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News archives for the week ending 10th April 2009

Total cost of wars to US is nearing $1,000 billion

The Obama administration will ask Congress for another $83.4 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of September, Democratic congressional sources said Thursday. The request is expected to pay for those conflicts for the rest of the 2009 budget year.

The money would bring the running tab for both conflicts to about $947 billion, according to figures from the Congressional Research Service. More than three-quarters of the $864 billion appropriated so far has gone to the war in Iraq, the agency estimated.

CNN, 9/4/09

'The insurgency in Afghanistan has expanded its strength and influence'

The progress of U.S. forces in Iraq has consistently improved over the past two years, with a substantial reduction in violence. Afghanistan, in contrast, is in a downward spiral in many areas, Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, said Thursday.

"The insurgency in Afghanistan has expanded its strength and influence, and levels of violence in some areas for 2008 were double those in 2009," Petraeus said. "The Taliban, Al Qaeda and the associated syndicate of extremists have demonstrated considerable resilience due, in large part, to the safe havens just across the Afghan border in Pakistan and due to the steady flow of revenues from illegal narcotics trafficking."

Palm Beach Daily News, 9/4/09

Iraq reviews US-freed prisoners after blasts

Iraq on Wednesday said it is reviewing the files of thousands of prisoners freed by US forces, in the wake of unrest which left seven people dead in a third straight day of attacks in Baghdad. The government has blamed a recent surge in violence on Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein loyalists, while it has also been suggested that detainees released from US custody could be involved.

"The files of the released are being re-checked," Major General Qassim Atta, the spokesman for Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, told AFP.

A series of detainee releases by the US military, averaging 50 a day, kicked off on February 3 as a key part of a security deal signed last year between Washington and Baghdad that provides for a gradual return of Iraqi sovereignty.

Under the accord, prisoners must either be set free or handed over to Iraqi authorities, who make the final decision on how a case should be handled. Thousands have already been set free under the scheme.

AFP, 8/4/09

Airstrikes ineffective in Afghanistan

Military commanders in Afghanistan reduced their reliance on airstrikes in 2008, records show, a change that experts say reflects the limitations of air power against a resilient insurgency.

From 2004 to 2007, the overall tonnage of munitions dropped from planes rose from 163 tons to 1,956 tons, a 1,100% increase, Air Force data show. However, the total tonnage dropped in 2008 fell to 1,314 tons, a 33% decrease.

The limits of air power show why more ground troops are needed to provide security, said Dakota Wood, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

USA Today, 8/4/09

US 'comfortable' with UK approach to Hizbullah

The new United States administration under President Barack Obama is reportedly "comfortable" with the British government's attempts to engage Hizbullah in negotiations.

Bill Rammell, Britain's Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, said in Damascus last week that despite protests to the contrary, the Obama administration does not object to the fledgling contacts with the political wing of Hizbullah.

"We have a different approach on this issue at the moment with the United States," he said. "But it's not an issue of disagreement in intentions. The feedback we had on Lebanon is that the Americans are comfortable with us doing things differently than they are."

Daily Star, Lebanion, 7/4/09

Iraq bombs kill dozens

A series of six bombs in Baghdad has killed more than 34 people and injured about 110, as the US military announced its first combat death in weeks. One blast tore through the crowded Shia district of Sadr City, killing 12 people and wounding 28. Another in the busy, central area of Allawi killed at least six labourers and injured more than 15.

The attacks come as violence across Iraq has fallen to levels not seen since 2003. However insurgents are still able to strike with deadly results, claiming more than 200 lives in both February and March.

BBC News, 6/4/09

Costs of wars curbs US weapons build up

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday recommended ceasing production of the F-22 Raptor jet fighter, cutting back other expensive, high-tech weapons systems and shifting resources into counterinsurgency campaigns such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Instead of more money for missile defense, future combat systems and bombers to prepare for a possible conventional war against Iran or North Korea, Gates' proposed budget calls for more helicopter crews, reconnaissance and surveillance.

The cuts in lucrative defense contracts, however, are likely to draw the ire of Congress, where lawmakers will fight to retain contracts and defense-related jobs in their districts, especially in an economic crisis. Lockheed Martin, which produces the F-22, lobbied for weeks to save the program and now threatens layoffs.

Miami Herald, 6/4/09

NATO to send 5,000 more noncombat troops to Afghanistan

NATO announced Saturday that it will send about 5,000 additional troops and trainers to Afghanistan, a boost that President Barack Obama hailed, but one that failed to include the combat forces his administration had sought.

For months, dating to before Obama's election, the U.S. has been trying to persuade its NATO allies to cough up more troops for the battle against Taliban and al-Qaida fighters. But White House and Pentagon officials have acknowledged in recent weeks that their hopes for extra combat troops from NATO had dissipated. Instead, they repeatedly have pointed to a wide range of nonmilitary contributions that NATO countries could make, including training Afghan forces and economic development.

Such adjustments in expectations reflected not only the unpopularity of the war but also the difficulty the administration faces in repairing the U.S. image abroad sufficiently to win support from international leaders. In part, Obama has tried to appeal to ordinary Europeans in the hope of tempering animosity toward the United States.

In addition to the 5,000 new troops and military trainers, NATO countries pledged $100 million to a fund for the Afghan army.

