Violence erupted in Tehran yesterday as tens of thousands took to the streets to attack the regime on a day that was supposed to be dedicated to condemning America. The regime marked the 30th anniversary of the storming of the US Embassy with an official rally outside the former diplomatic compound - but elsewhere, security forces fought running battles with protesters who packed the streets of the capital in defiance of regime warnings. Opposition videos showed riot police and Basij militiamen clubbing men and women and charging into crowds of demonstrators, leaving many with bloody head wounds. The protests were smaller than in the immediate aftermath of June’s disputed presidential election, but were matched by demonstrations in several other Iranian cities. Opposition figures said that they were large enough to make the point: despite five months of brutal suppression, the opposition had not been crushed.

-- The Times

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN

Mullen Urges Afghan President to Stop Corruption - John J. Kruzel, American Forces Press Service. Newly re-elected Afghan President Hamid Karzai must take significant measures to cut government corruption and establish its legitimacy, the top US military officer said today. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expressed concern about the government under Karzai, who was re-elected following a national election fraught with allegations of fraud. “We are extremely concerned about the level of corruption and the legitimacy of this government,” Mullen said at the National Press Club today. “It's far too much endemic.” Karzai, who sealed a victory this week after his opponent dropped out of a runoff election, “has got to take significant steps to eliminate corruption,” Mullen said. “That means that you have to rid yourself of those who are corrupt; you have to actually arrest and prosecute them,” he said. “You have to show those visible signs.” The chairman added that “it will be evident pretty quickly” whether Karzai is serious about improving government legitimacy.

Afghanistan's Abdullah Says Karzai Re-election Lacks Legitimacy - Sean Maroney, Voice of America. Afghan President Hamid Karzai's election rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, told reporters Wednesday that he believes the country's current government lacks legitimacy and will not be able to combat corruption. Abdullah Abdullah says the country's election commission did not have the legal authority or the credibility to declare Mr. Karzai the default winner of Afghanistan's presidential race. "I think that any government which is formed on that basis and then claim that [it] will bring the rule of law in this country and promote the ideals of the people of Afghanistan, a government which is derived on such an illegal decision will not be able to deliver," he said. The Independent Election Commission declared Mr. Karzai winner a day after Abdullah withdrew his name from the runoff election scheduled for Saturday. The former foreign minister said he had no confidence the vote would be any more fair than the flawed general election. Election monitors spent two months throwing out fraudulent ballots before declaring Mr. Karzai had failed to secure enough votes to win the August 20th poll. Most of the fraud benefited Mr. Karzai, and Abdullah objected that the Afghan president - who appointed the election commission leadership - refused to change it for the second round.

Karzai’s Top Rival Denounces Afghanistan’s New Government - Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times. The erstwhile rival to President Hamid Karzai in the presidential election’s second round held a news conference on Wednesday in which he denounced Mr. Karzai’s newly anointed administration as illegal and said that the government would be unable to cope with the problems facing Afghanistan, including security and corruption. “Eight years of golden opportunity we have missed,” said the former presidential candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, referring to the money and lives spent by international forces. Although his words were sharp, they were delivered in a measured tone with little rancor. At the news conference, held at his home, Mr. Abdullah said that he saw the flawed Aug. 20 election as finished and that he did not plan to continue his efforts to challenge the results. “The process has completed itself with that final, illegal decision,” he said, referring to the ruling of the Independent Election Commission, which declared Mr. Karzai the winner of the election on Monday, a day after Mr. Abdullah withdrew from the runoff. “I leave it to the people of Afghanistan to judge.” Mr. Abdullah announced Sunday that he would not participate in the runoff, which had been set for this Saturday, because his demands had not been met for ensuring a fair election, including the removal of the top figures in the election commission, who had been appointed by Mr. Karzai.

5 British Soldiers Slain by Afghan Policeman - Joshua Partlow, Washington Post. Five British soldiers were shot and killed Tuesday by an Afghan policeman while they were working together in southern Afghanistan, British officials said. The shooting occurred in the Nad e-Ali district of Helmand province, one of the most violent areas of the country. The British soldiers were working with Afghan National Police at a checkpoint when one policeman opened fire, military officials said. The gunfire wounded six other British soldiers and two Afghan policemen. Officials said the shooter fled the scene, but it was unclear whether he was arrested later. Deaths among British troops, the second-largest contingent in Afghanistan after the US military, have risen in recent months, mirroring the growing rate of American fatalities. At least 92 British soldiers have died this year, the deadliest of the war. Tuesday's attack follows a shooting a month ago in which an Afghan police officer killed two US soldiers while they were patrolling together. The ongoing violence comes amid the conclusion of Afghanistan's troubled presidential election. Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who withdrew this week from a runoff vote, said Wednesday that he had no interest in joining President Hamid Karzai's second-term cabinet, which will be chosen in coming weeks.

Troop Deaths in Afghanistan Stir Outcry in Britain - Alissa J. Rubin, John F. Burns and Taimoor Shah, New York Times. The deaths of five British soldiers at the hands of an Afghan policeman with whom they were working have unleashed an outcry in Britain and highlighted the vulnerability of Western troops as they carry out a key part of the counterinsurgency strategy to train more members of the Afghan Army and the police. The attack occurred at midday on Tuesday in Helmand Province as the soldiers relaxed in the still-warm autumn sun on the roof of the joint checkpoint overlooking a shared British-Afghan compound. They were so much at ease that they had shed their body armor and helmets, never thinking that they would be attacked by one of the men they lived and worked with, said a local provincial official. Afterward, the attacker fled, setting off a manhunt. The attack came as public support for the war in many NATO countries, including critical allies like Britain and Germany, has grown increasingly shaky. For Britain, it was one of the most deadly single attacks since the Afghanistan invasion eight years ago, bringing to 92 the number of British troops killed so far this year. It also came one month after an Afghan policeman fired on American soldiers during a joint patrol in Wardak Province, killing two, and immediately intensified concerns about Taliban infiltration of the Afghan security forces, in particular the police, who are supposed to be preparing to take a broader role in combating the Taliban insurgency.

