These are the archives for the week ending 5th October 2007
No alternative to mercenaries
The alleged killings of innocent Iraqi civilians by private soldiers working for Blackwater USA has set off a political firestorm on the use of such contractors.
But observers believe little will be done in the immediate future to curb the guns-for-hire industry. But defence analyst Dave Perry said he doesn't see the situation changing in the immediate future.
"Right now there's really no alternative to these companies," said Perry, deputy director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies at Dalhousie University.
"The Americans have painted themselves into a situation where it doesn't matter how bad this current problem is because there aren't enough troops on the ground to handle the jobs these companies do."
Private firms handle a variety of roles, including protecting U.S. diplomats, providing helicopter support to the State Department and training Iraqi and Afghan police. In Afghanistan, such firms are also involved in counter-narcotics missions.
Blackwater provides protection to U.S. State Department personnel in Iraq and has been awarded contracts totaling $1 billion.
Canada.com, 3/10/07
Kurds open oil fields to foreign exploration
The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq has announced four new oil exploration deals with international energy companies.
The news is likely to upset the central government in Baghdad and the US. Both have been pressing the Kurds to hold off negotiations until national oil and gas laws for opening up Iraq's energy wealth are in place.
BBC News, 4/10/07
State Department covered up Blackwater crimes
Blackwater USA, the private security contractor under scrutiny for its role in a deadly Baghdad shootout in September, has sacked 122 of its armed guards in Iraq since it started protecting US diplomats there nearly three years ago, congressional investigators said yesterday.
The firings, most frequently for weapons-related matters, amount to more than one-seventh of Blackwater's current workforce in Iraq. None of the people fired has been subject to legal proceedings or other sanction, the investigation found.
The allegations, which the committee said are backed by thousands of documents, depict a security enterprise that almost routinely opens fire in Iraq's streets, occasionally attempts to cover up its transgressions, and frequently is protected from censure and prosecution by US State Department overseers.
The memo describes instances in which Blackwater guards eagerly rush to battles involving US soldiers; plow their armored trucks into civilian vehicles for no apparent reason; and leave scenes of violence without assisting wounded civilians.
It is also alleged that State Department officials ignored misconduct by Blackwater or - in at least one high-profile instance - were directly involved in making sure a Blackwater employee accused of killing an Iraqi guard while intoxicated was flown out of the country fewer than 36 hours after the shooting.
Boston Globe, 2/10/07
Basra quiet after British withdrawal
Residents of Iraq's southern city of Basra have begun strolling riverfront streets again after four years of fear, their city much quieter since British troops withdrew from the grand Saddam Hussein-era Basra Palace.
Political assassinations and sectarian violence continue, some city officials say, but on a much smaller scale than at any time since British troops moved into the city after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Mortar rounds, rockets and small arms fire crashed almost daily into the palace, making life hazardous for British and Iraqis alike in Iraq's second-largest city.
To many Basrans the withdrawal of the British a month ago removed a proven target.
"The situation these days is better. We were living in hell ... the area is calm since their withdrawal," said housewife Khairiya Salman, who lives near the palace.
Civil servant Wisam Abdul Sada agreed. "We do not hear the sounds of explosions which were shaking our houses and terrifying our women and children," he told Reuters.
"A year or six months ago, we were afraid to go out to this place," said Baidaa Razaq as she walked with her son. "The occupiers used to come often to this place," she said referring to the British troops who had been stationed in Basra city since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Reuters, 1/10/07
Afghanistan's most violent year
Afghanistan is suffering its most violent year since the 2001 U.S.-led intervention, according to an internal United Nations report that sharply contrasts with recent upbeat appraisals by President Bush and his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai.
There were 525 security incidents -- attacks by the Taliban and other violent groups, bombings, terrorism of other kinds, and abductions -- every month during the first half of this year, up from an average of 425 incidents per month in 2006.
The U.N.'s Half-Year Review of the Security Situation in Afghanistan underscored the continuing resurgence of the Taliban, which many experts attribute to Bush's decision to shift troops and resources to Iraq; the U.S. failure to capture the militia's top leaders, and the refuge the militia has secured in the lawless tribal region of neighboring Pakistan.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 1/10/07
US drawing up Iran strike plans...
Australia, Britain and Israel have "expressed interest" in a US campaign to launch "surgical" bombing raids on Iran targetting the Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities, according to one of America's leading investigative reporters, Seymour Hersh.
