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News archives for the week ending 9th January 2009

UK drop opposition to UN resolution

The UN has said it is suspending aid operations in Gaza because its staff have been hit by Israeli attacks. The suspension would continue "until the Israeli authorities can guarantee our safety and security", the UN said.

Meanwhile, the US, UK and France have dropped opposition to a UN resolution urging an immediate ceasefire, and Arab nations are studying a draft. It comes on day 13 of an offensive by Israel aimed at stopping Palestinian militants firing rockets from Gaza.

The US, UK and France had wanted a weaker statement from the UN Security Council, the BBC's Laura Trevelyan in New York says. But Arab foreign ministers said anything less than a binding resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire would be an inadequate response to the crisis, our correspondent says.

If the Arab nations' response to the draft resolution is positive, a vote could happen later. The draft calls for an immediate ceasefire, action to stop the smuggling of arms by Hamas across the Egypt-Gaza border and the opening of border crossings into Gaza so aid can be delivered.

BBC News, 8/1/09

Gaza 'could motivate UK extremists'

British counter-terrorism officials say they are watching closely for any increase in activity by radicalised extremists in the UK, following Israel's assault on Gaza. Prominent British Muslims are warning the government anger among young Muslims over events in the Middle East is reaching dangerous levels.

Ed Husain, co-founder of think-tank the Quilliam Foundation, is a former Islamist and expert on radicalisation. He said years of work on promoting moderation were now at risk. He said: "The first response I got from the events in Gaza... [was] from Muslims up and down the country telephoning, saying, 'How can we prevent terrorism from happening on our streets again? Anger is so widespread, anger is everywhere.'

"That's a bad sign when moderate leaders suddenly feel, 'How can we push back against this?' That their work over the last two or three years has been undermined by events in the Middle East." Representatives from a number of British Muslim organisations have expressed their concern in an open letter to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, urging him to take more visible action to stop the violence in Gaza.

BBC News, 8/1/09

BBC to launch TV channel in Iran

Taxpayers will hand over £15 million a year to fund a BBC TV channel aimed at people living in Iran and largely inaccessible to British viewers. The corporation launches Persian TV next Wednesday, hoping it will compete with tightly-controlled state media in the Islamic republic.

Critics fear vocal opposition by Iranian government, which already blocks the BBC Persian website to many, could make the channel doomed from the start. There are also concerns that the corporation's attempts to force its way into the Iranian domestic media market could spark a diplomatic row.

Iranian officials have claimed the TV service, aired in the Farsi language, will be used by British intelligence for 'espionage and psychological warfare'.

Daily Mail, 8/1/09

West is complicit in Gaza massacre

What is amazing is that so many Western leaders, so many presidents and prime ministers and, I fear, so many editors and journalists, bought the old lie; that Israelis take such great care to avoid civilian casualties. "Israel makes every possible effort to avoid civilian casualties," yet another Israeli ambassador said only hours before the Gaza massacre. And every president and prime minister who repeated this mendacity as an excuse to avoid a ceasefire has the blood of last night's butchery on their hands. Had George Bush had the courage to demand an immediate ceasefire 48 hours earlier, those 40 civilians, the old and the women and children, would be alive.

What happened was not just shameful. It was a disgrace. Would war crime be too strong a description? For that is what we would call this atrocity if it had been committed by Hamas. So a war crime, I'm afraid, it was. After covering so many mass murders by the armies of the Middle East – by Syrian troops, by Iraqi troops, by Iranian troops, by Israeli troops – I suppose cynicism should be my reaction. But Israel claims it is fighting our war against "international terror". The Israelis claim they are fighting in Gaza for us, for our Western ideals, for our security, for our safety, by our standards. And so we are also complicit in the savagery now being visited upon Gaza.

Robert Fisk, Independent, 7/1/09

Moqtada al-Sadr calls for revenge attacks

Moqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric, called on the Iraqi resistance today to carry out “revenge operations” against US targets in Iraq in protest at the military offensive by Israel on Gaza.

