurgency in Somalia. The newly named suspects make up one of the largest alleged terrorist networks in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, analysts said. Assistant Attorney General David S. Kris said the government continues to investigate the alleged recruitment, and sources indicated that FBI and grand jury inquiries are active in San Diego, Boston and Columbus, Ohio, into the disappearance abroad of dozens of Muslim Americans since 2007. The charges cap a year-long FBI investigation into the departures, most of them among men of Somali descent in their teens and 20s, to join al-Shabab, an extremist group with ties to al-Qaeda. Al-Shabab opposes Somalia's weak but internationally supported government and seeks instead a fundamentalist Islamic state under sharia law. It has attacked Ethiopian and African Union troops, targeted neighboring countries, pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and used al-Qaeda operatives to train American recruits, US officials said. The State Department listed al-Shabab as a terrorist group last year.

Charges Link US Recruits to Somalia - Evan Perez, Wall Street Journal. Federal prosecutors charged eight men with recruiting US immigrants from Somalia to join an Islamist insurgency there. According to court documents unsealed Monday, the men organized a network in the US that enlisted and financed about 20 young men, mostly from the large Somali community in Minneapolis, to become fighters with the al-Shabaab group, which is designated a terrorist organization by US authorities. Five of the recruits have been killed in fighting in Somalia, including at least one believed to have carried out the first suicide bombing by an American, according to US officials. The investigation is among several recently that raised concerns over the recruitment of US Muslims by radical groups. Officials previously viewed the threat in the US as lesser than in Europe, which has a large disaffected immigrant Muslim population. "The national-security implications are serious," said Ralph Boelter, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Minneapolis office. "This is the closest thing we've seen to" the homegrown terrorism recruitment seen in the UK. Somali community leaders say the recruits appear to have been motivated by Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia three years ago and the recruits' desire to help the Islamist group oust foreigners.

Charges Detail Road to Terror for 20 Recruited in US - Andrea Elliott, New York Times. Federal officials on Monday unsealed terrorism-related charges against men they say were key actors in a recruitment effort that led roughly 20 young Americans to join a violent insurgent group in Somalia with ties to Al Qaeda. With eight new suspects charged Monday, the authorities have implicated 14 people in the case, one of the most extensive domestic terrorism investigations since the Sept. 11 attacks. Some of them have been arrested; others are at large, including several believed to be still fighting with the Somali group, Al Shabaab. The case represents the largest group of American citizens suspected of joining an extremist movement affiliated with Al Qaeda, senior officials said. Many of the recruits had come to America as young refugees fleeing a brutal civil war, only to settle in a gang-ridden enclave of Minneapolis. The men named on Monday face federal charges including perjury, providing material support to a terrorist organization and conspiring to kill, maim, kidnap or injure people outside the United States. Law enforcement officials are concerned that the recruits, who hold American passports, could be commissioned to return to the United States to carry out attacks here, though so far there is no evidence of such plots.

US Youths Recruited to Fight in Somali Militia, Authorities Say - Josh Meyer, Los Angeles Times. Federal authorities unsealed criminal charges Monday against eight suspects alleged to be part of a US recruiting network that sent young men to fight in Somalia - one of the largest militant operations uncovered in this country since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The court documents disclosed how some older members of the Somali American community in Minneapolis are believed to have lured younger ones to fight in Somalia - some as suicide bombers - with an Al Qaeda-affiliated group known as Al Shabab, or "The Youth." The charges include providing financial support to fighters who traveled to Somalia, attending Al Shabab training camps and fighting with the group against the US-backed transitional government there, as well as against Ethiopian government forces and African Union troops. The recruitment of young people from Minneapolis and other US communities "has been the focus of intense investigation for many months," said David Kris, the assistant attorney general for national security. The new charges bring the number of men accused in connection with the case in Minnesota to 14. Several of the newly disclosed defendants are believed to be outside the United States.