In the latest issue of The New Yorker, Mr Hersh details how the US is making plans for a strike on the Iran, beefing up intelligence resources within the CIA and shifting its rhetorical campaign in a bid to win support from the American people should the strikes proceed.
Mr Hersh says the administration has stopped trying to justify the campaign on the basis of curtailing Iran's nuclear ambitions and instead is redefining the war in Iraq as a strategic battle between the United States and Iran.
The White House declined to comment, and Mr Hersh says he was warned during his research that the president was yet to issue an execute order on the plans, and that such an order may never be issued.
According to Mr Hersh, the bombing plan have received the most positive reception from the newly elected government of Britain's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
The Age, Australia, 1/10/07
...and shifting its targets and justification
Now the emphasis is on "surgical" strikes on Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities in Tehran and elsewhere, which, the Administration claims, have been the source of attacks on Americans in Iraq.
What had been presented primarily as a counter-proliferation mission has been reconceived as counterterrorism.
The shift in targeting reflects three developments. First, the President and his senior advisers have concluded that their campaign to convince the American public that Iran poses an imminent nuclear threat has failed (unlike a similar campaign before the Iraq war), and that as a result there is not enough popular support for a major bombing campaign.
The second development is that the White House has come to terms, in private, with the general consensus of the American intelligence community that Iran is at least five years away from obtaining a bomb.
And, finally, there has been a growing recognition in Washington and throughout the Middle East that Iran is emerging as the geopolitical winner of the war in Iraq.
During a secure videoconference that took place early this summer, the President told Ryan Crocker, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, that he was thinking of hitting Iranian targets across the border and that the British "were on board."
Seymour Hersh, New Yorker, 9/10/07
Decline in army recruits
The Army is facing a decline in recruitment north of the border. Figures show that the numbers of Scots enlisting have fallen by 30% from the level five years ago.
The drop coincided with the run up to the Iraq War, but the Army denied there was a recruitment crisis.
In 2002/03, the year before the Iraq war, 2,346 people in Scotland enlisted in the Army. During 2006/07 that number had fallen to 1,617.
BBC News, 30/9/07
US training middle eastern allies
An air warfare conference in Washington last week was told how American air chiefs have helped to co-ordinate intelligence-sharing with Gulf Arab nations and organise combined exercises designed to make it easier to fight together.
Gen Michael Mosley, the US Air Force chief of staff, used the conference to seek closer links with allies whose support America might need if President George W Bush chooses to bomb Iran.
Pentagon air chiefs have helped set up an air warfare centre in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where Gulf nations are training their fighter pilots and America has big bases. It is modelled on the US Air Force warfare centre at Nellis air force base in Nevada.
Jordan and the UAE have both taken part in combined exercises designed to make sure their air forces can fly, and fight, together and with American jets.
While it is unlikely that America's Gulf allies would join any US air strike against suspected nuclear targets in Iran, their co-operation might be required to allow passage of warplanes though their airspace.
Daily Telegraph, 1/10/07
Bush advisor: "I hate all Iranians"
Britsh MPs visiting the Pentagon to discuss America's stance on Iran and Iraq were shocked to be told by one of President Bush's senior women officials: "I hate all Iranians."
And she also accused Britain of "dismantling" the Anglo-US-led coalition in Iraq by pulling troops out of Basra too soon.
The all-party group of MPs say Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary Robert Gates, made the comments this month.
The Pentagon denied Ms Cagan said she "hated" Iranians. "She doesn't speak that way," said an official. But when The Mail on Sunday spoke to four of the six MPs, three confirmed privately that she made the remark and one declined to comment. The other two could not be contacted.
Daily Mail, 29/9/07
'Iraq is open for business'
Iraq is open for business," promised oil ministry officials. "Investment can reduce Iraq's poverty and help bring peace," came back the chorus from oil company chiefs.
Iraq, with proven reserves of 115 billion barrels represents the biggest untapped oil and gas market on the planet. Iraqi oil production stands at just 2.5 per cent of the world's total even though the country possesses 10 per cent (or potentially double that, according to some estimates) of global reserves.
With just 4 per cent of the world's oil in the hands of multinationals and a growing trend for nationalisation in countries from Venezuela to Kazakhstan, Iraq is seen by many international groups as their best chance to turn the tables.
Central to their hopes is a new oil law friendly to foreign investment. Drafted in closed-door consultations between international oil companies, the International Monetary Fund and the American and British governments, this law is the blueprint for foreign companies to explore, develop, produce and sell Iraqi oil under exclusive contracts lasting up to 30 years.
