doing what we can

WP: more pressure to shift focus, troops from Iraq to Afghanistan
NYT: reviewing the US and NATO mission in Afghanistan in three reports. but, “It is simply a matter of resources, of capacity,” Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress this week. “In Afghanistan, we do what we can. In Iraq, we do what we must.”

LAT: US to shift forces from periphery to Baghdad
USAT: and Iraqi central gov't moves to support the (mostly) Sunni private security militias

NYT: Ethiopia trying out civilian militias too

WP: refugees and displaced are returning to a segregated Baghdad. "...in many cases the local militias . . . have seized control and threw out anybody in that neighborhood they didn't like."

WP: US has given intel to Turkey, supporting attacks on the PKK. plus, Turkey moves 300 troops inside northern Iraq, and Secretary Rice makes surprise visit to Kirkuk.

NYT: Syria "cracking down" on political activists
BBC: or easing up? (some confusion on the situation, pointed out by Jonah)

WP: how much did those CIA tapes capture anyhow? and, that recurring theme: does torture "work"?

Econ: background and status of negotiations in Colombia

NYT: US abandons allies in Laos decades ago; bands of "rebels" still evading the gov't there.

Slate: apartheid in Saudi Arabia?

Slate: the Supreme Court takes up another case on courts and the war on terror