The top challenger to Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced Sunday that he will not take part in a runoff election scheduled for Saturday because he did not think the vote would be fair, but diplomatic gestures by both camps suggested the move would not trigger a new political crisis in the tense and war-torn country.

--Washington Post

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN

Afghanistan Poll Thrown Into Chaos as Karzai’s Rival Says: I Won’t Stand - Jeremy Page and Jerome Starkey, The Times. President Karzai’s opponent withdrew from Afghanistan’s presidential election yesterday, conceding defeat six days before a planned run-off but threatening to undermine the legitimacy of a new government. Abdullah Abdullah stopped short of calling for his supporters to boycott Saturday’s vote and urged them not to take to the streets in protest, leaving a window open for a power-sharing deal that UN and American officials are trying to broker. His decision still threw the process into confusion, with election officials insisting that the run-off should go ahead with only one candidate, while Western diplomats pressed for it to be cancelled because of the risk of a low turnout and Taleban attacks. The move appeared to be designed to increase international pressure on Mr Karzai to strike a deal with Dr Abdullah as the only way to achieve a credible result from Afghanistan’s two-month election crisis. Dr Abdullah announced his withdrawal at a meeting of several hundred supporters, including tribal elders and former Mujahidin commanders, mostly from the ethnic Tajik-dominated north of Afghanistan.

Karzai Scores a Win as Rival Quits - Yaroslav Trofimov, Anand Gopal and Peter Spiegel, Wall Street Journal. Afghanistan's presidential challenger said he won't take part in a Nov. 7 runoff election, handing a victory - if not a clear mandate to govern - to incumbent President Hamid Karzai. Abdullah Abdullah's withdrawal, which he blamed on bias in the country's election commission, is a double-edged sword for the Obama administration, which is considering whether to send tens of thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan. The White House had pushed extremely hard to get Mr. Karzai to agree to a runoff, saying it was essential to re-establishing legitimacy to an electoral process wracked with allegations of fraud. At the same time, US military and intelligence officials have recently raised concerns that apathy and disillusionment among Afghanistan's Pashtuns, the country's largest ethnic group and the one to which Mr. Karzai belongs, could severely depress turnout, robbing the runoff of the credibility it was supposed to deliver. For Dr. Abdullah, bowing out with grace - and unbeaten - allows him to preserve his political capital for the parliamentary elections next year, setting him up as the leader of Afghanistan's opposition. It also gains him credit with the international community, preoccupied with the security challenges of conducting another election amid a spreading Taliban insurgency. A recent spate of violence, including the killing of United Nations workers in a Kabul guesthouse last week, raised the specter of high-profile Taliban attacks throughout the runoff campaign.

Afghan President Appears to Win by Default; US Pushes to Cancel Runoff Vote - Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times. The withdrawal Sunday of President Hamid Karzai's only rival in an election runoff essentially handed him another five-year term, but without the clear mandate US officials had hoped would make Karzai an effective partner in the struggle to stabilize Afghanistan. In an emotional speech before thousands of supporters, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said he had decided not to take part in the Nov. 7 poll because the government had rejected his demands for changes to prevent the type of rampant fraud that marred the voting in August and had made it so that a "transparent election is not possible." The announcement plunged the country into uncharted legal and political territory, with no consensus on whether the runoff should still be held. Karzai's aides said the campaign should continue, although they added that they would respect the decision of the country's Independent Election Commission, a body whose members are appointed by Karzai. The group is scheduled to convene today to reach a decision. US and other Western officials, who leaned heavily on Karzai to accept a runoff after the tainted election in August, are now pressing him and electoral officials to find a legally acceptable way to cancel the poll and declare Karzai the winner. Neither the US nor the United Nations is prepared to risk more lives for an election with only one candidate, said a Western official familiar with the talks.

Out of Race, Karzai Rival Is Harsh Critic of Election - Carlotta Gall and Jeff Zeleny, New York Times. Afghanistan’s last presidential challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out of the race on Sunday, accusing the government of profound corruption and electoral fraud even as the Obama administration rallied around President Hamid Karzai. Mr. Abdullah, in an emotional speech to thousands of supporters here, did not ask Afghans to take to the streets to protest or boycott the political system. But he said he could not take part in an election runoff this week that he believed would be at least as fraudulent as the badly tainted first round in August, in which almost a million ballots for Mr. Karzai were thrown out as fakes. “I hoped there would be a better process,” he said. “But it is final. I will not participate in the Nov. 7 elections.” Mr. Karzai said in a statement released by his office that he wanted the vote to proceed as scheduled. He did not comment on his challenger’s new accusations of fraud but said, “It was Dr. Abdullah’s right to choose to withdraw from the runoff election.” Advisers to President Obama called Mr. Abdullah’s decision a personal choice that would not greatly affect American policy and was in line with the Afghan Constitution.

Status of Afghan Runoff Unclear as Karzai's Chief Rival Withdraws - Pamela Constable, Washington Post. The top challenger to Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced Sunday that he will not take part in a runoff election scheduled for Saturday because he did not think the vote would be fair, but diplomatic gestures by both camps suggested the move would not trigger a new political crisis in the tense and war-torn country. It was not clear whether the government would press ahead with plans for the election. Karzai, who had been heavily favored heading into the vote, told a radio station late Sunday that the runoff should be held but that he would defer to the national election commission. That panel, in turn, said it would consult a group of constitutional lawyers on Monday before deciding. No matter how a new government is formed, analysts said the withdrawal by candidate Abdullah Abdullah will inevitably lead to Karzai's de facto victory. But without a clear electoral mandate, they said, Karzai would begin his new term with lingering doubts about his credibility and reliability as a partner in the US-led battle against Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents.

