These are the archives for the week ending 17th February 2006
Propaganda war on Iran
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked Congress yesterday to provide $75 million in emergency funding to step up pressure on the Iranian government, including expanding radio and television broadcasts into Iran and promoting internal opposition to the rule of religious leaders. The request would substantially boost the money devoted to confronting Iran -- only $10 million is budgeted to support dissidents in 2006.
But Martin S. Indyk, a Clinton administration official who now heads the Saban Center on Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, said the democratic forces the administration wants to support have failed in the past to take on the clerics and have little basis of support -- and would be tainted by U.S. aid.
Washington Post, 16/2/06
Police death squad
Iraq's Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into claims a police death squad has been operating in Iraq, a top official said Thursday. The probe was launched as police found the bodies of 10 more men who had been shot dead execution-style and dumped in three different areas of Baghdad's predominantly Shiite suburb of Shula.
Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, Iraq's deputy interior minister in charge of domestic intelligence, said the probe was launched following U.S. military claims that soldiers had detained 22 men wearing police uniforms who were about to kill a Sunni Arab man. A U.S. general said American forces had found evidence of a death squad operating in Iraq's Interior Ministry.
Miami Herald, 16/2/06
UK-base workers kidnapped
An investigation has been launched after three Iraqis working for UK forces in Basra were kidnapped. The men, who were working for forces at the Shaiba base, were released the same day, a British military spokesman said. It is believed to be the first incident in which people working for coalition forces in the area have been targeted.
It comes at a time of rising hostility towards UK forces following the release of a video appearing to show UK troops beating Iraqi civilians.
BBC, 15/2/06
Shooting the messenger
The US has said images broadcast on Australian TV showing the apparent abuse of Iraqi detainees by US soldiers should not have been released. The new images show "homicide, torture and sexual humiliation", SBS TV said.
A US defence department official said the images could "further inflame and cause unnecessary violence".
BBC, 16/2/06
The long war
Looking beyond the Iraq and Afghan battlefields, US commanders envisage a war unlimited in time and space against global Islamist extremism. "The struggle ... may well be fought in dozens of other countries simultaneously and for many years to come," according to the Pentagon's four-yearly strategy review, presented to Congress last week.
Among specific measures proposed are: an increase in special operations forces by 15%; an extra 3,700 personnel in psychological operations and civil affairs units - an increase of 33%; nearly double the number of unmanned aerial drones; the conversion of submarine-launched Trident nuclear missiles for use in conventional strikes; new close-to-shore, high-speed naval capabilities; special teams trained to detect and render safe nuclear weapons quickly anywhere in the world; and a new long-range bomber force.
"Long duration, complex operations involving the US military, other government agencies and international partners will be waged simultaneously in multiple countries round the world, relying on a combination of direct (visible) and indirect (clandestine) approaches," the report says.
"Above all they will require persistent surveillance and vastly better intelligence to locate enemy capabilities and personnel. They will also require global mobility, rapid strike, sustained unconventional warfare, foreign internal defence, counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency capabilities. Maintaining a long-term, low-visibility presence in many areas of the world where US forces do not traditionally operate will be required."
Guardian, 15/2/06
A close ally, but no influence
The Pentagon review has significant political, military, financial and even legal implications for Britain, analysts have told the Guardian. It assumes Britain will be closely tied to the US without any influence on its military strategy, they say, while the UK and its European allies are left with the burden of peacekeeping.
Guardian, 15/2/06
American global influence
The US has military personnel based in 130 different countries.
Iraq has 121,600; South Korea 74,400; Germany 69,800; Japan 68,300: Kuwait 25,300 Afghanistan 18,000, and the UK 14,300.
Guardian 15/2/06
Baghdad residents form own security groups
In response to increasing cases of kidnapping, robbery and theft in the capital, Baghdad, residents are joining forces to protect themselves and their families by taking security matters into their own hands. In recent weeks, groups of men from seven districts of the capital have formed informal security committees, organising eight-hour shifts and erecting roadblocks in central areas of the capital.
The move comes after a series of meetings between both Sunni and Shi'ite religous leaders, as well as representatives of the capital's Christian community. "When you're protecting your loved ones, there are no religious differences," said Hassan Baduk, a committee leader in the Hay Jamia'a district of the capital.
