Real Clear Politics:
Attorney General Eric Holder adopted a tough guy pose when he announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others will be tried in federal court for the most heinous terror attack on Americans in history. “After eight years of delay,” he intoned, “those allegedly responsible for the attacks of September 11 will finally [...]
Bloomberg:
Nov. 20 — Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said higher-income Americans should be taxed to pay for additional troops sent to Afghanistan and that NATO should provide half of the new soldiers.
An “additional income tax to the upper brackets, folks earning more than $200,000 or $250,000,” could fund more troops, Levin, [...]
National Review Online:
For late-19th-century anarchists, terrorism was the “propaganda of the deed.” And the most successful propaganda-by-deed in history was 9/11 — not just the most destructive, but the most spectacular and telegenic.
And now its self-proclaimed architect, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has been given by the Obama administration a civilian trial in New York. Just [...]
CNS News:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) declined to say Thursday whether Osama bin Laden, when captured by the United States, should be told he has the right to remain silent and be given a lawyer. Pelosi indicated that is not a question Americans should worry about now.
CNSNews.com asked Pelosi at her regular press briefing on [...]
The LA Times:
Writing From Kabul, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s inauguration today will be a somber affair. Gray storm clouds are slowly replacing the blue skies, and the sour tang of charcoal smoke hangs in the air. The mood among the internationals here is similarly gloomy. So many conversations end with the scratching [...]
Washington Post:
SEOUL — President Barack Obama will not announce his decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan before the Thanksgiving holiday, senior aides said on Thursday.
The news came as the president greeted 1,500 troops at Osan Air Base in South Korea, just before boarding Air Force One and heading back to Washington after an eight-day [...]
Times Online:
President Hamid Karzai today signalled the beginning of the end of foreign military intervention in his country, when he pledged that Afghan security forces would take the lead in combating the Taleban over the next three to five years.
In a much-anticipated inauguration speech, the Afghan leader told dozens of visiting foreign dignitaries what they [...]
NPR:
The professed mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is expected to arrive in New York for trial by the end of the year. But it won’t be his first trip to America. He has been here before, as a college student in the early 1980s.
Mohammed’s first real taste of America came [...]
KABUL (AP) - Security forces increased patrols on some streets in the Afghan capital and blocked others entirely Wednesday, bracing for possible militant attacks during the inauguration ceremony that will cement President Hamid Karzai’s tumultuous re-election victory.
Karzai will be sworn in Thursday for his second five-year term, with many in the international community hoping he [...]
BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday he is “very close” to a decision on boosting troop levels in Afghanistan and would make an announcement “in the next several weeks.”
In a transcript of the interview seen by Reuters, Obama said he did not want his successor as [...]
British paper, don’t mind the typos.
Times Online:
British forces should buy off potential Taleban recruits with “bags of gold”, according to a new army field manual published yesterday.
Slate Magazine:
When it comes to any issue that involves Islam, President Obama starts with an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is that he’s seen as sympathetic to Muslims. The disadvantage is also that he’s seen as sympathetic to Muslims.
With a Muslim name, African Muslim ancestry on his father’s side, and the experience of growing [...]
The Wall Street Journal:
The president has been taking time thinking about Afghanistan. I cannot see why this is bad. If he’s really thinking, he’s not dithering—thought can be harder than action, weighing plans as hard as choosing and executing one. A question of such consequence deserves pondering. A president ought to summon and hear counsel [...]
Times Online:
Two leaked classified cables from the US Ambassador in Kabul voicing grave concern about sending more American troops to Afghanistan have exposed open conflict inside President Obama’s national security team over his war strategy.
The contents of the cables, passed to The Washington Post and The New York Times yesterday by three officials, also highlighted [...]
Daily Mail:
A sniffer dog that went missing in action after a battle in Afghanistan has been found safe and well after more than a year in the desert.
Sabi the black Labrador was with a joint Australian-Afghan army patrol when it was ambushed by Taliban militants in September 2008.
Nine soldiers were wounded in the ensuing gun [...]
Eikenberry hanging out with Kerry
New York Times:
WASHINGTON — The United States ambassador to Afghanistan, who once served as the top American military commander there, has expressed in writing his reservations about deploying additional troops to the country, three senior American officials said Wednesday.
The position of the ambassador, Karl W. Eikenberry, a retired lieutenant general, [...]
Times Online:
Images scroll across the computer screen: crowds lining the streets of Wootton Bassett, coffins draped with the Union Jack and the faces of British soldiers killed last week in Helmand.
Above them a banner reads “Voice of Jihad” and a ticker tape entitled “Hot News” announces a stream of alleged military successes.
This is the website [...]