US Links 8 to Somali Terrorist Group - Ben Conery, Washington Times. The Justice Department on Monday announced terrorism charges against eight people for activities involving an al Qaeda-inspired organization in Somalia - including recruiting, financing and actual fighting. For the past two years, authorities say, about 20 young men, all but one of whom are of Somali decent, have left their homes in the Minneapolis area to go fight with al-Shabaab, a terrorist group that has pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden. The group is engaged in a civil war against Somalia's government with the goal of imposing a new regime based on Islam's strict Shariah law. "The recruitment of young people from Minneapolis and other US communities to fight for extremists in Somalia has been the focus of intense investigation for many months," said David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security. "While the charges unsealed today underscore our progress to date, this investigation is ongoing. Those who sign up to fight or recruit for al-Shabaab's terror network should be aware that they may well end up as defendants in the United States or casualties of the Somali conflict." Only one of the people identified Monday is in custody.

Pentagon Convenes Fort Hood Shooting Task Force - Michael J. Carden, American Forces Press Service. The leaders of the Pentagon’s review board on the Fort Hood, Texas, rampage reported for duty here today to begin their 45-day investigation to what led to the mass shooting, a Pentagon official said. The Nov. 5 shooting at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Center left 12 soldiers and one Army civilian dead and 30 others injured. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced Nov. 19 that the initial review board will be headed by former Army Secretary Togo West and former Chief of Naval Operations Vern Clark. West and Clark met with their staff, which consists of representatives from each of the military services, for the first time today. They are: Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, US Army Europe and Seventh Army commander; Navy Vice Adm. Michael C. Vitale, commander of Navy Installations Command; Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard Y. Newton III, Air Force deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel; and Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Willie J. Williams, director of the Marine Corps staff. The panel will review possible weaknesses in Pentagon policies, programs and procedures in hopes of preventing similar incidences in the future, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters. Also, West and Clark are scheduled to meet with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates this afternoon to further outline and address his intents. “They have a very tight timeline to operate off of,” Whitman said. “It’s a very ambitious task that the secretary has given them.” The terms of reference for the investigation, which was publically released today, will guide the task force in their review. The Pentagon’s review is independent of the criminal investigation, as well as those by the inspector general and White House, and doesn’t employ the task force to take action against people suspected of withholding information that may have prevented the incident. According to the terms of reference, the Pentagon’s review will not overlap with President Barack Obama’s review of intelligence matters related to the shooting or investigations of individuals in the intelligence community.

Fort Hood Probe Brings Mosque Unwanted Attention - Philip Rucker, Washington Post. FBI agents in blue gloves recently converged on a single-story brick mosque on the rural outskirts of town here and pillaged through the giant green trash bin outside in search of evidence. Texas Rangers and news reporters have been an almost constant neighborhood presence, questioning the Muslim families who live on streets with names such as Hamza Circle and Omar Drive. The Fort Hood shootings have brought unwelcome attention to the band of a few dozen Muslim worshipers, many with military connections, who prayed alongside the suspect, Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, at the only mosque in this central Texas Army town. With the law enforcement and media scrutiny, some regulars at the Islamic Center of Greater Killeen have not been seen, including an 18-year-old who dined frequently with Hasan and promoted jihadist views on the Internet. As the inquiry continues into the Nov. 5 massacre on the nation's largest military installation, in which 13 people were killed and at least 38 others injured, the FBI's quest for clues has led to this mosque where Hasan prayed regularly in the four months since his July transfer from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

Terrorists Use Democratic Talking Points - Washington Times editorial. The five terrorists facing federal trial in New York have some powerful arguments at their disposal. All they need to do is recycle Democratic talking points criticizing President George W. Bush's foreign policy. Defense attorney Scott Fenstermaker, who is representing Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's nephew Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the accused terrorists would make the case about "their assessment of American foreign policy," adding, "Their assessment is negative." The current administration shares the same assessment; President Obama's foreign policy has been a conscious and smug rejection of the policies of his predecessor. Mr. Obama made great theater of ordering the closure of the US terrorist detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in his first days in office. The so-called "American Gulag" had become a centerpiece of the Democratic critique of the Bush administration's conduct of the war on terrorism. In this respect, the Democrats echoed what Osama bin Laden had been saying for years. In his November 2002 "Letter to America," the al Qaeda leader stated that "what happens in Guantanamo is a historical embarrassment to America and its values, and it screams into your faces - you hypocrites. ..." Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. breezily quipped that he is "not scared of what Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has to say at trial - and no one else needs to be, either." But Mohammed is likely to rely heavily on the documents Mr. Holder rushed into public view to make the case that the Bush administration was engaged in war crimes.

