This Week in War. A Friday round-up of what happened and what’s been written in the world of war and military/security affairs this week. It’s a mix of news reports, policy briefs, blog posts and longform journalism. Subscribe here to receive this round-up by email.
At least 638 people were killed in Cairo on Wednesday when security broke up pro-Morsi sit-ins. There are indications that the number could actually be much higher.
Here is some excellent visual reporting of what happened by the New York Times — mapping and providing photojournalism for the timeline of assault on two protest camps with tear gas, live ammo and snipers.
More violence and crackdown are to be expected. The Muslim Brotherhood have called for this to be a Day of Anger — urging a nationwide march in response to this week’s brutality. The interior ministry has already vowed to respond with live fire.
Sky News cameraman Michael Deane and Gulf newspaper reporter Habiba Ahmad Ab Elaziz were both shot dead in Cairo. Other journalists were wounded — including Reuters photographer Asma Waguih.
Journalists were also arrested and beaten by Egyptian police — including The Daily Beast’s Mike Giglio.
Here’s a personal account from an Egyptian doctor, posted to his Facebook, of the harm he saw and tried to treat.
Egypt’s Coptic (Christian) population is reporting attacks on their churches.
Some Egyptians, however, continue to support the crackdown on pro-Morsi demonstrations.
The Security Council held an emergency meeting on Thursday night — which was followed by a condemnation of the violence and urging “maximum restraint.” President Obama also condemned the violence, cancelling joint military drills.
A Libyan television journalist with a privately-owned station narrowly escaped an assassination bid.
Doctors Without Borders has pulled out of Somalia after attacks on staff.
The leader of Mali’s coup, Amadou Sanogo, has been promoted to army general amidst condemnation from human rights organizations.
Nigeria became the fourth nation and first African nation to ratify the UN Arms Treaty (others are Iceland, Guyana and Antigua & Barbuda.
UN investigators in Syria, there to learn more about possible chemical weapons use, have been delayed in their departure by snags with the government.
Sudan ships arms to Syrian rebels.
A visual guide to Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
Tensions on the rise on Turkey’s border with Syria: an exchange of fire occurred as Turkey repelled what it alleges are thousands of smugglers trying to cross over from Syria.
The Washington Post, TIME and CNN were all hacked by the pro-Assad Syrian Electronic Army.
18 were killed by a car bomb in southern Beirut.
Two hours before the start of peace talks, Israel hit two sites in Gaza in retaliation for rocket fire from the night before.
Israel released 26 Palestinian prisoners.
Gregory Johnsen’s rather amazing story about US operations in Yemen details the use of an 8-year-old Yemeni boy as a spy.
Car bomb attacks in Baghdad on Thursday killed 34.
NPR interviews New York Times Baghdad bureau chief Tim Arango on deadly violence in Iraq.
Fariba Ahmadi Kakar, MP for Kandahar province in Afghanistan, has been kidnapped. She is the first lawmaker kidnapped in Afghanistan since the Taliban lost power.
The military judge in the case of Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who pleaded guilty to murdering 16 Afghan civilians, refused the defense team’s push to remove the prosecution.
During his visit to Pakistan, UN chief Ban Ki-Moon condemned the use of drones as lethal weapons, saying they should only be used for surveillance, and said their use should be subject to international law.
Are the latest fatal skirmishes on the India-Pakistan border part of an attempt to sabotage the peace process?
The Pakistani Taliban is turning attentions to India as the US begins to move toward withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The AP reports on a cache of documents found in Timbuktu in which Al Qaeda’s Yemen operative Nasser al-Wahishi laid out a “blueprint” for terrorist activity and so-called “jihad.” Read the letters themselves.
One of the suspects in the killing of Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya was shot and killed by an unknown attacker in Moscow.
Unrest broke out in Belfast again — loyalists sought to prevent a republican march to mark the anniversary of internment without trial and clashed with police. The subsequent spread of sectarian violence left 56 police officers injured after loyalists attacked them with bricks.
The Washington Post reports an internal NSA audit, part of Snowden’s leaks, which found 2,776 “incidents” of violations of the rules surrounding surveillance of Americans in a one-year span. [The document itself.]
The Guardian reports that the NSA has a legal loophole — a backdoor that allows it to warrantlessly search American citizens’ emails and phone calls.
President Obama released two white papers related to the NSA surveillance program — which, as Spencer Ackerman notes, tell us not much in the way of new information.
Reports seemed to indicate that former DNI director James Clapper would be heading up an “independent” review of NSA surveillance, but the White House has quickly distanced itself from that, insisting he will not be playing a leadership role in the review.
The New York Times wrote a profile of documentary journalist Laura Poitras, who has done much of the journalistic work involved in the leak revelations from Edward Snowden.
During the sentencing portion of his trial, Bradley Manning took the stand — making a statement in which he apologized for his leaks.
Mother Jones: The Pentagon’s transgender problem.
The CIA admitted to spying on Noam Chomsky.
Shane Harris reports on new government fears about the national security impact of big data, which is definitely not ironic. Not at all.
Whitey Bulger was found guilty of 31 counts of murder, extortion, racketeering, money laundering, drug dealing, weapons possession…
Dzokhar Tsarnaev’s two college friends charged with obstruction of justice have pleaded not guilty.
John Grisham wrote a heartbreaking essay for the New York Times, telling the awful story of Guantánamo inmate Nabil Hadjarab.
Photo: Aleppo, Syria. Free Syrian Army soldiers wait inside a house. Hamid Khatib/Reuters
Photo: Cairo. Near Rabaa Adawiya mosque. A photographer runs as two camps of Morsi supporters are cleared. Mosaab ElShamy/EPA
