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News archives for the week ending 19th June 2009

US and Pakistan 'not on the same page'

Pakistan's offensive against Taliban militants has won praise from Washington but may bring little benefit to US forces in neighboring Afghanistan, experts and US officials say.

Having pressed Pakistan to take on Islamist militants on its soil, Washington has hailed Islamabad for its anti-Taliban military campaign launched in April. But Islamabad has not targeted Washington's main enemies -- Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders on the Pakistani border -- and instead has directed its assault on Pakistani Taliban, officials and analysts say.

"It appears as though Pakistan still has the same policy as before and continues to differentiate between the 'good Taliban,' being the ones who attack US and NATO forces, ... and the 'bad Taliban,' like Baitullah Meshud, being the ones who attack the Pakistani government," said Malou Innocent of the CATO Institute.

The problem is that "at a strategic level Pakistan and the US are not on the same page," Innocent said. "Until US lawmakers recognize that, we are going to be in Afghanistan in perpetuity."

AFP, 18/6/09

'Please, hands off Iran! No "democracy project," no sanction, no threat'

We need to have a careful and accurate summation of what has happened so far. On 12 June upward of 80% of eligible voters, about 40 out of 46 million, have voted. This has been the most magnificent manifestation of the political maturity of Iran as a nation and their collective democratic will.

This nation does not need, nor has it ever needed, either a medieval concoction called the Vali Faqih in Qom or Tehran to patronize it or else a Neocon chicanery called "Iran Democracy Project" in Hoover Institution in California to promote it.

This nation, as always, can take care of itself. It needs nothing but the active solidarity of ordinary people around the globe to be a witness to their struggles and demand from their media an accurate and comprehensive representation of their movement.

So please, hands off Iran! No "democracy project," no sanction, no threat, no military attack, no regime change.

Payvand Iran News, 16/6/09

Blair knew of illegal policy to condone torture

Tony Blair was aware of the existence of a secret interrogation policy which effectively led to British citizens, and others, being tortured during counter-terrorism investigations, the Guardian can reveal.

The policy, devised in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, offered guidance to MI5 and MI6 officers questioning detainees in Afghanistan whom they knew were being mistreated by the US military.

British intelligence officers were given written instructions that they could not "be seen to condone" torture and that they must not "engage in any activity yourself that involves inhumane or degrading treatment of prisoners".

But they were also told they were not under any obligation to intervene to prevent detainees from being mistreated. "Given that they are not within our custody or control, the law does not require you to intervene to prevent this," the policy said./p>

The policy almost certainly breaches international human rights law, according to Philippe Sands QC, one of the world's leading experts in the field, because it takes no account of Britain's obligations to avoid complicity in torture under the UN convention against torture.

Guardian, 18/6/09

BRIC creates bloc to challenge US domination

With public hugs and backslaps among its leaders, a new political bloc was formed yesterday to challenge the global dominance of the United States.

The first summit of heads of state of the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — ended with a declaration calling for a “multipolar world order”, diplomatic code for a rejection of America’s position as the sole global superpower.

President Medvedev of Russia went further in a statement with his fellow leaders after the summit, saying that the BRIC countries wanted to “create the conditions for a fairer world order”.

The Times, 17/6/09

Pakistani president meets NATO and EU...

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is meeting Nato and European Union leaders in Brussels for talks on boosting security co-operation and trade links.

Speaking after a meeting at Nato's headquarters, President Zardari said: "Defeat is not an option for us."

The worsening security situation in Pakistan has made it a key foreign policy priority for Nato and the EU. The talks come as Pakistan says it is about to launch a major assault against the Taliban along the Afghan border.

On Tuesday, a US Senate committee voted in favour of trebling non-military aid to Pakistan to $7.5bn over five years.

BBC News, 17/6/09

...as foreign investment in Pakistan drops 47%

Net foreign investment in Pakistan fell 47.5 percent to $2.22 billion in the first 11 months of the 2008/09 fiscal year compared with $4.23 billion in the same period last year, the central bank said on Wednesday.

Rated deep in junk bond territory, Pakistan was saved from a balance of payments crisis and default by a $7.6 billion emergency loan package from the International Monetary Fund last November.

Reuters, 17/6/09

US agrees $106 billion war bill

War-funding legislation survived a fierce partisan battle in the House on Tuesday, a major step in providing commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan the money they would need for military operations in the coming months.

The $106 billion measure, in addition to about $80 billion for military operations, provides for an array of other spending priorities, including $7.7 billion to respond to the flu pandemic and more than $10 billion in development and security aid for Pakistan and Iraq as well as countries such as Mexico and the nation of Georgia.

Washington Post, 17/6/09

Asian giants join Iraq oil grab

The scramble for Iraq's oil wealth is set to intensify after fresh agreements to develop three new exploration blocks in the country's Kurdish north. The decision from the Kurdistan Regional Government, which governs the semi-autonomous region, to allocate the concessions comes amid mounting international interest in the oil-rich province.

Shares in Addax Petroleum, a London-listed oil explorer with operations in the region, surged 10 per cent yesterday amid speculation about a possible £4.8billion takeover by Sinopec, of China, and the Korean National Oil Company.

The Times, 16/6/09

Brown announces secret inquiry into Iraq war

Gordon Brown ran into fresh trouble today as he announced that the long-awaited Iraq war inquiry would be held in secret.

Opposition parties and campaigners reacted angrily as he said that the inquiry, to be headed by the former mandarin Sir John Chilcot, would be along the lines of the Franks inquiry into the Falklands, which was held in private, and would not report until after the general election.

The inquiry will cover the period from July 2001 to July 2009. It will begin work next month and take at least a year, Mr Brown said. Its aim will be to identify "lessons learned" and not to "apportion blame".

