Commanders in Afghanistan say they will devote the majority of the fresh troops expected from the White House to securing the country's troubled south and will especially target this volatile city, the Taliban's main power base. President Barack Obama will announce his revamped war strategy in an address early next week, likely Tuesday. He is widely expected to adopt a plan that sends between 20,000 and 40,000 more troops to bolster a flagging military campaign and the 68,000 US troops now fighting it.

-- Wall Street Journal

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN

Obama to Deliver Prime-Time Address on Afghanistan Tuesday - Jonathan Weisman and Yochi J. Dreazen, Wall Street Journal. President Barack Obama will travel to the US Military Academy at West Point Tuesday to deliver a prime-time address to the nation on Afghanistan, the White House said Wednesday, announcing what's likely to be one of the most important foreign policy decisions of Mr. Obama's presidency. In the address, the president is expected to announce a phased deployment of about 30,000 additional combat troops, security force trainers and civilian support personnel. At the same time, he will also emphasize the cost to the nation in blood and treasure, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. And he will make clear the US war effort will not be indefinite. "We are in Year Nine of our efforts with Afghanistan. We're not going to be there another eight or nine years," Mr. Gibbs told reporters. White House officials understand the magnitude of Tuesday's announcement, which was months in the making. The protracted war review has prompted criticism from the right, with former Vice President Dick Cheney accusing the White House of "dithering." And many congressional Democrats have told the president they will strenuously oppose any troop increases, which they have labeled an escalation of the war.

Obama to Announce Afghan War Strategy Tuesday - Voice of America. The White House says President Barack Obama will announce his new strategy for Afghanistan Tuesday night in a nationwide address from the US military academy at West Point in New York. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs announced President Obama's plans Wednesday. Gibbs said US forces have been in Afghanistan for eight years, and he said the United States will not be in Afghanistan for another eight or nine years. The announcement follows several weeks of deliberations and meetings with members of the president's national security team on the way forward in Afghanistan. News reports say Mr. Obama is most likely to back a plan calling for the deployment of at least 30,000 more US troops. Mr. Obama has vowed to "finish the job" in Afghanistan. There are currently 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan. Gibbs says it costs the United States about $1 million per year for each deployed soldier. General Stanley McChrystal - the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan - earlier this year told the president that up to 40,000 additional troops are needed to combat Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the region. News organizations say US officials will ask NATO countries at an alliance meeting in Belgium next week to supply the additional troops needed to get to General McChrystal's requested level.

Obama to Unveil his Afghan Strategy Tuesday at West Point - Peter Nicholas, Los Angeles Times. President Obama will roll out his new strategy for the Afghanistan war during a televised speech Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern time from the US Military Academy at West Point, the White House said. Obama, who has presided over at least nine meetings of his senior advisers devoted to the war, is expected to announce higher troop levels for Afghanistan while also detailing a plan for ultimately withdrawing US forces and handing over security responsibilities to the Afghan government. In announcing Obama's address to the nation, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that Obama has no appetite for an indefinite military presence in Afghanistan. "We're in the ninth year of our efforts in Afghanistan," Gibbs told reporters in his White House office. "The president will want to walk through his decision-making process and give people a sense of the importance of our efforts, but reiterate for them that the president does not see this as an open-ended engagement." He added: "Our time there will be limited, and I think that's important for people to understand." Before traveling to West Point on Tuesday, Obama will privately brief members of Congress about his decision. The White House has asked the television networks for airtime.

US Is Seeking 10,000 Troops From Its Allies for Afghan War - Eric Schmitt and Steven Erlanger, New York Times. The United States is scrambling to coax NATO allies to send 10,000 additional troops to Afghanistan as part of President Obama’s strategy for the region. Those countries appear willing to provide fewer than half that number, American and allied officials said Wednesday. NATO members and other foreign allies have expressed reluctance to send more soldiers because of the Afghan war’s growing unpopularity in their countries and increasing concerns over corruption in President Hamid Karzai’s government. The Obama administration views a substantial contribution from its allies as a way to keep the American troop increase lower and blunt domestic political criticism of the Afghan war. It would also allow the administration to come close to the military’s request for 40,000 additional troops without relying totally on the already stretched American armed forces. After weeks of deliberation, Mr. Obama is to announce his Afghan war policy on Tuesday. Administration officials say that a strong speech explaining Mr. Obama’s strategy for achieving success would provide them with fresh ammunition to galvanize support in foreign capitals. The administration confronts several hurdles to garnering more allied contributions. In Britain, which has pledged an additional 500 troops, Defense Minister Bob Ainsworth said Tuesday that Mr. Obama had taken too long to decide on a new strategy, harming the British government’s ability to rally public support for the war.

President vs. Party on Troop Increase - Michael D. Shear and Paul Kane, Washington Post. President Obama will reveal his new Afghanistan war strategy in a speech Tuesday evening to cadets at West Point, but his most skeptical audience is likely to be the powerful Democrats on Capitol Hill who oppose a troop buildup. Top Democrats have made it clear to Obama that he will not receive a friendly reception should he announce what is considered the leading option: sending 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan. The legislators have indicated that a request for more money to finance a beefed-up war effort will be met with frustration and, perhaps, a demand to raise taxes. Even so, Obama appears ready to come close to accepting the recommendation of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, to add 40,000 more troops to the war effort. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday that several NATO countries will send an additional 5,000 troops to Afghanistan. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that Obama had not yet informed members of his war council of his decision. On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) described what she called "serious unrest" in her caucus over the prospect of another vote to finance billions of dollars for an expanded war. It is, she said, the most difficult vote she can ask of the members of her party.