Bloody Betrayal Raises Fresh Doubts About Britain's Campaign in Afghanistan - Philip Webster and Michael Evans, The Times. The killing of five British soldiers by an Afghan policeman raised fresh doubts yesterday about Britain’s mission in Helmand. Senior political, diplomatic and military figures warned that public support for the British presence was in danger of collapse without a clear and freshly defined strategy. The deaths of the soldiers, three from the Grenadier Guards and two from the Royal Military Police, came when a policeman trained by British forces opened fire at Shin Kalay base in southern Afghanistan. Building up the expertise of the Afghan army and police force is key to the British and American forces eventually leaving the country, and that may now be far more difficult to achieve. The shootings exposed cracks in the military alliance and domestic political unity. Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, the former Liberal Democrat leader, and Lord Powell of Bayswater, Margaret Thatcher’s former foreign policy adviser, warned of the dangers of ebbing public support.

British Leader Vows Afghan Mission Unchanged - Tom Rivers, Voice of America, While calling the deaths of five British soldiers gunned down in Afghanistan a tragic loss, Prime Minister Gordon Brown underlined Wednesday that British forces remain committed to their difficult mission there. The British leader was speaking during his weekly parliamentary question session. The killing of the British personnel by a lone Afghan policeman at a military compound in Helmand province has raised more questions in Britain about the deployment. It is the latest bad news for the Brown government that already has faced strong criticism here about the war. Addressing fellow politicians in the House of Commons Wednesday, a somber Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid tribute to the fallen. "I'm sure the whole House will wish to join me in sending our condolences to the families and friends of the five soldiers who have died in Afghanistan yesterday," he said. [edit] "The death of five brave soldiers in a single incident is a terrible and tragic loss and I want to pay tribute, as the whole House will, to their professionalism and to their courage and service," he said. While he says the deadly incident is being thoroughly investigated, Mr. Brown said the so-called partnering program of training Afghan police and soldiers will go on.

Armored Troop Carriers Unsafe for Afghan Duty - Sara A. Carter, Washington Times. Staff Sgt. Daniel Paul Rabidou nervously rubbed the sweat from his palms onto his Army fatigues. The tall, well-built 24-year-old from San Bernardino, Calif., had already survived two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on convoys in the past six weeks, including one on the same road he was getting ready to traverse again from Forward Operating Base Ramrod near Kandahar to a small outpost in the heart of Taliban territory. Since they arrived at the outpost on Sept. 13, the Blackwatch unit - Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, with the 5th Stryker Brigade - had lost three soldiers and two civil affairs officers. IEDs had destroyed three of their four Stryker vehicles. Overall, 21 of 350 Strykers have been destroyed since the 5th Brigade deployed in southern Afghanistan in July; more than two dozen Americans have been killed and nearly 70 wounded. Soldiers call the Strykers "Kevlar coffins," Sgt. Rabidou said. "Lead vehicle always sucks," he said, as the convoy set off with a reporter and photographer from The Washington Times in the first Stryker. "It's usually the one to go first if there's a pressure plate bomb. Sure you don't want to get out now? It may be your last chance," he asked half-jokingly. The eight-wheeled Stryker, introduced a decade ago as a faster, more mobile alternative to tanks and other tracked vehicles, has had a controversial history. In theory, the Stryker's speed and capacity - it can carry 11 plus a crew of two - makes up for its lighter armor. But critics say its vulnerability to IEDs make it unsuitable for duty in southern Afghanistan.

Hundreds of UN Staffers Temporarily Leaving Afghanistan - Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times. The United Nations is temporarily pulling hundreds of staff members out of Afghanistan while it reviews security arrangements in the wake of an attack by militants on a Kabul guesthouse last week that killed five UN employees, officials said today. UN officials said staff members, scattered in dozens of dwellings in Kabul and around the country, were in many cases protected only by a few Afghan security guards. Taliban spokesmen said the UN was specifically targeted in the Oct. 28 attack because of its involvement in plans for a Nov. 7 presidential runoff election, which has since been canceled. Officials have conducted a security review since the attack and have determined that arrangements for many staffers are inadequate. The UN has about 5,600 employees in Afghanistan, about 80% of them Afghan citizens. Roughly 12% of the total, or about 672 employees, are being moved in what officials characterized as a "limited, short-term" relocation. In many cases, staffers will be back in a matter of weeks, said Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the UN mission in Afghanistan.

Pakistan Army: Troops Reach Key Taliban Strongholds - Voice of America. Pakistan's army says its forces have reached key Taliban strongholds in the region of South Waziristan, as its offensive moves deeper into militant-held territory. The military says troops captured a "major part" of Sararogha and have also entered Ladha. It says "intense fighting" is taking place in the streets of Ladha for control of the town. A military statement says 30 militants have been killed in South Waziristan in the last day. The statement says eight troops have been wounded. The army's casualty claims are rarely independently verified because journalists and aid workers are largely banned from the battle zone. Meanwhile, India is denying Pakistani allegations it is assisting the Taliban and other insurgents during Pakistan's ongoing offensive in South Waziristan. Indian Foreign Secretary Nirumpama Rao says India wants a stable and peaceful Pakistan. Pakistani officials say their forces in South Waziristan have seized Indian-made guns, bombs and medicine.