The Times, 15/6/09

Truth is first casualty in Afghanistan

Thirteen British soldiers died last month in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Their deaths were reported, for the most part, in small paragraphs on the inside pages of newspapers. Why? Because journalists find it almost impossible to reach and report from the frontline of the conflict. When the Royal Marines launched a fierce hand-to-hand battle last Christmas in the muddy poppy fields of central Helmand, four soldiers died - but the only news that escaped was a press release from the Ministry of Defence.

Despite the risk of being blacklisted and refused access to report from the frontline, journalists are speaking out about what they say is the government's attempt to control the news. It is "lamentable", says one Fleet Street foreign editor; the Times correspondent Anthony Loyd describes it as "outrageous"; Christina Lamb of the Sunday Times calls it "indefensible"; it is "redolent of Comical Ali", says the Sun's defence editor, Tom Newton Dunn.

Almost all journalists travelling with British forces are ordered to email their copy to the military's press officers in Helmand before publication. Many fear that negative coverage could mean trips back to the frontline are cancelled or delayed.

"They manipulate the parcelling-out of embeds to suit their own ends," says the Telegraph's defence correspondent, Thomas Harding. "They use it as a form of punishment to journalists who are off-message or critical of strategy or tactics."

Guardian, 15/6/09

Iraq oil executives rebel over tenders

The head of the unit that produces most of Iraq's crude said Sunday he opposed Baghdad's plan to auction off oil field service contracts, joining an apparently broad revolt against the country's first major foreign oil deals in 30 years.

South Oil Co. Director General Fayad al-Nema said the service contracts were "detrimental to the Iraqi economy" and asked Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani to cancel the first tender results, which are due to be announced June 29-30.

"We in the South Oil Company, all of its leadership, reject the first bidding round (for oil service contracts) because it is against the interests of Iraq's oil industry," Nema told Reuters from Egypt, where he was traveling.

"The service contracts will put the Iraqi economy in chains and shackle its independence for the next 20 years. They squander Iraq's revenues," Nema said.

Another senior South Oil Co executive, Chief Engineer Mahmoud Abbas, told Reuters that he was collecting signatures from other engineers opposed to the tenders. He said more than 100 had already signed the protest and it would be sent to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in a week.

Reuters, 14/6/09

Arms manufacturers look to world market

Foreign governments looking to kick the tires of fighter jets and cargo planes at this week's air show in Paris will likely hear a clear message from U.S. defense contractors: We need your business now more than ever.

With the United States looking to cut defense costs and rethinking the way it fights wars, many defense companies are looking for international buyers to take the big, pricey weapons that the Pentagon no longer wants or needs fewer of.

New markets have emerged. Iraq wants to buy Lockheed fighter jets, Boeing helicopters and Abrams tanks made by General Dynamics Corp. to rebuild its military. The nation was the second largest potential buyer of U.S. military equipment last year, behind Israel, according to a March report by the Arms Control Association, a Washington think tank.

The Pentagon notified Congress it planned to sell $74.5 billion worth of U.S. military equipment to 25 countries in 2008, nearly double its proposed arms sales from 2007. Iraq accounted for $18.7 billion of that total.

Affordability remains an issue, especially for European buyers saddled with struggling economies. But defense analysts said European nations that need to upgrade their aging equipment and those like India that are building their militaries will provide ample markets for U.S. defense companies.

"Weapons could be the single biggest U.S. export item over the next 10 years," said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute.

Associated Press, 13/6/09

al-Qaida moving to Yemen and Somalia

American officials say they are seeing the first evidence that dozens of fighters with al-Qaida, and a small handful of the terrorist group's leaders, are moving to Somalia and Yemen from their principal haven in Pakistan's tribal areas.

In communications that are being watched carefully at the Pentagon, the White House and the CIA, the terrorist groups in all three locations are now communicating more frequently, and apparently trying to coordinate their actions, the officials said.

Leon Panetta, the CIA director, said in remarks Thursday that as al-Qaida came under increasing pressure in Pakistan, the United States must prevent the terrorist group from creating a new sanctuary in Yemen or Somalia.

The steady trickle of fighters from Pakistan could worsen the chaos in Somalia, where an Islamist group, the Shabab, has attracted hundreds of foreign jihadists in its quest to topple the weak moderate government in Mogadishu. It could also swell the ranks of a growing menace in Yemen, where militants control large areas of the country.

New York Times, 11/6/09

NATO sends more troops to Afghanistan

NATO ministers meeting in the Belgian capital have thrown their weight behind a U.S. plan to reorganize the military command in Afghanistan, to better handle an influx of new troops.

Over the past year, NATO has nearly doubled its force in Afghanistan to about 60,000 troops. That force will increase still more during the coming months as some 21,000 more American soldiers arrive. NATO officials also said the alliance will send up to 10,000 extra troops for security during the presidential elections in Afghanistan on August 20.

Voice of America, 12/6/09

Sunni leader assassinated in Baghdad

The head of the Iraqi parliament's largest Sunni Arab bloc was gunned down Friday by a teenager after delivering a weekly prayer sermon. The killing raised fears that the coming months would see a sharp rise in assassinations and other violence, as most American forces depart Iraqi cities and campaigning intensifies with national elections scheduled for January.

The teenager opened fire on Harith Obeidi, who led the Iraqi Accordance Front bloc in parliament, at the Shawaf mosque compound in west Baghdad's Yarmouk neighborhood.

Lawmakers spoke of Obeidi's death as a bleak omen for Iraq's political arena with elections approaching. "We know that no decent politician is immune from being targeted in Iraq. We are not surprised that this would happen. Obeidi is not the first nor he will be the last," said Omar Abdul Sattar Karbouly, a member of his bloc. "It is astonishing that this happens in a very well-protected area like Yarmouk."

Los Angeles Times, 13/6/09