These are the archives for the week ending 10th August 2007
British defeated in Basra
A senior US intelligence official in Baghdad has said British forces lost control of Basra by pulling out troops too quickly.
The result has been a security vacuum which has allowed the city's religious, tribal and criminal factions battle it out for control of the streets.
"The British have basically been defeated in the south," the intelligence official told the Washington Post. In a report to be published tomorrow in the influential American newspaper, the official said that a contingent of 500 British troops based at Basra Palace were "surrounded like cowboys and Indians."
Outside the palace walls, fighters allied to the three biggest Shia Muslim groups wage war with impunity.
Daily Telegraph, 8/8/07
Iraqis oppose oil sell-off
A new public opinion poll has found nearly two thirds of Iraqis oppose plans to open the country's oilfields to foreign companies.
The poll found a majority of every Iraqi ethnic and religious group believe their oil should remain nationalized. Some 66 percent of Shi'ites and 62 percent of Sunnis support government control of the oil sector, along with 52 percent of Kurds.
Only 4 percent of Iraqis polled said they had been given "totally adequate" information for them to feel informed about the oil law. The U.S. government has been pressuring the Iraqi government to pass the oil law by September.
Yahoo News, 8/8/07
Afghanistan becomes main focus for UK
The Foreign Office has decided that Afghanistan, and not Iraq, is the front line in its battle to defeat terrorism, even if it may take decades to improve the country - as well as far greater international coordination than at present.
The UK military also wants to concentrate its forces in Helmand province, an area described by Tony Blair as the crucible in which the battle for the 21st century will be fought.
Ministers want improved coordination under the banner of the UN, and not just Nato, but suspect the US wants to maintain independence for part of its military operations aimed at al-Qaida in the country.
Britain is backing the idea of a strong military, diplomatic and reconstruction coordinator. Paddy Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader, has been mentioned in British circles, bbut he is reluctant to take the job.
In the spring, in a sign of British commitment to Afghanistan, Britain appointed one of its most highly regarded diplomats, Sherard Cowper-Coles as ambassador, and expanded the size of what would normally be a run of the mill embassy.
Ministers believe that if Afghanistan falls into the hands of Taliban, Pakistan may also fall, with dire consequences for British security.
Guardian 8/7/07
"It's hard now to paint Basra as a success"
As British forces pull back from Basra in southern Iraq, Shiite militias there have escalated a violent battle against each other for political supremacy and control over oil resources.
Three major Shiite political groups are locked in a bloody conflict that has left the city in the hands of militias and criminal gangs, whose control extends to municipal offices and neighborhood streets.
The city is plagued by "the systematic misuse of official institutions, political assassinations, tribal vendettas, neighborhood vigilantism and enforcement of social mores, together with the rise of criminal mafias that increasingly intermingle with political actors," a recent report by the International Crisis Group said.
As recently as February, Vice President Cheney hailed Basra as a part of Iraq "where things are going pretty well." But "it's hard now to paint Basra as a success story," said a senior U.S. official in Baghdad with long experience in the south.
Washington Post, 7/8/07
Bush refuses to reassure Pakistan
George Bush yesterday refused to say whether or not he would first ask the government of Pakistan before ordering US forces to attack al-Quaida leaders on Pakistani soil if he had "actionable intelligence" of their whereabouts.
President Bush was speaking after a meeting with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, which exposed the tensions in Washington and Kabul over the suspected presence of al-Qaida and Taliban leaders in Pakistan's tribal areas and the perceived failure of President Pervez Musharraf's government to take action.
Bush has faced increasing criticism that Iraq has been a distraction and that he should have kept the focus on capturing Bin Laden and destroying the Taliban.
A notable split also opened up between Mr Bush and Mr Karzai over the alleged role of Iran in Afghanistan.
The US administration claims that Iran has been arming the Taliban but Mr Karzai, in an interview on US television, described Iran as a 'helper' to his country.
Mr Bush urged Mr Karzai to be "very cautious about whether or not the Iranian influence there in Afghanistan is a positive force".
The US president added: "It's up to Iran to prove to the world that they're a stabilising force, as opposed to a destabilising force".
Guardian 7/7/06
Nicargua defies US with Iran deal
Nicaragua has signed contracts with Iran worth hundreds of millions of pounds in defiance of warnings from the United States.
