The U.S. Military Academy at West Point will serve as the backdrop for President Barack Obama's much-anticipated address to the nation next Tuesday about how many more U.S. troops he's decided to send to Afghanistan and what he wants them to accomplish.
As we just posted, there's considerable reporting and analyses out there about what President Barack Obama will be saying next week when he outlines his plan for sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan and the mission they will be asked to perform.
Other stories making headlines this morning include:
-- Dawn.com (of Pakistan) -- Seven Indicted Over Mumbai Attacks: "A Pakistani court on Wednesday charged seven suspects in connection with the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people one year ago, a defense lawyer said. The men were indicted at an anti-terrorism court in a high security prison in the city of Rawalpindi on the eve of the first anniversary of India's worst militant attacks, which dramatically soured relations with rival Pakistan. All seven pleaded not guilty to the charges."
From a related story by the Associated Press: "Proceedings are taking place behind closed doors at a maximum-security prison not far from the capital, Islamabad. Lawyers for the suspects have said they are unable to disclose any details of the charges against the men, who have appeared in court for pre-indictment hearings in recent months."
-- The Associated Press -- "Toyota To Replace 3.8 Million Gas Pedals": "Toyota Motor Corp. will replace gas pedals on 3.8 million recalled vehicles in the United States to address problems with sudden acceleration or the pedal becoming stuck in the floor mat, The Associated Press has learned."
2007 to 2010 MY (model year) Camry, 2005 to 2010 MY Avalon, 2004 to 2009 MY Prius, 2005 to 2010 MY Tacoma, 2007 to 2010 MY Tundra, 2007 to 2010 MY ES350, 2006 to 2010 MY IS250, and 2006 to 2010 MY IS 350.
-- Morning Edition -- File Error Might Have Stalled FBI Inquiry Into Fort Hood Suspect Hasan.NPR's Daniel Zwerdling reports that "the FBI might have missed important and troubling clues about the behavior of Maj. Nidal Hasan, the alleged Fort Hood shooter, due to a simple oversight -- FBI agents did not ask Hasan's supervisors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for the most relevant information from a filing cabinet":
-- The Associated Press -- Eleven More Bodies Recovered In Philippines Killings: "Philippine authorities, under intense public pressure to make arrests in the country's worst election massacre, said Wednesday they are investigating a member of a powerful clan allied with the government along with four police commanders. Officials recovered 11 more bodies Wednesday -- six in a large pit buried alongside three vehicles and five in a mass grave -- bringing the death toll in Monday's attack on an election caravan to 57, including 18 journalists."
To friendship. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)
-- Morning Edition -- With Summit And State Dinner, Leaders Of U.S. And India Work At Getting Comfortable With Each Other. NPR's Don Gonyea and Andrea Seabrook report on Tuesday's pomp and policy:
Update at 8:10 a.m. ET. And here is video of the two leaders delivering their toasts:
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
Pre-speech analyses and reporting on President Barack Obama's upcoming announcement of how many more troops he'll be sending to Afghanistan and how long he expects U.S. forces will still be there are all over the news media this morning.
Here's a sampling:
-- The Washington Post -- "War Speech To Outline Escalation And Exit": "When he talks to the nation next week about his Afghanistan strategy, President Obama will face the central challenge of explaining why he is escalating an eight-year-old war that is increasingly unpopular with the American public, while he also outlines plans for ending it."
-- The New York Times -- "U.S. Strategy On Afghanistan Will Contain Many Messages": One national security adviser to the president tells the Times that for Obama, the trick will be "signaling resolve to the allies while not signaling open-ended commitment to the American people."
-- The Wall Street Journal -- "Surge Targets Taliban Bastion": "Commanders in Afghanistan say they will devote the majority of the fresh troops expected from the White House to securing the country's troubled south and will especially target this volatile city, the Taliban's main power base."
-- USA TODAY -- Poll Shows Drop In Approval Of Obama On War: "Public approval of President Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan has plummeted, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, amid rising pessimism about the course of the conflict. The nation is divided over what to do next: Nearly half of those surveyed endorse deploying thousands of additional U.S. troops, while four in 10 say it's time to begin withdrawing forces."
Meanwhile, Britain's Defense minister says Obama and his administration are to blame for a drop in support among Britons for the effort in Afghanistan, Larry Miller reports from London:
President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held a joint news conference at the White House today.
Singh is making the first official State visit of a foreign leader since Obama was sworn into office in January. There will be a State Dinner at the White House tonight.
While issues related to U.S.-India relations were likely to come up during the news conference, iPresident Obama was also asked about reports that he's planning to announce next Tuesday his decision on how many more U.S. troops will be sent to Afghanistan.
We used the box below to live-blog during the news conference. Just click the "play" button and our updates should flow in automatically. If you want to submit a comment, there's a box at the bottom of the player for them:
Obama and his advisers met last night. (Pete Souza/White House/AP)
By Mark Memmott
Good morning.
There will be considerable action at the White House today, where reporters will be trying to get more details about the rapidly approaching announcement on how many more U.S. troops will be sent to Afghanistan and where President Barack Obama is welcoming Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the new administration's first State Dinner.
On Morning Edition, NPR's Don Gonyea talked with co-host Renee Montagne about the decision on troops, which is expected to be made public next Tuesday:
McClatchy Newspapers' Washington bureau is reporting the president is likely to announce that 34,000 more U.S. troops will be sent to the effort in Afghanistan.
The current schedule for events at the White House (much of which will be webcast here):
-- 9:15 a.m. ET: Singh arrives for meetings.
-- 11:35 a.m. ET: Singh and Obama hold a joint news conference (we'll live-blog during it; there are almost sure to be questions about the president's decision on troops for Afghanistan).
-- 7 p.m. ET: Guests arrive for the State Dinner.
-- 8:15 p.m. ET: The two leaders offer their toasts.
On Morning Edition, NPR's Michele Kelemen reported about India's role in global affairs, and how it's a nation that the U.S. needs on its side on issues such as climate change, trade and countering terrorism:
Other news to watch for this morning:
-- At 8:30 a.m. ET, the Commerce Department releases its latest estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product growth. Last month, in its first look at third-quarter GDP, Commerce said the economy grew at a 3.5% annual rate -- a rebound after four straight quarters of GDP declines.
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
-- Reuters -- "Philippines Imposes Emergency; Massacre Toll Reaches 46": "The Philippines placed two southern provinces and a city under emergency rule on Tuesday after gunmen killed 46 people in a brutal election-related massacre that has shocked the country. Many of the victims in the killings in Maguindanao province were women from the powerful Mangudadatu clan. About a dozen journalists were also among the dead."
-- The New York Times -- "Iran Expanding Effort To Stifle The Opposition": Iran's government "appears to be starting a far more ambitious effort to discredit its opponents and re-educate Iran's mostly young and restive population. In recent weeks, the government has announced a variety of new ideological offensives. It is implanting 6,000 Basij militia centers in elementary schools across Iran to promote the ideals of the Islamic Revolution, and it has created a new police unit to sweep the Internet for dissident voices."
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
President Barack Obama's Afghanistan decision could be announced the week after Thanksgiving. (Pete Souza / Official White House Photograph)
By Frank James
Updated at 7:05 pm -- NPR's Tom Bowman reports that sources have confirmed for him that the White House's plans to have President Barack Obama announce his Afghanistan decision next Tuesday evening. In the days following, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will appear at congressional hearings to explain and defend the decision.
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President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with his national-security advisers on Afghanistan Monday evening in the White House Situation Room. The long-awaited decision could come as soon as next week, according to what White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters on Monday.
Monday's meeting is the tenth the president has convened since August as he tries to find the least bad option among a bunch of bad choices.
And what makes the decision even more challenging for the president is whatever he decides much of what will happen in Afghanistan will be beyond American control. Adding further pressure is that the stakes are huge as spelled out by Bruce Riedel who earlier this year chaired the president's strategic review on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
I think the President understands that the war in Afghanistan is the single most important foreign policy challenge he faces in his administration. And what he does in Afghanistan will define his first term, at least, and may decide whether he gets a second term. He is now pondering, deciding, whether to send additional forces. He has already doubled the size of the American forces in Afghanistan. If we fail- if we are unable to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan- the ripple effects will be enormous, most importantly, on Pakistan next door. Pakistan is the world's second largest Muslim country, it has the fastest-growing nuclear arsenal in the world today, and it has more terrorists per square kilometer than any other country in the world. But the ripple effects would go broader than that. [They] would go throughout the Islamic world. Failure of the United States and its NATO allies in Afghanistan would be a game changer. It would send the signal that Jihadist Islam has prevailed over a superpower.
-- The Associated Press -- Four U.S. Military Personnel Killed In Afgahnistan: In the past 24 hours four U.S. service members died in Afghanistan, NATO officials said today. The AP writes that:
Three of the Americans died in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, the statement said. Two of them were killed by a bomb attack and the third in a separate firefight. The military said the fourth U.S. service member died in the east Monday in a bomb explosion. The deaths bring the number of Americans killed in Afghanistan in November to 15. October was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in the eight-year war, with 58 dead.
From Kabul, NPR's Tom Bullock filed this report. As he says, 2009 has been the deadliest year so far for U.S. forces in Afghanistan:
-- BBC News -- "Philippines Gunmen Kill 21 In Election Violence": "Twenty-one politicians and journalists abducted in the southern Philippines have been found dead, the army says. The group was seized on the southern island of Mindanao early on Monday. ... The country is to hold national elections in May 2010. Registration for local and national races began earlier this month."
-- The Associated Press -- "Miners' Families Want Answers In China Mine Blast": "Grieving family members demanded answers Monday from mining officials about the underground gas explosion that left at least 104 men dead in northeastern China. The massive blast Saturday in Hegang city in frigid Heilongjiang province erupted at night when some 500 miners were working below ground. Most escaped, but 104 were confirmed dead and an additional four were missing and feared dead, the official Xinhua news agency reported Monday."
-- The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.) -- "Three Mile Island Incident Considered Minor, But Some Question Communication": "A radiation leak inside a reactor building at Three Mile Island posed no risk to public safety, according to TMI officials, but some local officials are upset about a lack of communication in what they agree was a minor incident. At 4 p.m. Saturday, about 150 workers inside the Unit 1 containment building were sent home after a radiation alarm sounded inside the building. TMI spokesman Ralph DeSantis said the employees were safe; the employee most seriously exposed to radiation received roughly the same dosage as an X-ray, he said."
Related NPR Newscast report from Scott Gilbert ofWITF -- Cause Is Unclear; Plant Grabbed Headlines In '79 After Partial Core Meltdown:
-- The Associated Press -- "Democrats At Odds Over Health Bill": "Moderate Senate Democrats threatened Sunday to scuttle health care legislation if their demands aren't met, while more liberal members warned their party leaders not to bend. The dispute among Democrats foretells of a rowdy floor debate next month on legislation that would extend health care coverage to roughly 31 million Americans. Republicans have already made clear that they aren't supporting the bill. Final passage is in jeopardy, even after the chamber's historic 60-39 vote Saturday night to begin debate."
Related story by USA TODAY -- "Health Care Lobby Booms": " Companies and groups hiring lobbying firms on health issues nearly doubled this year as special interests rushed to shape the massive revamp of the nation's health care system now in its final stretch before Congress. About 1,000 organizations have hired lobbyists since January, compared with 505 during the same period in 2008, according to a USA TODAY analysis of congressional records compiled by the nonpartisan CQ MoneyLine."
-- Morning Edition -- "Unexploded Bomb May Shatter N. Ireland Peace". "In Northern Ireland, a 400-pound car bomb failed to detonate over the weekend. It was placed outside police headquarters in Belfast, and that has residents wondering if dissident factions of the IRA are intent on stepping up violence." NPR's Rob Gifford spoke with ME host Renee Montagne:
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
There's been another deadly suicide bombing in Afghanistan.
In the western city of Farah today, an attacker on a motorcycle blew himself up -- killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 20 others.
According to the Associated Press:
Afghan police shouted "Stop! Stop!" at the motorcyclist before he detonated the explosives, provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Faqir Askar said. It was unclear what the bomber was targeting.
From Kabul, NPR's Philip Reeves reports that children were reportedly among those injured and notes that the attack came just a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second term -- and after he invited militants who aren't connected to al-Qaida to work with his government:
"Afghan officials say a suicide bomber targeting an Afghan security forces convoy in the south of the country has killed 10 civilians and wounded another 13," the Associated Press reports.
It happened in Uruzgan province, where Deputy Police Chief Gulad Khan says the attacker was on foot and blew himself up in a busy market, before reaching the convoy.
Reuters reports that "Uruzgan province Police Chief Juma Gul Himat said the bomber's vest exploded after he was fired on by troops while trying to attack a convoy of Afghan security forces."
And also today, the AP reports, "an explosion in violent southern Afghanistan killed two U.S. service members, NATO said. Jilani Farahe, deputy chief of police for Zabul province said
the blast was caused by a suicide car bomber detonating his explosives near the gate of a NATO base. He said no civilians had been hurt."
He's got another term. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
Good morning.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second term today, and at his inauguration in Kabul promised to crack down on corruption. This comes, of course, after an election marred by massive fraud.
As NPR's Philip Reeves reports from Kabul, Karzai has "been under intense pressure from the international community, especially since he was elected in August in a contest marred by widespread fraud. His speech was tailored to address some of those concerns. He heavily emphasized the need for his government -- which has a reputation for rampant graft and ineptitude -- to bring an end to corruption":
Just across the border from Afghanistan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, there's been more deadly violence. Reuters writes that "a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a court building in Peshawar on Thursday, killing 18 people, officials said, in the latest of a series of attacks on the northwestern Pakistan city."
Yesterday, as Frank posted, NPR's Daniel Zwerdling reported on a memo written in 2007 about the lone suspect in the killings of 13 people and wounding of more than 30. The chief of psychiatric residents at Walter Reed, Maj. Scott Moran, detailed a series of problems concerning Army Maj. Nidal Hasan.
The Los Angeles Times says the White House is trying to put a "positive spin" on the president's trip.
Other stories making headlines this morning include:
-- ABC News -- Which Hospitals Are Ignoring New Mammogram Recommendations? There's A List: "Medical leaders across the country announced they will not heed the recommendations to stop routine mammograms for low-risk women in their 40s." ABC compiled a list of such centers that told the network about their decisions.
-- Politico -- "Obama Rewards Big Donors With Plum Jobs Overseas": "Of the nearly 80 ambassadorship nominations or confirmations since Obama's Inauguration, 56% were given to political appointees and 44% have gone to career diplomats, according to records kept by the American Foreign Service Association. ... White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said it is unfair to judge the Obama administration by its first wave of ambassadorial nominations. ... 'We're well-aware of the historical target of career vs. noncareer ambassadors, and we will be right on that target,' said Vietor. That historic benchmark is roughly 30% political appointees to 70% career diplomats."
-- The Wall Street Journal -- "Some Courts Raise Bar On Reading Employee E-mail": "Recent cases have shown that employees sometimes have more privacy rights than they might expect when it comes to the corporate email server. Legal experts say that courts in some instances are showing more consideration for employees who feel their employer has violated their privacy electronically."
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown last night "raised the prospect of agreeing (to) a timetable for international withdrawal from Afghanistan, in a speech in which he claimed that almost half of al-Qaida's leadership had now been killed," The Guardian writes.
According to the Guardian, Brown:
Said the damage already inflicted on al-Qaida gave international forces the chance to set a timetable for pulling out.
Meanwhile, the BBC reports that British Foreign Secretary David Miliband says Britain has not committed to a "war without end" in Afghanistan.
According to Reuters, "nearly 68,000 U.S. and 40,000 allied troops are at present
deployed in Afghanistan." President Barack Obama is currently debating how many more U.S. forces should be sent to the Central Asian nation.
As we reported just a short time ago, there's word this morning that General Motors plans to repay the $6.7 billion in government loans it's gotten by 2011 -- four years early.
Among the other stories making headlines:
-- Morning Edition -- "Obama Pushes China Not To Censor Information". NPR's Scott Horsley reports from Beijing:
The president held a town hall meeting with future Chinese leaders in Shanghai. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
-- The Washington Post -- "Cleric Says He Was Confidant To Hasan": " In his first interview with a journalist since the Fort Hood rampage, Yemeni American cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi said that he neither ordered nor pressured Maj. Nidal M. Hasan to harm Americans, but that he considered himself a confidant of the Army psychiatrist who was given a glimpse via e-mail into Nadal's growing discomfort with the U.S. military."
-- The Associated Press -- Afghan Officials Announce Anti-Corruption Effort: "Afghan officials launched a new anti-corruption unit and major crime fighting force Monday amid stiff international pressure to clean up the government following a fraud-tainted presidential election. ... Law enforcement agencies from Britain and the United States, along with Interpol, helped set up the unit, Interior Minister Hanif Atmar said. The British and U.S. ambassadors to Afghanistan attended the launch in a show of support."
Related story from the Associated Press -- "Clinton: U.S. Wants More Accountability From Kabul": "The United States is limiting its goals in Afghanistan and demanding better accountability from that country's underperforming leader, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday, and she tied additional U.S. civilian help to results from Kabul."
Related story on Morning Edition -- "Afghans Grow Frustrated Waiting For Obama's Plan. NPR's Philip Reeves reports from Kabul:
-- Chicago Tribune -- Officials Will Tour Prison That Might House 'Gitmo' Detainees: "A delegation from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons is scheduled to tour and inspect the Thomson Correctional Center Monday as part of a White House proposal to buy the facility and use it to house some terror suspects now detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, officials said Sunday morning. Speaking Sunday at news conferences in Moline and Chicago, Gov. Pat Quinn called the Obama Administration's interest in the prison near the Mississippi River a 'great, great opportunity for our state.' "
-- The New York Times -- "Drug Makers Raise Prices In Face Of Health Care Reform": "Even as drug makers promise to support Washington's health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation's drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years. ... Drug makers say they have valid business reasons for the price increases. Critics say the industry is trying to establish a higher price base before Congress passes legislation that tries to curb drug spending in coming years."
-- The Associated Press -- "U.N. Summit Approves New Approach To Hunger Fight": In Rome, "world leaders at a food summit on Monday rallied around a new strategy to fight global hunger and help poor countries feed themselves, but failed to pledge funds sought by the U.N. ... The summit did not commit to a specific figure of $44 billion a year for agricultural aid that the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says will be necessary in the coming decades."
-- Florida Today -- Shuttle Atlantis On Schedule For Afternoon Launch: "Shuttle Atlantis is being fueled for flight at Kennedy Space Center this morning as NASA gears up for a planned launch this afternoon of Atlantis and six astronauts on an International Space Station outfitting mission. The 18-story spaceship and its crew are slated to blast off from Launch Complex 39A at 2:28 p.m. ET, the middle of a 10-minute opportunity to put the shuttle on course for a ground-up rendezvous and docking at the station just before noon Wednesday."
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
-- The Associated Press -- "Attacks Kill 16 In Pakistan, Spy Agency Targeted": "A suicide bomber in a pickup truck attacked the northwestern regional headquarters of the Pakistani spy agency overseeing a campaign against militancy, killing 10 people Friday. Another suicide assault in the area killed six more. ... About an hour later, a second suicide car bomber attacked a police station farther south near the Afghan border, killing six people, said police official Tahir Shah."
-- BBC News -- British Prime Minister Thinks NATO Will Send More Troops To Afghanistan: "Gordon Brown has said he is hopeful he will be able to persuade countries both in and outside NATO to send more military personnel to Afghanistan. The prime minister said he had 'taken responsibility' for making the case for reinforcing the Afghan effort and believed 'burden sharing will happen.' He told the BBC that U.K. strategy was 'in line' with that of the U.S., which is considering how many troops to send."
Related report from the Associated Press: "A suicide car bomber attempting to strike an international military convoy on the outskirts of Kabul wounded at least 19 people Friday, including nine NATO service members, on a road that has become a frequent target."
-- Morning Edition -- Obama Begins 10-Day Swing Through Asia. From Tokyo, NPR's Scott Horsley talks with Renee Montagne about what's on the president's agenda. The central focus of the trip is China, Scott says:
-- Politico -- Obama Will Use 'State Of The Union' Address To Focus On Deficits: "President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year's State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 -- and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved in the planning."
-- Morning Edition -- U.S. Seeks Complete Forfeiture of NY Skyscraper And Four Mosques Tied To Iran. NPR's Mike Shuster reports:
Those who are critical of the time he's taking to decide how many, if any, additional troops to send to Afghanistan aren't directly involved in what's happening in Afghanistan and may not recognize "the gravity of the situation" and "the importance of us getting this right," President Barack Obama just told reporters in Tokyo:
Obama also said he wants to make certain that when he sends young Americans to war, and spends billions of taxpayers' dollars to do that, "It's making us safer":
NPR's coverage of events in Afghanistan begins here.
More troops will likely be there soon. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
"The entire U.S. military" has lined up behind Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request to add approximately 40,000 troops to the international force in Afghanistan, an Obama administration source who is very familiar with policy discussions now underway tells NPR.
"It's historic unity" on the part of the military chiefs, the source adds.
Bruce Auster, NPR's national security editor, tells us that the source says Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen are on board with the idea that McChrystal, who commands U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, should get the 40,000 or so additional troops he believes are the minimum number necessary to mount an effective counterinsurgency operation.
There are different ways to do that. One option would be 40,000 more American troops. Another would be to send about 35,000 from the U.S. and another 5,000 or so from NATO partners.
-- "The low option": Adding 10,000 troops, all of them to train Afghan forces.
-- "The hybrid": 15,000 to 20,000 additional troops who would focus on counterterrorism.
-- The mix of 35,000 Americans and about 5,000 from NATO forces.
-- An increase of 40,000; all of them Americans.
And when might a decision be announced? The source says that after the president returns from his 10-day trip to Asia (which begins Thursday), one possible date is Nov. 23, the Monday before Thanksgiving.
NPR's Mary Louise Kelly is scheduled to be on All Things Considered later today with more on this story. Click here to find an NPR station near you.
An extraordinary story in Great Britain -- of a grieving mother who read the prime minister the riot act when he called to apologize for misspelling her family's name and other mistakes in a condolence letter about the death of her son in Afghanistan -- has moved to a new stage this morning.
"I Accept Humbled PM's Apology" is the headline this morning at the website of Britain's The Sun, which has been aggressively pursuing the story.
"Let's let's move on to what's really important -- whether we do enough to protect our soldiers when we send them to war," says Jacqui Janes, who lost her son Jamie and is making the case that if the British Army had more helicopters in Afghanistan he might have been saved.
As NPR's Rob Gifford reported on Morning Edition, the story of Janes' outrage over the condolence letter she got is just one symbol of a "growing disenchantment" in Britain over the Afghan War. We'll embed Rob's full report below -- but here's a key part of it that's worth listening to alone. It's Janes' recording of her telephone conversation with the prime minister, during which she lets him have it with all the fury of a mother who's just lost a child (you'll also hear Rob's voice in the middle, as he narrates):
The latest stories about the investigation into last Thursday's shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas, which left 12 soldiers and one civilian dead, include:
-- ABC News -- Senior Official Says Investigators Are Looking At More Connections Between Suspect And Radicals: "A senior government official tells ABC News that investigators have found that alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan had 'more unexplained connections to people being tracked by the FBI' than just radical cleric Anwar al Awlaki. The official declined to name the individuals but Congressional sources said their names and countries of origin were likely to emerge soon."
-- Los Angeles Times -- "Military Not Told About Fort Hood Supsect's E-Mails": "Two high-profile anti-terrorism task forces did not inform the Defense Department about contacts between a radical Islamic cleric and the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in last week's rampage at Ft. Hood, a senior Defense official said Tuesday."
Other news making headlines this morning includes:
-- The Wall Street Journal -- "Obama Receives New Afghan Option": " President Barack Obama on Wednesday will consider a new compromise plan for adding troops to Afghanistan that would deploy 30,000 to 35,000 new forces, including as many as 10,000 military trainers, over the next year or more."
-- The New York Times -- "Three Top Obama Advisers Favor Adding Troops In Afghanistan": "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton are coalescing around a proposal to send 30,000 or more additional American troops to Afghanistan, but President Obama remains unsatisfied with answers he has gotten about how vigorously the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan would help execute a new strategy, administration officials said Tuesday."
-- The Washington Post -- "In Afghanistan, Taliban Surpasses Al-Qaida": "As violence rises in Afghanistan, the power balance between insurgent groups has shifted, with a weakened al-Qaida relying increasingly on the emboldened Taliban for protection and the manpower to carry out deadly attacks, according to U.S. military and intelligence officials."
-- The New York Times -- "Blackwater Said To Pursue Bribes To Iraq After 17 Died": " Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials. ... Stacy DeLuke, a spokeswoman for the company, now called Xe Services, dismissed the allegations as 'baseless' and said the company would not comment about former employees."
-- Richmond Times-Dispatch -- At End, D.C. Sniper Said Nothing: John Allen Muhammad, "the man who played God with sniper fire seven years ago, ending 10 lives in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, was quietly executed by injection last night. ... Given the chance to make a last statement, Muhammad stared stoically at the ceiling and did not move a muscle."
-- Morning Edition -- Budget Director Orszag Makes Case That Deficit Spending Now Is Helpful, But 'Walk Down' Is Needed In Next Few Years. NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with federal budget director Peter Orszag about the "extraordinarily challenging" problem of running up huge deficits now -- which, he argues, is necessary -- and then reversing course once the economy is healthy again. This all "keeps me up at night" worrying, Orszag admits:
All Things Considered recently had an hour-long examination of Afghanistan and the U.S. role there and invited readers to send in questions for experts to answer.
Listeners did and some of their questions are answered by Thomas Hammes a senior military fellow at the National Defense University's Institute for National Strategic Studies; Max Boot, a senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Austin Long, an assistant professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University.
Richard Langer of Minneapolis, for instance, asks the experts if it's true that U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine would call for about 660,000 troops based on Afghanistan's 30 million population. The experts essentially say "Yes, but..." It's good reading.
Last Thursday in Jelewar, Afghanistan, near Kandahar, two U.S. Army soldiers lost their lives.
Spc. Gary Gooch Jr., 22, of Ocala, Fla., and Spc. Aaron Aamot, 22, of Custer, Wash., died after their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device.