Regardless of whether Iraq's parliament passes the law, oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani has declared the country open for business and plans to invite companies to invest under existing Baath regime legislation to speed up the process.
"There is no legal vacuum in Iraq," he declared at the Iraq Petroleum conference in Dubai. "We are now under the oil law of Iraq that has been in force for a few years. We are going to go ahead and prepare our model contracts."
Independent, 30/9/07
US tribal strategy is high risk
More than 30,000 tribal members in Iraq have come forward to work with U.S. and Iraqi forces over the past six months, a phenomenon that is spreading beyond Anbar province to Baghdad and other regions of the country, according to U.S. commanders.
However, questions remain over whether alliances with fractious tribal sheiks will hold, whether they can improve security in mixed-sectarian areas such as Diyala province and Baghdad, and whether they will promote stability and national reconciliation or spur Iraq's fragmentation by proliferating armed groups.
"This is certainly something we should ride for all it's worth but recognize that, eventually, centrifugal tendencies will reassert themselves," said Army Reserve Lt. Col. Michael Eisenstadt, who has researched Iraqi tribes.
"In the long run, it will be very labor-intensive to keep them together," he said, adding that the tribes could turn against U.S. forces.
Washington Post, 30/9/07
British may have to start again in Afghanistan
The Taliban could recapture some of the territory in Afghanistan taken during fierce fighting involving British troops, Nato's commander in the region has warned.
General Dan McNeill said the alliance had made "significant progress" in Helmand Province but was facing difficulties securing its gains. He said it was "likely" some of the land would have to be fought over again because Afghan forces may not be able to hold it as the Taliban regroups during the winter.
British forces have been involved in heavy fighting as they attempted to drive the Taliban out of Helmand. So far this year, 35 troops have been killed in Afghanistan.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "We recognise Gen McNeill's concerns." He said consolidating the gains made in Helmand was a high priority, and extra manpower had been deployed.By the end of the year, the British presence in the province will have more than doubled since the initial deployment of 3,500 last year.
Daily Telegraph, 29/9/07
US air strikes kill civilians
In Baghdad, Iraqi police and hospital officials said a U.S. helicopter strike Friday killed at least 10 people and injured 12, including women and children.
The airstrike took place at the Saha Apartments complex, a densely populated Shiite enclave in the Sunni-dominated neighborhood of Dora.
Residents said members of a neighborhood watch group were sitting outside about 2 a.m. when they came under fire from the U.S. helicopter. The building was damaged, they said. The bodies of four men, two women and four children were brought to Yarmouk Hospital after the incident, an official there said.
The hospital also treated six men, four women and two children from Dora, said the official, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
It was the second time this week that U.S. forces were accused of killing civilians in an airstrike. The military said it was investigating an attack Tuesday south of Baghdad in which Iraqi police reported that five women and four children were killed.
Los Angeles Times, 29/9/07
Blackwater shoots more than other firms
The State Department said Thursday that Blackwater USA security personnel had been involved in 56 shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq so far this year. It was the first time the Bush administration had made such data public.
The New York Times reported Thursday that Blackwater's rate of shootings was at least twice as high as the rates for other companies providing similar services to the State Department in Iraq.
Since the Sept. 16 shooting in the streets of Baghdad involving an American convoy guarded by Blackwater that left at least eight Iraqis dead, the Bush administration has fended off public demands by the Iraqi government for Blackwater to be evicted from the country.
New York Times, 28/9/07
Iraq government 'not capable' of fighting corruption
A U.S. Embassy in Baghdad document studying how Iraq fights corruption says the Iraqi government "is not capable of even rudimentary enforcement of anti-corruption laws" and the prime minister's office is openly hostile to the idea of an independent anti-corruption agency.
It cites "a number of identified cases where government and political pressure has been applied to change the outcome of investigations and prosecutions in favor of members of the Shia Alliance."
According to interviews and case reviews cited in the draft report, anti-corruption efforts have been ineffective in Iraq's many government ministries.
The Interior Ministry, much criticized for being a magnet for illegal militias, is "seen by Iraqis as untouchable by the anti-corruption enforcement infrastructure of Iraq."
Corruption probes in the Defense Ministry "are judged to be ineffectual."
In the Health Ministry, corruption affects its ability "to deliver services" and "the lack of investigative capacity and the presence of militia make it beyond the reach of anti-corruption efforts."
The draft says the "high number of dismissals in cases involving alleged political motivations indicates manipulation of investigations within the Ministry of Oil."
CNN, 27/9/07