By Professor Joseph B. Varner

Global War on Terror

A provincial official says an insurgent attack on a fuel truck has killed six civilians in eastern Afghanistan. The official, Abdul Wakil Atak, says the truck was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by insurgents in Laghman province on Sunday. Atak is a spokesman for the provincial governor.

U.S. and NATO missile strikes continued to exact a heavy toll in Afghanistan, with at least 13 Afghans killed in two incidents over the weekend that Afghan officials said were mistakes. One NATO soldier was also killed in the eastern province of Khost. Although NATO did not give the nationality of the soldier, U.S. forces are deployed in Khost. Nine Afghan policemen were killed and five others wounded in a case of friendly fire in western Afghanistan when a joint convoy of Afghan and U.S. forces called in airstrikes on a group they thought to be militants. Separately, at least four people were killed when two mortars fired by the NATO-led force in Afghanistan went astray. The U.S. military announced it was beginning an investigation into the first incident. The joint Afghan and U.S. force came under attack in the province of Farah from an unknown force while conducting nighttime operations in Ana Dara District, a statement issued from Bagram Air Base said. Coalition forces returned fire and then called in airstrikes on the group firing at them. The presidential spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada, said the strikes had been a case of friendly fire. Among those wounded was the police chief of the district, the deputy provincial governor said, according to Reuters. (Source: IHT)

Despite the significant gains Canadian troops have achieved in Afghanistan, General Walter Natynczyk admitted Sunday the country's overall situation is worsening. Canada's top soldier told CTV's Question Period that insurgent attacks have increased year over year, specifically in some parts of the country. "You have a worsening security situation, especially localized in three areas, the Kabul area, in the Regional Command East, where the Americans are, and in the south where we are with the British forces and the Dutch," he said. The statement appeared to backtrack from what Natynczyk said earlier this month after he completed his first visit to Afghanistan as the Chief of Defence Staff.

(Source: CTV)

Afghanistan is replacing Iraq as the destination of choice for international jihadists, Western intelligence agencies claim. Analysts have monitored a surge in online recruitment of “lions of Islam” to join the war in Afghanistan through jihadist websites, particularly in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Chechnya and Turkey, in the past year. That is now being matched by evidence of an increase in foreign fighters entering Afghanistan, mostly from training bases established in the lawless Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) of Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding. One Kabul-based Western diplomat, who did not want to be named, said: “There is a change with an increase in attacks in the east [along the Pakistan border] and more chatter of foreign voices is being detected.” Intelligence officials say that the number of Al Qaeda-linked foreign fighters involved remains small within the overall context of the Taleban insurgency in Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, on a trip to Kabul last week Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters: “There are clearly more foreign fighters in the Fata than have been there in the past. What that really speaks to is that's a safe haven and it's got to be eliminated for all insurgents, not just al-Qaeda.” (Source: The Times-UK)

France's defence minister told President Hamid Karzai in talks in Kabul Saturday that his country would stand by Afghanistan, which is battling an extremist insurgency. Defence Minister Herve Morin visited Karzai after arriving on a surprise two-day trip to meet French reinforcements deploying to a base near Kabul as part of a NATO-led force battling Taliban and other insurgents. In their talks, Morin "assured his government stands by the people of Afghanistan," Kazai's office said in a statement. (Source: AFP)

The Pakistani military says six troops and an unknown number of militants have died in fighting in the southwest. A spokesman said the clashes began Saturday when militants attacked a convoy near Dera Bugti in Pakistan's Baluchistan province. The spokesman said troops sent to the area destroyed two militant camps before withdrawing early Monday. He said a number of militants were killed, but didn't know how many. The spokesman cannot be identified by name under the military's rules. (Source: AP)

A court on Monday barred the disgraced architect of Pakistan's atomic weapons program from speaking about nuclear proliferation, less than three weeks after he implicated the army in the sharing of nuclear technology with North Korea. Abdul Qadeer Khan has been largely confined to his home in the capital since taking sole responsibility in 2004 for leaking nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya. However, he recently began agitating for an end to his confinement, disowning his 2004 confession in media interviews and saying the army had known all about at least one act of proliferation in 2000. President Pervez Musharraf issued a swift denial. (Source: AP)

The leader of a Muslim insurgent group in southern Thailand denounced the recent announcement of a cease-fire in the region as a hoax, while suspected rebels set off a bomb Monday that wounded seven people. Six policemen and a civilian were wounded when the homemade bomb triggered by a cell phone exploded along a road in Yala province. He said Muslim rebels were suspected in the attack. More than 3,300 people have been killed in drive-by shootings and bombings since early 2004, when a decades-old insurgency flared in Thailand's three southernmost provinces, the only Muslim-majority areas in the predominantly Buddhist country. Shortly before Monday's violence, the deputy president of the Pattani United Liberation Organization, or PULO, denounced an alleged cease-fire agreement between the Thai government and a group called the United Southern Underground, and said the "struggle for independence" would continue.

The previously unknown group, claiming to represent others involved in the insurgency, announced last Thursday that it had ended all violence in the region. The announcement was greeted with widespread doubt. (Source: AP)

A local Interior Ministry official says unidentified assailants have shot and killed three police officers in Russia's troubled North Caucasus region of Chechnya. The official says the bullet-riddled bodies of three officers who had been guarding an Interior Ministry trailer were found on a collective farm early Monday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media officially. He says the assailants made off with the officers' guns. Chechnya has been torn apart by two wars since 1994 pitting separatist rebels against Russian forces. (Source: AP)

Hours of fighting in the Somali capital killed at least seven civilians, including three young siblings who were leaving a religious school when a mortar landed nearby, witnesses said Monday. Sunday's fighting pitted insurgents against government forces and their Ethiopian allies, who come under regular attack in Mogadishu, one of the most violent cities in the world. "One of the shells landed near a Quranic school, killing three children from the same family," said resident Abdi Moalim Haji, who saw the carnage and recognized the children, aged 6, 8 and 11. About 11 other people were injured, he said. His account was confirmed by another witness, Abdi Nur Ahmed. It was not immediately clear how many combatants died; each side claimed to have inflicted heavy losses. (Source: AP)

With the uncovering of a second Arab-Israeli cell with ties to Al Qaeda in the space of a few weeks, we learn that among Arab Israelis, like the Palestinians in the territories, there is growing support for the messages of Al Qaeda. For some years now the public declarations of Bin Laden and his aides have increasingly focused on Israel and Jewish communities around the world as targets for terrorist attacks. It is also known that cells linked with Al Qaeda operate with relative ease in Gaza. The desire of Al Qaeda to operate in Israel is finding fertile ground. There are those who will willingly offer assistance, and therefore the likelihood of a strike by international jihad on Israeli soil (similar attacks have already taken place in Jordan and Sinai) is of reasonable likelihood. (Source: Ha'aretz)

Egyptian police say they've arrested nearly 40 members of the country's largest opposition group, the banned Muslim Brotherhood. A police official says 39 men were arrested Monday during a raid on a camp north of Cairo. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter. The official says the men were training to "revive" the outlawed group. But the men, aged 18 to 35, say they were only on vacation. Though officially banned, Brotherhood members have run for political office as independents, and currently hold about a fifth of the 454 seats in Egypt's parliament. (Source: AP)

Iraq

The Pentagon's top military officer said Sunday a specific time frame for withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq could jeopardize political and economic progress, leading to "dangerous consequences." Admiral Mike Mullen said the agreement between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to set a "general time horizon" for bringing more troops home from the war was a sign of "healthy negotiations for a burgeoning democracy." (Source: AP)

The U.S. military says American soldiers have killed two armed relatives of a provincial governor during a raid against Al Qaeda in Iraq. The military says in a statement that the soldiers were acting in self-defence when they shot the relatives of Hamad Hammoud, governor of Salhuddin province. It says the slain men showed "hostile intent." The raid happened Sunday in Beiji in northern Iraq. The deputy governor, Abdullah Hussein Jabarah, says the slain men were the son and nephew of the governor. The U.S. military says a financier for Al Qaeda in Iraq was wounded and captured during the operation.