Seven of their colleagues from Fort Lewis, Wash., will be remembered today at the post. They died in an Oct. 27 IED attack on their vehicle. Vice President Joe Biden is due at the memorial service.
Specialists Gooch and Aamot will be remembered at the post next week. (Note at 12:45 p.m. ET: Earlier, we mistakenly said specialists Gooch and Aamot would be honored today.)
Graham Smith, a producer on All Things Considered, was with the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, when Gooch and Aamot were killed and saw the aftermath.
Here is some of Graham's description of the incident:
Shortly after CBS News' David Martin reported last night that President Barack Obama "intends to give Gen. Stanley McChrystal most, if not all, the additional troops he is asking for" in Afghanistan -- about 40,000 more personnel -- the White House issued this statement from National Security adviser James Jones:
"Reports that President Obama has made a decision about Afghanistan are absolutely false. He has not received final options for his consideration, he has not reviewed those options with his national security team, and he has not made any decisions about resources. Any reports to the contrary are completely untrue and come from uninformed sources."
Regarding the CBS report, CNN says that "two senior administration officials suggested the information is being leaked by Pentagon sources who are trying to box Obama in by setting public expectations that he will send close to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan as McChrystal requested."
A news conference is expected to begin at the post around 7:30 a.m. ET. Check back with us for news from that.
Here are a few other stories to note:
-- The Associated Press -- Jobless Rate Likely Rose Again In October: The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its October employment report at 8:30 a.m. ET. In advance, the AP writes that:
The nation's economy probably lost a net total of 175,000 jobs in October, pushing the unemployment rate to 9.9%, according to a survey of Wall Street economists by Thomson Reuters.
-- Morning Edition -- "Karzai Must Kick Out 'Cronies' To Succeed, Sen. Kerry Says". Afghan President Hamid Karzai "needs to seize this opportunity in a very clear and tangible way" to institute reforms and improve Afghanistan's government, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., told host Renee Montagne:
Related story by BBC News -- "Brown Warns Karzai On Corruption": British Prime Minister Gordon Brown "has told Afghan President Hamid Karzai he will not put UK troops 'in harm's way for a government that does not stand up against corruption.' "
-- The Associated Press -- "Texas Sect Member Guilty Of Sexual Assault Of Minor": "After being duped by false leads and chastised by a court for its handling of polygamist sect children, the state of Texas has won a criminal conviction in its first trial of a sect member charged with sexually assaulted an underage girl. Raymond Jessop, 38, was convicted late Thursday for having sex with the teen with whom he had a so-called spiritual marriage. He faces up to 20 years in prison when the jury reconvenes Monday to begin deciding his sentence."
The United Nations' decision to move 600 of its international staff either out of Afghanistan altogether or to safer locations within that country is a "wise and short-term effort to shore-up the security situation while continuing vital operations and affirming and sustaining the U.N. and the international commitment to Afghanistan," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice told All Things Considered's Michele Norris a short time ago:
Their conversation, as we reported earlier, is part of a hour-long special report on today's ATC about the situation in Afghanistan and the issues that face President Barack Obama as he considers whether to send more U.S. troops there.
Click here to find an NPR station that broadcasts ATC.
As President Barack Obama considers whether or not to send more troops to Afghanistan, and how many to send if he does conclude more are needed, many people across the nation are wondering whether it's still in America's interest to be there eight years after U.S. forces toppled the Taliban.
Today, All Things Considered is devoting its first hour to several critical questions:
-- What is the U.S. doing in Afghanistan now?
-- How much, in lives and money, is the war there costing?
-- Who is the enemy?
-- And, perhaps most importantly, what does success look like?
A related issue of late has been whether the president is taking too much time to make his decision and whether the open debate in the U.S. about what to do is damaging America's efforts in Afghanistan. Former vice president Dick Cheney is among many on the right who have accused Obama of "dithering."
In the conversations she's had with newsmakers for today's report, ATC co-host Michele Norris got very different opinions on that topic from former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann and current U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.
Neumann said "an unavoidable price of our debate is this signal of weakness which it sends to Afghans and to Pakistanis." The debate, and any decision by Obama to send substantially fewer troops than recommended by top commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal, would likely be be seen by many Afghans and Pakistanis as a sign that "the U.S. is on the verge of pulling out," Neumann said. And that, in turn, would make it much more difficult to recruit people in those countries to help in making Afghanistan and Pakistan safer places:
Rice said Neumann is making a "false assumption."
It would be "weak and dangerous indeed" to rush into a decision about what to do next in Afghanistan, Rice said. A more deliberate approach, "projects wisdom and a strength rather than weakness":
Here's a quick question we'll leave open for 24 hours:
And what does success in Afghanistan look like to Rice and Neumann? On that, there's more agreement.
Rice said it's an Afghanistan that is not a safe haven for terrorists, and that has a government that can provide for its own security and a "basic measure of well-being to its people."
Neumann said success "is an Afghan government that can last and stand on its own and fight."
Click here to find an NPR station that broadcasts ATC.
On the morning after the morning after the analysis continues about what, if anything, Tuesday's elections say about the mood of the country, the president's popularity and what will happen on Election Day in 2010.
Politico says the results have congressional Democrats "focused like never before on jobs -- their own."
The Boston Globestrikes a similar theme: " Democratic moderates who will determine the fate of much of President Obama's domestic agenda heard an early warning from this week's off-year elections: Congress had better do something about the economy, or sitting lawmakers will lose their jobs in 2010."
The Wall Street Journal says the votes have "left Democrats scrambling to renew the coalition that elected President Barack Obama after independent voters, whose power to determine U.S. elections is rising with their numbers, broke heavily toward Republicans."
And USA TODAY is looking well down the road. It's top political story is headlined "Huckabee Leads Republican Prospects In Poll." Those prospects would be the Republican Party's 2012 presidential hopefuls.
Also on Morning Edition Andrew Exum of the Center for a New American Security told host Renee Montagne that Obama should use the possibility of sending more troops to Afghanistan as leverage to push President Hamid Karzai to clean up government corruption:
Later today, All Things Considered is planning to spend an hour on Afghanistan and the issues Obama is considering as he debates whether to send more U.S. troops there. Click here to find an NPR station near you.
Other news:
-- The Associated Press -- AARP To Endorse House Health Care Plan: "The House is steaming toward a historic vote on President Barack Obama's remake of the U.S. health care system, with Democratic leaders increasingly confident and the powerful seniors' lobby AARP about to get on board. A debate and vote are expected Saturday on the 10-year, $1.2 trillion bill that would extend coverage to 96 percent of Americans, require employers to insure their employees and bar such insurance company practices as dropping coverage for sick people."
-- The Guardian's Greenslade blog -- Reporter For French News Service Detained In Iran: "An Iranian journalist working for the international news agency Agence France Presse has been detained by Iran's security forces. Farhad Pouladi was taken into custody while on his way to cover a state-sanctioned rally to mark the 30th anniversary of the US embassy takeover. AFP's acting bureau chief in Tehran, Jay Deshmukh, says the reporter's whereabouts are unknown."
As NPR's Mike Pesca said on Morning Edition, the Yankees got some clutch performances from some big stars and proved they are "once again the toughest out in baseball":
Some U.N. staffers left immediately after last week's attack. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
Increasing violence in Afghanistan, and in particular the attack last month on a guest house in Kabul that left five of its staff dead, has convinced the United Nations to relocate about half of its foreign staff in the country. Many will be leaving Afghanistan at least temporarily.
The U.N. said its decision is " in light of the 28 October attack against U.N. staff in Kabul as well as further ongoing threats. ... It is expected that they will involve short-term relocations for some staff while additional security is being put in place."
The Associated Press says about 600 "nonessential staffers" will be moved. It isn't known how many will leave the country.
The head of the U.N.'s mission in Afghanistan vowed that this does not mean it is ending or scaling back its work there.
"We are not talking about pulling out and we are not talking about evacuation," Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide said. "We are simply doing what we have to do following the tragic event of last week to look after our workers in a difficult moment while ensuring that our operation in Afghanistan can continue."
On the one hand, for instance, a trip outside the center of the city could provide wonderful, first-hand research into the way people live. But there's the downside, they write: "We might be captured, beheaded, or worse."
They are, the men add, "the only two Westerners living permanently in Kandahar without blast walls and intrusive security restrictions to protect us." And that leads to "a mix of isolation, boredom, disarmingly potent realizations, and outright depression in the face of what is happening" as violence increases.
All Things Considered co-host Michele Norris has talked with Alex Strick van Linschoten. Their conversation is set for today's broadcast. At one point, the researcher talks about how people in Kandahar -- including government officials -- routinely deal with members of the Taliban:
That willingness to deal with the fundamentalists, he adds, stems from the attitude among many in Kandahar that after soldiers from the U.S. and its allies leave the Taliban will still be there. So conversations, even with those who may want to kill you, continue:
Click here to find an NPR station that broadcasts ATC.
The morning-after punditry is in full-swing now that the smattering of elections across the nation are over. As we wrote, Republicans had a good day -- winning the governors' mansions in New Jersey and Virginia. But Democrats managed to take advantage of a split with the GOP to take a New York congressional seat that had been in Republican hands since before the Civil War.
NPR's Political Junkie blog will have much more about the election results as the day continues.
Among the other stories making headlines:
-- The Guardian -- "British Soldiers Killed In Attack By Afghan Policeman": "Five British soldiers have been killed and several others injured in a gun attack by a 'rogue' Afghan policeman in Helmand province, the Ministry of Defense said today. The soldiers -- three from the Grenadier Guards and two from the Royal Military police -- were killed by gunshot wounds suffered in the attack, which happened in the Nad-e'Ali district yesterday."
NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports from Kabul: The Afghan police officer ran from the scene, and "the feeling is that he's crossed over and joined the Taliban."
-- BBC News -- "Iran Police Clash With Protesters": "Police have clashed with opposition supporters in the Iranian capital, Tehran, witnesses and state media say. Police used tear gas and batons, said witnesses. Unconfirmed reports said the authorities had also opened fire."
Related conversation on Morning Edition -- Protests Were Widespread Despite Government's Warning: Borzou Daragahi of the Los Angeles Times talks with host Steve Inskeep about this 30th anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, and the remarkably different (anti-government) kind of protests that occurred today:
-- Morning Edition -- Secretary Clinton Says Her Comments About Israeli Settlements Did Not Create A "Long-Term Problem". The secretary of State spoke with NPR's Jackie Northam:
-- CNN International -- "Israel Detains Ship Loaded With Weapons": "The Israeli Navy detained a ship loaded with weapons that was traveling about 100 miles west of the country's coast and headed to Syria, Israeli officials said Wednesday. The ship was detained on Tuesday and was escorted to an Israeli port to be searched, an Israel Defense Forces statement said."
-- The Wall Street Journal -- "Fears Of A New Bubble As Cash Pours In": "Concerns are mounting that efforts by governments and central banks to stoke a recovery will create a nasty side effect: asset bubbles in real-estate, stock and currency markets, especially in Asia."
Related news to watch for today: Federal Reserve policymakers end two-days of meetings. They're expected to say this afternoon that they aren't going to adjust short-term interest rates, which it how is holding between zero and 0.25%.
-- The Times of London -- "German Government Blasts 'Unacceptable' GM U-Turn": "Germany's Economic Minister today branded a decision by America's General Motors to scrap the sale of its European business as 'totally unacceptable.' ... British unions were delighted with the decision, which was announced late yesterday after a GM board meeting in Detroit."
Related story by The Detroit News -- "GM Calls Off Sale, Keeps Opel": "General Motors Co.'s board of directors Tuesday voted to keep its German carmaker, Adam Opel GmbH, instead of selling it to Canada's Magna International Inc. and its Russian partner, Sberbank. The board based its decision, in part, on an improved business environment in Europe and GM's overall financial health and stability since emerging from bankruptcy court after receiving about $50 billion in federal aid."
One of the nation's largest cities, as we just reported, is having some mixed emotions today.
The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the New York Yankees 8-6 last night to extend the World Series to a game six on Wednesday. The Yankees lead three-games-to-two in the best-of-seven championship.
There's much more than that going on today, of course.
NPR's Dave Mattingly and Isaac-Davy Aronson of NPR member station WNYC report on the voting today in Virginia, New Jersey, New York and elsewhere:
The contests are being closely watched to see what, if anything, they may reveal about voters' attitudes toward President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats.
Looking ahead to next year, by the way, Politico says that "in what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010." They're looking at today's special election in New York's 23rd Congressional district, where Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman pressured the GOP nominee to drop out, as something of a template for 2010.
We'll be combining forces with Ken Rudin of the Political Junkie tonight to "live-blog" election results. So check both The Two-Way and Political Junkie for updates.
Other stories making headlines include:
-- BBC News -- "Karzai Vows To Battle Corruption": "Afghan President Hamid Karzai has vowed to remove the 'stigma' of corruption, a day after winning a new five-year term.
In his first remarks since being declared winner on Monday of August's fraud-marred poll, he also pledged to lead an inclusive government."
Related conversation on Morning Edition "Karzai's Team Needs To Establish Strong Government." Former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad tells host Renee Montagne that he has no doubt Karzai will try to reach out to his critics, but that putting together an effective government will be difficult:
Related story by NPR.org -- "Karzai 'Victory' Puts Spotlight On U.S. Troop Decision": "Afghan President Hamid Karzai's victory by default in the contested election may resolve the country's immediate political crisis, but it could complicate the outcome of the Obama administration's much-anticipated decision on sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan."
-- The New York Times -- "Gore's Dual Role In Spotlight: Advocate And Investor": "Critics, mostly on the political right and among global warming skeptics, say (former vice president Al) Gore is poised to become the world's first 'carbon billionaire,' profiteering from government policies he supports that would direct billions of dollars to the business ventures he has invested in. ... Mr. Gore says that he is simply putting his money where his mouth is. 'Do you think there is something wrong with being active in business in this country?' Mr. Gore said. 'I am proud of it. I am proud of it.' "
President Barack Obama congratulated Afghan President Hamid Karzai on his re-election after a runoff election was cancelled when Karzai's challenger dropped out of the race. (Pete Souza / Official White House photo)
By Frank James
President Barack Obama told journalists who were ushered into the Oval Office for a photo op that he spoke with Afghan President Hamid Karzai by phone Monday and congratulated him on his re-election to another five year term.
Obama said, in part:
I should use this moment to say that, about an hour ago, I spoke with President Karzai and I congratulated him on his election for a second term as president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. You know, although the process was messy, I'm pleased to say that the final outcome was determined in accordance with Afghan law, which I think is very important not only for the international community that has so much invested in Afghan success, but, most importantly, is important for the Afghan people that the results were in accordance
with and followed the rules as laid down by the Afghan constitution.
I did emphasize to President Karzai that the American people and the international community as a whole want to continue to partner with him and his government in achieving prosperity and security in Afghanistan. But I emphasized that this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter based on improved governance, a much more serious effort to eradicate corruption, joint efforts to accelerate the training of Afghan security forces, so that the Afghan people can provide for their own security.
Afghanistan, and today's declaration that President Hamid Karzai has been re-elected despite the massive fraud during the August election, was topic No. 1 at today's White House briefing.
Spokesman Robert Gibbs said that Karzai is "obviously ... the legitimate leader of the country" now that he has been "declared the winner of the Afghan election." The U.S. will continue to discuss with Karzai and his ministers, Gibbs added, "governance, civil society and corruption ... to ensure that we have a credible partner in our efforts to help secure the country":
As for whether this means President Barack Obama can now come to a decision about how many, if any, additional U.S. troops to send to Afghanistan, Gibbs said that "the decision is still -- will be made in the coming weeks":
As we just reported, President Hamid Karzai has been declared the winner in Afghanistan's presidential election -- without having to go through the runoff that had been scheduled for this coming Saturday.
His challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out of the runoff yesterday. Abdullah said he did not think the process would be transparent enough. Already, the results of the country's August election had been set aside because of widespread corruption.
This morning's news comes as President Barack Obama continues to review U.S. policy in Afghanistan and considers whether or not to send tens of thousands of more American troops there. Earlier, the Los Angeles Times reported that:
U.S. and other Western officials, who leaned heavily on Karzai to accept a runoff after the tainted election in August, are now pressing him and electoral officials to find a legally acceptable way to cancel the poll and declare Karzai the winner. Neither the U.S. nor the United Nations is prepared to risk more lives for an election with only one candidate, said a Western official familiar with the talks.
There will surely be lots of reaction and analysis about the news from Afghanistan as the day goes on. We'll pass them along as the story develops.
Meanwhile, other stories making headlines include:
The aftermath in Rawalpindi. (Aamir Qureshi/Getty Images)
-- The Associated Press -- "Bomb Outside Bank Kills 30 Near Pakistani Capital": "A suicide bomber killed 30 people outside a bank near Pakistan's capital Monday, as the U.N. said spreading violence had forced it to pull out some expatriate staff and suspend long-term development work in areas along the Afghan border. Islamist insurgents have carried out numerous attacks in Pakistan in recent weeks, killing some 250 people in retaliation for an army offensive in the Pakistani Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan, also along the frontier shared with neighboring Afghanistan."
Related report from NPR's Julie McCarthy in Islamabad: Today's attack in Rawalpindi appeared to target both military personnel and civlians. Both groups were in line at the bank at the time of the explosion.
Update at 9:30 a.m. ET: Both Reuters and the Associated Press are now reporting that the death toll from the bombing stands at 35. We've also updated this post's headline, which earlier put the death toll at 30.
-- The Wall Street Journal -- "CIT Files Its Bankruptcy Plan": "CIT Group Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday, in a final attempt to restructure and keep the doors open at the century-old commercial lender."
Related report on Morning Edition: " The government lent CIT more than $2 billion a year ago. Taxpayers will probably lose that money as a result of the bankruptcy."
-- Boston Globe -- "Billions In Aid To Banks Not Reaching Many Seeking Loans": "Many small businesses are having a difficult time getting SBA loans from lenders that took government handouts. In addition to frustrating owners who say they need the money to survive, the banks' reluctance to lend undermines a goal of the federal stimulus program: Ease the credit crunch so companies can grow and hire again."
-- San Francisco Chronicle -- "Bay Bridge Stays Closed": "Pushing traffic turmoil into a second week, Caltrans said late Sunday that the workhorse Bay Bridge will probably remain closed through the morning commute after a fix meant to shore up a cracked beam failed a critical stress test. When the region's busiest span will reopen remains unknown. Caltrans officials refused to speculate."
-- Morning Edition -- Yankees Are One Win Away From 27th World Series Title: As NPR's Mike Pesca reports, a key at-bat by Johnny Damon led to the Bronx Bombers' 7-4 win last night in Philadelphia:
The Yankees lead the series three games to one. Game five is tonight, in Philadelphia, at 7:57 p.m. ET.
News alert from the Associated Press, with confirmation from NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson in Kabul:
"Afghan election commission chairman declares President Hamid Karzai election victor."
AP adds that:
Independent Election Commission chairman Azizullah Lodin announced Karzai as the victor during a news conference in Kabul on Monday.
Reuters says: "Afghanistan's election commission declares Karzai as elected president."
Yesterday, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah dropped out of the runoff election that had been set for this coming Saturday, saying he did not think a transparent election was going to be held.
In August, Karzai won the most votes -- but his total fell below 50% when more than a million were tossed out because of widespread evidence of fraud. That led to the eventual scheduling of the runoff, with Abdullah (who came in second in the August vote) as the challenger.
Then, earlier today, Saturday's runoff was scrubbed since there was no challenger to Karzai.
The Los Angeles Times reported this morning that "U.S. and other Western officials, who leaned heavily on Karzai to accept a runoff after the tainted election in August, (were) pressing him and electoral officials to find a legally acceptable way to cancel the poll and declare Karzai the winner. Neither the U.S. nor the United Nations is prepared to risk more lives for an election with only one candidate, said a Western official familiar with the talks."
Update at 2:45 p.m. ET. At the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs says Karzai is "obviously" the legitimate leader of Afghanistan:
Update at 8:25 a.m. ET: Soraya reports that Karzai must "deliver more on services to his people, and security for his people" if he's going to be seen by most Afghans as legitimate:
Update at 7:10 a.m. ET: On Morning Edition, Soraya reported about Abdullah's decision to drop out of the election -- and Abdullah told NPR's Renee Montagne that it was a "painful" choice. He also vowed to continue calling for reform and the end of corruption in his country:
Challenger Abdullah Abdullah has announced he's withdrawing from next Saturday's runoff presidential election in Afghanistan -- a move that, as the Associated Press writes, raises "doubts about the credibility of the government at a time when the U.S. is anxious for an effective partner in the war against the Taliban."
Abdullah, who was foreign minister in the earlier years following the 2001 toppling of the Taliban, told his supporters today that he was dropping out because President Hamid Karzai refused to fire the top elections official who oversaw the August presidential voting that was marred by massive fraud.
According to the AP, Abdullah "stopped short of calling for an electoral boycott and urged his followers 'not to go to the streets, not to demonstrate.' "
Karzai got the most votes in that August election -- and benefited most from those that were fraudulently cast. But the president did not reach the 50% necessary to avoid a runoff.
From Kabul, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson says that Abdullah gave an emotional speech today, and that he said because the election process is not transparent enough he could not in good conscience continue.
In advance of Abdullah's announcement, The Washington Post wrote that his withdrawal "could make it more difficult for Obama to send additional U.S. combat troops to Afghanistan if the next government is not accepted by the Afghan electorate as a result."
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that Abdullah's withdrawal does not affect the special election's legitimacy, however, because Karzai gave it credibility when he agreed to take part.
President Barack Obama meets on Afghanistan with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the White House Situation Room on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. (Pete Souza / White House Photo)
By Frank James
CNN is reporting that negotiations for the Afghan runoff presidential election have broken down, with challenger Abdullah Abdullah abandoning the talks and threatening to boycott the election. The news network cites a Western official as its source.
Abdullah came in second in the August election to Afghan President Hamid Karzai in balloting widely considered rife with fraud. A U.N. investigation confirmed the presence of widespread fraud.
After resisting the idea of runoff for months, Karzai finally relented and a runoff was scheduled for Nov. 7. Now Abdullah has walked away from the negotiating table.
The CNN report came as President Barack Obama continued deliberations with his key national security strategists and generals over the next steps in Afghanistan.
Saying that "we just keep going into more valleys and finding more enemies because we're going into their valleys," former U.S. foreign service officer Matthew Hoh just spoke with NPR about the decision he made to leave the State Department because he disagrees with U.S. policy in Afghanistan.
In an interview, much of which will be broadcast later today on All Things Considered, Hoh told host Melissa Block that he's convinced the U.S. is losing "soldiers and Marines in combat to people who are fighting us, really only because we're occupying them":
Hoh believes most Afghans just want to be left alone in their villages and valleys. "They're concerned with the events in their local area, in their village and valley and that's what they fight for":
American policy has been misdirected, Hoh thinks, because "we only talk to Afghans who come into our headquarters and talk to us. We don't get out and talk to the people who live in the villages and valleys. And you realize that they want is to be left alone":
The U.S. had to go after the Taliban and al-Qaida after the 9/11 attacks, Hoh believes, but now is in danger of making al-Qaida stronger, not weaker:
And, he does not think leaving Afghanistan would turn that country into a "safe haven" for al-Qaida again. He maintains that al-Qaida no longer needs that country. Al-Qaida, he maintains, is an "ideological cloud" that spreads via the Web:
Your opinion?
Click here to find an NPR station that broadcasts ATC.
It is "hard to believe" that no one in Pakistan's government knows where al-Qaida's leaders are hiding, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said today in Lahore, Pakistan.
Her remarks are being reported by NPR's Jackie Northam, Reuters, the Associated Press and other correspondents who are with the former first lady on her trip through central Asia and the Middle East.
According to the AP, Clinton's comments came during an interview with Pakistani journalists. The wire service adds that:
Clinton said al-Qaida has used Pakistan as a haven since 2002. She said she finds it hard to believe that nobody in Pakistan's government knows where the leaders of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network are hiding.
She also said she finds it hard to believe that Pakistani authorities couldn't "get them" if they wanted to.
Bin Laden and others -- as well as Taliban leaders -- have long been thought to be hiding on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan.
Update at 12:45 p.m. ET. While in Lahore, Clinton visited the tomb of Pakistan's national poet, Allama Mohammad Iqbal:
President Barack Obama, as we reported earlier, paid a middle-of-the-night visit to Dover Air Force Base to pay his respects as the bodies of 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan were returned home.
Another story that developed overnight: The Lost Angeles Times reports that "Iran's president today appeared to lend support to an International Atomic Energy Agency proposal to ship the bulk of his country's enriched uranium abroad, casting it as a victory for Iranian steadfastness as the world awaits Tehran's formal response to the deal."
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
-- The Washington Post -- "Obama Seeks Study On Local Leaders For Troop Decision": "President Obama has asked senior officials for a province-by-province analysis of Afghanistan to determine which regions are being managed effectively by local leaders and which require international help, information that his advisers say will guide his decision on how many additional U.S. troops to send to the battle."
-- The New York Times -- "Shortage Of Vaccine Poses Political Test For Obama": "Despite months of planning and preparation, a (swine flu) vaccine shortage is threatening to undermine public confidence in government, creating a very public test of Mr. Obama's competence."
-- San Francisco Chronicle -- "Bridge Parts Couldn't Take The Wind": "High winds caused a steel crossbeam and two steel tie rods to snap off the Bay Bridge's eastern span and fall to the upper deck, Caltrans officials said (Wednesday) as commuters unable to drive over the closed bridge jammed alternative routes and crowded onto BART in record numbers."
Believed he and his followers were soldiers at war against the government and non-Muslims.
"Abdullah told his followers it is their duty to oppose the FBI and the government and it does not matter if they die," FBI agent Gary Leone said in an affidavit unsealed Wednesday. "He also told the group that they need to plan to do something."
On Morning Edition, NPR's Scott Horsley talked with host Renee Montagne about what it was like at the base. Obama left the White House just before midnight, Scott says, and when he got to Dover the first thing he did was meet with the soldiers' families at a chapel.
Four times, Scott says, Obama went on board the transport plane and then accompanied the remains as they were brought out. The bodies were of 15 military personnel and three Drug Enforcement Administration agents.
