With war-weary Congo refugees begining to trudge home, the images look eerily familiar -- like the scene of hudreds of thousands of people fleeing the genocide in neighboring Rwandan in 1994. Unfortunately, grave humanitarian crisis is nothing new to the long suffering people of the region.

ITN's Lindsey Hilsum explains the background of the current catastrophe in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

VIDEO: Anatomy of the Congo crisis

See a slideshow of images from the current crisis as well.

SLIDESHOW: Crisis in Congo

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TEL AVIV, Israel  –  Thousands of Americans living in Israel cast their votes this week for the U.S. elections. With approximately 40,000 Americans in Israel registered to vote, their numbers are small, but significant.

And Shimon Greenspan and Dina Lerner, founders of a private, non-partisan organization called Vote from Israel, were determined to make sure their votes were counted.

VIDEO: Americans in Israel cast their absentee ballots

Several months ago Greenspan and Lerner, were sitting around with friends talking about the upcoming election and were amazed to find out their friends were not intending to vote. There were many reasons, but they mainly boiled down to that that it was just too difficult.

All the excuses prompted Greenspan and Lerner to create their organization and encourage U.S. residents living here to register and vote. In a period of only a few weeks, their organization has been responsible for registering up to 10,000 U.S. citizens to vote in the November elections.

And in a poll of 817 Americans who cast their absentee ballots here this week – 76 percent said they voted for Sen. John McCain and 24 percent said they voted for Sen. Barack Obama. 

The poll, which was commissioned by the Vote from Israel organization, was conducted by Keevoon, a Jerusalem-based research firm.

Voters answered poll questions regarding the issues they considered most important, as well as which candidate they thought more capable of handling a host of issues. 

More than half of the respondents listed foreign policy (including Israel policy) as the most important factor influencing their vote. The potential threat from a nuclear Iran was of concern to these voters. Nearly two-thirds of respondents were "very concerned" by the Iranian threat, with 93 percent agreeing that a nuclear Iran would be a threat to the United States.

Click here for complete coverage of Decision '08

RAMALLAH, West Bank - With the U.S. election now just a few days away, Palestinians here have been fascinated by the race, not only because the system of primaries, conventions, and debates is so different compared to the way leaders are chosen here, but also because of the prospect that Americans could actually elect a person of color as their leader.

It's always been a given that the unflinching support for Israel by the U.S. helps give Israel leverage in its negotiations with the Palestinian Authority and that statements of support from the White House have always been the best indicator of that commitment. But, that's also why this year's election has been closely watched by the Palestinian media and by Palestinians in the streets of the West Bank, Gaza, and east Jerusalem.

VIDEO: Palestinians have low expectations for U.S. elections

All of the people I spoke with in the West Bank are tantalized by the idea of a Barack Obama presidency. They see it not only as an historic moment for the U.S., but also as the possible breakthrough they've been waiting for in their own struggle for a state.

At the same time though, enthusiasm for an Obama presidency is tempered by the sobering facts on the ground. 

Political stalemate
Palestinians remain skeptical as ever about any future progress in relations with Israel for a number of reasons. Despite a pledge by President Bush to produce a peace framework leading to the creation of a Palestinian state by the end of his term, it's now widely accepted that this will be more unfinished business for the next administration to tackle.

After more than 20 trips by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to this region, there has still been no tangible progress. In fact, according to the Palestinians, Israel has built more settlements, checkpoints, and roadblocks during this period, in defiance of U.S. requests to halt construction.

The reasons for the lack of a final plan reflect the weakness of leaders on both sides.

There was always a question mark over how far outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert could lead Israeli negotiations while facing allegations of corruption.

And now Olmert is powerless – he is acting in a caretaker capacity since resigning in September over a corruption scandal – and Israel is now distracted by the attempts of the new leader of the Kadima Party, Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni, to form a new government.

At the same time, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been negotiating against a backdrop of not only a divided Palestinian society, but a divided Fatah movement, and he remains haunted by the end of his term, due in January 2009. Hamas, which controls Gaza, has already said it will appoint its own head of the Palestinian Authority when Abbas' term ends.

And statements by both Sen. John McCain and Obama during their campaigns vowing their support of Israel have confirmed Palestinians worst suspicions that the next administration will not be any different than the Bush White House.

'They are all the same'
At the end of July, Barak Obama visited Israel and promised his "unshakeable commitment to the security" of the country, but he also visited the West Bank city of Ramallah and assured Abbas of his support for a two-state resolution as a way to eventually resolve the region's problems. 

McCain also visited Israel during a weeklong trip through the Middle East and Europe in March and stood by the country's efforts to defend itself. He also praised Abbas commitment to trying to reach a peace deal, but did not meet with the Palestinians.  

But, comments made by Obama were actually the most surprising for Palestinians, especially when he announced his support for a Jerusalem fully controlled by Israel – one of the main issues of dispute for a future Palestinian state. 

"The U.S. presidential election will do nothing to settle the Mideast problems; the comprehensive peace – that will never happen," said Jamal Hamdan, a 74-year-old who lives in Ramallah. "They are all the same. They all support Israel even more than the previous administration that is about to leave. The Zionist control the government of the United States."

But, still, many Palestinians believe the 2008 election is critical and change the usual order of things.

"I think this election is going to be very, very important, because there are so many things hanging up over this election, between the two candidates. The gap is so wide and there are so many issues," said Fays Eid. "It affects so many people and so many lives, not just in the United States, but all over the world."

Many Palestinians have put their hope in Obama and believe he is actually different from other politicians.

"I wish Obama could win," said Mohammad Jarasy, a 56-year-old supermarket owner. "He is going to help the economy, he's going to help the peace process for everybody in the Middle East."

Others see the elections as an opportunity for a major turning point. "In fact it's a challenge," said Musa Ahmad, a 50-year-old Palestinian consultant for a German company in Dubai. "It looks like this is the first time in the U.S.A to elect somebody with a different color, different opinion, and I believe that he's believing in freedom and he's believing in peace and I think he will support the Palestinians."

While the Bush administration is still pursuing diplomatic efforts, Rice acknowledged at a recent speech in Washington before a Palestinian investment forum that time was running out to produce a peace plan, as proposed at the Annapolis conference in November 2007.  

"I will leave no stone unturned to see if we can finally resolve this conflict," she said. But Palestinians here are now looking to the next administration to deliver on that promise.

Lawahez Jabari is an NBC News Producer who is based out of NBC's Tel Aviv bureau.

Click here for complete coverage of Decision '08

SANHE, HEBEI PROVINCE, China – Spend an afternoon with the men who run the HuaXia Dairy Farm in Hebei Province and you soon suspect they are on a mission that's more than simply about making money.

"We want to provide all the Chinese people [the ability to] drink fresh milk," said ER Hong, HuaXia's Chief Strategy Officer, as we walked around the clean yet odorous farm that's home to 5,000 cows and a lot of imported technology.

VIDEO: Implementing American technology on a Chinese dairy farm

"In China right now, most people are not drinking fresh milk," continued the Taiwan native who says he grew up drinking fresh milk daily and talks about dairy as a basic human right. "Not many places can produce fresh milk."

It might sound like an odd pitch to make, given the bad press dairy products have been getting here lately. In September, the industrial chemical melamine was discovered in Chinese-made powdered and fresh milk and other dairy products sold in China and exported to parts of East Asia and Africa. Four babies died from kidney failure and at least 54,000 other young children in China have fallen ill as a result of drinking the tainted milk.

But HuaXia is poised to help overhaul the way millions of dairy farms operate across the country.

HuaXia was founded four years ago by Charles Shao, a 49-year-old information technology specialist, when he decided to pack up his life in Santa Monica, Calif., after the venture he was involved in sold to Google for a princely sum. "This was kind of a retirement for me," he laughed.

But when he arrived in China in 2003, he was determined to start his next adventure in an entirely different field. "[Some friends and I] were looking into either a vineyard or a dairy farm, and I choose the dairy farm," said Shao, whose mild manner belies an instinct for ambitious enterprise.

Adrienne Mong/NBC News

Hua Xia Dairy Farm has 5,000 cows, making it one of the largest in China.

Agriculture, as he saw it, was the last frontier in China's economy. "If you try to set up a technology company here, there's pretty much competition everywhere."

Moreover, there was an opportunity to make a real difference by focusing on agriculture. "The idea of dairy farming is actually to bring in U.S. technologies to do technology transfer so we can teach people in China how to do dairy farming correctly," he said.

It might sound presumptuous, but ongoing food safety scandals over the decades suggest Chinese farmers could use the help. Last month, melamine was discovered in not only powdered milk but also fresh milk, yoghurt, and some brands of cookies and candies.

And just this past weekend, authorities in Hong Kong found melamine in chicken eggs produced by a food distributor in the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian.

The central government continues to take steps to try to address the problems of food safety; they include adopting a comprehensive food safety law and consolidating regulatory agencies to tighten oversight, but regulation may not be enough.

"We've found in other countries, when you have separate systems, one for the farm, one for industrial production, one for the retail sector and so on, it doesn't work," said Jorgen Schlundt, Director of the World Health Organization's Food Safety, Zoonoses, and Foodborne Diseases.

And China's food production and supply chain is highly fragmented – especially the dairy system, which consists of millions of individual farmers who have been encouraged in recent years by government reformers seeking to promote dairy farming as an alternative income source.

"You have small-scale farmers that have four cows or eight cows," said David Oliver, an agriculture consultant. "They then sell to their larger milk companies. Quite often, they don't have their own milking shed facilities like you would find in the U.S. So what they do every day is bring their cows to a community milking shed. The milk is then sent to the milk company. Sometimes those milking sheds are owned directly by the milk company but at other times they're owned by a third party contractor."

It's those third-party contractors who are suspected of being central in this latest scandal. Last week, six people were arrested for either selling melamine to milk suppliers or adding the chemical themselves directly to milk.

Adrienne Mong/NBC News

NBC News cameraman David Lom and assistant Ed Flanagan get up close and personal with the cows.