White House Ponders Abdullah Withdrawal, Says No Impact on War Strategy - Paula Wolfson, Voice of America. White House officials say Abdullah Abdullah may have quit Afghanistan's presidential run-off for political reasons. They indicate his decision may not have a big impact on US President Barack Obama's ongoing review of Afghan war strategy. In his formal announcement, Abdullah Abdullah cited fraud in the first round of voting, and complained that the head of Afghanistan's election commission was left in place for the run-off by President Hamid Karzai. President Obama's top White House advisor, David Axelrod, downplays any impact Abdullah's decision might have on the administration's Afghan policy review. Axelrod stresses the run-off will go forward under terms set in the Afghan constitution. Appearing on the CBS television program Face the Nation, he notes Abdullah withdrew in the midst of polls showing the opposition candidate was likely to lose. "Mr. Abdullah has exercised his right as a candidate to withdraw," Axelrod said. "He has made a political decision to withdraw from this contest and that does not markedly change the situation."

US Troop Levels Not Tied to Afghan Vote, White House Aides Say - Kathy Chen, Wall Street Journal. The withdrawal by Afghan President Hamid Karzai's chief rival from a runoff election shouldn't complicate President Barack Obama's decision on whether to send more troops to that country, senior White House aides said. Abdullah Abdullah on Sunday said he would not participate in Afghanistan's Nov. 7 runoff, after failing to reach an agreement with Mr. Karzai on how to redress problems with fraud that had marred the presidential election in August. His announcement comes as Mr. Obama has been weighing a request from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan, for at least 40,000 more troops to help fight the extremist Taliban and prevent al Qaeda from reestablishing a base in the country. Senior administration officials have frequently cited the need for a reliable "partner" in Kabul as a central part of its Afghan war strategy, and the administration is expected to wait until after the runoff to announce its new troop plans. Asked whether Dr. Abdullah's withdrawal would delay Mr. Obama's decision, senior White House adviser David Axelrod told CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday that "Abdullah Abdullah made a political decision to withdraw. That doesn't markedly change the situation." He suggested that the president could make a decision on troops in a matter of weeks. Some 68,000 American troops will be based in Afghanistan by the end of the year.

US Looks Past Karzai Rival's Decision to Quit - Tom LoBianco, Washington Times. White House officials downplayed Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah's decision to pull out of this week's scheduled runoff election and said they would work with President Hamid Karzai. Mr. Abdullah, the country's former foreign minister, withdrew Sunday from the presidential contest against Mr. Karzai, almost certainly handing the incumbent another five-year term in office. Mr. Abdullah had accused Mr. Karzai of not allowing for a fair vote. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement that she understood Mr. Abdullah's concerns and hoped he would continue to stay active in the political process in the war-torn nation but did not explicitly say the US would break from supporting the runoff election. "It is now a matter for the Afghan authorities to decide on a way ahead that brings this electoral process to a conclusion in line with the Afghan constitution," Mrs. Clinton said. "We will support the next president and the people of Afghanistan, who seek and deserve a better future." White House adviser David Axelrod said most polls showed that Mr. Abdullah was likely to lose the Nov. 7 election.

With Karzai, US Faces Weak Partner in Time of War - David E. Sanger, New York Times. With the White House’s reluctant embrace on Sunday of Hamid Karzai as the winner of Afghanistan’s suddenly moot presidential runoff, President Obama now faces a new complication: enabling a badly tarnished partner to regain enough legitimacy to help the United States find the way out of an eight-year-old war. It will not be easy. As the evidence mounted in late summer that Mr. Karzai’s forces had sought to win re-election through widespread fraud to defeat his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, administration officials made no secret of their disgust. How do you consider sending tens of thousands of additional American troops, they asked in meetings in the White House, to prop up an Afghan government regarded as illegitimate by many of its own people? The answer was supposed to be a runoff election. Now, administration officials argue that Mr. Karzai will have to regain that legitimacy by changing the way he governs, at a moment when he is politically weaker than at any time since 2001. “We’re going to know in the next three to six months whether he’s doing anything differently - whether he can seriously address the corruption, whether he can raise an army that ultimately can take over from us and that doesn’t lose troops as fast as we train them,” one of Mr. Obama’s senior aides said. He insisted on anonymity because of the confidentiality surrounding the Obama administration’s own debate on a new strategy, and the request by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the American military commander in Afghanistan, for upward of 44,000 more troops.