IRAQ

US Keeps a Low Profile Ahead of Iraq Elections - Liz Sly, Los Angeles Times. As Iraqi lawmakers repeatedly miss deadlines for writing the new law urgently needed for elections to go ahead in January - and for US troops to go home - America's diminishing role in the political process is very much in evidence. Back in 2005, when Iraq's democracy was being formed, it was common for legislators to meet into the small hours of the morning in the presence of US officials, who shuttled between the feuding camps, mediating disputes and pressuring them to stick to the timetable for a new constitution and for elections to be held. Four years later, elections are due to be held again, and the original deadline for the new law came and went three weeks ago, putting at risk the Jan. 16 vote and potentially delaying the withdrawal of the remaining US combat forces next year. This time around, US diplomats have adopted a noticeably lower profile, ceding the lead mediation role to the United Nations and emphasizing the need for Iraqis to solve their own problems. With the time needed to prepare for the elections ticking away, Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday telephoned Massoud Barzani, president of Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region, and parliamentary speaker Iyad Samarrai, a Sunni Arab, urging them to accept a UN proposal for resolving the deadlock. The men are key players in a dispute over voting procedures in the long-contested province of Kirkuk that is holding up an agreement.

Brigade Tests New Concept in Iraq - Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service. The first new “advise and assist” brigades already in Iraq and others slated to arrive soon have a big leg up on their new mission, thanks to the groundwork laid by the “Highlander” brigade, which provided a test bed for the new concept. The 1st Armored Division’s 4th Brigade has been on the ground in Iraq since April, conducting the initial advise and assist operations to pass on to the first officially designated AAB, explained Army Col. Peter Newell, the brigade commander. The Defense Department announced in July plans to send four of the new brigades to Iraq beginning this fall to train and mentor Iraqi security forces. The brigades will focus less on traditional combat operations and more on advising, assisting and developing capabilities within the Iraqi security forces, Newell said. They also will conduct coordinated counterterrorism missions and support the State Department’s provincial reconstruction teams and other US interagency partners in Iraq. The first units assigned the mission are the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st and 2nd Brigade Combat Teams based at Fort Stewart Ga., and its 3rd BCT at Fort Benning, Ga.; and the 4th Infantry Division’s 3rd BCT at Fort Carson, Colo. In addition, the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade, which recently arrived in Iraq, has taken on the AAB mission. Newell’s job has been to help the new brigades determine what specific skills to train for and how to organize themselves to better conduct their new mission, he told American Forces Press Service by phone from Iraq.

IRAN

Iranian Opposition Protesters Hijack Government Rally - Edward Yeranian, Voice of America. Iranian police have clashed with opposition demonstrators who tried to take over a government sanctioned protest organized to mark the 30th anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran. A government crackdown on the anti-government demonstrators turned violent in some places. An officially sponsored government rally devolved into rival protests Wednesday as tens of thousands of demonstrators poured into the streets of the Iranian capital, some of them renewing opposition protests against the conduct of the recent election campaign. Anti-government protesters were dealt with by force, as a government crackdown turned violent. Government backed demonstrators at the initial rally outside the old US Embassy in Tehran shouted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." A pro-government speaker also addressed the crowd, praising the Islamic Republic, the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and it's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Meanwhile, in Tehran's nearby Hafte-Tir Square, thousands of opposition demonstrators shouting anti-government slogans, including "Death to the dictator", and "Down with (Supreme Leader) Ayatollah Khamenei" were met by anti-riot police and Basij militiamen waving batons and firing tear gas. Eyewitnesses report numerous injuries and dozens of arrests. Scores of volunteer Basij militiamen also drove their motorbikes into crowds, to disperse them.

In Iran, Rival Rallies Show Rift Endures - Thomas Erdbrink and William Branigin, Washington Post. Thousands of Iranians took to the streets Wednesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran, but the annual state-sponsored anti-American rally turned into another sign of the deep divisions persisting in this country. As pro-government demonstrators ritually chanted "Death to America!" outside the former US Embassy, opposition protesters used the occasion to vent their anger over a disputed presidential election in June and the harsh crackdown on subsequent protests. Converging on a square about half a mile from the former embassy, the opposition marchers denounced President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with shouts of "Death to the dictator!" The rival demonstrations - and ensuing street clashes between protesters and security forces - illustrated the split that has come to define Iran three decades after Islamic revolutionaries overthrew the US-backed shah and branded America "the Great Satan." While Iran's ruling ayatollahs and government leaders maintain their entrenched distrust of and enmity toward the United States, the young people who form the bulk of Iran's population have no memory of those revolutionary days, and many opposition supporters favor a more open society and greater international engagement. The government has struggled to quell protests for five months, deploying security forces on the streets of Tehran and officially banning opposition demonstrations. Yet, on Wednesday, anti-government demonstrators openly defied the ban, even as police fired tear gas and warning shots. In video clips captured by cellphone cameras, helmeted police officers could be seen beating protesters, including women, with batons.