One of HuaXia's operational advantages is its size. Of the 5,000 cows it owns – making it one of the top 20 largest dairy farms in the country – 1,000 are milking cows, producing 30 tons of milk a day.

All the animals are closely monitored for illnesses, and the milk produced is tested on a daily basis by the farm itself and on a weekly basis by an independent lab hired by HuaXia. The milk is then sent directly to a processing plant for packaging, eliminating the need for a middleman.

It's a single-stream system – from the farm directly to the table – that experts like Schlundt and his colleagues at the WHO say is key to ensuring food safety.

Shao and his colleagues have invested in state-of-the-art equipment to help monitor the quality of their milk, thus making the farm work like an assembly factory.

"Even though we have U.S. technologies, we're still in China," said Shao. There are no specialist herdsmen and farm labor is unskilled. "We instead have to compartmentalize and make our staff task-oriented," he explained. "The concept of high quality, quality assurance, and all these things is new to them."

HuaXia's cows come from New Zealand or Australia, and the heavy equipment – like the mixing wagon to feed the animals, as well as the tractor required to pull the wagon – comes from the U.S.

Shao and his team's efforts to run a tight ship are paying off. Not only have they easily weathered the milk scandal, their reputation for safe, fresh milk is gathering momentum. HuaXia already works with the U.S. Grains Council as a demonstration farm and training center for Chinese farmers. And the company is hoping to gain the seal of approval for quality and safety from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"It's possible to change how dairy farming is in China," said Shao. "We're a good example!"

LAKENHEATH, England – In a country where "football" means "soccer" and "American football" is derided as an inferior version of rugby, the quarterback painted on the bookie's front window is an unusual sight to say the least.

On the other side of the High Street, the Stars and Stripes are on display outside the Costlow cell phone shop. A laminated U.S. map welcomes customers to R & B Property Agency and there are noticeably more SUVs and Ford F-350s on quaintly named streets like Dumpling Bridge Lane than in most places in Britain.

With the U.S. Air Force's 48th Fighter Wing based on 2,000 acres of countryside at the edge of this village, about 500 of the community's 2,000 dwellings are occupied by Americans and their families, giving the area a distinctively American flavor.

VIDEO: Britons hopeful U.S. vote will heal rifts

But the absence of "McCain 2008" or "Obama for President" signs sprouting from lawns in Lakenheath has much more to do with geography than a lack of interest in the race for the White House.

As a home to American airmen for 60 years, RAF Lakenheath is one of three U.S. military outposts within a 15-minute drive of the village. Officials estimate there are as many as 30,000 Americans in the area.

Long considered a source of aggravation, the conversation-halting roar of F-15s overhead now provides local residents with regular reminders that the looming U.S. election could have a dramatic impact on their livelihoods.

'Game over' for local businesses?
Many in the community worry about what the prospective victory of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama or Republican Sen. John McCain would mean for the future of the U.S. bases – RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Feltwell – and say axing any of them would devastate the local economy.

Peter Newman, who runs The Plough pub, says almost one-third of his takings come from the wallets of Americans.

"The village does rely quite heavily on income from the bases and depending on which way the election swings it could mean base closures," the 30-year-old said. "I don't think the community could handle a base closure at the moment. I reckon it would be 'game over' for this business and quite a few others."

Jason Cumming / msnbc.com

Peter Newman, left, who runs The Plough pub in Lakenheath, England, and retired customs officer Chris Salter have both been paying close attention to the U.S. election campaign.

Reg Silvester, chairman of the local administrative council in the neighboring town of Brandon, shares his concerns.

"Obama could have a big effect on this area if he made military cuts," he said. "Things are tough in the English economy at the moment. If you take the bases away it would leave an awful hole in the local economy."

However, some locals hope that change in the White House might result in Americans coming back out from "behind the wire" and reintegrating with the community.

When security was stepped up after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Catholic villagers who had traditionally attended Sunday Mass on the base were no longer allowed inside.

Invitations to the base's golf course – where fees are paid in U.S. dollars  – stopped. And a well-used local road was shut off to non-military personnel.

Chris Salter, whose daughter married an American airman and moved to San Antonio said no matter the outcome on Nov. 4 it was important to keep strong links between the two countries.

"I know they kicked our a**es out of America but we still do have a special relationship," the 68-year-old retired customs officer said. "I think Obama will get in. I'm nearly as old as McCain but he's too old. He looks as though he's being pushed around on a skateboard."

Vincent Perry, 47, spent more than 20 years in the U.S. Air Force before retiring as an F-15 flight crew chief and settling in Lakenheath. The Washington, D.C., native has cast his absentee ballot for Obama, who he believes is ready to be a "world leader."

"I don't care who you are – you can't deny that the States is in trouble," Perry said. "I watched all of the debates. And wouldn't it be nice to have a president who can talk intelligently?"

It's not just the people of Lakenheath who have become obsessed with this election.

Most of Britain's ten national daily newspapers devote at least a full page each morning to the campaign and the McCain vs. Obama showdown receives extensive coverage on evening newscasts. An excerpt of an Obama speech is even being used in a television commercial for the venerable Times of London.

Professor Sarah Oates, who teaches politics at Glasgow University's Andrew Hook Center for American Studies, said many Britons see parallels between Obama and Tony Blair, Britain's former prime minister.

"There is widespread interest in this election," she said. "I've been invited by Brits to three all-night parties so they can stay up and watch the American election."

"The legacy of the Iraq war is quite strong here," Oates continued. "The average Briton did not support the war in Iraq and there's still a lot of anger and frustration."

"There's excitement about change in the White House because that will change British policy. What Obama says resonates with Brits," she said.

Oates suggested that many Brits are "puzzled and appalled" by Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

"To a Brit, maverick doesn't sound good. But she's very good theatre and they've watched it with the detached fascination of a train wreck," Oates said.

With roughly 300,000 Americans in Britain, both parties have been busy registering expatriate supporters. Democrats Abroad U.K. reports that the group's membership has quadrupled since Christmas while Republicans Abroad U.K. says its numbers have doubled in the last 18 months.

Miki Bowman, chairman of Republicans Abroad U.K., described much of the British media coverage of the election as "very superficial."

But she added: "People in Britain feel very free to tell Americans what they think about our government."

Bill Barnard, chairman of Democrats Abroad UK, said: "The parties are very much aware of overseas voters. In 2000, 538 votes and Al Gore would've been president. It can make a difference."

Back at RAF Lakenheath, base officials said that as of Oct. 23 at least 2,086 of the 2,704 absentee ballots issued – or 77 percent – had already been cast and sent back to the United States.

But on the other side of the barbed-wire topped perimeter fence, not everyone is counting down the days to Nov. 4.

The British economy is on the verge of recession, house prices are plummeting, power companies have warned household energy bills may rise by more than 20 percent this winter and gas still costs more than $7 a gallon.

"Do you not think that we have enough problems of our own to worry about an election in the U.S.?" asks Sandy Williams, 64, a Briton who worked for five years as a cleaning supervisor at RAF Mildenhall.

"People are worried about how they're going to pay their heating bill. All of the things happening in this country with our own government – it's enough to make you stop watching the news and reading the papers to stop yourself from worrying," she said.

Click here for complete coverage of Decision '08

MEXICO CITY – Given our common 1,900-mile border, it's not surprising that Mexicans south of the border are paying close attention to the U.S. presidential election.

Migration issues and the violent anti-drug war along the border region are big issues – but without a doubt, the top worry for many Mexicans is the economy.

While Americans have been wrestling with the bailout plan, Mexico has already been suffering – the peso's value has plunged by 18 percent this month, its worst monthly performance since December 1994, when Mexico's currency fell by 48 percent.

VIDEO: Mexicans watch U.S. election closely

The peso rebounded a bit this week, but Mexico's growth rate has slowed from 4 percent to 1 percent and unemployment is on the rise.

Many Mexicans have placed responsibility for the disaster squarely on President Bush, and by extension see presidential candidate Sen. John McCain as someone who would pursue the same policies as the current administration.

"We definitely don't want another Bush. I have more faith in [Barack] Obama, because at least he would listen to new models and new ways of working," said Vanesa Musi, a Mexican artist.

Musi is not alone, many in Mexico are hoping for the arrival of the "Obama era."

According to a Reader's Digest Global Presidential Poll, 70 percent of respondents support Obama, and 25 percent support McCain.

Hitting Mexicans bottom line
As opposed to McCain, the popular perception of Obama in Mexico is that he is some kind of superhero, the only man capable of taking the rudder of the sinking economic ship.

Already there are reports of Mexican migrant workers beginning to return from the U.S. because of the lack of job opportunities. 

Mexico City's municipal government predicts that between 20,000 and 30,000 more immigrants will return for good from the United States during the Christmas holiday because they cannot find work, according to the Associated Press. 

While that may spell the end of the "American dream" for thousands of Mexican migrant workers, it has an effect back home, too: Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. are sending less money home.

During August of this year, remittances were down 12 percent from the same period of 2007, putting Mexico on track for the first decline in the amount of money sent home by migrants in more than in a decade.

Those remittances form a desperately needed safety net for many families – especially the children of many immigrants – and in some regions entire communities or towns depend on that cash for survival.

But, even if remittances are down, with Mexicans accounting for approximately 5.9 million undocumented workers in the U.S., according to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center, illegal immigration is still an incredibly important issue for Mexicans watching the U.S. election. 

"The candidate that can do a much better job regarding immigration is certainly Obama, not only because he is in general a much more open person, but also because he has suffered discrimination himself," said Jorge Ganem, an architect in Mexico City. 

However, immigration is rarely discussed on the campaign trail by either Obama or McCain. Their biggest challenge, in the closing week, is to convince Americans who best can lead the country out of its economic mess.

Click here for complete coverage of Decision '08

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Slowly over time, Baghdad has become a more colorful city.

Though most of the city remains a dusty, beige hue, the grey, concrete blast walls that shield neighborhoods and government buildings from potential suicide bombers or other intruders have been transformed into large, public canvases for the city's artists and others who may be inspired to pick up a brush.

