Q&A: Gen. David Petraeus on Leaving Iraq | Newsweek Iraq War

POLITICS
Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary Of State Nominee
12/1/2008 12:00:00 AM
Hillary Clinton's selection to serve as Barack Obama's secretary of State follows her strong race for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination against him. Clinton was among a number of top national security officials named by Obama on December 1. Obama said he would nominate Robert M. Gates to remain as defense secretary, and nominated Gen. James L. Jones, a retired Marine commandant, for national security adviser, Eric H. Holder Jr. for attorney general, Susan Rice as ambassador the UN, and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano for homeland security secretary.
GLOBAL AGENDA
The Things We Need to Do Now
Andrew J. Bacevich 11/29/2008 12:00:00 AM
The war in Afghanistan is now in its eighth year. An operation launched with expectations of a quick, decisive victory has failed signally to accomplish that objective. Granted, the diversion of resources to Iraq forced commanders in Afghanistan to make do with less. Yet that doesn't explain the lack of progress. The real problem is that Washington has misunderstood the nature of the challengeAfghanistan poses and misread America's interests there.
COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
Counterterrorism in India
Sameer Reddy 11/28/2008 12:00:00 AM
India has several intelligence agencies that monitor terrorist activities. The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is the external intelligence agency and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), a division of the Home Affairs Ministry, collects intelligence inside India. A Joint Intelligence Committee analyzes intelligence data from RAW and IB as well as from a handful of military intelligence agencies, which usually provide tactical information gathered while carrying out counterterrorist operations.
WORLDXTRA
One of Our Own
Ahmed Benchemsi 11/20/2008 12:00:00 AM
The video message from Al Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in which he called Barack Obama a "house Negro," demonstrates, if anything, that the terrorists are always damn good in PR. You feel disgusted? Horrified? That's exactly their aim. In this regard, Zawahiri's diabolical comparison of Obama and Malcolm X ("an honorable American who converted to Islam," as Zawahiri put it) is an even bolder move: not only do they insult the American president-elect, but they rub it into one of America's deepest wounds—the racial divisions and the profound antagonisms generated by Malcolm X's radical claims. In terms of "hatred arts," this is just brilliant. Those who are shocked by Zawahiri's words have merely to remember: spreading hate is the terrorists' job. Hating you is not enough; they also need you to hate them, so the struggle goes on unchallenged.
INTERNATIONAL
Taliban Two-Step: Can’t Sit Down Yet
Sami Yousafzai 11/1/2008 12:00:00 AM
Don't even ask Mullah Sabir about peace talks. There's nothing to talk about, says the tall, burly Afghan, one of the Taliban's highest-ranking commanders. "This is not a political campaign for policy change or power sharing or cabinet ministries," he tells NEWSWEEK at a textiles shop on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. "We are waging jihad to bring Islamic law back to Afghanistan." The refusal to negotiate comes straight from the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, says Sabir, who did not want his full name used: "The tone of his rejection has been so strong from the first that no one would dare to raise the subject with him." The trouble is, Sabir hasn't seen Mullah Omar in years, and he doesn't know of anyone who has. Internet posts released in Mullah Omar's name on Muslim holy days are the only hint that the one-eyed Commander of the Faithful is still alive. All the same, Sabir says he and thousands of other Taliban won't stop fighting until they're back in power.
TECHTONIC SHIFTS
A Violent Virtual Cure
Christopher Werth
Imagine standing on an empty street corner when you hear the rumble of a bus coming around the corner. The breaks squeal as the vehicle stops in front of you. Its doors open; passengers begin to step off. A moment later, the bus explodes into flames, temporarily blinding you with light, and showering the street with shards of glass and burning shrapnel. The ground shakes. Body parts lie on the pavement around you. You hear screaming and the sound of sirens. And then you take off your headset—safe and sound in your therapist's office.