The Iraqi police forces, meanwhile, say they are too few in number to provide adequate total security. Increasing numbers of insurgent attacks have resulted in the resignation of hundreds of police officers over the last year, compounding the problem further.
Reuters, 14/2/06
Basra government breaks links with British
Anger over the alleged abuse of Iraqis by British forces prompted the Basra regional government to sever all ties -- including security -- with British authorities. Provincial authorities in the main southern city of Basra, where most of Britain's more than 8,000 troops in Iraq are based, suspended relations with the British on Monday, the military said.
Several Iraqis claimed Tuesday they were among scores of people protesting the lack of jobs in Amarah in January 2004, when a group of British soldiers fired rubber bullets at them and detained several before beating them at their nearby base. Two alleged victims of the abuse surfaced and threatened to sue.
New York Times, 14/2/06
CIA chief sacked for opposing torture
The CIA's top counter-terrorism official was fired last week because he opposed detaining Al-Qaeda suspects in secret prisons abroad, sending them to other countries for interrogation and using forms of torture such as "water boarding", intelligence sources have claimed. Robert Grenier, head of the CIA counter-terrorism centre, was relieved of his post after a year in the job.
One intelligence official said he was "not quite as aggressive as he might have been" in pursuing Al-Qaeda leaders and networks. Vincent Cannistraro, a former head of counter-terrorism at the agency, said: "It is not that Grenier wasn't aggressive enough, it is that he wasn't 'with the programme'. He expressed misgivings about the secret prisons in Europe and the rendition of terrorists." Grenier also opposed "excessive" interrogation, such as strapping suspects to boards and dunking them in water, according to Cannistraro.
Sunday Times, 12/2/06
UN reports torture at Guantanamo
A draft UN report on the detainees at Guantanamo Bay concludes that the US treatment of them violates their right to physical and mental health, and, in some cases, constitutes torture.
It also urges the United States to close the military prison in Cuba and bring the captives to trial on US territory, charging that Washington's justification for the continued detention is a distortion of international law.
Los Angeles Times, 13/2/06
Shiites select divisive Prime Minister
After weeks of dispute within the bloc of Shiite Islamist politicians over who would lead Iraq's next government, Sunday they decided that Ibrahim al-Jaafari should keep his job as the country's prime minister.
But during his year in power, Jaafari, leader of the Dawa (or Islamic Call) party, has become one of the country's most polarizing and divisive politicians. Analysts say Jaafari's nomination makes it much less likely that a "national unity" government - something touted by US officials here as a solution to the country's insurgency - will be formed.
Many Sunni Arabs blame him for the murder and torture of alleged insurgents by the country's Shiite-led security services; Kurds dislike him for a war of words between him and Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani last year; secular Iraqis and the US have been opposed to his advocacy for strengthened Islamic law here; and many average Iraqis are frustrated that the public face of ongoing economic and security failures will keep his job.
Jaafari, a physician, spent years in exile in Iran and Britain before returning to his homeland after the 2003 US-led invasion.
Christian Science Monitor, 13/2/06
US pushing Allawi for top post
Secular and tough-minded, Ayad Allawi seems the perfect U.S. choice to run Iraq's security forces. But many fellow Shiites have never forgiven Allawi for decisions taken when he was prime minister and seem ready to fight to keep him on the political sidelines. U.S. officials would clearly like to see Allawi, a former physician with longtime ties to the CIA, play a major role in the new government. Two Shiite officials, who attended a recent meeting between top Shiite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, said the Americans have repeatedly asked the Shiite leadership about plans for Allawi.
Allawi was chosen by the Americans to head the interim government which ran the country from June 2004 and until last April. After the January 2005 elections, Allawi said he would accept nothing but a top Cabinet post. He did not get one and did not serve in the outgoing Cabinet. This time, he is clearly angling for another top job.
"All parties, inside and outside Iraq, are demanding that I take part in the government," he said in an interview aired Feb. 7 by Iraqi state television. Shiite politicians point to Allawi's modest showing in the last election, saying he cannot justify a top post.
"Only Allawi's 25 seats will decide what job he gets," said one Shiite official, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to influence coalition talks. "After the January 2005 election, he wanted a top job or nothing. He ended up with nothing. It may just happen again."