The idea to beautify the city began about two years ago, when students at Baghdad's Academy of Fine Arts proposed painting blast walls near their campus. Their work depicted images that were typically historical – Baghdad and Basra in the 1940's for example.

Soon local municipalities and government ministries commissioned the students and other artists who were still left in Baghdad – a fair number had fled Iraq – to paint the walls.

Funding also came from the American military, the Iraqi government and relief organizations. The artists were each paid about $15 a day to paint the 12 foot high slabs of concrete.

Of course, their outdoor exposure made them vulnerable to bomb blasts and other terror strikes. But they persisted, and soon serene landscapes of mountain villages, camels in the desert, the marshlands in Southern Iraq, and portraits of ironsmiths, goldsmiths and carpet makers appeared in pockets around the city. 

After the American military surge last year created a more secure environment, more painters started to join in. A long stretch of walls along the Tigris River now features icons from the Babylonian and Sumerian civilizations – eras which are a great source of pride for Iraqis given the advancements in made math, science, writing and law.

 Landscape painter Mohammed Mosair is currently painting sweeping vistas of Kurdistan on a stretch of barriers on one of the city's main thoroughfares, Saddun Street. Why the lush scenery? "It means changing the psychology of Iraqis," he said.

As painter Ibrahim Mohammed Ali stood on a makeshift scaffold and replicated the lines of a small drawing he brought for guidance, he explained the murals provide a well needed means of escape for locals.

"It's a way to return to the past," he said. "They're hanging because of grey blast walls," he added, perhaps using a metaphor extracted from a nation conditioned to brutality. But Ali also hoped his murals would help promote his work as a commercial artist.

There are certain areas of Baghdad that are still too risky to attract the painters. However the notorious Airport Road is now lined with a rainbow of colored panels. Not a bad image to see upon entering or departing a city where uncertainty is the only constant.

 TEHRAN, Iran – In a country that can be very isolated, people from all walks of life in Iran seem to know the ins and outs of the upcoming U.S. elections. Most are well informed about the candidates and their running mates and almost everyone has an opinion or a theory – some surprising, some far-fetched.

Some even want to claim Sen. Barack Obama as one of their own – with Persian lineage to boot.

"Obama has an international background, I understand his background is not totally American, he even has family ties with Iran, I hear Bushehr," said a university professor who asked only to be identified as Max. He was referring to the southwest port town of Bushehr, which coincidentally is the site of Iran's controversial nuclear facility.    

VIDEO: Iranians express low expectations for the next U.S. president

Others seem to believe that the hard-line policies of Sen. John McCain may be exactly what are needed to deal with the current Iranian regime. "I think McCain should become president, America needs a strong experienced man to deal with this region," said a student who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 

It's not surprising that Iranians opinions vary on the election, it has been extensively covered by the Iranian media; most of the daily newspapers and weekly political magazines have been dominated by coverage of the race for the White House.

There have been tables showing the results of the various polls and translations from a whole host of American newspapers and magazines. The newspapers have also published transcripts (in Persian) of all of the presidential and vice presidential debates, as well as in-depth profiles of the candidates and their running mates.

One weekly news magazine called "Sharvand" published an article titled "The Calm Obama versus the Fiery McCain." Another article argued that American was not ready for, and would not vote for, a black president.

The newspaper, "Iran," reported that Obama was ahead in the polls because of the failed policies of President Bush and that it would be a huge surprise for Iran and the rest of the world if Obama were not victorious.

Maryam Kamali, a secretary at a steel company who has been closely following the election, made parallels between the U.S. election and Iran's presidential election scheduled for next year. "It's funny that the most important issue in the U.S elections is the failing economy and the most important issue in our elections is also going to be the failing economy." 

Outcome won't change U.S. foreign policy
Many people we spoke to were very skeptical about the outcome of the election. They didn't think it mattered who became the next president because they believe U.S foreign policy is predetermined in a negative way toward Iran and that America will do anything it needs to in order to keep Israel happy.

"The American people have no choice in these elections, the decision will be made by a powerful Jewish cartel," said Hamid Nagat, a businessman.

"If a presidential candidate does not stand behind Israel like a mountain, they will never get voted into office," said Salah Mohamadi, a student in his first year of university. 

Majid, an accountant who gave only his first name, said that the difference of opinion between Iran and the U.S. over Israel was really at the heart of the differences between the two countries. "It does not matter if it's McCain or Obama because whoever becomes president, their first priority is going to be Israel – and we don't recognize Israel as a country, so we will always be at odds," he said.

Unlikely endorsement
But when I asked a very nationalistic right-wing journalist who he wanted to become president, he surprised me by saying he favored McCain. He explained that his viewpoint was based on fears about Iran's national security. "If McCain became president and wanted to attack Iran, the international community would not stand behind him, but if Obama became president and wanted to attack Iran, the international community would stand behind him," he said, but asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Iran's political circles are also watching closely. A government official who spoke to me on condition of anonymity said, "Of course we want Obama to become president, but we are also being very careful not to endorse him – as an Iranian endorsement might have an adverse effect on his campaign."

Regardless, whoever becomes the next U.S. president will have a profound effect on Iran.

Click here for complete coverage of Decision '08

NBC News' Correspondent Richard Engel, Producer Madeleine Haeringer and Cameraman Bredun Edwards take you behind-the-scenes on their recent military embed in Afghanistan.

VIDEO: Reporting from Afghanistan

Twenty-five years on and it still appears in my nightmares and daydreams: the visual equivalent of a lone, empty shoe or sandal, on top of a pile of rubble, all that remains of the child who once wore it.

Only in my mind's eye it's not a shoe – it's a stepladder. The aluminum kind you'd use to change a bulb or paint the ceiling. It was lingering somewhere inside or against the 1/8 Marines' barracks in Beirut when a suicide bomber drove his five-ton yellow Mercedes truck, laden with six tons of TNT, right through an unfortified perimeter fence and straight into the lobby of the barracks, setting off the largest non-nuclear explosion since World War II.

AP file

British soldiers give a hand in rescue operations at the site of the bomb-wrecked U.S. Marine command center in Beirut on Oct. 23, 1983.

I came across the ladder hours later, and hundreds of yards from the scene. It had impaled a tree trunk like a huge dart, and was hanging, parallel to the ground, swaying in the breeze. A strange image – but one that is seared in my mind when I think about that awful day 25 years ago that marked the first of what would become many radical Islamic terror attacks against Western interests.

Peacekeepers on an unwelcomed mission
By the fourth week of October 1983, our NBC News team had spent several months, off and on, covering – the term "embedding" didn't exist yet – the 1,600-strong contingent of U.S. Marines out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., in Lebanon. They were part of a multinational peacekeeping task force, including French and Italian troops, sent in to ease tensions between Lebanese, Palestinian and Israeli factions, following Israel's invasion and the pull-out of Yasser Arafat's PLO fighters from Beirut the previous September.

The beaching of U.S. Marines on the Lebanese coast was a big deal – proof, said Ronald Reagan's White House, that the dark days of Vietnam were over and that, once again, America could engage, militarily, in the defense of freedom. But the Marines weren't welcomed, and tensions didn't ease.

Alpha Company, based at the Lebanese Science Faculty building, about 3 miles from the main barracks,  was quickly surrounded by nameless Muslim resistors who would eventually coalesce into groups called Amal and Hezbollah.

Capt. Paul Roy, the company commander, had that grim look of grit and frustration I would so often see in future years. His troops were supposed to be peacekeepers, so he couldn't build an offensive firewall or serious protective barrier; his weapons were always unloaded unless his troops were fired upon; and they couldn't fire back until the source of fire had been positively identified and it had been cleared with higher-ups.

Over time, our team – reporter Stan Bernard, cameraman Brian Prentke, soundman Thierry Meaume and myself – filed more than a dozen stories with Alpha Company, living with these brave sitting ducks, under fire, as their patrols dwindled and their area of operation shrank. Sleeping on concrete, eating the first (bad) generation of Meals Ready to Eat, taking bottled water showers.

Every day began with Roy peering through binoculars from the roof's sniper nest, fixing the large Marine barracks to the southwest as his main landmark; and every day ended with all of us non-combatants huddled in a shallow clay trench as rocket propelled grenades and AK-47 fire snapped and boomed overhead.

VIDEO From the NBC News Archives:  Bombing in Beirut

'The barracks will always be there'
By Oct. 22, we'd had enough. And were determined that our next story would be more comfortable. Close to showers. And real food. Why not do a "day-in-the-life" with U.S. Marines "inside the wire" – at the battalion's barracks – where troops spent their down time cleaning weapons, doing laundry, reading mail, pumping iron and barbequing hamburgers to country western tunes? In a word, Heaven.

Our plan was to spend the night at the barracks and return to our base – at the Commodore Hotel in West Beirut – when our "slice of life" story was in the can. It was a great plan, on paper.

But early Saturday evening when our portly Lebanese driver who we called "Haj and a Half" picked us up, our car hit Beirut's chaotic traffic and didn't budge for an hour. Now it was dark. And we were hungry, smelly and angry. "Screw it!" I bellowed from the back seat. "The barracks will always be there. Let's go back to the f… ing hotel. We deserve it."

"The barracks will always be there" came back,  of course, to haunt me. A little after 6 a.m. the following morning, the force of the blast, four or five miles away, knocked me from of my hotel bed.

The unbelievable news traveled quickly, by way of colleagues' shouts in the corridors, and on BBC radio bulletins. Within minutes news teams dressed, loaded up and raced off to a ground zero that would, inexorably, lead to the Ground Zero, a generation later. Many of us who had to record and make sense of what we saw flipped on "auto pilot" that day.

The four-story barracks was flattened as if by a massive earthquake. The wailing beneath the rubble; the naked dead bodies pulled from a morass of concrete and cinderblocks; bruised and bloodied survivors who couldn't grasp why they weren't dead, too stunned to even cry…we took it all in as if in a trance.

