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News archives for the week ending 16th October 2009

Britain sends asylum seekers to Iraq

Britain has forcibly sent 39 Iraqi asylum seekers back to Baghdad, a refugee group has said. The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees has raised concern over the welfare of the asylum seekers once they arrive in Iraq, which has seen a continuation of deadly suicide bombings in recent months.

Previously, Iraqi deportees from Britain have been flown into the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, which has not seen the level of violence experienced in other parts of the country.

Richard Whittel, from the Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq, said: "We're used to the macabre immigration policies of the UK government, and indeed other European governments, but this is an especially malicious step sending people to Baghdad."

Hussein, one of the Iraqis said to be facing deportation, told the Ifir he could be killed if he returned to his homeland.

"I'm from Baghdad. I'm a Sunni - I have a big problem with a Shia party. They've used their influence to imprison my brother and they're looking for me. If I'm deported I know 100 per cent I'm going to be killed."

Al Jazeera, 15/10/09

Turkey postpones military exercise with Israel

Turkey’s decision to indefinitely postpone a military exercise apparently due to Israel’s planned involvement is raising concerns that Turkish-Israeli ties have not recovered from the Gaza war last January.

The exercise -- an air force program known as Anatolian Eagle -- had been scheduled for this week and was supposed to include Israel along with the United States, Italy and other NATO countries.

The other participating countries reportedly pulled out of the exercise after learning of Israel’s exclusion.

Jewish Chronicle, 14/10/09

Iraq lowers tax on oil multinationals

Iraq has lured big oil firms into new service contracts on some of its giant oilfields by cutting taxes and sweetening terms to make the deals more profitable, industry sources said on Wednesday.

International oil companies are close to striking deals that would almost triple Iraq's output and catapult it up the table of global producers. The firms walked away from those deals at an auction just over three months ago.

Lower taxes were the main factor that convinced firms they could turn a profit where they previously saw too much risk on punishing terms, executives at international oil firms said.

Reuters, 14/10/09

'We will not risk our lives to vote again'

Angered and disillusioned by Afghanistan's election chaos, many tribal leaders who supported President Hamid Karzai say they would not risk their lives again by taking part in a new vote.

Fraud, the time taken to declare a winner and the government's inability to provide security have demoralised Pashtun tribal leaders in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand who form the backbone of Karzai's support.

Afghans voted nearly two months ago but no result has yet been declared. "If there is a second round we will not participate," Sadruddin Khan, a tribal elder in Kandahar told AFP.

Karzai, who says estimates that 30 percent of votes were fraudulent were "totally fabricated", leads preliminary results with around 55 percent of the vote. He needs 50 percent plus one vote for victory. His main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, has around 28 percent.

Preparations have been made for a run-off between the two, which experts say must be held quickly as winter snows will soon make many regions inaccessible. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) is expected to announce within days whether a run-off is necessary, or if Karzai has won a second, five-year term.

A run-off will be called if Karzai's valid votes fall below 50 percent as a result of the investigations, although questions remain about how effective a new poll would be.

Some elders blamed the international community for not ensuring a clean election, referring to a controversy that has embroiled the United Nations, which supported and bankrolled the poll, and led to the sacking last month of its deputy special representative Peter Galbraith.

AFP, 13/10/09

Iraq rights ministry says 85,000 killed in 2004-08

Iraq's human rights ministry said that at least 85,000 people had been killed by bombs, murders and fighting in 2004-08, in a rare death toll release by an Iraqi government agency.

Mayhem and bitter clashes erupted after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, followed by years of sectarian carnage that has only recently begun to abate.

The number of people killed by U.S. and Iraqi forces or insurgents remains highly contentious. The report - which only represents death certificates issued by the health ministry - also said that 147,195 people had been wounded from 2004 to the end of October 2008.

The data makes no distinction between civilians and others.

A senior rights ministry official said that the report did not include missing persons, estimated at around 10,000 people. The report said some 15,000 unidentified bodies were found in the period. "Thousands of Iraqis killed since 2003 without being identified by their relatives were buried in special cemeteries called unidentified body cemeteries," it said.

The Iraq Body Count - a group run by academics and peace activists - estimated that between 88,000 and 97,000 civilians were killed from 2003 to November 2008.