AFRICA

Obama Issues Sharp Rebuke of Mugabe - Jeff Zeleny and Celia W. Dugger, New York Times. In honoring Zimbabwe’s tenacious women protesters at the White House on Monday, President Obama gave his sharpest critique yet of President Robert Mugabe, the octogenarian who has ruled the southern African country with repressive zeal since 1980. Mr. Obama bluntly referred to him as a dictator. “In the end, history has a clear direction and it is not the way of those who arrest women and babies for singing in the streets,” he said. “It is not the way of those who starve and silence their own people, who cling to power by the threat of force.” Mr. Obama’s decision to publicly recognize Women of Zimbabwe Arise, or Woza, whose members have taken to the streets for years to demand democracy, will probably confirm Mr. Mugabe’s belief that the United States and the West are out to topple him, already a recurrent theme in the state-run media he controls. Though engaged in a power-sharing government since February, Mr. Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party have deployed state security forces to arrest and jail rival politicians and party workers, human rights lawyers and civic leaders. Regional heads of state, worried that the government led by Mr. Mugabe and his nemesis, Morgan Tsvangirai, will crumble, have insisted the men settle their differences in coming weeks, but so far Mr. Mugabe has shown no inclination to bend.

Obama Honors Human Rights Activists from Zimbabwe - Paula Wolfson, Voice of America. Two human rights activists from Zimbabwe were honored at the White House on Monday night. President Barack Obama led the tribute by presenting awards to the leaders of Women of Zimbabwe Arise, or WOZA. They have braved beatings and imprisonment under Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe. And yet, they march on. President Obama said that through WOZA, the women of Zimbabwe have become a force for change. "Over the past seven years, they have conducted more than a hundred protests," said President Obama. "Maids and hairdressers, vegetable sellers and seamstresses - taking to the streets, singing and dancing, banging on pots empty of food, and brandishing brooms to express their wish to sweep the government clean." At a White House ceremony, the president honored WOZA's leaders with the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. He said their movement - some 75,000-strong - is responding to violence with tough love. "They are a force to be reckoned with because history tells us that truth has a life of its own once it is told," said Mr. Obama. "Love can transform a nation once it is taught."

AMERICAS

Lula da Silva, Brazilian President, Attacked Over Ahmadinejad Visit - Martin Fletcher, The Times. The President of Brazil risked angering the West and legitimising a pariah regime yesterday by welcoming Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Brasilia. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva treated his Iranian counterpart to a bear hug, lunch and talks in the capital only five months after Mr Ahmadinejad won what was regarded widely as a fraudulent election, and began brutally suppressing the opposition. By inviting the controversial leader to make the first visit by an Iranian president to Brazil, Mr Lula da Silva also undermined concerted Western pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear programme, critics said. The Brazilian President was unapologetic, arguing that it was better to engage than to isolate Iran. “It’s important that someone sits down with Iran, talks with Iran and tries to establish some balance, so that the Middle East can return to a certain sense of normalcy,” he said in a radio broadcast hours before Mr Ahmadinejad’s arrival. The US State Department offered only muted criticism of the visit, saying it hoped Brazil would stress the need for Iran to fulfil its international obligations. Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office refused to comment.

Brazil's Leader Encourages Nations to Engage Iran - Paulo Prada, Wall Street Journal. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began a tour of South America on Monday to deepen ties with the region's leftist leaders and give his government some international credibility. Early on in the trip, he got what he wanted - a call by Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, for the global community to engage Iran rather than isolate it. "There's no point in leaving Iran isolated," the Brazilian leader said on his weekly radio program just hours before the two leaders met. "It's important that someone sits down with Iran, talks with Iran and tries to establish some balance so that the Middle East can return to a certain sense of normalcy." The Brazilian president embraced the Iranian leader amid outcries by human-rights groups, political rivals, and demonstrators in the capital and other major cities across South America's most populous country. Opponents said they were outraged that Brazil welcomed a leader whose country is under pressure because of its controversial nuclear program and who himself has questioned the existence of the Holocaust and called for the destruction of Israel.

