These are the archives for the week ending 2nd November 2007
Britain to hand over Basra
Saying that Iraqi forces are now capable of dealing with the violence that persists in the south, Britain's defense secretary said Wednesday that his government intended to hand over security for the area by mid-December.
Defense Secretary Des Browne acknowledged that sectarian power struggles and gangsterism continue in oil-rich Basra province, but said Iraqi forces were best able to address them now.
Los Angeles Times, 1/11/07
Taliban threaten Kandahar
Several hundred Taliban fighters have moved into a strategic area just outside the southern city of Kandahar in recent days and clashed with Afghan and NATO forces, according to Canadian and Afghan officials.
The fighting, which began Tuesday, is the first time large numbers of Taliban have been able to enter the area just north of the city since 2001. Control of the area, known as the Arghandab district, would allow the Taliban to directly threaten Kandahar, southern Afghanistan's largest city.
Whether the Taliban were looking to establish permanent control over the area or were simply carrying out raids was unclear on Tuesday night. But Canadian military officials said Afghan and NATO forces had begun a "large operation" to drive out the Taliban.
New York Times, 30/10/07
Blair turned down chance to avoid war
Tony Blair turned down a last-minute offer from President George Bush for Britain to stay out of the Iraq war because he thought it would look "pathetic", according to a new book on Mr Blair's tenure.
Mr Bush was warned by the US embassy in London before the crucial Commons vote on the war that the Blair government could be brought down. He was so worried that he picked up the telephone and personally offered the then Prime Minister a surprise opt-out.
If it would help, he would let Mr Blair "drop out of the coalition" and the US would find some other way for Britain to participate. Ms Rice described the conversation as "very emotional" for the President. Mr Blair replied: "I said I'm with you. I mean it."
One confidant explained: "Having taken it so far, backing out seemed to him a rather pathetic thing to do."
The book also claims that Colin Powell, who was Secretary of State, plotted with Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, to persuade Mr Blair to restrain President Bush. But the former prime minister did not stand up to him when the crunch came.
Independent, 31/10/07
Iraq reconstruction still stalled
Iraq's electricity output has reached a new high but the country's reconstruction effort lags in most areas including oil production, manufacturing and basic services, a U.S. report said on Tuesday.
Iraq's unemployment was running as high as 40 percent and the government's inability to craft an oil law to distribute wealth from the world's third-largest oil reserves was dampening prospects for economic improvement, it said.
Power production, which surpassed prewar levels by about 500 megawatts, still met only 60 percent of national demand and remained well below a 6,000-megawatt production goal set in 2003 by the former U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority.
The quarterly report, coming more than six weeks after a Bush administration progress report on security and political progress, showed stubborn challenges remaining for Iraq from infrastructure to water, health and basic services.
Reuters, 20/10/07
Upgrading British base for Iran attack
The US is secretly upgrading special stealth bomber hangars on the British island protectorate of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, according to military sources.
The improvement of the B1 Spirit jet infrastructure coincides with an "urgent operational need" request for £44m to fit racks to the long-range aircraft. That would allow them to carry experimental 15-ton Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs designed to smash underground bunkers buried as much as 200ft beneath the surface through reinforced concrete.
Diego Garcia, part of Britain's Indian Ocean Territory, has several current missions. US Air Force bombers and Awacs surveillance planes operate from its 12,000ft runway and the USAF Space Command has built a satellite tracking station and communications facility.
The Ministry of Defence says the US government would need Britain's permission to use the island for offensive action. It has already been used for strategic strike missions during the 1991 and 2003 Gulf wars against Iraq.
The UK "sovereign territory" has a garrison of 50 British and 3200 US military personnel.
Glasgow Herald, 29/10/07
Mosul dam danger
The largest dam in Iraq is in serious danger of an imminent collapse that could unleash a trillion-gallon wave of water, possibly killing thousands of people and flooding two of the largest cities in the country. According to new assessments by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other U.S. officials, "the Mosul dam is judged to have an unacceptable annual failure probability."
The possible catastrophic failure of the Mosul Dam has alarmed American officials, who have concluded that it could lead to as many as 500,000 civilian deaths by drowning Mosul under 65 feet of water and parts of Baghdad under 15 feet, said Abdulkhalik Thanoon Ayoub, the dam's manager.