We collected telephone numbers from survivors, like many of my colleagues in those days before cell or satellite phones, and called families back in the states with the good news. Instinctively, the following day, we returned to the Science Faculty building to visit our buddies from Alpha Company. Nothing – and everything – had changed.

 It seemed like the soul had been ripped out of their mission. These Marines had already checked out. We spent the night, mostly out of respect. There was the obligatory RPG attack during the night. And the next morning, Capt. Roy climbed up, as always, to the sniper nest, we right behind him. He looked through his binoculars, as he did every morning, across the urban sprawl of southwest Beirut.

But this time he peered much longer than usual, as if he'd lost his bearings. Then he turned to me, this war-hardened Marine's Marine, tears streaming down his face, catching the sun's glare. And croaked, "It's gone. It's just … gone.''

First of many attacks
In all, 241 U.S. servicemen, mostly Marines, died in the blast. And 58 French peacekeepers were also killed that morning when a second suicide bomber detonated yet another truck outside the French barracks, nearby.

This was not only a new chapter in the way the West would have to deal with Islamist terror; this was the table of contents for a new, very thick book. The first suicide truck bombers, even seen to be smiling as they met their fate; the first act of Islamist jihad against the U.S. military; the first humiliating defeat at the hands of a force few Westerners even knew existed.

The loss was so big it drove President Reagan to make an about-face and pull U.S. forces out of the Middle East, allowing a young Osama bin Laden to remark how America didn't have the stomach for real warfare. The atrocity set the bar for a whole generation of future attacks on U.S. targets, from Saudi Arabia to the World Trade Center. But none of that makes Oct. 23, 1983 any easier to handle, even 25 years later.

In 1985 a secret U.S. grand jury found Lebanese radical Imad Mughniyeh guilty of masterminding the Marine barracks bombing. But Mughniyeh went on for years after that to strike elsewhere, allegedly killing 19 U.S. soldiers and wounding dozens at the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996. And there were other attacks – until last February, when Mughniyeh died in a car bomb in Damascus, Syria. 

VIDEO: Crowds gather in Beirut for terrorist's funeral

And, though it was no longer my beat, in yet another quirk of fate I was assigned to cover Mughniyeh's funeral in Beirut. His coffin was laid out on a wide wooden dais, draped in flowers and Hezbollah slogans. He received full military honors, including a marching brass band and a visit and eulogy by Iran's Foreign Minister. 

I watched from the press section, in front of the dais, one of the few obviously Western reporters in a vast room the size of a hangar, thinking how easy it would be to be kidnapped and disappear then and there. I thought about how weirdly symmetrical it was to be gazing at the coffin of the man who likely killed so many Marines, and – but for a traffic jam – could have killed me.

And then I thought of that stepladder.

** 10/23/08  Erroneous references to the 1/6 Marines were corrected thanks to attentive readers.

Jim Maceda is an NBC News Correspondent based in London, who, in October 1983, was embedded with the 1/8 Marines in Beirut. 

 

MAINZ, Germany – It's not surprising Germans are fascinated with the American election; it's colorful and flashy when compared with the usually staid German political process.

Even German politicians admit that they are impressed by the numbers of supporters at U.S. campaign events and especially envy the American parties' financial budgets.

"There are clearly cultural and structural differences between the two countries. In Germany, for example, the entire election spending of all parties adds up to only $85 million," said Dirk Metz, a spokesperson for the local state government in Wiesbaden, in comparison to the hundreds of millions spent by both the Democrats and the Republicans in their race for the White House.

VIDEO: Germans looking for a 'change' in U.S. relations via the new president

But, in general, Germans are clearly just interested in American politics. When the candidates' television debates were shown recently in the early morning hours in Germany – the usually marginal middle-of-the-night ratings surged.

The interest likely stems from the desire among the general public in Germany to overcome what has been dubbed "Bush-fatigue." A generally negative sentiment towards the Bush administration that has been nurtured over the past eight years by Germany's anti-war stance, as well as the "old Europe" and "with us or against us" remarks by U.S. officials.

But while many Germans favor the fresh face of Sen. Barack Obama, it's yet to be seen if he is really the best candidate for German interests.

Obama-mania
Germany and the United States have enjoyed close political ties for decades, a transatlantic friendship that grew after the end of World War II. Pictures of the Berlin Airlift, economic support through America's Marshall Plan and historic speeches by former U.S. presidents, such as John F. Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner," and Ronald Reagan's "Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall!", still trigger vivid memories for many Germans – especially among those living in the once-divided capital, Berlin.

So it should come as no surprise that Germany would seem like fertile ground for a speech by a U.S presidential candidate. But, even optimistic experts were surprised to see Obama's speech draw a crowd of more than 200,000 people when he visited Berlin in July.  

Most likely the crowds were drawn by a mixture of curiosity about the new-kid-on-the-block, the sense of a possibly historic moment, and media hype over controversy about the speech location.

But really, other than bad news about the world's financial meltdown, the U.S. presidential race has dominated German magazines and newspaper headlines for months – with Obama usually portrayed as a positive change, and Sen. John McCain usually less so.

Both candidates have been featured as cover stories in Germany's top-selling Der Spiegel magazine. The German weekly described Obama's popularity as "The Messiah Factor, Barack Obama and the yearning for a new America" in a front-page feature.

But when McCain got his Der Spiegel cover moment, the headline was "The Cold Warrior," suggesting that McCain is yet another representative of Bush's unpopular foreign policies – not exactly the "messiah" moment Obama was treated to.

Manfred Goertemaker, a professor at the University of Potsdam, explained that justified or not, many of the negative feelings Germans feel for President Bush have rubbed off on McCain.

"In the past eight years, the German media and the German public have been very critical toward George W. Bush. This negative image also reflects on the Republican Party as a whole and therefore Germans clearly favor Mr. Obama," said Goertemaker.

There is no doubt that a majority of Germans back Obama. A recent poll by the German Marshall Fund shows that 69 percent of Europeans favor Obama, while only 26 percent support the significantly less well known McCain. Likewise, a BBC News world poll found that 61 percent of Germans favored Obama over McCain. And Reader's Digest Global Presidential Poll found that a full 85 percent of Germans support Obama, over just 7 percent for McCain.  

But, popularity left aside, who would be better for Germany?

Experts warn that Obama would not necessarily be an "easy president" when it comes to German interests. In regard to the mission in Afghanistan, for example, Obama has repeatedly called for stronger European commitment, while Germany and other European nations have been hesitant to increase troop levels and support combat missions.

"For the general public, and even some German politicians, the candidates' stances on foreign policy and their actual political programs are still very nebulous, but many experts say that McCain knows Europe much better than Obama," explained Goertemaker.

McCain has actually been a regular visitor to the annual Munich Security Conference, which gave him opportunities to meet with European politicians and security experts in the past. And, his advisor for transatlantic issues is Richard Burt, who served as U.S. ambassador to Germany between 1985 and 1989.

And there are a number of foreign policy challenges that could still lead to tensions between Europe and the United States, regardless of who is the next president – differences in opinion over the relationship with Russia, how to handle Iran, the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the financial crisis are just a few of the issues that could rattle trans-Atlantic relations.

Given the results of a number of recent polls, there is a very good chance that America's overall image will improve on an international level, if Obama wins in November. But, experts here in Germany say that enthusiasm for Obama might not necessarily translate into closer transatlantic ties.

"If Obama is elected, it is likely that Germans will experience an anticlimax after a few months because many expectations were projected on Mr.Obama – expectations which he may have difficulties fulfilling," Christoph von Marschall, the Washington correspondent for Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper and author of a book about Obama, cautioned at a discussion about the U.S. elections here this week.

Click here for complete coverage of Decision '08

Baghdad isn't the best place for consumer therapy, but in moments of desperation, near the NBC News bureau here there is one small dusty shop selling alleged antiques, dusty carpets, and tattered post cards.

About a month ago, I bought some cards and decided it would be fun to send one to Petra Cahill, the msnbc.com World Blog editor in New York.

The postcard sent from Baghdad to New York on Sept. 19 was scanned before it was dropped in the mail.

My first step was to determine whether or not the postal system actually works in Baghdad.

Apparently like many government services, it does function, some of the time. It turns out there are 83 post offices in Baghdad and a total of 420 mailmen. These brave men travel the streets of this city by motorcycle, on bicycle, and on foot.

They deliver when they can, but often abandon their duties because many neighborhoods are still too dangerous. The mailmen do not have extra security or uniforms. There are no real statistics on just how much post is actually delivered.

And there are no mail boxes on the streets here. If you want to send a letter or package you have to go to the post office in person. Within Baghdad, Iraqis tend to deliver everything by hand.

Postcard sent from Iraq: "Dear Petra, Greetings from Baghdad. I wonder if this postcard will ever arrive in New York?!? Kiko"

For security reasons, I was unable to go to the Baghdad main post office. Instead I asked an Iraqi colleague to go on my behalf, and for $1.50 he launched my card on its journey around the world on Sept. 19.

I have no idea what route it will take, what countries it will encounter. I am not at all sure it will ever reach its final destination, but I would like to think that my postcard from the edge will make the long journey from Baghdad to New York. I certainly hope so.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – "America is used to being ruled by a white president," Lucky Mathye, a 22-year-old police reservist told me in the suburbs of Johannesburg. "America looks like a worldwide boss. They want all the power in the world and they don't want to share it. Maybe [Barack] Obama will be a peacemaker."

South Africans of all colors are watching the upcoming U.S. elections very closely. America is the world's oldest constitutional democracy, while South Africa is one of the youngest.

Hamilton Wende

Lucky Mathye is paying close attention to the U.S. election from Johannesburg, South Africa.

Yet, the parallels between the two countries are often striking, and sometimes ironic. Both countries have a history of segregation and racism. America has a white majority and black minority; in South Africa it is the other way around.

Looking for a change
While the brutal system of minority rule known as apartheid was at its height in South Africa in the 1960s, the United States led the way toward racial equality at home with leaders such as Martin Luther King speaking out against legal segregation and prejudice. With the election of Nelson Mandela as president of a democratic South Africa in 1994, the nation joined the United States in the global struggle against racism and for human freedom.