"I ask the Iraqi resistance to engage in revenge operations against the United States, the biggest partner of the Zionist enemy," the Shia cleric, who is believed to be in Iran, said in a statement issued by his office in the holy city of Najaf. He also urged all countries with Israeli embassies to close down these missions in a show of support for the Palestinian people. And he asked Iraqis to place Palestinian flags on the roofs of all buildings, mosques and churches to demonstrate their support “for the mujahedeen in Gaza".

A spokesman for the cleric said the words were not intended for all members of the Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to Hojatoleslam al-Sadr which has been turned into more of a social services network. Instead, he said, the call was to members of a special unit of fighters that has been maintained.

The Times, 7/1/09

Call for end of UK arms sales to Israel

Gordon Brown came under pressure yesterday to impose a British arms embargo on Israel in protest at its actions in Gaza, and to call on the EU to join the boycott. The call was made by Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, and represents the first serious political pressure on the prime minister to do more to condemn Israel.

Downing Street insists that Brown has been acting tirelessly behind the scenes alongside Tony Blair, now a Middle East envoy, and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to secure a ceasefire that the Israeli government will accept, including an international force to police the tunnels reportedly taking weapons into Gaza.

The Labour MP Richard Burden said that 100 parliamentarians had signed a letter condemning the attacks on Gaza. Clegg, said “The government's own figures show Britain is selling more and more weapons to Israel, despite the questions about the country's use of force. In 2007, our government approved £6m of arms exports. In 2008, it licensed sales 12 times as fast: £20m in the first three months alone."

"There is a strong case that, given the Gaza conflict, any military exports contravene EU licensing criteria. Reports, though denied, that Israel is using illegal cluster munitions and white phosphorus, should heighten our caution. I want an immediate suspension of all arms exports from the EU, but if that cannot be secured Brown must act unilaterally." He wrote that it was intolerable that Brown, like Blair, was making UK policy subservient to the US.

Guardian, 7/1/09

US troops shoot hearing impaired woman

US troops have shot and critically wounded a newly-wed Iraqi female television producer after she failed to heed warnings from soldiers in Baghdad, the military and her station said today. A US military statement said that Iraqi police and US soldiers had observed the woman, who had had failed to listen to warnings, behaving "erratically" before American soldiers shot her on New Year's Day.

Mohsen al-Darraji, a spokesman for Beladi TV, said that 25-year-old producer Hadeel Emad had failed to heed warning shots because she had impaired hearing.

Herald Sun, Australia, 4/1/09

$70 billion more for Afghan war

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates estimates the Pentagon will need about $70 billion more to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, on top of the $65.9 billion already approved by Congress. If Congress supports the amount Gates estimates is needed, total spending on the wars will hit $927.7 billion since 2001.

Gates said his estimate did not include an expected massive reinforcement in Afghanistan, which could nearly double the number of U.S. troops from 32,000 to around 60,000.

Reuters, 6/1/09

Israel denies use of phosphorus

Israeli military spokesmen deny that their forces have used phosphorus in Gaza, despite photographs and film of munitions showing similar characteristics to the potentially lethal shells. The Israelis have not said what kind of munitions they have been using, other than saying that their use is permitted under international law.

White phosphorus produces layers of thick white smoke when exposed to oxygen, but phosporous from an explosion will cause serious burns that can melt flesh to the bone and kill. Its use as an offensive munition is banned by the chemical weapons convention.

Israel used phosphorus in the war with Lebanon in 2006. The US used phosphorus in the siege of Falluja in Iraq in 2004, saying it was used to smoke out enemy forces, not to kill them. British forces have used phosphorus for many years, but not as a weapon, according to defence sources, with the RAF using phosphorus bombs in Afghanistan.

Guardian, 6/1/09

Blair to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will receive the highest civilian award in the US - the Presidential Medal of Freedom - next week. Mr Blair was one of President Bush's closest international allies, particularly after the September 11 2001 attacks on the US and the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The medal of freedom, awarded by the US President, is the highest civilian award in the US, alongside the congressional gold medal - awarded by Congress. Mr Blair was awarded the congressional gold medal in July 2003, shortly after the invasion of Iraq, but he has yet to collect it.

There was some speculation that unease over the Iraq war and Mr Blair's close friendship with Mr Bush made him reluctant to accept it while in office. But each medal is individually designed and minted and it was reported it was taking some time to decide on the words and images.

