These are the archives for the week ending 4th May 2007
Anger in Baghdad as US complete wall
American forces have completed construction of a concrete wall around the Baghdad district of Adhamiya despite protests from the Iraqi prime minister and local residents who claim that they are now at the mercy of militants.
The wall was intended to help control the activities of militants in the predominantly Sunni Muslim district. But it remains a bastion of extremist al-Qa'eda linked groups. Parts of the district are so thick with armed militants that they are no-go zones to coalition forces.
Capt Mohammad Jasim, an Iraqi soldier manning a checkpoint on the Adhamiya bridge, said: "The Americans did not listen to us. We think this wall has made the area inside the wall more dangerous for people.
Um Doraid, a middle-aged housewife, said: "We here inside the wall are still as vulnerable as ever."
Daily Telegraph, 3/5/07
Iraq on watch list for violating religious freedom
For the first time since the U.S. invasion in 2003, a high-level advisory panel has placed Iraq on a watch list of countries that violate religious freedom, saying the government there engages in extrajudicial killings based on religious identity.
In its annual recommendations to the State Department yesterday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom cites an "alarming and deteriorating" situation for religious freedom in Iraq.
"Although non-state actors, particularly the Sunni-dominated insurgency, are responsible for a substantial proportion of the sectarian violence and associated human rights violations, the Iraqi government also bears responsibility," it says.
It adds that the government is responsible for actions by its security forces, "including arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention with due process, extrajudicial executions and systematic torture," and indirectly responsible for Shiite militias that often operate with "governmental complicity."
Washington Post, 3/5/07
Majority of Iraqis live in poverty
Poverty is rampant throughout Iraq with more than half the population lacking basic means to survive, a government survey shows.
The survey by the Central Statistical Bureau says that 43 percent of Iraqis suffer from 'absolute poverty' and another 11 percent of them live in 'abject poverty'.
Both terms are measures aid organizations use to quantify poverty in the world and they refer to people below poverty level. People in absolute poverty lack the necessary food, clothing or shelter to survive . People in abject poverty lack a minimum income or consumption level necessary to meet basic needs.
The study is the result of a nation-wide survey of families across the country and takes into consideration the millions of Iraqis who have been displaced or forced to flee abroad.
Azzaman, Iraq, 2/5/07
Hoon admits fatal errors in planning
A catalogue of errors over planning for Iraq after the invasion, and an inability to influence key figures in the US administration, led to anarchy in Iraq from which the country has not recovered, the British defence secretary during the invasion admits today.
Geoff Hoon reveals that Britain disagreed with the US administration over two key decisions in May 2003, two months after the invasion - to disband Iraq's army and "de-Ba'athify" its civil service. Mr Hoon also said he and other senior ministers completely underestimated the role and influence of the vice-president, Dick Cheney.
Giving the most frank assessment of the postwar planning, Mr Hoon, admits that "we didn't plan for the right sort of aftermath".
"Maybe we were too optimistic about the idea of the streets being lined with cheering people. Although I have reconciled it in my own mind, we perhaps didn't do enough to see it through the Sunni perspective. Perhaps we should have done more to understand their position."
Guardian, 2/5/07
Bush vetoes withdrawal timetable
President Bush vetoed a $124 billion war spending bill on Tuesday, setting up a second round in his long battle with Congressional Democrats who are determined to use the financing measure to force the White House to shift course in Iraq.
The veto was only the second of Mr. Bush's presidency. In a six-minute televised speech from the White House, the president called the measure a "prescription for chaos and confusion," and said, as he has for weeks, that he could not sign it because it contained timetables for troop withdrawal.
"Setting a deadline for withdrawal is setting a date for failure, and that would be irresponsible," Mr. Bush said.
New York Times, 2/5/07
Sunni ministers threaten to quit cabinet
The largest bloc of Sunni Arabs in the Iraqi Parliament threatened to withdraw its ministers from the Shiite-dominated cabinet on Monday in frustration over the government's failure to deal with Sunni concerns.
The bloc, known as the Iraqi Consensus Front and made up of three Sunni Arab parties, "has lost hope in rectifying the situation despite all of its sincere and serious efforts to do so," a statement said.
If the Sunni group followed through on its threat, it would further weaken a government already damaged by the pullout two weeks ago of six cabinet ministers aligned with the renegade Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr and further erode American efforts to promote reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites.
International Herald Tribune, 30/4/07
Iraq is Blair's legacy
Seven out of 10 people believe that Iraq will prove to be Tony Blair's most enduring legacy, according to an opinion poll to mark the 10th anniversary today of the election victory that brought him to power.
As the Prime Minister prepares to announce his resignation next week, the survey reveals that 69 per cent of the British public believe he will be remembered most for the Iraq war. Remarkably, his next highest "legacy rating" - just 9 per cent - is for his relationship with the American President, George Bush.