(Source: AP)

The U.S. military in Iraq says it has arrested a suspected propaganda expert linked to a militant group that receives training from Iran. The military says it believes the man is a member of the Hezbollah Brigades, an Iraqi group it describes as "an offshoot of Iranian-trained special groups." That's how the U.S. refers to Shiite fighters defying a cease-fire order from radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. A military statement says the man uploads to the Web images and video of attacks on Iraqi and U.S.-led forces. The information is allegedly used to raise money and other kinds of support from Iranian backers. The suspect was arrested Monday in Baghdad. (Source: AP)

United States

Osama bin Laden's former driver is scheduled to stand trial on Monday in the first war crimes tribunal at America's terrorist prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The historic action comes nearly seven years after President Bush first moved to establish military commissions to try suspected Al Qaeda terrorists. The special military commission process was designed to offer a stripped-down version of justice to illegal enemy combatants who, by engaging in terrorism, were said to have forfeited any right to more robust legal protections. (Source: CSM)

President Bush's single largest request for funds and "most important initiative" in the fiscal 2009 intelligence budget is for the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, a little publicized but massive program whose details "remain vague and thus open to question," according to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. A highly classified, multiyear, multibillion-dollar project, CNCI, or "Cyber Initiative," is designed to develop a plan to secure government computer systems against foreign and domestic intruders and prepare for future threats. Any initial plan can later be expanded to cover sensitive civilian systems to protect financial, commercial and other vital infrastructure data. (Source: Washington Post)

A U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber carrying six crew members and en route to conduct a flyover in a parade crashed off the island of Guam on Monday. At least two people were recovered from the waters, but their condition was not immediately available. Rescue crews from the Navy, Coast Guard and local fire department launched a massive aerial and ocean search for the others in and around a vast area of floating debris and a sheen of oil. The crashed occurred at 9:45 a.m. Monday about 50 kilometres northwest of Apra Harbor. The accident is the second for the Air Force this year on Guam, a U.S. territory 6,000 kilometres southwest of Hawaii. In February, a B-2 crashed at Andersen Air Force Base shortly after takeoff in the first-ever crash of a stealth bomber. Both pilots ejected safely. The military estimated the cost of the loss of that aircraft at $1.4 billion (U.S.). (Source: Globe and Mail-CAN)

Africa

Zimbabwe's president and opposition leader will sign an agreement setting the terms for talks to form a unity government, South Africa's foreign affairs spokesman said Monday. The spokesman, Ronnie Mamoepa, said the agreement is "a positive step forward in the ongoing dialogue," to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe since elections in March, which escalated after June's widely condemned presidential runoff. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won more votes than President Robert Mugabe in March but pulled out of the runoff because of escalating state-sponsored violence against opposition supporters. Monday's breakthrough came after South African President Thabo Mbeki agreed Friday to work closely with the UN and the African Union in his role as mediator. The signing is to take place in Harare Monday afternoon in the presence of Mr. Mbeki. It will be a diplomatic coup for Mr. Mbeki, who has insisted that dialogue and not punitive sanctions are the only way to deal with Mr. Mugabe. (Source: AP)

At a time of drought, skyrocketing food prices, crippling inflation and intensifying street fighting, many of the aid workers upon whom millions of Somalis depend for survival are fleeing their posts - or in some cases the country. They are being driven out by what appears to be an organized terror campaign. Ominous leaflets recently surfaced on the bullet-pocked streets of Mogadishu, Somalia's ruin of a capital, calling aid workers "infidels" and warning them that they will be methodically hunted down. Since January, at least 20 aid workers have been killed, more than in any year in recent memory. Still others have been abducted. The deliberate assault on aid workers is a chilling new dimension to the crisis in Somalia that has unfolded over the past 17 years but has grown increasingly violent as outside forces, including the U.S. military, have turned a civil war into a more international conflict. UN officials are especially worried by the recent attacks because they say Somalia is heading toward another full-blown famine. Without professional workers to distribute food or tend to the sick, the country could sink into a catastrophe reminiscent of the early 1990s, when hundreds of thousands of people starved. (Source: IHT)

Americas

Omar Khadr would likely never face conviction in Canada even if there was a way to charge him with an offence under Canadian law, legal experts who advocate his repatriation acknowledge. The legal opinions up the ante in the raging public debate between those who want the former child soldier returned to Canada and those who say he should face American military justice. University of British Columbia law professor Michael Byers, a noted international law expert and would-be federal NDP candidate, is one of many who want the Toronto-born Khadr released from the U.S. military prison in Cuba. Khadr, the only westerner being held at Guantanamo Bay, could be tried under Canada's War Crimes Act. Others say Canada could use its anti-terrorism legislation, currently being tested in the bomb-plot trial of Momin Khawaja, as the mechanism for prosecution north of the border. But that doesn't mean Khadr, who was 15 years old when he was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, would be convicted, or even held in custody. (Source: CTV)

Asia

China and Russia signed an agreement Monday to end a long-running dispute over the demarcation of their eastern border, the scene of military clashes between the once-bitter Communist rivals. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov signed the agreement with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, but no details were immediately released on how the border issues were resolved. (Source: Washington Times)

Cambodian and Thai military leaders held talks Monday aimed at reducing simmering tensions over disputed territory near a World Heritage Site temple, where more than 4,000 troops from the two sides have been deployed. There was little sign of a swift resolution at the talks, which dragged on behind closed doors, leaving delegates from both sides visibly strained. The conflict over territory near the ancient Preah Vihear Hindu temple escalated earlier this month when UNESCO approved Cambodia's application to have the complex named a World Heritage Site. Thai activists say the new status undermines Thailand's claim to 1.8 square miles around the temple. (Source: AP)

Sri Lankan government forces captured a Tamil Tiger rebel base in the north Sunday after a 48-hour battle that left at least 15 rebels dead, while air force jets destroyed six rebel boats. Clashes elsewhere in the region killed 16 rebels and one soldier. The civil war on the Indian Ocean island has escalated in recent months, with the military stepping up ground assaults and air strikes after the government pledged to capture rebel-held territory and crush the insurgents. In the latest assault, army troops seized a rebel base in the village of Illupakadavai in the northern Mannar district early Sunday. (Source: AP)

Middle East

Director of Military Intelligence Major-General Amos Yadlin told the cabinet Sunday, "We have intelligence indicating terror activities are possible both on the northern and southern fronts. Hizbullah may choose to use one of their still disputed subjects, such as the Shaaba Farms or Imad Mugniyah's assassination." Regarding the Iranian threat, Yadlin said Iran is forging ahead with its nuclear developments, despite the international community implementing some diplomatic and financial duress. Syria, he said, is "escaping its international isolation, despite assisting Hizbullah. Damascus is taking several steps in order to get closer to the West, but is still very much a part of the axis of terror." Yadlin said that in Gaza, "quality arms are still being smuggled into the Strip." (Source: Ynet News)

Israel is calling for removal of two UN soldiers from Lebanon after photographs surfaced of the soldiers saluting the coffins of Hizbullah terrorists during a prisoner exchange last week. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, said he was "shocked and horrified" by the photograph and that it was time for the saluting soldiers to go. "I think they should be recalled and be sent back to whichever country they came from....They are there as peacekeepers with a very clear mandate to disarm Hizbullah, they're not there to honor terrorists," he said. (Source: FOX News)

Iranian and American officials were deadlocked Saturday after their highly publicized meeting failed to produce a breakthrough. After six unproductive hours the Iranians were given two weeks to respond. "Iran has a choice to make: negotiation or further isolation," said U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. The negotiations, in Geneva, allowed the U.S. to press its demand for the immediate suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment program. However, Iran refused to agree to any such proposal. Diplomats described the talks as a final attempt to persuade Iran that it must freeze its nuclear program. "They can take this message away with them to Iran," said a British official. "If they don't agree to our proposals, we will have to start imposing sanctions." (Source: Times-UK)

The U.S. is fine-tuning new financial penalties against Iran that would target everything from gasoline imports to the insurance sector, and the prospect of such sanctions grew after talks over its nuclear-fuel program this weekend made no progress. The sanctions could include measures to impede Iran's shipping operations in the Persian Gulf and its banking activities in Asia and the Middle East, officials said. "We have not gotten all the answers to the questions," said EU foreign-policy coordinator Javier Solana after Saturday's meeting. He said the two-week timeframe was meant to give Iran the space to come up with "the answers that will allow us to continue." (Source: Wall Street Journal)

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Iran on Monday of not being serious at weekend talks about its disputed nuclear program despite the presence of a senior U.S. diplomat, and warned it may soon face new sanctions. In her first public comments since Saturday's meeting in Switzerland, Ms. Rice said Iran had given the run-around to envoys from the U.S. and five other world powers. She said all six nations were serious about a two-week deadline Iran now has to agree to freeze suspect activities and start negotiations or be hit with new penalties. At the meeting, Iran had been expected to respond to a package of incentives offered in exchange for halting enrichment of uranium, which can be used to fuel atomic weapons. The Bush administration broke with long-standing policy to send a top diplomat to support the offer. However, Ms. Rice said that instead of a coherent answer, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili delivered a “meandering” monologue full of irrelevant “small talk about culture” that appeared to annoy many of the others present at the table in Geneva. (Source: AP)

By Professor Joseph B. Varner

Global War on Terror

U.S. and Afghan special forces killed two influential tribal leaders and a number of their followers in western Afghanistan in a joint airborne operation Wednesday night amid more accusations of causing civilian casualties, military officials said Thursday.