Update at 3:15 p.m. ET: At the White House today, the president said his trip to Dover was "a sobering reminder" of the sacrifices of war, the AP reports. The wire service adds that Obama:
Told reporters Thursday that the burden of such sacrifices by U.S. military personnel and their families "is going to bear on how I see" the war in Afghanistan. Obama is in the midst of an intensive review of the war, which could result in him soon ordering more troops overseas.
Update at 12:15 p.m. ET. Jay Tea at the widely read conservative blog Wizbang writes that "if we're lucky, that was not just a photo op, and will help him come to the realization that he has a debt of honor to those men."
Liberal Steve Benen at Washington Monthly's Political Animal says that "for all the talk in recent years about whether American media should be allowed to cover -- and whether the American public should be allowed to see -- flag-draped caskets as fallen U.S. soldiers return home, it was good to see President Obama pay his respects this morning at Dover Air Force Base."
Update at 9:55 a.m. ET. At the conservative National Review Online's The Corner blog, Pete Hegseth writes that:
It was a classy move that I believe underscores the serious nature with which President Obama is approaching his forthcoming Afghanistan decision.
As much as anyone else, I want the president to make his decision as soon as possible -- American lives, and commitment, hang in the balance. But if he has to take a few extra days to get it right -- and become convinced of the rightness of General McChrystal's approach -- then the extra time is worth it.
A senior White House official tells ABC News that President Obama has wanted to do this ever since the policy of media coverage of the return of fallen troops was changed earlier this year, but he wanted to do so "in a way that caused the least amount of disruption." ...
... On the helicopter flight back to Washington, DC, President Obama thanked (military aide, U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Clay) Beers for arranging the trip, after which no one said a word for the remainder of the 45-minute flight.
Update at 9:35 a.m. ET. The Associated Press posted this video:
Afghan soldiers gather as smoke rises from a U.N. guest house after it was attacked by gunmen in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. (Altaf Qadri / AP Photo)
By Frank James
Wednesday's Taliban attack on the United Nations compound in Kabul, Afghanistan which killed 11 has caused Westerners to rethink their security precautions, according to NPR's Soraya Sahaddi Nelson who's in Afghanistan.
Three attackers dressed as Afghan police and wearing suicide belts stormed the compound just before dawn, Kabul-time, firing semiautomatic weapons.
Nelson had a brief conversation with All Things Considered host Robert Siegel.
She told Robert:
"Today in Kabul no foreigners came outside. Everybody basically was ordered to stay indoors. And the UN is going to have to review its procedures to see whether it will be able to go out into the community...
"... The Taliban have made it very clear ... They were going to disrupt this election process and that today was only the start. The problem that is also out there for election workers is how much are they going to be able to prevent fraud from happening if they can't go out and see what's going on? This task has fallen to the Western observers and the Western commission and, again, because of today's attack, everyone is going to have to review their security procedures to see whether or not they can actually be outside and be part of this election process...
In response to Robert's question as to whether people in the capital were "shocked" about the brazen attack, Soraya said:
"It was very shocking especially because you can't recognize these places as being Western compounds. I mean while they do have barbed wire and you do have guards in front, you have a lot of Afghan officials who live in that sort of environment as well. And certainly this guest house was not well known as a UN guest house. It wasn't clear to many Westerners, certainly, that there were in fact UN people living there."
The 2008 Republican presidential nominee renewed his criticism of President Barack Obama's decision-making process today, saying that Obama "needs to make this decision and soon" regarding whether to send a large number of additional troops to Afghanistan.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told CBS-TV's The Early Show that U.S. military leaders are "becoming frustrated" as the White House continues its policy review:
NPR's Giles Snyder adds that the president has said he won't rush a decision and does not want to risk additional American lives unless it's necessary:
It's been another deadly day in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In Peshawar, Pakistan, a car bomb devastated a crowded market. At least 80 people were killed and more than 200 others wounded.
According to the Associated Press, the Pakistani government "blamed militants seeking to avenge an army offensive against al-Qaida and Taliban close to the Afghan border."
NPR's Julie McCarthy filed this report from Islamabad:
In Kabul, gunmen attacked a guest house frequented by U.N. aid workers. At least 12 people died during fighting at the scene, including six U.N. staffers and the three attackers. One American is among the dead, according to the U.S. embassy. The attackers did not set off the bombs in the suicide vests they were wearing.
From Kabul, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports that also today, a rocket was fired at one of Kabul's high-end hotels -- but it did not explode:
A wounded man is carried from the scene in Kabul. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
Update at 10:15 a.m. ET. The death toll in Peshawar has topped 90 and photos from the scene clearly show the devastation:
Staff Sgt. Vernon Martin died Oct. 3. (Stephen Morton/Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
Eight more American service personnel were killed in Afghanistan yesterday, the U.S. military says. According to the Associated Press, that brings the number of such deaths this month to 55 -- making October the deadliest month for U.S. forces since they entered Afghanistan eight years ago. Previously, the worst month had been this past August, when 51 U.S. service personnel were killed in Afghanistan.
On Morning Edition, NPR's Bruce Auster kicked off the first in a series of reports about efforts to defeat the toughest weapon being used against U.S. forces in Afghanistan -- improvised explosive devices:
As the day gets started, Reuters offers this news alert from Tehran. It captures the "maybe, maybe not" nature of that country's relations with the rest of the world:
Iran will accept the framework of a U.N.-drafted nuclear fuel deal, but will also demand changes to it, al Alam state television reported on Tuesday. Al Alam, citing an unnamed official, said Iran would present its response to the proposed agreement within 48 hours.
-- The Associated Press -- Pakistan Claims Progress In Push Against Taliban: " Pakistan's army says 42 militants have been killed in the latest stage of its offensive against the Taliban close to the Afghan border. A statement Tuesday says that troops were making steady progress in the 11-day old campaign in South Waziristan."
-- Morning Edition -- "No. 3 Man Moving Up In Al-Qaida". NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports on the new face of al-Qaida:
-- The Associated Press -- "Obama Putting $3.4 Billion Toward A 'Smart' Power Grid": "President Barack Obama, during a visit to a solar energy facility in Arcadia, Fla., is announcing Tuesday that he is making available $3.4 billion in government support for 100 projects aimed at modernizing the power grid. The projects include installing "smart" electric meters in homes, automating utility substations, and installing thousands of new digital transformers and grid sensors."
Related report from NPR's Scott Horsley:
-- The New York Times -- "Ex A.I.G. Chief Is Back, Luring Talent From Rescued Firm": "Maurice R. Greenberg, who built the American International Group into an insurance behemoth with an impenetrable maze of on- and offshore companies, is at it again. Even as he has been lambasting the government for its handling of A.I.G. after its near collapse, Mr. Greenberg has been quietly building up a family of insurance companies that could compete with A.I.G. To fill the ranks of his venture, C.V. Starr & Company, he has been hiring some people he once employed."
Here's a name to watch for in coming days: Matthew Hoh.
He could soon be a hero to those who think the U.S. should begin to wind down its efforts in Afghanistan, which means he could soon be all over the cable news airwaves.
As The Washington Post reports, Hoh is a former captain in the U.S. Marines who served in Iraq. Earlier this year, he joined the Foreign Service and was soon assigned to Zabul Province, Afghanistan.
But last month, the Post writes, "in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency."
"I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end," Hoh wrote in his resignation letter, according to the Post.
-- The conservative JustOneMinute writes that "one might think Hoh provides useful cover to the 'Give peace a chance' wing of Obama's base and their natural allies in the media."
-- The liberal MyDD calls it "a big story" and says Hoh's letter "is another reminder that we are persuing the wrong strategy with Afghanistan."
Three agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Afghanistan to combat that nation's poppy production which provides much of the world's heroin were among the ten Americans killed when their helicopter crashed following a firefight.
The DEA casualties were the first for the agency since its agents began anti-narcotics operations in 2005.
"Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration mourns the tragic loss of three DEA Special Agents and seven U.S. service members killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan," said Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. "The incident occurred during the early morning hours of October 26, when these heroic individuals were returning from a completed, joint counternarcotics mission."
"We are all saddened by this tragic event. DEA is an extremely tight family, and the death of these three brave agents is a devastating loss for us. No expressions of grief can adequately convey the depth of the collective sorrow that we feel for their loved ones."
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family members of our fallen heroes. We owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid and we will forever carry their memories in our hearts."
Besides the DEA agents, who weren't identified, the others killed during this particular operation were uniformed members of the U.S. military, according to U.S. officials.
Officials said the aircraft wasn't taking hostile fire at the time of the crash so they dismissed that as a possibility. The 10 deaths were among 14 Americans who died in helicopter crashes Monday. Two Marine helicopters crashed in Helmand Province, killing four troops.
Sen. John Kerry demonstrated his two-handed approach to Afghanistan at the Council on Foreign Relations. ( Mark Wilson / Getty Images)
By Frank James
Sen. John Kerry, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, provided what he views as the key question against which any future U.S. strategy in Afghanistan must be tested.
... We need to ask ourselves at every turn: "will this help the Afghan people take responsibility for their country?"--and where the answer is no, we probably shouldn't be doing it.
Kerry spoke before the Council on Foreign Relations after returning from Afghanistan last week where he helped to broker an agreement from Afghan President Hamid Karzai to agree to a run-off election against challenger Abdullah Abdullah.
Anyone hoping that Kerry would give a clear exit strategy out of Afghanistan would be disappointed however. It was definitely an on-one-hand, on-the-other-hand kind of speech.
Kerry rejected both the approach of Vice President Joe Biden, who is said to support a significant reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to focus on discrete counter terrorism strikes, and Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan who is known to want more troops.
The senator said neither approach would deliver the outcomes Americans seek. In short, he appears to be against sending more troops or significantly reducing the current numbers there. But that doesn't mean he's for the status quo. He knows that's untenable.
More Kerry:
Our strategy has to be informed by two basic truths. First of all, we can't draw down large of numbers of troops today in order to shift to a narrow counterterrorism mission. Second, we simply don't have enough troops or resources to launch a broad, nationwide counterinsurgency campaign, nor do we need to...
The too-often deadly job of searching for hidden "improvised explosive devices" along the roads and trails of Helmand Province, Afghanistan, is a daily duty for U.S. Marines there. NPR's Tom Bowman, who is with some of those Marines, just got off the phone with Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep.
As Tom reports, the Marines know that those IEDs have killed more than 30 of their buddies in recent months -- and wounded many more. They aren't eager to go out looking for more, but do the difficult job every day.
Here's a clip from their conversation. It begins with Steve:
We hope to have better quality audio from Tom's side of the conversation after he and producer Graham Smith are able to send the recording they made on the ground in Helmand.
Much more from the discussion is due on Thursday's broadcast of ME. Click here tto find an NPR station near you.
But today, Reuters reports, that official rejected such talk.
"No, why should I resign?" Azizullah Ludin (sometimes spelled Lodin) told Reuters. "I don't know if the constitution gives (Abdullah) authority to ask of such a thing."
Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election was marred by massive fraud. So many of the voters for President Hamid Karzai were eventually tossed out that his share of the total slipped below 50% -- forcing the runoff.
As the day gets going, details are still coming in about two deadly incidents involving U.S. helicopters in Afghanistan. The Associated Press writes that the crashes killed 14 Americans, most of them military personnel.
From southern Afghanistan, NPR producer Graham Smith reported that one of the helicopters had just left the scene of a firefight -- but that U.S. officials do not believe it was brought down by fire from the ground:
In other news involving Afghanistan:
-- The Washington Post reports that "the Pentagon's top military officer oversaw a secret war game this month to evaluate the two primary military options that have been put forward by the Pentagon and are being weighed by the Obama administration as part of a broad-based review of the faltering Afghanistan war, senior military officials said." One involved the hypothetical addition of 44,000 more troops. The other added 10,000 to 15,000.
-- On Morning Edition, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reported that some parts of northern Afghanistan have also destabilized in recent months:
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
-- The Wall Street Journal -- "Senate On Verge Of Health Bill": "Top Senate Democrats are close to finalizing their health bill and could unveil a measure as soon as early this week that would include stiffer penalties on employers who fail to provide health coverage. Senate leaders plan to submit the bill to the Congressional Budget Office for a cost estimate as soon as Monday, and make the legislation public as soon as Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the negotiations."
-- The New York Times -- "U.S. Considers Reining In 'Too Big To Fail' Institutions": "A senior administration official said on Sunday that after extensive consultations with Treasury Department officials, Representative Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, would introduce legislation as early as this week. The measure would make it easier for the government to seize control of troubled financial institutions, throw out management, wipe out the shareholders and change the terms of existing loans held by the institution."
-- The Associated Press -- "Death Toll Rises To 155 In Dual Baghdad Bombings": "The death toll from Iraq's worst attack in more than two years climbed to 155 Monday as Iraqis buried the dead from the twin suicide bombings that devastated the heart of Baghdad. Funerals were held around the city amid heightened security that snarled traffic during the morning rush hour. The bombings targeted two government buildings, calling into question the state's ability to protect itself as it prepares for January elections and the U.S. military withdrawal."
Related report from NPR's Nishant Dahiya in Baghdad -- Iraqi Leaders Blame Al-Qaida And Neighboring Countries:
-- Morning Edition -- "Karadzic Boycotts Start Of War Crimes Trial". The Bosnian Serb claimed he needs more time to prepare his defense. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli filed this report:
From a related report by BBC News: "Karadzic, 64, was taken to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague last year, after 13 years in hiding. ... He was indicted in 1995 on two counts of genocide and a multitude of other crimes committed against Bosnian Muslim, Bosnian Croat and other non-Serb civilians during the 1992-1995 war, which left more than 100,000 people dead."
As we just reported, there's word from Vienna this morning that a draft agreement has been reached for Iran to export most of its enriched uranium to Russia for processing. That's been a critical goal of negotiators from the U.S., France and Russia because it could lessen the chances of Iran obtaining enough fuel for a nuclear weapon.
We'll watch for more news on that as the day continues.
Meanwhile, other stories making headlines include:
-- USA TODAY -- "White House Neglecting Bioterrorism," Bipartisan Commission Warns: " The Obama administration is working hard to curb nuclear threats but failing to address the more urgent and immediate threat of biological terrorism, a bipartisan commission created by Congress is reporting today. The report obtained by USA TODAY cites failures on biosecurity policy by the White House, which the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction says has left the country vulnerable. ... White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said protecting the nation from deadly weapons is among President Obama's 'top national security priorities.' "
-- The Associated Press -- "Watchdog: Bailout Helped But At A Great Cost": "A government watchdog said the $700 billion bailout for the financial industry played a major role in rescuing the economy over the last year but also engendered anger and distrust among Americans because of secrecy and confusion about the way the program was handled. The mixed and blunt assessment by Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general in charge of oversight for the bailout fund, comes just as the administration is taking steps to wind down and refocus the Wall Street rescue effort. Barofsky's conclusions are in a quarterly report scheduled for release Wednesday." (That report is to be posted here.)
From a related story by USA TODAY:
"The American people's belief that the funds went into a black hole, or that there was a transfer of wealth from taxpayers to Wall Street, is one of the worst outcomes of this program, and that is the reputational damage to the government," said Neil Barofsky, special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), in an interview.
-- The Washington Post -- "U.S. Deeply Split On Troop Increase For Afghan War": "As President Obama and his war cabinet deliberate a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan, Americans are evenly and deeply divided over whether he should send 40,000 more troops there, and public approval of the president's handling of the situation has tumbled, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll."
Related story by the Associated Press -- "Afghan President's Rival Accepts Nov. 7 Runoff": "President Hamid Karzai's chief political rival agreed Wednesday to take part in the Nov. 7 runoff election, setting the stage for a high-stakes showdown in the face of Taliban threats and approaching winter snows. Ex-Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah made his comment to reporters one day after Karzai bowed to intense U.S. and international pressure and accepted findings of a U.N.-backed panel that there had been massive fraud on his behalf in the Aug. 20 vote. Those findings showed Karzai failed to win the 50 percent required to avoid a runoff."
Helping the injured after a train crash today near Agra, India. (AP photo)
-- NPR News -- At Least 21 Killed In Train Crash. NPR's Philip Reeves reports from New Delhi:
-- Morning Edition -- Obama To Increase Credit To Small Businesses. As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, some small business owners say they desperately need more help if they're going to stay in business:
-- The New York Times -- Administration Doesn't Always Listen To Volcker: Former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker is a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, but his advice that the nation's banks "be prohibited from owning and trading risky securities, the very practice that got the biggest ones into deep trouble in 2008," isn't gaining favor within the administration.
Sharp senses, and a little luck, kept the bomb in that hole from killing anyone. (Graham Smith/NPR)
By Mark Memmott
All Things Considered producer Graham Smith is on assignment in Afghanistan. This past summer, he sent us some dispatches when he was embedded with Marines there. Once again, he's been out with Marines as they patrol the countryside. Here's what he tells us about the deadly explosives the Americans are encountering -- and one engineer's close call:
The IEDs themselves are what they call HME or Home Made Explosives. It's basically a fertilizer bomb, like what was used in Oklahoma City, but smaller -- 30 to 90 pounds is the norm here although a 1,500 pound HME bomb killed four Americans last week in Kandahar. The diesel and fertilizer is mixed and packed inside 3 gallon plastic oil jugs or metal cylinders made from sections of street lamp poles. Sometimes, it's packed inside hollowed out old mortar rounds or artillery shells.
One that was found yesterday was a little different. It was a mixture called "anal" -- some kind of aluminum-based explosive that looks like Silver Surfer poo. When the Marines blew it up, not all of the bomb detonated, because it had been contaminated with water as it was put in place. The crater was filled with the silvery goo, and also various chunks of metal that had been packed into the bomb to create more shrapnel: A length of bicycle chain; a pedal crank; some empty shell casings.
That particular bomb had been found by one of the engineers by accident. He'd already swept the area, and was moving on when he noticed the ground had some give under his foot. He was standing on top of a pressure plate - a crude trigger buried under the earth. Luckily, the bomb hadn't been armed with a battery, or he'd likely have lost a leg at the least. More likely, he'd have been dead. Luck counts too.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday made life somewhat easier for President Barack Obama by accepting the results an international review that he received less than 50 percent of the votes in Afghanistan's presidential election, requiring a runoff.
So Obama had only positive things to say about Karzai, the leader of a government widely viewed as corrupt who also benefited from widespread vote fraud in the August election.
Karzai's decision to submit to a runoff at least makes a potential decision to send significantly more U.S. troops to Afghanistan less unpalatable than it would have been otherwise.
Obama spoke briefly about Karzai and Afghanistan during a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki:
I had the opportunity to speak with President Karzai this morning and I wanted to congratulate him on accepting the certification of the recent election. As we all know, this has been a very difficult time in Afghanistan to not only carry out a election under difficult circumstances, where there were a whole host of security issues that had to be resolved, but also post-election a lot of uncertainty.
Massive fraud in Afghanistan's Aug. 20 vote has led to this result. While Karzai had initially collected enough votes to get over the 50% threshold that would have avoided a runoff, an independent elections commission threw out hundreds of thousands of ballots -- enough to pull Karzai's total below the 50% line and force a second vote. The commission found that ballot boxes had been stuffed with fraudulent votes in many districts.
Karzai, at a news conference in Kabul, just accepted the commission's findings and endorsed the runoff, according to the Associated Press. He's been joined at a news briefing by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., one of several international diplomats and lawmakers who've been pressing for a resolution to Afghanistan's political crisis.
"We believe that this decision of the (commission) is legitimate, legal and constitutional and that it strengthens the path towards domocracy," Karzai said this morning.
Update at 9:35 a.m. ET. A few moments ago, the White House released a statement from President Barack Obama. He says Afghanistan will be strengthened by the decision to hold a runoff vote.
As we reported just a few minutes ago, it's looking more and more like there will be a election run-off in Afghanistan between incumbent President Hamid Karzai and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah. Also, as we've already noted, firm director Roman Polanski was told today that he must wait in a Swiss prison while he fights against extradition to the United States.
Among the other stories making headlines:
-- The Washington Post -- Poll Shows Most Americans Support "Public Option" In Health Care: "A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that support for a government-run health-care plan to compete with private insurers has rebounded from its summertime lows and wins clear majority support from the public. ... Sizable majorities back two key and controversial provisions: both the so-called public option and a new mandate that would require all Americans to carry health insurance.
-- The Associated Press -- Talks With Iran Bog Down: "Talks meant to persuade Iran to send most of its enriched uranium abroad -- and thus delay its potential to make a nuclear weapon -- bogged down Tuesday over fierce Iranian resistance to French participation, diplomats said. Tuesday was the second day of talks in the Austrian capital between Iran and the United States, Russia and France over Iran's nuclear program. But discussions were delayed at least two hours in an attempt to resolve the impasse over the French."
Related report from NPR's Eric Westervelt in Vienna:
The talks are aimed at hammering out details of a plan Iran agreed to in principle in Geneva earlier this month. The deal would send about 75% of Iran's declared stockpile of low enriched uranium to Russia and France for processing and would be returned to Iran as fuel for use in a medical research reactor in Tehran.
-- Morning Edition -- "Iran, U.S. Wage A Quiet War Over The Economy". NPR's Tom Gjelten reports:
-- BBC News -- Blast Rocks University In Islamabad: "At least four people have been killed and 18 wounded in bomb explosions at a university in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, officials say. Police say the blasts at the International Islamic University were caused by suicide bombers. The attack is the first since the Pakistani army began its offensive against militants in South Waziristan, in the country's north-west. Pakistan was hit by a wave of bombings in the days before the assault began."
-- Los Angeles Times -- AIDS Vaccine Positive Results Might Have Been Just By Chance: "A secondary analysis of data from the Thai AIDS vaccine trial -- announced last month to much acclaim -- suggests that the vaccine might provide some protection against the virus, but that the results are not statistically significant. In short, they could have come about merely by chance."
It's looking more and more like there will be an election run-off in Afghanistan between incumbent President Hamid Karzai and his main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
The Times of London is reporting that Karzai has told security and elections officials to prepare for a second round of voting.
On Morning Edition, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reported that Karzai's campaign spokesman said the president no longer opposes a run-off:
Still, there hasn't yet been any official announcement from Karzai. Reuters says he will be speaking later today.
Yesterday, a United Nations-backed watchdog group declared that hundreds of thousands of votes for Karzai in the Aug. 20 election were fraudulent. And, the Associated Press writes, "international monitoring groups say the Electoral Complaints Commission has invalidated so many of Karzai's votes that his total has dropped below the more than 50% he needed for an outright victory."
The AP adds this morning that Abdullah is suggesting that an interim government be formed -- which would include him -- until a new election can be held in the spring. Holding a vote during Afghanistan's rough winter could be difficult.
Also on Morning Edition, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said forming a unity government may be a more practical option than a run-off election.
Update at 8:10 a.m. ET: CNN reports that the independent elections commission has set Nov. 7, a Saturday, as the date for the run-off. Karzai, with Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, is speaking with reporters now in Kabul. We'll have more in a moment.
Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard's death spurred the military to revise the rules for photojournalists in a process that's still ongoing. (AP Photo/USMC)
The U.S. military's initial response to the publishing of Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard lying mortally wounded after he was hit by a rocket propelled grenade was a complete ban, in eastern Afghanistan at least, on the photographing of wounded and killed U.S. troops. That decision was made in theater, not Washington.
But the Pentagon thought the new rules too restrictive. So U.S. military officials in Afghanistan were told by the Pentagon to try again.
This all started within the last two weeks when journalists arriving at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan discovered language in a Regional Command East new embedding agreement in eastern Afghanistan that said: "Media will not be allowed to photograph or record video of U.S. personnel killed in action."
When news organizations and press freedom groups protested the ban, the Pentagon (we now know) suggested a re-write. While the revision to the revised ground rules were re-issued by Regional Command East, and their press release made it sound like the lifting of the ban was their idea, today's comments by Whitman make it clear the "suggestion" to re-do the embed agreement that banned photographing KIAs instead came from Washington.
"Fraud investigators have thrown out hundreds of thousands of ballots for Afghanistan's president from the country's disputed August election," the Associated Press reports from Kabul. That "sets the stage for a runoff" between President Hamid Karzai and his top challenger because Karzai would no longer have 50% or more of the votes cast.
But, allies of Karzai -- who control a separate commission that is charged with certifying the results of Afghanistan's Aug. 20 election -- are rejecting the fraud investigators' conclusions, the AP also reports.
A political crisis, therefore, is deepening -- as Morning Edition reported. NPR's Jackie Northam said that Karzai claims "foreign interference" is behind the claims of fraud:
Also on Morning Edition, that top challenger to Karzai -- former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah -- made the case that a runoff is necessary to restore any sense of confidence in Afghanistan's political process. But Abdullah also signaled he might be willing to join a Karzai-led government in some sort of power-sharing deal:
BAGHDAD -- On May 11th, four American soldiers and a sailor were shot to death at the U.S. Army's sprawling Camp Liberty base next to Baghdad International Airport. Army Sgt. John Russell of Sherman, Texas, was arrested at the scene.
It all happened at Camp Liberty's Combat Stress Center. The sergeant had been sent there for treatment. He was nearly finished with his third tour in Iraq.
The nature of the crime -- and especially whether the stress of being deployed had caused the suspect to crack -- led to President Obama himself weighing in on the issue. The president said he would "press to ensure that we fully understand" what led to the killings.
The U.S military has now released the details of its investigation into some of the circumstances surrounding the incident. The report, which is posted online here, is incredibly detailed. It's 325 pages long and hard to read both for the nature of the subject being discussed and because the military uses acronyms to identify some persons; other names are blanked out completely. Entire sections are missing in some cases.
With evidence based on considerable testimony, the report illustrates the stress and pressure that multiple combat tours in Iraq (and Afghanistan) are putting on military personnel, and how that is also straining the staff of the Army's Combat Stress Clinics.
The findings of the report (pg. 302 onwards) are critical of the operational tools and training aimed at preventing such tragedies as occurred at Camp Liberty. The findings show that policies were unclear; those that existed are improperly implemented; and soldiers were unsure of how to deal with fellow soldiers who have behavioral health problems. The findings highlight lapses in dealing with the situation, on or before the day of the incident, right from the soldier's unit, to the Combat Stress Clinic, to the Military Police.