Los Angeles Times, 11/2/06
British brutality caught on film
An amateur video that appears to show British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners is being investigated by military police this weekend. Video footage of soldiers apparently head-butting, punching and kicking prisoners in the genitals while held in a secure military compound is being studied by the Royal Military Police. The film is understood to have been taken in early 2004, as the situation around the southern town of Basra began to deteriorate.
Independent, 12/2/06
Iran to start trading in euros
Next month, Iran is scheduled to shift its petrodollars into a euro-based bourse. The effect on the value of the dollar will be significant, if not, in the long term, disastrous. At present the dollar is, on paper, a worthless currency bearing the burden of a national debt exceeding $8 trillion and a trade deficit of more than $600 billion. The cost of the Iraq adventure alone, according to the Nobel Prizewinning economist Joseph Stiglitz, could be $2 trillion. America's military empire, with its wars and 700-plus bases and limitless intrigues, is funded by creditors in Asia, principally China.
That oil is traded in dollars is critical in maintaining the dollar as the world's reserve currency. What the Bush regime fears is not Iran's nuclear ambitions but the effect of the world's fourth-biggest oil producer and trader breaking the dollar monopoly. Will the world's central banks then begin to shift their reserve holdings and, in effect, dump the dollar? Saddam Hussein was threatening to do the same when he was attacked.
John Pilger, New Statesman, 10/2/06
Call for women's rights to be respected
NGOs are calling for the protection of women during military raids, accusing both the Iraqi army and police of humiliating female suspects and detainees. Since July 2005, the Women's Rights Association (WRA) of Iraq has registered more than 240 cases of women. They say they have have suffered "humiliation" at the hands of the army and police during raids on their homes, according to Mayada Zuhair, a member of the association.
The WRA has also registered nearly 90 reports of mistreatment of former female detainees. WRA spokeswoman Sarah Muthulak noted that most cases involved sexual harassment or violence, including beatings.
Reuters, 8/2/06
US in Iraq long term
All signs point to a major drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq in 2006 - perhaps to fewer than 100,000 by year's end. But it is far from certain when there will be further reductions, or a total pullout, after that. In fact, it now looks as if the United States may have a long-term and substantial military presence in Iraq, military experts say. Generals have been reluctant to set specific public timetables, but Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top U.S. commander, noted this week that insurgencies in the 20th century lasted on average nine years. The Iraq war is coming up on year three.
"I hardly know of any counterinsurgency that lasted less than a decade," said Bruce Hoffman, a counterinsurgency expert with the Rand Corp. "I don't see any sign over the past year that this will end anytime soon. ... I don't see any development that would indicate `light at the end of the tunnel.'" Ahmed S. Hashim, a counterinsurgency expert at the U.S. Naval War College, predicted the U.S. is in for a "protracted stay" in Iraq, guiding the Iraqis in their struggle against the insurgents for years.
American forces remain in Germany, Japan and South Korea more than a half century after the conflicts that put them there.
Yahoo News, 9/2/06
Official figures show resistance is growing
Sweeping statistics on insurgent violence in Iraq that were declassified for a Senate hearing on Wednesday appear to portray a rebellion whose ability to mount attacks has steadily grown in the nearly three years since the invasion. The curve traced out by the figures between June 2003 and December 2005 shows a number of fluctuations, including several large spikes in insurgent activity - one as recently as October of last year. But while American and Iraqi officials have often pointed to the downward edges of those fluctuations as evidence that the steam was going out of the insurgency, the numbers over all seem to tell a different story.
Joseph A. Christoff, director of international affairs and trade at the Government Accountability Office, who compiled the report told the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee "it's not going down. There are peaks and valleys, but if you look at every peak, it's higher than the peak before."
Officials have recently noted that the numbers of attacks in the final two months of last year dropped after an October peak, which occurred around both Ramadan and a referendum on Iraq's constitution. But Mr. Christoff's chart shows that the number of attacks in December, nearly 2,500, was almost 250 percent of the number in March 2004.
New York Times, 9/2/06
Fifty to seventy five US troops die each month
Despite gains against the insurgents in areas such as Mosul and Saleheddin province, U.S. deaths have been running steady for the past two years at about 50 to 75 a month with 500 wounded each month.
Yahoo News, 9/2/06