building nations

middle east (and the US)
NYT: Rand study on post-invasion Iraq planning buried by the Army
"A review of the lengthy report — a draft of which was obtained by The New York Times — shows that it identified problems with nearly every organization that had a role in planning the war."
IHT: new field manual stresses nation building
"The manual states: 'Army doctrine now equally weights tasks dealing with the population - stability or civil support - with those related to offensive and defensive operations. Winning battles and engagements is important but alone is not sufficient. Shaping the civil situation is just as important to success.'"

WP: several bombings kill across northern Iraq yesterday
WP: US finds the diary of an insurgent
"Over 16 pages, the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader detailed the organization's demise in his sector. He once had 600 men, but now his force was down to 20 or fewer, he wrote. They had lost weapons and allies. Abu Tariq focused his anger in particular on the Sunni fighters and tribesmen who have turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq and joined the U.S.-backed Sunni Sahwa, or "Awakening," forces."
IHT: diary with other 39-page memo basis for Army's claim that Al-Qaeda is losing strength
LAT: targeting of Iraqi volunteers on the rise; military suggests it's because Al-Qaeda on defensive

NYT: US seeks death penalty for 6 suspects linked to 9/11
"Even if the detainees are convicted on capital charges, any execution would be many months or, perhaps years, from being carried out, lawyers said, in part because a death sentence would have to be scrutinized by civilian appeals courts.
Federal officials have said in recent months that there is no death chamber at the detention camp at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and that they knew of no specific plans for how a death sentence would be carried out.
The military justice system, which does not govern the Guantánamo cases, provides for execution by lethal injection in death sentence convictions. But the United States military has rarely executed a prisoner in recent times." [the last was in 1961]

WP: 25 die in political party rally in northwest Pakistan
The explosion in the city of Charsadda ripped through a crowd of supporters of the secular Awami National Party moments before the party's provincial president arrived, witnesses said...'The ANP is a liberal party. It's a secular party,' [party official] Afridi said. 'We have condemned extremism and terrorism, so now we are under threat.'"
NYT: Bhutto's widower leads rally in Sindh, her home province
LAT: regional rivalries
WP: composition of militant groups changing, US intelligence suggests
"Compared with previous insurgent groups, the newcomers are well-armed, ideological and difficult to control, with fewer allegiances to local religious and tribal leaders and structures."

Econ: possibilities for reform in Iran look bleak; elections next month

africa
AP: new strikes in Darfur lead to 12,000 displaced to Chad, where an estimated 400,000 refugees are already living, not including those recently displaced by fighting within Chad
Econ: war in Chad. again.
Econ: Déby survives with the support of France
WP: UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan has squandered "tens of millions" in last 3 years

WP: inflation in Zimbabwe: 10 million dollars for an 18-mile bus ride
Econ: the opposition's chances

WP: gov't dissolved in Tanzania over corruption

europe
Reuters: meanwhile, the Greek PM hangs on so far in sex and corruption scandal

Islam, secularism, and integration
Econ: different laws for practicing Muslims in the UK? the Archbishop of Canterbury sets off a debate
NYT: Turkish parliament votes to lift headscarf ban for university students
Econ: Dutch brace for more backlash as legislator to release anti-Islamic film
WP: Sarkozy proposes plan to integrate immigrants, provide more public services in Parisian suburbs
"'We will no longer have young people who are foreigners in their own country,' he declared."

asia
WP: East Timor president wounded in shooting

americas
WP: Chávez threatens to cut off oil sales to the US, in retaliation for recent, successful Exxon-Mobile bids to freeze Venezuelan assets
"While a cut in Venezuelan oil exports would drive up oil prices sharply, oil analysts believe it is unlikely that Chavez would carry out his threat. Venezuela, beleaguered by food shortages, depends heavily on oil exports for about 90 percent of its export earnings and about half of government revenue. The United States is its main market."
Econ: el comandante also launches cabinet-level investigation into Bolivar's death -- apparently he's trying to claim that the Liberator was poisoned, while also alleging that he is the target of assassination attempts and conspiracies.

Wonkette: Georgia and Tennessee in border dispute