Pakistan Foreign Minister: Offensive 'Very Successful' - Voice of America. Pakistan's foreign minister says his country's military is likely to uproot Taliban militants hiding in the mountains along the Afghan border by late December. Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Sunday in Malaysia that Pakistan's offensive in South Waziristan has been "very successful" and has the Taliban fighters "on the run." He spoke on the sidelines of a conference for developing Islamic countries. Pakistan's army says its forces killed nine terrorists and apprehended two others in the last 24 hours of the offensive. It says two soldiers died in the fighting. The military also says it has cleared about half of Kanigurram, a Taliban operational center and a base for Uzbek fighters. The military's claims can not be independently verified because journalists are not admitted to the battle zone. Elsewhere in the northwest, Pakistani officials say militants blew up a girls' school in the Khyber tribal region Sunday, wounding several people. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Saturday the country's political and military leadership are united in the fight against terrorists. He said defeat is not an option. The Pakistani government began its offensive in South Waziristan in mid-October. Military forces put the militant death toll at more than 306, while reporting at least 36 of its own soldiers have been killed.

The Real Afghan Strategy - David Ignatius, Washington Post opinon. Hikmatullah, a tall Pashtun farmer dressed in turban and white cloak, looks slightly bewildered as a US Army officer offers him tea and bread and questions him about what he wants from life. A crowd has gathered around them on the steps of the local bakery, young boys and old tribesmen gawking to see what the fuss is about. Hikmatullah says that he's a happy man with five children and that what he wants most is security. From the quizzical look on the farmer's face, perhaps he's wondering: Can these pleasant, tea-drinking American soldiers really be the same people who are assaulting Taliban fighters in this region of eastern Afghanistan? The answer is yes. Even as US forces show a gentler side with their new stress on people-friendly counterinsurgency, they continue to conduct devastating attacks on the enemy. It's this mix of hard and soft that's the essence of the US battle plan here, but this reality is not well understood back in America. The Washington debate about the Afghanistan war -- pitting advocates of a broad counterinsurgency strategy against those who favor a narrower counterterrorism approach - has sometimes been misleading, at least in terms of what actually goes on here. The fact is that US forces are doing both missions every day and night - and indeed are becoming increasingly effective at each one.

McChrystal Lite - Tom Donnelly and Tim Sullivan, Weekly Standard opinion. In its continuing search for an alternative to General Stanley McChrystal's comprehensive counterinsurgency approach to the war in Afghanistan, and with President Obama having eliminated the minimalist counterterrorism plan of Vice President Joe Biden, the White House has lately been floating a split-the-difference trial balloon: "McChrystal Lite" or, to give the veep his due, "McChrystal for the cities, Biden for the countryside." Last week the New York Times was allowed a sneak-peak of what this half-pregnant approach might look like. It reported that White House advisers are aiming to defend "about 10 top population centers." A number of press accounts indicate that the number of additional troops would be capped at around 20,000 - half the 40,000 recommended by McChrystal - no more than four brigade-sized units and the needed support. The Times also indicated that McChrystal had briefed the White House on how he would employ any reinforcements: "The first two additional brigades would be sent to the south, including one to Kandahar, while a third would be sent to eastern Afghanistan and a fourth would be used flexibly across the nation." To the Washington punditocracy, half a loaf sounds about right; even if they don't think it's the right strategy, they think it's what Obama will do as a matter of domestic politics. But does it make any military sense?

Nation-state Nonstarter - Arnaud de Borchgrave, Washington Times opinion. A wise veteran Arab intelligence hand said Afghanistan is now tailor-made for deals with the principal tribal chiefs designed to detach them from the Taliban they fear more than US and NATO troops. Tribal maps are more important than provincial demarcations under a despised central government. The deals would cost several hundreds of millions of dollars, he said, not the tens of billions that are being wasted on an unwinnable war. With much experience dealing with Afghanistan when the mujahedeen guerrillas were fighting Soviet occupation troops in the 1980s, and again with the Taliban regime when it seized power in 1996 and before it got kicked out by the US invasion in 2001, the former Arab intelligence chief says it may still be possible to suborn lukewarm Taliban supporters into a compromise coalition. The 1893 Durand Line, named after the then-foreign secretary of British India, Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, and co-signed by Amir Abdur Rahman Khan of Afghanistan, drew an imaginary 1,610-mile border that artificially divides the same tribes. It was part of the "Great Game" of nations designed by the British Empire to contain Russian expansionism. The 100-year agreement expired in 1993. A more realistic division would keep the same tribes together in a long-overdue renegotiation.

IRAQ

Violence is a Way of Life in Iraq - Oliver August, The Times. Violence in Iraq has been reduced, as Western generals and politicians are keen to point out, but it has not gone away. If anything, it has become more deeply ingrained. The kidnapping and murder of Muntadher al-Mussewi shows how political violence has spawned criminal gangs capable of the vilest acts. Having learnt their trade from the Mahdi Army, a brutal militia, the kidnappers now carry on without even the veneer of political justification. Were terrorists to disappear from Iraq overnight, the country would still be stuck, possibly for decades, with the culture of violence they fostered (building on the legacy of Saddam Hussein, of course). So should the West use its by now limited influence to prevent another turn in the cycle of violence? Often that can work: when Arabs and Kurds rattle their sabres in the oil-rich region of Kirkuk, US advisers are right to scurry up north to calm them down.

At Least 8 Killed in Iraq Bombings - Voice of America. Iraqi police say four bombs Sunday have killed at least eight people and wounded more than 50 others. Police say a bomb attached to a bicycle exploded in a popular market in the town of Mussayab, about 60 kilometers south of Baghdad. The blast killed at least five people and wounded 37 others. Meanwhile, police in Ramadi, 100 kilometers west of the capital, say two bombs exploded minutes apart, killing two and wounding four others. A fourth bomb attached to a bus detonated as it approached a police checkpoint in the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Karbala. The blast killed at least one person and wounded at least a dozen others. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Two powerful car bombings one week ago in Baghdad targeted Iraq's Ministry of Justice and a provincial government building, killing 155 people and wounding more than 500 others. An al-Qaida-linked group claimed responsibility for these attacks.