President Daniel Ortega brushed aside Washington's concerns by agreeing to trade bananas, coffee and meat in exchange for Iranian help with infrastructure projects. Iran is also expected to choose a site for a £59m hydroelectric power station, with another three plants potentially to follow.
As the head of a small, impoverished central American state Mr Ortega hardly poses a strategic threat to the US. However, the Sandinista leader has shown a willingness to defy and irritate the superpower. The Iranian deal was the boldest move yet.
Just last week the US ambassador to Nicaragua, Paul Trivelli, made a typically blunt warning: "Iran can be a dangerous partner."
The Bush regime has labelled Tehran part of an 'axis of evil' and expressed alarm over its nuclear programme and alleged support for Shia militias in Iraq. Venezuela's radical left-wing president, Hugo Chavez, opened Latin America to Iran by signing multiple accords with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, including bilateral deals on oil, tractors and bicycles.
Guardian 6/7/07
British troops could be in Afghanistan for decades
British troops could remain in Afghanistan for more than the 38 years it took them to pull out of Northern Ireland. That is the bleak assessment by Army commanders on the ground in Helmand province.
Brigadier John Lorimer, commander of UK forces in Helmand, said: 'If you look at the insurgency then it could take maybe 10 years. Counter-narcotics, it's 30 years. If you're looking at governance and so on, it looks a little longer. If you look at other counter-insurgency operations over the last 100 years then it has taken time.'
His scenario is the starkest assessment yet from a senior officer tasked with defeating the Taliban, tackling the heroin trade and rebuilding the war-ravaged country. Last week troops pulled out of Northern Ireland after 38 years, the longest operation in UK military history. Afghanistan, commanders fear, may take longer.
Observer, 5/8/07
Iraq interpreters abandoned by UK
The Government has been accused of abandoning 91 Iraqi interpreters who have risked their lives to help British forces.
The individuals and their families have reportedly been told they will not be given favourable treatment for asylum in the UK, despite the danger of retribution from militants.
Whitehall officials are said to have ignored personal appeals from senior Army officers that the rules be relaxed in recognition of the interpreters' contribution to operations in Iraq.
Guardian, 7/8/07
Taliban 'no threat' says Karzai
Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, has said the Taliban is "not posing any threat" to his government and vowed, alongside his American counterpart, to continue the fight against the group.
"They [the Taliban] are not posing any threat to the government of Afghanistan ... the institutions of Afghanistan or to the buildup of institutions of Afghanistan," Karzai said.
Bush called the Taliban "cold blooded killers" who "have no regard for human life" and put a positive spin on Afghanistan's progress since the 2001 invasion.
"There is still work to be done, don't get me wrong," he said. "But progress is being made, Mr President, and we're proud of you."
Al Jazeera, 6/8/07
Iraqi government splits widens
Iraq's government, already unable to reconcile Sunni and Shiite Muslim factions, seemed headed for complete paralysis Monday as five more Cabinet ministers announced they would boycott government meetings.
If the ministers from the secular Iraqiya political list hold to their decision, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will be unable to convene a quorum of the council of ministers to approve legislation or take other action weeks before U.S. officials are to make a crucial mid-September assessment of the success or failure of American policy.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack issued a lukewarm statement of support for al-Maliki, in contrast to earlier ringing endorsements from President Bush.
"There's a very healthy political debate that's going on in Iraq, and that's good," McCormack said. "It's going to be for them (the Iraqis) to make the judgments about whether or not that government is performing."
Kansas City Star, 6/8/07
Maliki rules out withdrawal timetable
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in a US television interview that neither he nor the United States can set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.
"Anything specific I cannot give, neither us nor the US government can set up a timetable," ABC News quoted Maliki as saying in an interview with the network's correspondent in Baghdad.
Maliki has previously insisted that Iraqi security forces were ready to take over security from US troops by this summer, but told ABC News he would not rule out US troops being in Iraq in five years time.
Middle East Online, 4/8/07
'We want people to forget reality'
Throngs of Iraqis were busily shopping for the weekend when a truck bomb and barrage of rockets ripped apart the market in central Karrada.
Iraqiya television and most Western media outlets reported that 25 were killed and 100 wounded in the July 26 attack, of which virtually no images were shown.
But less than a week later, the names of 92 dead and 127 wounded were posted on a list taped to a shuttered storefront. It was compiled by municipal and civil defense crews that led the rescue efforts.