Ousted Zelaya on Sideline in Honduran Vote - Olga R. Rodriguez, Associated Press. The coup last summer in this tiny, Central American country blew up into an international incident with thousands of Hondurans taking to the streets while everyone from President Obama to Fidel Castro of Cuba lined up behind ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Now, with Mr. Zelaya still holed up in the Brazilian Embassy, voters will choose a new president Sunday from the political establishment that has dominated Honduras for decades. No one is pushing the leftist agenda of the ousted leader, who said he was trying to lift a country where seven in 10 people are poor. That's because Mr. Zelaya was disturbing a deeply conservative society that has long cherished peace and stability. "It's a risk-adverse culture," said Manuel Orozco, a Central America specialist with the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue. The months of turmoil as Mr. Zelaya pressed for his reinstatement, the negotiation and US shuttle diplomacy are about to be overtaken by business as usual - Honduran style.

Smugglers Set Eyes on US Truck Program - Associated Press. A US program that offers trusted trucking companies speedy passage across American borders has begun attracting just the sort of customers who place a premium on avoiding inspections: Mexican drug smugglers. Most trucks enrolled in the program pause at the border for just 20 seconds before entering the United States. And nine out of 10 of them do so without anyone looking at their cargo. But among the small fraction of trucks that are inspected, authorities have found multiple loads of contraband, including 8 tons of marijuana seized during one week in April. Some specialists now question whether the program makes sense at a time when drug traffickers are willing to do almost anything to smuggle their shipments into the United States.

Voice of America Expands Audience - Juan O. Tamayo, Washington Post. Facing a group of presidents loudly critical of Washington, the US government's Voice of America broadcast is expanding its audience in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, VOA officials said. VOA's Spanish-language division also will step up its use of Radio/TV Marti's production facilities in Miami because of budget pressures on both broadcasters, the officials added. The VOA effort to grow its Latin American audience comes as the Obama administration tries to counter the attacks on US policies by several presidents in the region: Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. "Our focus is on the Andean region because of the upheavals that are going on there," said Alberto Mascaro, Spanish division director. "Our second priority is Central America, especially Nicaragua and Honduras." The Andean region includes Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, a Chávez ally, was ousted in July and is seeking to return to power. VOA - which only broadcasts internationally - transmits its reports via shortwave radio, local FM affiliates and satellite television as well as its Web pages. Funded by the government, it is required to observe standards of "accuracy, balance, comprehensiveness, and objectivity."

ASIA PACIFIC

21 Reported Dead and 22 Missing in Mass Kidnapping Linked to Philippine Election - Carlos H. Conde, New York Times. In one of the worst episodes of election-related violence in the Philippines in recent memory, a group of more than 40 people - including lawyers, journalists and relatives of a local politician - were kidnapped by armed men on Monday, and military officials said at least 21 of them had been killed. Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, a military spokesman in Manila, the capital, said 21 bodies had been recovered in Maguindanao, a province on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines that has often been wracked by election violence. Thirteen of the dead were women, according to the military. Twenty-two people were unaccounted for, according to military officials. Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton, a security official in the province, said in a radio interview that the victims had been shot. But relatives of victims said at least 30 abductees had been killed, and many of them had been beheaded, by a group of about 100 men. Jesus Dureza, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s adviser on Mindanao, recommended that a state of emergency be declared in Maguindanao Province. “Everyone should be disarmed. Anything less will not work,” he said. The victims were reportedly stopped on their way to an election office to file candidacy papers for Esmael Mangudadatu, the deputy mayor of the town of Buluan, who plans to run for governor of Maguindanao.

Philippines Gunmen Kill at Least 24 - James Hookway, Wall Street Journal. Armed men kidnapped and killed at least 24 people in the southern Philippines on Monday, carrying out an unprecedented act of violence six months before presidential and regional elections. The midday attack on a convoy of several dozen political supporters and journalists was an apparent attempt to block the nomination of a local politician planning to run for provincial governor in the May elections, the Philippine military said. The fate of the rest of the convoy - and the identity of their attackers - remained unclear. The army's searches in the area, where the political landscape is dominated by clan disputes, hadn't turned up any survivors by Monday evening. However, the politician, Ismael Mangudadatu, told a local radio station Tuesday that four people had survived the massacre and were under his care, Reuters reported. Election-related violence is commonplace in much of the country, especially in the anarchic south, where Islamist separatists, private armies, chieftains and vigilante groups have long competed for power and influence. Monday's killings bear the hallmarks of a political act rather than terrorism - and, like much political violence in the country, probably have local origins and little to do with the national contest to find a successor to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, political analysts said.