That incident, coming after marines had killed 19 civilians in eastern Afghanistan the previous month, caused an outcry from Afghan politicians and humanitarian organizations and led the NATO commander of the time, General Dan McNeill, to issue orders to his forces to take extra care to avoid civilian casualties. (Source: IHT)

Two Canadian soldiers have suffered minor injuries after an explosion in Kandahar province. The soldiers were participating in a routine patrol in Zhari district when an explosive device detonated near their armored vehicle. (Source: CTV.ca)

Japan has dropped a plan to send ground troops to Afghanistan after the ruling coalition failed to reach a consensus due to fears over the continuing violence in the area, Japanese media said on Friday. Hard-pressed by the length of the campaign, the United States and NATO called on Japan to expand its support for military activities in Afghanistan, which currently consists of a naval refueling mission in the Indian Ocean, the Asahi newspaper said. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was quoted as saying last month that Japan could send ground troops. But fact-finding missions dispatched to the area determined that the level of violence would make it difficult for Japan to provide troops or equipment such as aircraft, the Asahi and Kyodo news agency said. (Source: Reuters)

Afghanistan has been drawing a fresh influx of jihadi fighters from Turkey, Central Asia, Chechnya and the Middle East, one more sign that Al Qaeda is regrouping on what is fast becoming the most active front of the war on terrorist groups. More foreigners are infiltrating Afghanistan because of a recruitment drive by Al Qaeda as well as a burgeoning insurgency that has made movement easier across the border from Pakistan, U.S. officials, militants and experts say. For the past two months, Afghanistan has overtaken Iraq in deaths of U.S. and allied troops, and nine American soldiers were killed at a remote base in Kunar province Sunday in the deadliest attack in years. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned during a visit to Kabul this month about an increase in foreign fighters crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan, where a new government is trying to negotiate with militants. Two U.S. officials said that the United States is closely monitoring the flow of foreign fighters into both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Jihadist websites from Chechnya to Turkey to the Arab world featured recruitment ads as early as 2007 calling on the “lions of Islam” to fight in Afghanistan, said Brian Glyn Williams, associate professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Williams has tracked the movement of jihadis for the U.S. military's Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. (Source: AP)

Taliban militants in Pakistan threatened Thursday to attack the provincial government in the troubled North West unless it quit within five days, deepening the security crisis. Baitullah Mehsud, a warlord based in the tribal area of Waziristan and the leader of Pakistan's Taliban movement, demanded the military cease its sporadic operations against Taliban groups. The showdown came as the Taliban across the border in Afghanistan have stepped up their campaign against NATO and Afghan forces, exacting greater casualties and launching more daring assaults. The North West Frontier Province government is led by the secular Awami National Party, which has tried to promote peace talks with militant groups. But in two parts of the province, Swat Valley and Hangu district, it has been forced to call on the army and paramilitary forces to combat local insurgent groups allied to Mr. Mehsud's Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan movement. (Source: Globe and Mail-CAN)

Airlines are being told to stay away from Beijing's airport during the opening ceremony of the Olympics and further scrutiny is being applied to foreign entertainers in the latest security moves ahead of next month's games. No official announcement has been made, but local media and airlines said Friday that the Beijing airport will close for about four hours during the opening ceremony, affecting dozens of flights. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific said it would postpone one flight after receiving word from Chinese authorities recently that the airport would be closed during the opening ceremony, set to begin at the auspicious time of 8 p.m. on August 8. (Source: Washington Times)

Israeli investigators have arrested six men suspected of trying to set up an Al Qaeda-linked terror network, including one who wanted to shoot down President Bush's helicopter, the Shin Bet security service said Friday. Two of the men are Arab citizens of Israel, both of them students at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, according to the statement. The other four are Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem. The men range in age from 21 to 24. The new charges follow the arrest this month of two Israeli Arabs on suspicion they gave strategic information to Al Qaeda. Those arrests marked the first time Israel had accused any of its citizens of cooperating with the terror network. Investigators found bomb-making instructions on the personal computers of several of the six new suspects, the Shin Bet said. But the statement gave no indication that their activities ever moved beyond the planning stage. None face charges of active involvement in any attacks. (Source: AP)

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=105&sid=1436981

A Spanish court cleared four men and upheld the acquittal of a fifth on Thursday in convoluted legal proceedings relating to the 2004 Madrid commuter train bombings that killed 191 people, the deadliest attack by Islamic militants on European soil. The rulings related to appeals of some of the 21 convictions decided by a lower court in October. Seven people were acquitted then. On Thursday, the court upheld the acquittal of Rabei Osman, an Egyptian who was found guilty in 2006 in Italy of belonging to a terrorist organization and who is accused of having been a mastermind of the bombing. With many convictions upheld and few channels of appeal left available to those sentenced, some survivors of the bombings said that they saw Thursday's decisions as moving toward the end of one of the most painful episodes in Spain's recent history. (Source: IHT)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/17/europe/madrid.php

European terrorists are trying to enter the United States with European Union passports, and there is no guarantee officials will catch them every time, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday. Chertoff's comments on Capitol Hill comes as the country is entering a potentially vulnerable period with the presidential nominating conventions coming up next month; the presidential election in November; and the transition to a new administration in January, all of which may be attractive targets for terrorists. In his last scheduled appearance before the House Homeland Security Committee, Chertoff said that the more time and space Al Qaeda and its allies have to recruit, train, experiment and plan, the more problems the U.S. and Europe will face down the road. (Source: AP)

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080718/D920562O1.html

Iraq

Staff Sergeant David W. Textor was an expert in international weaponry. He was a Green Beret, had a parachutist's badge and had just arrived in Iraq in May. He was also a father of five. Textor, 27, was killed July 15 in a vehicle accident in Mosul, the military said yesterday. The accident, which did not occur during combat, is under investigation.

(Source: Washington Post)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071702570_pf.html

Iraq's government hopes to bring the entire country under its security control by year's end. But one critical area stands in the way: the western province of Anbar, where the Sunni insurgency was born and later received its first blows from a civil uprising. The transfer from U.S. military authority in Anbar has become stalled by worries that a hasty move could tempt unrest and reopen rivalries, drawing in the same armed Sunni factions that the U.S. courted to help uproot Al Qaeda in Iraq. The cautious approach also apparently reflects a desire by Washington not to risk any new complications while Iraqi leaders tussle with a host of messy problems, including seeking agreements on holding provincial elections and opening oil fields to foreign investors. (Source: AP)

United States

A federal judge in Washington has refused to halt the war crimes trial of Osama bin Laden's former driver. The action clears the way for what is expected to become the first trial of a terror suspect via military commission at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on Monday.

Lawyers for Salim Ahmed Hamden had asked US District Judge James Robertson to delay the start of the war crimes trial, saying the legal foundations of the tribunal process had been undermined by a recent US Supreme Court decision. After a two-hour hearing on Thursday, Judge Robertson declined to block the trial. In a statement from the bench he said that under the military commission system set up by Congress and the White House, Mr. Hamdan's lawyers must wait until a final verdict in the trial before raising their constitutional challenges. A military judge at Guantánamo had earlier rejected similar arguments from Hamdan's lawyers. (Source: CSM)

Former attorney general John D. Ashcroft defended his approach to forestalling terrorist attacks but told lawmakers yesterday that he moved quickly to respond to concerns that some Justice Department memos employed shoddy reasoning. In his first Capitol Hill appearance to address national security issues since leaving the Justice Department three years ago, Ashcroft batted away probing questions, blaming his memory and citing the still-classified status of memos and programs the Bush administration adopted after Sept. 11, 2001. Pressed by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, he argued that coercive interrogation techniques including waterboarding did not meet the legal definition of torture. Ashcroft said he was aware of no evidence during his term that would have prompted him to open a criminal investigation into actions by interrogators.

He refused repeated invitations to directly criticize John C. Yoo, who as a deputy in the Office of Legal Counsel worked closely with vice presidential aide David S. Addington and then-White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales to draft legal memos underpinning treatment of detainees and a warrantless surveillance initiative. Ashcroft later rescinded two of those memos, citing faulty reasoning. (Source: Washington Post)

A former sales executive for an aircraft parts company is on the run after being charged with illegally sending military items to the United Arab Emirates and Thailand, prosecutors said Thursday. John Nakkashian, former vice president for international sales at Air Shunt Instruments Inc., has been indicted on four counts of violating the Arms Export Control Act, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Officials said he vanished during the investigation in 2007 and was charged in May. Prosecutors allege Nakkashian in 2003 and 2004 exported components for the F-5 fighter jet to Dubai and a gyroscope used on military helicopters to Bangkok without first obtaining the required export licenses from the U.S. State Department. (Source: AP)

The Air Force's top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on "comfort capsules" to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world, with at least four top generals involved in design details such as the color of the capsules' carpet and leather chairs, according to internal e-mails and budget documents. Production of the first capsule, consisting of two sealed rooms that can fit into the fuselage of a large military aircraft, has already begun. Air Force officials say the government needs the new capsules to ensure that leaders can talk, work and rest comfortably in the air. But the top brass's preoccupation with creating new luxury in wartime has alienated lower-ranking Air Force officers familiar with the effort, as well as congressional staff members and a nonprofit group that calls the program a waste of money. (Source: Washington Post)

