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News archives for the week ending 15th May 2009

UK navy to stay in Iraq

The Iraqi government said Wednesday it was studying a formal agreement to have a few hundred British sailors stay past the end of a mandate that expires in July to train their Iraqi counterparts.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said bilateral negotiations would focus on ways to train and support the Iraqi navy to help protect ports and oil facilities in Basra, in southern Iraq. Protection of the oil terminals is crucial because cash from oil sales accounts for more than 90% of Iraqi government revenue. Iraq also faces oil smuggling, border disputes with Iran and other issues in that area.

Since December, when a July pullout date for U.K. troops was agreed, the Iraqi and British governments have both expected that a small number of British personnel would stay behind. In April, the U.K. military said it expected to keep 400 personnel in Iraq to help train the navy and conduct general officer training.

Wall Street Journal, 14/5/09

Obama blocks release of torture photos

President Obama's decision Wednesday to try to block the court-ordered release of photographs depicting alleged abuse of detainees by U.S. soldiers sets him on a confrontational course with his liberal base. But it is a showdown he is willing to risk -- and may even view as politically necessary.

The president's reversal comes just three weeks after his administration agreed to release the images. The move enraged advocacy groups, which swiftly accused Obama of violating his promises of openness and of parroting justifications for secrecy that had been argued by the Bush administration and rejected by courts.

But in following the advice of military leaders, who had expressed fears of a backlash in the Middle East if the pictures were released, Obama now can tell critics on the right that he did his best to protect the nation's troops, even if the courts eventually force the disclosure.

Los Angeles Times, 13/5/09

US occupation force in Afghanistan to double this year

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said his decision to fire the top U.S. general in Afghanistan was not a result of disagreement over the general's repeated requests for more forces.

Gen. David McKiernan was named to his post less than a year ago by former President George W. Bush and spent much of his tenure pleading for reinforcements for a backsliding war. Gates announced McKiernan's ouster on Monday, saying he wanted new leadership and thinking to match the new commander-in-chief's battle plan.

Gates said the United States will have some 68,000 troops in Afghanistan by the end of the year, about double the total at the end of 2008.

USA Today, 14/5/09

Pakistani refugees soon to reach 1.5 million

Terrified civilians trapped in the Swat Valley begged to be rescued today as the Pakistan Army prepared for its biggest confrontation yet with the Taleban. Their pleas came as Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani President, was due to meet Gordon Brown at 10 Downing Street.

The two leaders were expected to discuss the military situation and Mr Zardari will ask for aid to deal with the humanitarian crisis developing in northwest Pakistan.

Islamabad says that the 15,000 members of the security forces in the region are there to eliminate the Taleban. Under heavy pressure from Washington, the Pakistan Government had little option but to send in the Army after a controversial peace deal struck in February, effectively ceding control of Swat and its three million inhabitants to the extremists in a bid to buy peace, was breached within days. The Taleban moved out into the neighbouring districts of Dir and Buner, and boasted that they planned to take over the whole country.

International aid workers say that the offensive is creating a humanitarian crisis, both for civilians trapped in the firing line with little access to food, water or medical care, and for those who have fled the fighting.

UN and Pakistani officials said that the number of refugees from Swat and other conflict zones could soon reach 1.5 million, making it the largest dislocation of Pakistanis in the country’s 62-year history.

The offensive in Swat does not seem to have hindered Taleban operations elsewhere in Pakistan. Today insurgents torched a Nato depot in Peshawar, setting fire to eight trucks that had been due to transport supplies through the Khyber Pass to US forces and their allies fighting in Afghanistan.

Times on line 13/5/09

Clash in Iranian border area kills eight

Iran's volunteer Basiji Forces have reportedly killed five militants near the country's borders with Turkey and Iraq. The clashes in the border areas of the West Azerbaijan province also resulted in the death of three Basiji soldiers.

Iran has on several occasions reported clashes between government forces and members of the outlawed Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) along its western border with Iraq PJAK is considered to be an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has been fighting Turkish troops for over three decades.

Although the US has on several occasions announced its willingness to help Turkey defend itself from PKK terrorist attacks, it has been aiding PJAK in Iran's Kurdestan to stir up ethnic unrest in the country.

In a 2006 article published in The New Yorker, investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh, revealed that the US military and Israel are assisting PJAK by providing the group with equipment, training, and vital intelligence in a bid to destabilize the Islamic Republic

Press TV 13/5/09

Iraq signs power deal

Iraq has signed a $120 million deal with Pratt & Whitney, part of United Technologies Corp, to build a gas power station with a capacity of 180 megawatts.

