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News archives for the week ending 26th September 2008

Iraq election law excludes Kirkuk

Britain today welcomed the passage of a much-delayed elections law through Iraq’s Parliament following months of political wrangling. The move paves the way for provincial ballots before the end of January, seen as a key tool to heal sectarian rifts.

But the thorniest element of the legislation – control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk – was taken out, to be resolved at a later date.

The Times, 25/9/08

Guantanamo prosecutor quits over ethical issues

A US military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay has resigned over ethical disputes with his superiors, claiming they suppressed evidence that could help clear a young Afghan detainee of alleged war crimes. The prosecutor, Lieutenant Colonel Darrel Vandeveld, described the disagreements in a statement supporting a defence plea to dismiss the charges against Mohammed Jawad.

"Potentially exculpatory evidence has not been provided," Lieutenant Colonel Vandeveld wrote, citing failure by the "prosecutors and officers of the court". The disclosure triggered new attacks on the integrity of the US military tribunal system, which has faced accusations from other insiders of ethical breaches and political interference.

Mr Jawad, who was captured in Afghanistan when he was 16 or 17, is accused of throwing a grenade that wounded two US soldiers and their interpreter in December 2002. He faces a maximum life sentence at a military trial due to begin in December.

Lieutenant Colonel Vandeveld said prosecutors knew Mr Jawad might have been drugged before the attack and that the Afghan Interior Ministry had revealed two other men had confessed to the crime, according to Michael Berrigan, deputy chief defence counsel in Guantanamo.

The Australian, 26/9/08

Iraq clears way for regional elections

After months of bitter negotiations, Iraq's parliament passed a law on Wednesday clearing the way for provincial elections crucial in helping to heal the country's deep political and religious fissures. The law means that elections will be held in most parts of the country by the end of January.

U.S. officials hope the election, which must be held by Jan. 31 according to the new legislation, will give greater representation to minority Sunni Arabs. Many Sunnis and some Shiites boycotted the last provincial election, in January 2005, enabling Shiite religious parties and the Kurds to win a disproportionate share of the seats.

ew York Times, 24/9/08

US Congress passes $612 billion war budget

Bowing to President Bush's demands, the House passed a mammoth package for the Pentagon on Wednesday that contains a pay raise for troops and billions of dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The measure would permit $612.5 billion in spending for national defense programs in 2009, including $68.6 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also includes a 3.9 percent pay increase for military personnel, half a percentage point more than Bush requested.

The $612 billion military authorization bill would also fully fund the request for a radar site in the Czech Republic, opening the door for the next U.S. administration to begin building a European missile defense system. That project has been a serious source of tension in the deteriorating relationship between the United States and Russia. Moscow opposes the deployment of U.S. military assets so close to its borders.

Associated Press, 25/9/08

Pakistan's ambassador blames US incursions for Islamabad bombing

Pakistan's ambassador to the UK, Wajid Shamsul Hassan, has blamed recent US raids inside Pakistani territory for Saturday's hotel blast in Islamabad. He said 60 people in the hotel had died because US raids in Pakistan, which were aimed at eliminating suspected terrorists, had instead killed innocent civilians.

He argued that the Bush administration's decision to allow cross-border incursions from Afghanistan into Pakistan had been counterproductive because they were not killing high-value targets, but instead were killing civilians.

He also said that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari should plead with President George Bush to change the policy of attacking Pakistani territory with drones.

BigNewsNetwork, 24/9/08

US cannot send additional troops to Afghanistan until spring

The United States will not have enough forces available to meet a request for more troops from NATO's top commander in Afghanistan until next spring at the earliest, the U.S. defense chief said on Tuesday.

"Without changing deployment patterns, without changing length of tours, we do not have the forces to send three additional brigade combat teams to Afghanistan at this point," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Washington Post, 23/9/08

Shell's Iraq contract the 'spoils of war'...

Shell has become the first western oil company to win significant access to the energy sector in Iraq since the 1970s, in a $4bn move which could bring liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Britain.