But, as Lucky pointed out to me, many South Africans have lost their respect for Washington following the war in Iraq and global economic meltdown, which many blame on the United States.

"I like [John] McCain," said Simon Ngobeni said. The 29-year-old is a driver and domestic worker who came to Johannesburg from the poverty-stricken northern region of South Africa to look for work for him and his wife Bongi and their small daughter Princess. "But those Republicans are the ones that have been governing now for the last 10 years, so I think a change would be good."

Hamilton Wende

Simon Ngobeni, a truck driver in South Africa, has strong opinions about the U.S. presidential election.

Race – still a pervasive issue
Many Americans appear reticent about discussing race, preferring not to mention the subject at all, or speaking in carefully coded phrases where the true meaning of what is meant is obvious, but difficult to pin down in an exact sense.

Here in South Africa, the history of racial conflict has been so clear and such a pervasive reality that talking about race is much more open. The divisions between black and white have been such an undeniable truth of the society for over 350 years that people here prefer to acknowledge their existence rather than to pretend that they don't exist. 

And Simon is no exception. Without my even asking, the black South African brought up the subject himself. "I don't care whether McCain is white or Barack Obama is black. In America there is a good democracy so black and white is the same."

Lucky, on the other hand, is perhaps a little less sure that race doesn't matter in the presidential elections, or certainly in its meaning for America's place in the broader world, or for troubled countries on the continent like neighboring Zimbabwe.

"Obama is black, so he will be better for Africa. All African countries will support him, even Mugabe," said Lucky, also a black South African who was referring to President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. He paused to make his point clearer. "Mugabe hates white people because he thinks they are crooks and they want to steal his land. But with Obama maybe he will negotiate a settlement." Under Mugabe's leadership, white-owned farms were seized by the government with the stated aim of benefiting landless black Zimbabweans, but instead, sharp declines in production have left the agricultural-based economy in tatters and many Zimbabweans are struggling to get by or have fled the country.

'Obama will be better for us in Africa'
A few streets away I spoke to IT consultant Christian Barr, 35, in his small home office, surrounded by his two black Labradors "Cisco" and "Google."  As a white South African, who once served in the country's armed forces during the last years of the violent and chaotic transition to democracy, he knows from first-hand experience just how painful change has been here.  

Hamilton Wende

Christian Barr follows the ins and outs of the U.S. election from Johannesburg, South Africa.

"There's always more about Barack Obama on the Internet than there is about John McCain – so that tells you something right away.  I think he will be the first black president of America, and that is something to consider when you think of our history here in South Africa," Christian said.

"Obama will be better for us in Africa.  I am concerned about the conservative Americans – the Midwest states, they might vote for McCain. Whatever happens, though, Africans must come up with their own inventive ways to benefit from the U.S." he added.

As might be expected, Obama wins hands down in the popularity stakes among South Africans of all races. A Reader's Digest Global Poll of over 17,000 people in 17 countries found overwhelming support for Obama in South Africa in particular – with 70 percent supporting the Illinois senator over McCain.

And as a journalist who travels frequently across the continent, I've seen widespread support for Obama among Africans of all stripes. In fact, a BBC World Service poll found 82 percent of respondents supported Obama in Kenya – not surprising since it was the birthplace of his father. But Obama was also favored by 71 percent of respondents in Nigeria – sub-Saharan Africa's most populous nation.

For Africans it is simple, as Lucky said in a final thought:  "We want to taste the fruit of a black president!"

Click here for complete coverage of Decision '08 on msnbc.com

BAGHDAD – I didn't expect to see many people at the al-Khayam Cinema in downtown Baghdad when I went to see a movie on a recent afternoon.

Some were alone, just like me, some were with friends and a young couple on a date was chatting, laughing and eating popcorn.

Karim Hilmi / NBC News

Movie posters featuring some of the movie hits of the 80s and 90s are on display at the al-Khayam Cinema in downtown Bagdad.

I felt relieved and happy to see Iraqis going to the movies again – like they used to almost 20 years ago.

Economic sanctions were placed on Iraq in 1990, after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. It banned all foreign imports except some food and medicine – making daily life incredibly difficult and essentially eliminating any chance of escaping reality at the movies. 

Making matters worse, for the past five years, since Saddam's regime was ousted in 2003, religious fanatics and extremists have controlled almost all of Baghdad's neighborhoods, enforcing a ban on art in general. Painting, sculpture, music, singing, plays and showing movies were all taboos.

Many artists, actors and singers were killed, kidnapped, tortured, displaced or forced to change their professions. Some art galleries were bombed by extremists.

But now, since the U.S. military surge has increased security in Baghdad, four movie theaters and three live drama theaters have re-opened and many actors, directors, singers, and painters have returned to the country. 

The ban on most movies over the past 18 years was a particular annoyance to me since I've been a big fan all my life. I have a large library of films at home on both VHS and DVD.

Back in the 1970s, before the Iraq-Iran war dominated life from 1980-1988, (I'm admitting my age here) I would go to movies as many as three times a day.

But in recent years, as the religious extremists dominated daily life, I never dared to speak about movies with friends at our neighborhood café. At home, the TV could be tuned to everything from movies to music shows, to news or religious programs, but going to the movies was not part of public life. 

Hashim Mohammed, 66, the manager of the al-Khayam Cinema, said that the improvement in the security situation in Baghdad at the beginning of 2008 encouraged him to reopen. He said it was a tough decision and risky move because Baghdad is not completely secure. Now the theater shows three or four different movies twice a day.
 
"Business is good – meaning we can make a living," he explained. "Now I am able to pay for my employees, power and doing some minor maintenance in the theater. But the profit is marginal and not something big." The price of a ticket is about $2.50.

On the day I went to the movies, three hits from the 1980s were on offer – "Poltergeist," "Crocodile Dundee," and "The Untouchables."

Mohammed explained how the security situation has gradually improved and made business feasible. "The fanatics used to send us threat messages, ordering us to close. And in case one didn't obey, they said they would kill and kidnap you," he said. "Now, the security is good and we open only between 10 a.m. to 4. p.m. My neighborhood, where my movie theatre is, is safe and the employees search the spectators."

Karim Hilmi / NBC News

The interior of the al-Khayam Cinema may be bare bones, but the films take Iraqi viewers far away from Baghdad.

Sa'ad Jassim, 41, an official in a private bank in Baghdad, explained that the draw was two-fold – part wistful remembrance of good times past and a chance to take advantage of the new security gains.

"You see, any human being has this nostalgia. I have seen these films shown now in the Khayam movie theater on CDs and DVDs, but I like very much to come just to remember good old days," Jassim said. "Most neighborhoods in Baghdad are safe now, so we need to enjoy ourselves, which we were deprived of doing during the past five years."

In terms of the movies shown at that theater, Mohammed explained that American movies have always been popular with Iraqis – ever since the first theater opened in Baghdad almost 100 years ago. (At its peak, there were as many as 50 movie theaters in the city.)

"Iraqis love Westerns, we call them cowboy movies, and science fiction movies like 'Flash Gordon,'" he said. "'Spartacus' was run for six consecutive months in our movie theater. I personally like cowboy movies. But we have no regular and organized program, you see now we are showing three movies at one time and they are all from the 1980s."

Jassim agreed with Mohammed's assessment of Iraqis cinematic tastes. "American films are my favorite since my childhood. You know Americans are the greatest in show biz, their movies are magnificent. I like westerns, musicals, action, mob and historical movies. That diversity is what makes those guys awesome.

A 'lovely adventure'
While I was waiting for one of the movies to start, I started chatting with another movie-goer who happened to have a degree in cinematography. I told him how astonished I was to see so many people in the cinema. He said he was also was surprised.

"But it was an adventure one had to take, and it turned to be a lovely one," he said.

I couldn't help but agree because although many security gains have been made, Baghdad is still not 100 percent safe. People all over the world can go to the movies easily, but in Iraq, we still have to consider basic security issues every time we walk out the door.

''Yes, yes, it is such a lovely adventure after so many years,'' I said, and we both laughed loudly.

NEW DELHI – As Election Day approaches, India is looking nervously at the United States. Pundits here are asking how big an impact the U.S. economic downturn will have on the booming outsourcing business, and how the next U.S. president will react to pressures to protect American jobs.

Anamika Wani, a business consultant in Mumbai, India's financial capital, says she's liked Sen. Barack Obama ever since she heard him speak while she was visiting California.

 

VIDEO: Indians wonder how U.S. election will affect businessÂ

But she says many in India are wary of him. "A lot of the Indian economy has come about through outsourcing," she told me. "Because the U.S. has been willing to shift business centers out of the country. So if that reverses, then there would be a fall in the economy and job losses here, so from that perspective, I think a lot of people don't favor some of Obama's policies." 

Many see Sen. John McCain as more committed to free trade, which will keep the outsourcing work flowing to India.

Closely tied to the U.S. economy
Outsourcing is now a multi-billion dollar industry here. If China is the workshop of the world, than India has become its back office, doing everything from working the phones in call centers to transcribing U.S. doctors' notes and tutoring American students.

There are two schools of thoughts here: either Indian companies will have less work as the slowdown bites, or else more work will be sent to India to keep U.S. costs down. A great deal of backroom legal work takes place in India, and some canny entrepreneurs are already positioning themselves for a flood of work related to bankruptcy and litigation as a result of the meltdown on Wall Street.

What's harder for them to calculate is the politics, and the enormous pressure on the next president to keep jobs at home.

"We are getting so much more integrated," said Dr. Usha Tuteji, a professor of agriculture at Delhi University. "What happens in the U.S. affects the overall welfare of the globe."

She told me that the close interest in the election this year is not only the result of the candidacy of Obama, but also because of the growing numbers of Indians studying in the U.S. "Many middle-class families send their children to the U.S. or U.K. to study, so we've become more curious about what's happening on the other side of the world."