Stars and Stripessummarizes the findings this way: "Despite years of emphasis on mental health issues, commanders in Iraq lack the necessary tools, training and guidance to deal with at-risk soldiers, according to an Army investigation into mental health services."
The recommendations of the report are blanked out.
There are some signs of what's been suggested, though. In an online press release, the U.S. military says that:
Multinational Corps Iraq already has implemented several of the investigation's recommendations, officials said, including a commandwide review of behavioral health care services, updates to all suicide-prevention programs, the training and appointment of two behavioral health advocates per battalion, and new procedures for dealing with servicemembers attempting or threatening suicide.
While homicides like the one on May 11 are rare, suicides in the U.S. Army have spiked as the Afghanistan and Iraq missions head into their 7th and 9th years respectively. At least 128 soldiers killed themselves last year. And, according to the Army, the suicide rate in the military surpassed that for civilians for the first time since the Vietnam War. The number of suicides has seen an upward trend for four years running now. In 2007, 115 soldiers killed themselves; 106 in 2006. Numbers for 2009 will only be available at the end of the year.
The criminal investigation into the case against Russell continues.
(Nishant Dahiya is an NPR producer currently on assignment in Iraq.)
New York Times reporter David Rohde, who along with Afghan journalist Tahir Ludin and driver Asad Mangal was held captive by a Taliban commander in Afghanistan and Pakistan for more than seven months, today begins a five-part series in the Times about their experience. Along with the dramatic tale of their capture, captivity, treatment and the successful escape he and Tahir made, David writes today about what he learned of the Taliban:
Over those months, I came to a simple realization. After seven years of reporting in the region, I did not fully understand how extreme many of the Taliban had become. Before the kidnapping, I viewed the organization as a form of "Al Qaeda lite," a religiously motivated movement primarily focused on controlling Afghanistan.
Living side by side with the Haqqanis' followers, I learned that the goal of the hard-line Taliban was far more ambitious. Contact with foreign militants in the tribal areas appeared to have deeply affected many young Taliban fighters. They wanted to create a fundamentalist Islamic emirate with Al Qaeda that spanned the Muslim world.
I had written about the ties between Pakistan's intelligence services and the Taliban while covering the region for The New York Times. I knew Pakistan turned a blind eye to many of their activities. But I was astonished by what I encountered firsthand: a Taliban mini-state that flourished openly and with impunity.
The Taliban government that had supposedly been eliminated by the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan was alive and thriving.
(Note from Mark: As I've said in previous posts, Tahir is a friend of mine. We worked together during most of my half-dozen trips for USA TODAY to Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003. We've had many conversations in recent months and he is doing remarkably well for someone who went through what they experienced. So is David, who I have come to know through Tahir. Asad, the driver, was released by their captors a few weeks after David and Tahir escaped.)
Afghanistan's ambassador to the U.S. gave the strongest indication yet that his government is open to a presidential election runoff.
Speaking Thursday at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Said Tayeb Jawad said a runoff would be the only way to definitively settle the question of who will be Afghanistan's next leader.
The Associated Press paraphrased Jawad's comments:
(Jawad) says all parties must work to hold the runoff vote quickly. He says a two-week deadline set out in the country's constitution is impossible, but that the voting should be held within a month.
Jawad's comment comes as President Barack Obama deliberates on the next steps to take in Afghanistan as the U.S. public's support for the U.S. effort in Afghanistan dwindles.
When French soldiers arrived to assume control of the Sarobi area, east of Kabul, in mid-2008, they were not informed that the departing Italians had kept the region relatively peaceful by paying local Taliban fighters to remain inactive.
Western officials say that because the French knew nothing of the payments they made a catastrophically incorrect threat assessment. Within a month, 10 French soldiers had been killed in an ambush by the insurgents.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and others in his government have vehemently denied that any such payments were made.
From Paris, NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports that the French defense ministry is downplaying the story -- calling it an old rumor and saying that French forces have been working well with the Italians for more than two years. Relatives of the French soldiers who were killed, though, say if the story is true it's appalling:
Arianna says that Biden should underscore his opposition to a build-up of U.S. forces in Afghanistan by stepping down if President Barack Obama decides to send a large number of additional troops to that country. It would be, she writes, something that "generations to come" would be grateful for and a "crowning moment in a distinguished career" for Biden. And Biden could then become "the natural leader of the movement to wind down this disastrous war and focus on the real dangers in Pakistan."
There have been more attacks on military sites in Pakistan today, as we just reported, and a loud explosion has been heard in the city of Peshawar. We'll keep an eye on events there as the day continues.
The economy will be in the news again this morning. At 8:30 a.m. ET, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the September consumer price index -- the most-watched measure of inflation at the consumer level. And at 9:30 a.m. ET, stocks resume trading on Wall Street. Will the Dow Jones industrial index move even higher after cracking the 10,000 mark yesterday?
Also today, President Barack Obama visits New Orleans for the first time since taking office last January. At an early afternoon town hall meeting, he'll get a chance to hear directly from residents about how the long, slow recovery from 2005's Hurricane Katrina is going.
Though most New Orleans-area residents were heartened by the news that Obama would be making his first presidential visit to the region Thursday, nine months into his first term, there also has been carping that his itinerary is on the light side.
From WWNO in New Orleans, Eileen Fleming reports that some local officials wish Obama was spending more than a few hours in their battered region:
Other stories making headlines include:
-- The Associated Press -- "Italy Denies Paying Off Taliban In Afghanistan": "The Italian government denied a newspaper report Thursday that its secret services paid the Taliban thousands of dollars to keep an area in Afghanistan controlled by the Italians safe. Premier Silvio Berlusconi's office called the report in the Times of London 'completely groundless.' The defense minister said the paper published 'rubbish.' "
Times of London -- "Berlusconi Attempts To Duck Afghanistan Bribe Scandal": "Silvio Berlusconi today sought to duck the blame for a series of secret Italian payments to Taliban fighters that left French soldiers exposed in Afghanistan. The Italian prime minister denied any knowledge of money paid to Afghan warlords in an apparent attempt to divert attention over the clandestine deals to his predecessor's administration. The Times has learned that when French soldiers arrived to assume control of the Sarobi area, east of Kabul, in mid-2008, they were not informed that the departing Italians had kept the region relatively peaceful by paying local Taliban fighters to remain inactive.
In Kabul, a U.S. spokesman for NATO forces in Afghanistan denied the allegations. "We don't do bribes," Col. Wayne Shanks said. "We don't pay the insurgents."
-- Morning Edition -- Zazi Allegedly Made Contact With Top Al-Qaida Operative. "The man arrested last month for allegedly plotting to blow up targets in New York contacted one of Osama bin Laden's right-hand men, U.S. intelligence officials say." NPR's Dina Temple-Raston reports:
-- The New York Times -- "Public Option Is Next Big Hurdle In Health Debate": "As the White House and Congressional leaders turned in earnest on Wednesday to working out big differences in the five health care bills, perhaps no issue loomed as a greater obstacle than whether to establish a government-run competitor to the insurance industry."
More will soon be heading to Afghanistan. (Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)
The government is aware of rising public opposition in both the U.K. and U.S. to the counter insurgency war in Afghanistan -- the latest poll, by Populus for the Times, records that more than a third of voters believe British forces should be withdrawn from Afghanistan. Growing opposition to Britain's military presence has been driven by women, with four out of 10 wanting Britain out.
Yet Downing Street has also been under intense pressure from defense chiefs, particularly army commanders, to send in reinforcements. Military commanders say more troops are needed to protect and build up the civil infrastructure of areas captured from the Taliban. There are not enough troops to secure all the populated "green belt" along the river Helmand, they say. When British soldiers launched Panther's Claw, an operation north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, in the summer, several British soldiers were killed in the exposed Sangin valley to the north-east.
The U.K. will have about 9,500 military personnel in Afghanistan once the additional troops get there. The U.S. has about 68,000 troops authorized for action there, and President Barack Obama is debating whether to send tens of thousands more.
Now that the Senate Finance Committee has passed its version of legislation to overhaul the nation's health care system, work begins on melding that bill with the version passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Meanwhile, as we reported a few minutes ago, there's going to be renewed attention today for the bonuses paid to executives at bailed-out insurance giant AIG. A House committee will hear testimony on the problem that the Treasury Department had trying to understand AIG's compensation plan.
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
-- CBS News -- "Afghan Corruption Could Derail Troop Surge": "Rampant government corruption might derail the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan even if as many as 80,000 additional U.S. troops are sent to the war, the top military commander there has concluded, according to U.S. officials briefed on his recommendations. The conclusion by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal is part of a still-secret document that requests more troops even as he warns that they ultimately may not prevent terrorists from turning Afghanistan back into a haven."
-- The Guardian -- "Gordon Brown To Send More British Troops To Afghanistan": British Prime Minister Gordon Brown "will announce in parliament today that he has agreed to send 500 more soldiers to Afghanistan, straight after reading out a grim roll call of the 37 troops who were killed in the conflict while MPs were on their summer recess."
-- Morning Edition -- "U.S. Lawmakers Tout Aid Plan That's Heavily Criticized In Pakistan":NPR's Michele Kelemen reports:
-- The Washington Post -- "Health Insurers Emerge As Obama's Top Foe In Reform Effort": "Attacks on the leading Democratic reform plan this week by the insurance lobby left little doubt that two of the most powerful institutions involved in the debate -- the White House and the nation's insurance companies -- have abandoned any real hope of forging a compromise."
-- Los Angeles Times -- Southern California Battered By Storm: About 12,000 people in Los Angeles were without power last night as a storm pummeled Southern California. "The storm, which battered the northern part of the state with heavy rain and wind, was losing power but could still dump up to 4 inches of rain in mountain areas ravaged by recent wildfires, according to the National Weather Service. About half an inch of rain was expected in coastal areas."
Related report from NPR News -- Record Rainfall In Many Areas:
-- The Wall Street Journal -- "Drink's iPhone 'App' Gets Anger Flowing": "Energy drinks are meant to be edgy and cool, and drunk by young men. So PepsiCo Inc. decided to release an Apple iPhone application for its Amp Energy drink to appeal to guys out on the prowl. Now the snack and beverage giant is facing a storm of criticism for 'Amp Up Before You Score.' The app, released last Friday, purports to help men pick up any one of 24 types of women, such as the 'sorority girl,' 'cougar,' 'rebound girl' or 'punk rock girl.' "
Related story on Morning Edition -- "Pepsi Apologizes After iPhone App Spurs Complaints".NPR's Laura Sydell reports:
Journalist Steve Coll of The New Yorker won the Pulitzer Prize for his 2004 book Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. He's traveled through Afghanistan, Pakistan and India extensively and just finished talking with Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep about the ongoing rivalry between Pakistan and India and what that means for Afghanistan.
Paranoia on the part of many in Pakistan's military has led that nation to do things that continue to destabilize Afghanistan, Coll says. Here's part of their conversation:
Much more from their discussion is due on tomorrow's Morning Edition. Click here to find an NPR station near you.
The top story as the day gets going, as we reported a few minutes ago, is the Senate Finance Committee vote on its version of legislation to overhaul the nation's health care system.
The committee meets at 10 a.m. ET. We'll post an update on the news, and the NPR Health Blog will also be following the action.
Among the other stories making headlines:
-- The Washington Post -- "Support Troops Swelling U.S. Force In Afghanistan": "President Obama announced in March that he would be sending 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. But in an unannounced move, the White House has also authorized -- and the Pentagon is deploying -- at least 13,000 troops beyond that number, according to defense officials. The additional troops are primarily support forces, including engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police. Their deployment has received little mention by officials at the Pentagon and the White House, who have spoken more publicly about the combat troops who have been sent to Afghanistan."
-- BBC News -- Al-Qaida Faces A "Funding Crisis": Al-Qaida "is in its worst financial state for many years while the Taliban's funding is flourishing, according to the US Treasury. Senior Treasury official David Cohen said al-Qaida had made several appeals for funds already this year. The influence of the network -- damaged by U.S. efforts to choke funding -- is waning, he said. The Taliban, meanwhile, are in better financial shape, bolstered by Afghanistan's booming trade in drugs."
-- The Associated Press -- Pakistani Jets Bomb Militants: "Pakistani jets bombed militant targets in the main insurgent stronghold along the Afghan border Tuesday ahead of an expected ground offensive there, while the army killed 26 insurgents elsewhere in the northwest, authorities said."
Related conversation on Morning Edition -- Journalist Rashed Rahman tells NPR's Steve Inskeep that militants may be trying to provoke the Pakistani military into attacking:
-- The New York Times -- "Congress Is Split On Effort To Tax Costly Health Plans": "A proposed tax on high-cost, or 'Cadillac,' health insurance plans has touched off a fierce clash between the Senate and the House as they wrestle over how to pay for legislation that would provide health benefits to millions of uninsured Americans."
-- Morning Edition -- After Saying GOP Health Plan Is To Have Folks "Die Quickly," Rep. Grayson Stirs Debate:NPR's Greg Allen reports:
-- Los Angeles Times -- "Schwarzenegger Pens A New Course For California": "After threatening a mass veto to spur a big water deal, the governor reversed course, revved up his ballpoint pen and signed a surprising slate of legislation. It included bills he had vetoed in the past and a flurry of measures that steered sharply away from the socially conservative Republican base the governor has rarely embraced."
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
-- The New York Times -- "U.S. Can't Trace Foreign Visitors On Expired Visas": "Eight years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and despite repeated mandates from Congress, the United States still has no reliable system for verifying that foreign visitors have left the country. New concern was focused on that security loophole last week, when Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian who had overstayed his tourist visa, was accused in court of plotting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper."
-- The Associated Press -- "New Blast In Pakistan As Taliban Vow More Attacks": "The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Monday for a weekend siege on army headquarters and vowed to activate militant cells across the country for more attacks as another explosion in a market killed at least 41 people."
Related story on Morning Edition -- "Attack On Pakistani Army Spotlights Punjab Province": The region is a terrorist recruitment and training ground, NPR's Julie McCarthy reports:
-- CBS News -- "Gun Troubles For U.S. Troops In Afghanistan": The problems some U.S. troops have had with misfiring weapons during intense firefights raises a question -- "Eight years into the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, do U.S. armed forces have the best guns money can buy? Despite the military's insistence that they do, a small but vocal number of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq has complained that the standard-issue M4 rifles need too much maintenance and jam at the worst possible times."
-- Morning Edition -- Expert Says Already Strapped U.S. Military Will Be Strained Even Further By Any Ramping Up In Afghanistan. John Nagl, a former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and president of the Center for a New American Security, spoke with host Steve Inskeep:
-- The Associated Press -- "Insurers Mount Attack Against Health Overhaul": "After working for months behind the scenes to help shape health care legislation, the insurance industry is now sharply attacking the emerging plan with a report that maintains Senate legislation would increase the cost of a typical policy by hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars a year."
On the march. (Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images)
-- The Washington Post -- Gay Rights March Pushes Marital, Military Equality: "Tens of thousands of gay-rights activists marched Sunday in Washington to show President Obama and Congress that they are impatient with what they consider piecemeal progress and are ready to fight at the federal level for across-the-board equality, including for the right to marry and the right to serve in the military."
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
President Barack Obama meets with his national security team about Afghanistan. (Pete Souza / White House Photo)
By Frank James
U.S. intelligence officials have apparently detected something in Afghanistan that goes against the conventional wisdom.
Many analysts have thought that the Taliban were using Pakistan as a safe haven, swinging across the border into Afghanistan to attack U.S. and NATO troops, then retreating across the border into Pakistan where Western troops can't follow them.
But intelligence officials, according to Reuters, are seeing something different. First, Afghanistan's homegrown Taliban have nearly quadrupled in the last three years. And they don't seem to be using Pakistan as a safe haven as much as was previously thought.
A Reuters excerpt:
WASHINGTON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - The White House has been presented intelligence estimating Taliban-led forces battling U.S. troops in Afghanistan have nearly quadrupled since 2006 and are increasingly independent of leaders in Pakistan, officials said on Friday.
A U.S. intelligence assessment, showing the number of fighters in the insurgency has reached an estimated 25,000 from 7,000 in 2006, spotlights Taliban gains and the tough choices facing President Barack Obama in trying to reverse the trend.
Some of Obama's advisers see a more concerted crackdown by Pakistan on militants on its side of the border as key to turning the tide in Afghanistan, but U.S. intelligence agencies see little correlation, citing the Afghan insurgency's autonomy and increasing home-grown sophistication, officials said...
No one can say any longer that President Barack Obama doesn't have the paperwork:
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters a short time ago that an "informal copy" of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's "resource request" has been given to the president.
That resource request is the case that the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is making for the deployment of more American troops to that central Asian nation. It's a critical part of the strategic review that the president and his advisers are now conducting.
McChrystal's request, Morrell said, still has some steps to take in the chain of command before a final copy lands on Obama's desk.
As we reported earlier, a new Quinnipiac Poll signals that most Americans support having troops in Afghanistan if the goal is stopping terrorism -- but most oppose having troops there if the goal is "nation building."
Update at 3:45 p.m. ET. Here's an audio clip of Morrell explaining where the request is:
The ferocious weekend battle in eastern Afghanistan between Taliban fighters and U.S. troops that left eight American soldiers dead has received much attention as President Barack Obama attempts to land on the best strategy for fighting the war going forward.
But the firefight in Nuristan province followed the pattern of other attacks on remote U.S. outposts.
The Washington Post and CBS News this week have focused on an engagement that occurred last year in an Afghan village called Wanat.
It's the kind of reporting likely to raise even more questions about the wisdom of how the counterinsurgency strategy has been waged in Afghanistan.
How is it that U.S. commanders ever thought these posts were a good idea in Afghanistan whose rugged terrain makes getting reinforced so difficult? Why wasn't it more evident to start with that U.S. troops would be sitting ducks?
The essential facts are that a 49-man Army platoon was manned the outpost in a valley at Wanat with mountainous high ground all around them, giving Taliban fighters the advantage.
Because Wanat was so difficult to reach by ground, with no adequate road, the unit could only be resupplied by helicopter which meant supplies didn't come in as often as they were needed and the soldiers ran low on essentials like drinking water and material to build up defensive positions.
But if the mission is "building a stable democratic government in Afghanistan" -- or nation-building -- then support for having U.S. troops there evaporates: 39% said that is a worthy goal, vs. 52% who said it is not.
Quinnipiac Polling Institute assistant director Peter Brown told us this morning that the majority of Americans are OK with the idea of shedding blood if it's due to fighting done "over there," so-to-speak:
The poll results, said Brown, underscore the challenge President Barack Obama will have if he decides to add more troops to the effort in Afghanistan -- and how Obama will have to appeal for support to Americans who oppose him on most other policies:
Quinnipiac's national telephone survey of 2,630 registered voters was done from Sept. 29-Oct. 5. The margin of error on each result: +/- 1.9 percentage points.
"We had and have no plan of harming countries of the world, including those in Europe ... our goal is the independence of the country and the building of an Islamic state," the Afghan Taliban says in a new statement posted online, Reuters reports.
According to the news service, the message is posted at shahamat.org. It comes eight years to the day after U.S. forces, working with anti-Taliban militias, began the battle to oust the Islamist extremists from power because the Taliban had harbored the al-Qaida terrorist network that attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001.
Reuters says the Taliban adds that:
"Still, if you (NATO and U.S. troops) want to colonize the country of proud and pious Afghans under the baseless pretext of a war on terror, then you should know that our patience will only increase and that we are ready for a long war."
Click here for much more of NPR News' coverage of events in Afghanistan. The Obama administration is now reviewing its strategy.
We already passed along word that this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to three scientists who did ground-breaking work on ribosomes, which help translate DNA information into life.
But there's plenty of other news as the day gets going. Among the stories making headlines:
-- The New York Times -- "Obama Rules Out Large Reduction In Afghan Force": " President Obama told Congressional leaders on Tuesday that he would not substantially reduce American forces in Afghanistan or shift the mission to just hunting terrorists there, but he indicated that he remained undecided about the major troop buildup proposed by his commanding general."
Related story by Politico -- "Tensions Surface In Afghanistan Meeting": "Sen. John McCain drew a direct response from (President Barack) Obama during the meeting Tuesday afternoon when the Arizona Republican told his former opponent that he shouldn't be making a decision on a strategy for the war in such a 'leisurely' fashion, two sources familiar with the meeting said. A little later in the meeting, Obama told McCain that his decision-making won't be 'leisurely,' because no one feels more urgency to get this right than Obama, the sources said."
-- Morning Edition -- "Amid Afghan Debate, What About Pakistan?" Many analysts say Pakistan is more critical than Afghanistan to long-term U.S. plans for Central Asia, as NPR's Jackie Northam reports:
Related conversation on Morning Edition --Washington Post columnist David Ignatius talks with host Renee Montagne about his recent visit to Pakistan's Swat Valley, which until recently was under Taliban control:
-- Dallas Morning News -- Inquiry On Hold In Flawed Arson Case That Led To Execution: " The Texas Forensic Science Commission's inquiry into a flawed arson investigation that led to a Corsicana man's execution is on hold for now, and it's unclear how or when it will move forward, the commission's new chairman said Tuesday. Gov. Rick Perry appointed Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley last week, two days before a scheduled public hearing with experts critical of the evidence used in Cameron Todd Willingham's murder-arson case. Bradley canceled the hearing, saying he and another new commissioner needed time to prepare."
-- Morning Edition -- Supreme Court Takes Up Case On Legality Of Memorial Cross On Federal Land.NPR's Nina Totenberg reports:
-- The Associated Press -- Obama's Approval Rating Edges Up In AP-GfK Poll: "President Barack Obama's approval ratings are starting to rise after declining ever since his inauguration, new poll figures show as the country's mood begins to brighten. But concerns about the economy, health care and war persist, and support for the war in Afghanistan is falling. An Associated Press-GfK poll says 56% of those surveyed in the past week approve of Obama's job performance, up from 50% in September. It's the first time since he took office in January that his rating has gone up."
Related chart from Pollster.com. Consensus of polls shows president's approval and disapproval ratings converging since Inauguration Day -- but holding steady in recent weeks:
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
The meeting between President Barack Obama and House and Senate leaders Tuesday on Afghanistan was described positively by lawmakers as they left the White House.
The Democratic and Republican lawmakers appeared satisfied the president listened to them at length, telling them at the end of the meeting, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, that he would personally take their calls if they wanted to further discuss aspects of the evolving Afghanistan policy not brought up at Tuesday's meeting.
But from the way lawmakers described it, there appeared to be very little real news from the meeting. The president reiterated his desire to have the right strategy before significant new resources were invested. He said it would be a matter of weeks not months before he makes his decision on how to proceed.
Worth noting, however, was something Reid said he heard not from the president but his Republican colleagues.
REID: ... The one thing that I think was interesting is that everyone, Democrats and Republicans, said whatever decision you make we'll support it, basically. So we'll see.
Bookmark this post for future reference. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was unequivocal today when asked by press corps veteran Helen Thomas whether pulling all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan is among the options being considered by President Barack Obama as he reviews U.S. policy toward that country and discusses what should be done with top commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal and others.
"That's not something that's ever been entertained," he said.
"I don't think we have the option to leave, that's quite clear," Gibbs added.
Update at 2:30 p.m. ET. Here's the audio. The briefing room microphone didn't pick up the start of Thomas' question, but you'll get the context as Gibbs responds:
The man who now claims to be leading the Pakistani Taliban reportedly met with a small group of reporters from his clan on Sunday and vowed to avenge the killing of his brother, who preceded him as head of the militant group.
The BBC and other news media outlets say that Hakimullah Mehsud met with about five journalists at an undisclosed location. There have been rumors in recent weeks that he too is dead. Baitullah Mehsud, Hakimullah's brother and then the head of the Pakistani Taliban, was killed in August by a U.S. missile attack. Another Mehsud brother, Kalimullah, was killed last month in a clash with Pakistani security forces.
Pakistan's Dawn writes that:
Mehsud said his group would avenge the killing of Baitullah Mehsud and strike back at Pakistan and the U.S. for the increasing number of drone attacks in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.
On Morning Edition, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told host Renee Montagne that his country "is playing its role" in going after terrorists within its borders. Qureshi also said that if the U.S. knows where key Taliban leaders are in Pakistan, it should share that intelligence so that Pakistani forces can go after them. And, he said the U.S. needs to make a "long-term commitment" to Pakistan and the region:
Good morning. It's the first Monday in October and that means a new Supreme Court session begins today. As NPR's Nina Totenberg reported on Morning Edition, the issues on the court's docket include gun rights, the separation of church and state and the tension between efforts to regulate campaign finance and the First Amendment:
For an interactive look at the major cases in the new term, click here.
Meanwhile, among the stories making headlines are:
-- NPR News -- "Three Americans Share Nobel Medicine Prize": "Three American scientists who made key discoveries about how living cells age have received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The winners are Elizabeth Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco; Carol W. Greider of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore; and Jack Szostak of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston." The news of their honor was announced this morning in Stockholm. NPR's Jon Hamilton also filed this audio report:
-- The Associated Press -- Suicide Bomber Kills 5 At U.N. Office In Islamabad: "A suicide bomber disguised as a security officer struck the lobby of the U.N. food agency's Pakistan headquarters Monday, killing five people a day after the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban vowed fresh assaults, authorities and witnesses said."
-- The New York Times -- "Attacks On Remote Posts Highlight Afghan Risks": " Insurgents attacked a pair of remote American military bases in Afghanistan over the weekend in a deadly battle that underscored the vulnerability of the kind of isolated bases that the top American commander there wants to scale back."
Related story by The Washington Post -- Gen. McChrystal "Faulted On Troop Statements": "National security adviser James L. Jones suggested Sunday that the public campaign being conducted by the U.S. commander in Afghanistan on behalf of his war strategy is complicating the internal White House review underway, saying that "it is better for military advice to come up through the chain of command."
-- BBC News -- "Search Ends For Sumatra Survivors": "Officials in the earthquake-hit city of Padang, Indonesia, have called off the search for survivors in the rubble of buildings five days after the disaster. The focus has turned to bringing aid and medical help to survivors in the city and the surrounding areas. At least 1,000 people have died and at least 1,000 remain missing after the earthquake struck last Wednesday."