Seattle Times, 5/4/09

Iraq 'especially dangerous for gays and lesbians'

Two gay men were killed in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, a local official said on Saturday, and police said they had found the bodies of four more after clerics urged a crackdown on a perceived spread of homosexuality.

Homosexuality is prohibited almost everywhere in the Middle East, but conditions have become especially dangerous for gays and lesbians in Iraq since the rise of religious militias after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein six years ago.

Reuters, 4/4/09

US continues attacks on Pakistan

A suspected US missile strike in north-west Pakistan, the second drone attack in four days, has killed 13 people. Local officials in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, said the dead included women and children as well as militants - some of them foreigners.

The latest incident comes only three days after a missile fired by a suspected US drone killed at least 14 people in Pakistan's Orakzai tribal area, near the Afghan border. Correspondents say that more than 35 suspected drone strikes have killed more than 340 people since August 2008, shortly before the election of President Asif Ali Zardari.

BBC News, 4/4/09

Blackwater mercenaries will stay in Iraq

Late last month Blackwater Worldwide lost its billion-dollar contract to protect American diplomats here, but by next month many if not most of its private security guards will be back on the job in Iraq.

The same individuals will just be wearing new uniforms, working for Triple Canopy, the firm that won the State Department’s contract after Iraqi officials refused to renew Blackwater’s operating license, according to American diplomats, private security industry officials and Iraqi officials.

Blackwater — viewed in Iraq as a symbol of American violence and impunity — lost the contract after being accused of excessive force in several instances, particularly an apparently unprovoked shooting in downtown Baghdad in 2007 in which 17 civilians were killed.

Despite the torrent of public criticism against Blackwater, American officials say they are relieved that the old guards will stay on. Otherwise, Triple Canopy, they say, would not be able to field enough qualified guards, with the proper security clearances, before the new contract goes into effect in May.

Critics of Blackwater said they worried that the same people might perpetuate what they believed was a corporate culture that disregarded Iraqis’ lives.

New York Times, 3/4/09

Mandelson to lead exploitation of Iraq

Britain's business minister Peter Mandelson is set to lead the country's first official trade delegation to Iraq for more than 20 years, his office said Friday. The move is a further sign of London seeking to normalise relations with Baghdad as Britain pulls its troops out of southern Iraq over the coming months, six years after the US-led invasion.

British ministers have talked up the business opportunities in Iraq, particularly in the southern port city of Basra, where Britain's forces and reconstruction efforts are based. The delegation is made up of 23 companies comprising "a broad range of sectors," said the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

"Not just oil and gas but also in healthcare, construction, transport, power, water, banking and the security sector."

AFP, 3/4/09

US supply route deal with Uzbekistan

The United States signed a deal Friday with Uzbekistan to allow non-military material to transit the country en route for Afghanistan.

The deal is a pragmatic move by the United States which still had concerns about alleged major human rights abuses in Uzbekistan. Richard Boucher, the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, told AFP that the agreement aimed soley at providing a means to ship cargo to Afghanistan.

"This really does not mean anything for the human rights situation there (in Uzbekistan)," he said. "We have recently done the report. We are still concerned by various aspects of the human rights situation and we continue to have a broad dialogue with the government there," said Boucher. "So this is not really a political statement about the human rights nor is it an attempt to re-establish a base. It is a commercial arrangement to ship cargo," he added.

The official added that "there is no payment from the US government to the Uzbek government" to seal the cargo deal.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov, 70, has for 18 years kept an iron grip on Uzbekistan, where he has eliminated all forms of opposition, banning political parties and independent media while many of his critics have been jailed or forced into exile.

AFP, 4/4/09

NATO split on Afghan escalation

European leaders are expected to resist American pressure today to join in the Pentagon's military "surge" in Afghanistan, disappointing Barack Obama. The US president has made the campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaida the centrepiece of his new foreign policy.

A Nato summit opening in France and Germany will also struggle to commit civilian resources to match the increased US military deployments, may fail to agree on a new alliance secretary general despite months of negotiation, and is also split over policy towards a resurgent Russia.

With the campaign in Afghanistan repeatedly said to be Nato's biggest challenge and a test of whether the alliance will survive in the long term, the new White House appears frustrated with European reluctance. "What we expect and want is for people to look at themselves and make commitments on what they will do," said a senior US official.

But a senior German politician said public opinion in his country no longer shared the view that Germany's security was being protected "in the Hindu Kush".

Guardian, 3/4/09

Sunni paramilitary leader released

A prominent Sunni paramilitary leader was released from jail Thursday, a little more than a week after being arrested as part an apparent crackdown against the movement of former insurgents who switched sides and helped end Iraq's civil war.

Raad Ali, head of the Sons of Iraq fighters in part of Baghdad's Ghazaliya district, returned home after a judge dismissed murder charges against him Wednesday. His release came after the arrest of at least two other Sons of Iraq leaders in Baghdad and the jailing of a few dozen other Sunni Arabs associated with the movement.

"They've accused me many times. I went to the court and they listened to me and said I am clean," Ali said. "If anyone wants to talk about me, every time they have a charge against me, I have shown that I am clean."

The dismissal ended a 10-day ordeal that saw Ali swallowed up into the country's security apparatus. It remains unclear who jailed him. The paramilitary leader said he was detained by the Baghdad operations command, which in turn blamed the Iraqi special forces. Both entities report to the prime minister's office.

Los Angeles Times, 3/4/09