U.S. aid to Africa is becoming increasingly militarized, resulting in skewed priorities and less attention to longer-term development projects that could lead to greater stability across the continent, according to a report released Thursday by the advocacy group Refugees International. The report warns that the planned U.S. Africa Command, designed to boost America's image and prevent terrorism, is allowing the Defense Department to usurp funds traditionally directed by the State Department and U.S. aid agencies. A Pentagon spokesman did not return a call requesting comment. But Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned this week against the risk of a "creeping militarization" of U.S. foreign policy and said the State Department should lead U.S. engagement with other countries. The Pentagon, which controlled about 3 percent of official aid money a decade ago, now controls 22 percent, while the U.S. Agency for International Development's share has declined from 65 percent to 40 percent, according to the 56-page report. (Source: Washington Post)

Africa

With an arrest warrant pending against Sudan's president, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said Thursday he was focusing on another war crime case in Darfur involving two suspected rebel commanders allegedly directing attacks against peacekeepers. Luis Moreno-Ocampo's comments came days after announcing he was seeking a warrant to arrest the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. On Thursday, he discussed new details about an investigation into violence against peacekeepers in Sudan's remote Darfur region. One case of key interest is an attack against the Haskanita military base late last year that left 10 African Union soldiers dead and 1 missing. (Source: AP)

Killings, kidnappings and the threat of famine are turning the Horn of Africa into the most dangerous and deadly spot on earth. Already plagued by drought, food shortages and massive malnutrition, Ethiopia and Somalia are now facing a potentially catastrophic humanitarian crisis, say international aid workers. So far, 19 foreign aid workers have been killed in Somalia this year. In January, three MSF staffers died in a roadside car bombing in the southern town of Kismayo, while a fourth was killed in an ambush near Mogadishu in March. This week, a World Food Program contractor was gunned down in Mogadishu, the fifth WFP employee to die in the country this year. Lately the killings have become more dramatic and targeted. On July 6, gunmen assassinated Osman Ali Ahmed, head of the UN Development Program in Mogadishu, as he left a mosque. (Source: National Post)

Americas

Amnesty International has added its voice to a chorus of critics who fear a new federal protocol on Canadian detainees could leave the door open to abuses like those seen in the cases of Maher Arar and Omar Khadr. The newly disclosed agreement gives the Canadian Security Intelligence Service the go-ahead to meet with a Canadian imprisoned abroad before consular officials do when there are "urgent national security or terrorism-related considerations." The protocol, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, also suggests CSIS approach foreign authorities when a government denies Ottawa diplomatic access to a prisoner. (Source: Chronicle Herald-CAN)

Asia

Cambodia and Thailand sent more troops Thursday to a disputed border area around a spectacular 11th-century Hindu temple that stands atop a mile-high cliff. The buildup proceeded despite agreement by the two sides to hold talks next week to avoid military action. The standoff, in its third day, is the latest escalation in a long-standing conflict over land around Preah Vihear, a temple that is similar in style to the more famous Angkor Wat in northwestern Cambodia. Despite escalating rhetoric and the presence of heavily armed soldiers, the atmosphere at Preah Vihear appeared relaxed on Thursday. Cambodian soldiers snapped photographs of their Thai opponents just yards away, and some tourists, including at least one American woman, visited the temple. After years of Thai-Cambodian feuding over ownership of the monument, the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia. The Thai government formally accepted that decision, but the two sides have never agreed on the precise location of the border. Each country claims an area of about 1.8 square miles around it. The dispute came to a head last week when a U.N. body approved Cambodia's application for World Heritage Site status for Preah Vihear. Protesters in Thailand have decried their government's decision to endorse the application, saying it undermines Thai claims to the disputed territory. (Source: Washington Post)

Europe

Amid increasing concern from the United States and the European Union that tensions between Russia and Georgia could escalate into open conflict, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany is seeking to mediate among all sides, traveling to Georgia and its Russian-backed breakaway region of Abkhazia on Thursday, then to Moscow on Friday. This is the first time Germany has taken on such a role in the Caucasus region, which is beset by regional conflicts. In Georgia, where the government in Tbilisi has been trying for nearly 16 years to bring back under its control the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, there is a diplomatic push to resolve the dispute in the coming months. (Source: IHT)

Turkey's military says 11 Kurdish rebels have been killed in clashes in the country's southeast. The toll raises the number of rebels killed in clashes in the past five days to 33.

A statement on the military's Web site Tuesday said the 11 were killed in an ongoing operation in Hakkari province, near the border with Iraq. On Monday, the military had reported 22 rebels killed in separate fighting in Sirnak province. The rebels have battled more than two decades for autonomy in southeastern Turkey. The group use bases in northern Iraq for cross-border raids. (Source: Washington Times)

Middle East

The best course of action to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners is the kidnapping of more Israeli soldiers, Abu Yousef, the military spokesman for the An-Nasser Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, said Thursday. This goes some way to confirming several analysts' predictions that the prisoner exchange deal, executed on Wednesday, would embolden both Palestinian and Lebanese resistance fighters. He added that the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, kidnapped in 2006 by militants from Gaza, should not be released until it was possible to arrange a deal that satisfies the needs of the Palestinian people. (Source: Maan News-PA)

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to host peace talks in Washington with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on July 30, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Thursday. Rice met a Palestinian delegation in Washington on Wednesday and offered to host the three-way meeting between herself, chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurie and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Erekat said. (Source: Reuters)

Hizbullah is bolstering its presence in south Lebanon villages with non-Shi'ite majorities by buying land and using it to build military positions and store missiles and launchers. The decision to build infrastructure in non-Shi'ite villages - where Hizbullah has less support - is part of the group's post-war strategy under which it has mostly abandoned the "nature reserves," forested areas where it kept most of its Katyusha rocket launchers before the Second Lebanon War. Behind the change is the fact that UNIFIL peacekeeping forces can patrol freely throughout the countryside but cannot enter villages or cities without being accompanied by soldiers from the Lebanese Armed Forces, which regularly tips off Hizbullah ahead of raids. "Hizbullah is moving into every town that it can," a senior defense official said. "This is in order to evade UNIFIL detection." On Thursday, Lebanese complained they were receiving recorded phone messages from Israel promising "harsh retaliation" for any future Hizbullah attack. The automated messages also warn against allowing Hizbullah to form "a state within a state" in the country. (Source: Jerusalem Post)

At a joint news conference with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem was asked how his country's indirect peace negotiations with Israel might impact Syria's relations with Iran, whose president has called for Israel to be wiped off the map. Al-Moallem said the "strategic alliance" between Syria and Iran was strong and would not be shaken by the possibility of a peace treaty with Israel. (Source: AP)

By Professor Joseph B. Varner

Global War on Terror

A deadly attack on a remote NATO outpost in the eastern province of Kunar is being viewed as a serious escalation in the fighting between the insurgents and the international forces stationed in Afghanistan, and a possible shift in the insurgents' tactical capability. The high casualties sustained by international forces in recent attacks have also increased the prospects that international troops could launch cross-border strikes into Pakistan with increasing frequency.

Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense says that seven insurgents have been killed in fighting in eastern Afghanistan. The statement says the clash on Monday happened in Wanat, a village in Nuristan province where on Sunday nine U.S. soldiers were killed when militants breached their remote base. It says that an "Arab terrorist" was also captured during the operation. Violence has been increasing in Afghanistan, and many people are questioning whether the Taliban-led insurgency is gaining momentum seven years after a U.S.-led invasion ousted the hard-line Islamic regime. (Source: AP)

The federal government has warned bidders on a high-profile reconstruction project in Afghanistan that they will largely be responsible for their own security, raising the prospect that private security firms will form the first line of defence against the Taliban. The Harper government announced last month that the refurbishment of the Dahla Dam will be one of Canada's "signature" projects in Kandahar province. Canada has promised to invest as much as $50 million over three years to repair the long-neglected dam and its irrigation system, which supplies most of the farmers in the province. Military commanders in Afghanistan have insisted the Canadian Forces will play an active role in protecting the dam, which observers expect to become a target for the Taliban. (Source: Canada.com)

Disgraced scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan should remain under de facto house arrest because he risks implicating the Pakistani state in nuclear proliferation, government lawyers said Tuesday. Khan, a national hero for his key role in developing Pakistan's atomic arms, has been confined to his home since he took sole responsibility in 2004 for the leaking of the country's nuclear secrets to countries including Iran. However, Khan recently disowned his confession, proclaimed his innocence of any wrongdoing, and began agitating for an end to the restrictions. Earlier this month, Khan told The Associated Press that the Pakistan army under President Pervez Musharraf oversaw a 2000 shipment of nuclear components to North Korea, a claim swiftly denied by Musharraf's office. (Source: AP)

Tony Blair today hastily cancelled his visit to the Gaza Strip and headed back to Jerusalem after receiving what his aides described as a "specific security threat" minutes before crossing the border. With his advanced security party having already gone through the Erez passenger crossing into the territory at 9.45am local time, the international peace envoy's motorcade was ordered to turn around and abort its journey. Details of the threat against Mr Blair, who aimed to visit infrastructure projects in his capacity as international Middle Eastern peace envoy, were this morning unknown. However, as well as security fears, it may have been postponed for diplomatic reasons as Mr Blair would have had to pass through several Hamas military checkpoints to get to the sites he was visiting, a prospect which it is believed may have caused diplomatic embarrassment as the West currently has no relations with the territory's Islamist rulers. (Source: The Times-UK)