Chinese Rights Activist Given 3-year Sentence - Keith B. Richburg, Washington Post. A veteran Chinese human rights campaigner who challenged the central government over the faulty construction of school buildings that collapsed during last year's Sichuan earthquake was sentenced Monday to three years in prison, on a charge of possessing secret state documents. The sentencing of Huang Qi comes less than a week after President Obama made an official visit to Beijing and appealed to China's Communist rulers to accept that "certain fundamental human rights" are universal. Human rights lawyers and campaigners said the tough sentence for the 46-year-old Huang - the maximum penalty allowable under Chinese law - was a sign that Chinese leaders were in no mood to make concessions on human rights and might even be engaged in a new crackdown targeting lawyers and prominent dissidents. "The Chinese authorities chose this time on purpose to sentence him," said Huang's wife, Zeng Li, 43, who was in the court when the sentence was handed down. "They were waiting until the special time of Obama's visit had passed."

EUROPE

Turkey and the Kurds - New York Times editorial. In a show of courage and good sense, Turkey’s government has announced a plan to grant long-denied rights to its Kurdish minority, and, it is hoped, finally end an insurgency that has cost more than 40,000 lives. Kurds compose as much as 20 percent of Turkey’s population, yet for decades the government banned their political parties and denied them the most basic cultural rights, including the right to use their own language. This mistreatment helped fuel Kurdish demands for independence and two decades of bloody attacks by the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK Although some 12,000 militants are still hiding in northern Iraq along the Turkish border, the PKK has been steadily losing popular support. The new initiative is designed as further pressure and incentive for the group to disband.

MIDDLE EAST

Hopes Rise for Freedom of Israel's Sgt. Shali - Charles Levinson, Wall Street Journal. Hopes were mounting Monday that Israel and Hamas were nearing a deal to exchange Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured more than three years ago along the Gaza border, for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. A deal to free the 23-year-old staff sergeant could have a broad impact on US-led peace efforts. His continued captivity is a chief reason cited by Israeli officials for blockading the Gaza Strip and allowing a bare minimum of food and humanitarian aid into the territory, home to 1.5 million Palestinians. But the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners would be a significant political victory for Hamas, which could further weaken the US-backed moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Abbas has faced a barrage of Palestinian criticism in recent weeks for appearing to have conceded too much to Israel with little to show for it. A massive prisoner release could bolster Hamas claims that violent resistance - such as the June 2006 attack by militants who tunneled under the Gaza border to attack an Israeli guard post and capture Sgt. Shalit, then a corporal - can achieve more for Palestinians than peaceful negotiations. Sgt. Shalit's continuing captivity has consumed Israel. Stickers and signs can be seen all over the country, and protesters demanding his release have set up a permanent encampment outside the prime minister's offices in Jerusalem.

Prisoner Exchange Could See Israeli Soldier Swapped for Marwan Barghouti - James Hider and Sheera Frenkel, The Times. Israel and the Palestinians are close to reaching agreement on a prisoner swap that could mean freedom for an Israeli soldier held for more than three years in exchange for the release of nearly a thousand Palestinian militants. Gilad Schalit, the young Israeli corporal captured by Hamas in a cross-border raid in June 2006, could be freed as early as Friday, when Palestinians observe Eid al-Adha - a traditional period for amnesties. Among those expected to be released by Israel is Marwan Barghouti, a leading candidate to succeed the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, who has threatened to step down over a lack of progress in the peace process. Barghouti, the leader of the Fatah young guard, is serving multiple life sentences for murder and attacks on Israelis during the last intifada. Seen as a more militant leader, Barghouti is one of the few figures who may be able to bridge the bitter divide between Hamas and Fatah. He has been in an Israeli jail since 2002. Despite his popular backing among the Palestinians, he is a pragmatic figure who is viewed by many Israelis as a potential successor to President Abbas, since he has the credibility to forge a peace deal. Hamas’s official newspaper said the swap could go ahead in the middle of next week. A Hamas delegation was due to leave Gaza today for Egypt to finalise details of the prisoner swap. The exchange, facilitated by Egypt with aid from German negotiators, would probably be in two stages. In the first, Galid Schalit, now 23 and promoted during his detention to the rank of sergeant, would be handed over to the Egyptians in return for the first tranche of prisoner releases. In the second stage, he would be transferred to Israel, resulting in further releases of Palestinian prisoners.