Kabul Raises Pay to Bolster Police - Anand Gopal, Wall Street Journal. The Afghan government is raising police salaries by as much as two-thirds, with the US and others footing the bill, in an effort to rein in corruption and boost recruitment. The central government will increase Afghan National Police monthly pay in volatile provinces to $240 from $180, and in nonvolatile provinces to $200 from $120, Interior Ministry spokesman Zamarai Bashari said. He said the US has pledged to pay for the wage increase for the first year, and other donor countries will contribute in subsequent years. The move is part of an effort to bolster Afghan security forces in the face of a growing insurgency. As the Obama administration has considered options for a new Afghan war strategy, US officials have recently focused attention on an option combining bringing in added forces for both combat and training. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said this week he is "optimistic" that NATO countries are set to increase the number of troops that they contribute to the war. A competent, professional police force will be essential for an eventual handover of responsibilities by the US-led Western troops deployed here. President Hamid Karzai said in his inauguration address this month that he wants Afghan forces to take the lead within five years.

Afghan Taliban Chief Rejects Talks With Government - Voice of America. A statement attributed to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar is again rejecting a call for peace talks aimed at ending the country's eight-year-old war. Last week, President Hamid Karzai used his inauguration speech to repeat an appeal for talks with militants. In a statement published on a Taliban Web site Wednesday, the reclusive militant leader says he will never agree to talks that prolong the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan. Omar has long held to a policy that rejects any negotiations before foreign soldiers leave. Omar also takes aim at the United States as President Barack Obama prepares to unveil a new Afghanistan strategy that may include sending thousands of additional US troops to the region. In a section addressed to the American public and its political leaders, Omar says the United States and its allies will face failure and the "defeat" can not be "averted by reinforcements." He calls for the withdrawal of foreign troops. US and Afghan leaders have called for negotiations with Taliban militants who are not linked to al Qaida, and are willing to abandon violence and enter the political process.

Taliban Leader Says US Faces Defeat in Afghanistan - Laura King and Peter Nicholas, Los Angeles Times. As President Obama prepares to unveil his long-deliberated war strategy, the Taliban's supreme commander declared Wednesday that US-led forces would find only defeat, dishonor and "a bed of thorns" in Afghanistan. The statement came as the White House announced that Obama will deliver a televised speech about the war Tuesday from the US Military Academy at West Point. He is expected to announce higher troop levels for Afghanistan and detail a plan for ultimately withdrawing US forces. "We're in the ninth year of our efforts in Afghanistan," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in announcing the speech, which will air at 5 p.m. "The president will want to walk through his decision-making process and give people a sense of the importance of our efforts, but reiterate for them that the president does not see this as an open-ended engagement. "Our time there will be limited," Gibbs said, "and I think that's important for people to understand." The Taliban warning, contained in a statement by Mullah Mohammed Omar, the movement's reclusive leader, was issued on the eve of one of the year's most important Muslim holidays, Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice. It marks the end of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that is made by millions of observant Muslims.

German General Relieved of Duties Over Afghan Airstrike - Associated Press. The inspector general of the German military has been relieved of his duties Thursday for failing to properly pass on information to political leaders about a September airstrike in Afghanistan in which civilians were killed, the defense minister said. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told parliament that Gen. Wolfgang Schneiderhan was being relieved immediately of his duties after Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper published what it said were still captures from confidential videos of the incident. Bild reported the videos showed it was likely that civilians were killed, and that the videos were in German hands at a time when then-Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung was insisting that there were no civilian victims. Mr. zu Guttenberg said, however, that Mr. Jung hadn't seen the videos, and that he himself had only been shown them on Wednesday.Mr. Jung is now Germany's labor minister. A German colonel called in the NATO airstrike against two tanker trucks that had been seized by Taliban insurgents near Kunduz, fearing they could be used to attack troops. Thirty civilians and 69 armed Taliban died in the strike, according to a probe by an Afghan presidential commission. Earlier this month, Mr. zu Guttenberg said a classified NATO report concluded there were "procedural errors" in the Sept. 4 airstrike, but defended the decision by the colonel to request it as "appropriate in military terms."

Pakistan Taliban Regrouping Outside Waziristan - Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times. Since the Pakistani army launched a long-awaited offensive last month to destroy the Taliban in South Waziristan, many militants have fled to nearby districts and begun to establish new strongholds, a strategy that suggests they will regroup and remain a potent threat to the country's weak, US-backed government. Pakistani Taliban militants have escaped primarily to Kurram and Orakzai, districts outside the battle zone but still within Pakistan's largely ungoverned tribal areas along the Afghan border, villagers there say. The military lacks a significant presence in much of these areas, making them an ideal environment for the Islamic militants to regroup. Newly arrived militants have terrorized Pashtun residents and replenished their coffers through kidnappings and robberies, villagers said during interviews in the Kurram and Orakzai districts. With AK-47s and rocket launchers slung over their shoulders, the militants have begun patrols through the new territory and have set up checkpoints. "They come to our houses and terrorize us," said Fareed Ullah, a student in Weedara, a hamlet of mud-walled huts in central Kurram. "They are kidnapping our elders and stealing our cars. We have no way of rising up against them, and there's no government here to help us. ... Kurram is in trouble because of them." Pakistani military commanders say that after five weeks of fighting, they are in the final stages of their offensive aimed at crushing Islamic insurgents in South Waziristan, a rugged expanse of mountains and plateaus that for years has served as the primary base of operations for the Pakistani Taliban and as a sanctuary for Al Qaeda fighters.

