Stories in this week's U.S. edition

Some troops in Iraq look longingly to Afghanistan
In many ways, the war in Afghanistan looms over the waning months of the U.S. effort in Iraq, an ironic reversal after years in which attention and resources were diverted here.
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Obama's war council
As the war goes on in Afghanistan, so too does the strategic debate in Washington. Here is a look at the influential leaders advising President Barack Obama on the way forward.
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U.S. forces struggle with Washington’s perceptions and reality in Afghanistan
A U.S. counter-explosives staff sergeant was killed recently trying to defuse a complex homemade bomb planted in the road in this hostile region. But legal and forensics experts had to jump through regulatory hoops set up by their own chain of command just to ensure that the Afghan suspects in the bombing would face prosecution.
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Despite shifts in public opinion, NATO troops confident they are making a difference
There’s a lull in the shooting, though no one knows how long it will last. It’s been this way for three hours. A French marine named Cedric rummages through his pockets for a smoke. While his hands search, his eyes stay fixed on a nearby grove and, in the foreground, a large gap framed by the corners of two mud-brick buildings.
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Air Force career field in need: Service taking steps to address shortage, but it will take time
The Air Force is facing a critical shortage of joint terminal attack controllers, a position vital to reducing the number of civilians killed in airstrikes in Afghanistan — one of Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s keys to turning around the war there.
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S. Korea steps up ‘keep right’ campaign
Officials hope a campaign to get people to walk on the right will change a perception many U.S. servicemembers and other foreigners have — that Koreans are rude.
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