Prisoner Swap Appears Near in the Mideast - Ethan Bronner, New York Times. Israel and the Islamist group Hamas appeared Monday to be nearing a deal to exchange a captured Israeli soldier for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, possibly including a popular leader, a move with far-reaching implications not only for stalled Middle East peace talks but for a range of regional relations. Expectations of a swap in the coming week have been raised by a round of meetings in Cairo sponsored by the Egyptian government, and by a growing number of statements by Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian officials. “Those who don’t know can talk,” Dan Meridor, Israel’s intelligence minister, said Monday on state radio. “Those who know should keep silent.” The emerging agreement, should it be approved, would trade Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who was seized by Hamas and other Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid and taken to Gaza in June 2006, for hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including many convicted of organizing suicide bombings and other acts of terror. Hamas and Israeli officials said the deal could include Marwan Barghouti, one of the most popular leaders in the West Bank, widely seen as a potential heir to the current Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. An Israeli court gave Mr. Barghouti five life sentences in 2004 for involvement in the killing of Israelis.

Israel-Hamas Prisoner Swap Talks Advance - Joshua Mitnick, Washington Times. Moves toward a prisoner swap for long-held Israeli Sgt. Gilad Shalit advanced Monday, unsettling an already complicated Middle East picture and raising the prospect of a public relations coup for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' archrival, Hamas. Though officials on both sides cautioned against misplaced optimism, expectations surged Monday as exiled Hamas leaders flew from Damascus to Egypt to discuss a deal. The US State Department had no immediate comment. The proposed swap, in which Sgt. Shalit would be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinians, including popular activist Marwan Barghouti, could be expected to boost the sagging prestige of Hamas, which has been hurt by Israel's yearlong economic siege of Gaza. "No doubt [a swap] will give credit to Hamas and increase its popularity," said Said Zeedani, a Ramallah-based political analyst. "The reputation of the Palestinian Authority isn't going to be enhanced. They have not been a party to this." A deal could improve prospects that Israel will ease its economic blockade on Gaza's 1.5 million residents, which has prevented reconstruction after a brief war between Israel and Hamas nearly a year ago.

SOUTH ASIA

Obama Hosts India's Prime Minister for State Visit - Paula Wolfson, Voice of America. The flags of the United States and India are flying outside the White House as President Barack Obama prepares to host his first state visit. There will be pomp and ceremony as Mr. Obama welcomes Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. They will be rolling out the red carpet at the White House for the Indian prime minister. There will be a ceremonial welcome with full military honors, and a state dinner for 400 in a tent on the South Lawn. But there will also be substance. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says there are plenty of key topics on the agenda. "Obviously, counterterrorism is important, the economic recovery, the world economy, our relationship to them in terms of climate change," said Robert Gibbs. The visit is expected to produce concrete results on the climate change issue. On the eve of his White House visit, Prime Minister Singh told a gathering of business leaders in Washington that India and the United States are ready to sign a memorandum of understanding. "We plan to sign with the US government tomorrow a memorandum of understanding on energy security, clean energy and climate change," said Manmohan Singh. "This will provide a framework for pursuing bilateral cooperation in specific areas." The Indian leader made clear he considers it an honor to be chosen for the first state visit for the Obama White House.

Indian Prime Minister Offers Vision for US Ties - Henry J. Pulizzi, Wall Street Journal. Kicking off a high-profile US visit, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid out his vision for "mutually beneficial" economic ties with the US and said officials this week will sign a new memorandum of understanding on energy security and climate change. "India's new and evolving relationship with the United States is in many ways the natural consequence of changes in economic policy and business practices that have occurred as countries have responded to processes of global economic integration," Mr. Singh said in a speech at the US Chamber of Commerce. The economic relationship, he said, is characterized by a "two-way flow," with US corporations engaging in high-tech work in India, grooming talent and relocating research facilities there. At the same time, he said, Indian companies that make autos, tractors, pharmaceuticals and software are investing in the US and creating jobs here. The deepening link between the US and India will be on display during Mr. Singh's trip to Washington, where officials will discuss critical trade and security issues, and sign a host of memorandums. Mr. Singh will be the guest of honor at a state dinner Tuesday at the White House, President Barack Obama's first since taking office.

