washingtonpost.com - Middle East
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For U.S. and Sunni Allies, a Turning PointTue, September 30, 2008BAGHDAD -- First Lt. Justin John, 6-foot-4 and built like a linebacker, plopped down on a sofa in front of Ibrahim Suleiman al-Zoubaidi, one of the leaders of the mainly Sunni armed groups that have helped the U.S. military quell violence in Iraq since last year.


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Blast Targeting Lebanese Army Kills 5Tue, September 30, 2008BEIRUT, Sept. 29 -- A car bomb exploded near a military bus in the northern city of Tripoli on Monday, killing five people, including four soldiers, and injuring more than 30.


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Gates Criticizes Conventional Focus At Start of Iraq WarTue, September 30, 2008Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday criticized the shock-and-awe strategy of the 2003 Iraq invasion and said the Pentagon's narrow focus on conventional combat operations proved costly when U.S. ground troops had to switch gears to try to stabilize that country.


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U.S. Navy Bolsters Watch Over Ship Seized by Somali PiratesTue, September 30, 2008CAIRO, Sept. 29 -- The U.S. Navy on Monday strengthened its force of warships standing watch over a hijacked Ukrainian-operated vessel off Somalia, intent on ensuring that the pirates holding the vessel do not unload its cargo of 33 Soviet-designed T-72 tanks and other arms, a U.S. Navy spokesman...


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Watching the Big Game, Far From HomeMon, September 29, 2008Lighted only by the moon, its windows blacked out, a small U.S. outpost in southern Baghdad looks abandoned. Hulking armored vehicles, still hot from a recent mission, rest on imported gravel. Bats flutter and fall like a sudden twitch in the placid night sky.