Corruption Stain Puts Pakistan Leader at Risk - Ayesha Nasir, Washington Times. This week's collapse of a pact granting immunity from corruption charges to Asif Ali Zardari has abruptly weakened the president's chances of becoming the first civilian leader in Pakistan's 62-year history to finish a term in office. Mr. Zardari's problems also have implications for the United States, which is counting on Pakistan to fight the Taliban on its side of the Afghan border as President Obama prepares to send tens of thousands of additional American troops to Afghanistan. Mr. Zardari fired back at his critics Wednesday at a political rally in Karachi, marking the 42nd anniversary of his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). "To those who are trying to bring down this government, I will say that all your efforts will be in vain," he said. At issue is a decree - now of dubious legality - called the National Reconciliation Ordinance, or NRO. The agreement was signed in October 2007 by then-President Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, Mr. Zardari's wife, who was subsequently assassinated. It allowed Bhutto to return to Pakistan without fearing prosecution on corruption charges stemming from her two stints as prime minister. "NRO was the need of the time, since Bhutto would not have returned without the assurances provided by this decree and without her presence, the elections would not have had legitimacy," analyst Hassan Askari said.

Obama's Skeptic in Chief - David Ignatius, Washington Post opinion. With President Obama finally ready to announce his decision about Afghanistan, it's a good time to examine the role played by Vice President Biden, who emerged during the policy review as the administration's in-house skeptic - the "questioner in chief," as one insider puts it. Biden has been the point man in challenging some premises of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's strategy, according to civilian and military officials involved in the review. He was dubious about committing more troops when the administration announced its initial strategy in March, and over the months his doubts came to be shared, increasingly, by the president. Biden's questions sometimes peeved advocates of the military buildup - one official describes a process of discussion that resembled bashing a piñata - and they added weeks of delay. But administration officials argue that the review, protracted and painful as it has been, will produce an Afghanistan policy that can better withstand public scrutiny. Obama is still working on the final details, and one participant describes the narrow balance as "51-49." Officials predict that he will send some additional troops to secure Afghanistan's population centers, though probably not the full 40,000 McChrystal requested. Obama's support for the mission will be hedged and time-limited, as Biden has urged. Biden won his case against an open-ended commitment to a policy that, as even its strongest advocates concede, may not work. Instead, the president appears to have embraced Biden's demand for a "proof of concept" to test the strategy in the populated regions where the United States added troops this year. The time limit for this experimentation isn't clear yet, but it's likely to be less than the three to five years US commanders think is needed.

IRAQ

10 Killed in Bomb Blasts, Assault on Home in Iraq - Ernesto Londoño, Washington Post. At least 10 people were reported killed Wednesday in Iraq, including four who perished in twin bombings near a revered Shiite shrine in Karbala. The six others were members of a family whose home north of Baghdad was raided overnight by suspected insurgents, according to Iraqi authorities. The attacks unfolded amid growing uncertainty over the fate of an election measure that parliament approved this week over strong objections from some Sunnis. The first blast in Karbala, a predominantly Shiite city about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad, occurred about 10:30 a.m. A bomb exploded outside the Abu Noor restaurant, a few yards from the main shrine in the city. As emergency personnel rushed to the scene, a second bomb detonated, said Maj. Alaa al-Ghanimy, a spokesman for the Iraqi army command in Karbala. The blasts wounded at least 24 people, officials said. The bombings marked the second recent attack in the area around the shrine, the city's economic nucleus and a magnet for southern Iraq's burgeoning tourism industry. US and Iraqi officials have said they expect violence in southern Iraq as rival Shiite parties vie for standing ahead of national elections expected to take place early next year.

In Iraq, 2 Attacks Raise Fears of Sectarianism - Marc Santora, New York Times. During the darkest days of the sectarian bloodletting that swept Iraq several years ago, few terrors equaled the rise of the death squads - men in the guise of the Iraqi security forces who killed with impunity. The death squad killings not only inflamed sectarian fighting but also undermined the public’s confidence in its own security forces. Since then, tens of thousands of members of the security forces have been purged, and the Iraqi Army and police have struggled to regain public confidence as the American military presence recedes. But in the past two weeks, there have been two attacks by men wearing Iraqi Army uniforms that have revived the specter of the death squads, stirring concern at the highest levels of the Iraqi and American commands. Before dawn on Wednesday, men dressed in Iraqi Army uniforms stormed a house in a small village north of Baghdad, rounded up six members of a family, including women and children, and killed them, Iraqi officials said. The attack occurred nine days after men dressed in Iraqi Army uniforms raided a house near the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad Province and killed 13 civilians. Details of both episodes remain murky, with relatives, local officials and government security officials giving different accounts of the motivations of the attackers - and their theories often break along sectarian lines. “We are witnessing the return of the death squads,” said Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi after the first attack.