Just 3 per cent think the Prime Minister will be remembered most for the cash-for-honours affair, with the same proportion citing the introduction of the national minimum wage and being associated with "spin". A tiny 2 per cent of people believe Mr Blair's legacy will be his central goal to improve public services.
Independent, 1/5/07
'War on terror' a failure
Terrorist attacks against noncombatants nearly doubled in Iraq from 2005 to 2006 and were up sharply in Afghanistan, with those two countries alone accounting for a 29 percent increase in terrorism worldwide, according to a report released Monday by the State Department.
The report shows that the two countries where large numbers of American combat troops are deployed are also where terrorism is rising fastest. Terrorist attacks are up 91 percent in Iraq and 53 percent in Afghanistan, according to statistics compiled by the National Counterterrorism Center. In the rest of the world, total terrorist attacks declined by 3 percent.
The numbers underscore the ineffectiveness of battling terrorism with conventional military means, said John Arquilla, who studies terrorism at the Naval Postgraduate School
"It is most curious that the areas where we have military operations have the most attacks," Mr. Arquilla said. "These statistics suggest that our war on global terrorism is not going very well. It suggests we need to try a new approach."
New York Times, 30/4/07
Attacks on British on rise
Once an island of relative tranquillity in the mostly Shiite Muslim south, Basra has suffered a dramatic turnaround in the last two years. Thundering rocket and mortar strikes have become a near-daily occurrence at British bases in this city. British soldiers who once patrolled on foot in berets and no body armor now venture downtown only in armored convoys.
The increase in violence comes as Britain begins to disengage from southern Iraq, leaving Shiite political parties and their militias to battle over the spoils. At stake is control of political patronage in Iraq's second-largest city and of the billions of dollars in oil that flow through the country's only seaport.
Critics say coalition forces took too long to establish political structures, leaving a vacuum in which conservative Shiite religious parties, backed by powerful militias and tribes, scrambled for power.
The factions took over entire units of the police force, and maneuvered their members into key positions in the government and state-run Southern Oil Co. Some also beat and killed unveiled women in a city once regarded as a liberal, intellectual center. And all are implicated in smuggling millions of dollars' worth of oil, while the city is bereft of basic services such as electricity and clean water.
The vicious rivalry has resulted in periodic gunfights. But British officials say 90% of the violence is directed against them.
Los Angeles Times, 29/4/07
Afghans protest killing of civilians
Hundreds of angry protesters chanting "Death to Bush" demonstrated in eastern Afghanistan after six people -- including a woman and a teenage girl -- were reportedly killed when U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces raided a suspected car-bomb cell.
The U.S. said four militants were among the dead, but it was the civilian deaths Sunday that infuriated the protesters, who carried five bodies to a main highway and blocked traffic with felled trees during the demonstration. The bodies of the women were entirely covered by sheets, while the men's faces were revealed.
"Their operation was based on incorrect reports, and they carried out a cruel attack on these houses," said local resident Akhtar Mohammad at the protest. "We are not the enemy, we are not al Qaeda. Why are they attacking us?"
Afghan officials have repeatedly pleaded with the United States and NATO to take care during operations that might harm civilians, and the latest violence is sure to deepen distrust among Afghans, whose support for international forces and the shaky U.S.-backed government is waning.
CNN, 29/4/07
'Successful' rebuilding projects found to be crumbling
In a troubling sign for the American-financed rebuilding program in Iraq, inspectors for a federal oversight agency have found that in a sampling of eight projects that the United States had declared successes, seven were no longer operating as designed because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of proper maintenance, apparent looting and expensive equipment that lay idle.
The United States has previously admitted, sometimes under pressure from federal inspectors, that some of its reconstruction projects have been abandoned, delayed or poorly constructed. But this is the first time inspectors have found that projects officially declared a success - in some cases, as little as six months before the latest inspections - were no longer working properly.
New York Times, 29/4/07
Danish special forces for Basra
Denmark is sending special forces to reinforce its 460-strong contingent near Basra in southern Iraq to help "resolve a special problem," a military spokesman said Saturday.
Hans Vedholm, a spokesman for Denmark's armed forces, said he could not say how many soldiers were deployed in the operation, nor what it was about "because it would be disastrous for our soldiers."
"We're talking about some forces that are going down to solve a special problem," Vedholm said. The Danes serve under British command in the southern city of Basra.
In a statement, the army said militant groups hostile to the coalition forces in Iraq have begun focusing their efforts toward Danish and British camps.
International Herald Tribune, 28/4/07
Afghan government increasingly unpopular
The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke, said NATO risks losing the war because of a "tremendous deterioration" in the popularity of the government of President Hamid Karzai -- the U.S. backed democratic leader of the country.
NATO has 36,000 troops in Afghanistan, including roughly 2,500 from Canada. In addition, the U.S. has deployed an additional 11,000 troops to the eastern border region with Pakistan -- an area thought to be an entry point for foreign combatants.