The Canadian Internet service provider iWeb recently removed three websites powered by Hamas and Hizbullah - both designated as terrorist organizations in Canada. Jonathan Halevi, co-founder of the Orient Research Group Ltd. and a senior researcher of the Middle East and radical Islam at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, had filed a complaint after discovering that an official Hamas website was being hosted in Canada. After reporting that Hizbullah may be activating sleeper cells in Canada, CBC questioned iWeb about two additional websites, one promoting Hizbullah and the other in support of Hamas, both of which were eventually taken down. According to Halevi, as much as 95% of online activity powered by terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda and Hamas, is hosted by American servers. "Nobody is getting sued for supporting terrorist organizations on the Web. There is an urgent need for an international Internet police," he said. (Source: Jerusalem Post)

Iraq

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of army recruits Tuesday in an Iraqi province where devastating attacks persist despite security improvements in the rest of the country. At least 28 people died. The bombings came ahead of what Iraqi military officials have described as an imminent offensive in troubled Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. The U.S. military says it will support that effort, which they called an enhancement of existing patrols and actions there. The blasts at the Saad military camp in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala, recalled the scenes of mass terror and grief that were almost a daily routine in previous years. Violence in Iraq is at its lowest level in about four years. The explosions wounded at least 57 recruits. A military officer in Baqouba, 35 miles (60 kilometers) from Baghdad, confirmed the death toll and said soldiers were among the casualties. The U.S. military said in a statement that the attack occurred around 8 a.m. It said 20 police recruits were killed and 55 were injured. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in the reports. Diyala is critical to Baghdad's security because of its strategic importance as an entrance to the capital and a threat to supply routes going north. The volatile, ethnically mixed area also borders Iran, which the United States has accused of helping militants to stage attacks on American troops.

Last year, U.S. troops largely subdued militancy in Baqouba, which had been held by Al Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni extremist groups. But many insurgents were believed to have melted away and now appear to be regrouping. Loyalists of Saddam Hussein's regime had homes in Buhriz, a southern suburb of Baqouba, and the area served as a staging ground for Sunni attacks that drove Shiites out of the city. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed by a U.S. airstrike in Diyala province in June 2006. On June 22, a female suicide bomber concealing explosives beneath her black robe struck outside a government complex in Baqouba. At least 15 people were killed and more than 40 were wounded. A car bomb across the street from the same compound killed at least 40 people in April. The decline in violence in Iraq has been driven by a variety of factors, including the 2007 U.S. troop surge and a Sunni revolt against Al Qaeda in Iraq. U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have scored successes in offensives against Shiite militants in Baghdad's Sadr City district and the southern cities of Basra and Amarah, and against Sunni extremists in Mosul in the north. Also Tuesday, the U.S. military said it had captured the Iranian-trained leader of an explosives cell in the Adhamiyah district of Baghdad. It said the suspect has been linked to attacks against U.S. and Iraqi bases in the capital. (Source: AP)

United States

Top allies of Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama waged heated verbal battle Monday over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly over Obama's assertion that the war in Iraq had never been central to the fight against terrorism. "If we would've followed his advice," said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a key supporter of McCain's presidential campaign, "Iraq would've crumbled." His comment came in reaction to an op-ed article by Obama in The New York Times in which the Illinois senator proposed sending 10,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan, following a rise in Taliban-linked violence, while reducing the U.S. presence in Iraq. It also came as both presidential candidates renewed their focus on the two wars. Surrogates for both candidates employed tough language as polls showed the race tightening; they seemed to forget the civility both have pleaded for. An Obama supporter, Susan Rice, a former deputy national security adviser, accused the other side of "old-school fear-mongering." And Graham said the op-ed article from Obama "just highlights how hellbent he is on looking at Iraq through a political lens." (Source: IHT)

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds the country split down the middle between those backing Sen. Barack Obama's 16-month timeline for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and those agreeing with Sen. John McCain's position that events, not timetables, should dictate when forces come home. Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, will deliver what his campaign is billing as a "major address" on Iraq today in Washington, part of an effort to convince voters that he could serve effectively as commander in chief. The public is also evenly divided on that question, with 48 percent saying he would be an effective leader of the military and 48 percent saying he would not. On Iraq policy in general, Americans continue to side with Obama and McCain, his Republican rival, in roughly equal numbers, with 47 percent of those polled saying they trust McCain more to handle the war, and 45 percent having more faith in Obama. The poll results suggest that months of Democratic attacks on McCain's Iraq position have not dented voters' basic trust in his ability to lead the country's armed forces: Seventy-two percent said McCain would make a good commander in chief. (Source: Washington Post)

The Justice Department's former top criminal prosecutor says the government's terror watch list likely has caused thousands of innocent Americans to be questioned, searched or otherwise hassled. Former assistant attorney general Jim Robinson would know: he's one of them. Robinson joined another mistaken-identity American and the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday to urge fixing the list that's supposed to identify suspected terrorists. "It's a pain in the neck, and significantly interferes with my travel arrangements," said Robinson, the head of the Justice Department's criminal division during President Bill Clinton's administration. He believes his name matches that of someone who was put on the list in early 2005, and is routinely delayed while flying, despite having his own government top-secret security clearances renewed last year. (Source: Canoe-CAN)

Attorneys for Salim Ahmed Hamdan said Monday that they intend to call other detainees to testify at his upcoming military trial here, entangling the landmark proceeding in yet another difficult legal issue. The lawyers representing Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's former driver, said the eight prospective witnesses include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, who is being held at the U.S. military prison here along with Hamdan and about 265 other captives. Hamdan's trial, scheduled to start Monday, would be the first U.S. military commission trial in more than half a century. Navy Captain Keith J. Allred, who is overseeing the proceedings in a threadbare building overlooking Guantanamo Bay, made it clear that the testimony would be admitted in some form, and likely would help Hamdan's case. Allred instructed both sides to work out an arrangement, possibly a time delay or videotaped depositions, to protect national security. (Source: Washington Post)

Africa

Foreign mercenaries have joined so-called "war veterans" and militiamen attacking opposition supporters in rural parts of Zimbabwe, human rights workers have confirmed. Eyewitnesses say the men are more vicious than their Zimbabwean counterparts, with the marauding gangs attacking suspected members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), forcing them to renounce the party. They dress in army fatigues, carry Russian-made guns and are accompanied by interpreters when out with the militias. Patrick Chitaka, the MDC chairman in Manicaland province in the east of the country, said the foreigners had been identified in the past two to three weeks supporting government-backed men. (Source: The Independent)

Sudan promised to turn Darfur into a graveyard yesterday as it reacted with fury to charges laid by an international prosecutor accusing President al-Bashir of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The threat was made by an official in Darfur after Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), called for the arrest of Omar al-Bashir for his Government’s ruthless campaign of violence in the war-torn region. Outlining his case in The Hague, Mr Moreno-Ocampo said that Mr al-Bashir resorted to the alleged crimes after a rebellion by three ethnic groups in Darfur. He asked the court to issue an arrest warrant before 2.5 million more displaced people died a slow death. The Sudanese Government responded by staging rallies in Khartoum and El Fasher, the capital of north Darfur, where about 1,000 demonstrators chanted: “We don’t need Ocampo, we don’t need the ICC.” Idris Abdullah Hassan, the town’s deputy mayor, told the crowd: “We say to you, President al-Bashir, that the people of Darfur will go with you wherever you go, and Darfur will be the graveyard for the enemies of Sudan.” (Source: The Times)

The Sudanese government defiantly rejected International Criminal Court charges of genocide against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday, vowing to fight them "legally and diplomatically" instead of retaliating against U.N. peacekeepers, aid workers or residents of Darfur, a reaction that is feared in the volatile, western Sudanese region.