Nuke deal
Aside from Wall Street's woes, the other big news from America has been the signing of a nuclear accord that allows American businesses to sell nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to India. This reversed a three-decade ban on atomic trade with India, imposed after New Delhi carried out its first atomic test in 1974 and refused to sign nonproliferation accords.

The nuclear deal was the result of three years of often difficult political and diplomatic wrangling. The two countries have had a prickly relationship, but the deal seems to signal a new beginning.

"India and the U.S. are coming close economically and diplomatically," said Dr. Nirmal Jindel, Professor of Political Science at Delhi University. "It is very important that India and American should have a strong relationship in the future, so the U.S. election means a lot for us."

There is also a sense here that Obama might be easier to deal with, in spite of suspicions about his commitment to free trade (or outsourcing, from the Indian perspective). "Obama, he doesn't appear to be so hard core," Jindel told me. She thinks Obama might engage more constructively with the world.

Despite economic turmoil around the globe, the Iraq Stock Exchange is defying odds and surprisingly growing. NBC News' Carla Marcus reports on Baghdad's very unique market.

VIDEO: Market booms... in Baghdad

HAVANA – When it comes to the U.S. presidential elections, the Cuban public doesn't believe everything it's told.

For more than a year, Cuban officials and the state-run media have been hammering away at the U.S. voting process, criticizing the influence that big money plays in electoral outcomes and dismissing both candidates along with their proposed policy toward the island.

No surprise there, given that Havana has spent the past 50 years battling a White House occupied by Democrats and Republicans alike.

Even retired and ailing Fidel Castro dedicated 11 different editorials since the presidential primaries began to belittling the U.S. elections, equating the process with the seriousness of a "Sunday afternoon card game" and accusing both Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain of planning to starve the island into submission.

And other Cuban officials have echoed that disdain for anything American.

Recently parliament president Ricardo Alarcón advised voters looking for "real change" to cast their ballot for Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney or independent Ralph Nader. Neither Obama nor McCain, predicted Alarcón, will transform much of anything. 

But the Cuban public isn't falling for the rhetoric.

VIDEO: Cubans weigh in on the U.S. election

Instead of just parroting the editorial line from state-run media, people are watching and weighing the U.S. election. They're forming their own strong opinions instead of conforming to the prevailing official view.

Furthermore, many people believe that the outcome on Nov. 4 does matter. Some even argue that their own futures are at stake.

"I'm hoping that the American people will elect someone who will be open to changing relations with Cuba and allow free travel," said Alejandro Sene, 22, who dances with the National Ballet of Cuba and dreams of performing on the U.S. stage. "We need the breathing space."

Hands-down, the average Cuban prefers Obama to McCain – believing that he is the more likely candidate to loosen trade and travel restrictions while engaging the Cuban government.

In our own informal NBC News survey of 100 people in downtown Havana, 63 said they preferred Obama to McCain, two preferred McCain, 13 had no preference and 22 declined to answer.

"I hope Obama is open to dialogue and that he's going to be able to sit down and have a frank discussion with his Cuban counterpart," said Majel Reyes, a 32-year-old translator who works for American businessmen selling licensed food to the island.

"McCain pretty much stands for whatever Bush represents and that doesn't work for us. We want someone to realize that the 40 years of policy with Cuba have been wrong," said Reyes.

Obama has promised to allow unlimited Cuban-American family travel and remittances to the island. He has also promised to use "aggressive and principled bilateral diplomacy" with Havana with the hope of eventually normalizing relations and easing the U.S. embargo – if the Cuban government takes steps toward democracy, such as freeing political prisoners.

McCain has taken a more hard-line approach. Until the Cuban government releases political prisoners, grants basic freedoms and organizes internationally monitored elections, McCain has said, the economic embargo should stay in place and there should be no direct diplomacy with Cuban's leaders. 

In light of the candidates' different stances, young Cubans seem particularly focused on the U.S. elections. "My circle of friends talk about this all the time," said Lourdes Dos Santos, a 21-year-old college student. "We don't know which candidate will be better for the U.S., but, when it comes to Cuba, we think Obama is the better choice."

Like many, she's putting her faith in Obama "since he's willing to talk to us."

With almost 73 percent of the island's population under the age of 50, people have grown tired of the political war between the two countries.

"I was born in the middle of this conflict. When is it going to end?" asked Junia Reyes, a 38-year-old single mother and wedding photographer.

Like many here, her choice for Obama comes down to bread-and-butter issues: "Life would be easier if we traded with the Americans. Food and soap and clothing would be cheaper," said Reyes.

The U.S. election is coming at a particularly vulnerable time for Cuba.

Twin hurricanes Gustav and Ike battered the island in the late summer – destroying key crops, killing thousands of farm animals and causing an estimated $5 billion in damage. While the government is distributing the country's food reserves, some 500,000 people are still living in government shelters and are relying on public handouts to survive.

With dwindling supplies diverted to the neediest areas, Havana grocery shelves are sparse and many farmers' produce stands are closed. Government officials are warning that progressive food shortages could last at least six months.

Ovidio Sanchez, a shoemaker in Central Havana, has seen his income cut in half over the past several weeks. "People spend their money on food before they'll pay to fix their shoes."

Sanchez backs Obama because of his dream of Cuban law one day changing to allow him to open his own store with seed money from a brother living in Ohio. Obama has promised to ease restrictions on the amount of money Cuban Americans may send back home. Under current rules, people may send $300 every three months to immediate family.

From the Cuban vantage point, said Rev. Juan Ramon de la Paz, this election boils down to a single issue: "Who here supports George Bush?" Not many, he claimed, pointing to his parishioners at Havana's Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. 

"Bush tightened the embargo. He cut us off from our families," complained the pastor. "If McCain wins, people believe, it'll be more of the same – more sanctions and more isolation. If Obama is elected, things will get better for us. It's that simple." 

Retired government economist Ileana Yarza agrees and even wrote Obama a three-page letter expressing her far-away support for his candidacy. "He's the only one I have faith in. I feel attached to him."

After thanking Yarza for her interest, the "Obama for America" form letter urged her to get out and vote for the candidate on Nov. 4.

"If only I could," she sighed.

Click here for complete coverage of Decision '08

Fears about a possible global recession have begun to trickle down to China, a nation of traditionally high savers. NBC News' Adrienne Mong reports from Beijing on why many Chinese households typically save as much as 30 percent of their annual income, compared to the near-zero percent saved by the average American family.

VIDEO:  China - a nation of savers

Click here to read more: Can China save the global economy?

BAGHDAD – Attacks carried out by female suicide bombers have become as common an occurrence here as roadside bombings, political assassinations and public mourning. No longer do I react with surprise when I hear about an explosion triggered by a woman.

Just last week on Oct. 8, a young woman in Baqouba blew herself up in front of a courthouse – killing 10 people and injuring 17. She was wearing an abaya, a traditional black robe, which allows explosive devices to be easily concealed. According to the doctor who examined the remains of her body, she may have been as young as 14.

AFP - Getty Images file

In this police handout picture, an Iraqi policeman attempts to unwrap an Iraqi woman's suicide vest after she surrendered in Baqouba on Aug.24.

A day earlier, Iraqi authorities in the same region arrested a 38-year-old woman named Ibtisam Edwan, suspected of recruiting females to become suicide bombers – including a 15-year-old who gave her first name as Rania and turned herself into Iraqi police in August. In extensive video footage released by Iraqi police, she was wearing an explosives-laden vest at the time of her arrest, but denied that she planned to stage a suicide attack.  

Although violence in Iraq is down overall, the spate of attacks perpetrated by women is certainly on the rise. By NBC News' tabulation, the Baqouba courthouse attack last week was the 31 suicide bombing involving a woman to take place this year. By comparison, eight occurred in 2007, and a total of four in 2005 and 2006, according to U.S. military officials. 

The majority of suicide attacks by women take place at police and army checkpoints, though headquarters of Awakening Councils (groups of Sunnis, some of them former militants, who have banded together to take on violent Sunni insurgents) are also popular targets.

Why women?
What motivates a woman to carry out a deadly strike? Certainly many of the women are determined to avenge the deaths of loved ones.

Islam Online featured an interview this summer with Um Mustafa, a 41-year-old woman who was training to become a suicide bomber. After her husband and two children were killed in the U.S. offensive in Fallujah in 2004, Mustafa approached members of al-Qaida in Iraq and stated, "I will give my life to God wherever my leader tells me to do so." 

VIDEO: Maj. Gen Mark Hertling explains what the U.S. military is doing to prevent the proliferation of female attackers.

However women may also turn to violence as a result of feeling depressed, or lacking a sense of purpose after the loss or detention of a family member. And terror experts also point out that as al-Qaida's network weakens in Iraq, it has turned to recruiting more women to keep its cause alive.

Female suicide bombers have also been responsible for some of the most horrific attacks in Iraq during the last year. Perhaps one of the most tragic was Feb.1 of this year when bombings took place in Baghdad at a pet market, and 20 minutes later, at a bird market. About 100 people were killed, and 145 were injured, many of them young children who went to the markets on their day off from school. 

Witnesses said they recognized the two women responsible for the bombings, who had walked into the markets with dynamite and ball bearings strapped to their bodies – their bombs detonated by remote control. The women were mentally handicapped and resided at a local psychiatric hospital. 

There's no means of measuring the levels of human depravity that have occurred during the course of this war in Iraq, but sending two unsuspecting women into a crowd where people sought respite and a retreat from the horrific conflict registers pretty low.

HANOI, Vietnam – Mention the U.S. election on the streets of Hanoi, and you are likely to get two very different reactions.

Among the young, the most common response is a shrug. But older people – the Vietnam War generation – are watching closely, and everybody I spoke to was backing the man they know: Sen. John McCain.

That may sound odd. McCain endured five and a half years in prison here after his Skyhawk bomber was shot down over the city in October 1967, and he parachuted into Hanoi's West Lake. 

VIDEO: Vietnamese voice support for McCain

But he is remembered most for what's happened since then – his many return visits, and his role in helping to normalize relations.