UK Officials Tell Inquiry Iraq Wasn't Main Worry - Associated Press. Iran and Libya, not Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, were Britain's main security concerns before the invasion of Iraq, Foreign Office officials testified Wednesday at an inquiry probing Britain's role in the war. William Ehrman, the Foreign Office's director of international security from 2000 to 2002, said "in terms of nuclear and missiles, I think Iran, North Korea and Libya were probably of greater concern than Iraq." The inquiry, billed as the most sweeping look yet at the conflict, was in its second day of hearing public evidence. It is examining Britain's involvement in Iraq, beginning with the run-up to the 2003 invasion and concluding in July 2009. The Iraq war, which left 179 British soldiers dead, was deeply unpopular in Britain. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair is to be called to testify before the inquiry, which is headed by retired civil servant John Chilcot. The panel isn't expected to report before the end of next year, and won't establish criminal or civil liability. Tim Dowse, the Foreign Office's head of counter-proliferation between 2001 to 2003, agreed with Mr. Ehrman, telling the panel that Iraq "wasn't top of the list." "In terms of my concerns on coming into the job in 2001, I would say we put Libya and Iran ahead of Iraq," he said.

Blair 'Signed in Blood' Support for Iraq War at Bush's Texas Ranch, Ex-envoy Says - Nico Hines, The Times. Tony Blair's meeting with President Bush at his Texas ranch in 2002 was probably the turning point when the Prime Minister 'signed in blood' Britain's support for the Iraq war, it was claimed today. Sir Christopher Meyer, then British Ambassador to the US, told the Iraq Inquiry that Mr Blair would have been more influential if he had attached pre-conditions to British support at the Crawford ranch meeting - which was six months before Hans Blix began looking for weapons in Iraq. “I think that would have changed the nature of American planning,” he said. “By the time you get to the end of the year it’s too late. ... I did say to London that we’re being taken for granted. “To this day I am not entirely clear what degree of convergence was, if you like, signed in blood at the Crawford ranch,” Sir Christopher said. “[But] they weren’t there to talk about containment or strengthening sanctions." The high point of Britain’s influence on Washington amounted to “bugger all” and a stronger Prime Minister like Margaret Thatcher could have done more, he told the inquiry. Sir Christopher, who was the ambassador in Washington between 1997 and 2003, said he often thinks: "What would Margaret Thatcher have done? I think she would have insisted on a coherent diplomatic and political strategy."

IRAN

China's Backing on Iran Followed Dire Predictions - John Pomfret and Joby Warrick, Washington Post. Two weeks before President Obama visited China, two senior White House officials traveled to Beijing on a "special mission" to try to persuade China to pressure Iran to give up its alleged nuclear weapons program. If Beijing did not help the United States on this issue, the consequences could be severe, the visitors, Dennis Ross and Jeffrey Bader, both senior officials in the National Security Council, informed the Chinese. The Chinese were told that Israel regards Iran's nuclear program as an "existential issue and that countries that have an existential issue don't listen to other countries," according to a senior administration official. The implication was clear: Israel could bomb Iran, leading to a crisis in the Persian Gulf region and almost inevitably problems over the very oil China needs to fuel its economic juggernaut, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Earlier this week, the White House got its answer. China informed the United States that it would support a toughly worded, US-backed statement criticizing the Islamic republic for flouting UN resolutions by constructing a secret uranium-enrichment plant. The statement, obtained by The Washington Post, is part of a draft resolution to be taken up as soon as Thursday by the 35 nations that make up the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.

Iranian-American Faces New Spying Charge - Nazila Fathi, New York Times. An Iranian-American scholar, Kian Tajbakhsh, already serving a 15-year prison sentence for spying, is facing a new charge of spying, a family member said Wednesday. Mr. Tajbakhsh told his wife during a visit at Evin prison in Tehran that he was taken before the Revolutionary Court on Monday, where a judge read new charges against him of “spying for the George Soros foundation,” a reference to the Open Society Institute, a pro-democracy group founded by Mr. Soros, a prominent financier and philanthropist. The accusation was brought by the intelligence section of the Revolutionary Guards, said the family member, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of complicating the case. Mr. Tajbakhsh, an urban planner with a doctorate from Columbia University, was arrested in June after protests broke out over that month’s disputed presidential election, which the opposition says was fraudulent. He was sentenced in October to 15 years for working as a consultant for the Open Society Institute, which the indictment identified as an adjunct of the CIA He was also charged with belonging to the Gulf/2000 Project, an e-mail list of scholars, journalists, diplomats and businessmen with interests in the Persian Gulf region. Tehran has accused the Open Society Institute of trying to stage a “velvet revolution” in Iran along the lines of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and the Rose Revolution in Georgia.