At the same time, a U.S. reconstruction project to help shore up the dam in northern Iraq has been marred by incompetence and mismanagement, according to Iraqi officials and a report by a U.S. oversight agency to be released today. The reconstruction project, worth at least $27 million, was not intended to be a permanent solution to the dam's deficiencies.
Kansas City Star, 29/10/07
Turkey increases attacks on Kurds
Helicopter gunships bombed Kurdish rebel positions in southeast Turkey on Monday and the government flexed its military muscle with big national day parades and flypasts in major cities.
Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops, backed by tanks, artillery, warplanes and combat helicopters, along the Iraqi border in readiness for a possible large-scale incursion to hunt down 3,000 guerrillas who use the region as a base.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari was quoted on Monday as warning of "disastrous" consequences for stability in both countries and the wider region if Turkey invaded.
Malaysia Star, 29/10/07
Official: Basra fighting pointless
One of the most senior British commanders in Iraq has claimed that there is no point in fighting on in Basra, likening British troops in the city to "Robocop" and admitting that innocent people were hurt as a result of their actions. The officer, who is responsible for thousands of troops, spoke on condition of anonymity.
"We would go down there [Basra], dressed as Robocop, shooting at people if they shot at us, and innocent people were getting hurt," he said.
"We don't speak Arabic to explain and our translators were too scared to work for us any more. What benefit were we bringing to these people?"
British forces have struck a deal with Shia militias to withdraw to a single base at the international airport in return for assurances that they will no longer be attacked.
Sunday Telegraph, 28/10/07
'No evidence' Iran building nuclear weapons
Chief UN atomic watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei said overnight he had no evidence Iran was building nuclear weapons and accused US leaders of adding "fuel to the fire" with recent bellicose rhetoric.
"I have not received any information that there is a concrete active nuclear weapons program going on right now," the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told CNN.
"Even if Iran were to be working on a nuclear weapon ... they are at least a few years from having such a weapon," he said, citing assessments by US officials themselves.
Mr ElBaradei said if the US had more information on Iran's nuclear drive than the IAEA, "I would be very happy to receive it and go forward".
He said "we cannot give Iran a pass right now, because there is still a lot of question marks".
"But have we seen Iran having the nuclear material that can readily be used into a weapon? No. Have we seen an active weaponisation program? No," he said.
Herald Sun, Australlia, 29/10/07
Iraq Shi'ites balk at role for Sunnis
The US military's push to organize Sunni Arabs into local neighborhood watch groups has been one of the United States' most important initiatives in Iraq - so much so that President Bush flew to Anbar Province in September to highlight growing alliances with Sunni tribal leaders.
But now that the Americans are trying to institutionalize the arrangement by training the Sunnis to become police officers, the effort has been hampered by halfhearted support and occasionally outright resistance from a Shi'ite-dominated national government that is still inclined to see the Sunnis as a threat.
It was the US military that pressed to open the new Habbaniya Police Training Center where Sunni tribesmen and former insurgents are to be trained to serve as police officers in Anbar. And it was the Americans who provided the uniforms, food, new classrooms, and equipment for the police recruits.
While the Iraqi government has agreed to basic police instruction at the academy, it has balked at training more senior officers there. The government has also scaled back plans by Anbar officials to expand the provincial police force by almost 50 percent.
Anbar is not the only source of contention. In Diyala Province, north of Baghdad, US military officers have pushed Iraq to hire more than 6,000 people, many of them Sunnis, as police. Despite promises of action by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, none has been hired by the Interior Ministry.
Boston Globe, 28/10/07
US moves closer to war with Iran...
The prospect of war with Iran is beginning to look real. The hardening of positions in both Tehran and Washington over the past week has brought relations to their lowest point since the Iran hostage crisis that began in 1979. Both sides insist that they seek no military conflict, but tensions on issues ranging from Iran's nuclear program to influence in Iraq and the Arab-Israeli peace process is turning their differences into all-out regional power struggle.
Last week, Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice criticized Iran's "emboldened foreign policy" and "hegemonic aspirations," while asserting that the U.S. will continue to be engaged on economic, political and security issues in the Middle East. "We are there to stay," she declared.