"Everybody in Hanoi knows John McCain," said 76-year-old Tran Thanh Mei, as she posted a letter. "He's a friend of Hanoi."

Thanh Mei lives beside what used to be one of the most notorious prisons in the city, known among its U.S. prisoners, as the Plantation. McCain described routine beatings and torture there.

She remembers the tight security, and says all the neighbors knew the "American pilots" were being held there. She says she felt strangely secure there, even when bombs were falling on the city, since she thought the bombers would avoid the prison.

Some of the buildings remain, mostly still in the hands of the army, though one section has now been converted into a fashionable coffee shop, busy with young people, and a cinema has been built.

During our visit, "Minority Report" and the "Mummy 3" were among the Hollywood movies being shown. "If they show a Vietnamese movie, nobody will go," our guide said, dismissively.

Vietnam is an overwhelmingly young country – three-quarters of the population are under 30. They look to the west – and the U.S. in particular – for fashion and culture. The war is history for them, and few are closely watching the election.

"No, I really don't know about it," said one young woman, selling Vietnamese silk and "Good Morning Vietnam" t-shirts. While in a shop next door, another young woman told us: "I don't have a lot of time to watch television."

There is a youth and vibrancy about modern Vietnam, and while the young look to the future, the older generation is pragmatic, recognizing that normalizing relations with the U.S. has given an enormous economic boost.

VIDEO: McCain's captors remember him in Hanoi

During our visit we sought out Vietnamese who'd met McCain. We found 81-year-old former nurse, Nguyen Thi Thanh. In his memoir, McCain says she saved his life, fending off a baying mob at the edge of Hanoi's West Lake, and treating his wounds, putting splints on his arms and leg, and giving him antibiotics.

"Some people were very angry," she recalled, "but I was a nurse, it was my responsibility."

She doesn't move so fast these days, but has been closely watching the progress of the man she treated.

"Sometimes I watch him on television, and he's got really big. He used to be so young, thin and handsome," she told me. "He used to be part of the war, but now he's running for president, which is a good thing. I hope he is elected."

We also met one the men who had dragged a badly injured McCain out of the West Lake. He too recalls the anger, and the chants of "beat him, beat him," but forty-one years have mellowed Le Van Lua.

"I feel that he could be the winner," he now says of McCain. "If he wins, it's good. Already through his dealings with the Vietnamese government, John McCain has really helped Vietnam."

Perhaps most surprising of all is the man who ran Hoa Lo, the notorious Hanoi Hilton prison, where McCain spent two years after the Plantation.

These days Tran Trong Duyet, talks about his "friend" McCain, who he describes as "strong willed, but with a sense of humor."

He dismissed the well-documented reports of brutality in the prison system. "During 'office hours' I would call him to my office and have fierce debates about the war. But 'after hours' we would talk to each other as friends."

He calls McCain a "model American soldier," who helped teach him English.

As for today: "If I had a vote, I would choose the person I knew well. So I would vote for John McCain."

That must go down as one of the strangest endorsements the Arizona senator is ever likely to get.

Click here for complete coverage of Decision '08

BEIJING – One of the very few light moments during the Sichuan earthquake last May occurred as a family in Xiang'e dug through the rubble of its fallen home. The wife paced around an earth-mover, looking agitated but not grief-stricken, and I guessed she was looking for a lost pet.  But when she began hopping up and down in excitement at the appearance of a mattress, I was momentarily stumped.

That is, until one of the men began tearing through the mattress lining. 

Before long the wife was beaming, having rescued and quickly tucked away several wads of rolled up 100-yuan notes.

Adrienne Mong / NBC News

A family digs for its savings in the aftermath of May's earthquake in Sichuan.

One might chuckle at the scene, as I did, but this family represents one reason some commentators think China can save the global economy.

The argument that China can bail out everyone – or at least the American economy – is actually two-fold. 

One strand argues that in the wake of double-digit national economic growth of recent years, China's businesses and consumers are well positioned to counter the dwindling spending in North America and Europe by picking up the slack in domestic consumption. 

"China has to make a transition from being export-oriented toward domestic consumption-oriented," said Michael Pettis, a finance professor at Beijing University. "Any large continental economy can't depend on external demand for its own growth."

The other strand has to do with China's reserves. With nearly $2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves and a massive sovereign wealth fund, commentators say, the Chinese can easily bail out the United States. 

This was certainly the rallying cry at last month's World Economic Forum gathering of business leaders and policymakers from Europe and North America in the northern port city of Tianjin.  "China has a voice and has a wallet with a voice," intoned the CEO of a multinational company.

But both of these scenarios are unlikely, if not completely fanciful, say economists in Beijing.

Adrienne Mong / NBC News

Consumers of the last resort?Â

Spending habits don't change instantly
For one, the transition to a consumption-driven economy doesn't happen overnight. "We're really talking about a 5 or 10 or 15-year process," Pettis said. "The United States went through its own process, and it took a very, very radical, a very deep crisis, quite a long time ago." 

And China's household savers who sock away as much as 30 percent of their annual personal income, compared to the near-zero percent the average American family saves, are unlikely to change their spending habits any time soon.

"Since we began our economic reforms [30 years ago]," said Zhang Ming, an economist with the Research Center for International Finance in Beijing, "we haven't done a good job of offering social and welfare services." So families here in effect are taxing themselves by saving for their children's education, buying a home, medical care, and retirement.

More to the point, "Chinese consumers are steadily consuming more, but this is a long-term process that could only be propelled into a short-term global fix by a foolish leap into American-style lending practices," Andy Rothman, chief China strategist at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, wrote in a research note this week.

Corporations, meanwhile, will only spend or increase their investments if there is a reason to do so (hint: profit). But businesses have begun stockpiling inventories, because they can't find buyers, which sooner or later means they will need to start cutting back, too.

VIDEO: Economists discuss whether or not China can save the global economy

Can't loan anymore money
As for whether Beijing will step up by loaning the U.S. more money, the notion is "nonsensical," said Pettis.  "It's not really meaningful."

China already owns an estimated $1 trillion of U.S. debt – most of which is U.S. Treasury bonds and the rest in U.S. agency debt. "The U.S. credit crisis has led to losses in China's own wealth," noted Zhang.  So where are they going to get more money for new loans to the U.S. – to buy more debt?

"The argument was that China already has almost $2 trillion. Yes, but those are already lent to the U.S. and European governments," argued Pettis. "So they can't re-lend them. They would have to take the money back and then lend it, which is not a new loan."

Rumors of a China-led bailout have been so rife, in fact, that the central bank here, the People's Bank of China, had to deny reports carried in Hong Kong newspapers that the government would buy up to $200 billion worth of U.S. Treasuries to ease the financial crisis in America.

Adrienne Mong / NBC News

China's reluctant consumers?Â

"The question is, is it realistic to expect that one country, the size of China's economy, can hold up the rest of the world's economy?" asked Louis Kuijs, Senior Economist with the World Bank.  "I would have my doubts, simply because the size of China's economy is not yet large enough.  It's important to remember that [the Chinese economy] is still significantly smaller than Japan's and not many people are looking at Japan as the country that can shoulder the rest of the world economy."

As far as the leadership in Beijing is concerned, the best China can do is to maintain its current growth trend, as Premier Wen Jiabao underlined at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin.  "Maintain China's strong, steady and fast growth and avoid fluctuations. This is the biggest contribution to the world economy under the current circumstances," he said.

Keeping economic growth steady is not as easy as it sounds.  In fact, given recent indicators, China is unlikely to do any rescuing apart from its own economy. 

A confluence of factors means that the economic outlook here is less than rosy: growing inflation; slowing exports; a free-falling stock market (down more than 60 percent from its highs in 2007); and a hot housing market that's cooled (the average rate of property prices on the coast slowed to 6 percent in August from 25 percent last November, according to China Reality Research studies).

Now add to the mix the widening financial crisis which has spread to Europe and parts of Asia. 

"I would be very surprised if a slowdown in world growth did not reflect very, very significantly on Chinese growth," Pettis said. "What we are hoping for is that domestic consumption grows to make up for reductions in export. That is still an open question, we don't know if that is going to happen or not. But, if domestic consumption doesn't grow significantly, I suspect we are going to see a slowdown of the Chinese economy."

And even though an economic slowdown here translates to single-digit GDP growth in the range of 8 to 9 percent (still considered impressive), this would mark the first time an entire generation of Chinese have experienced such a thing.

The last time the Chinese economy suffered was in 1997, around the time of the Asian financial crisis, Pettis pointed out, but that was before the nation saw the kind of wealth accumulation that exists now amongst the middle class.

Feeling their pocketbooks pinched might have serious political implications, too, especially coming on the heels of a Summer Olympics that bolstered popular sentiment for the government.

Indeed, "the next few months in China could be really interesting," said Pettis.

Click here for complete coverage: Economy in Turmoil

 
TEL AVIV – This American election has fascinated the planet more than any other in living memory; because it concerns us all more than any other. America's war is the world's war and Wall Street's disaster has infected the globe.

So it is with all the more consternation that observers here regard their putative saviors.

In Israel, with its famously combative and unrestrained media, it is the American system that is under the microscope as much as its representatives. Here, the U.S. presidential race is seen as the bitter old guy and the dimwit versus the untried young guy and the windbag.

VIDEO: Israelis looking for American leadership

And the big issue in Israel is: What kind of a system is it if these are the best they can muster? When the insults halt, the votes are cast and the dust settles, many say that is the question that needs to be answered. Is this really the best America can come up with? Isn't there a better way to do things?

From Israel's narrow focus, America's next leader is critical.

There is a whole list of short to medium term issues on Israel's table that most urgently concern American national interests and need intelligent American guidance and leadership: Will Iran get nuclear weapons? Will Israel attack Iran to prevent this? Will Hamas take over the rest of Palestinian territory? Will Hezbollah and Israel go back to war? Will Syria make peace with Israel? Will Israel and Fatah continue their Palestinian peace process?