Iran Punishes Its People - New York Times editorial. Iran’s fraudulently elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will clearly stop at nothing to stifle legitimate dissent and hold on to his illegitimate power. The most recent horror is the sharp rise in executions since the June presidential elections. As The Times has reported, many of those capital sentences have been carried out on people charged with criminal, rather than political offenses. But human rights groups and Iranian political experts believe that the rising numbers are meant to frighten anyone who might criticize or openly oppose the government. Mr. Ahmadinejad’s main patron, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and their bully boys in the Basij militias and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guards have also opened an ideological re-education campaign designed to reimpose the austere religious fundamentalism of the Islamic Republic’s early years. The government is establishing 6,000 Basij militia centers in elementary schools. A company with ties to the Revolutionary Guards has taken control of the national telecommunications monopoly, giving these ideological enforcers even more power to monitor and restrict land-line telephone service, cellphones and Internet services. As if that were not enough, a new government agency has been set up to monitor the Internet.

Why We Should Still Talk With Iran - Maziar Bahari, Washington Post opinion. Since I was released from Tehran's notorious Evin Prison last month, the questions have come again and again: Can we still talk to these people? Should the Obama administration engage in dialogue with Iran? What should the West do in nuclear negotiations? After being jailed, interrogated and beaten by the Revolutionary Guards for 118 days for reporting honestly on the disputed June 12 presidential elections, I am often expected to oppose any dialogue. But the West still needs Iran and should continue talking to it - no matter what it has done to people like me. Inside Evin, I was forced to confess that I was part of an insidious Western media conspiracy to overthrow the regime. I was forced to apologize to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. I was released as suddenly as I was arrested, without explanation. But my interrogator told me to send a message to the world: "We are a superpower. America's power is waning, and we will soon overtake them. Now that Americans have started this war against us, we will not let them rest in peace." He paused, perhaps realizing that he sounded defensive. I was a jailed journalist wearing a blindfold, not some sort of spy. (I'm not even American.) He changed the subject to "soft" war, a term Tehran uses to refer to an imaginary war that it says is promoted by the media against the "holy government of the Islamic Republic." "We will answer their attacks with all our might," he said.

AFRICA

Somali Insurgents Order Halt to Imported Food Aid - Voice of America. Islamist insurgents in Somalia have told the United Nations' World Food Program to stop importing food aid into the country. The group al-Shabab said in a statement Wednesday that the massive importing of food is ruining Somalia's agriculture sector. The rebels said the WFP must start buying food from local farmers for distribution to the needy. Al-Shabab warned Somali businesses to stop working with the UN agency by January 1, and said the WFP must empty its warehouses of food aid by that date. The United Nations estimates about half of Somalia's population - about 3.8 million people - is dependent on food aid. The world body blames the food shortage on drought and ongoing fighting between government forces and Islamist militants. Al-Shabab controls much of southern Somalia. Separately, the World Food Program and the humanitarian group World Vision have withdrawn staff from parts of southern Somalia because of violence. A spokesman, Peter Smerdon, for the UN food agency tells VOA that staff members have been evacuated from the Jubba regions because of security concerns. Al-Shabab is fighting to overthrow Somalia's moderate Islamist government and impose strict Sharia law throughout the country. The group has also fought clashes against another insurgent group, Hizbul Islam.

2 Journalists Are Freed in Somalia After 15 Months as Captives - Jeffrey Gettleman and Mohammed Ibrahim, New York Times. After more than a year in captivity at the hands of Somali gunmen, two young Western journalists who were kidnapped in August 2008 were freed on Wednesday, according to Somali officials and the Canadian media. The journalists, Nigel Brennan, an Australian photographer, and Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian freelance reporter, described a hellish experience, alternating between tedium and terror. “My day was sitting on a corner, on the floor, 24 hours a day for the last 15 months,” Ms. Lindhout told Canada’s CTV. “There were times that I was beaten, that I was tortured. It was an extremely, extremely difficult situation.” It is still not clear exactly who the kidnappers were. But snatching foreigners, on land and on sea, has become one of the biggest money-making industries in Somalia, which has been steeped in lawlessness for 18 years. Still, few Westerners, if any, have been held for so long. And it seems that greed was the reason the two were not freed for more than 15 months. They were captured along a notoriously dangerous road outside Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, in late August last year, while they were reporting on people displaced by war. Since then, their kidnappers had been demanding $1 million.

AMERICAS

In Welcoming Iranian President, Chavez Blasts Israel - Simon Romero, New York Times. President Hugo Chávez rolled out the welcome mat here on Wednesday for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, using the visit to strengthen Venezuela’s political alliance with Iran and to lash out at Israel, which Mr. Chávez described as “the murderous arm of the Yankee empire.” Ignoring criticism from his political opposition and from Venezuela’s small Jewish community over the visit, Mr. Chávez also called Mr. Ahmadinejad a “gladiator of anti-imperialist struggles.” It was the Iranian president’s fourth visit to Caracas and the last stop of a South American tour that included visits to Brazil and Bolivia. Mr. Chávez has stepped up his use of aggressive language in recent weeks, especially against neighboring Colombia, a major ally of Washington in the region, and now again against Israel, as economic problems here intensify. Mr. Chávez is also shifting attention away from domestic issues, including an increasing number of blackouts and water shortages. Studies here of Venezuela’s economic ventures with Iran, which began in 2004, reveal more than 300 cooperation agreements, but few projects of any substance. A planned oil refinery and plans to build factories to produce cement and munitions have not materialized. Plants that produce cars and bicycles are running well below capacity.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian President, Gets Hero's Welcome in Venezuela - Hannah Strange, The Times. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, received a hero’s welcome yesterday as he visited his key Latin American ally on a regional tour designed to shore up support for Tehran in its confrontation with Western powers. Shouting “Viva Ahmadinejad!” Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez pledged his full backing for Iran against “the threat of the empire”. “In all the continent the people are rising for President Ahmadinejad,” the socialist leader declared. Iran is trying to deepen its strategic inroads on the Latin American continent, where it has found new allies in a host of anti-American leftist leaders led by Mr Chavez. Mr Ahmadinejad recently boasted that, while the West had been trying to isolate Iran, it had entrenched itself in America’s “backyard”. Tehran has opened five new diplomatic missions and signed hundreds of cooperation deals in the region, including some 200 with Venezuela in the areas of trade, energy and defence. Clasping hands with Mr Chavez after a meeting in which 70 new projects were agreed, Mr Ahmadinejad said the allies had formed “a front which is bravely resisting the enemies of humanity”. The two countries would be “together until the end”, he pledged. The trip comes two weeks after President Shimon Peres of Israel visited Brazil and Argentina in an attempt to build a bulwark against Tehran’s burgeoning alliances. Israel is particularly concerned by the alleged presence of Hezbollah cells on the continent and also claims to have intelligence that Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear programme.

