These are the archives for the week ending 28th April 2006
Japan to pay costs of moving US troops
After weeks of stalled negotiations, Japan has agreed to pay almost 60% of the cost of transferring thousands of US marines from Okinawa to Guam in a move designed to reduce the US's military burden on one of its closest allies.
Under the agreement, which is part of Washington's plans to realign its forces around the world, Japan will pay $6.1bn (£3.4bn) towards the $10bn its expected to cost to move 8,000 marines and their families to Guam, a US territory located roughly midway between Japan and Australia.
Japan had refused US demands to pay 75% of the total. Many Japanese also blame the bases for causing pollution, accidents and crime.
Okinawa comprises a fraction of Japan's total area, but is home to around half of the 50,000 US troops stationed in the country.
Guardian 25/4/06
British paratroops wear US uniforms
British paratroopers secretly operating in support of the SAS in Iraq are using American uniforms, weapons and vehicles as part of their cover. Although John Reid, the Defence Secretary, only announced this week that the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) had become operational, a company of more than 100 paratroopers has been working for six months in Baghdad.
The SFSG was formed mainly because it was found that small groups of highly trained SAS troopers did not have enough firepower to take on large groups of Iraqi and Afghan terrorists. The unit has already seen a substantial amount of action in Baghdad. Whenever the SAS goes on raids to apprehend terrorists in highly dangerous areas of Baghdad, the Paras are used to provide perimeter security.
The troops deployed to Baghdad at the end of last year after undergoing specialist training at the SAS headquarters in Hereford, including the use of American weapons and equipment. "They wear US uniforms so they can blend in in Baghdad where a British paratrooper would stick out and draw unwanted attention," an intelligence source said.
Daily Telegraph, 24/4/06
US foreign policy determined by god
Bush explained, in unusually stark terms, how his belief in God influences his foreign policy. "I base a lot of my foreign policy decisions on some things that I think are true," he said. "One, I believe there's an Almighty. And, secondly, I believe one of the great gifts of the Almighty is the desire in everybody's soul, regardless of what you look like or where you live, to be free. "I believe liberty is universal. I believe people want to be free. And I know that democracies do not war with each other."
Taking questions from members of the Orange County Business Council, Bush said the United States erred in attempting large reconstruction projects soon after the invasion was completed. This "didn't make any sense," he said, because they "became convenient targets for the enemy."
One decision he questions: After the successful invasion, "preparing an Iraqi army for an external threat. Well, it turns out there may have been an external threat but it's nothing compared to the internal threat." He did not explain what external threat the Iraqis were being trained for.
A new CNN poll released today shows Bush with his lowest approval rating in any poll so far, at 32%.
Editor and Publisher, 24/4/06
Thousands of trafficked workers on US bases
The top U.S. commander in Iraq has ordered sweeping changes for privatized military support operations after confirming violations of human-trafficking laws and other abuses by contractors involving possibly thousands of foreign workers on American bases.
Gen. George Casey ordered that contractors be required by May 1 to return passports that have been illegally confiscated from laborers on U.S. bases after determining that such practices violated U.S. laws against trafficking for forced or coerced labor.
Human brokers and subcontractors from South Asia to the Middle East have worked together to import thousands of laborers into Iraq from impoverished countries. The military also confirmed a host of other abuses during an inspection of contracting activities supporting the U.S. military in Iraq. They include deceptive hiring practices; excessive fees charged by overseas job brokers who lure workers into Iraq; substandard living conditions once laborers arrive; violations of Iraqi immigration laws; and a lack of mandatory "awareness training" on U.S. bases concerning human trafficking.
Chicago Tribune, 23/4/06
British troops on trial
A British military court began hearings on Monday in the case of four soldiers accused of manslaughter for forcing an Iraqi prisoner into a canal in Basra where he drowned.
The soldiers are accused of manslaughter in the death of Ahmed Kareem, a youth who was among a group of four Iraqis captured as suspected looters in Basra in May 2003. According to charges against the soldiers, they were on a patrol when they caught the Iraqis and forced them to swim in a canal. Kareem could not swim and drowned.
Reuters, 24/4/06
More abuse in Iraqi prisons
US and Iraqi inspectors have found more cases of physical abuse of prisoners at facilities run by the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry, a Pentagon spokesman said. The US-Iraqi teams have inspected six detention facilities since November when the US military discovered a secret bunker with 173 prisoners, some of them showing signs of torture, at an Interior Ministry compound in Baghdad, said spokesman Bryan Whitman.
The Washington Post, which first reported the abuse, quoted a US and an Iraqi official as saying that abuse of prisoners was found at all the sites visited through February. A US official involved in the inspections described in an e-mail the abuse, mentioning "numerous bruises on the arms, legs and feet," the Post said. "A lot of the Iraqis had separated shoulders and problems with their hands and fingers too," the official is quoted as saying. "You could also see strap marks on some of their backs."
But US troops have not responded by removing all the detainees, as they did in November, the report said. Whitman said the Iraqi Interior Ministry was responsible for any investigations into the abuse. "I think we all need to be reminded: Iraq is a sovereign nation" he said. "They've just appointed a prime minister, okay. The US is there in a supporting, assisting kind of role."