Dissidents Mass in Tehran to Subvert an Anti-US Rally - Robert F. Worth, New York Times. Iran’s beleaguered opposition movement struggled to reassert itself on Wednesday, as tens of thousands of protesters braved police beatings and clouds of tear gas on the sidelines of a major, government-sponsored anti-American rally. The protests - in Tehran and other cities - were the opposition’s largest street showing in almost two months and came on the 30th anniversary of the takeover of the United States Embassy in Iran, an event that was a crucible for both Iran and the United States. Although a huge force of police officers beat back and scattered many of them, the protesters took heart at their ability to openly challenge the government despite a stream of warnings from all levels of Iran’s conservative establishment. Even some government authorities seemed to grudgingly concede that the opposition had - for the first time - disrupted the annual anti-American rally. The official IRNA news agency reported in midafternoon that “rioters,” many wearing the opposition’s signature green color, had gathered in front of its offices on Valiasr Street chanting “Death to the dictator” and other antigovernment slogans. At the same time, a new theme emerged, with many protesters declaring their impatience with President Obama’s policy of dialogue with the Iranian government. Many could be heard chanting, “Obama, Obama - either you’re with them or you’re with us,” witnesses said.

Iranians Stage Major Demonstration - Farnaz Fassihi, Wall Street Journal. Thousands of protesters in Iran took a day of annual anti-American rallies commemorating the siege of the US Embassy and turned it into a major protest against their government. Security forces fired tear gas and clashed violently with opposition protesters in cities across Iran, after demonstrators used the 30th anniversary of the storming of the embassy as cover for their first significant action in weeks. "It has been a good day for the opposition. They have come out in big numbers and succeeded in hijacking what the regime was hoping would be a rally against US foreign policy," said Nader Hashemi, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Denver. Amateur videos support eyewitness accounts of tens of thousands of people, in scattered clusters, marching in the streets of Tehran as well as in other big cities such as Tabriz, Isfahan, Shiraz and Rasht. The security presence was strong and organized, witnesses say, and focused on dispersing the crowds. University campuses across Iran also erupted, as students staged sit-ins and protests against the government. n Tehran, security forces attacked opposition leader and former presidential candidate Mahdi Karroubi, firing tear gas at him, according to Mohamad Taghi Karroubi, the cleric's son, on the opposition's "Mowjcamp" Web site. Mr. Karroubi suffered slight skin injuries, but one of his bodyguards was seriously hurt, according to the account. "Today the government of the coup proved once again that it will stop at nothing to crush the massive wave of demonstrations," said a statement by the opposition posted on the site.

In Iran, Anti-government Protests Rival Anti-America Rally - Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim, Los Angeles Times. A cry from the streets of Tehran put Iranian attitudes toward America at the center of a day of violent clashes Wednesday. "Obama, Obama!" protesters chanted on a day marking the 30th anniversary of the United States Embassy takeover. "Either you're with them, or with us." The poignant slogan came in contrast to that of nearby government supporters and schoolchildren draped in Iranian flags, who chanted, "Death to America!" reiterating the rallying cry of the Islamic Revolution, which toppled US-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, establishing Iran as the world's first modern theocracy. Radical students stormed the US Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979, holding American personnel hostage for 444 days in a move that severed official ties between Tehran and Washington and ushered in an era of deep hostility between the two countries. The day is traditionally used by the Iranian government to whip up anti-American furor. State television showed thousands of Iranians, mostly schoolchildren, carrying placards and chanting near the site of the former embassy. "The Americans are scared of religious democracy in our country more than anything else," lawmaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel said at the official rally. "This is because Iran's religious democracy could turn into a role model in other countries." But protesters who claim that the June 12 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was fraudulent subverted the event, battling security forces into the night and turning large stretches of the Iranian capital into scenes of chaos and violence.

Protesters Attacked by Militiamen as Iranian Regime Faces Revolt on Anti-US Day - Martin Fletcher, The Times. Violence erupted in Tehran yesterday as tens of thousands took to the streets to attack the regime on a day that was supposed to be dedicated to condemning America. The regime marked the 30th anniversary of the storming of the US Embassy with an official rally outside the former diplomatic compound - but elsewhere, security forces fought running battles with protesters who packed the streets of the capital in defiance of regime warnings. Opposition videos showed riot police and Basij militiamen clubbing men and women and charging into crowds of demonstrators, leaving many with bloody head wounds. The protests were smaller than in the immediate aftermath of June’s disputed presidential election, but were matched by demonstrations in several other Iranian cities. Opposition figures said that they were large enough to make the point: despite five months of brutal suppression, the opposition had not been crushed.

Iran's Nuclear Diversion - Ray Takeyh, Washington Post opinion. As the Obama administration grapples with the conundrum of Iran, it must balance its proliferation concerns with its moral responsibilities. Iran's post-election tremors have hardly subsided; in fact, the regime is systematically eviscerating its democratic opposition. Amid their merciless efforts to consolidate power, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his allies see discussion of the nuclear program as a means to silence the criticism that their domestic behavior merits. In the coming months, Iran will no doubt seek to prolong negotiations by accepting and then rejecting agreed-upon compacts and offering countless counterproposals. The United States and its allies must decide how to approach an Iranian diplomatic stratagem born out of cynical desire to clamp down on peaceful dissent with relative impunity. International scrutiny remains trained on Iran's nuclear program, but outside that glare, the structure and orientation of the Revolutionary Guards are changing dramatically. The regime in Tehran is establishing the infrastructure for repression.