The plant consisting of four units will be installed in Iraq's southern Maysan province, which like much of the rest of the country suffers chronic power shortages, despite sitting on top of huge oil and gas reserves.

Iraq is in desperate need of investment in infrastructure after decades or war, neglect and sanctions. Much larger multi-billion-dollar deals were signed last year with General Electric and Siemens to add nearly 9,000 megawatts of capacity over the next few years.

Iraqis say the country's faltering electricity system is one of their main sources of frustration. Many parts of Iraq have just a few hours of electricity per day.

Reuters 13/5/09

Taliban raids Afghan state offices

About 30 fighters wearing suicide vests and using AK-47s and grenades, have attacked government buildings in the Afghan city of Khost, a Taliban spokesman has said.

All roads in and out of the provincial capital of southeastern Khost province were closed on Tuesday as the fighting continued to rage. At least four soldiers and two civilians were killed in the attacks, with another 13 people injured.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from the capital, Kabul, said that a Taliban spokesman had told Al Jazeera that the fighters were targeting government buildings, police stations and checkpoints across the city of Khost. The unnamed spokesman said that Khost had been targeted because of the heavy US military presence there. The third largest US base in Afghanistan is outside the city, which lies just 40km from the border with Pakistan.

Last month, the Taliban released a statement saying that from May 1 it would increase ambushes and suicide attacks on government buildings and officials in response to Washington's decision to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan.

The US is sending about 21,000 extra troops to Afghanistan as part of the White House's plans to confront the growing power of the Taliban in the region.

Al Jazeera 12/5/09

Protest at forced deportations of Iraqis

Campaigners protesting against the forced mass deportation of Iraqis blockaded the Colnbrook detention centre near Heathrow today.

A chartered flight is due to depart from the airport today carrying about 60 failed asylum seekers, including 45 from Colnbrook, to Iraqi Kurdistan, according to the campaigners. One of the deportees has been on hunger strike for 10 days in protest at his forced removal.

If today's flight goes ahead it will be the ninth mass deportation flight to Iraqi Kurdistan in the last 10 months, according to the Stop Deportation Network. The time, airline and departure airport are not disclosed by the Home Office.

"Many of those who have been sent back are forced to live in hiding to avoid persecution by the Kurdistan regional government," said Dashty Jamal, secretary of the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees. "IFIR has received reports of deportees who have committed suicide, been kidnapped or killed in car bombs. Nobody should be sent back to Iraqi Kurdistan."

A UK Border Agency spokesman said “The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal found that conditions in Iraq are such that an ordinary individual Iraqi civilian is not at serious risk from indiscriminate violence in any part of Iraq." He said more than 3,300 Iraqis left the UK voluntarily between 2000 and 2007.

Guardian 12/5/09

US will increase spying in Iraq

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Iraqi officials on a visit Sunday to Baghdad that America would need to improve its intelligence in their country after U.S. troops pull out.

"If we are going to have a diminished physical military presence, we have to have a strong intelligence presence," Pelosi said after discussions with her Iraqi counterpart and other members of parliament.

Los Angeles Times, 11/5/09

Economic crisis hits Iraq...

The financial crisis that has sent economies reeling the world over is finally seeping into Iraq, with potentially grave implications for the stability of the country. Car sales have plummeted. The once-booming property market has skidded to a halt. Electronic goods that were flying off the shelves a few months back are staying put. And in a country still threatened by an insurgency, more than a quarter of men ages 18 to 29 are unemployed.

The economic crisis took its time getting here, in part because Iraq received a revenue bonanza from high oil prices last year and its unsophisticated banking sector has little exposure to the outside world. But optimistic projections made as recently as February that Iraq would remain immune to the global downturn have proved horribly wrong.

It's all a far cry from the situation envisaged back in 2003, when the Bush administration confidently predicted that oil revenues would pay for all of Iraq's reconstruction needs

Los Angeles Times, 10/5/09

...and forces government hand on Kurdish oil

The Iraqi federal oil ministry said Sunday it will allow the autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq to start exporting crude oil in June to world markets after blocking such shipments for the past two years.

The Kurds and the central government, which grants all oil-export licenses, have been at odds since 2007 over Iraq's draft hydrocarbons law and oil contracts that the Kurds signed with foreign companies.