Related story on Morning Edition -- "Thousands Still Missing In Wake Of Sumatra Quake." Doualy Xaykaothao reports from Padang, Sumatra:
-- Morning Edition -- First Doses Of Swine Flu Vaccine Start Arriving This Week. Have Questions? NPR Will Try To Answer Them:
Click here at noon ET for an online chat, hosted by the NPR Health Blog, with NPR's Richard Knox and Dr. Richard Wenzel, professor and chair of internal medicine at the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond.
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
It's already been a busy morning, there's much more news expected as the day gets going and there are several interesting stories from overnight to pass along. So let's get right to it.
As we just reported, President Barack Obama has made his in-person pitch to the International Olympic Committee on behalf of Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Games. The IOC's decision is due around 12:30 p.m. ET.
Coming up at 8:30 a.m. ET, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports on September job losses and that month's unemployment rate. As NPR's John Ydstie told Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep, economists say it's likely the jobless rate inched up from August's 9.7%.
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
-- The Associated Press -- 3,000 May Be Trapped Under Quake Rubble In Indonesia: "Indonesia's Health Ministry says nearly 3,000 people may still be trapped under rubble after a powerful earthquake two days ago. Priyadi Kardono, a spokesman for the ministry's Disaster Management Agency, said Friday 715 people have been confirmed dead and 2,400 hospitalized."
Related story from BBC News -- "Indonesia Awaits World Quake Aid": "International rescue teams are heading to Indonesia in a last-ditch effort to free trapped earthquake survivors. Experts from the U.K., Australia and South Korea were en route to Sumatra, hit by a 7.6-magnitude quake two days ago. Others pledged emergency cash. More than 1,000 people are already known to have died, the U.N. says, with thousands thought to remain trapped. But one survivor was found on Friday: a young woman pulled, barely conscious, from within a collapsed school."
-- The Wall Street Journal -- "Comcast, NBC In Deal Talks": "Talks to merge Comcast Corp.'s cable networks and General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal are the latest sign of a big shift in television, with cable channels becoming more valuable than broadcast networks and companies rethinking their strategies for making and delivering content to consumers in a digital era."
-- Las Vegas Review-Journal -- Reid Says Health Care Legislation Will Have "Public Option": "Any health insurance reform bill that lands on the desk of President Barack Obama will include a so-called 'public option,' Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday. What that public option will be remains unclear. 'We are going to have a public option before this bill goes to the president's desk,' (the Senate majority leader) said during a conference call with Nevada residents."
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
President Barack Obama just spent 25 minutes with the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, NPR's Don Gonyea reports.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal met with the president aboard Air Force One as the jet set on a tarmac in Copenhagen. Obama had been in Copenhagen to urge the International Olympic Committee to award the 2016 Summer Games to Chicago.
Senior White House officials have begun to make the case for a policy shift in Afghanistan that would send few, if any, new combat troops to the country and instead focus on faster military training of Afghan forces, continued assassinations of al-Qaida leaders and support for the government of neighboring Pakistan in its fight against the Taliban.
Air Force One is now on its way to Washington.
Update at 9:10 a.m. ET. Aboard Air Force One before it took off from Copenhagen, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that because McChrystal was already in Europe (the general spoke in London yesterday):
"The president realized that he would be close and thought it was a good opportunity to continue the conversation and discussion about Afghanistan and Pakistan that happened -- at least started in the middle of September in a meeting and continued in the Situation Room for three hours on Wednesday."
The death toll continues to rise in Indonesia, where it's thought that more than 1,000 people were killed during yesterday's earthquake off West Sumatra. We've rounded up the latest news from there in this post.
There's much more news to pass along this morning, of course, from the multi-nation talks underway in Geneva between Iran, the U.S. and other nations, to the ongoing discussions within the Obama administration over the appropriate strategy to pursue in Afghanistan.
Among the top stories:
-- NPR.org -- "U.S. Allies Open Nuclear Talks With Iran": "While the U.S. and other powers want to press Iran on its nuclear aspirations and uranium-enrichment program, Iranian officials insist that they will not discuss the issue if it veers beyond a general conversation about nuclear technology amid a host of other unrelated topics."
Related story by The Washington Post -- "Iranian Opposition Warns Against Stricter Sanctions": "As the United States and its allies consider further sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fear that such punishment could have unintended consequences, strengthening the government's hand against domestic dissent and triggering an even harsher crackdown on political foes."
Related story on Morning Edition -- U.S. Has Relatively Low Expectations, But Might Hold One-On-One Talks With Iran. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports from Geneva:
-- The Washington Post -- "On War, Obama Could Turn To GOP": "With much of his party largely opposed to expanding military operations in Afghanistan, President Obama could be forced into the awkward political position of turning to congressional Republicans for support if he follows the recommendations of the commanding U.S. general there."
Related story on Morning Edition -- Differing Views On What To Do. NPR's Steve Inskeep, Tom Gjelten and Don Gonyea talk about the options in Afghanistan:
From a related story by the Associated Press -- McChrystal Reiterates That "Neither Success Nor Failure Can Be Taken For Granted": In a speech today in London, Reuters reports, the head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan said today of the task ahead in Afghanistan that "I discount immediately anyone who simplifies the problem or offers a solution...or says 'this is what you have got to do' because they absolutely have no clue about the complexity of what we are dealing with." Gen. Stanley McChrystal was speaking to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
-- Morning Edition -- Obamas Lead Final Push For Chicago's Olympics Bid. NPR's Cheryl Corley reports from Copenhagen:
Related story from All Things Considered -- Some In Chicago Don't Want The Games:
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
We earlier reported that Peter Galbraith was fired as the United Nations' special envoy to Afghanistan because of disagreements with the UN's top envoy there and the organization's secretary general over how to handle Afghanistan's fraudulent presidential election.
Galbraith spoke with All Things Considered host Robert Siegel about the differences of opinion that wound up costing him his job.
Asked by Robert if there was any truth to what some have said, that the firing was actually die to a personality clash, Galbraith rejected that notion.
No, that's totally inaccurate and it's an effort to obscure the issues that were at stake. This was a serious, long-running disagreement about how to handle fraud in the Afghan elections. It dates back to July when I recognized that the risk to this election was going to come from ghost polling centers, that is to say, polling centers in areas that were so insecure that they would never actually open. But they could be used to produce a lot of votes that were never cast by voters.
I tried to get the Afghan government to reduce the number of polling centers and to remove from the list those in these insecure areas. An effort, incidentally supported by the U.S., the UK and NATO.
But the Afghan government naturally complained. They were the beneficiaries of the fraud and Kai Eide, the head of the mission, decided we would say nothing more about polling centers.
This picture from the early 1980s in Kabul shows Afghan leader Babrak Karmal and his Soviet patron Mikhail Gorbachev. The sign in red reads: 'Strong be the unshakable Afghan-Soviet friendship.' ( AFP/AFP/Getty Images)
By Frank James
As President Barack Obama and his national security team met Wednesday to strategize about the way forward in Afghanistan, they have no shortage of advice on what the next steps should be.
Steve Coll who writes on intelligence and national security issues for the New Yorker and once the Washington Post's managing editor, has weighed in with his own suggestion: that the Americans might want to review what then Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev did in the 1980s to end his nation's involvement in Afghanistan.
Coll observes that Gorbachev "Afghan-ized" the war by turning it over to Afghan security forces in the same way Americans are trying now.
Peter Galbraith, the United Nation's special envoy to Afghanistan, was fired by Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon.
Peter Galbraith, now the former UN special envoy to Afghanistan, just fired by Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon. (JOERG KOCH / AFP/Getty Images)
Galbraith found himself on the losing end of a key Afghanistan argument. Following that country's irregular elections, Gabraith called for the entire election to be redone. Ban and the senior U.N. envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, thought that went too far supporting instead a partial recount.
As recently as a few hours ago, after rumors started swirling that Galbraith was getting the ax, he said he hadn't heard. This from the BBC:
Mr Galbraith, a US diplomat, said: "The secretary general appointed me and has not fired me so far as I know."
Mr Galbraith angered Afghan President Hamid Karzai by reportedly calling for a complete recount of the vote.
Last week the top UN Afghan envoy, Kai Eide, said Mr Galbraith had left the country after a row between them.
But he denied he had ordered him to go.
Here's the brief statement from Ban:
The Secretary-General has decided to recall Mr. Peter Galbraith from Afghanistan and to end his appointment as the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan).
Once again reaching back to the Vietnam War era for an analogy, Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts just said that those who criticize President Barack Obama for taking more time before he decides whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan are advocating a rush to decision that would run the risk of repeating mistakes made by U.S. policymakers in that earlier war.
"I've seen that movie before ... it didn't turn out well," said Kerry, who famously came home from service with the Navy in Vietnam to wonder at a Congressional hearing; "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam?"
All Things Considered's Melissa Block spoke with Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, just a short time ago:
Much more from Melissa's conversation with the senator is due on today's ATC. Click here to find an NPR station near you.
Don't mistake "normal discussion on the right approach" for "lack of resolve" when it comes to policy on Afghanistan, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said just a short time ago.
Sitting beside President Barack Obama at the White House, Rasmussen said the U.S. and NATO "will stay in Afghanistan as long as it takes to finish our job."
Obama, Rasmussen also said, is right to be reviewing the alliance's strategy before making decisions on whether to commit more troops to Afghanistan:
A bus packed with civilians hit a land mine in southern Afghanistan today and at least 30 people were killed by the resulting blast, authorities tell the Associated Press.
According to the AP, Kandahar provincial police chief Sardar Mohammad Zazai says nine women and seven children are among the dead. Agence France Presse says it has been told that 10 children and seven women died.
At least another 39 people are said to have been wounded, AP reports.
The death toll has risen sharply in just the last few hours. Earlier, officials were estimating that 12 people had been killed and about 15 wounded.
Update at 7:50 a.m. ET. From Kabul, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports that Afghan soldiers and passersby took the wounded to hospitals in Kandahar. The most seriously injured were taken to a NATO-run hospital. Soraya says the bus was traveling from the western Afghan city of Herat to Kabul. Meanwhile, in western Afghanistan a joint U.S.-Afghan force is said to have killed about 30 anti-government fighters in new fighting:
Earlier this morning, NPR's Scott Horsley filed this report about the strategy sessions President Barack Obama is holding regarding what to do next in Afghanistan:
On Morning Edition:
-- NPR's Jackie Northam reported that Obama's aides say now is the time to stop and ask key questions about the strategy to pursue in Afghanistan:
-- NPR's Julie McCarthy, reporting from Islamabad, reported that some Pakistanis fear the U.S. is about to pull out of Afghanistan and are nervous about what that could mean for their country:
-- Host Renee Montagne talked with The New Yorker's George Packer about Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Packer says Holbrooke's oversized personality is both a help and a hindrance:
Al-Qaida's second-in-command is believed to be the voice calling President Barack Obama a "fraud" in a new audio tape, the Associated Press reports.
The 28-minute message, discovered on Islamist websites today, is thought to be from Ayman al-Zawahri. In it, the man also memorializes Baitullah Mehsud, who until being killed by U.S. forces in early August had led a group of Taliban fighters based in Pakistan.
"He went to his God a martyr as we assume, but you have not killed Islam or jihad," says the voice heard on the recording.
Obama is decried for not convincing Israel to completely freeze the construction of buildings in the West Bank.
Al-Zawahri is thought to be hiding in mountains along the Pakistani-Afghan border.
There's word from Iran as the day begins that it has test-fired a long-range missile capable of reaching Israel and U.S. bases elsewhere in the Middle East. NPR's Carl Kasell introduces this report:
Sticking with news about Iran, The New York Times reports that the Obama administration "is scrambling to assemble a package of harsher economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program that could include a cutoff of investments to the country's oil-and-gas industry and restrictions on many more Iranian banks than those currently blacklisted, senior administration officials said Sunday."
Also this morning, the death toll continues to climb in the Philippines, where at least 140 people have died after a tropical storm caused massive flooding.
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
-- The Washington Post -- "U.S., Allies Vow Support For Karzai": "The United States and NATO countries fighting in Afghanistan have told President Hamid Karzai's government that they expect him to remain in office for another five-year term and will work with him on an expanded campaign to turn insurgent fighters against the Taliban and other militant groups."
-- USA TODAY -- "Confidence, Optimism Grow In Pockets Of U.S.": In communities such as Paris, Ill., unemployment remains high but some people are heading back to work. And "there is growing confidence as workers who are getting paychecks spend money, spreading optimism to small-business owners and city leaders."
-- Morning Edition "Honduras Restricts Liberties To Prevent Rebellion". NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from Tegucigalpa that the current government is allowing warrantless arrests and has banned "unauthorized" public meetings as ousted president Manuel Zelaya remains holed up in the Brazilian embassy (ME co-host Renee Montagne introduces his report):
-- The Associated Press -- "Merkel Vows Quick Deal On German Coalition": "Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to press ahead quickly with forming a new center-right German government following her election victory. Sunday's election gave the conservative Merkel a second four-year term. It allows her to dump her 'grand coalition' with the center-left Social Democrats and form a new government with the pro-business Free Democrats."
-- The New York Times Safire Was "Oracle Of Language": "William Safire, a speechwriter for President Richard M. Nixon and a Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist for The New York Times who also wrote novels, books on politics and a Malaprop's treasury of articles on language, died at a hospice in Rockville, Md., on Sunday. He was 79." He was, among many other things, "an unofficial arbiter of usage."
Related story on Morning Edition -- It Was "Hard Not To Love" Safire. NPR's David Folkenflik reports:
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
The U.S., Britain and France will this morning accuse Iran of secretly operating a second facility that produces nuclear fuel, NPR, the Associated Press, The New York Times and other news media are reporting.
President Barack Obama is expected to make the announcement at 8:30 a.m. ET in Pittsburgh, where he and other leaders of the so-called G-20 nations are meeting to talk about global economic issues.
As the Times says:
"The revelation ... appears bound to add urgency to the diplomatic confrontation with Iran over its suspected ambitions to build a nuclear weapons capability."
Iran has long insisted that it is pursuing peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Yesterday, as we reported, Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep interviewed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. For complete coverage of their conversation, click here. And here's what was on ME this morning:
Later today, by the way, Obama is due to hold a news conference. It's scheduled for 4:40 p.m. ET, after the close of the G-20 summit.
Other stories making headlines this morning include:
-- NPR News -- Zazi Due In Court Again Today; Arrests Made In Separate Plots Involving Alleged Attempts To Bomb Targets In Texas And Illinois: NPR's Dina Temple-Raston and Giles Snyder report:
Related story by The Denver Post -- Feds Say Zazi "Shopped For Bomb Materials At Beauty-Supply Stores": "For nearly a week, Najibullah Zazi told the FBI, reporters and even his own attorney that he had nothing to do with plotting a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. But an FBI affidavit and indictment unsealed Thursday charge that for weeks Zazi had been following bomb-making instructions, collecting chemicals from beauty-supply shops and testing the preparation of a hydrogen peroxide bomb in a metro-area hotel room."
Related story by the Dallas Morning News -- "Man Arrested In Alleged Attempt To Bomb Dallas Skyscraper": "A 19-year-old Jordanian citizen was arrested Thursday in a dramatic FBI sting operation after he parked a vehicle laden with government-supplied fake explosives at an iconic downtown Dallas skyscraper and attempted to detonate it, authorities said."
Related story by The State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill. -- "Alleged Downtown Terrorism Plot Defused": "Over the two years that authorities tracked Michael C. Finton, accused Thursday of trying to bomb Springfield's federal courthouse, they gave Finton plenty of chances to drop the idea. According to a 25-page affidavit filed in support of the charges against Finton, however, he would not be deterred. Authorities say Finton tried Wednesday to ignite what he thought was a huge quantity of explosives contained in a van parked near Sixth and Monroe streets."
-- CBS News' 60 Minutes -- "McChrystal: Violence 'Worse' Than Expected": "As the news from Afghanistan moves to the front pages of Americans' newspapers, the general tasked with turning things around there tells 60 Minutes that the spread of the violence in Afghanistan was more than he expected. Gen. Stanley McChrystal's interview with CBS News National Security correspondent David Martin will be broadcast on the 42nd season premiere of 60 Minutes this Sunday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
-- The New York Times -- "In Poll, Public Wary Of Obama On War And Health": "President Obama is confronting declining support for his handling of the war in Afghanistan and an electorate confused and anxious about a health care overhaul as he prepares for pivotal battles over both issues, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll."
-- The Associated Press -- "Justice Ginsburg Hospitalized": "Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the 76-year-old Supreme Court justice who underwent pancreatic cancer surgery earlier this year, fell ill at work after a treatment for anemia and was hospitalized overnight. Ginsburg was taken to Washington Hospital Center at 7:45 p.m. ET Thursday and would remain there for the night as a precaution, a statement from the court said."
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
Advice from 42 to 44. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)
By Mark Memmott
As he considers whether to send more U.S. combat troops to Afghanistan, President Barack Obama should wait to see whether Afghan President Hamid Karzai builds a new government that the U.S. can partner with, former president Bill Clinton just told NPR's Linda Wertheimer.
Saying that he respects the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Clinton said that the general's much-discussed wish for more troops is based in part on the success of the "surge" in Iraq.
"But let's remember why the Iraqi surge worked," Clinton told Linda, for a story due to air on tomorrow's Morning Edition. "It worked because the United States and our allies performed well -- but they performed well in partnership with the Anbar arising ... with the Sunni Iraqis being sick and tired of what al-Qaida in Iraq did and willing to put their own necks on the line."
Clinton said that "in the sports parlance, Afghanistan -- like Iraq -- is an away game for the American team. We've got to have a hometown partner. ...
"I think that what the president may want to do is to take a little time and wait until the results of the Afghan election are finalized and then see what decisions the Afghan political leaders are going to make after the results. If President Karzai is judged to have prevailed, but there's a lot of questions about the ballot, will he take Mr. Abdullah into the government? What about a couple of those other people who ran for president and have enormous skills -- should they be put into the government?"
Those would be signs, Clinton said, of a government that the U.S. could partner with.
"Then the president might say 'OK, well we can put more troops in certain areas as a result of that,' " added Clinton.
"This is a weighty decision for him and he wants to make the right one," Clinton said of Obama. The president, he added, "asked us to give him the time to see how the Afghan political situation resolves itself and how that might affect his decision. I think that's time we ought to give him."
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. David Petraeus, commander of Central Command, have sent letters to Defense Secretary Robert Gates endorsing Gen. Stan McChrystal, NPR's Tom Bowman has learned from someone familiar with the letters.
Tom tells us:
"Gates, meanwhile, is supportive of McChrystal, though is still wary of a large American footprint of troops in Afghanistan.
McChrystal's second report, which includes various options for troop increases, is expected to reach Washington by week's end. Sources say the high end is 40,000 troops, with 60 percent trainers and the rest combat troops."
U.S. soldiers stand atop their armored MRAP vehicles before a mission in Afghanistan's Wardak Province. (Maya Alleruzzo / AP Photo)
By Frank James
As he reconsiders the way forward for the U.S. in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama has come up with a new formulation to explain his thinking.
Viewers of "The Late Show with David Letterman" heard it last night when he said:
And what I'm trying to do at this point is to make sure that, both on the military front, on the diplomatic front, on the civilian front, training Afghan military and police, that on all these elements that we've got a coherent strategy that can work, because the most important duty I've got is, before I send some young men and women in uniform over there -- and I'm answerable to their parents, and if they don't come back, I've got to write a letter to them saying that their child has sacrificed on behalf of America.
Before I make those decisions, I've got to make sure that the policy in place is worthy of their sacrifice. (Applause.) And that's something that we're going to take -- (applause) -- that's something that we are going through work through systematically in the coming weeks and months. We're not going to make a decision about any further troop deployments until we know what exactly is our strategy, what are the tactics, how will troops be used. Can we justify taking those steps? And I'm going to be asking some very hard questions.
What's interesting about this statement is that even though the president doesn't want to now send any additional troops to Afghanistan because he's not sure the current policy would be worth their deaths, he does have more than 60,000 U.S. troops already there.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai may have harmed his own cause by misreading American intentions and overseeing the kind of fraudulent election that now makes it harder for the U.S. to extend its commitment to Afghanistan. (Manish Swarup / AP Photo)
By Frank James
Afghan President Hamid Karzai may have unwittingly shot himself in the foot in his effort to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan and all because he mistakenly read U.S. intentions.
How so? According to the Washington Post, President Obama is largely reconsidering his approach to Afghanistan because of the rampant fraud in the recent Afghan elections in which Karzai maintains the dubious vote lead.
A WaPo excerpt:
The principal game-changer, in the view of White House officials, was Afghanistan's presidential election last month, which was compromised by fraud, much of it in support of President Hamid Karzai. Although the results have not been certified, he almost certainly will remain in office, but under a cloud of illegitimacy that could complicate U.S. efforts to promote good governance.
This re-examination of his administration's previous stance, which leaned towards significantly increasing U.S. troop strength to attempt a strong counterinsurgency effort, comes as the leaked report of the U.S.' top general for Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is being widely reported as saying success in that war-stricken nation will require more troops.
As we reported first thing this morning, the top story of the day is Bob Woodward's scoop in The Washington Post that the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has delivered a very sober assessment of conditions in Afghanistan that warns of failure unless more troops are sent and a new strategy is soon implemented.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs confirms that the president has seen McChrystal's report, but also says that the general isn't expected to make a formal request for more troops for "a little bit longer."
How's the news about what McChrystal thinks playing in the political blogosphere? Here's a sampling:
-- Ed Morrissey at the conservative Hot Air says "it's not a pretty picture, and McChrystal's report clearly defines this as a fish-or-cut-bait moment. If we hope to prevail, we will need a political commitment for more resources over a much longer period of time than most politicians have been willing to report."
-- The liberal Taylor Marsh says "Woodward's story is golden. Remains to be seen who leaked it, beyond saying it came from someone who definitely wants to keep the mission going in Afghanistan."
-- Also from the liberal side, Siun at firedoglake writes that the McChrystal report's bottomline is "give me more troops or it will be your fault, Obama, that we lose the war."
-- Back with the conservatives, Jillian Bandes at Townhall says "this won't be happy news to politicians listening to an American populace that is strongly against continued involvement in Afghanistan, or the usual budgetary issues."
Update at 11:50 a.m. ET. At the widely read "milblog" Mudville Gazette, there's this:
This isn't "new" -- it's the McChrystal report the Obama administration has attempted to keep from public view since its late-August delivery. And frankly, it contains no surprises for those who've been paying attention to Afghanistan. But if it isn't new, it most definitely is news, and most definitely is big: the day following President Obama's appearance on five Sunday news talk shows, in which he expressed his concerns over "mission creep" in Afghanistan, Bob Woodward publishes a declassified copy of General McChrystal's commander's assessment.
The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict "will likely result in failure," according to a copy of the 66-page document obtained by The Washington Post.
The top military commander in Afghanistan warns in a confidential assessment of the war there that he needs additional troops within the next year or else the conflict "will likely result in failure."
Update at 8:45 a.m. ET: In that copy of the assessment put online by the Post, McChrystal writes that "success is achievable, but it will not be attained simply by trying harder or 'doubling down' on the previous strategy. Additional resources are required, but focusing on force or resource requirements misses the point entirely. The key take away from this assessment is the urgent need for a significant change to our strategy and the way that we think and operate."
McChrystal also says that:
"Our campaign in Afghanistan has been historically under-resourced and remains so today. ... Resources will not win this war, but under-resourcing could lose it. ... Ideally, the (Afghan National Security Force) must lead this fight, but they will not have enough capability in the near-term given the insurgency's growth rate. In the interim, coalition forces must provide a bridge capability to protect critical segments of the population. The status quo will lead to failure if we wait for the ANSF to grow."
On Morning Edition, NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman told host Steve Inskeep that it's no surprise that Gen. Stanley McChrystal wants more troops for the war in Afghanistan -- and notes that there's growing opposition in Congress to the idea of sending more combat forces:
Sticking with news about the war on terror, there's more to report about the arrests of three men over the weekend in connection with a cross-country probe into a possible plot to bomb transportation hubs in New York City. On Morning Edition, NPR's Dina Temple-Raston told guest host Linda Wertheimer that law enforcement officials feared the plotters "actually had the capacity and expertise to launch a credible attack." So far, the men have been charged with lying to authorities:
As The Denver Post reports, "today, 24-year-old Najibullah Zazi and his father, Mohammed, 53, are scheduled to make initial appearances in federal court." The third man facing charges is New York imam Ahmad Wais Afzali.
As for other stories making headlines this morning, they include:
-- The Hill -- "Obama Frames G-20 Meeting As Debate Over Future Global Economy": The G-20 summit of world leaders in Pittsburgh on Thursday and Friday "is shaping up as a debate over what the world economy of the future should look like." On Sunday, President Barack Obama "made it clear he wants to talk about fostering a new era in global economic affairs."
Related story on Morning Edition -- At U.N., Obama Will Continue Effort To Mend Fences. NPR's Michele Kelemen looks ahead to the president's appearance this week at the United Nations:
-- The Wall Street Journal -- "IRS Extends Deadline To Declare Foreign Accounts": "In an effort to keep its doors open to tax evaders, the Internal Revenue Service will extend until Oct. 15 its limited amnesty program for U.S. taxpayers with undeclared income on foreign accounts, according to government officials. The special voluntary disclosure program was to have ended Wednesday. It began in March after UBS AG in February turned over the names of more than 250 account holders as part of a criminal settlement."
-- BBC News -- Thai King In Hospital; Condition Stable: "The 81-year-old king of Thailand has been admitted to hospital suffering from a fever. Doctors said King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-serving monarch, had shown signs of fatigue and was being treated with antibiotics. ... Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters there was 'nothing to be concerned about.' "
-- NPR News -- "FCC Chief Seen Edging Toward 'Net Neutrality' Rules". "A speech scheduled for Monday by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is being closely watched by both sides of a debate over 'network neutrality' -- a term describing a world in which Internet service providers can't charge different rates for different levels of service." NPR's Laura Sydell reports:
Finally, if you're looking for a lively minute-by-minute recap of last night's Emmy Awards, check out Planet Money.
Contributing: Chinita Anderson of Morning Edition.