Scattering of Attacks in Iraq - John Leland, New York Times. A week after the deadliest attack in Iraq in more than two years, a scattering of smaller bomb attacks around the country on Sunday raised fears of a sustained escalation in violence as American forces withdraw. The bombings, which killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 50, killed both police officers and civilians and struck Sunni as well as Shiite areas. Though violence in Iraq has fallen sharply since 2007, many Iraqis fear an increase before parliamentary elections scheduled for Jan. 16. Since the attacks on Oct. 25, which killed 155 and destroyed three government buildings in Baghdad, the authorities have arrested dozens of suspects and security officers, and critics have lashed out at the government for failing to provide security. Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi said in a statement on Sunday that the Baghdad attacks were preventable, and he blamed “catastrophic gaps and breaches in security forces.” Also on Sunday, a special envoy from the United Nations arrived in Baghdad to investigate security here. Iraqi leaders had asked the United Nations Security Council to study the role of neighboring countries in last week’s attacks.

IRAN

Opposition in Iran Urges Continuing Challenge - Robert F. Worth and Nazila Fathi, New York Times. As Iran prepares for a major commemorative rally on Wednesday, the leaders of the opposition movement called over the weekend for a renewed challenge to the government, setting the stage for a possible showdown between protesters and the police. Although the opposition leaders, Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mohammad Khatami, did not openly call for street protests, their remarks were widely seen as a call to arms on a day of considerable symbolic importance. The occasion is the 30th anniversary of the takeover of the United States Embassy in Tehran by hard-line students on Nov. 4, 1979. The day is marked every year with anti-American rallies. For weeks, opposition groups have been calling for their supporters to turn the event into a protest against the disputed June presidential election and its violent aftermath. The authorities have repeatedly vowed to put down any protests fiercely. On Wednesday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said questioning the results of the elections was “the greatest crime.” He did not refer directly to the Nov. 4 rally, but his comments were widely interpreted as a stark warning that the government would brook no challenges. Mr. Khamenei is said to have been surprised and angered after an annual pro-government rally in September, known as Jerusalem Day, was largely hijacked by antigovernment protesters.

Iran's Unlovable Opposition - Jackson Diehl, Washington Post opinion. Iran has been controlled since June by a hard-line clique of extremist clerics and leaders of the Revolutionary Guard who believe they are destined to make their country a nuclear power that dominates the Middle East. It follows that their opposition - a mass movement that has been marching to slogans such as "death to the dictator" and "no to Lebanon, no to Gaza" - is bound to be a more plausible partner for the rapproachement that the Obama administration is seeking. Or maybe not. The enduring nature of Iran is to frustrate outsiders who work by the usual rules of political logic or who seek unambiguous commitments. The West relearned that truth last week as the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dragged a straightforward plan to swap its enriched uranium for fuel rods into a swamp of double talk and counterproposals. And I was reminded of it in a recent conversation with one of the leading representatives outside of Iran of the "green revolution," who seemed determined to convince would-be Western supporters that they were wasting their time.

UNITED STATES

Shared Interests Define Obama's World - Scott Wilson, Washington Post. President Obama is applying the same tools to international diplomacy that he once used as a community organizer on Chicago's South Side, constructing appeals to shared interests and attempting to bring the government's conduct in line with its ideals. Obama's approach to the world as a community of nations, more alike than different in outlook and interest, has elevated America's standing abroad and won him the Nobel Peace Prize. But on the farthest-reaching US foreign policy challenges, he is struggling to translate his own popularity into American influence, even with allies that have celebrated his break from the Bush administration's emphasis on military strength, unilateral action and personal chemistry. Conservatives think Obama is undermining US power abroad by failing to recognize the degree to which countries, whether allies or adversaries, are immune to appeals to shared interests. And critics from opposite ends of the political spectrum say Obama has too often muted his public support for American ideals - notably human rights and democracy - in his pursuit of common goals.

Clinton Reasserts Her Role in US Foreign Policy - Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a diplomatic swing across the greater Middle East to reassert her role in foreign policy even as the trip exposed the strategic challenges facing the Obama administration's overseas agenda. Mrs. Clinton, during her first 10 months atop the State Department, has appeared at times a marginal player on a national-security team dominated by special diplomatic envoys and President Barack Obama himself. Foreign governments have questioned what role Mrs. Clinton was playing in formulating strategy on pressing international issues like Iran, Afghanistan and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The White House has often dominated the State Department in the internal-policy debate, according to officials taking part in the process. Over the past week, however, the secretary of state's visits to Pakistan, the Persian Gulf and Israel inserted her on the front lines of a seemingly worsening security environment in the regions. On issues such as global terrorism and Iran's nuclear program, the former first lady emerged as among the most hawkish members of Mr. Obama's cabinet. She took the rare step in Pakistan of publicly calling out Islamabad's military for its failure to capture al Qaeda leaders believed to be hiding in the country's tribal regions. Now diplomats are gauging whether Mrs. Clinton's profile will continue to rise at a time when Mr. Obama's policy of using diplomatic engagement to address the world's starkest security challenges is coming under pressure.

