Anand Giridharadas:

Many told themselves and each other that this time would change things, just as Americans had told themselves after 9/11. But they knew their own history, and America’s, and they seemed, even as they spoke the words, to disbelieve them already.

I've wondered why people keep referring to this as "India's 9/11." Mumbia has been the victim of terrible terrorist attacks in the past. If anything, this attack was directed externally as much as it was directed at India. This article provides some explanation.

What has changed is that domestic terrorism in India now has International implications. As it has become a security concern for other nations, there will be increased international demands on India's security forces.

The Special Sting of Personal Terrorism

'We're not going to win this war'

Afghanistan and Pakistan

The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.

Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North...

...this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

This has the conspiracy theorists a twitter. On the eve of a major presidential election and in the midst of a financial crisis, a U.S. Army Infantry Division has, for the first time in U.S. history, been assigned to a permanent domestic deployment without a mission to respond to a specific disaster or crisis. They're here, you know, just in case.

Brigade homeland tours start Oct. 1 - Army News, opinions, editorials, news from Iraq, photos, reports - Army Times

I know that suicide attacks occur elsewhere in the world; but there is something very British, very now, about the mentality of Ali, Sarwar and Hussain; indulged youth who nonetheless feel they have been denied the respec' they crave and then react with the petulance of the terminally adolescent moron. But who then fail to carry out their threats because they are too stupid and have not really, if they're honest, put the work in.

'Have We Ever Faced An Enemy More Stupid Than Muslim Terrorists?' by Rod Liddle, Spectator - RichardDawkins.net

Our war is over. Time to come home.

Informed Comment: On the Seventh Anniversary of September 11: Time to Declare the original al-Qaeda Defeated

General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, said declining violence in Baghdad raised the possibility that American combat troops could leave the capital by next summer.

Asked in an interview with the Financial Times whether it was feasible that US combat forces could leave Baghdad by July, he said: “Conditions permitting, yeah.”

FT.com / World - US says troops could quit Baghdad soon

Testimony at the U.S. Senate hearing on border searches mentioned this case, in which a U.S. citizen was interrogated about a letter he wrote to the editor of the Toledo Blade.

The stuck out for me as crossing a line. The police should not be intimidating people for writing editorial opinions.

First, a border agent takes his weapon out and puts it on the table during interrogation, Reed says. “He takes the clip out of his weapon, looks at the ammunition, puts the clip back in, and puts it back in his holster. I’m thinking, this is intimidation!”

Second, another agent asks him about a letter to the editor Reed wrote to the Toledo Blade back on September 8, 2006. It was entitled, “The World Sees an Arrogant America,” and it was critical of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and its occupation of Palestinian land, as well as Bush’s invasion of Iraq. “These are but a few reasons that have put America on the ‘most hated’ list,” he wrote.

“I see you like to write for the newspaper,” the agent told Reed, he recalls. And the agent had downloaded a copy of the letter, which was on the table, Reed says.

“Yeah, so?”

“Nothing, I’m just curious. I googled your name and saw these things that were printed in the newspaper.”

Muslim American Grilled at Border Over Religion, Letter to the Editor - CommonDreams.org

The administration continues to lie about released Gitmo detainees returning to the battlefield. In this case that lie managed to inform a Supreme Court decision. Fortunately it was a dissent.

In his dissent in Boumedienne (pdf), Justice Scalia wrote:

"At least 30 of those prisoners hitherto released from Guantanamo Bay have returned to the battlefield."

The first thing to notice about it is that it says that 30 detainees have returned not to the battlefield, but to "the fight". The Tipton Three were three British citizens who were captured in Afghanistan... After British intelligence cleared them... they participated in the movie The Road To Guantanamo. Apparently, this counts as "returning to the battlefield".

"Extending to the Government the benefit of the doubt as to ambiguous cases, the list of possible Guantánamo recidivists who could have been captured or killed on the battlefield consists of two individuals: Mohammed Ismail and Mullah Shazada."

Obsidian Wings: Returned To The Battlefield

Andrew Sullivan has a different take on the electoral consequences of recent developments.

The “success” of the surge is less a vindication of the entire enterprise than an opportunity to get the hell out with less blowback than previously feared. Moreover, the less chaotic the situation in Iraq, the easier it is for the Democrats to persuade Americans that the relatively inexperienced Barack Obama is not that big a risk as commander-in-chief.

The more John McCain is right on Iraq, the more he loses | Andrew Sullivan - Times Online

Violence in all of Iraq is the lowest since March 2004. The two largest cities, Baghdad and Basra, are calmer than they have been for years. The third largest, Mosul, is in the midst of a major security operation. On Thursday, Iraqi forces swept unopposed through the southern city of Amara, which has been controlled by Shiite militias. There is a sense that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government has more political traction than any of its predecessors.

Radical policy shifts on Iraq seem less reasonable with each passing month. A number of previous threads on this subject are easy to search for. I think this is going to present a problem for Obama, as previous Dem positioning in Iraq is going to get squeezed against improving news from the ground. McCain will easily capitalize on this.

Big Gains for Iraq Security, but Questions Linger - NYTimes.com