Sudan's U.N. envoy, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, called the court's charges a "catastrophe" that will have "disastrous consequences" on peace efforts in Darfur, where a brutal government campaign against rebels and civilians has left as many as 450,000 people dead from disease and violence, and nearly half the region's population displaced. The Sudanese government says those figures are exaggerated. (Source: Washington Post)

China expressed "grave concern" on Tuesday after the International Criminal Court's prosecutor charged Sudan's president with genocide in Darfur. In Khartoum, the United Nations told its staff to stay at home as thousands of Sudanese prepared to rally in support of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. (Source: Reuters)

Americas

After a series of Canadian court orders, remarkable footage of Canadian federal agents questioning Mr. Khadr is to be released this morning, starting with a 10-minute highlight reel to be released at 5 a.m., and a full seven hours of footage to come later in the afternoon. Mr. Khadr was sent to Guantanamo after being captured in Afghanistan in 2002. The footage, compiled from three days of interviews taped six months after his capture, is being released by his defence team. Edmonton lawyers Nathan Whitling and Dennis Edney, who fought a successful legal battle for the DVDs to be disclosed, now hope to shame Canadian politicians into lobbying Washington for the repatriation of the now-21-year-old, still jailed, but not convicted after six years. The video will allow the public its first glimpse of an interview undertaken inside the U.S. military jail for terrorism suspects that operates on leased land in Cuba. It is also the first footage ever shown of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in action during its 24-year history. (Source: Globe and Mail-CAN)

Canada has sent three warships to help thwart swarms of modern-day Long John Silvers and Jack Sparrows who have been terrorizing maritime traffic in the Indian Ocean. Piracy exploded into the news earlier this year when helicopter-borne French commandos captured five pirates and took them back to France to face trial. The pirates, from the breakaway part of Somalia known as Puntland, had stormed a luxury yacht and held it and its 30 crew members hostage until a ransom was paid. The problem of piracy in the Horn of Africa began five years ago when Somali fisherman reacted to foreign overfishing by seizing trawlers and their crews and holding them for ransom. Civil war and anarchy had left their shattered government unable to protect its fisheries. When such tactics produced money, it emboldened the pirates to go after freighters and yachts on their way to and from Europe and Asia. There have been 24 acts of piracy off the Somali coast this year, the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau reported last week. Among the victims were a German-registered freighter and its mostly Ukrainian crew, seized in May and freed on July 8 for a ransom of $800,000. A Dutch freighter and its mostly Filipino and Russian crew held for 31 days and exchanged for a ransom as much as $700,000 in June. A German yacht with four people aboard captured two weeks ago remains in the hands of pirates who have demanded $2 million to set their hostages free. To avoid getting hijacked, ships have begun taking a more indirect, costly route near Yemen that takes them 200 to 300 kilometres away from the Somali coast. This has forced Somalia's buccaneers, who use speedboats, to venture much further offshore to hunt their prey. To deter such crimes, Task Force 150, led by Commodore Bob Davidson, who uses the Iroquois as his flagship, includes a changing cast of warships from the United States, five European countries and Pakistan. (Source: Canada.com)

Asia

The main South Korean investor in North Korea failed to persuade the communist nation to cooperate in an investigation into the killing of a South Korean tourist at a northern mountain resort, the firm's head said Tuesday. North Korea reiterated its refusal to allow South Korean officials to visit the area of Friday's shooting where a 53-year-old housewife was killed by a North Korean soldier, Yoon Man-jun, head of Hyundai Asan, said after a four-day trip to the Diamond Mountain resort. (Source: AP)

Police say a 70-year-old U.S. Army retiree from Port Isabel, Texas has been strangled by suspected robbers in his apartment in the central Philippines. Regional Chief Superintendent Ronald Roderos says Billie Thomas Hannon was found bound with an electric cord around his neck Monday. Roderos said Tuesday that police are still investigating but suspect that robbers killed Hannon, who lived alone in Lapu-Lapu city. Hannon was divorced from his Filipina wife and had been living in the area since 2004. (Source: AP)

A Cambodian official claimed that about 40 Thai troops entered Cambodia on Tuesday as tension escalated between the two countries over disputed land around an ancient temple. The Thai military denied any border violation. The long-standing dispute between Phnom Penh and Bangkok over which country owns the land that surrounds the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple flared last week after the temple was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Thai troops entered Cambodian territory near the temple, said Hang Soth, director-general of the national authority for Preah Vihear temple, an agency responsible for the monument. Cambodian troops were placed on alert but ordered not to be the first to fire. (Source: AP)

Europe

They changed the way the world flies. Now the British-born men accused of plotting to blow a Toronto-bound jetliner to smithereens with liquid explosives are changing their plea. Five of the eight men facing maximum life sentences in the alleged 2006 transatlantic bomb plot targeting flights to Toronto and five other cities unexpectedly pleaded guilty to lesser charges yesterday, including "conspiring to cause a public nuisance" by publishing videos threatening attacks. As the three-month trial entered its final phase in a London courthouse, the jury yesterday learned that three defendants accused as ringleaders, Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 27, now admit to a plan to set off bombs, but not, they insist, with the intention of targeting passenger planes or even causing death. Instead, the defence maintains, the bombers aspired to score a propaganda coup with non-lethal explosions at Heathrow Airport and the British House of Commons. It was also revealed that they and two other defendants, Ibrahim Savant, 27, and Umar Islam, 30, pleaded guilty to the public nuisance charge relating to videos discovered after their August 2006 roundup by British security teams in raids in and around London. All eight face maximum life sentences on the more severe charges of conspiracy to commit mass murder using explosives disguised in soft-drink bottles. The jury is to weigh that question after the trial comes to a close next week. British terrorism experts said the unexpected switch to guilty pleas on lesser charges further complicates the trial's outcome and also raises new questions about the gravity of the original threat, which prosecutors say was taking shape against seven specific flights from London's Heathrow Airport to destinations including Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Washington. (Source: The Star)

Turkey's vast secular-religious divide - and the high-stakes struggle between the two sides, was on spectacular display yesterday as prosecutors accused dozens of senior military, business and media figures of planning a coup against the country's mildly Islamist government. Depending on which side of the divide you stand, the indictment is either an instance of the judicial system acting to preserve democracy against an interventionist military, or a spectacular example of the governing AK Party persecuting its opponents. Turkey's religious and secular elites have been at odds for decades, but now the struggle for power seems set to be decided in the country's courtrooms. The coup plot allegations come as the AK Party is facing a constitutional court challenge, brought forward by its secular foes, that could see Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul forced to resign and their party banned from politics. The stakes clearly couldn't be any higher. The 2,455-page indictment filed yesterday by Istanbul's public prosecutor, Aykut Cengiz Engin, accuses 86 individuals of being members of a secret ultranationalist organization called Ergenekon that sought to defend Turkey's secular traditions by bringing down Mr. Erdogan's government. The alleged conspirators were accused of planning to spread violence and chaos through the country, eventually forcing the army to intervene and seize power in the name of maintaining order. The case first came to light last year, when a cache of grenades and explosives was discovered during a police raid on a house in Istanbul. Prosecutors have linked Ergenekon to a number of violent incidents around the country in the past two years, including the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007. The shadowy organization is allegedly headed by Sener Eruygur, the retired head of the Gendarmerie, a branch of the Turkish armed forces responsible for maintaining public order, and Hursit Tolon, another retired general. Though the details of the indictment will not be made public until a court agrees to hear the case, many of the names and specific allegations have already been leaked in the Turkish press. Most of the other alleged conspirators are reported also to be retired military officials, while several prominent journalists and academics, as well as leaders of the left-wing Workers' Party, are also believed to have been named in the indictment. Forty-eight of the suspects are already in police custody, some of them having been arrested as far back as a year ago. (Source: Globe and Mail-CAN)

Turkey's military says 22 Kurdish rebels have been killed in recent clashes in southeastern Turkey. The military says the clashes occurred in the rugged Sirnak province. A statement on the military's Web site says aircraft and artillery units shelled rebel positions in the area from Friday to Monday, killing 22 rebels. It says the military units also destroyed rebel shelters in the region. The military does not cite any military casualties. The rebels have been fighting for more than two decades for autonomy in southeastern Turkey. They use strongholds in northern Iraq for cross-border raids. (Source: AP)

One thousand U.S. troops began a military training exercise in Georgia on Tuesday against a backdrop of growing friction between Georgia and neighboring Russia. Officials said the exercise, called "Immediate Response 2008", had been planned for months and was not linked to a stand-off between Moscow and Tbilisi over two Russian-backed separatists regions of Georgia. The United States is an ally of Georgia and has irritated Russia by backing Tbilisi's bid to join the NATO military alliance. The war games involve 600 Georgian troops and smaller numbers from ex-Soviet Armenia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine. The two-week exercise was taking place at the Vaziani military base near the capital Tbilisi, which was a Russian air force base until Russian forces withdrew at the start of this decade under a European arms reduction agreement. Georgia and the Pentagon cooperate closely. Georgia has a 2,000-strong contingent supporting the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, and Washington provides training and equipment to the Georgian military. (Source: Reuters)

Middle East

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday branded UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the Second Lebanon War a failure, saying that it had not achieved the aim of disarming Hizbullah in Lebanon. Barak told a Labor Party forum on Monday that the resolution had not worked, does not work now, and will probably never work. Despite the resolution's call for a strict ban on arms shipments to Hizbullah, the group has rearmed and now has a larger rocket arsenal than it did during the war. "Hizbullah is continuing to ignore [the resolution] with the ongoing intimate assistance of the Syrians," Barak said. (Source: Ha'aretz)

The Iranian and Syrian militaries have assisted Hizbullah in setting up advanced radar installations atop Mt. Sannine in Lebanon's Beka Valley which can be used to track Israeli planes from the Mediterranean Sea to Damascus, the Azerbaijan-based Trend News Agency reported. (Source: Jerusalem Post)

Iran's missile tests last week will strengthen its position in diplomatic discussions over its disputed nuclear plans, Deputy Defense Minister Nasrullah Ezatti said Monday. He said, "The maneuvers helped the Islamic Republic to go to the negotiating table with a full hand." (Source: Reuters)

By Professor Joseph B. Varner

Global War on Terror

Nine U.S. soldiers were killed in heavy fighting Sunday at a military base in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border, according to a Western official. The attack was the deadliest against U.S. forces in the country since 2005.