Military Refines a 'Constant Stare Against Our Enemy' - Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times. The Pentagon plans to dramatically increase the surveillance capabilities of its most advanced unmanned aircraft next year, adding so many video feeds that a drone which now stares down at a single house or vehicle could keep constant watch on nearly everything that moves within an area of 1.5 square miles. The year after that, the capability will double to 3 square miles. Military officials predict that the impact on counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan will be impressive. "Predators and other unmanned aircraft have just revolutionized our ability to provide a constant stare against our enemy," said a senior military official. "The next sensors, mark my words, are going to be equally revolutionary." Unmanned MQ-9 Reaper aircraft now produce a single video feed as they fly continuously over surveillance routes, and the area they can cover largely depends on altitude. The new technology initially will increase the number of video feeds to 12 and eventually to 65. Like the Reaper and its earlier counterpart, the Predator, the newest technology program has been given a fearsome name: the Gorgon Stare, named for the mythological creature whose gaze turns victims to stone. Unmanned aircraft, used both for surveillance and for offensive strikes, are considered the most significant advance in military technology in a generation. They not only have altered the conduct of warfare, but have also changed the nature of the current policy debate in Washington.

Marine Leads 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Fight - Rowan Scarborough, Washington Times. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James T. Conway has emerged in internal Pentagon deliberations as the most outspoken opponent of permitting gay men and women to serve openly in the US military, according to a former senior Pentagon official. Most of the senior brass hold deep reservations about President Obama's pledge to end the ban on gays in the military, especially in the middle of two wars that have put extra stress on the military, down to the platoon level, where soldiers and Marines would be expected to bond with openly gay colleagues. But Gen. Conway has gone further than others in stating his opposition to a change in policy, according to the former official, who has been privy to private conversations on the matter. "He feels very strongly that [removing the ban] would be disruptive, and he opposes it," said the former official. Gen. Conway's private remarks stand in contrast to public utterances by other service chiefs, who have restricted themselves to repeating a well-rehearsed mantra: If Congress introduces a bill to repeal the ban, they will discuss it with the chain of command. If Congress changes the law, they will follow the law.

AFRICA

Registration Begins for Landmark Sudanese Vote - Voice of America. Voter registration has begun in Sudan for the country's first multi-party elections in 24 years. Officials with Sudan's national election commission say registration centers opened across the country Sunday. Journalists report seeing a trickle of would-be voters register in the capital, Khartoum. Sudanese voters will elect a president, parliament and state governors in the elections, scheduled for next April. The planned elections are a key part of the 2005 peace agreement that ended a 21-year civil war between northern and southern Sudan. The now semi-autonomous south is scheduled to hold a separate vote on secession in 2011. On Saturday, southern Sudanese president Salva Kiir urged his region's voters to choose independence. He said voting for a unified Sudan would leave southerners "second-class" citizens in their own country. The speech marks the first time Mr. Kiir, who also serves as vice president in Sudan's northern-based central government, has openly called for the south to secede. Sudanese voters have one month to register for next year's polls. The United Nations is helping to distribute registration materials to Sudan's 25 state capitals and dozens of more remote areas in southern Sudan and Darfur.

South Sudan Leader Calls for Secession - Mohamed Osman, Associated Press. The leader of southern Sudan called on his people to vote for secession in an upcoming referendum if they do not want to end up as second-class citizens, as voter registration began Sunday for elections across the country. Salva Kiir's first-ever call for the mostly Christian, oil-rich south to split off from the Muslim north could increase tensions with the Arab-led northern government and further strain the fragile 2005 peace agreement that ended the more than two decade long north-south civil war and left more than 2 million dead. The north-south war is separate from Sudan's ongoing conflict, a rebellion in the arid western region of Darfur. "When you reach your ballot boxes, the choice is yours: you want to vote for unity so that you become a second-class citizen in your own country, that is your choice," Mr. Kiir told worshippers Saturday at the cathedral in the southern capital of Juba. "If you want to vote for independence so that you are a free person in your independent state, that will be your own choice, and we will respect the choice of the people," he added, according to a recording of the event obtained by the Associated Press.

Ivorian President, Former Rebels Say Election to Be Delayed - Anne Look, Voice of America. Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and leaders of the country's former rebel factions say the presidential election, will once again be delayed. During a visit Thursday to Yamoussoukro, President Laurent Gbagbo predicted the country's long-delayed presidential elections would once again be pushed back, citing ongoing delays in the publication of the provisional voter list. On Saturday, the New Forces, the country's former rebel faction that continues to hold the northern part of the country, also said those delays have made a November 29 poll date impossible. It is not a surprising revelation. Recent delays have prompted observers to fear that a November 29 poll date would be unrealistic and that scrambling to make that deadline would result in a flawed vote. The poll, which has been postponed several times since 2005, is an attempt to find a lasting political solution to nearly a decade of internal conflict in the once stable West African nation. Ivory Coast's electoral commission delivered the provisional voter list to the president in early October, nearly two months late. The list contains more than 6.3-million voters. Before ballots can be printed, the list must be posted and agreed upon by voters and political parties during a 30-day review period.