IRAN / SYRIA / HEZBOLLAH

Israel Seizes Ship Loaded With Weapons - Robert Berger, Voice of America. Israel says it has seized an arms shipment on the high seas and it is pointing a finger at Iran. Israeli naval commandos stormed onto a ship loaded with weapons near Cyprus and took it to Israel's southern port of Ashdod. The vessel was flying an Antiguan flag and disguised as an aid ship. The military says 54 metric tons of weapons were on board, including missiles, anti-tank weapons and mortars. Israeli military officials say the weapons were from Iran and the shipment was destined for the Islamic guerrilla group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iranian officials had no immediate comment on the allegations. Shaul Mofaz, an Israeli parliamentarian and former army chief of staff, says a radical axis of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza are trying to destabilize the Middle East. Mofaz told Israel Radio that the ship was carrying weapons with one intention: to harm Israeli civilians. During the month-long Lebanon War in 2006, Hezbollah fired more than 4,000 rockets across the border at Israel. Now, Israel says Iran and Syria are rearming Hezbollah in violation of a United Nations ceasefire resolution. Mofaz said it is clear that Hezbollah is arming and preparing for the next war.

Israeli Commandos Seize Ship 'Carrying Arms to Hezbollah' - James Hider, The Times. Israeli special forces have seized a cargo ship carrying 500 tonnes of weapons that military officials said were being delivered from Iran to its Lebanese ally Hezbollah. A squad of small Israeli swift boats sped up to the Francop, an Antiguan-flagged freighter, just before midnight on Tuesday and boarded the craft off the coast of Cyprus. The crew offered no resistance and the charter company insisted that it had no idea there were large amounts of missiles, rockets, shells, grenades and assault rifles hidden in containers in the hull. The haul was by far the largest interception of weapons smuggling since an Israeli raid in the Red Sea in 2002 on the Karine A, a ship carrying arms from Iran to Hamas, another Iranian proxy which now controls the Gaza Strip. Tuesday’s raid comes amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran, whose President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has vowed the wipe the Jewish state off the map. Danny Ayalon, the Israeli deputy Foreign Minister, told The Times that the interception was just the “tip of the iceberg”, adding that Israeli intelligence showed an increasing volume and frequency of Iranian shipments to its militia allies in the region.

Israel Says Seized Ship Contained Iranian Arms - Howard Schneider, Washington Post. The Israeli navy said Wednesday that commandos had seized a container ship carrying a huge cache of weapons that originated in Iran and was ultimately destined for the militia of the Islamist Hezbollah movement. As part of its routine inspection of ships in the Mediterranean Sea, the Israeli navy intercepted the vessel Tuesday night near Cyprus, roughly 100 miles off the Israeli coast. There was no resistance from the ship's crew, and once Israeli special forces boarded, they found an estimated 600 tons of rockets, guns and other munitions, said Rear Adm. Rani Ben-Yehuda, deputy head of the Israeli navy. Flying under an Antiguan flag, the ship, called the Francop, was carrying cargo loaded in Damietta, Egypt, and bound for Latakia in Syria, Israeli defense officials said. Some of the ship's 500 containers were stamped with the insignia of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, and 36 of them were found to contain arms. Other documents found on board identified the cargo as originating in Iran, Ben-Yehuda said. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, speaking from Tehran, denied that Iranian arms were bound for Syria and said "pirates" had disrupted legitimate trade between Syria and Iran, news services reported.

UNITED STATES

Pentagon Expected to Request More War Funding - Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times. The nation’s top military officer said Wednesday that he expected the Pentagon to ask Congress in the next few months for emergency financing to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though President Obama has pledged to end the Bush administration practice of paying for the conflicts with so-called supplemental funds that are outside the normal Defense Department budget. The financing would be on top of the $130 billion that Congress authorized for the wars just last month. The military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not say how much additional money would be needed, but one figure in circulation within the Pentagon and among outside defense budget analysts is $50 billion. Representative John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who is chairman of the House appropriations defense subcommittee, cited $40 billion last week as a hypothetical amount for the supplemental financing request. The number represented a standard calculation of $1 billion for every 1,000 troops deployed. Defense officials said the final request would depend on the number of additional troops Mr. Obama decided to send to Afghanistan.

AMERICAS

Mexican Pot Gangs Infiltrate Indian Reservations in US - Joel Millman, Wall Street Journal. Police Chief Carmen Smith says he knows three things about suspected drug trafficker Artemio Corona: He's from Mexico, prefers a Glock .40-caliber handgun, and is quite possibly growing marijuana on the Indian reservation that Mr. Smith patrols. Last year, Mr. Smith's detectives identified Mr. Corona as the alleged mastermind behind several large marijuana plantations on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in central Oregon. These "grows," as police call them, had a harvest of 12,000 adult plants, with an estimated street value of $10 million. Five suspects were arrested and pleaded guilty to federal trafficking charges. But their alleged boss, Mr. Corona, who has not been indicted, remains a "person of interest" to federal authorities and hasn't been found. Cultivating marijuana in Indian country represents a new twist in the decades-old illicit drug trade between Mexico and the US, the world's largest drug-consuming market. For decades, Mexican drug gangs grew marijuana in Mexico, smuggled it across the border, and sold it in the US But in the past few years, they have done what any burgeoning business would do: move closer to their customers. Illicit pot farms, the vast majority run by gangs with ties to Mexico, are growing fast across the country. The US Forest Service has discovered pot farms in 61 national forests across 16 states this year, up from 49 forests in 10 states last year. New territories include public land in Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan, Alabama and Virginia.