(Source: Washington Post)

The BBC has raised the possibility that Iran may target NATO forces in Afghanistan, which include several thousand Canadian troops stationed in the province of Kandahar, with short-range missiles. Those who focused on the possibility of Iran and Israel going to war or a strike against the U. S. Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf have overlooked the chance that attacking elsewhere might also serve Iran's strategic interests, the BBC said in an article on its Web site last week. "People always look towards the west of Iran, but we need to look east as well," Christopher Pang, head of African and Middle Eastern research for the highly respected Royal United Services Institute, told the British network. "There are plenty of U. S. interests and international troops stationed in Afghanistan which can be targeted from the east of the country." Worried by what Tehran describes as its power-generating civilian nuclear program, Israel has been considering if and when to try to destroy Iran's nuclear sites with air strikes and missiles launched from submarines. The Jewish state has also been improving its air defence system to protect itself against the latest variants of Iran's Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, which could reach Tel Aviv with a one-ton conventional payload between 11 and 14 minutes after being launched. (Source: National Post-CAN)

Both the United States and Britain are hoping to reduce their military commitment in Iraq to focus on Afghanistan. The US is considering cutting American troop numbers to below 120,000, compared with 170,000 last year. Up to three combat brigades could be withdrawn in September. Britain is also looking to cut troop numbers by almost a half in Iraq, from 4,000 to about 2,500, although not until next year. This would give the Government the option of deploying more units to Helmand province, where the Taleban has intensified its operations, using suicide attacks, roadside bombs and mines. More American and British troops are now dying in Afghanistan than in Iraq, and with both countries committed to supporting the Kabul Government, the availability of additional troops to fight the Taleban is becoming an increasingly pressing issue. The Americans have about 32,000 troops in Afghanistan, spread out in eastern and southern provinces. The British have 7,800 in Helmand and in neighbouring Kandahar province. This figure is expected to rise to more than 8,000 by the end of the year. American commanders have been calling for another 10,000 US troops for Afghanistan. The Pentagon has already sent an additional 3,200 Marines, who provide a mobile reserve force for southern Afghanistan, but it has been difficult for the US military planners to send more because of the commitment in Iraq. Britain is in the same position, struggling to maintain the required troop levels for two long-running campaigns. (Source: The Times-UK)

The top diplomat for Pakistan has said that there are currently no foreign military representatives in Pakistan hunting for Osama bin Laden, and that none would be allowed into the country to search for him. In an interview Saturday, the Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said the new government of Pakistan had ruled out such military operations, covert or otherwise, to catch militants including Osama bin Laden, the head of Al Qaeda. "Our government's policy is that our troops, paramilitary forces and our regular forces are deployed in sufficient numbers," Qureshi said. "They are capable of taking action there. And any foreign intrusion would be counterproductive. People will not accept it. Questions of sovereignty come in." The United States has grown increasingly frustrated as Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other militants thrive in Pakistan's remote areas and in neighboring Afghanistan, where the United States has offered to contribute troops to strike at terror networks. (Source: IHT)

Amidst growing fears of a unilateral American action against "terrorist sanctuaries" in tribal areas, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen made an unscheduled visit to Islamabad on Saturday and met top military leadership of the country to persuade it to “act decisively” against Taliban and Al Qaeda militants suspected of mounting cross-border attacks in Afghanistan. Sources said that the United States was “deeply frustrated” with Pakistan’s lack of ability or willingness, or both, to move decisively to end the rising infiltration by the Taliban militants into Afghanistan. Recent reports in the Washington Post and New York Times claimed that the U.S. administration was considering using direct military force to stop the infiltration and it may use commando forces, besides direct missile attacks, on militants’ targets. (Source: World Tribune)

Five men accused of plotting to detonate liquid explosives on board trans-Atlantic passenger jets have pleaded guilty to lesser offenses but maintain they never intended to destroy airliners, a jury was told Monday. Prosecutors say the five, along with three other defendants, wanted to kill hundreds of passengers with bombs concealed in soft drink bottles as their flights crossed the Atlantic Ocean or passed over North American cities. Prosecutors say they were close to carrying out their plan when they were arrested in August 2006 and that they had created "martyrdom" videos to be shown after the suicide-bombings were carried out. The alleged plan's unraveling quickly led to tough new restrictions on the amount of liquids and gels airline passengers could take in their carry-on luggage, restrictions which remain in place. (Source: AP)

One of the suspects detained in connection with the armed attack on the United States Consulate in Istanbul last week was formally charged with membership in an illegal organization, the semiofficial Anatolian News Agency reported on Sunday. The agency did not identify the organization. The news agency identified the suspect only as Dursun P.; a private television news station, NTV, gave the man's name as Dursun Patan. Membership in an illegal organization can bring a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. An Istanbul court also ordered the release on their own recognizance of two other suspects, identified as Servet C. and Resat A., according to the Anatolian News Agency, although both are expected to stand trial soon. (Source: IHT)

Settling into a chair in his office, Michael J. Heimbach, the newly appointed assistant director for the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, wastes no time laying out his problem. "As we approach almost seven years after Sept. 11, I'm really concerned about the complacency setting in amongst the American people." Speaking in a serious and measured tone, and pointing out that there's no evidence to suggest an imminent attack, Heimbach says, "Let there be no mistake, Al Qaeda or other like-minded individuals are still focused on attacking the homeland." Those like-minded individuals left a calling card in 2006. "If we go back to the aviation plot, it is very clear that was going to be as big, if not bigger than 9/11," said Heimbach. The transatlantic scheme to detonate liquid explosives on board several airliners traveling from the United Kingdom to the U.S. and Canada was discovered by UK police before it could be carried out. The plot led to unprecedented security measures restricting the amount of liquid that passengers can carry on airplanes. Five men accused of plotting to detonate liquid explosives on board trans-Atlantic passenger jets have pleaded guilty to lesser offenses but maintain they never intended to destroy airliners, a jury was told Monday. (Source: AP)

Iraq

The Interior Ministry said Sunday that Iraqi security forces were poised to launch a major crackdown in Diyala Province, the latest in a series of operations aimed at stabilizing the country. Sunni Islamists with links to Al Qaeda have sought to stoke tensions in the religiously and ethnically mixed northeastern province, which has been hit by a string of suicide bombings in recent months. Gunmen attacked a soccer match north of Baghdad on Sunday, killing a police officer and a Sunni Muslim allied with the United States against Al Qaeda. The attack near Duluyia, 75 kilometers, or 45 miles, north of Baghdad, also wounded three, including a nine-year-old and a member of the local Awakening Council. In other violence, a roadside bomb exploded near the house of a police captain 65 kilometers west of Baghdad on Sunday, killing four police officers and wounding eight. (Source: IHT)

United States

Defense Secretary Robert Gates finished his sweeping transformation of the Army's top leadership Friday, with the nomination of two three-star generals to key command posts. Army Lieutenant General Martin E. Dempsey has been nominated by President Bush to get a fourth star and serve as the commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va. The job puts him in charge of shaping the training and education of an Army that must be able to fight conventional foes as well as conduct the counterinsurgency missions needed in the current war on terror. Also Friday, Bush nominated Lt. Gen. Carter Ham to also receive a fourth stars, and take command of U.S. Army Europe. Both Dempsey and Ham are considered rising stars in the Army ranks, and have played prominent roles in the conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

(Source: AP)

Africa

The International Criminal Court's prosecutor has filed genocide charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The charges filed Monday include masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in Darfur with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation. Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is asking a three-judge panel to issue an arrest warrant for Al-Bashir to prevent the deaths of those still under attack in Darfur from government-backed janjaweed militia. He says the genocide is continuing and must be stopped. (Source: AP)

Asia

Negotiators in the North Korean nuclear talks have agreed to a blueprint for verifying North Korea's nuclear disarmament as part of a deal under which it would disable its main Yongbyon nuclear weapons complex by the end of October in exchange for energy and economic aid. The accord, announced Saturday by China in a joint communiqué among the six nations involved in the talks, gives new momentum to the negotiations, yet leaves many difficult issues unresolved in what has been a long and halting process to rid North Korea of its nuclear arsenal. No timetable has been set for full disarmament. In the coming weeks, negotiators will try to hammer out critical details of the verification process that will be used by international inspectors to ensure that North Korea carries out its commitment to disarm. Under the new agreement, international inspectors will be allowed to visit North Korean nuclear facilities, review documents and interview technical personnel. In addition, the International Atomic Energy Agency will be allowed to participate in the verification process. (Source: IHT)