But despite the massive resources dedicated to the country, Taliban guerrillas have continued to increase their activities over the past year, in many cases trickling back into areas that were earlier cleared of militants.
Holbrooke said Karzai's government has become unpopular because of corruption stemming from Afghanistan's drug problem. "I have heard increasingly that the government has lost its momentum,'' he said.
CTV News, Canada, 28/4/07
'Blokes are dying for no cause at all'
A British soldier has broken ranks within days of returning from Iraq to speak publicly of the horror of his tour of duty there, painting a picture of troops under siege, "sitting ducks" to an increasingly sophisticated insurgency.
"Basra is lost, they are in control now. It's a full-scale riot and the Government are just trying to save face," said Private Paul Barton.
His public protest is a sign of the groundswell of anger among the troops, and predictions that more will come forward to break the traditional covenant of silent service. Just last month, Pte Steve Baldwin, 22, a soldier in the same regiment, spoke to The Independent about the way he had been "pushed aside" since being injured by a roadside bomb which killed three others during the Staffords' first tour of Iraq in 2005.
And on Monday, Cpl Richard Bradley also chose to air his views on television: "Blokes are dying for no cause at all and blokes are getting injured for no cause at all."
Independent, 27/4/07
Surge to continue all year
The Bush administration will not try to assess whether the troop increase in Iraq is producing signs of political progress or greater security until September, and many of Mr. Bush's top advisers now anticipate that any gains by then will be limited, according to senior administration officials.
In interviews over the past week, the officials made clear that the White House is gradually scaling back its expectations for the government of President Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. The timelines they are now discussing suggest that the White House may maintain the increased numbers of American troops in Iraq well into next year.
Several American officials who have spoken recently with Mr. Maliki say they believe that he would like to achieve the kind of political reconciliation that Mr. Bush outlined in January as the ultimate goal of the troop increase. But they say the Iraqi prime minister appears to have little ability to manage the required legislation, including bills requiring fair distribution of oil revenues among Iraq's Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, and reversing the American-led de-Baathification that barred many Sunnis from participation in the new government.
In January, Mr. Bush characterized Mr. Maliki as an architect of the troop increase plan, even while telling visiting Congressional leaders that "I said to Maliki this has to work or you're out," according to two officials who were in the room. Pressed on why he thought the new strategy would succeed where previous efforts had failed, Mr. Bush shot back, "Because it has to."
New York Times, 27/4/07
US backed forces kill hundreds of Somali civilians
The Somali capital Mogadishu suffered some of the heaviest bombardment in nine days of fighting yesterday, as Ethiopian tanks supporting the interim government shelled new areas of the city despite a claim by the Somali prime minister to have routed Islamist insurgents.
The Ethiopian assault has killed several hundred people, many of them civilians harmed by indiscriminate shelling that has destroyed homes and shops, and forced tens of thousands to flee the city as it spread to previously relatively peaceful parts of Mogadishu. Corpses lie scattered on the streets because it is too dangerous to collect them.
Washington encouraged the Ethiopian military - at the "invitation" of Somalia's interim national government which was so unpopular it was unable to remain in Mogadishu - to invade and oust the Islamic Courts administration. The new Somali government includes some of the warlords who previously caused so much destruction.
A report by the Royal Institute of International Affairs said that US and Ethiopian strategic interests in supporting a weak and factionalised government that is far less popular than the Islamic Courts administration are an obstacle, not a contribution, to rebuilding Somalia.
Guardian, 27/4/07
Senate approves withdrawal timetable
The Democratically-controlled US Congress yesterday paved the way for the next battle with the White House over Iraq after the Senate approved legislation that includes a timetable for withdrawal from the war-torn country.
After the Senate voted 51-46 to approve the emergency spending bill, the White House said the legislation, which largely resembles the House version, was "dead on arrival". President George W. Bush is expected to veto the legislation, which would force Congress to work on another bill.
Financial Times, 27/4/07
US death toll excludes bombs
U.S. officials who say there has been a dramatic drop in sectarian violence in Iraq since President Bush began sending more American troops into Baghdad aren't counting one of the main killers of Iraqi civilians.
Car bombs and other explosive devices have killed thousands of Iraqis in the past three years, but the administration doesn't include them in the casualty counts it has been citing as evidence that the surge of additional U.S. forces is beginning to defuse tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
President Bush explained why in a television interview Tuesday. "If the standard of success is no car bombings or suicide bombings, we have just handed those who commit suicide bombings a huge victory," he told TV interviewer Charlie Rose.
Others, however, say that not counting bombing victims skews the evidence of how well the Baghdad security plan is protecting the civilian population -- one of the surge's main goals. "Since the administration keeps saying that failure is not an option, they are redefining success in a way that suits them," said James Denselow, an Iraq specialist at London-based Chatham House, a foreign policy think tank.
Raleigh News and Observer, 26/4/07