And all of these issues while Russia is reintroducing itself as a key element in the Middle East by allegedly rearming Iran and Syria. Some of these issues could embroil the entire region in war, others could make a major contribution to overall peace. Foreign observers are scared.

Courting the Jewish vote
So far, none of the presidential or vice-presidential debates have passed without a mention of Israel. And each candidate has made certain to reassure Jewish voters that Israeli is a tried and true ally that must, and will be, defended. On this, there doesn't seem to be any light between the candidates. For most Israeli analysts, this is a given.

Ironically, the only real debate on this issue is in Israel itself, where most politicians want unquestioning American support, but a vocal minority believes that this unstinting support is actually harmful to Israel; they say Israel needs to stop relying on America.

Only then, they say, will Israel find the need to compromise on key stumbling blocks to peace like full withdrawal from the West Bank.

It was a truism that Israelis favored the old war-horse, Sen. John McCain. But now polls show that the race is more neck-and-neck as far as who Israelis favor.

Looking for a leader, not a stumbling giant
Israel, and its neighbors, need a strong, stable, smart, involved America. What it sees in the American election campaign, especially in the vacuous, talking-point dominated debates, worries everybody – it appears to be a weak, dumb, uninvolved stumbling giant.

It's a common refrain to hear foreigners say they don't like the American government, yet they do like the American people; but they mean it, and they have good reason.

To its great credit, despite its travails, America seems as stable as ever, a rock-solid democracy with a reasonably concerned citizenry.

Click here for complete coverage of Decision '08

Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin unveils a new instructional judo DVD, adding to his legendary 'tough guy' image.

NBC News' Yonatan Pomrenze reports from Moscow on how in many ways, Putin, Russia's former president and current prime minister, is still center stage in Russian politics.

VIDEO: Putin releases instructional judo video

 JALALABAD, Afghanistan – U.S. military officials don't talk about our secret war in Pakistan. 

Don't even ask, I was told, on U.S. military bases in Afghanistan at Bagram and Jalalabad.

Don't ask about the remotely-controlled American drones armed with missiles that are now hunting across the Pakistani border, searching through the mountain peaks, valleys and dusty villages inside Pakistan for the leaders of a few dozen networks of al-Qaida fighters, Taliban militants, warlords, weapons smugglers and opium traffickers.

VIDEO: Pakistan struggles to maintain power in a Taliban stronghold

And certainly don't ask about the troops on bases here in Afghanistan who don't wear uniforms, have long beards (so they can better blend in during covert operations), tattoos and don't mingle with regular soldiers. 

They eat in their own chow halls, plan their own missions and don't talk much. They don't talk at all to the media.  They're the men who have been called in to cross into Pakistan when the drones can't get deep enough to find and kill their targets. 

They are elite Special Operations Forces, the most-highly trained and covert of the U.S. military. They are America's ghost warriors. According to Pakistani villagers who claim to have witnessed their operations, the "Special Ops" work in small teams, fast roping out of helicopters, air assaulting their objective before the enemy can re-group.

Their strengths are rapid violence, stealth, mobility and surprise. The Special Operations Forces don't receive much attention or credit in the media, but they're leading America's secret war inside Pakistan, at least for now.

The Army Times, a military newspaper, recently reported that the U.S. will temporarily halt ground incursions into Pakistan. The newspaper quoted an unnamed Pentagon official as saying, "We are now working with the Pakistanis to make sure that those types of ground-type insertions do not happen, at least for a period of time to give them an opportunity to do what they claim they are desiring to do." The newspaper said the halt did not apply to the incursions by drones.

U.S. perspective
While details of American operations in Pakistan are sparse, several commanders have helped me understand the American motivation for the raids. 

They say the cross-border incursions are necessary because the Pakistani government has failed to contain Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. Pakistan's tribal region – 10,000 square miles along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan – has become a no-man's-land where radical militants train, equip, rest, regroup, refit, plan and launch attacks on American troops in Afghanistan and on the Pakistani government in Islamabad. 

Pakistan has taken some action. In August, the Pakistani military launched an offensive in Bajaur, a militant stronghold near the border. The Pakistani army is also building alliances with tribal leaders who have turned on the Taliban and al-Qaida. 

But Pakistan's actions have yet to produce significant results, according to tribal elders, witnesses, and the U.S. military. The border region remains a lawless insurgent safe haven that the United States has decided it can no longer tolerate.

From the U.S. perspective, the military had to act in Pakistan, a U.S. ally, because the Pakistani government and military could not, or would not, crack down on Islamic radicals.

 
Sipping cups of green tea in a villa in Islamabad, I recently spoke for three hours with a Pakistani military official, who also worked for several years in his country's intelligence service, to get the other side of the story. He argued passionately that both Pakistan and the United States share the same goal – to wipe out the dangerous radicals – but that the U.S. cross-border incursions are counter-productive.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said Pakistan has deployed 120,000 troops along its border with Afghanistan, stationed at 1,000 posts. He compared Pakistan's force to just over 30,000 U.S. troops at about 100 posts on the Afghan side of the border.

"You see where the insufficiency of forces is?" he asked.  "I don't understand why [the Americans] don't just kill the militants on their side of the border. They show us videos as proof of militants crossing into Pakistan. Why don't they just sort them out there, in Afghanistan, instead of making videos?'"

I asked the Pakistani official about the U.S. cross-border raids. Do they help? Don't they target the same people who plot attacks against Pakistan? Unlike the U.S. military, he had a lot to say.

The official claimed there have been about 50 drone incursions into Pakistan since this summer, along with roughly 10 "physical incursions." He claimed the raids had killed "several hundred" civilians and were causing panic in the tribal areas.

"The villagers hear the buzzing [of the drones] and are terrified. They are scared to have weddings, funerals or any social gatherings, afraid they will be blown up by the drones," he said.

The official also claimed the U.S. strikes undermine the Pakistani military's ability to operate in the tribal areas. It's a problem of logistics and terrain, he explained.

The few roads in the mountainous border area run through villages. Since the Pakistani military lacks aircraft, the roads are the army's main supply line. The official argued that if the villagers, angered by American air strikes, turn on the Pakistani military – who are after all U.S. allies – they could cut off Pakistani troops.

"We may have to pull them out completely if [the American incursions] continue. We cannot leave the troops there, if we are cut off from supplies and can't support them."

While the United States and Pakistan argue over the incursions, conditions in border villages are rapidly deteriorating. The mountain town of Swat was once known as the Switzerland of Pakistan, a resort where Pakistanis vacationed to escape the bustle of Islamabad and Karachi.  Today it is a battle zone. 

According to a Pakistani military spokesman, in Swat Valley Taliban and al-Qaida fighters have burned down 111 girls schools, destroyed 37 government buildings, blown up 29 bridges, incapacitated the main power plant and cut the gas supply. Villagers are often completely without power.  Schools that haven't been burned down don't operate.

Not surprisingly, more than a quarter million refugees have escaped areas like Swat and Bajour.  At least 20,000 refugees have crossed into Afghanistan.  Aid workers say tens of thousands more may be coming.

A senior U.S. military official told me he'd heard Pakistan's argument – leave us alone, we'll handle it, stay out – a thousand times, but had yet to see results. 

But what can the U.S. actually do? 

It's difficult to fight a secret war, especially here. The Special Operations Forces must fight in the mountains, far away from their bases in Afghanistan, against a battle-hardened enemy funded by the opium trade. 

Since U.S. troops must operate covertly, they also can't afford to lose a single man, fearing the enemy would drag his body Somalia-style through the streets, exposing their presence. The Americans also can't leave anything behind, no equipment, no bags of MREs, no tracks, no trace they were there fighting America's newest, most secret war. 

Both American and Pakistani officials seem to agree that the only long-term solution to combating the militants in the border region is through better coordination.  For now, however, there's little trust between the two sides, and suspicions are growing.

Click here for recent World Blog reports from Pakistan:
'Neither candidate will be good for Pakistan'
The 'Talibanization' of Pakistan's biggest city

CAIRO – After eight years of watching the Middle East peace process disintegrate into violence, five years of what most here regard as an illegal U.S. occupation of Iraq, the ensuing Sunni-Shiite conflict, and the subsequent rise of Iran as a nuclear threat in the mainly Sunni Gulf, most Egyptians agree that President Bush's legacy in the region has been one of instability.

VIDEO: Egyptian share their views on the U.S. election

Many Egyptians believe Sen. John McCain will likely hew to Bush's foreign policy and that Sen. Barack Obama will be more likely to solve, or at least attempt to solve, those pressing issues that are nearest and dearest to people's hearts here: the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and the war in Iraq.

"If McCain wins, the general perception seems to be that we're screwed," Sara Inani, a university drama professor, said during a recent interview in Cairo.

Although she prefers Ralph Nader, she believes most Egyptians feel that "if a Democrat wins, we have a fighting chance." And the most important issue for Inani? "War in Iraq, slam dunk. Most people would like to see the U.S. pull out."

There is a sense among many Egyptians that Obama could restore the rush of warm feelings most Arabs held for the United States during the Clinton administration and erase the bad feelings generated by the Iraq war and the perceived pro-Israeli bias of the Bush administration.

"Peace in the Middle East will be good for all of us," in Iraq, Egypt and everywhere, said travel agency manager, Abdul Khaleq Fathi. He said he was impressed by an Obama speech on the Middle East and its future.

"I prefer Obama…Maybe because he has roots from Africa," added a colleague of Fathi's, expressing a sentiment shared by many Egyptians that the Democratic candidate may be more empathetic toward Arabs because of his African and Muslim ancestry.

Yahya Khalil, a famous Egyptian jazz musician, was emphatic in his support for Obama."McCain will be the same line as where we are today and I'm not very happy with where we are today. I would like to see change and we hope the change will be for the better."

Khalil also expressed a hope shared by many Egyptians that affection for the U.S. will be rekindled if Obama is elected.

"America is a place that I love," says Khalil who holds dual U.S.-Egyptian citizenship. "I want the whole world to see the good side of America. And the bad side – created by politics that create this negativity between Americans and other parts of the world – should really go away."