The office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives told the Sunday Telegraph this week that Mr Blair was taking a keen interest in the medal's design, before it was specially made by the US Federal Mint.

BBC News, 5/1/09

US opens new Iraq embassy

The United States opened its new embassy building in Baghdad on Monday, a step meant to symbolise its transition from occupying power to an ally of a sovereign Iraqi government.

In recent weeks U.S. diplomats have gradually moved into the $592 million newly-built compound, the world's largest U.S. embassy building, leaving behind a sprawling palace they had inhabited since toppling Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 2003. The opening of the new embassy is in line with a change of power that was effected on New Year's Day, when U.S. forces in Iraq officially came under an Iraqi mandate.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani thanked the United States for helping create a democratic Iraq "which will serve as a model for other peoples of the eastern world". The embassy has 1,200 employees, including diplomats, servicemen and staff from 14 federal agencies. U.S. forces on New Year's Day handed over responsibility to Iraqi troops for the Green Zone, a fortified compound in the heart of Baghdad off limits to most Iraqis, who have widely viewed it as a symbol of foreign military occupation.

The new embassy is located in the zone.

Reuters, 5/1/09

UK could be in Afghanistan for 15 years

In the context of our deployment in Afghanistan, every year is a vital one. But there is a growing sense that 2009 will be more decisive than most. So much hangs in the balance: will the local population reject the presence of foreign forces? Will the Nato alliance hold together, despite the in-fighting that is weakening its command structure? What difference will be made by President Obama, and by the presence of 20,000 more American troops, in a "surge" of the kind that worked so successfully in Iraq? And, most importantly for those of us in Britain, will we be able to sustain another year of high casualties without seeing any tangible gains on the ground?

The numbers of dead are harrowing – but they do not tell the whole story. This is a counter-insurgency campaign, in which the measure of success is more likely to be determined by the miles of new roads built than the numbers of Taliban – or Britons – killed. And even though we have been in Helmand for four years now, almost as long as the First World War, military planners are preparing for a prolonged campaign.

"If we take more casualties this year, the world will not end," says one of the officers involved in plotting our strategy. "Britain will not leave with its tail between its legs. The thing that's keeping us going is that we understand this is a long-term thing, not something that's a quick fix. We have the mindset that this is a 15-year endeavour."

Daily Telegraph, 5/1/09

Suicide bomb kills 35

A female suicide bomber killed at least 35 people, many of them Iranian pilgrims, and wounded scores more when she blew herself up amid a crowd of Shia worshippers outside a shrine in Baghdad today.

The attack was the second major bombing since US forces came under Iraqi Government authority on January 1. It also occurred as Iraqi leaders expressed confidence in their ability to defend Iraq at a ceremony to mark Army Day.

The bomber, dressed in a traditional black Islamic robe, targeted a checkpoint outside the Imam Moussa al-Khadim shrine in Khadamiya, northeast Baghdad, as Shia Muslims prepared to commemorate the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, at a key religious holiday this week. Sunni Islamist extremists such as al-Qaeda have repeatedly targeted the annual event following the 2003 invasion.

Today’s bombing will raise questions as to whether the Iraqi police and army can handle security alone.

Sunday Times, 4/1/09

Bush blames Hamas for Gaza massacre...

President Bush has blamed the violence in Gaza and southern Israel firmly on Hamas, after a week of Israeli air strikes and Palestinian rocket attacks.

In his weekly radio address President George W Bush said Hamas was responsible for the latest violence and rejected any unilateral ceasefire that he said would allow Hamas to continue to fire on Israel. He added that no peace deal would be acceptable without tougher action to prevent Hamas and other groups from receiving weapons.

BBC News, 3/1/09

...as Europe calls for ceasefire

France spearheaded alarmed reaction from European nations as Israeli tanks and troops pushed into the Gaza Strip, revealing a sharp difference in tone from the official line in Washington.

At least 460 Palestinians have been killed and thousands wounded in an eight-day bombing campaign, according to Gaza medics, as Israeli tanks clashed overnight with Hamas fighters who fired back with mortars and rockets.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the decision to send ground forces into Gaza after a week of air strikes was a "dangerous military escalation", while Britain called for an immediate ceasefire.

AFP, 4/1/09