South Korea's ruling party on Monday proposed holding parliamentary talks with North Korea, which has spurned all official contact over the shooting death of a southern tourist and rejected Seoul's offer to revive reconciliation efforts. Hong Joon-pyo, floor leader of the Grand National Party, said the talks are necessary to prevent a further chill in relations between the countries after a North Korean soldier gunned down a 53-year-old housewife at a mountain resort in the North. (Source: AP)

South Korea said Monday it will recall its ambassador from Japan over a rekindled debate about disputed islands between the countries, as the new Seoul government seeks to lift its sagging popularity at home with an appeal to nationalism. Japan announced its intention Monday to recommend in a government teaching manual that students learn about Tokyo's claims to the nearly uninhabitable islets, known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, that are currently under South Korean control. The dispute has been a long-standing thorn in relations between the Asian neighbors. (Source: AP)

An assailant threw a homemade firebomb into the U.S. consulate compound on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, home to most of the American troops based in Japan, but nobody was injured in the attack. The Molotov cocktail fell in the garden inside the compound and burned itself out. He declined to give further details. A local resident told police that a person driving a black motorbike fled the scene after the attack. Okinawa, located 1,000 miles south of Tokyo, is home to more than half the 50,000 U.S. troops based in Japan and is considered a linchpin in the American military posture in Asia. There has long been anti-U.S. military sentiment on the island, with Okinawans complaining of soldier-related crimes. (Source: AP)

About 500 Nepalese riot police who revolted and took their senior officers hostage to protest poor working conditions released their captives and surrendered after a two-day standoff, officials said Monday. Seven senior police officers were released unharmed just after midnight Sunday. The armed policemen took over a riot police camp Saturday at Nepalgunj, about 310 miles west of Katmandu. They were protesting the alleged ill treatment of lower-ranking officers by their supervisors, low-quality food and other issues. Hundreds of police surrounded the camp Sunday after the government ordered an immediate end to the standoff. (Source: IHT)

Europe

Two senior army commanders with unrivalled experience in Iraq and Afghanistan have been identified as the top candidates to become the next head of the Armed Forces. The choice of General Sir David Richards, who commanded NATO troops in Afghanistan, and Lieutenant-General Sir Nick Houghton, who was deputy commander of the US-led Multinational Force in Iraq, means that the next generation of top army officers are deemed by ministers to be more suitable to take on the role of Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) than any of the present Service chiefs. The decision amounts to a revolution within the Ministry of Defence, with a deliberate move to bypass the ones who would, traditionally, be the most eligible candidates, the heads of the Royal Navy, Army and RAF, and to wait for the new breed of commanders to take the top spot. (Source: The Times-UK)

All Territorial Army soldiers are to be required to risk their lives on the front line in Afghanistan and Iraq, the head of the Armed Forces has said. Territorial Army soldiers are presented with Iraq service medals by the Prince of Wales. Until now such tours have been voluntary. At present, overseas service for the part-time soldiers is voluntary, with only half of the TA's 25,000 troops making themselves available for active service. Instead of being asked to volunteer for Iraq and Afghanistan, part-time soldiers will in future be warned that they may be asked to resign if they fail to respond to a call up. A review has now been launched which is expected to slim the service down to around 15,000 men and women, who will all be required to go on a tour of duty at least once every six years. (Source: The Telegraph-UK)

The leaders of 43 nations from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa have launched a Union for the Mediterranean, a brainchild of French President Nicolas Sarkozy that aims to improve cooperation in the region with practical projects that parallel efforts toward Mideast peace. Sarkozy's ambitious plan overlaps with European Union projects already in progress, and it was melded into EU efforts and expanded to include 27 members of the EU, not just those on the Mediterranean coast. Nearly all of the 43 nations sent a president or prime minister to the summit. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi objected to the idea and refused to come. (Source: AP)

Prosecutors on Monday indicted 86 secular Turks, including high-ranking ex-military officials, on terrorism charges for their alleged involvement in plots to topple the Islamic-rooted government. The suspects, believed to include at least one former general and an opposition politician, allegedly plotted to provoke a military coup to topple Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, Istanbul's chief prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin said. They face charges of forming or belonging to a terrorist organization, or of provoking an armed uprising with the aim of bringing down Erdogan's government, he said. The indictment is the latest episode in an ongoing power struggle between the Islamic-rooted government and nationalists seeking to defend the secularism established by modern Turkey's revered founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Secularists, backed by the military, judiciary and some trade groups, accuse Erdogan and his government of seeking to push an Islamist agenda and making too many concessions to Christian and Kurdish minorities as part of the nation's bid to join the European Union. (Source: AP)

Middle East

Two police officers were shot and seriously wounded late Friday night near the Lions Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. In the attack, which was captured by security cameras, a Palestinian with a handgun snuck up on the two security officials posted at the site, shooting them in the head and chest. One of the officers returned fire at the attacker, who managed to flee through a nearby Muslim cemetery. The attack is the sixth since the beginning of the year in the city. (Source: Jerusalem Post)

David Chriqui, 19, the border policeman shot in the head at close range Friday by a Palestinian assailant in Jerusalem, remained in critical condition Sunday, hospital officials said. "We are praying for a miracle," said Dr. Yuval Weiss, Director of Hadassah-University Hospital at Ein Kerem. (Source: Jerusalem Post)

Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday fired a rocket into Israel in a new violation of a June 19 cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. (Source: Ha'aretz)

Palestinians in Gaza fired two mortar shells on Sunday that landed near Kibbutz Nahal Oz. (Source: Ynet News)

After 22 years, two photographs of missing Israel Air Force airman Ron Arad, as well as three letters written by him and fragments of a diary, were given to his wife Tami on Sunday. The personal material was part of an 80-page report by Hizbullah detailing the group's search for Arad, who was shot down over Lebanon and captured alive in 1986. The report, which did not solve the mystery of what happened to Arad, represents the first stage of a planned prisoner swap with Hizbullah. The Hizbullah report is merely an updated version of a report it passed to Israel in 2004, defense officials said on Sunday. The conclusion remains the same as the 2004 report, that Arad had tried to escape when his guards went to fight during Israel's Maydun operation on May 4, 1988, and probably died. (Source: Jerusalem Post)

Rami Igra, head of the Mossad's department for prisoners and missing persons until 1999, reportedly traveled overseas more than 100 times to meet with sources and colleagues from other intelligence agencies to gather information about missing navigator Ron Arad. By the end of his tenure, he had concluded that Arad had most likely died while escaping from his captors in May 1988. (Source: Jerusalem Post)

Israel's intelligence community has reported to the government that the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah has accumulated an arsenal of more than 40,000 missiles and rockets in Lebanon. On the eve of the 34-day war in July 2006, Hizbullah was believed to have possessed 14,000. The Hizbullah rocket and missile arsenal has exceeded 40,000 weapons, according to the assessment by military intelligence, the Mossad and the Israel Security Agency. In an assessment relayed to the Cabinet on July 9, the intelligence community also said Hizbullah has deployed at least 2,500 fighters in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border. The fighters were said to have restored weapons and rocket bunkers linked in an advanced command and control network. (Source: World Tribune)

Hizbullah is speeding up preparations in South Lebanon to celebrate an expected prisoner swap with Israel. A Hizbullah media worker in Nabatieh said hundreds of volunteers have been hanging banners throughout the South to praise Hizbullah's role in having secured the exchange. The decorations adorn the coastal road all the way from the Israeli border up to Sidon, with slogans taken from speeches by Hizbullah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah. (Source: Agence France Presse/Daily Star-Lebanon)

By Professor Joseph B. Varner

Global War on Terror

U.S. military officials may be voicing concern about Afghanistan, but Canada's former top officer in NATO says he has only seen a continually improving situation in the Asian country. In the past month, U.S. military reports and statements have indicated the war is worsening. A Pentagon report to Congress several weeks ago outlined how a revitalized insurgency is expected to maintain or increase its level of attacks. "The Taliban regrouped after its fall from power and have coalesced into a resilient insurgency," the report said.

The U.N. chief has agreed to Pakistan's request to establish an independent commission that will investigate the killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's office confirmed the agreement moments after it was announced by Pakistan's top diplomat. "The objectives are for the commission to identify the culprits, perpetrators, organizers and financiers of the assassination," Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters Thursday, just after a brief, private meeting with Ban. Determining who was behind Bhutto's killing could help stabilize a nation that is a key U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism, but has been struggling against an influx of insurgents joining with Al Qaeda and other militant groups in Pakistan's remote tribal and mountainous areas. The previous government blamed the Taliban in Pakistan for the attack against Bhutto, but suspicions surrounding her death have been cast far and wide, a further reason for the government's pressing to clear up the matter. Qureshi assured reporters that Ban would appoint "well-respected, eminent people" to the independent commission. (Source: AP)

Initial indications are that Al Qaeda organized a strike on the U.S. consulate in Istanbul, Turkish security officials said. Six people were killed in what officials said appeared to be an Al Qaeda strike on the U.S. consulate in Istanbul. They said at least four bearded assailants drove to the consulate compound on Wednesday and opened fire toward Turkish security guards. (Source: World Tribune)

Iraq

The U.S. military says