Make sure the strategy's right before committing more troops, Gates says. (David Gilkey/NPR)
By Mark Memmott
The series of decisions facing President Barack Obama as he considers whether to send more U.S. combat troops to Afghanistan "are some of the most important he may face in his presidency" and "should not be rushed," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters this morning.
"We need to take our time and get this right," said Gates, who signaled that the president's decision may not come for weeks.
Here's the audio:
As has been widely reported, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan -- Gen. Stanley McChrystal -- is expected to ask for additional forces.
Click here to see all of NPR.org's coverage of news about Afghanistan.
He sacrificed his life for one of his men. (Courtesy of 10th Mountain Division.)
By Mark Memmott
The nation pays its highest military tribute to a fallen hero today when President Barack Obama awards a posthumous Medal of Honor to Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti of Raynham, Mass.
As NPR's Tom Bowman reported on Morning Edition, the 30-year-old Monti made a valiant effort to save one of his men during a ferocious firefight on a mountaintop in Afghanistan three years ago. Staff Sgt. Chris Cunningham tells Tom that when Monti heard during the battle that one of his men was missing, the 1st Sgt. said "he's my guy, I'm going to get him":
The highest award for valor in action against an enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States. Generally presented to its recipient by the President of the United States of America in the name of Congress, it is often called the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Update at 2:45 p.m. ET. The president has awarded the medal. During his remarks, he talked about the bravery Monti showed:
Update at 11:55 a.m. ET: At the Pentagon today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked if he is concerned by the fact that there has not yet been a Medal of Honor awarded to any living veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Gates said he is bothered by that -- and that it was one of former president George W. Bush's "real regrets" that he did not have sucn an opportunity. Then, Gates added that it's his understanding there are "some living potential recipients that have been put forward":
Several stories have broken since we signed off last night. Among them:
-- The Associated Press -- "Suicide Car Bomber Hits Italian Convoy In Kabul;" At Least 16 Killed: "A suicide car bomber attacked an Italian military convoy on a road in Afghanistan's capital Thursday, killing six Italian soldiers and 10 Afghan civilians, officials said. ... Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility, saying in a text message that they had ordered had carried out the suicide attack against foreign forces."
-- The Denver Post -- "FBI Searches Two Aurora Residences In Connection With Anti-Terror Probe": "Federal investigators released an Aurora man late Wednesday night after 8 1/2 hours of questioning in connection with a multi-state anti-terrorism investigation. Najibullah Zazi, 24, left the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building after 10:30 p.m. -- but is scheduled to return this afternoon for another round of questioning, according to his attorney, Art Folsom. The move came after a day that saw federal agents raid Zazi's apartment and a house where his aunt and uncle live."
Related report from NPR's Dina Temple-Raston on Morning Edition: "Raids In N.Y., Denver Yield Questions, No Arrests":
-- The Associated Press -- "Obama Scrapping Missile Shield" In Poland & Czech Republic, Czech Prime Minister Says: "The Czech prime minister says President Barack Obama has told him that the U.S. is abandoning plans to put a missile shield in the Czech Republic and Poland. Czech Premier Jan Fischer told reporters in Prague on Thursday that Obama phoned him to say that Washington has decided to scrap the plan that had deeply angered Russia."
Related reports -- "Pentagon to announce major changes to missile defense system," Reuters says; "pool report" from Baghdad says that Vice President Joe Biden declined comment on the news.
-- NPR News -- Folk Singer Mary Travers Dies; She Was 72. NPR's Paul Brown reports:
-- NPR News -- Actor/Comedian Henry Gibson Has Died; He Was 73. NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates reports:
As for other stories making headlines today, they include:
-- The Washington Post -- Baucus' Bill "May Weather The Blows": "On the surface, it appears that no one is happy with Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) -- and that may be the best news President Obama has had in months. Within minutes of the release of the Senate Finance Committee chairman's long-awaited health-care reform bill Wednesday, the attacks started flying. ... But behind the rhetorical fireworks was a sense that the fragile coalition of major industry leaders and interest groups central to refashioning the nation's $2.5 trillion health-care system remains intact."
Related story by The New York Times -- "Magic Number For Democrats In Senate On Health Bill Is 60": "The unveiling of a compromise health care proposal has Senate Democrats pondering a daunting mathematical challenge: how to keep all 59 Democrats united and attract at least one Republican to pass an overhaul measure."
Related story on Morning Edition -- "Republicans Who Helped Craft Health Bill Don't Endorse It". NPR's David Welna reports:
-- Politico -- "In The Race From Race, Democrats Rebut Jimmy Carter": "Jimmy Carter is 84 years old and three decades removed from the White House, but he still has the power to make Democrats run. Away from him, that is. From the White House to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Democrats raced to distance themselves from the former president's claim that racism was behind Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie" outburst and other attacks on President Barack Obama."
-- New Haven Register -- Arrest "Imminent" In Death Of Yale Grad Student.
Coming up later today: The Census Bureau releases figures on August housing construction, at 8:30 a.m. ET; President Barack Obama holds a health care rally in College Park, Md., starting around 11:40 a.m. ET.
An American Army instructor speaks with an Afghan soldier instructor after a graduation ceremony in Kabul on October 18, 2008. (MANPREET ROMANA / AFP/Getty Images)
By Frank James
Last week, leading Senate expert on military matters, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), said he opposed dispatching more U.S. troops to Afghanistan until the U.S. has trained more Afghan military and police.
That sounds good until you consider this fact: the Afghan military is overwhelmingly illiterate.
According to U.S. military officers, the percentage of Afghans in the military who can read and write is likely in the single digits, certainly no more than 10 percent.
So there's perhaps a 90 percent illiteracy rate. Which means that training the Afghan army won't be as easy as translating the U.S.'s English-language training materials into the Pasto or Dari anguages spoken in Afghanistan and telling Afghan recruits to study them.
A recent Associated Press story had this example:
Afghan army recruit Shahidullah Ahmadi can't read -- and neither can nine out of 10 soldiers in the Afghan National Army...
..."I face difficulties. If someone calls me and tells me to go somewhere, I can't read the street signs," Ahmadi, 27, a member of a logistics battalion, said while walking through downtown Kabul. "In our basic training, we learned a lot. Some of my colleagues who can read and write can take notes, but I've forgotten a lot of things, the types of things that might be able to save my life."
"A properly resourced counterinsurgency probably means more forces," Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee this morning.
Translation: As has been expected, he and other military leaders believe more U.S. troops are needed in Afghanistan.
The committee is webcasting the hearing on whether to reappoint Mullen to the chairman's post.
As Reuters reports:
The United States currently has 62,000 troops in Afghanistan and that figure is expected to rise to 68,000 by the end of the year. There were around 32,000 U.S. troops in the country at the start of the year.
Update at 10:52 a.m. ET. In his opening statement, Mullen made the case that many of the lessons learned in Iraq -- most notably, that it is critical to provide safety and security to civilians -- can be applied in Afghanistan. But that, he cautioned, will require more troops and resources. In this clip, Mullen refers to the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan -- Gen. Stanley McChrystal -- as he discusses what he believes is needed::
There's fresh news from Iraq as the day begins. Convicted "shoe-thrower" Muntadhar al-Zeidi, famous around the world for throwing his footwear at then-president George W. Bush last December in Baghdad, was released from prison.
At the TV station where he's a reporter, al-Zeidi told other journalists today that he was tortured by Iraqi security forces while in prison. The abuse included beatings, whippings and electric shocks, al-Zeidi said. NPR's Nora Raum introduces this report from Quil Lawrence, who is in Baghdad:
Other stories making headlines include:
-- Politico -- Democrats To Vote Today On "Resolution Of Disapproval" Aimed At Rep. Wilson: "House Democratic leaders will move ahead with a 'resolution of disapproval' against Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., on Tuesday afternoon, following through on their threat to sanction the conservative lawmaker for heckling President Obama during his speech to Congress last week." Wilson famously shouted "you lie!" at the president. He has since apologized to the White House -- but has declined to apologize from the House floor.
Reminder -- Last Thursday, we started this online poll -- and as of this morning, nearly 16,000 votes had been cast and the split was an even 50-50. Add your vote if you wish:
-- The Associated Press -- Sen. Baucus Close To Releasing Health Care Plan: "Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus has been trying for months to write a health care bill that could win Republican support. If he succeeds he may find it's fellow Democrats he has to worry about. Baucus, D-Mont., said Monday that 'we're getting very close' to finalizing sweeping health legislation to enact President Barack Obama's priorities of extending coverage to most of the 50 million uninsured and holding down spiraling health care costs. Following weeks of closed-door negotiations with two other Democratic senators and three Republicans, Baucus plans to unveil his bill Wednesday, and he hopes Republicans are with him. Such a bargain could mark a turning point for Obama's top domestic priority."
-- The New York Times -- "Pakistan Army Is Said To Be Linked To Many Killings In Swat": " Two months after the Pakistani Army wrested control of the Swat Valley from Taliban militants, a new campaign of fear has taken hold, with scores, perhaps hundreds, of bodies dumped on the streets in what human rights advocates and local residents say is the work of the military."
-- Related story on Morning Edition -- "Training A 'Flip-Flop Army' ". Capt. Benjamin Tupper has some stories to tell about his work with new Afghan soldiers. His new book, Welcome to Afghanistan: Send More Ammo, details his time as an embedded trainer in the Afghan National Army:
-- Bloomberg News -- Treasury & Citigroup Exploring Sale Of Government's Stake: "The U.S. Treasury Department and Citigroup Inc. have begun discussing how to sell the 34% stake that the government acquired in the rescue of the bank, people familiar with the matter said. The Treasury, which owns 7.69 billion common shares after a recent preferred-stock conversion designed to shore up the bank's capital, may start unloading the stake as soon as October, one of the people said. It aims to sell the holdings over the next six to eight months, the person said."
-- Morning Edition -- For Swayze, Dancing Was "Most Intense Way To Connect": Actor and Dirty Dancing legend Patrick Swayze died Monday afte ra long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57. Jesse Baker profiles the man who set millions of girls' hearts fluttering:
Farewell. (Jae C. Hong / AP)
Over at Monkey See, Linda Holmes recalls what it was like to be 16 when Dirty Dancing came out. And as she says, "making things that are beloved certainly isn't everything, but it is something, and Swayze made things that were beloved broadly and without cynicism."
As for things to watch today, they include President Barack Obama's speech this afternoon to the AFL-CIO in Pittsburgh. And, the Bureau of Labor Statistics issues the latest news on inflation -- the August wholesale prices report.
Though health care remains atop the agenda in Washington, financial regulation will be competing for the spotlight today.
As this timeline shows, it's the one-year anniversary of Lehman Brothers' collapse. And as NPR's John Ydstie reports, "a year ago this week the global financial system teetered on the edge of collapse":
President Barack Obama will be on Wall Street today to deliver what the White House is billing as a "major speech on the financial crisis." That happens at noon ET. We'll "live-blog" the highlights, and NPR's Neal Conan will be on many NPR member stations anchoring coverage of the president's address.
Related story by Bloomberg News -- "Stiglitz Says Bank Problems Bigger Than Pre-Lehman": " Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize- winning economist, said the U.S. has failed to fix the underlying problems of its banking system after the credit crunch and the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc."
Related story by The Wall Street Journal -- "Government's Trial And Error Helped Stem Financial Panic": "It was only a year ago that the world economy was enveloped in a financial panic of such dimensions that, if one believes Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, it threatened to produce a calamity as bad as the Great Depression. Today, the economy is far from vigorous. Unemployment remains high. Huge swaths of the financial system remain on government life-support. But the global recession appears over, and now forecasters are arguing over the pace and sustainability of recovery."
As for the other stories making headlines this morning, they include:
-- The Washington Post -- Poll Signals That "Reform Opposition Is High But Easing": "President Obama continues to face significant public resistance to his drive to initiate far-reaching changes to the country's health-care system, with widespread skepticism about central tenets of his plan, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. But after a summer of angry debate and protests, opposition to the effort has eased somewhat, and there appears to be potential for further softening among critics if Congress abandons the idea of a government-sponsored health insurance option, a proposal that has become a flash point in the debate."
Related report by CBS News Face the Nation -- Sen. Snowe Says Public Option Blocks Consensus: "Moderate Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said a public option in the health care bill is 'universally opposed by all Republicans in the Senate' and called it 'a roadblock to building the kind of consensus that we need to move forward,' on Face the Nation Sunday."
-- The Associated Press -- "Bin Laden Reportedly Calls Obama 'Powerless' ": "In an audio message posted on militant websites, a man thought to be al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden says President Barack Obama is "powerless" to stop the war in Afghanistan. The voice also asserts that the new U.S. president is following the policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush. The terrorist-monitoring group SITE Intelligence has more on the message here.
Related story on Morning Edition -- "Timeline Of Afghan War's Progress Differs In U.S., Kabul":
-- New Haven Register -- Body Found May Be That Of Missing Graduate Student: " A body believed to be that of missing Yale graduate student Annie Le was found Sunday hidden inside a wall at 10 Amistad St., the building where she was last seen alive. It was supposed to be the day she would marry her college sweetheart and celebrate at a reception in a tony section of Long Island."
If President Barack Obama ultimately decides to significantly boost the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan from the current 60,000, it appears he will may be opposed by Sen. Carl Levin, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, unless the U.S. puts more urgency into training Afghan security forces.
On the eighth anniversary of 9/11, Levin spoke on the Senate floor Friday and called for a much more aggressive and accelerated effort to train Afghans to fight the Taliban. What he's calling for is an Afghan surge:
A excerpt from his speech:
Can we help Afghanistan reach self-sufficiency in security fast enough? Can we get there in a way that regains the initiative and creates the momentum we need? Can we encourage those lower level Taliban to abandon an insurgency headed by terrorists whose fanaticism they don't share?
I believe we can, by supporting a far more rapid growth in the Afghan Army and police; by providing more trainers more quickly; by a rapid infusion to Afghan units of equipment no longer needed in Iraq; and by rapidly adopting a plan for the re-integration of lower level Taliban fighters into Afghan society. In other words, we need a surge of Afghan security forces.
We've already covered the morning-after news about President Barack Obama's health care address to Congress -- here and here.
As for other stories making headlines, they include the serious and the not-so-serious:
-- The Associated Press -- Commission Orders Some Ballots Be Voided In Afghanistan: "The U.N.-backed commission investigating fraud in Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election has issued its first orders to completely exclude some ballots from the final tally. A statement issued Thursday by the Electoral Complaints Commission says all ballots from five polling stations in Paktika province should be voided because they show clear evidence of fraud. This is a more severe step than ordering a recount, in which the votes could eventually be included."
Related statements from the commission -- Some ballots also voided in:
-- Dow Jones Newswire -- GM To Sell Opel To Canada's Magna: "General Motors Co. said Thursday it had made a decision on the future of German unit Adam Opel GmbH and its U.K. sister company Vauxhall, as people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires that GM's board had recommended a sale to a consortium led by Canadian car parts maker Magna International Inc."
-- New York Post -- Ellen Lands Place On Idol's Judging Panel: "Ellen DeGeneres is replacing Paula Abdul on American Idol. 'I just finally got the OK ... just moments ago to announce this to you today,' DeGeneres told her studio audience during yesterday's taping of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, airing today."
Related statement at AmericanIdol.com: "As the new judge, Ellen will offer her own unique perspective to the contestants throughout the competition."
There's news from Afghanistan this morning that New York Times reporter Stephen Farrell, who along with his interpreter had been held captive by militants since Saturday, was freed by British commandos.
But the interpreter, Sultan Munadi, and one British commando were killed during a firefight. Farrell's kidnapping had not been reported prior to the raid that freed him. He is the second Times reporter in recent months to have been kidnapped in Afghanistan. In June, reporter David Rohde and interpreter Tahir Ludin escaped from their captors after being held for seven months.
The main story of the day, though, looks to be President Barack Obama's prime-time address to a joint session of Congress.
The Wall Street Journal says Obama "will press for a government-run insurance option in a proposed overhaul of the U.S. health-care system that has divided lawmakers and voters for months."
On Morning Edition a short time ago, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told NPR's Renee Montagne that Obama believes the so-called public option is "a valuable tool" and something "he'd like to see." Gibbs did not directly answer Renee's question about whether the president would veto a health care overhaul bill that doesn't include that option. "We're not going to accentuate the negative," Gibbs said:
Staying with health care for a moment:
-- The New York Times' Prescriptions blog offers its advice on how to watch tonight's presidential address. Among the things to look for: "Any sign that he is now willing to let Democrats go it alone, maybe by using a controversial procedural tactic known as budget reconciliation."
-- On Morning Edition, NPR's Mara Liasson said the president's goal remains the same -- to find some consensus so that a health care overhaul bill can be passed this year:
-- NPR's Richard Knox takes a look at a key Republican, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine:
-- Former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin takes aim at the president's health care "bureaucratization" again in an op-ed piece published by The Wall Street Journal. She once again brings up the "death panels" that she has warned about before (panels the president and his supporters say don't and won't exist).
There will, of course, be many ways to watch and monitor the president's address, which is set to begin at 8 p.m. ET. It will be broadcast by all the cable news networks, on many NPR stations, and at NPR.org.
We will "live-blog" the speech, using a "Cover It Live" box that lets you -- the readers -- discuss the address as it's happening. We're hoping to have Ken Rudin of NPR.org's Political Junkie blog and Scott Hensley of NPR.org's Health Blog join us. As the time draws near, come back here if you want to follow along.
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
-- Morning Edition -- "High Court Weighs Upending Campaign-Money Rules": "The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court have returned early from their summer recess to hear arguments in a case that could rip apart the legal underpinnings of the nation's campaign finance laws. For more than a century, for all practical purposes, those laws have barred corporations from spending money on candidate elections. Wednesday's argument is a double first: The first argument to be heard by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and the first time new U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan will argue a case before the Supreme Court." NPR's Nina Totenberg reports:
Related story by On the Media -- The case goes well beyond Hillary: The Movie, the film that kicked off the legal debate:
The Supreme Court hears the case at 10 a.m. ET. Audio of the argument is scheduled to be released by late morning.
-- Variety -- Columnist Army Archerd, A "Defining Voice" In Show Business, Has Died: "Showbiz has lost one of its defining voices, one who honed his craft in the bygone era of close-knit Hollywood and evolved through the many iterations of the industry. Army Archerd, who became an industry institution and beloved figure in his more than half a century at Daily Variety, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He had a rare form of mesothelioma cancer, thought to be the result of his exposure to asbestos in the Navy during WWII. He was 87."
One more story to watch for today: The Federal Reserve releases its latest "beige book" review of how the economy is doing at 2 p.m. ET.
"In light of the concerns that have arisen over irregularities" in Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election, some ballot boxes need to be excluded from the vote count, the U.N.'s special representative for Afghanistan said today in a statement.
Ambassador Kai Eide added that he is calling on Afghan and U.N. officials "to redouble their efforts to ensure full rigor in their work at every stage. This includes excluding from the preliminary count results from ballot boxes where there is evidence of irregularities."
And regarding those charges, Afghanistan's U.N.-sponsored Electoral Complaints Commission said today that it has found "clear and convincing evidence ... that fraudulent ballots were cast." It ordered the nation's Independent Elections Commission "to conduct an audit and recount of ballot boxes" in polling stations where turnout was reported to have been 100% or where one candidate received 95% or more of the votes.
According to the AP:
With results from 74% of polling stations released so far, (President Hamid) Karzai has 48.6% with about 2.1 million votes. Top challenger Abdullah Abdullah has 31.7%, or 1.4 million votes. Karzai needs more than 50% to avoid a runoff.
When Marine Lance Cpl Joshua M. Bernard, 21, was mortally wounded on Aug. 14, 2009 in Afghanistan by a Taliban fighter's rocket-propelled grenade, the aftermath was captured by Associated Press Julie Jacobson who was embedded with the unit.
Marine Lance Cpl Joshua Bernard. ( AP Photo/USMC)
The photo is a rarity, a picture of a fatally injured American fighting man in Afghanistan or Iraq and so it's news worthy for that reason alone.
But the same thing that makes the photo news, also makes it extremely troubling for many people to view. It is difficult to witness the moments when a young service member's life is ebbing away.
For that reason, AP didn't release the photo as early as it could have. In an article published Friday, the news service explains that it waited until after the funeral of the Maine native due to the photo's sensitivity.
The AP waited until after Bernard's burial in Madison, Maine, on Aug. 24 to distribute its story and the pictures. An AP reporter met with his parents, allowing them to see the images.
Bernard's father after seeing the image of his mortally wounded son said he opposed its publication, saying it was disrespectful to his son's memory. John Bernard reiterated his viewpoint in a telephone call to the AP on Wednesday.
"We understand Mr. Bernard's anguish. We believe this image is part of the history of this war. The story and photos are in themselves a respectful treatment and recognition of sacrifice," said AP senior managing editor John Daniszewski.
Eight privately contracted security guards at the U.S. embassy in Kabul have been fired following the reports of lewd behavior and sexual misconduct there among their ranks.
The Associated Press says the embassy announced a short time ago that the guards are "being replaced immediately" and left Afghanistan today.
As we reported Wednesday, the Project on Government Oversight sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton a letter alleging that a "Lord of the Flies" environment had been allowed to grow among the security personnel at the embassy. POGO cited reports of sexual misconduct among the guards.
The guards were supplied by ArmorGroup North America, a division of Wackenhut Services.
Set aside some time around 8:30 a.m. ET if you're anxious to hear about what's expected to be the day's big news. That's when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases figures on the August unemployment rate and the number of jobs eliminated last month by U.S. businesses (it would be a HUGE surprise if there was job growth last month). The BLS will post the employment report here. We'll pass along the news as quickly as we can. Planet Money will be on the story as well.
On Morning Edition, NPR's Chris Arnold told guest host Ari Shapiro that the jobless rate likely ticked up to 9.5% in August from 9.4% in July and that employers probably eliminated about 250,000 jobs. Those aren't great numbers, but they're much better than the losses of last winter and spring:
A not-as-bad-as-before jobs report, of course, would add to the evidence gathered in recent weeks that signals the economy may be on the mend. The Wall Street Journal this morning offers another such sign: An increase in the number of people at shopping malls hints that consumers may be coming out of their shells.
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
-- The Associated Press -- Dozens Of Afghan Civilians Reported Killed In NATO Airstrike: "A NATO jet blasted two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan, setting off a huge fireball Friday that killed up to 90 people, Afghan officials said. The NATO command said a 'large number of insurgents' were killed or injured in the pre-dawn attack near the village of Omar Khel in Kunduz province. An Afghan police officer said the 90 dead included about 40 civilians who were siphoning fuel from the trucks."
Related story on Morning Edition -- "Two Democrats Criticize Afghan War Strategy." NPR's Tom Bowman talks with Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and Sen. Russell Feingold of Wisconsin about their concerns regarding President Barack Obama's Afghan strategy:
-- The Associated Press -- North Korea Claims It Is In Final Stage Of Enriching Uranium:
-- Los Angeles Times -- Incendiary Materials Found Near Site Where Wildfire Started; Homicide Investigation Launched: "A source close to the investigation said investigators found incendiary material near the site. The source, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss the matter, would not be more specific or identify the material. Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said investigators don't want to release details out of fear it could hurt their ability to find and prosecute an arsonist." Two firefighters were killed while battling the blaze.
Related report from NPR News' Paul Brown:
-- El Paso Times -- "Juarez In Shock" After Massacre: "The brutality of a massacre (Wednesday) at a Juarez drug rehabilitation center in which 18 people were killed shocked a city already plagued with record-breaking violence. A motive for the attack was under investigation, but it appeared to be linked to feuding drug trafficking groups."
-- Los Angeles Times -- "Democrats Consider Setting 'Trigger' For Government Healthcare": "Looking to break the logjam on healthcare legislation, the White House and Democrats in the Senate are increasingly placing their hopes on the idea of a 'trigger' that, if set off, would allow the government to offer health insurance to many Americans."
The King of Pop, who died June 25, was laid to rest last night at Glendale (Calif.) Forest Lawn Memorial Park. (Harrison Funk/AP Photo/The Jackson Family)
Suggestions by some, notably including conservative pundit George Will, that it's time for the U.S. to pull its forces out of Afghanistan are wrong, Defense Secretary Robert Gates just told reporters at the Pentagon.
Gates said he is "absolutely" opposed to a withdrawal and that terrorists there can't be defeated "from a distance":
He also said he would be open to a request from the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, for more troops.
Sticking with the subject of the war in Afghanistan:
-- Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad just told Talk of the Nation's Neal Conan that "it's still a war of necessity ... in some ways it's become more important."
Much more from TOTN discussion about the Afghan war will be posted here later today.
-- On All Things Considered later today, veteran U.S. diplomat Tim Carney (who led the U.S. electoral support team in Afghanistan during that country's elections last month), can be heard talking with guest host Noah Adams about reports of fraud during the voting. During their conversation, recorded earlier today, Carney said there is evidence that the government there will be able to uncover any problems:
Click here to find an NPR station near you that broadcasts TOTN and ATC.
As our day begins, there's fresh -- and mildly encouraging -- news from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. In a new report, the global economic development agency concludes that:
Recovery from the global recession is likely to arrive earlier than had been expected a few months ago but the pace of activity will remain weak well into next year.
You can expect to hear more about the economy, and why the Obama administration believes its actions have helped turn things around, when Vice President Joe Biden speaks this morning at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Other news that's occurred overnight includes:
-- Word from the western Chinese city of Urumqi about more protests there. In July, ethnic clashes between the majority Han and ethnic Uighurs left about 200 people dead.
-- A vote by the Iranian parliament to approve President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's new cabient. the ministers include "the first woman in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic," the BBC reports.
As for stories making headlines:
-- Morning Edition -- Obama Seeks To Regain Momentum On Health Care. NPR's Mara Liasson reports on the administration's strategy and the address President Barack Obama will make before Congress next Wednesday:
Related story by The New York Times -- "Obama Aides Aim To Simplify And Scale Back Health Bills": "President Obama plans to address a joint session of Congress next week in an effort to rally support for health care legislation as White House officials look for ways to simplify and scale back the major Democratic bills, lower the cost and drop contentious but nonessential elements."
Related story on Morning Edition -- "Minnesota Experiment Puts Patient Health First." NPR's David Welna reports:
Related story on Morning Edition -- "Records Of Health Worker Misdeeds Kept Secret."