Reuters, 13/10/09

Bleak U.S. job market boosts military recruitment

Aided by a bleak job market, the U.S. military met all of its recruitment goals in the past year for the first time since it became an all-volunteer force in 1973, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

Military services have been stretched thin by conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, giving added weight to recruitment efforts as President Barack Obama considers sending another 40,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year.

The United States already has 67,000 troops in Afghanistan and about 119,000 in Iraq.

Pentagon officials said recruitment gains were fueled by the deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression and an unemployment rate nearing 10 percent.

Recruitment does not come cheap. On average, the military spends between $9,000 and $10,000 per recruit, a figure that includes the high cost of advertising and of employing thousands of recruiters across the country. The Army spends far more, about $22,000 per recruit.

Reuters, 13/10/09

Japan begins to shake off US influence

Japan's confirmation today that its refuelling ships will be withdrawn from the Indian Ocean in January is the first real sign that the new Tokyo administration is honouring its election pledge to break free from decades of subservience to US foreign policy.

Since 2001 Japanese vessels have provided fuel and water to US and allied warships in support of the war effort. Hatoyama, whose Democratic party of Japan (DPJ) has consistently opposed the mission, will instead attempt to ease US concerns with a raft of humanitarian measures.

Japan has already committed itself to paying the Afghan police force's salaries for six months and is funding several education projects that it hopes will weaken the lure of the Taliban among disaffected Afghan men.

Although the US and Britain have urged Japan to extend its refuelling mission beyond January, Washington has indicated it will accept a withdrawal in return for deeper involvement in Afghanistan's reconstruction.

Among the extra measures being considered by Japan, which has pledged $2bn in aid over the last eight years, is job training for former Taliban fighters.

The issue with the greatest potential to cause discord between Hatoyama and Obama lies much closer to home, on the southern island of Okinawa, where two-thirds of the 50,000 US troops on Japanese soil live.

Under a 2006 agreement designed to reduce the US military footprint on the island, 8,000 marines will be transferred to Guam, a US territory in the Pacific Ocean, by 2014. The marines' base, which covers a quarter of the overcrowded city of Ginowan, will be moved to a new location on Okinawa's west coast.

But the agreement's future was thrown into doubt with the DPJ's landslide election victory in August. Hatoyama took office last month promising to review the deal, with some on the left of his party calling for the base to be moved to the mainland or out of Japan altogether.

Publicly, the US says it is happy to give the Hatoyama government time to "evaluate" its stance. Privately, however, state department officials have indicated to their Japanese counterparts that the base agreement is not up for negotiation.

Guardian, 13/10/09

UN warns of threat to Iraq elections

In a statement issued Sunday in Baghdad, the United Nations mission in Iraq warned that there was a real risk the elections would have to be delayed because of squabbling within Iraq's legislature over what kind of election law to adopt and the composition of the commission that will oversee the poll.

With the scheduled elections just three months away, "there remains no clarity on the election law," the statement said. In order for the poll to be held on time, "preparations will need to be accelerated in a number of areas."

An election delay could in turn delay the withdrawal of U.S. troops, the bulk of which are scheduled to pull out immediately after a new government is seated. U.S. officials have said the elections will have to take place by Jan. 16 if the estimated 80,000 troops, with all their gear, are to leave in time for the August deadline set by President Obama for the withdrawal of all U.S. combat personnel from Iraq.

Los Angeles Times, 12/10/09

US hoards intelligence says Pakistan

Despite growing success targeting militants in Pakistan's northwest, the U.S. is refusing to share intelligence with Pakistan about al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban leaders thought to be hiding in the southwest province of Baluchistan, three senior Pakistani officials say.

The officials, two of whom spoke to The Washington Times on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing a sensitive topic, suggested that some of the blame for the long failure to capture Osama bin Laden, former Afghan leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and other members of what is known as the Quetta shura or council lies with the United States.

The "CIA has not shared any actionable intelligence with the Pakistan government on al Qaeda [in Baluchistan] since 2006 and 2007," a Pakistani defense official said.

Washington Times, 12/10/09

Iraqis demand reconstruction and open elections

Hundreds took to the streets Saturday throughout Iraq to demand open elections and improved public services, revealing a growing discontent among Iraqis that is overshadowing concerns about the ability of Iraqi forces to take over from withdrawing American troops.

Low oil prices have left the Iraqi government struggling to restore infrastructure after years of neglect, corruption and insurgent attacks, as well as to rebuild their security forces before a planned American withdrawal in 2011. About 200 demonstrators took to the streets in central Baghdad, chanting: "No water, no electricity in the country of oil and the two rivers," a reference to Iraq's ancient name.