China Gains in US Eyes, and India Feels Slights - Lydia Polgreen, New York Times. The statement, on its surface, seemed like any other bland missive released at the end of a polite visit by a head of state. It was put out by the United States and China after President Obama’s visit there, and said that the two countries would “work together to promote peace, stability and development” in South Asia. But on the eve of a visit by the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, to the White House, where on Tuesday he will be the guest of honor at Mr. Obama’s first state dinner, the words rank as one of several perceived slights that have dampened hopes for a new chapter in the sometimes rocky relationship between the United States and India. The vague statement has been widely interpreted here as an invitation to China to meddle in India’s backyard, and prompted howls of dismay across the political spectrum. “How can you make China responsible for keeping peace in South Asia?” said Prem Shankar Jha, a newspaper and magazine columnist, channeling the prevailing sentiment among New Delhi’s political analysts. “China has done nothing in South Asia except to play a destructive role here,” he continued, referring to China’s close ties to India’s archrival, Pakistan.

A Year After Mumbai Attack, Militants Thrive - Matthew Rosenberg, Wall Street Journal. The Islamist militant group behind the deadly attack in Mumbai one year ago remains a potent force determined to strike India and the West, and a source of acrimony between South Asia's nuclear-armed rivals, say officials and members of the militant faction. Indian officials and experts say at least six new plots against Mumbai by the Pakistan-based group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, have been disrupted in the 12 months since 10 gunmen wrought three days of havoc on India's financial capital, killing 166 people. Lashkar's infiltration of India's part of Kashmir is again on the upswing, the officials say; and a US citizen with alleged ties to Lashkar was recently arrested in Chicago, evidence of the group's reach, US officials say. "Our aims are the same today as they were 10 years ago," said a man who identified himself as a former Lashkar militant now working with its charity arm. "We are waging war on the enemies of Islam." US officials and experts say hitting India remains the primary focus for Lashkar, which was nurtured in the 1990s by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency for use as a proxy against Indian forces in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir. Pakistan banned the group in 2002 and officials here say they cut ties with it at the time. But no one disputes that Lashkar continued to operate from Pakistan, repeatedly striking Indian targets in recent years. Another Mumbai-style attack, say officials from both countries, risks sparking a fourth war between the neighbors.

A Year After Attacks, Mumbai is Still Vulnerable - Emily Wax, Washington Post. When state police reservists from a rural district were summoned to Mumbai to guard two of India's most prestigious landmarks -- the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower and the Gateway of India, a majestic archway that faces the Arabian Sea - they were filled with pride. They would be the protectors of landmarks that were at the epicenter of three days of deadly terrorist attacks last November that killed 165 people. But the young men from Solapaur, located outside Mumbai, never thought they would be homeless, drying their underwear in the humid sea air and sleeping on blankets rolled out beneath monuments to India's prosperity. "As police we still have so many problems," said Manoj, an officer with bloodshot eyes, who asked that his last name not be divulged for fear he would lose his job. "To be frank, we are too scared to speak up." While Manoj, 26, has been living without housing, officers from dozens of other security teams, including paramilitary and newly formed anti-terrorist squads, have also been living outdoors near sensitive posts across this megacity of 20 million. Their meager accommodations have highlighted the gap between what Indian politicians have promised to do to improve security since last year's attacks and what they have delivered.

India Officials Angered by Leak of Attack Report - Lydia Polgreen, New York Times. The leaking of a long-awaited confidential report on one of the most divisive attacks in modern Indian history raised a furor in India’s Parliament on Monday, with lawmakers demanding to know how the report made its way to a newspaper and cable news channel. The report, 17 years in the making, is an investigation of the destruction of the Babri Masjid, a mosque in the town of Ayodyha, by radical Hindu activists who claimed the site as the birthplace of the god Ram. They claimed Muslim rulers had destroyed the temple and replaced it with a mosque in the 16th century. After years of heated protest over the site, a Hindu mob stormed the mosque in 1992, reducing it to rubble. The destruction of the mosque set off violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims that left more than 1,000 dead, mostly Muslims. The scale of the violence was among the worst since the partition of British India, and bitterness and recrimination over the event have reverberated for years.

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.