LNG would be shipped to markets in the Mediterranean and further west, possibly Britain, according to well placed sources. Shell will not put a value on the deal but industry experts believe it could be worth $4bn in the short term at least.

The first big contract signed by a western oil company since the invasion of Iraq was condemned by Platform, a British-based organisation which monitors oil companies and Iraq in particular.

"The big issue here is that the whole thing has been done in secret. We are not being told what the terms of the deal are - such as are there extension rights [for Shell to gain Iraqi reserves] and why has there been no competitive bidding process," said Greg Muttitt of Platform.

"What has definitely happened here is that a country under occupation has introduced an oil policy that is favourable to western oil companies. The [US] state department has already admitted that it has advisers working on oil policy and there is a likelihood they may have drafted the Shell contract."

His views were reinforced by Issam al-Chalabi, Iraq's oil minister between 1987 and 1990, who questioned the lack of competitive tendering for the gas gathering contract and claimed it had gone to Shell as the spoils of war.

Guardian, 23/9/08

...as unmanned weapons manufacturers prepare for new markets...

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) spending on unmanned systems has spiked considerably since the onset of the Global War on Terror. Spending on procurement and research and development has steadily increased, resulting in the deployment of thousands of unmanned ground, aerial and maritime vehicles in both Iraq and Afghanistan. However, as the level of violence in the Middle East declines, and the DoD prepares for a new administration, the unmanned systems industry will have to be prepare for potential changes in strategy.

"The U.S. unmanned systems market has witnessed staggering growth over the last five years, driven by the high levels of violence in Iraq," states Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Lindsay Voss. "In coming years, this dynamic market will undergo diverse technological changes and cater to an expanding customer base. As new opportunities for vertical market penetration emerge, unmanned systems are expected to see continued market growth despite a potential slowdown in DoD spending."

MarketWatch, 23/9/08

...and Perini wins new Itaq contracts

Civil and commercial construction contractor Perini Corp. has won more work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers valued at about $170 million to build bomb-resistant roofing and buildings in Iraqi war zones.

Perini has received three new task orders valued at $98.6 million to design and build double-roof systems to protect buildings from mortars and rockets at military bases. Earlier this year, it won nearly $43 million for similar projects, including one at a dining facility being built in the Baghdad area.

Perini has worked with engineering and design researchers to develop blast-resistant structures to cover facilities in high-risk areas. Shares rose 41 cents to $27.36 in trading immediately after the opening bell.

Forbes.com, 23/9/08

First visit in six years for Afghan detainees

Five detainees in an American military prison in Afghanistan met with their families Tuesday in the first face-to-face visits allowed since the U.S. set up the detention center six years ago, officials said.

U.S. military spokesman Capt. Scott Miller said the U.S. will now allow routine family visits at least once a week and possibly more frequently. However it was not clear whether the U.S. has agreed to allow all of the some 600 prisoners in Bagram family visits and whether they will permit more than five visits a week.

The five families met for an hour with the prisoners inside the heavily fortified Bagram Air Base, some 30 miles north of Kabul, said the International Committee for the Red Cross, which helped broker the agreement with the U.S. to allow the visits.

The decision followed years of discussions between American officers and the Red Cross, which says face-to-face visits between prisoners and relatives are a guaranteed right under international humanitarian law.

"We understand the positive impact these types of programs can have on the mission here in Afghanistan, particularly in terms of detainee behavior," said Brig. Gen. James McConville, a senior U.S. military official at Bagram.

Associated Press, 23/9/08

Shell opens Baghdad office

Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world’s biggest oil companies, completed a multibillion-dollar natural gas deal with the Iraqi government on Monday and said it had established an office in Baghdad — the first foreign petroleum giant to do so since Iraq nationalized its oil industry more than three decades ago.

The company described its decision to open an office here as a milestone that partly reflected the vast improvement in Iraq’s stability compared with conditions during the worst years of the war. But in a sobering reminder of the underlying dangers of doing business here, the company would not disclose the location of its office, and the senior Shell official who announced the gas deal was accompanied by a phalanx of armed guards.