Can Ethiopia's Electoral Code Guarantee Fair Elections? - Peter Heinlein, Voice of America. Ethiopia's parliament is set to adopt an electoral code agreed on by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's ruling party and three of the opposition groups challenging his rule in elections next May. A coalition of eight other parties boycotted negotiations on the code, saying it fails to address their concerns that the system is rigged in the ruling party's favor. VOA's Peter Heinlein in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa examines the possibilities for a democratic opening in a country seen by many as a de facto one-party state. Prime Minister Meles sat down with three opposition politicians last week to sign what was hailed as a landmark electoral Code of Conduct. Speaking in Amharic through an interpreter, Mr. Meles said the agreement would guarantee a level playing field for all competitors in upcoming parliamentary elections. "This is a document that puts us on an equal footing and puts obligations on the two of us, which forces us to have an election that satisfies the criteria for democracy," said Meles. "This is a great achievement." The Code of Conduct appears to answer concerns voiced by the opposition and the international community that Prime Minister Meles's Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front controls the electoral process.

The Threat From Somalia - Washington Post editorial. One of the rhetorical questions frequently tossed out in the debate over Afghanistan concerns the brewing trouble in Somalia and Yemen, both of which are known to host al-Qaeda cadres and training camps. If it's necessary to pacify Afghanistan to protect US security, goes the taunt, must we also intervene in Somalia and Yemen? The presumed answer is: "Of course not - and therefore why bother with Afghanistan?" The more sensible response is: If something is not done soon about these lawless places, one or the other may well become the next Afghanistan - a place where US military intervention was compelled by a devastating attack on the homeland. Most urgent is Somalia: Washington's focus on Afghanistan has obscured what ought to be alarming recent reports about al-Qaeda's schooling of terrorists there - including a substantial number of American citizens. National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael R. Leiter recently reported to Congress that a radical Islamic militia known as al-Shabab has sent dozens - that's right, dozens - of Somali Americans and American Muslims through training conducted by al-Qaeda. At least seven have already been killed in fighting in Somalia, where al-Shabab is challenging the internationally recognized but weak Somali government over the parts of Mogadishu it still holds.

AMERICAS

Honduran Businesses Still Wait to Heal - Blake Schmitt, New York Times. On the morning that the Honduran president was deposed, Flavia Cueva roused a wedding party of 30 and whisked them out of her jungle eco-resort. Still hazy from the previous night’s party, which involved a mariachi band, fireworks and a shaman-led wedding ceremony held above ancient Mayan limestone ruins, the partyers made a hasty exit. For Ms. Cueva, a Honduran-American who has spent the past decade turning her parents’ cattle ranch into a getaway featuring yoga classes, horseback rides and Mayan food for a modern palate, the political turmoil in Honduras has had a calamitous effect on bookings. “It’s taken me 10 years to put this place on the map, one step at a time,” she said, sipping wine on her veranda overlooking the ruins at Copán. “This has been the kiss of death.” Whether a deal reached last week between the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, and his de facto successor, Roberto Micheletti, resolves the four-month-old political standoff remains to be seen, but the economic damage has already been done, isolating a country that had only recently drawn international investment and tourism. The pristine beaches and Mayan ruins of Honduras brought 1.5 million tourists to the country last year. But arrivals have dropped by as much as 70 percent since Mr. Zelaya’s ouster on June 28, according to Ricardo Martínez, who served as tourism minister in the Zelaya government.

Hillary's Honduran Exit Strategy - Mary Anastasia O'Grady, Wall Street Journal. If there is one person in Honduras who is more despised these days than deposed president Manuel Zelaya it is a foreigner who goes by the name of Hugo. We refer here not to the Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez but to US Ambassador Hugo Llorens. Many Hondurans, including, rumor has it, President Roberto Micheletti, see Mr. Llorens as the principal architect of a US policy that has caused enormous Honduran hardship. There is a chance that the agreement signed late Thursday between the interim government and Mr. Zelaya will put an end to that suffering. Finally the US and the Organization of American States (OAS) have agreed to step aside and allow Honduran institutions to decide if Mr. Zelaya is to be reinstated. Without international meddling, it is quite likely that Mr. Zelaya will be refused the presidency once more. Yet many risks remain, starting with the fact that though the US said it was going to butt out of Honduran affairs, old habits die hard. Referring to Mr. Zelaya's bid for reinstatement, Thomas Shannon, the US assistant secretary of state for Western Hemispheric affairs, said last week, "That's the issue that's the most provocative and the one we will be watching most closely." Mr. Shannon should try watching the World Series instead. The need to dictate to Hondurans how to run their country has been the problem from the start.

ASIA PACIFIC

North Korea Presses US to Agree to Bilateral Talks - Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times. North Korea has again pressed the United States for a decision about starting bilateral talks, with a diplomat warning Monday that the North was “ready to go our own way” with its nuclear weapons program. “Now that we have shown the generosity of stating the position that we would be willing to talk to the United States and hold multilateral talks including the six-way talks, it is time for the United States to make a decision,” an unidentified spokesman for the North’s Foreign Ministry told its official news agency, KCNA. The comments came after Ri Gun, the ministry’s chief diplomat on US affairs, held informal talks with American officials in the United States last week. It remained unclear whether Mr. Ri offered enough of a commitment to nuclear inspections and resumption of six-nation nuclear disarmament talks to persuade Washington to agree to one-on-one talks. Washington has said it would not meet North Korea in bilateral talks unless the North returned to the six-nation talks that also include South Korea, China, Japan and Russia. American officials also vowed to continue to enforce the sanctions imposed by the United Nations after North Korea’s second nuclear test in May.