The disparity in official numbers and the ones posted in the market, and apparent differences between government figures and eyewitness accounts after other recent bombings, leaves many Iraqis feeling that the government is intentionally downplaying or trying to cover up the numbers of dead.
Residents of the Karrada neighborhood were angry with the government and local television stations, namely Iraqiya, for not covering the extent of the tragedy. Some even said residents threw rocks and shoes at Iraqi and Coalition forces and Iraqi officials who had shown up at the scene.
But a government spokesman denies there has been any manipulation of figures or pressure on television stations, including state-funded Iraqiya, to play down news of violence. In fact, it is the station itself that has decided to play down the toll of daily violence.
"We want people to forget reality," says Haidar al-Shaaban, an executive at the station, which was founded by the former US-led Occupation Authority but maintains editorial independence. Mr. Shaaban says the station is now committed to spreading good news and broadcasting programs to unite Iraqis.
Christian Science Monitor, 3/8/07
'Saddam style' ban on oil unions
Iraq's energy ministry is using a Saddam-era decree to crack down on trade unions and stifle dissent against foreign exploitation of the country's vast oil reserves, the Basra-based oil workers' union claims.
Hassan Juma'a, the union's leader, has been at the forefront of a public campaign against the signing of a controversial new oil law - demanded by Washington - that would lead to long-term profit-sharing contracts being signed with multinational oil giants.
But Hussein Shahrastani, Iraq's oil minister, has now issued a directive banning unions from participating in any official discussions about the new law, 'since these unions have no legal status to work within the state sector'.
Iraq's new constitution, passed in 2005, enshrines 'the right of forming and joining professional associations and unions', and promises that 'this will be organised by law'; but since no such legislation has yet been passed, campaigners say the oil ministry is simply reverting to Saddam-era laws that banned unions.
Observer, 5/8/07
Iraq power grid on brink of collapse
Iraq's power grid is on the brink of collapse because of insurgent sabotage, rising demand, fuel shortages and provinces that are unplugging local power stations from the national grid, officials said Saturday.
Electricity Ministry spokesman Aziz al-Shimari said power generation nationally is only meeting half the demand, and there had been four nationwide blackouts over the past two days. The shortages across the country are the worst since the summer of 2003, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, he said.
Power supplies in Baghdad have been sporadic all summer and now are down to just a few hours a day, if that. The water supply in the capital has also been severely curtailed by power blackouts and cuts that have affected pumping and filtration stations.
ABC News, 5/8/07
Iraq government 'disappoints' US
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said he is disappointed by the lack of political progress in Iraq. The Bush administration had probably underestimated the depth of mistrust among Iraq's various factions, he said at the end of a Middle East tour.
Recent developments were discouraging, he said, citing the withdrawal of the main Sunni Arab bloc from government. A recent surge in US troop numbers was designed to provide a breathing space to pursue reconciliation, he added.
Mr Gates's comments have been seen by many as a vote of no confidence in the abilities of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki.
BBC News, 3/8/07
Returning British troops under pressure
Thousands of front-line veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are facing escalating mental health problems, alcoholism and family breakdown, an extensive examination of the British military has found.
Prolonged periods in conflict are linked to higher levels of post-traumatic stress disorder, psychological distress and problems at home, researchers report in the British Medical Journal online.
The British Ministry of Defence said it would study the findings to try to better understand mental health problems in the military, but there is rising pressure on the British Government to tackle accusations that the military is currently overstretched, forcing personnel into longer tours of duty. Opposition MPs said the burden on the military was another reason to begin a phased withdrawal from Iraq.
The Age, Australia, 4/8/07
Baghdad runs out of water
Much of the Iraqi capital was without running water Thursday and had been for at least 24 hours, compounding the urban misery in a war zone and the blistering heat at the height of the Baghdad summer.
Residents and city officials said large sections in the west of the capital had been virtually dry for six days because the already strained electricity grid cannot provide sufficient power to run water purification and pumping stations.
Baghdad routinely suffers from periodic water outages, but this one is described by residents as one of the most extended and widespread in recent memory.
The problem highlights the larger difficulties in a capital beset by violence, crumbling infrastructure, rampant crime and too little electricity to keep cool in the sweltering weather more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion.
Edmonton Sun, 2/8/07