Obama Must Stand Firm on Honduras Crisis - Los Angeles Times editorial. The Obama administration last week brokered what looked like a promising deal to end the political crisis in Honduras. Sadly, this week it already is fraying. The de facto leaders of Honduras are foot-dragging, prompting President Manuel Zelaya, whom they ousted in a civilian-military coup four months ago, to issue an ultimatum from his refuge in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital. Both sides need to stand down and focus on restoring democracy before the country's Nov. 29 presidential election. The Obama administration, meanwhile, must hold firm to its principles and quit backing away from its stated belief that Zelaya should be allowed to serve out the remaining three months of his term. Under the accord, the two sides were to form a national unity government by today and let the Honduran Congress decide whether to return Zelaya to office. Although the agreement did not set a date for the vote or specifically guarantee Zelaya's restitution, it called for "an end to the situation facing the country." The deposed president signed, in the apparent belief that the vote would be a formality and that he would be back in office within a week. The de facto leader, Roberto Micheletti, seemed to be compromising in order to secure international backing for the next election and an end to the country's isolation. The European Union, the Organization of American States and the US had said they wouldn't recognize the next president if Zelaya weren't returned to office first.

ASIA PACIFIC

US Envoy Urges Burma to Make Concrete Steps Toward Democracy - Voice of America. The most senior US diplomat to visit Burma in 14 years says Washington wants better relations with that Southeast Asian country, if its military government takes concrete steps toward democracy. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell ended a two-day visit to Burma Wednesday, after meeting with members of the government and the opposition. He also met privately in Rangoon with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, following talks with Prime Minister Thein Sein in the administrative capital, Naypyidaw. At the end of his visit, Campbell said in a statement issued by the US embassy in Rangoon he urged Burma's government to open dialogue with its opposition and ethnic groups, and to work toward national reconciliation and a fully inclusive political process in Burma. Campbell and his deputy, Scot Marciel, are the highest-level American officials to visit Burma since 1995. The US delegation held talks with Burma's Cabinet ministers Tuesday. Campbell met with Burma's top diplomats in September in New York, after the Obama administration announced it is reversing the previous US policy of isolating Burma. But Washington has said there will be no easing of sanctions against the regime until it demonstrates tangible progress.

US Officials Meet with Myanmar Activist Aung San Suu Kyi - Charles McDermid, Los Angeles Times. Senior US officials were allowed to meet Wednesday with Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement, in a further sign of thawing relations between Washington and the Asian nation's secretive military government. A high-ranking group led by Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the top American diplomat for East Asia, met privately with the Nobel Peace Prize winner for two hours at a hotel in Yangon, also known as Rangoon. Campbell also held talks with top generals in the government, including Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein and leaders of Suu Kyi's political party. The talks represent the most senior-level exchange since Madeleine Albright visited Myanmar, also known as Burma, in 1995 when she was the chief US representative to the United Nations. In Washington, officials said the visit was designed to explore ways to repair relations between the nations while reassuring democracy activists that the Obama administration remained committed to them. Ian Kelly, a State Department spokesman, said Campbell told Myanmar's rulers that the US was prepared to improve ties, "but it will be a step-by-step process and must be based on reciprocal and concrete efforts by the Burmese government." He also repeated the long-standing US call for the release of Suu Kyi.

US Diplomat Meets Myanmar’s Top Dissident and Urges Junta to Work With Her - Thomas Fuller, New York Times. A senior American diplomat who completed a rare visit to Myanmar on Wednesday said that Washington would improve relations with the nation if its military government embraced reconciliation with Myanmar’s democratic opposition. “We stated clearly that the United States is prepared to take steps to improve the relationship, but that the process must be based on reciprocal and concrete efforts by the Burmese government,” the diplomat, Kurt M. Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said in a statement before boarding a plane for Thailand. Mr. Campbell is the highest-ranking American official to hold substantive talks in Myanmar, formerly Burma, in more than a decade, and he described his trip as an “exploratory mission.” After a two-hour meeting on Wednesday with the leader of the country’s beleaguered democracy movement, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Mr. Campbell urged the government to allow her “more frequent interactions” with members of her party, the National League for Democracy, which won elections in 1990 that were ignored by the ruling generals. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has been held under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years and is allowed only infrequent meetings with anyone outside her home. Mr. Campbell is the most senior American representative she has met since 1995. Mr. Campbell’s trip is part of a broader policy review announced by the Obama administration to engage Myanmar after years of diplomatic isolation and sanctions. American officials say they have no immediate plans to lift the sanctions, which ban most trade and investment in the country by American companies.

EUROPE

Italian Judge Convicts 23 in CIA Kidnap Case - Voice of America. An Italian judge has convicted 23 Americans of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Milan in 2003. The landmark case is the first involving the CIA's controversial "extraordinary rendition" program. The Milan judge sentenced the CIA's Milan station chief at the time, Robert Seldon Lady to eight years in prison Wednesday and the 22 others to five years. All of the Americans were tried in absentia, and are not in custody. A US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the Obama administration is disappointed by the verdicts, but he offered no further comment because the judge in Milan did not file a written opinion. The judge also gave three-year prison sentences to two Italians involved in the kidnapping. Three other American defendants and five Italians, including Italy's former military intelligence chief, were acquitted. "Extraordinary rendition," as practiced by the CIA, involved secretly transferring terror suspects between countries, placing them in locations where they could be intensively interrogated. Prosecutors say the Egyptian cleric, suspected terrorist Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr (also known as Abu Omar), was abducted from a Milan street and sent to Egypt, where he was repeatedly tortured. The Italian government has denied any role in the renditions program, which was approved by the administration of former US President George W. Bush.