Despite those issues being still unresolved, Baghdad -- under increased financial strain because of weak oil prices and falling revenue -- will allow the Kurds to begin exporting 60,000 barrels a day from June 1, oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said.

The Kurds said Friday they would start exports regardless of the ministry's approval. Mr. Jihad didn't say why Baghdad had reversed itself, but it is likely that the central government's need for more revenue played a part in its decision. The government has slashed its 2009 budget three times because of falling oil prices.

Wall Street Journal, 11/5/09

US denies chemical attack in Afghanistan...

The U.S. military denied on Sunday it had used the incendiary chemical white phosphorus in a battle that killed civilians in west Afghanistan last week, after a rights group said it was investigating suspicious burns.

Nader Nadery, a member of Afghanistan's independent human rights commission, said doctors who had treated victims from the incident had reported strange burns they believed may have been caused by a chemical like white phosphorus.

The incident in western Farah province has sparked an outcry over civilian casualties. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said U.S. strikes killed more than 100 and possibly as many as 130 civilians, and has called for a halt to all U.S. air strikes.

Reuters, 10/5/09

...and will continue air strikes despite civilian deaths

President Obama’s top national security adviser said on Sunday that the United States would likely continue conducting airstrikes against extremists in Afghanistan despite a sharp warning from President Hamid Karzai that civilian casualties were fast turning ordinary Afghans against the United States.

The security adviser, General James L. Jones, spoke six days after Afghans blamed United States airstrikes in western Afghanistan for the deaths of scores of civilians. American officials apologized for the deaths and said that they are investigating the incident.

“We’re going to take a look at trying to make sure we correct those things we can correct, but certainly to tie the hands of our commanders and say we’re not going to conduct airstrikes would be imprudent,” General Jones said on ABC’s “This Week.”

“We can’t fight with one hand tied behind our back,” he said, without flatly ruling out the possibility of a change in approach.

New York Times, 10/5/09

Israel strengthening grip on Jerusalem

Israel is quietly carrying out a $100 million, multiyear development plan in some of the most significant religious and national heritage sites just outside the walled Old City here as part of an effort to strengthen the status of Jerusalem as its capital.

But as Pope Benedict XVI prepares to visit Christian sites here this week and as the Obama administration promotes a Palestinian state with parts of Jerusalem as its capital, Israeli activity in the area, known as the holy basin — land both inside and just outside the Old City — will be cause for growing concern and friction.

“Everything Israel does now will be highly contentious,” said Robert H. Serry, the United Nations special Middle East coordinator, on a recent tour of East Jerusalem. He warned the Israeli authorities “not to take actions that could pour oil on the fire.”

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, however, that it will push ahead. Interior Minister Eli Yishai said last week of the activity in one core area: “I intend to act on this issue with full strength. This is the land of our sovereignty. Jewish settlement there is our right.”

The parts of the city that are being developed were captured in the 1967 Middle East war, but their annexation by Israel was never recognized abroad.

New York Times, 9/5/09

Double standards on Zimbabwe

There are two factors that explain the high international profile that Zimbabwe's political problem has assumed. The first has to do with the international character of a significant size of the population of Zimbabwe. Most of the people of Zimbabwe who were negatively affected by land seizure are of European descent, and maintain an extensive network of contacts with Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries where it is easy for them to gain political sympathy from the governments of 'kith and kin'.

Another reason for the high international profile accorded to Zimbabwe's politics is the fact that Mugabe reneged on the IMF's economic structural adjustment programme, and started to talk about nationalisation and the land seizure that he presided over from 2000 to 2003. The issue of structural adjustment and land policy are related and are contrary to the dominant neo-liberal thinking.

The campaign against Mugabe, both in terms of economic sanctions and through support to the opposition, that has been orchestrated by the UK and other foreign governments would make leaders in developing countries trip over themselves in morbid fear of what might happen to them should they fail to toe the line of hegemonic power, effectively undermining the very essence of democracy in their own countries.

AllAfrica.com, 8/5/09

US troops will stay in Iraq

The top American general in Iraq said Friday that one-fifth of American combat troops would stay behind in Iraqi cities even after the June 30 deadline that the United States and Iraq had set for the departure.

The estimate by Gen. Ray Odierno, at a Pentagon briefing, was the most specific yet for the extension of American combat operations in Baghdad and Mosul. American combat troops have largely moved out of most other urban areas in Iraq, General Odierno said.