South Koreans Struggle With Race - Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times. On the evening of July 10, Bonogit Hussain, a 29-year-old Indian man, and Hahn Ji-seon, a female Korean friend, were riding a bus near Seoul when a man in the back began hurling racial and sexist slurs at them. The situation would be a familiar one to many Korean women who have dated or even - as in Ms. Hahn’s case - simply traveled in the company of a foreign man. What was different this time, however, was that, once it was reported in the South Korean media, prosecutors sprang into action, charging the man they have identified only as a 31-year-old Mr. Park with contempt, the first time such charges had been applied to an alleged racist offense. Spurred by the case, which is pending in court, rival political parties in Parliament have begun drafting legislation that for the first time would provide a detailed definition of discrimination by race and ethnicity and impose criminal penalties. For Mr. Hussain, subtle discrimination has been part of daily life for the two and half years he has lived here as a student and then research professor at Sungkonghoe University in Seoul. He says that, even in crowded subways, people tend not sit next to him. In June, he said, he fell asleep on a bus and when it reached the terminal, the driver woke him up by poking him in the thigh with his foot, an extremely offensive gesture in South Korea.

Intelligence Failures? - William C. Triplett II, Washington Times opinion. On Oct. 21, the incoming commander of the US Pacific Command, Adm. Robert F. Willard, made a little-noticed but astonishing accusation to reporters in Seoul: "I would contend that in the past decade or so, China has exceeded most of our intelligence estimates of their military capability and capacity every year. They've grown at an unprecedented rate in those capabilities." Very politely, the head of PACOM has accused the American intelligence community (IC) and, by extension, its political leadership, of failure to estimate correctly the capabilities and capacity of a nuclear-armed dictatorship with a history of hostility against all of its neighbors and the United States. According to the admiral, this failure has gone on for 10 years. This sort of public bomb-throwing is very rare in Washington, especially on China issues. An informal survey of China specialists couldn't come up with a similar instance of a major official accusing the IC of 10 years of incompetency. At least not in public. To put it in perspective, suppose the head of the CIA told a pool of reporters, on the record, the following: "Every year for the past 10 years or so, the United States Navy has mistaken China's military capabilities and capacity." The Navy would be highly offended, as it should be, and its friends in Congress would be demanding investigations. As Adm. Willard's accusation has percolated through the China-watching community, the first question that inevitably comes up is, "Was this cleared by the Obama administration or was he flying solo?" Anyone who knows isn't talking. What is known is that the admiral has a deserved reputation of competency and a low threshold for tolerating fools.

EUROPE

Europe Still Likes Obama, But Doubts Creep In - Steven Erlanger, New York Times. The election of Barack Obama as president seemed to most Europeans to be unadulterated good news, marking an end to the perceived unilateralism and indifference to allied views of former President George W. Bush. But nine months into Mr. Obama’s presidency, trans-Atlantic relations are again clouded by doubts. Europe and the United States remain at least partly out of sync on Afghanistan, the Middle East, Iran and climate change. Many Europeans argue that Mr. Obama has not broken clearly enough with Bush administration policies that they dislike, while some Americans argue that the Europeans are too passive, watching Mr. Obama struggle with difficult issues, like Afghanistan and the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, without providing much substantive help. Many of these concerns will be central to the United States-European Union meeting in Washington beginning Tuesday that Mr. Obama will lead, and they were the subject of debate at a World Policy Conference run by the French Institute of International Relations in Marrakesh over the weekend.

MIDDLE EAST

Palestinians Accuse US of Damaging Peace Process - Luis Ramirez, Voice of America. Palestinian leaders are voicing frustration after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Israel for making what she said are unprecedented concessions in efforts to restart peace negotiations. Israeli leaders are keeping up their calls for the Palestinians to drop all preconditions. Palestinian leaders on Sunday stuck to their demands that Israel stop all settlement activity before any resumption of peace talks that have been stalled since December. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called late Saturday for all sides to return to talks and praised what she said are Israel's unprecedented concessions, which she said include its offer to restrain settlement growth. She urged both sides to return to talks as soon as possible and backed Israel's assertion that all demands over settlements should be dealt with during negotiations, not sooner. "There has never been a precondition," said Clinton. "It has always been an issue within the negotiations." Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Secretary Clinton the Palestinians will not back off their demand for Israel to freeze settlements before negotiations resume.

Palestinians Say New US Approach Imperils Peace - Howard Schneider, Washington Post. Palestinian officials on Sunday criticized the United States for what one called "backpedaling" on demands that Israel stop settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, saying the Obama administration's change of approach on the issue damaged the likelihood of a peace agreement. "If America cannot get Israel to implement a settlement freeze, what chance do the Palestinians have of reaching agreement" on the even more complex set of issues involved in final peace talks, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a written statement. "We are at a critical moment," Erekat said. "The way forward, however, is not to drop the demand for Israel to comply with its obligations." The US-mediated peace process, overseen by special envoy George S. Mitchell, is "in a state of paralysis, and the result of Israel's intransigence and America's backpedaling is that there is no hope of negotiations on the horizon," said Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking to local reporters.