The tougher tone suggests that U.S. policy has taken a subtle, yet decisive, turn toward not merely stopping Iran's nuclear program, but seeking the end of the Islamic regime. Cheney's objections to Iran went well beyond its uranium-enrichment activities, to include Iran's policies toward Israel and the U.S., its activities in Iraq, its suppression of domestic opposition and what he called its drive for "hegemonic power" in the region - a term echoed by the less hawkish Rice in her congressional testimony.
Cheney, like Bush and Rice, stopped short of advocating a new U.S. policy to aggressively pursue regime change, as in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the Vice President pointed the Administration in that direction. He castigated "the nature of the regime"; said that Iranians have a "right to be free from oppression, from economic deprivation and tyranny"; and declared that "America looks forward to the day when Iranians reclaim their destiny."
Time Magazine, 26/10/07
...and holds out Palestine deal as bait
In the wider Middle East, the conviction is growing that America is determined to launch an attack. Some well-placed Israeli and Palestinian sources suggest that next month's Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, near Washington, could be the catapult for an ambitious plan to establish a Palestinian state and disarm Iran.
"The idea is to tie Palestine to Iran," said an Israeli Middle East expert. "Israel will be obliged to accept the establishment of a Palestinian state within a short and firm timetable and the US administration will guarantee that the Iranian nuclear issue will be solved before Bush leaves office."
If Israel is prepared to move towards the creation of a Palestinian state, the hope is that Sunni Arab regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt will not protest too loudly about a US attack on Iran, given their own private fears about the impact of a nuclear Iran on the balance of power in the region.
The most convincing explanation for the sabre-rattling is that Bush has embarked on a course of action that may lead to war, but there are many stages to pass, including the imposition of tougher sanctions, before he concludes a military strike on Iran is worth the risk. As his generals have warned, it could unleash a new round of terrorism, destabilise Iraq and send oil prices way above the $100-a-barrel mark.
Sunday Times, 28/10/07
White House denies responsibility for oil price rise
The White House on Friday rejected any suggestion that sky-high oil prices stemmed from new US sanctions against Iran and escalating US rhetoric against the Islamic republic.
"Look, the problem here isn't the United States, it's not the international community. The problem is Iran," said spokeswoman Dana Perino, who underlined: "We do believe that oil prices are way too high."
She spoke as world oil prices surged to historic highs, breaching 92 dollars for the first time in New York amid rising tensions between the United States and crude-rich Iran and tightening US energy supplies.
News International, 27/10/07
A missed moment in Iraq
The Bush administration has only itself to blame for the quandary it faces with Turkish forces poised to intervene in northern Iraq. The Turks want to retaliate against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), whose insurgents killed 12 Turkish soldiers Sunday. A massive retaliation would be a major misfortune for Turkey, Iraq and the United States.
First, it would undermine the stability of the only part of Iraq where the United States is welcome. Second, it could plunge Turkey into an Iraq quagmire of its own.
Sadly, this crisis was predictable and predicted. U.S. officials have long known that a Turkish incursion was just one terrorist event away. As tensions mounted, the administration had numerous opportunities to engage in preventive diplomacy. A combination of lack of imagination, incompetence and sheer lack of knowledge at the State Department has caused this impasse.
Washington Post, 27/10/07
US forces diplomats to go to Iraq
The US state department has said it may have to force some diplomats to work in Iraq to fill vacancies at the embassy in Baghdad.
About 250 foreign service staff are to be told they are "prime candidates" for nearly 50 jobs, state department human resources director Harry Thomas said.
If too few people volunteer, some will be ordered to go and risk dismissal if they refuse, Mr Thomas said. Iraq postings have previously been filled on a voluntary basis.
BBC News, 27/10/07
Fears of more UK troops for Afghanistan
Fears that Britain could be forced to send more troops to Afghanistan grew after Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a desperate appeal to Nato partners to share more of the burden of the war against the Taliban.
Mr Brown put pressure on France and Germany to do more fighting, but so far the 26 Nato allies have left British, American, Dutch and Canadian troops taking heavy casualties. Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer warned defence ministers that the mission has 90 per cent of the forces it needs.
Mr Brown is under pressure not to fill the gap with British forces, but his official spokesman refused to rule out another deployment of reinforcements.
The lack of reinforcements is making it harder for the 41,000-strong force to consolidate gains against the Taliban. There are shortages of helicopters and the Americans are furious with Britain for allowing farmers to produce a bumper poppy harvest for the heroin trade.
Independent, 26/10/07