ASIA PACIFIC

Suspect in Philippine Election Killings Surrenders - Carlos H. Conde and Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times. As the toll in what is now considered the Philippines’ worst case of election violence rose to 57, the authorities on Wednesday focused their suspicions on a powerful clan allied with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. In Manila, the Arroyo administration promised a swift investigation. The president “is enraged by these barbaric acts,” said a spokesman, Cerge M. Remonde. “She has literally thrown the full force of the law and has mobilized the security and police forces of the state to go after the perpetrators.” On Thursday morning, a man considered by the authorities to be a prime suspect in the case turned himself in, said Jesus Dureza, Mrs. Arroyo’s adviser here on the southern island of Mindanao. He identified the suspect as Andal Ampatuan Jr., a son of the clan’s patriarch. A military spokesman, Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, said early Thursday that 20 people had been arrested in connection with the killings on Monday, Reuters reported. The army announced that it would disband a 200-member militia controlled by the Ampatuan family, and Mrs. Arroyo’s political party, the Lakas Kampi CMD, announced that it had expelled the patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr., and his sons Andal Jr. and Zaldy. The army also deployed 500 extra troops from the central Philippines to the province of Maguindanao on Mindanao, an area that is home to decades of Muslim and Communist rebellions as well as fiefs controlled by powerful families.

Suspect in Philippines Massacre Turns Himself In - James Hookway, Wall Street Journal. A prominent clan member who emerged as the primary suspect in the massacre of at least 57 people in the southern Philippines this week surrendered Thursday to authorities for questioning over the country's worst act of political violence. Andal Ampatuan Jr., a local town mayor, turned himself in to presidential adviser Jesus Dureza after two days of negotiations. He told reporters that he didn't play any role in Monday's killing of members of a rival political clan and 18 journalists who were accompanying the group as it prepared to file the candidacy of a rival politician, Ismael Mangudadatu, for a gubernatorial election in strife-torn Maguindanao province. The Associated Press reported Mr. Ampatuan Jr., who is the son of former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. and was widely expected to face Mr. Mangudadatu in May's election, as saying "there's no truth" to allegations he orchestrated the killings. "The reason I came out is to prove that I am not hiding and that I am not guilty," he said. His surrender came as Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo faces sustained pressure to end the widespread use of loosely controlled militias and powerful political clans to help govern the southern Philippines and create buffer zones to constrain the spread of Muslim and Communist insurgencies in the region.

Andal Ampatuan Jr., Son of Philippines Clan Boss, Charged with Murder - Richard Lloyd Parry, The Times. The son of a Philippines clan boss, suspected of the massacre of at least 57 journalists, political activists and innocent passers-by, was charged with murder today. The prosecution came as the Government announced that the entire police force of his home province should be replaced because of its complicity in the killings. Andal Ampatuan Jnr, whose father has been a key local supporter of the Philippines President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, surrendered to police and was flown to the capital, Manila, for questioning. The authorities said that more than 300 policemen or government militiamen had been arrested in connection with the massacre, but that many of the suspected killers had fled into mountainous countryside on the southern island of Mindanao. Soldiers in armoured personnel carriers were patrolling the roads of Maguindanao province, where the massacre took place last Monday. The country’s interior minister, Ronaldo Puno, explained that suspicions about the allegiance of the local security forces had caused the much criticised delay in responding to the massacre, in which men and women, two of them heavily pregnant, were shot with automatic rifles and hacked to death with machetes before being buried in shallow mass graves.

Thailand Seeks US Help Battling Insurgents - Richard S. Ehrlich, Washington Times. Thailand's military wants the US to provide satellite equipment and imagery so it can hunt thousands of Islamist separatists who are killing Thai troops and civilians in an attempt to establish a strict Muslim state in the south. About 30,000 soldiers are fighting against 8,000 insurgents and their supporters, including about 2,000 armed rebels, said Lt. Gen. Pichet Wisaijorn, the Royal Thai Army chief in the southern region. An estimated 3,700 people on all sides have perished during the past five years in Thailand's three Muslim-majority southern provinces. Much of the southern war is fueled by Muslim Thais who say they are fighting for a separate homeland autonomous from the Buddhist-majority nation. Asked in a recent interview what help Thailand's military would like America to provide, Gen. Pichet replied: "What I would really like now is a satellite that would focus on [insurgent] activity 24 hours a day. I would love to be able to look at a screen to see who is laying the land mines." Gen. Pichet is the 4th Army regional commander. He also commanded Thai troops in East Timor in 2000. He said his superiors had asked the US for satellite reconnaissance assistance but that nothing had been arranged thus far.