“We are ready to establish a presence,” the official, Linda Cook, executive director of the company’s gas and power unit, said during a news conference in Baghdad’s heavily guarded Green Zone.

New York Times, 22/9/08

US military prepares for 'perpetual warfare'

The US military sees the next 30 to 40 years as involving a state of continuous war against ideologically-motivated terrorists and competing with Russia and China for natural resources and markets.

Under the auspices of the US department of defence and department of the army, the US military have just published a document entitled 2008 Army Modernization Strategy which makes for interesting reading against the current backdrop of deteriorating international fiscal, environmental, energy resource and security crises.

Against this backdrop, the 90 page document sets out the future of international conflict for the next 30 to 40 years - as the US military sees it - and outlines the manner in which the military will sustain its current operations and prepare and "transform" itself for future "persistent" warfare.

The document reveals a number of profoundly significant - and worrying - strategic positions that have been adopted as official doctrine by the US military. In its preamble, it predicts a post cold war future of "perpetual warfare".

Irish Times, 22/9/08

British involvement in Iraq reaches 'turning point'...

British Defense Secretary Des Brown said on Monday that British involvement in Iraq has reached a turning point.

"British troops have made a substantial contribution to the fact that next year there can be a fundamental change of mission in Iraq," he said at the five-day on-going Labor Party Conference.

The Iraqi armed forces supported by British and U.S. forces have taken on and defeated the militia in Basra, bringing about a transformation in the quality of life for ordinary Iraqis, he said without mentioning the fact that tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis have lost their lives in the course of allied invasion since 2003.

China View, 22/9/08

...while Afghanistan is a 'long uphill task'

British soldiers in Afghanistan face a "long uphill task" and progress in the country could take years to achieve, Defence Secretary Des Browne has warned.

Mr Browne said the military was making a "positive difference" in the country despite facing a "difficult and dangerous" task. The nation owed service personnel "a debt we can never fully repay", Mr Browne said, while praising Gordon Brown's leadership in implementing support for armed forces members and their families.

Associated Press, 22/9/08

Pakistan fires on US helicopters

Pakistani troops fired on two U.S. helicopters that intruded into Pakistani airspace on Sunday night, forcing them to turn back to Afghanistan, a senior Pakistani security official said on Monday.

It was the second such incident in a week, and reflects frayed relations with the United States over Pakistan's failure to act more forcibly against Islamist fighters in the tribal lands bordering Afghanistan. The number of missile attacks by U.S. drone aircraft in the remote tribal areas has multiplied in recent weeks.

Reuters, 22/9/08

India builds military power

India, which gave the world the idea of Gandhian nonviolence, has long derided the force-projecting ways of the great powers. It focused its own military on self-defense against two neighbors, Pakistan and China.

But in recent years, while world attention has focused on China’s military, India has begun to refashion itself as an armed power with global reach: a power willing and able to dispatch troops thousands of miles from the subcontinent to protect its oil shipments and trade routes, to defend its large expatriate population in the Middle East and to shoulder international peacekeeping duties.

India is buying armaments that major powers like the United States use to operate far from home: aircraft carriers, giant C-130J transport planes and airborne refueling tankers. Meanwhile, India has helped to build a small air base in Tajikistan that it will share with its host country. It is modern India’s first military outpost on foreign soil.

India also appears to be positioning itself as a caretaker and patroller of the Indian Ocean region, which stretches from Africa’s coast to Australia’s and from the subcontinent southward to Antarctica.

“Ten years from now, India could be a real provider of security to all the ocean islands in the Indian Ocean,” said Ashley J. Tellis, an Indian-born scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington who has also been an adviser to the Bush administration. “It could become a provider of security in the Persian Gulf in collaboration with the U.S. I would think of the same being true with the Central Asian states.”