AFP, 24/4/06
US digs in for long stay
The US armed forces are planning to stay in Iraq for at least a decade, a media report claimed on Monday, quoting military strategists. A report in Newsweek said that the 38 square kilometres mini-city and airport Balad was the evidence that American forces were preparing for the long haul. With 27,500 landings and takeoffs a month, Balad is second only to London's Heathrow Airport in traffic worldwide, Brig Gen Frank Gorenc, the base commander, was quoted as saying.
"It's safe to say Balad will be here for a long time," says Gorenc, who, the magazine stressed, felt at home in Iraqi skies, where the Air Force has been having its way since the first Gulf War. "One of the issues of sovereignty for any country is the ability to control their own airspace. We will probably be helping the Iraqis with that problem for a very long time," Gorenc said.
Calling it an image of what America's long-term plans for Iraq looked like, the report said it was one of the four "super bases" where the Pentagon planned to consolidate US forces, taking them gradually from the front lines of the Iraq war. Two other bases were slated for the British and Iraqi military.
Hindustan Times, 24/4/06
Kidnapped girls sold to brothels
No one knows how many young women have been kidnapped and sold since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq, based in Baghdad, estimates from anecdotal evidence that more than 2,000 Iraqi women have gone missing in that period.
The collapse of law and order and the absence of a stable government have allowed criminal gangs, alongside terrorists, to run amuck. Meanwhile, some aid workers say, bureaucrats in the ministries have either paralyzed with red tape or frozen the assets of charities that might have provided refuge for these girls. As a result, sex trafficking has been allowed to fester unchecked.
The U.S. State Department's June 2005 trafficking report says the extent of the problem in Iraq is "difficult to appropriately gauge" but cites an unknown number of Iraqi women and girls being sent to Yemen, Syria, Jordan and Persian Gulf countries for sexual exploitation.
Time Magazine, 23/4/06
Blair spurned 'get out clause'
George Bush yesterday revealed the extent of the political gamble Tony Blair took over Iraq, disclosing that he had spurned the offer of a get-out clause on the war even amid fears that it would cost him his government. In a rare glimpse inside the so-called special relationship, the US President disclosed how he had offered to release his 'close friend' Blair from the military coalition because he feared that domestic opposition to the war would actually bring him down. But the Prime Minister retorted that he would rather lose his government than retreat.
The account is unlikely to please anti-war Labour MPs, or Labour councillors contesting seats where Labour voters are still angry about Iraq, who would prefer the issue not to be discussed. Some were irritated by Jack Straw's hosting of a visit by Condoleezza Rice in the run-up to the local election campaign, highlighting once again the government's closeness to a White House administration many Labour voters dislike.
Observer, 23/4/06
New PM for Iraq
Iraq's President has endorsed a tough-talking Shia as the country's new prime minister, ending months of deadlock since the country's elections at the end of last year. Jawad al-Maliki, 56, a trenchant critic of "criminal" American military action and who opposed the United States-led invasion, was called upon by Jalal Talabani, who was re-elected as the country's president yesterday, to form a government.
His task is complicated by suspicions among Sunni politicians that he is a sectarian, and by grave reservations within the Pentagon over his level of support for US military actions. Last month, Mr Maliki caused consternation by describing American actions, in a raid allegedly on a Shia mosque that left 22 people dead, as part of a "policy of aggression", and demanding "a full investigation of this crime."
Sunday Telegraph, 23/4/06
30,000 Iraqis detained without trial
Some 15,000 detainees are being held in Iraq by government ministries in violation of Iraqi law, and nearly as many are being held by U.S.-led multinational forces, a senior U.N. official said Friday. Only the country's justice ministry is permitted to hold detainees for longer than 72 hours, but Gianni Magazzeni, head of the U.N. Human Rights Office in Baghdad, said most Iraqi-held detainees are under the control of other government officials, naming Iraq's interior and defense ministries in particular.
The United States said in February it was holding nearly 14,390 detainees at four major prisons including Abu Ghraib. The figure did not include people picked up and held at local jails for investigation. Magazzeni said those detainees should be brought before an Iraqi judge and be found guilty or be released if they are innocent, Magazzeni said.
He also said cases of torture and summary execution ``are happening every day.'' He said his office also was receiving reports of an increasing number of attacks by death squads and militias, which have at least the appearance of being police or official units.
Guardian, 21/4/06
Iraqi PM steps down
Iraq faced further political turmoil last night as the Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari crumbled under intense pressure and announced he would step down. The dramatic reversal - Mr al-Jaafari had previously refused to abandon his claim to another term despite Sunni and Kurdish opposition - means Shia MPs can now search for someone else who may be able to lead a national unity government.
Whether the decision will offer anything more than short-term relief from the country's political deadlock remained unclear.
Independent, 21/4/06
It's good for profits
Armor Holdings Inc.said on Thursday first-quarter profit rose 33 percent, helped by strong demand from the Pentagon for protective armor for soldiers and vehicles in Iraq. The Jacksonville, Florida-based company, which makes inserts for armor vests and protective plates for Humvees, reported quarterly profit of $41.4 million compared with $31 million in the year-ago quarter.
Reuters, 19/4/06