EUROPE

In Marseille, Unease Over Mosque Project - Edward Cody, Washington Post. Notre Dame de la Garde, an elegant Roman Catholic basilica, has stood for 150 years on a promontory just south of Marseille's Old Port, looking down protectively as fishermen push out to the sea and symbolizing the irrepressible spirit of this fabled Mediterranean city. But a new and very different symbol is scheduled to rise soon on another promontory, this one on the north side of the Old Port. It is the $30 million Grand Mosque of Marseille, a place for the metropolitan region's more than 200,000 Muslims to gather and worship and a dramatic reminder of the Islamic heritage that is grafting itself onto France's cultural landscape. The mosque, which at 92,500 square feet will be France's largest, has become an emblem for the many native French people who feel uncomfortable with an immigrant population that, as its numbers rise, increasingly seeks to live by its own religious and cultural rules rather than assimilate into France's long Christian tradition. The strain is particularly intense in Marseille, where kebab shops line the once-elegant Canebiere Avenue and North African Arabic seems as prevalent as French on the sunny cafe terraces where residents traditionally do their business and take their aperitifs. But Marseille is not alone; across the wealthy countries of Western Europe, growing communities of Muslim immigrants have created unease among native populations by seeking to affirm their own identities - by building mosques, for instance, or wearing veils in the street.

Leftist Past Clouds Europe’s Choice for the Foreign Affairs Portfolio - Stephen Castle, New York Times. Just as the allocation of top posts in the European Commission was being finalized, questions were raised Wednesday over the role once played by the European Union’s new foreign affairs representative in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in Britain. The representative, Catherine Ashton, who will be the bloc’s foreign affairs chief and a vice president of the European Commission, was treasurer of the nuclear campaign group in the early 1980s. On Wednesday, several politicians from Central and Eastern Europe questioned her role, as did the United Kingdom Independence Party in Britain, which campaigns for Britain to leave the European Union. Ms. Ashton will have to face a confirmation hearing in the European Parliament, but most EU officials on Wednesday said her nomination was not at risk. During the 1970s and 1980s, membership in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was normal for center-left British politicians, and Tony Blair, the former prime minister, was first elected to Parliament in 1983 on a manifesto committed to nuclear disarmament. After Ms. Ashton’s nomination to the foreign affairs job last week, José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, was considering how to allocate the rest of the portfolios among his team.

MIDDLE EAST

Israel Offers a Pause in Building New Settlements - Ethan Bronner and Mark Landler, New York Times. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Wednesday announced his intention to halt new residential construction in West Bank settlements for 10 months as part of an effort to revive stalled Middle East peace talks. But a top Palestinian official said the plan was not enough, and the United States, which had sought a total freeze on settlement building, offered a mixed response. While the Obama administration praised Mr. Netanyahu’s decision, it used the long-expected announcement to increase pressure on him over the terms of future negotiations with the Palestinians to create an independent state. Israel’s security cabinet approved the freeze on Wednesday. It will apply to the West Bank, but will not include Jerusalem. And it will apply to new residential building, so existing construction - nearly 3,000 housing units - will continue, and public structures like schools and community centers will be unaffected. At a news conference in Jerusalem shortly after the security cabinet’s vote, Mr. Netanyahu said that Israel was taking a “difficult” and “painful” step, and that he hoped the Palestinians and the Arab world would “seize this opportunity” to work toward peace.

Netanyahu Makes Settlement Proposal - Charles Levinson, Wall Street Journal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a 10-month suspension of new building in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but excluded thousands of units already under construction as well as Jewish building in predominantly Palestinian East Jerusalem. Obama administration officials said they hoped the Israeli announcement Wednesday would revive moribund peace talks between the two sides, but Palestinians said the partial freeze was insufficient. "I hope that this decision will help launch meaningful negotiations to reach a historic peace agreement that would finally end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians," Mr. Netanyahu told a televised news conference following a vote in favor of the proposal by Israel's 10-member political and security cabinet. Mr. Netanyahu said his government would "not put any restrictions on building in our sovereign capital," meaning East Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim as the capital of their future state. The 10-month partial freeze, which also excludes buildings necessary for "normal life" such as clinics and schools, is nearly identical to similar proposals floated by Mr. Netanyahu in recent weeks which Palestinians have repeatedly rejected.

