From Nancy Pelosi's blog, The Gavel, July 24:

House Votes to Ban Permanent Bases in Iraq

"The Democratic Congress will go on record – every day if necessary – to register a judgment in opposition to the course of action that the President is taking in Iraq. The Democratic Congress will go on record – every day if necessary – to fight for a redeployment of our forces as the central element of a New Direction strategy for Iraq." —Speaker Pelosi, 7/25/07

It's a beautiful time to be alive—if you're a Halliburton shareholder. From Reuters, July 23:

Halliburton Co., the world's second-largest oil services company, said on Monday second-quarter profit from continuing operations rose 19 percent, topping Wall Street views, helped by new international contracts and stronger demand from its customers.

A front-page New York Times story July 24 reveals details of a classified plan calling for achieving "localized security" in Baghdad by the summer of 2008—and "sustainable security" throughout Iraq by the summer of 2009. The document, known as the Joint Campaign Plan, anticipates a decline in US forces as the "surge" runs its course later this year or in early 2008, but it assumes continued US involvement to train and cooperate with Iraq forces. Drawn up by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the senior US commander in Iraq, and Ryan C. Crocker, the US ambassador, the plan has been briefed to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. William J. Fallon, the head of the Central Command. It is expected to be formally issued to officials in Washington this week. "The coalition, in partnership with the government of Iraq, employs integrated political, security, economic and diplomatic means, to help the people of Iraq achieve sustainable security by the summer of 2009," a summary of the campaign plan states.

Afghanistan has announced three days of official mourning for the country's former king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, 92. Announcing his passing, President Hamid Karzai, a relative, hailed Zahir Shah as the "father of the nation." (RFE/RL) An editorial bidding him farewell in Arab News states: "Today, with the country seemingly sliding again into violence, it is not surprising that many Afghans look back on the 40 years that Zahir Shah reigned, from 1933 to 1973 when he was overthrown by his cousin, as a golden age. As well as peace and stability, there was also reform. Zahir Shah was a king who saw himself as an enabler rather than a ruler and who wanted to democratize his country. He did not want or enjoy personal power... Sadly it was his desire to reform that led to his overthrow. His 1964 constitution barring members of the royal family from involvement in politics was bitterly resented by his ambitious cousin Mohammad Daoud, against whom it was in part directed. Daoud's coup opened a Pandora's Box that has proved impossible to close ever since."

In the July 22 ballot, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan secured the largest share of votes in a Turkish election since 1965, in a contest which saw heated controversy about the country's future as a secular republic. His Justice and Development (AK) party—its pro-capitalist brand of political Islam sometimes dubbed "Islamic Calvinism"—captured constituencies across Turkey, leaving only isolated pockets to the secular nationalist parties. "The divide between the AK Party and its secularist-nationalist opponents has emerged as one of the most important fault lines in Turkish politics," writes Turkey's Zaman.

Iranian intelligence operatives detained over a dozen squirrels found within the nation's borders earlier this month, claiming they were serving as spies for Western powers determined to undermine the Islamic Republic. "In recent weeks, intelligence operatives have arrested 14 squirrels within Iran's borders," state news agency IRNA reported. "The squirrels were carrying spy gear of foreign agencies, and were stopped before they could act, thanks to the alertness of our intelligence services." (YNet, July 17) Meanwhile in Iraq, British forces have denied rumors that they released a plague of ferocious man-eating badgers in the city of Basra. Several of the creatures, caught and killed by local farmers, have been identified by experts as honey badgers, which do not attack human beings unless threatened. UK military spokesman Major Mike Shearer said: "We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area." (BBC, July 12)

Boy, does it ever look like a case of "meet the new boss" in Ethiopia. A front-page story by Jeffrey Gettleman in the New York Times July 22 informs us that the government is blocking food aid to the restive Ogaden region. "Food cannot get in," said Mohammed Diab, the director of the UN World Food Program in Ethiopia. Another anonymous "humanitarian official" said: "It's a starve-out-the-population strategy. If something isn't done on the diplomatic front soon, we're going to have a government-caused famine on our hands." The government says the blockade covers only strategic locations, and is meant to prevent arms from reaching the Ogaden National Liberation Front. The really sick thing is that this is a tactic pioneered by the exiled dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, who has been convicted on genocide charges by the current regime. Back during the famines of the 1980s, Mengistu barred food aid from reaching the restive Tigray region (as the Library of Congress Country Studies page on Ethiopia recalls). Now the new (Tigray-dominated) regime is emulating this genocidal stratagem against its own ethnic enemies.

A three-judge panel of US Court of Appeals in Washington DC July 20 ordered the government to turn over virtually all its information on Guantanamo detainees who are challenging their detention, rejecting an effort by the Justice Department to limit disclosures. The ruling opens the way for scores of cases by detainees challenging the actions of Pentagon tribunals that decide whether terror suspects should be held as "enemy combatants." It is the latest in a series of legal challenges to the administration's detention policies that have increased the pressure on the White House to find an alternative to Guantanamo, where about 360 men are now being held.