-- USA TODAY -- "Women Take Over The Workplace": "Women are on the verge of outnumbering men in the workforce for the first time, a historic reversal caused by long-term changes in women's roles and massive job losses for men during this recession. Women held 49.83% of the nation's 132 million jobs in June and they're gaining the vast majority of jobs in the few sectors of the economy that are growing, according to the most recent numbers available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics."
Related story by The New York Times -- "A Reluctance To Retire Means Fewer Openings."
-- Los Angeles Times -- "Crews Probe Point Of Origin As Fire Marches East": "Fire investigators hunched under a scorched, 20-foot-tall oak tree off Angeles Crest Highway on Wednesday afternoon, using wire mesh sifters to search through the ash in an attempt to determine whether the largest brush fire in Los Angeles County history was deliberately set."
-- Morning Edition -- Haqqani Network Conducts Its Own Reign Of Terror In Afghanistan. The Haqqani Network is a terrorist group that is not as well known as the Taliban or al-Qaida. From its base in Pakistan, the group has mounted a series of sophisticated attacks in Afghanistan. NPR's Renee Montagne talks with terrorism expert Vahid Brown about the group:
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack, which happened in the eastern province of Laghman as the intelligence chief, Abdullah Laghmani, was leaving a ceremony that marked the inauguration of a mosque. NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson filed this report from Kabul:
Unfortunately, there's other breaking news of death and destruction to pass on from overseas:
-- "A bomb has exploded outside the Athens stock exchange, slightly injuring a female passer-by and damaging the building," the BBC reports. "The blasts may be the work of a Greek extremists' group, Revolutionary Struggle, says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens."
-- "A powerful earthquake in Indonesia has killed at least 11 people and injured dozens of others," the Associated Press writes. "National Disaster Management Agency Satrio Nurhadiwibowo spokesman says those killed were in two towns in West Java province."
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
-- Politico -- "Obama Shifts Strategy;" Won't Insist On "Public Option": "Aides to President Barack Obama are putting the final touches on a new strategy to help Democrats recover from a brutal August recess by specifying what Obama wants to see in a compromise health care deal and directly confronting other trouble spots, West Wing officials tell Politico. Obama is considering detailing his health-care demands in a major speech as soon as next week, when Congress returns from the August recess. And although House leaders have said their members will demand the inclusion of a public insurance option, Obama has no plans to insist on it himself, the officials said."
Related story on Morning Edition -- Lobbyists Campaign For Their Versions Of Health Care Overhaul. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with lobbyist Paul Lee about how it works:
-- Los Angeles Times -- "Weather Aids Firefighters, But Some Flanks Of Fire Have Lethal Potential": "Higher humidity and slightly lower temperatures helped firefighters inch closer to subduing the monstrous fire that has lashed about the San Gabriel Mountains for a week, but they were scrambling late Tuesday in gusty winds to keep it from overrunning Mt. Wilson."
-- U.N. Office On Drugs and Crime -- "Afghan Opium Production In Significant Decline": "Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is down 22%, opium production is down 10%, while prices are at a 10-year low. The number of opium poppy-free provinces has increased from 18 to 20 out of a total number of 34, and more drugs are being seized as a result of more robust counter-narcotics operations by Afghan and NATO forces."
Related report from Kabul by NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson:
-- The New York Times -- "Tribal Leaders Say Karzai's Team Forged 23,900 Votes": "The accusations ... are the most serious allegations so far that have been publicized against (President Hamid) Karzai's electoral machine, which faces a deluge of fraud complaints from around the country."
-- Morning Edition -- Some Jobs Are "Gone For Good". "The labor market will remain tough for many months to come. But when jobs eventually come back, traditionally strong areas such as health care and education are expected to lead the way. Analysts say weaker ones -- such as construction -- could take years to return. And many jobs in areas such as autos and newspapers are gone for good." NPR's Frank Langfitt reports:
Counterinsurgency theory concerning the time and the ratio of forces required to protect the population indicates that, nationwide, Afghanistan would need hundreds of thousands of coalition troops, perhaps for a decade or more. That is inconceivable.
So, instead, forces should be substantially reduced to serve a comprehensively revised policy: America should do only what can be done from offshore, using intelligence, drones, cruise missiles, airstrikes and small, potent Special Forces units, concentrating on the porous 1,500-mile border with Pakistan, a nation that actually matters.
Express your opinion:
For NPR's coverage of events in Afghanistan, click here.
Update at 10:55 a.m. ET. Over at Time's Swampland blog, Joe Klein writes that:
Will's prescription is premature. We have to see what, if anything, emerges from the Afghan election. We have to see what, if any, impact the augmented U.S. troops -- who are still arriving -- have on the fight. We have to see what, if any, impact the augmented non-military component -- the increased aid, the additional aid workers and economic development specialists -- have on Afghanistan. ...
The war against the al-Qaida leadership is necessary; I'm not sure that the best way to fight that war is to try to prop up a hopelessly corrupt government in Afghanistan. As I said, I'm not ready to concede that George Will is right -- but the president has to consider the possibility that Will is ... and make a decision about how to proceed in the next few months.
"The commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan said Monday in an assessment of the war that a new strategy was needed to fight the Taliban, while NATO officials disclosed he is expected to separately request more troops," the Associated Press writes.
The BBC, quoting "sources" who are familiar with McChrystal's report, says the general now views "protecting the Afghan people against the Taliban as the top priority."
That should not be a surprise. McChrystal's boss -- Central Command chief Gen. David Petraeus -- said just last week that, as has been done in Iraq, the U.S. mission in Afghanistan must have a greater focus on protecting civilians.
The AP adds that McChrystal, in a statement separate from the not-publicly disclosed report, said today that "the situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable."
Political blogger Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic writes that "the president and his national security team are skittish" about putting more U.S. troops into Afghanistan, "but they aren't looking for a way to deny McChrystal what he thinks he needs."
McChrystal's much-anticipated review comes as two more U.S. service personnel lost their lives in Afghanistan. Their deaths, from bombs, brought the number of American deaths in August to 47 -- the most of any single month since U.S. forces entered Afghanistan in October 2001.
McChrystal is not asking for additional troops, but a separate request for forces will be sent in the next week or so, sources tell NPR. The general is expected to offer several options for possible troops increases, from one brigade to at least three, pointing out the risks and greater timeframe inherent in not sending more forces.
President Obama ordered an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan this year, raising the total number of U.S. forces there to about 64,000. Another 4,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division are slated to arrive next month to train Afghan soldiers.
A U.S. soldier was killed in a bomb blast in Afghanistan Friday, making it the deadliest month for U.S. troops in the eight years of the war.
The soldier was killed in eastern Afghanistan when the vehicle he was riding in struck a roadside bomb, according to the military.
All told, 45 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan in August as the U.S. has surged its military forces into the country with the aim of driving back the Taliban and insurgents.
Roadside bombs have caused many of the casualties since improvised explosive devices are so easy to conceal in the Afghanistan's unpaved roads. Meanwhile, the Taliban learned from observing the Iraq War how effectively deadly IEDs are.
The increasing death toll comes at the same time as support in the U.S. for the war appears to be declining among a war-weary public; the growing casualties are no doubt causing some of that loss of public backing.
Complicating President Barack Obama's challenge is the U.S. military's request for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan which would likely increase the casualties there, further eroding public support.
Abdullah Abdullah points to, what he calls, evidence of voter fraud. (Manan Vatsyayana / AFP/Getty Images)
By David Gura
NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson has reported that Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission has released preliminary results from the country's election. So far, only a tenth of the ballots have been counted -- roughly 524,000 votes. Hamid Karzai, the incumbent leader, has a slight lead over Abdullah Abdullah. It has been difficult to get the ballots to Kabul, to be counted.
At a press conference earlier today, Abdullah said that, if there is no fraud in the election, he should be the clear winner. Subsequently, he showed videos that, in his estimation, demonstrated voting irregularities: voter coercion and stuffing of ballot boxes.
Nelson reports that, "right now, with the results we have, this election will go to a runoff in October. You have to have more than 50 percent of the vote to be elected straight out."
An update on a story The Two-Way covered a few weeks ago: Earlier today, Mohammed Jawad, who spent nearly seven years imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, returned to Afghanistan.
According to the AP, Jawad "had been charged with attempted murder before the special military tribunals at Guantanamo, accused of throwing a grenade into a jeep carrying two U.S. Special Forces soldiers and their interpreter in Kabul in December 2002."
The case was first complicated by doubts about Jawad's age. His attorneys say family accounts suggest he was about 12 when he was arrested. The Pentagon said a bone scan shows Jawad was about 17.
Last October, a military judge at Guantanamo threw out a confession by Jawad following his arrest. The judge found that Jawad initially denied throwing the grenade and only said he had done it after Afghan authorities threatened to kill him and his family if he didn't confess.
Jonathan Hafetz, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project, represented Jawad. He called the release "a long-awaited victory for the rule of law."
We are so pleased that this nightmare of abuse and injustice has finally come to an end. While Mr. Jawad can never get back the nearly seven years he was illegally detained and tortured, now he can finally return home to his family, friends and country, and begin to build a normal life.
Updated:A press release from the Department of Justice announces the transfer of Jawad.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Khalik Daad's 10-year-old daughter Jamila was helping her mother prepare lunch Thursday when a rocket hit a tall building next to their mud hut. The rocket exploded, sending shrapnel through the cardboard roof of the family's small dwelling below.
Jamila was killed instantly. Her mother and another of Daad's daughters were injured and rushed to the hospital.
Throughout three decades of war, Afghans have become accustomed to the shelling and gunfire of many armed groups --
On this sultry summer Friday there are some things to keep an eye on.
At 10 a.m. ET, the National Association of Realtors releases its figures on July sales of so-called existing homes. Those numbers are closely watched because home sales are good indicators of how the economy's doing and how healthy it will or won't be in coming months.
Sticking with the economy for a minute, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to speak at the Kansas City Fed's annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo. His appearance is also set for 10 a.m. ET, and his words will be parsed for clues to whether the Fed thinks the economy has indeed begun to strengthen. Steve Beckner of Market News International reports:
In Washington this morning, friends and family will gather for the funeral of conservative commentator and journalist Robert Novak.
Out in the Atlantic near Bermuda, meanwhile, Hurricane Bill has weakened slightly -- but still threatens to flood the island's coastlines and bring dangerous waves and riptides to the eastern coast of the USA.
Finally, Muslims around the world are preparing for the start of their religion's holiest month. NPR's Jamie Tarabay filed this report about Ramadan:
As for stories making headlines, they include:
-- The Associated Press -- "Karzai, Abdullah Teams Claim Wins In Afghan Vote": "Campaign teams for President Hamid Karzai and top challenger Abdullah Abdullah each positioned themselves Friday as the winner of Afghanistan's presidential election, one day after millions of Afghans braved dozens of militant attacks to cast ballots. Partial preliminary results won't be made public before Saturday, as Afghanistan and the dozens of countries with troops and aid organizations in the country wait to see who will lead the troubled nation for the next five years."
-- ABC News -- "Opposition To Health Care Reform Is On The Rise": "Public doubt about health care reform has grown as the debate's raged this summer, with a rise in views it would do more harm than good, increasing opposition to a public option -- and President Obama's rating on the issue at a new low in ABC News/Washington Post polls."
-- The New York Times -- "CIA Said To Use Outsiders To Put Bombs On Drones": "From a secret division at its North Carolina headquarters, the company formerly known as Blackwater has assumed a role in Washington's most important counterterrorism program: the use of remotely piloted drones to kill al-Qaida's leaders, according to government officials and current and former employees."
-- The Washington Post -- "Detainees Shown CIA Officers' Photos; Justice Dept. Looking Into Whether Attorneys Broke Law At Guantanamo": "The Justice Department recently questioned military defense attorneys at Guantanamo Bay about whether photographs of CIA personnel, including covert officers, were unlawfully provided to detainees charged with organizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to sources familiar with the investigation."
Sapnah searched for a polling place, defying her family. (Holly Pickett / NPR)
By Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The polls here closed at 4 p.m. after what from appearances was a lackluster voter turnout for the nation's presidential election. And though the voting was over, the sound of rockets and bombs, peppered with the occasional gunfire, continued to echo on the outskirts of this birthplace of the Taliban.
Voters who did cast ballots here in this provincial capital were defiant. Several told NPR that even if they were killed going to the polls, it would be worth it. They covet their new right to choose their leaders, a right they said they would not let the Taliban take away.
One voter, Sapnah said she slipped out of her house with her two young sons despite orders from her husband and family to stay at home. She said she was determined to re-elect President Hamid Karzai and that neither security woes nor the cultural taboo of defying one's male relatives would keep her indoors.
But she also said she found the voting experience extremely frustrating. Invisible beneath her head-to-toe, rose-colored burqa, Sapnah walked from polling center to polling center with her laminated registration card clasped in one hand, only to be turned away because they were for men only. She told us she wouldn't give up.
Sapnah had to walk, because police prohibited any vehicle or rickshaw without a special permit from driving on the streets today. The only vehicles besides those carrying a smattering of journalists and election monitors were pickups packed with Afghan soldiers and police officers. An occasional Canadian armored vehicle patrol zoomed through town, although for the most part, foreign troops stayed away on a day that was for Afghans.
Now that the polls are closed, election workers at each polling center -- watched by international and Afghan monitors -- are counting the paper ballots that were cast into sealed plastic bins. They will divide them into stacks of 50 for each candidate and put them aside, a process that could lead to an announcement of preliminary results from this region before midnight Afghan time.
For much more about today's election in Afghanistan, click here.
Voting is scheduled to end this hour in Afghanistan, which is holding its second presidential election since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.
The latest Associated Press report from Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, leads with this summary of how the day has gone:
Taliban threats appeared to dampen voter turnout in the militant south Thursday as Afghans chose the next president for their deeply troubled country. Insurgents launched scattered rocket, suicide and bomb attacks that closed some polling sites.
From Kandahar, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson told Morning Edition's Renee Montagne that explosions in that southern Afghan city appeared to dampen turnout, but that some voters still got out to the polls:
Also, from the Afghan capital, NPR's Jackie Northam reports that "there was light turnout at many Kabul polling stations when they opened at 7 a.m. local time" and that security was heavy. "Afghan soldiers and police have flooded the city," she says.
The Guardian is live-blogging the election news here. It's pointing to the Pajhwok Afghan News agency, which is using Twitter to post updates from reporters. According to Pajhwok, some polling precincts in Khost have run out of ballots. The news agency is also saying that some voting places may stay open an hour or so past the scheduled 7:30 a.m. ET closing time. It passes along reports of some districts being closed because Taliban fighters are preventing voters from getting to the polls.
Reuters is reporting that some trouble-makers are showing voters that they may be able to wash off the ink that is supposed to stain the fingers of those that have already cast their ballots.
Many ballots were distributed via donkey power. (David Gilkey / NPR)
By Mark Memmott
It's almost time to vote in Afghanistan, where polls open at 7 a.m. local time -- 10:30 p.m. ET tonight back here in the USA.
Voting is supposed to end at 4 p.m. tomorrow, local time, which means we should have an idea of how things have gone when The Two-Way starts its day around 7:30 a.m. ET Thursday.
We almost surely won't know, however, if a president -- incumbent Hamid Karzai or one of his many challengers -- has been chosen. As the Associated Press notes, "the election commission plans to release partial preliminary results (on) Aug. 25, (and) final preliminary results (on) Sept. 3." Even when results are known, if no one has 50% or more there will be a runoff between the top two vote-getters on Oct. 3.
The latest from Afghanistan, which holds its presidential election tomorrow:
-- "Police stormed a bank in Kabul on Wednesday and killed three insurgents who had taken it over, while a wave of attacks killed at least six election workers around the country on the eve of the presidential election, officials said. A roadside bomb in the south, meanwhile, killed two U.S. troops Tuesday, while another American died of non-battle-related injuries on Wednesday, the U.S. military spokesmen said." The Associated Press.
-- But many Afghan voters are excited about going to the polls. Morning Edition. NPR's Renee Montagne talks with Steve Inskeep about what she learned the past few weeks while in Afghanistan:
One explosion was near the Foreign Ministry (in background). (Khalid Mohammed / AP)
By Mark Memmott
Good morning.
There have been a series of explosions in Baghdad today. Dozens are reported dead and more than 300 are said to have been wounded. Carl Kasell introduces this report from NPR's Deborah Amos, who is in the Iraqi capital:
Violence also continues to flare in Afghanistan, where the presidential election is scheduled for tomorrow. On Morning Edition, co-host Renee Montagne spoke with NPR's Jackie -- who is in Kabul. Then Renee, who just returned from Afghanistan, talked with co-host Steve Inskeep about what's happening there as the time to vote draws near:
For those who like to mix some history with their news, Morning Edition also aired a conversation between Steve and Amin Tarzi, director of Middle East studies at the Marine Corps University, about the events of 1979 in Afghanistan (when the Soviet Union invaded):
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
-- The New York Times -- "Democrats Seem Set To Go It Alone On A Health Bill": "Given hardening Republican opposition to Congressional health care proposals, Democrats now say they see little chance of the minority's cooperation in approving any overhaul, and are increasingly focused on drawing support for a final plan from within their own ranks."
Related story by The Washington Post -- "Debate's Path Caught Obama By Surprise": "President Obama's advisers acknowledged Tuesday that they were unprepared for the intraparty rift that occurred over the fate of a proposed public health insurance program, a firestorm that has left the White House searching for a way to reclaim the initiative on the president's top legislative priority."
-- Morning Edition -- "Health Co-Ops Touted As Alternative To Public Plan": "The Obama administration appears to be backing away from the idea that a health care overhaul has to include the option of a government-run insurance program. If this public plan is removed from the bills currently under construction in Congress, it could be replaced by nonprofit health insurance plans run on the co-op model, where people who buy the insurance are the ones who own the insurance company." NPR's Joanne Silberner reports:
-- From a related story by the Associated Press -- "Forecasters say the dangerous hurricane could get even stronger. ... The most significant threat could be to Bermuda, which the storm could pass in three or four days."
-- Morning Edition -- Sanctions On Myanmar Are 'Huge Strategic Error,' Sen. Webb Says: In a conversation with NPR's Steve Inskeep, Democratic Sen. James Webb of Virginia talked about the trip he just made to Myanmar, his meetings with its reclusive leader and democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and why he thinks it no longer makes sense to have economic sanctions aimed at that country:
-- The Wall Street Journal -- "Reluctant Shoppers Hold Back Recovery": "Major retailers reported that American consumers are continuing to hunker down, casting a cloud over the durability of the U.S. recovery and underscoring the importance of overseas demand in restoring the world economy to health."
-- USA TODAY -- "Climate Plan Calls For Forest Expansion": " New forests would spread across the American landscape, replacing both pasture and farm fields, under a congressional plan to confront climate change, an Environmental Protection Agency analysis shows. About 18 million acres of new trees -- roughly the size of West Virginia -- would be planted by 2020, according to an EPA analysis of a climate bill passed by the House of Representatives in June."
Update at 3:45 p.m. ET. Here's another photo, this one from Morning Edition producer Jim Wildman, of U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry during his recent visit to the northern Afghan city of Mazar-I-Sharif. While there, the ambassador was serenaded by a boys' choir and given a gift -- plastic flowers:
As the day gets going here in the USA, there are some conflicting signals about whether the Obama administration is or is not ready to abandon the so-called public option plan in its proposed health care overhaul.
Yesterday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on CNN that such a government alternative to private health insurance is "not the essential element" of the administration's plan. That led to headlines such as this one by The New York Times: " 'Public Option' In Health Plan May Be Dropped."
But widely respected political blogger Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic reports that he's been told by "an administration official" that Sebelius "misspoke." Ambinder writes that "the official said that the White House did not intend to change its messaging and that Sebelius simply meant to echo the president, who has acknowledged that the public option is a tough sell in the Senate." And he quotes White House spokeswoman Linda Douglass as saying "nothing has changed."
Expect much more discussion about this as the day goes on.
In other health care related news, the new president of the Canadian Medical Association says her country's health care system is in deep trouble. NPR News' Carl Kasell introduced this report:
President Barack Obama, by the way, is due in Phoenix today. He's scheduled to address the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention. The Arizona Republic writes that while the Democratic president "may not have been their first choice," the veterans plan to give Obama a warm and respectful reception.
Other stories making headlines this morning include:
-- Morning Edition -- In Afghanistan, U.S. Ambassador Gets Out To Meet People In Advance Of Thursday's Election: As Afghanistan's presidential election draws near, Morning Edition's Renee Montagne continues her reports about that country and its future. Today, she speaks with U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, who is trying to spotlight women's affairs and to "visibly try to reassure the Afghan people" that the U.S. is there to help for the long haul:
-- BBC News -- "Japan's Economy Leaves Recession": "Japan has come out of recession after its economy grew by 0.9% (a 3.7% annual rate) in the April-to-June quarter. The growth comes after four consecutive quarters of contraction." Japan's economy is the world's second-largest.
-- Politico -- "White House Will Change E-mail rules": "The White House said Sunday night that it will change its e-mail sign-up procedures after some recipients of a health-care e-mail complained that they had not asked to receive updates."
-- Tallahassee Democrat -- "Worst Is Over" as Tropical Storm Claudette Dumps Rain On Panhandle: "Some remnant bands of rain from Tropical Storm Claudette are expected to come through Tallahassee this morning, but the worst is over, according to Parks Camp, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tallahassee. The Tallahassee airport only measured .06 inches of rain in the past day, but the Big Bend coastal area was hit harder."
-- CBS News -- "American Leaves Myanmar After Release": "An American man imprisoned for sneaking into the home of detained Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi flew out of the country Sunday after a visiting U.S. senator won his release. John Yettaw of Falcon, Missouri, was headed to Bangkok, Thailand, on a military plane with Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who secured his freedom Saturday with a plea to Myanmar's ruling military junta."
Related report from NPR's Michael Sullivan in Bangkok:
-- Itar-Tass -- Truck Bomb Kills About 20 In Ingushetia: "Monday morning's truck bomb blast in Nazran left 18 people killed and 69 others injured, the Ingush Interior Ministry told Itar-Tass. Earlier reports said there were 15 fatalities."
Related news from The Associated Press -- Suicide bomber kills at least 20.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates calls on a reporter during a briefing the at Pentagon, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009. (Susan Walsh / AP Photo)
By Frank James
Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked by a journalist Thursday how long U.S. troops will be in Afghanistan? His answer? It's a mystery.
Gates, the Central Intelligence Agency director during the George H. W. Bush administration, referred to that background to tell reporters at a press conference that some things just aren't knowable.
GATES: Well, I think, that's -- you know, in the intelligence business, we always used to categorize information in two ways: secrets and mysteries. The secrets were things that were ultimately knowable. Mysteries were those where there were too many variables to predict. And I think that how long U.S. forces will be in Afghanistan is in that -- is in that area.
In other words, Gates was essentially saying "Beats me" to the question of how long American troops will stay in Afghanistan. It's a mystery. Or, as his Pentagon predecessor Donald Rumsfeld might have said, it's a "known unknown."
In fairness to Gates, he wasn't being flip. Far from it. He was aiming for honesty in saying that the answer to the question of when the U.S. combat presence is Afghanistan will end has everything to do with the facts on the ground there.
Morning Edition producer Jim Wildman, who's in Afghanistan to report on next Thursday's presidential election, passes along the catchy tune:
The Ghani campaign knows a growing target audience when it sees one. Afghanistan has gone from having virtually no cell phones when the Taliban ruled in 2001 to now having 5.4 million, according to The Hill -- which notes that the major candidates, including Ghani and incumbent President Hamid Karzai, are also making use of the Web to spread their messages.
For more reporting from Jim and Morning Edition co-host Renee Montagne, including their interviews of Ghani and other leading candidates, click here.
Update at 8 a.m. ET, Aug. 14: Jim sends along a message from a spokeswoman for Ghani's campaign, Kathy Roeder, who suggests we make clear that it was the candidate's Afghan communications staff that came up with the idea for the ringtone. And, she notes, it was while Ghani was Finance Minister that the cell phone explosion began in Afghanistan -- and that the government began to collect taxes on the business.
Roeder also says there are now an estimated 7.5 million phones in the country.
Whether the Taliban will return the favor is of course an open question, but the Associated Press says that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered his nation's security forces to observe a cease-fire one week from day when the nation holds its presidential election.
For much more about the current situation in Afghanistan, including reports from there by Morning Edition's Renee Montagne, click here.
It's too early to know whether the Taliban can be pushed out of a key part of southern Afghanistan, the general who heads up U.S. intelligence efforts in that country tells Morning Edition's Renee Montagne.
Maj. Gen. Michael T. Flynn says it likely won't be until after Afghanistan's presidential election one week from today, and after U.S. forces have had more time to go after Taliban fighters around Kandahar (where many of the militia's fighters have fled) that a clear picture will emerge:
Meanwhile, in news from that Central Asian nation:
-- Reuters says that "a former Afghan president, Burhanuddin Rabbani, survived a Taliban ambush on Thursday in northern Kunduz province, where militants clashed with police for a second straight night, officials said."
-- The Associated Press reports that "Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday he will
win next week's presidential election and will offer government positions to his top two challengers."
-- The New York Times writes that "two bomb explosions in southern Afghanistan killed 14 people including three children at play, Afghan officials said on Thursday."
Policymakers at the Federal Reserve finish up two days of meetings this afternoon and many eyes will be on the statement they make afterward. It's widely expected they will leave short-term interest rates alone, but investors will parse the Fed's words for clues to how its policymakers think the economy's doing.
And The Washington Post looks at the signs that we're having an economic recovery "only a statistician can love."
Over at the White House, President Barack Obama this morning will host a reception for the newest Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor. In the afternoon, he will hand out 16 Medals of Freedom. The honorees include Bishop Desmond Tutu, Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy and tennis legend Billie Jean King.