Palestinians Reject US Effort on Talks - Joshua Mitnick, Wall Street Journal. Palestinian officials on Sunday reacted with frustration at US efforts to restart deadlocked Mideast peace talks, accusing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of backtracking on earlier US demands for a halt in settlement building in the West Bank. "It's damaging for the administration to walk in a zigzag line on the settlements" issue, said Palestinian Authority Housing and Public Works Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. The Obama administration's earlier outspoken insistence on a complete halt appeared to heighten a sense of disappointment by Palestinian officials over Mrs. Clinton's comments. On Saturday, Mrs. Clinton called for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks despite Israel's refusal to freeze settlement construction. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has demanded a freeze before resuming talks, and President Barack Obama had also insisted on a complete halt to construction by Israel earlier this year. As US-brokered efforts to restart talks stalled over the past few months, Washington appeared to soften its stance. At a news conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mrs. Clinton called his offer of a partial halt unprecedented and appeared to push Mr. Abbas to accept such a compromise. Palestinian officials rebuffed the suggestion, and her comments drew widespread criticism across the Arab world.

Palestinian Anger as Hillary Clinton Praises 'Settlement Concessions' - James Hider, The Times. The Palestinian leadership accused the US of caving in over Israeli settlements after Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, praised Israel for making concessions. Having failed to force Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, to meet US demands for a total settlement freeze, Mrs Clinton switched tack during a one-day visit to Jerusalem when she called on both sides to resume peace talks. “What the Prime Minister has offered in specifics of a restraint on the policy of settlements ... is unprecedented,” Mrs Clinton said. She did not give details of the concessions but even under the Oslo peace talks in the 1990s Israel never halted the expansion of settlements. The first serious reversal came in 2005 when Ariel Sharon forced thousands to leave the Gaza Strip. The comments by Mrs Clinton were in contrast to the previous stance of the Obama Administration, which has pressured Israel to halt all settlement construction. In May, after President Obama’s first meeting with Mr Netanyahu, Mrs Clinton said that the US “wants to see a stop to settlements - not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions”.

Jordan Valley May Be Hurdle in Peace Talks - Howard Schneider, Washington Post. The backhoes are busy on housing plots for this new Israeli settlement (Maaaskiot) in the Jordan Valley, and young families, under army guard and toting M-16s, have begun cultivating dozens of acres of land with dates, olives and other crops. To the south, a water pipeline from Jerusalem has let veteran farmers double the land irrigated for date trees to 9,000 acres, with a second pipeline and more farmland expansion planned. As the United States tries to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the Jordan Valley is emerging as a key point of contention: Palestinians envision it as a core part of a future Palestinian state, and Israeli officials forcefully assert a longstanding claim that control over the area is vital to their security. The new settlement of Maskiot and the expansion of farmland are just two tangible signs of tension over the area. When Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad issued a two-year development plan, he said he wanted to place a Palestinian-controlled airport in the Jordan Valley, and he recently said that any state that does not include it would be "Mickey Mouse." Israeli officials and others close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu have been saying that the Jordan Valley should remain in Israeli hands, encircling any Palestinian state to the east and controlling the international border with Jordan - steps needed, they say, to make sure militant groups don't infiltrate.

Israelis Arrest West Bank Settler in Attacks - Ethan Bronner, New York Times. The Israeli police said Sunday that they had arrested a 37-year-old American immigrant, a West Bank settler, and charged him in an array of killings and terrorist attacks over the last 12 years, including the murders of two Palestinians, the bombing of a leftist Israeli professor’s home and the maiming of a 15-year-old boy who belongs to a community of Jews who believe in Jesus. The suspect, Jack Teitel, a father of four and a computer technician and Web site designer, was born in Florida, the son of a military dentist. He went back and forth between Israel and the United States starting in the 1990s, immigrating here in 2000. His parents followed a year later and live in a different West Bank settlement. The murders with which he has been charged, of a taxi driver in Jerusalem and a shepherd south of the West Bank city of Hebron, took place in 1997. The attacks on the teenager and on the professor occurred last year. Mr. Teitel is also charged with having attacked police officers on several occasions.

Egypt's Ruling-Party Convention Avoids Succession Issue - Elizabeth Arrott, Voice of America. The son of Egypt's president took center stage at his father's ruling-party conference Sunday. While the National Democratic Party meeting is avoiding the issue of who might succeed President Hosni Mubarak, 81, the question is very much on voters' minds. Gamal Mubarak presented a relatively youthful contrast to the graying leaders lining the front of the conference hall. The sharply-dressed investment banker and rising star in the National Democratic Party assured those gathered the party does not monopolize Egypt's political scene. His father has ruled the country for the past 28 years. Neither Hosni Mubarak nor his son has said whether either would run in the next presidential election in 2011. And both have repeatedly denied the younger Mubarak is being groomed for an eventual presidency. Party officials said there would be no discussion at the three-day annual conference of who would next lead the party, pointing out such decisions would be made at a special convention. Despite efforts to downplay the issue, NDP opponents last month launched "The Egyptian Campaign Against Presidential Succession". The anti-Gamal group is headed by Ayman Nour who ran in Egypt's first multi-party presidential elections in 2005 and was jailed shortly afterward on charges of fraud, which he says were politically motivated.

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.