Italy Convicts 23 Americans for CIA Renditions - Rachel Donadio, New York Times. In a landmark ruling, an Italian judge on Wednesday convicted a base chief for the Central Intelligence Agency and 22 other Americans, almost all CIA operatives, of kidnapping a Muslim cleric from the streets of Milan in 2003. The case was a huge symbolic victory for Italian prosecutors, who drew the first convictions involving the American practice of rendition, in which terrorism suspects are captured in one country and taken for questioning in another, often one more open to coercive interrogation techniques. Critics of the Bush administration have long hailed the case as a repudiation of the tactics it used to fight terrorism. And the fact that Italy would actually convict intelligence agents of an allied country was seen as a bold move that could set a precedent in other cases. Still, the convictions may have little practical effect. They do not seem to change the close relations between the United States and Italy. Nor did they reveal whether the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had approved the kidnapping. And it seemed highly unlikely that anyone, Italian or American, would spend any time in prison.

Italian Court Convicts 23 Americans in CIA Rendition Case; Extradition Undecided - Craig Whitlock, Washington Post. An Italian court convicted 22 CIA operatives and a US Air Force colonel on kidnapping charges Wednesday in a stern rebuke to the US government's long-standing practice of covertly seizing terrorism suspects abroad without a warrant. The guilty verdicts are the only instance in which CIA operatives have faced a criminal trial for the controversial tactic of extraordinary rendition, under which terrorism suspects are abducted in one country and forcibly transported to another. The CIA began carrying out renditions during the Clinton administration but intensified their frequency under orders from the Bush White House after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The Obama administration said in August that it would continue the practice, but pledged to take steps to ensure that rendition targets are not tortured, either by the CIA or by foreign spy agencies. In winning the guilty verdicts, Italian prosecutors took a contrary view, saying they were determined to enforce the law in spite of political pressure from Rome and Washington to drop the case. "This decision sends a clear message to all governments that even in the fight against terrorism you can't forsake the basic rights of our democracies," said Armando Spataro, the deputy Milan public prosecutor. The Americans were charged with snatching a Muslim cleric off the street here in 2003 and covertly flying him to Cairo.

Italy Judge Convicts 23 Americans in 2003 CIA Kidnapping of Egyptian Cleric - Maria De Cristofaro and Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times. An Italian judge on Wednesday convicted 23 Americans of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric off the streets of Milan in 2003, a sweeping verdict against one of the CIA's most valued anti-terrorism tools - the practice known as extraordinary rendition. The decision was a victory for Italian anti-terrorism prosecutors and police who spent six years building a massive case. The two-year trial exposed details of a secretive world and was the first anywhere to challenge the program under which the CIA abducted suspects and spirited them to other countries for interrogation. A clandestine team of US and Italian operatives abducted Hassan Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, a Muslim cleric suspected of recruiting militants to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan. He was flown to Egypt, where he claims to have undergone months of torture and abuse. The case sparked an international uproar, and the governments of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his predecessor tried repeatedly to scuttle the trial. Judge Oscar Magi acquitted three other Americans, including the former CIA station chief in Italy, because they had diplomatic immunity. Magi also set aside charges against five Italian intelligence officials, including the former chief and deputy chief of Italy's spy agency, ruling they were protected by a state secrets law. But he convicted two other Italians.

In Unified Germany, Split Over the Past - Craig Whitlock, Washington Post. As Germans prepare to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall - a spontaneous burst of freedom that led to the collapse of communism in Europe - the country remains divided in its memories of the old days. Many residents of the former East Germany resent what they say is an unfair characterization of their country as a "criminal state" by their counterparts in the west. Instead, they say, the German Democratic Republic was a well-intentioned, if flawed, experiment in socialism that denounced the evils of the Nazis. In a survey commissioned by the federal government to assess how Germans feel today about the events of 1989, 57 percent of those in the eastern half of the country said life under communist rule was, on balance, more positive than negative. "What people really are saying is, 'I didn't do everything wrong, I didn't live in vain,' " said Gabriele Haubold, an architect and city planner in Eisenhuettenstadt, which was founded as a model socialist city but has suffered since 1989, losing more than one-third of its population. "People think back to how it was in the GDR, how it was different, how we had work, how there was a safety net so you didn't have to worry about things," she said. "But, of course, you also have to remember that there was a price to pay for all this."

MIDDLE EAST

Clinton Has 'Productive Meeting' with Egypt on Mideast Peace Process - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post. After four days of Arab criticism over her efforts to break the impasse in the Mideast peace process, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton enjoyed a respite here Wednesday, as her Egyptian counterpart agreed it was time to "focus on the endgame" of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit made clear he did not share Clinton's positive interpretation of Israel's offer of a partial moratorium on West Bank settlements, which just three days ago he described as "not reasonable or acceptable" as the basis for the Palestinians to return to the bargaining table. "We feel that Israel is hindering the process ... [and] putting on conditions in order to continue settlement activities, even if limited," Gheit said. He spoke at a news conference with Clinton after she met with President Hosni Mubarak. But in the city where President Obama last summer delivered his much-praised outreach speech to the Islamic world, the Egyptians at least appeared disinclined to publicly criticize his secretary of state. While not directly endorsing Clinton's outline for new negotiations, Gheit said he agreed that "we should not waste time."