The lack of clean water and electricity have proven to be a leading issue in January's national elections for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has campaigned on the issue of improved security. In recent days, though, al-Maliki has said rebuilding infrastructure rather than building up Iraqi forces will take priority during the next budget year.

Meanwhile, about 800 people in the southern provinces of Wasit and Basra took to the streets in support of a call by the country's most senior Shiite cleric to hold more open elections. Iraq's parliament has been considering having the Jan. 16 ballots list only the party blocs and not the individual candidates.

Last week, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani threatened to boycott the elections if the voting system includes only the parties and not the names of the candidates. Al-Sistani wants the so-called "open list" system because he believes it will encourage more voter participation.

Associated Press, 10/10/09

Iraq's oil law still stalled

Among the key "benchmarks" for progress in Iraq set by President George W. Bush in January of 2007 was the passage of a new Iraqi oil law. But almost three years on, the controversial legislation setting terms for foreign investment in the country's oil sector, and for distributing its revenues, remains stalled in the legislature. And Iraqi politicians admit it's unlikely to pass before the current parliament is replaced following Iraq's general elections next January.

The stakes are enormous: To rebuild and develop its economy, Iraq desperately needs the tens of billions of dollars in foreign investment its oil sector could attract. But the terms on which oil investment and revenues are managed could determine whether Iraq ultimately remains intact.

Nowhere are the political stakes in oil policy more obvious than in northern Iraq, where the three semi-autonomous Kurdish provinces are at loggerheads with the Oil Ministry in Baghdad over control of investment in and revenues from the oil fields in their territory.

Opposition to Baghdad's draft oil law isn't confined to Kurdistan, however. In southern Iraq, nationalist oil workers' unions have threatened to strike if the law is passed, warning that it would cede control of Iraq's natural wealth to foreign companies. Similar sentiments have been expressed by Iraqi oil-field managers.

Time Magazine, 10/10/09

Pakistan's new zone of militancy

Fears are growing that Pakistan's militant threat may be extending deep into the country, far beyond the Afghan border region. Extremist groups linked to al-Qaeda are believed to be making in-roads in Punjab, Pakistan's most prosperous province.

Internal police documents we have seen paint a picture of a province at risk. One report states that poverty stricken, extremely feudalistic and illiterate south Punjab could possibly provide shelter to Taliban and other jihadi outfits. It has the potential to become a nursery or a major centre for sectarian recruitment. Some experts here argue that it has already reached that point. One describes it as a factory for suicide bombers.

BBC News, 9/10/09

Deadly attack on Pakistan army HQ

Six soldiers and four gunmen have been killed in an attack on Pakistan's army HQ outside the capital Islamabad.

Troops battled the gunmen after they attacked the heavily armed complex in Rawalpindi in army uniforms. Officials said one of the dead soldiers was a brigadier, and that two gunmen remained at large.

The attack comes as the army prepares a major operation against the Taliban. It also follows a series of bombings in north-western Pakistan. On Friday at least 50 died in a blast in Peshawar.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says that in recent days Taliban positions in the tribal areas have been bombed by the air force, amid speculation that the army's offensive there is soon to be intensified.

No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the latest attack, but the Taliban has been threatening to carry out attacks unless operations against the militant group were stopped.

BBC News, 10/10/09

Kabul bomb aimed to influence US Afghan policy

A bomb attack on India's Kabul embassy may have been aimed at limiting India's role in Western efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, at a time when the United States is re-examining strategy in the 8-year-long Afghan war.

Insurgent militants would like to force India to scale down its presence in Afghanistan, where New Delhi is spending $1.2 billion on projects supporting the U.S.-backed government's development drive, important to gaining popular support.

The Taliban have quickly claimed responsibility for Thursday's blast which killed 17 people. But many in India also see the hand of Pakistan, which competes with India for strategic space in Afghanistan and considers it a fall-back position in the event of war with India.

The Indian government has not yet pointed a finger of blame at anyone, while Pakistan has condemned the attack.

Hindu majority India seeks to retain influence in Afghanistan to deter anti-India militant training camps there - which it accuses Pakistan of backing - and to more generally try to counter a militant Islamic surge threatening regional security.

An assault blamed on Islamic militants killed 166 people in Mumbai last November.

Reuters, 10/10/09