As for stories making headlines, they include:
-- Morning Edition -- Marines Move Into Taliban-Held Town In Southern Afganistan. From Helmand province, where she is embedded with U.S. Marines, NPR's Soroya Sarhaddi Nelson tells host Steve Inskeep that the U.S. forces she's with were met with a lot of resistance that lasted for several hours today, but that all is now quiet in the village:
The U.S. operation is part of an effort to push the Taliban out of towns and villages in Helmand prior to Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election. NPR's Renee Montagne, who's also in Afghanistan, reported on Morning Edition about a much different effort to boost voter participation -- a "rock the vote" style concert featuring one of the country's most popular singers:
One more Afghanistan-related story to pass along. Morning Edition's Inskeep talked with defense analyst Anthony Cordesman, who makes the case that even more troops are needed to fight corruption and build that country:
-- The Wall Street Journal -- Democrats Say E-Mails Show Improprieties By Rove In Firing Of U.S. Attorneys: "House Democrats turned over to federal prosecutors thousands of investigative documents Tuesday, alleging they are evidence of impropriety by Karl Rove and other Bush White House officials in the controversial 2006 firing of nine U.S. attorneys. It remains far from certain whether the 5,400 pages of emails and other documents released Tuesday contain information that would help prosecutors bring criminal charges against Mr. Rove, who served as former President George W. Bush's political adviser, or against any other former Bush officials."
-- The New York Times -- "Shiites In Iraq Show Restraint As Sunnis Keep Attacking": "Shiite clerics and politicians have been successfully urging their followers not to retaliate against a fierce campaign of sectarian bombings, in which Shiites have accounted for most of the 566 Iraqis killed since American troops pulled out of Iraq's cities on June 30."
-- Morning Edition -- Debunking The "Kill Grandma Scare Tactic". NPR's Julie Rovner adds to the reporting that shows "no, the health care overhaul bill now working its way through Congress would not require seniors to learn how to die prematurely":
-- The Associated Press -- More Found Alive In Taiwan Towns Hit By Mudslides: "Rescuers have found nearly 1,000 people alive in the area around three remote villages devastated by Typhoon Morakot, which pummeled the island over the weekend, Taiwan's military said Wednesday."
Related report by NPR News' Giles Snyder -- Many Still Missing:
Singer Farhad Darya 'Rocks The Vote' In Afghanistan
By Mark Memmott
Amazing sounds and images continue to come in from Afghanistan as that nation prepares for its second presidential election since the 2001 toppling of the Taliban.
The latest report from Morning Edition co-host Renee Montagne and producer Jim Wildman is on a "rock the vote" style concert held in Kabul last night. In a country where only a short time ago music was banned by the extremist Taliban, it was quite a scene:
NPR photographer and video journalist David Gilkey was with them at the show. He put together the photo gallery above from shots he took during singer Farhad Darya's show.
Hazara Minority Play Critical Role In Afghan Election
By Mark Memmott
As Morning Edition's Renee Montagne reports from Afghanistan today, one of the ethnic minorities that has been most persecuted over the years -- the Hazaras -- is now one of the most coveted by that country's presidential candidates:
Note from this blogger: In 2002 I had the opportunity to travel extensively through central Afghanistan, where many Hazara live, and filed this story for USA TODAY about what happened to the people of one village that the Taliban tried to burn to the ground.
The breaking news from Afghanistan this morning is all-too familiar: "A roadside bomb hit a wedding party on its way to a ceremony in southern Afghanistan, killing 21 people including women and children, officials said Thursday." (Update at 11:10 a.m. ET: Officials now say that five people, not 21, were killed, Reuters reports. Helmand Province police chief Asadullah Sherzad says "because of the remoteness of the area we did not have accurate information in the morning.")
But as Morning Edition's Renee Montagne reports, the Central Asian nation's nascent democracy moves on. She's been reporting from there as Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election draws near, and today filed this dispatch about a campaign rally held by President Hamid Karzai on Saturday:
In many ways, Karzai's rally was much like an event that a U.S. presidential candidate would hold.
And so was his speech -- right down to his pledge that some day every Afghan family will have a new car. Morning Edition producer Jim Wildman, who is in Afghanistan with Renee, sat down with an interpreter to listen to Karzai's speech. Here's the translation they produced:
As NPR's Renee Montagne reported on Morning Edition, there are dozens of people running to be president of Afghanistan in that country's Aug. 20 election -- and the stories of three of them say a lot about Afghanistan's last 30 difficult years.
One of those contenders, Abdul Salam "Rocketi" got his name for his success at shooting rocket-propelled grenades during the fight against Soviet forces in the 1980s.
Another, Shahnawaz Tanai, was a general in the Afghan Army when communists ruled -- until he mounted a coup attempt.
And a third, Frozan Fana, is a woman trying to break through the barriers to her gender. Her husband, then Afghanistan's transportation minister, was beaten to death at Kabul Airport in 2002. At the time, authorities blamed angry pilgrims who were being prevented from traveling to Mecca. Others suspect political rivals were behind the incident.
Renee is in Afghanistan to cover the upcoming election. Yesterday, she profiled candidate Ashraf Ghani. Tuesday, she reported about contender Abdullah Abdullah.
KABUL, Afghanistan -- U.S. Marines in southern Afghanistan this month lived and died with a calm understanding of these kinds of sounds:
That's direct fire at Golf Company, First Platoon. The Marines had taken up a position in a mud-walled compound, forced there by incoming gunfire in the area.
NPR photographer and video journalist David Gilkey, who accompanied the Marines on their mission, says that's what it's like to hear incoming fire that's close. He told me: "There's a very different noise when a round is fired AT you" rather than away from you.
Gilkey also told me that the Marines of Golf Company had become pretty used to this kind of direct fire during their assault. It was day six of a 10-day operation through a Taliban stronghold in a region of Helmand Province.
Yet, even as enemy bullets rain down on them, U.S. Marines cannot return fire until they actually see the enemy. It's called "positive idenfication," or PID -- and it's in their standard rules of engagement.
Gilkey interviewed several of the Golf Company Marines during their assault. He took many gripping photos and has now produced this video in which some Marines talk about the challenges they were facing (fair warning: there is a common expletive in the audio):
(Jim Wildman is a producer for Morning Edition. He and NPR's Renee Montagne are on assignment in Afghanistan as that nation prepares for its Aug. 20 presidential election.)
"This government has run out of the fundamental asset that any government in the 21st century needs: legitimacy."
So says Ashraf Ghani, who was Afghanistan's first finance minister after the fall of the Taliban -- but now says the government led by his former boss, President Hamid Karzai, bears much of the blame for their country's widespread corruption.
Ghani asserts that Karzai has handed out government jobs in exchange for support -- a charge that Karzai denies.
The former finance minister is one of the many candidates challenging Karzai in Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election. On Morning Edition, Renee Montagne profiled Ghani. She says he poses a serious challenge to the incumbent:
Renee is reporting from Afghanistan on the upcoming election. Yesterday, she profiled another former government minister who's running for president -- Abdullah Abdullah. He was the first foreign minister after the Taliban was toppled.
We'll have more reports from Renee in coming days.
Also today, NPR's Tom Bowman talked with Renee about the effort that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is mounting to go after one of the Taliban's main sources of money -- opium.
Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan's first foreign minister following the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, is the strongest challenger to President Hamid Karzai in their nation's Aug. 20 presidential elections, Morning Edition's Renee Montagne reports from Kabul.
And as Renee says, Abdullah is making sure voters know he was a close aide to the late Gen. Ahmad Shah Massoud, a legendary freedom fighter and anti-Taliban leader who was assassinated by al-Qaeda operatives on Sept. 9, 2001:
Renee adds that the emotional rallies held for Abdullah in recent days signal that he's struck a chord with many voters, including many young people.
KABUL -- Barack Obama once pumped up a presidential campaign rally with Celebration by Kool and the Gang.
John McCain (controversially) rocked a few events with John Mellencamp's Our Country.
The tunes playing before a recent re-election campaign rally for Afghan President Hamid Karzai?
Country, Your Love Is My Life, Hey, Country!, and Hero Soldier! -- a loop of songs recorded when communists ruled Afghanistan in the early 1980s and the country's leadership was under the effective control of the Soviet Union.
For some, the early '80s was the last great period in Afghan popular music. Musicians of that era who produced creative music while also popularizing patriotic themes were well rewarded.
I can report that I did hear a few voices under the large Karzai campaign tent singing along.
Here's a recording of one of the most popular Communist-era songs played that day outside Kabul.
The singers are lauding the virtues of the motherland: "You are my honor. You are my pride. You are the country of Afghans."
But here's the confusing part: this communist-era music may be toe-tapping for some Afghans, but it also brings back bad memories.
The early '80s was a time when thousands of Afghans were purged because they were too religious or because they weren't communist enough. Families lost loved ones and land. It was a brutal time.
Morning Edition's Renee Montagne is reporting on Afghanistan's Aug. 20 election over the next few weeks, trying to untangle some of the country's contradictions.
Tomorrow, she covers Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan's first foreign minister following the fall of the Taliban. He's one of the candidates challenging Karzai.
Stay tuned, so to speak.
Jim Wildman is a Morning Edition producer. Click here to find an NPR station that broadcasts Morning Edition.
(Note from Mark: Jim's report reminds me of the afternoon I spent in spring 2002 with some Afghan musicians who were renewing their love affair with their instruments after years of Taliban oppression. Their joy at being able to play again was clear. For them, traditional Afghan folk music -- not communist-era tunes -- was the best music in the world.)
Sarah Palin's no longer the governor of Alaska. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is talking -- a rare thing for a Fed chairman to do. Health care is again atop Washington's agenda. North Korea says it's willing to talk. Chinese and U.S. diplomats are sitting down in Washington, while the mainland and Taiwan have exchanged letters. And the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan says that nation's upcoming election is critical to its future.
Those are some of the stories making headlines:
-- Morning Edition -- It's 'Politics, Western-Style' In Afghanistan: Next month's elections "are the most important event in Afghanistan this year," U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke tells NPR's Renne Montagne, who's in that country to cover the voting:
From a related story on NPR.org -- "U.S. Aims In Afghanistan Hinge On Election."
From a related story by BBC News -- " 'Taliban Deal' In Afghanistan: "The Afghan government has agreed on a truce with Taliban insurgents in the north-western province of Badghis."
-- The Associated Press -- "North Korea Says It Is Open To Talks": "North Korea said Monday that it is open to new dialogue to defuse tensions over its nuclear weapons program in what appeared to be a call for direct talks with the United States. The statement from Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry marks a rare expression of willingness to talk by a regime that has rapidly escalated tensions with a flurry of provocations in recent months, including a nuclear test and a series of missile launches."
From a related story by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency -- North Says It Won't Return To Six-Party Talks: " North Korea on Monday demanded a new form of dialogue to resolve the stalemate over its nuclear program and reiterated it won't return to the six-party talks, in an apparent call on the United States to open bilateral contact."
-- The Wall Street Journal -- " 'Blue Dog' Democrats Hold Health-Care Overhaul At Bay": "So-called Blue Dog Democrats continued to resist key aspects of their party's health-care overhaul Sunday, despite pressure from party leaders who fear they will endanger President Barack Obama's most ambitious legislative effort."
-- CBS News -- "Obama To Launch Key 2-Day Talks With China": "Two days of high-level talks between the United States and China are expected to expose sharp differences on trade and soaring U.S. budget deficits, but the discussion could be more amicable in the area of foreign policy."
-- The Associated Press -- Taiwan, China Leaders Exchange Direct Messages: "The presidents of Taiwan and China exchanged direct messages Monday for the first time since the two sides split 60 years ago -- the latest sign of their warming
relations. According to a Nationalist Party statement, Chinese President Hu Jintao congratulated Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou on his election Sunday as party chairman. ... In return, Ma called for both sides to work on peace."
-- PBS NewsHour -- Bernanke Says He Was Determined Not To Be Chairman 'Who Presided Over The Second Great Depression": At a townhall meeting sponsored by the Kansas City Fed, Chairman Ben Bernanke said he had to hold his nose while bailing out some big financial institutions last year, but had to do it to avoid an economic catastrophe.
From Morning Edition -- More on what Bernanke had to say:
-- USA TODAY -- Economists "See Slow Recovery": "The beginning of an economic recovery appears to be just a few months away but unemployment will continue to rise past 10% into next year, say economists surveyed by USA TODAY."
-- Anchorage Daily News -- As She Leaves, Palin Takes Some Parting Shots At The News Media: Said the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee as she stepped down from office a year and a half early: "Some straight talk for some -- just some -- in the media. ... You represent what could and should be a respected, honest profession that could and should be a cornerstone of our democracy. Democracy depends on you. That is why our troops are willing to die for you. So how about in honor of the American soldier, ya' quit makin' things up?"
From Morning Edition -- Palin's Speech Highlighted Issues That Transcend Alaska:
The White House just confirmed that Army Staff Sgt. Jared Monti will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously "for his heroic actions in combat in Afghanistan." It adds that Monti:
Displayed immeasurable courage and uncommon valor -- eventually sacrificing his own life in an effort to save his comrade.
The Boston Globe writes that the 30-year-old Monti, from Raynham, Mass., "died in 2006 trying to rescue fellow soldiers in Afghanistan during a battle against Taliban insurgents. ... Monti was shot to death by Taliban fighters while he was moving fellow soldiers to a covered position, his mother said. He saved the life of one soldier who had been wounded by gunfire, before he was killed."
Two U.S. military personnel were killed by a bomb today in southern Afghanistan, the Associated Press reports. As the wire service adds:
July has been the deadliest month for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Friday's deaths raised the American toll to 37, well above the 28 who were killed in two months last summer.
On Morning Edition today, co-host Renee Montagne spoke with Steve Inskeep from Kabul. She's there to report on next month's presidential election. As Steve says in his introduction, U.S. forces have been increased there in part to boost security in advance of that voting. Renee reports that in many ways, the campaign is "an event Americans would recognize":
Renee will be filing dispatches from Afghanistan as the Aug. 20 election draws near.
On All Things Considered yesterday, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reported that:
Voting for a president can be confusing in any country, and it's particularly confusing in Afghanistan, where 40 candidates are battling President Hamid Karzai for his job.
"We are attempting to do everything we can to locate him and free him," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said this morning when asked about U.S. Army Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, who is beign held by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"It's just outrageous," Clinton said on ABC-TV's Good Morning America. "It's a real sign of desperation and criminal behavior on the part of terrorist groups."
Bergdahl, 23, of Haily, Idaho, was captured two weeks ago. Saturday, a Taliban-affiliated Website posted a video of him.
A firefight this month in Afghanistan. David Gilkey/NPR
By Laura Conaway
UPDATED: With the killing of a Canadian soldier in southwest of Kandahar this morning, the toll for the U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan in July has made for the deadliest month since the conflict began nearly eight years ago. The coalition has lost 46 troops, including 24 Americans, with half the month remaining.
Casualties began climbing after President Obama assigned another 21,000 troops to the war this year to counter the resurgent Taliban. This week in Nimroz, three police officers were killed by a suicide car bomber, and two Afghan soldiers died in attacks in the south. An attack on an international military convoy led to a battle that killed at least eight insurgents, two police officers and a private security guard.
The civilian death toll is also rising. The governor of Kandahar said today that six people had been killed in a coalition air strike Wednesday night. U.S. military spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said she didn't have details because the fighting was ongoing.
As he prepares to leave Afghanistan after extensive reporting with Marines in Helmand Province and elsewhere in the country, All Things Considered producer Graham Smith sends along another report.
This time, he writes about the problem facing many farmers in Helmand -- whether to take the chance of being shot while watering their crops at night, or watching as their livelihoods literally dry up:
One theme I want to mention -- the trouble with farming in a war zone. It's hard to say exactly what was the "primary concern" for the locals. It's something about security. Physical and economic too, and they're closely tied together. Pretty much whenever we had occasion to talk with villagers, they kept talking about watering at night.
There's a problem with the canal system coming off of the Helmand River. These canals are the engine of farming in the river valley that is known as "the green zone" because it's the one fertile area in the region, parts of which are "the snake's head" and "the fish hook" because of their shapes on a map. The green zone is the major agricultural production area down there -- growing everything from wheat and melons to grapes, fruit trees, and of course opium poppy.
With pictures and words, NPR photographer and video journalist David Gilkey offers inside glimpses today of what it was like to be with U.S. Marines in southern Afghanistan for more than a week -- a week when they ran into some heaving fighting with Taliban militia in Helmand Province.
On All Things Considered, he tells guest host Madeleine Brand about the sound of shots coming the Marines' way:
And David marvels at the conditions the Marines have to endure:
He's joined in the conversation by All Things Considered producer Graham Smith, who was with another group of Marines in Helmand last week.
Update at 4:30 p.m. ET. Here's a gallery of David's photos from his time with the Marines:
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By Mark Memmott
The Picture Show blog sends along these photos from NPR's David Gilkey, who is embedded with U.S. Marines in southern Afghanistan. He went out with them on what was supposed to be a 24-hour patrol. It's turned into a seven-day experience because they ran into heavy fighting and haven't yet been able to turn back toward their base.
David is with Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment.
In central Afghanistan today, a bomb blast killed at least 25 people. In the south, two U.S. troops were killed by an explosion.
There's breaking news from South Korea of more "cyber attacks" on websites there. According to the Associated Press, Ku Kyo-young from the state-run Korea Communications Commission
said they began around 5:30 a.m. ET.
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency says "half a dozen websites operated by key government bodies, including the National Assembly, defense ministry, foreign ministry and the National Intelligence Service reported access delays and failures."
Officials in South Korea have pointed at North Korea as a likely suspect in attacks over the weekend. Those attacks also hit websites in the U.S., including at the Treasury Department and Secret Service. As NPR's Ari Shapiro reported on All Things Considered, they highlighted flaws in U.S. cyberdefenses.
Also in the news this hour: Suicide bombers in Iraq have killed more than 40 people today in Baghdad and Tal Agar; in Afghanistan, a bomb explosion in the central part of the country has killed at least 25 people, including school students.
As for other stories making headlines, they include:
-- G8 Leaders Continue Talks On Climate Change: The BBC notes that "tough negotiations lie ahead" as President Barack Obama and other leaders of the major industrialized nations sit down today with leaders from the so-callled emerging nations to discuss how to limit global warming. Yesterday, as NPR's Scott Horsley reported on Morning Edition, the major nations agreed to try to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 80% over four decades -- but India, China and other fast-growing nations haven't signed on:
-- Is The Stimulus Working? There are more stories today about whether the $787 billion economic stimulus plan pushed through Congress by the Obama administration is doing much good. The New York Times' headline is "Doubts About Obama's Economic Recovery Plan Rise Along With Unemployment."
On Morning Edition, both David Wessel of The Wall Street Journal and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said they don't think, though, that a second stimulus package will be passed anytime soon. The view on Capitol Hill, they say, is that it's better to wait to see how the first stimulus plan does.
Here's Morning Edition co-host Renee Montagne talking with Wessel:
And here's co-host Steve Inskeep speaking with Sen. Brown:
-- Ousted Honduran Leader Says He Isn't Negotiating: "Deposed Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya, ahead of planned discussions Thursday with the man who ousted him and the host country's president, vowed not to negotiate," CNN.com writes. Zelaya and provisional President Roberto Micheletti are to work with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez, who is acting as a mediator, at talks in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Meanwhile, as NPR's Juan Forero reported on Morning Edition, the Honduran news media stands accused of opening siding with Micheletti:
-- CIA Concealed 'Significant Actions' From Congress: Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee say they've been told by CIA Director Leon Panetta that his agency "misled members" of Congress about some classified actions during the eight years of the Bush administration. Just what those actions were hasn't been disclosed.
U.S. Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, 1st Battalion 5th Marines, pass by a pile of dried poppy plants as they patrol in Afghanistan's Helmand province Monday July 6, 2009. AP Photo/David Guttenfelder
By Frank James
Monday was the deadliest day in a year for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, with seven Americans dying at the hands of insurgents.
As the Associated Press reported:
Four of the deaths Monday came in an attack on a team of U.S. military trainers in the relatively peaceful north, bringing into focus the question of whether the U.S. is committing enough troops to secure a country larger than Iraq in both population and land
mass....
... The four American soldiers killed in the north died in a roadside bombing of their vehicle in Kunduz province, said Navy Chief Petty Officer Brian Naranjo, a U.S. military spokesman. The
soldiers were training Afghan forces, he said.
Two Americans were killed in a roadside blast in southern Afghanistan, Naranjo said. And another American soldier died of wounds in a Monday firefight with militants in the east, a U.S. military spokesman said.
Roadside bombs have been the bane of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan for more than a year as insurgents have learned from the success of their counterparts in Iraq.
Despite reports in the news media of the White House and Defense Department being "at odds" (in U.S. News & World Reports' opinion) over whether more U.S. troops should soon be sent to Afghanistan, White House national security adviser James Jones just told All Things Considered co-host Melissa Block that he sees no "daylight" between the views at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and at the Pentagon.
Their discussion began with Melissa asking about reports, such as this one by McClatchy Newspapers that Jones has told commanders "they won't get any more troops this year beyond what President Barack Obama already has promised."
Jones, a retired Marine general, told her that isn't exactly the message he's been giving. Instead, he said the White House just wants to see how the new U.S. strategy -- adding 21,000 soldiers and Marines to the force in Afghanistan -- works before considering whether even more are needed:
Later in the interview, Melissa asked if the White House would be open to adding more troops if commanders request them. Jones said the president will always "listen to whatever the senior commanders on the ground" and others in the chain of command recommend. "If we have to do it again we have to do it again,"Jones added:
There will be more from Melissa's conversation with Jones on today's ATC.Click here to find an NPR station near you.
In Afghanistan, Marines have launched a major operation in the south as they aim to take control of villages now in the hands of the Taliban. Earlier this afternoon, NPR's Graham Smith reported from one of the villages that Marines are now operating from.
Jones watches President Obama during a June 16 Rose Garden event. Win McNamee/Getty Images
There's breaking news from the Korean peninsula, where South Korean defense officials tell Reuters and other news media that North Korea has fired two short-range missiles from its east coast into the Sea of Japan. South Korea's Yonhap News Agency says it has been told by Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae about the launches.
Update at 11:37 a.m. ET: Reuters and the Associated Press are now reporting that four short-range missiles were fired. We've updated the headline to this post.
Also breaking this morning: Word that an American soldier has been captured by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan. Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a U.S. military spokeswoman, tells the Associated press that the soldier disappeared Tuesday. The news comes as U.S. Marines launch a major offensive in southern Afghanistan (more on that below).
And, sticking with news from overseas, police in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, tell the AP that at least five people were killed there today in a suicide attack on a government bus.
Looking a couple hours ahead, watch for the Bureau of Labor Statistics to issue its report on the June unemployment rate and (expected) job losses at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Meanwhile, among the stories making headlines are:
The area of the Marines'operation is marked by \\\\\\
-- Morning Edition -- Marines Take Fight To The Taliban: NPR's Graham Smith, who is embedded with U.S. Marines in southern Afghanistan, reported today that "waves of helicopters" descended on parts of the area as thousands of Marines moved in. Graham also said the Marines are determined to stay in the region to deter any future Taliban resurgence. He spoke with Morning Edition's Renee Montagne:
-- Reuters -- Hardliners In Iran Urge Legal Action Against Mousavi: "Iranian hardliners pressed on Thursday for legal action against moderate leaders accused of inciting post-election turmoil that has dimmed Western hopes of engaging Tehran on its disputed nuclear program. 'Those who hold illegal rallies and gatherings should be legally pursued,' parliament member Mohammad Taghi Rahbar was quoted as saying by the hardline Javan newspaper. It said he was among several lawmakers preparing to write to the judiciary complaining about defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's activities after the disputed June 12 election."
-- The Guardian -- Girl Who Survived Plane Crash Tells Her Story: "The girl who is the only known survivor of the Comoros plane crash that killed up to 152 people has described how she floated in the Indian ocean clutching a piece of debris for 12 hours before her rescue. ... Kassim Bakari told French news outlets that he had spoken to his daughter on the telephone. 'I asked her what happened and she said: We saw the plane fall in the water. I found myself in the water. I was hearing people speak but I couldn't see anyone. I was in the dark. I couldn't see anything. Daddy, I couldn't swim very well. I grabbed on to something but I don't know what.' "
-- Los Angeles Times -- Jackson Memorial Likely Tuesday At Staples Center; DEA Assisting In Death Investigation: "The discussions over Michael Jackson's public memorial have now focused on a possible Tuesday service, though sources stress that the Jackson family has not made a final decision. ... The Drug Enforcement Administration is now assisting the L.A. County coroner's office and the Los Angeles Police Department in the probe into the circumstances surrounding Michael Jackson's death, two sources told The Times today."
-- NPR News -- California In 'Fiscal Emergency'. As NPR's Ina Jaffe reports, California is among several states in deep financial trouble because they haven't been able to settle on new budgets. California is giving vendors IOUs. NPR's Jean Cochran introduces Ina's report:
-- The Washington Post -- SEC Staffer "Had Warned Of Madoff": "An investigator at the Securities and Exchange Commission warned superiors as far back as 2004 about irregularities at Bernard L. Madoff's financial management firm, but she was told to focus on an unrelated matter, according to agency documents and sources familiar with the investigation. ... Madoff confessed in December to running "a giant Ponzi scheme" worth potentially $50 billion, and he was sentenced Monday to 150 years in prison after victims told a judge about how Madoff had destroyed their lives. Authorities are continuing to investigate other people and firms that might have abetted the fraud."
Related story on Morning Edition -- "Point System" Will Determine Where Madoff Serves His Time. NPR's Laura Sullivan reports about how officials will decide where to send Madoff and on the life he can expect behind bars:
-- BBC News -- Leaders In Honduras Reject Deadline: "The newly installed government in Honduras has rejected international calls to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya to power. The Organization of American States gave Honduras until the weekend to act or face suspension from the group. Mr Zelaya has delayed his planned return home on Thursday."
In the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa last evening, opponents of ousted President Manuel Zelaya held a demonstration supporting his ouster. Elmer Martinez/AFP/Getty Images
"These dogs are amazing," Marine Lance Cpl. Robert Leddy tells NPR's Graham Smith about Lode and other canines who have been trained to sniff out homemade bombs in Afghanistan. Graham's report aired today on Morning Edition:
Lode and Lance Cpl. Steven Snider at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. David Gilkey/NPR
Graham, a producer on All Things Considered, has been in Afghanistan for the past month with NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman and NPR video/photo journalist David Gilkey. Click here to see some of the reports Graham has filed for The Two-Way from Afghanistan.
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