US Praises Netanyahu Plan - Glenn Kessler, Washington Post. The Obama administration hailed the Israeli government's announcement Wednesday that it intends to temporarily halt new residential construction in Palestinian areas of the West Bank, even though the plan falls far short of the administration's original demand for a full freeze and Palestinian officials rejected it as inadequate. "We believe the steps announced by the prime minister are significant and could have substantial impact on the ground," said George J. Mitchell, the special US envoy for Middle East peace. "For the first time ever, an Israeli government will stop housing approvals and all new construction of housing units and related infrastructure in West Bank settlements. That's a positive development." Under the plan, disclosed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel would halt construction for 10 months, although 2,900 housing units - roughly the number that would have been built in that period - would be grandfathered in and completed. The plan also does not appear to include East Jerusalem, which Palestinians expect will be the capital of a future Palestinian state, and it would allow the continued construction in the West Bank of public buildings such as schools and synagogues. About 300,000 Israelis live in Jewish settlements on the West Bank. An additional 190,000 live in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in an act that no other country has recognized. Israel agreed to - but never implemented - a total freeze on settlement construction in 2003, when it accepted the US-backed "road map" peace plan.

Investment Scandal Damages Hezbollah - Alia Ibrahim, Washington Post. Suleiman's brother was a Hezbollah fighter, killed in the 2006 war with Israel. His house was destroyed by an Israeli shell. And now, his life's fortune is gone, too, lost along with the money of thousands of other Lebanese who put their faith in a billionaire financier with close ties to Hezbollah. The investment scheme, which is being called the Lebanese version of the Bernie Madoff scandal, threatens to tarnish the Shiite group's carefully cultivated image as a pious defender of the masses that is above the corruption endemic in many of Lebanon's political parties. As Hezbollah enters the new coalition government and plots its next move in the rough-and-tumble world of Lebanese politics, the "Party of God" is facing unprecedented questions, even among supporters, over its basic integrity. Suleiman, who would not allow his last name to be published, said he gave $261,000 saved over 22 years of work to Youssef Faour, a partner of financier Salah Ezzedine. Suleiman, 40, said he was "comforted by Ezzedine's ties with Hezbollah," which are well-known, and ignored warning signs that something was wrong.

Release of Marwan Barghouti is Price of Freedom for Gilad Schalit - Sheera Frenkel, The Times. Hamas officials have told The Times that Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian politician who was jailed in 2004 for murder, is “at the top” of a list of prisoners that they want released in exchange for the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit. “There is a great push for [his release]. He is at the top. We want to see him back with his Palestinian brothers soon,” a high-ranking Hamas official said yesterday. Officials in the faction also confirmed four other names that are being haggled over in exchange for Sergeant Schalit: Abdullah al-Barghouti, who made bombs used in suicide attacks; Ibrahim Hamad, a former commander of Hamas’s military wing, and the reputed militant leaders Abbas al-Seid and Ahmed Saadat. The Hamas leadership is expected to finalise the list of prisoners it wants freed this morning after days of shuttling between Cairo and Damascus. It hopes to resolve disagreements within its own ranks and confirm a new list of approximately 1,000 prisoners after talks with the Israelis through German mediators.

Intricate Web of Expectation, Fear and Hope Tying Down Prisoner Deal - Bronwen Maddox, The Times opinion. The deal to free Gilad Schalit is proving tortuously difficult to strike because it pulls in strands from conflicts across the Middle East. Israel is negotiating not just with Hamas but also with Fatah, and neither faction of the Palestinian leadership is itself entirely united. The Egyptians and Germans, who are brokering the talks, have their own views of the best route to a deal; so do the Syrians, as host to some of the Hamas leadership. So, too, do the US and the European Union, who want a deal urgently, partly so that Israel’s blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip will end. On top of that, Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, has to contend with divided opinions among Israelis and within his Cabinet. There is passionate support for the principle that Israel does not leave its soldiers behind, but also fury and fear, particularly among the families of victims of Palestinian terrorism, about the terms of a deal and the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners who might be released. The exact composition of that list of prisoners, inevitably, is the sticking point. Most controversially, Hamas is demanding the release of the Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, one of the leaders of the second intifada, who is serving five life sentences, and Ahmed Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who ordered the assassination in 2001 of Rehavam Zeevi, the Israeli Tourism Minister, in revenge for the killing of his predecessor. Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Prime Minister and a senior figure in Fatah, has also called for Barghouti’s and Saadat’s release.

SOUTH ASIA

Pakistan Charges 7 Terrorism Suspects a Year After Attacks That Shocked Mumbai - Sahar Habib Ghazi and Sabrina Tavernese, New York Times. Seven Pakistanis accused of planning last year’s attacks in Mumbai, India, were formally charged Wednesday, the eve of the first anniversary of the assault. The attacks left 163 people dead and have become a major sticking point in relations between India and Pakistan. Charges against the suspects had been expected since February, when Pakistan said it was holding several men and acknowledged for the first time that the attacks had been planned in Pakistan. But months of postponements and legal hearings followed, delaying the indictments until Wednesday. The seven include the man suspected of being the operation’s organizer, Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the commander of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba; Hammad Amin Sadiq, who is accused of coordinating the financing; and Zarar Shah, described as a computer and networks expert. All pleaded not guilty, according to a defense lawyer. But Pakistan has said it does not have enough evidence to charge the man Indian and Western officials have accused of masterminding the attacks: Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, one of the main founders of Lashkar-e-Taiba. The case is highly charged, in part because Lashkar-e-Taiba was nurtured by Pakistan itself as part of a proxy war against India in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir. Recruiting took place in the open on college campuses throughout the 1990s but was stopped after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

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.