New York Times, 21/9/08

Pakistan will step up pressure on militants

Pakistan continued Sunday to reel from the deadly truck bomb blast at the Marriott Hotel here on Saturday, as the government described the bombing as an attack on democracy.

The bombing, the most brazen yet apparently in a campaign by militants to destabilize Pakistan, came at a critical moment for the new president, Asif Ali Zardari. While he has pledged to continue fighting militants — now thriving in the tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan — it was unclear whether he would face political resistance making it more difficult to keep that promise.

There has always been a strong feeling in Pakistani society that using force against militants would cause them to retaliate against civilians. Although there has been no claim of responsibility for the hotel bombing, some Pakistanis say they believe it was in retribution for the military’s current campaign in Bajaur, in the tribal areas.

Mr. Zardari also faces pressure to avoid doing the bidding of the Bush administration, because Pakistanis are largely opposed to American policies in the region. That sentiment grew after reports that American Special Operations forces had entered Pakistan early this month.

Current and former officials in the Bush administration, who have expressed concern in the past that Pakistan was not doing enough to fight the militants, said on Sunday that they were confident that Mr. Zardari’s government would continue or even increase its counterterrorism campaign, despite the threat of more attacks against civilian targets like the Marriott Hotel.

New York Times, 21/9/08

'Oil war' intensifies in Nigeria

Militants in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria said Saturday that they had hit another oil pipeline, continuing a streak of attacks that have badly damaged the country’s largest oil producer, Royal Dutch Shell.

Violence has escalated in the Niger Delta in recent weeks as armed groups claiming to seek greater autonomy and wealth for the impoverished region have carried out an escalating series of attacks on oil installations and military facilities.

A group calling itself the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The group’s spokesman, who goes by the nom de guerre Jomo Gbomo, has sent e-mail messages to reporters in recent days vowing that his group will carry out an “oil war.”

The group says it will fan out and attack oil installations of other companies in neighboring states and “will continue to nibble every day at the oil infrastructure in Nigeria until the oil exports reach zero.”

Nigeria is Africa’s top petroleum producer, but the attacks have stopped about 150,000 barrels per day of production and have reduced Nigeria’s overall output to less than two million barrels per day. Nigeria is the world’s eighth-largest exporter of oil and the fourth-largest supplier to the United States.

The Niger Delta, a labyrinth of rivers and creeks on the southern coast, is the poorest region of Nigeria despite earning billions of dollars in oil revenue every year.

New York Times, 21/9/08

Pakistan warns US on border raids

President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday said Pakistan would not tolerate violation of its sovereignty by any power in the name of fighting terror, sending a clear signal to the US against launching cross-border raids on its tribal belt from Afghanistan.

In his maiden address to Parliament, he said: "We will not tolerate the violation of our sovereignty and territorial integrity by any power in the name of combating terrorism." Zardari's remarks were applauded by lawmakers and even Opposition PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, who was present in the National Assembly.

Pakistan is in the midst of a raging row with America over cross-border strikes by US-led coalition forces from Afghanistan targeting militant hideouts in its tribal region.

Sify News, India, 20/9/08

Civilian deaths raise US immunity concerns

U.S. forces acknowledged killing three women during a raid on a house of suspected insurgents Friday, but Iraqis said eight people had died, all members of a family with no ties to the violence in their country.

The incident is likely to heighten Iraqi demands that U.S. forces be subject to Iraqi prosecution for alleged crimes or mistakes that harm civilians. The demand has emerged as the key issue blocking agreement on a plan that would govern activities of American forces in Iraq after Dec. 31.

In his hardest-hitting comments yet on the so-called status of forces agreement, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said late Wednesday that the United States could be forced to operate illegally in Iraq if an agreement was not reached. He described the immunity issue as a major sticking point.

Under Iraq's proposal, all military missions would require the approval of both Iraq and the United States, and if U.S. forces committed "an obvious crime" on a mission, they could be subject to Iraq's justice system.

The United States wants its soldiers to be immune from Iraqi prosecution.

Los Angeles Times, 20/9/08