What General Odierno did not say was that the number is sensitive politically in both Washington and Baghdad at a time when President Obama and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq have pledged to reduce American troops in the country but as high-profile suicide attacks have increased. American commanders have already said that those combat troops who remain in the cities will be “remissioned” as trainers and advisers to the Iraqis, although many will still go on combat patrols.

In addition, there are no plans to close the Americans’ Camp Victory base complex, which houses more than 20,000 soldiers, many of them combat troops, even though Camp Victory is only a 15-minute drive from the center of Baghdad and sprawls over both sides of the city’s boundary. Iraqi officials, who are nervous about maintaining security as the Americans depart, have agreed to consider Camp Victory as outside the city.

New York Times, 8/5/09

Disagreement over Kurdish oil exports

The Iraqi Oil Ministry has not granted permission for oil to be exported from fields in the largely autonomous Kurdish region, a ministry official said on Friday, contradicting statements from Kurdish officials.

"So far no deal has been concluded between the two parties," spokesman Asim Jihad told Reuters the same day that the Kurdistan Regional Government said it would begin exporting oil from its Tawke field on June 1 through an Iraq-Turkey pipeline.

Reuters, 8/5/09

Four British soldiers killed in a day

Four British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan in one day, it was revealed yesterday. The toll - the bloodiest since February - brings the number of UK military fatalities there since 2001 to 157.

The soldiers were killed on Thursday in three separate incidents across Helmand Province - in areas supposed to be under control of British forces.

Daily Mirror, 9/5/09

Half a million refugees as Pakistan faces months of fighting

Up to 500,000 terrified residents of Pakistan's Swat valley have fled or else are desperately trying to leave as the military steps up an operation using fighter jets and helicopter gunships to "eliminate" Taliban fighters.

The struggle to drive the Taliban from Swat comes amid intense pressure from the US and deepening anxiety in Pakistan about the spread of the militants to areas no more than 60 miles from Islamabad. The government had initially hoped to bring an end to two years of violence in the former tourist haven by signing a controversial peace deal which saw it agree to the establishment of sharia law in the valley and in neighbouring areas. However,the ceasefire appeared to encourage Taliban militias and their fighters slipped into the adjacent area of Buner.

Yet the operation – which the military says had already killed scores of militants – could yet present Pakistan with one of its greatest humanitarian challenges. In Geneva, Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said there was now a "massive displacement in north-west Pakistan".

What remains unclear is exactly what the military will have to do to clear and secure the Swat valley and how long that might take. While the Taliban may be outnumbered, the offensive is far from one-sided. "They are putting up very stiff resistance, there is no doubt. I don't think this is going to go away very quickly. It will be weeks, if not months," said General Talat Masood, a former military officer turned analyst.

"But it's not just about pushing them back. The military then have to hold the territory and then set in place the administrative structure that will give people confidence to return."

Independent, 9/5/09

Billions of dollars for Afghan war

President Obama’s new Pentagon budget requests more money for Afghanistan than it does for Iraq – the first time this has happened since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The change reflects Mr. Obama’s shifting of US priorities as the administration begins to draw down the 136,000 troops in Iraq while pushing resources toward the complex challenges posed by Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pentagon officials released details of the new $534 billion defense budget for fiscal 2010 Thursday, noting that the additional request for war funding that accompanied it includes $65 billion for Afghanistan and $61 billion for Iraq.

“This request is where you’re going to first see the swing of not only dollars or resources but combat capability from the Iraqi theater into the Afghan theater,” said Vice Adm. Steve Stanley, director for force structure, resources, and assessment on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.

Christian Science Monitor, 7/5/09

Corruption endemic in Iraq

Widespread corruption is at the root of Iraq's persistent, destabilising lack of basic services, Deputy Prime Minister Rafie al-Esawi said on Thursday. "The biggest challenge is not just the budget, which we were obliged to cut because of the drop in oil income, so that's beyond our control, but also corruption," he said.

Many Iraqis speak bitterly of unchecked malfeasance they perceive from the lowest to the highest levels of government. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has vowed to curb corruption, and officials have taken steps to prosecute a small number of lower-ranking officials.

But officials acknowledge the problem has been dire ever since the chaotic early years after the invasion, when billions of dollars in U.S. reconstruction funds went missing and U.S. and Iraqi officials acted with little oversight.

In 2008, only Somalia and Myanmar were seen as more corrupt than Iraq, according to Transparency International.

Reuters, 7/5/09