Clinton Backs Peace Talks Before Israeli Settlement Freeze - Mark Landler and Alan Cowell, New York Times. Winding up a Middle East tour, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton repeated on Wednesday that while the Obama administration rejects the legitimacy of Israeli settlement expansion, it nonetheless believes that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations should precede a permanent freeze on such construction. Her arguments conflicted with Arab and Palestinian demands that all settlement activity be frozen as a precondition for resuming talks with Israel. Mrs. Clinton was speaking to reporters after meetings here with President Hosni Mubarak and other Egyptian officials. During Mrs. Clinton’s regional diplomacy, Arab officials have expressed anger at her readiness to promote a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel for a moratorium on new housing units in the West Bank that would allow building or finishing about 3,000 more units and exclude East Jerusalem from any construction limits. In a speech Tuesday and in meetings with Arab foreign ministers during a conference of Arab and Western nations in Marrakesh, Morocco, Mrs. Clinton made it clear that the Israeli government would not agree to President Obama’s call for a complete halt to settlement construction. Instead she depicted Mr. Netanyahu’s offer as a reasonable compromise that could still form the basis for progress.

Administration Missteps Hamper Mideast Efforts - Glenn Kessler, Washington Post. President Obama came into office insisting that his administration would press hard and fast to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But after nine months, analysts and diplomats say, the administration's efforts have faltered in part because of its own missteps. As Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made clear during her Middle East trip, which ended Wednesday, U.S. officials are now promoting new tactics -- what they called the "baby steps" of lower-level talks -- to bring the Israeli and Palestinian leaders together for direct talks. But the dynamics have changed since Obama named a special envoy to the region on his second day in office and tried to make a fresh start. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, whom the administration once would have been happy to see undermined, has been strengthened - while Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whom the administration had hoped to bolster, has been weakened. "There was an excess of zeal at first," said Edward S. Walker Jr., who was assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs in the Clinton administration. "It is a noble endeavor to try to hammer out peace. But you have to look at the relationships. You have to read the players. They got out in front of studying the problem and were anxious to show progress." Daniel Levy, a veteran Israeli peace negotiator now at the Century Foundation in Washington, summed up the administration's efforts in recent days as "amateur night at the Apollo Theater." He said the administration did not game out the consequences of its demands on the parties - and then flinched. "They just dug deeper and deeper their own grave," he said. "All of this talk of negotiations doesn't cut the mustard in the region."

UN Takes Up Report on Israeli Palestinian War Crimes - Margaret Besheer, Voice of America. The UN General Assembly began discussion Wednesday of a UN report on war crimes allegedly committed by Palestinian militants and the Israeli army during Israel's offensive last December in the Gaza Strip. Arab and non-aligned nations introduced a resolution calling on the two parties to launch credible investigations of alleged war crimes within three months. The report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council found that both sides committed serious human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law. But the council reserved its harshest criticism for Israeli actions, saying Israel used disproportionate force and failed to take adequate measures to protect civilians during its campaign to silence Hamas rocket attacks. Israel has dismissed the report and did not cooperate with the UN fact-finding mission, led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone. Addressing the General Assembly, Israel's Ambassador Gabriela Shalev repeated her government's position that Israel was acting in self-defense. She called the commission's mandate "one-sided" and characterized the Human Rights Council as obsessed with Israel. She said the report was conceived in "hate" and its conclusions "predetermined." "Today's debate is anything but genuine and candid. Rather than discuss how to better stop terrorist groups who deliberately target civilians, this body launches yet another campaign against the victims of terrorism - the people of Israel," said Shalev. Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said the Palestinian authorities take very seriously the allegations in the Goldstone report regarding possible violations by Hamas. But he said there is no comparison between their actions and those of Israel.

The Mideast Impasse - Washington Post editorial. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has participated in peace negotiations with five Israeli governments that refused to halt Jewish settlement construction. Yet Mr. Abbas has rejected an appeal from the Obama administration to start talks with the center-right coalition of Binyamin Netanyahu, putting one of the administration's primary foreign policy goals on indefinite hold. The reason: "America cannot get Israel to implement a settlement freeze," a statement said. Has Mr. Abbas suddenly realized that settlements are the key obstacle to a Palestinian state? Hardly: In private, senior Palestinian officials readily concede that the issue is secondary. Instead, the Palestinian pose is a product of the Obama administration's missteps -- and also of the fact that the opportunity Mr. Obama said he perceived to broker a two-state settlement is not so visible to leaders in the region. The administration set the stage last spring for this diplomatic impasse by demanding "a stop to settlement construction, additions, natural growth -- any kind of settlement activity," as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton put it. No Israeli government has agreed to such terms, and the administration's public insistence on them only served to boost Mr. Netanyahu's approval rating with Israelis, while Mr. Obama's plummeted to the single digits. The administration now wants to set the issue aside and move on with the talks; officials say a settlement freeze was never a precondition. But Ms. Clinton is having trouble clambering out of the hole she helped to dig.

EVENTS

The US Military Academy’s Department of History is pleased to invite you to a West Point Symposium on the History of Irregular Warfare, 18-20 November 2009. The symposium will feature the scholarship of five cadet panel presenters with commentary by distinguished guest scholars, including: Dr. Stephen Biddle as our keynote speaker, Dr. Jeremy Black, Col. Robert Cassidy, Dr. Conrad Crane, Dr. George Herring, Dr. Brian Linn, and Dr. Peter Mansoor. Additionally, Dr. James Le Sueur (Uncivil War: Intellectuals and Identity Politics, 2005) will present a special lecture on Algerian society since 1963. Col. Gian Gentile, a History faculty member, will participate as part of the “Visiting Scholars Panel” with Dr. Crane, Dr. Mansoor, and Col. Cassidy. (Invitation and POC Information) (History of IW Symposium Agenda)

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.