These are the archives for the week ending 11th May 2007
Blair made Bush less lonely
The Iraq war has been a lonely quest for President George W. Bush, but it has been less so thanks to the unwavering backing of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair is stepping down on June 27 after a decade in power, and no issue during his tenure is leaving a more indelible imprint than his no-apologies support for the U.S.-led war effort.
With Blair's announcement, Bush faces the final 19 months of his term in office without his closest ally and, as the president described him, "good friend."
Bush seemed optimistic Thursday about the possibility of continuity on Iraq between Blair and his likely successor, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, the government's financial chief. The president told reporters on Thursday that he believes Brown "understands the consequences of failure" in Iraq.
International Herald Tribune, 10/5/07
Air strike kills 21 Afghan civilians...
An air strike by Western forces killed 21 civilians, including women and children, in Afghanistan, a provincial governor said yesterday, the latest in a string of civilian casualties that has riled Afghans. The incident brings to nearly 90 the number of civilian deaths blamed by Afghan officials on Western troops in the past two weeks.
Helmand governor Assadullah Wafa told Reuters. "Last night, NATO forces carried out an operation in Sangin and as a result of its bombing, 21 civilians, including women and children and men, have been killed," he said.
NATO said its security force had not been active in that area on Tuesday but Wafa may have referring to a clash involving US-led coalition troops hunting Taleban near Sangin, in which one coalition soldier was also killed the same day.
Kuwait Times, 10/5/07
...but US apologises for earlier deaths
A senior US commander in Afghanistan has apologized for the conduct of U.S. Marines who fired on civilians near Jalalabad, killing 19 people, including women and children.
The attack, which occurred in March and left 50 people injured, was the result of the Marines returning fire as they escaped an ambush. However, preliminary evidence shows the soldiers fired indiscriminately on civilians.
The U.S. has made condolence payments to each of the families of the 19 people killed, totaling $2,000 per family.
Pakistan Tribune, 10/5/07
Iraq parliament to sue al-Jazeera
The Iraqi parliament unanimously agreed on Wednesday to file a lawsuit against al-Jazeera television for allegedly giving offence to Iraqi religious leaders.
At the beginning of the parliamentary session held on Wednesday, presided over by House Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, Iraqi parliamentarians condemned the attack that they said the Qatari al-Jazeera satellite channel launched on top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani when it said "he was appointed by Paul Bremer, the chief U.S. administrator in Iraq."
Voices of Iraq, 9/5/07
Green zone no longer safe
A sharp increase in mortar attacks on the Green Zone - the one-time oasis of security in Iraq's turbulent capital - has prompted the U.S. Embassy to issue a strict new order telling all employees to wear flak vests and helmets while in unprotected buildings or whenever they are outside.
The order has created a siege mentality among U.S. staff inside the Green Zone following a recent suicide attack on parliament. It has also led to new fears about long-term safety in the place where the U.S. government is building a massive and expensive new embassy.
Boston Herald, 9/5/07
River Tigris a polluted graveyard
The River Tigris has long been a symbol of prosperity in Iraq but since the US-led invasion in 2003, this amazing watercourse has turned into a graveyard of bodies.
In addition, the water level is decreasing as pollution increases, say environmentalists. Pollution in the river is caused by oil derivatives and industrial waste as well as Iraqi and US military waste, they say.
The river was one of the main sources of water, food, transport and recreation for the local population but after four years of war and pollution, it has been transformed into a stagnant sewer, according to environmentalists.
The river is contaminated with war waste and toxins, and residents of the impoverished Sadr City suburb are often left with no alternative but to drink contaminated water from the Tigris. This is why, specialists say, many Sadr City residents are plagued by diarrhoea and suffer from recurring kidney stones.
Reuters, 8/5/07
US attack kills schoolchildren
An attack by a US helicopter against suspected insurgents in Iraq has killed a number of children at a primary school, Iraqi security sources say. The attack took place in Diyala province north-east of Baghdad.
A spokesman for the US military said there had been helicopter activity in the area but he was not able to confirm any other details. The officer said police had spoken to eyewitnesses and that six children had been killed and six injured but the figures have not been independently confirmed.
BBC News, 8/5//07
Cancer risk from depleted uranium
Depleted uranium, which is used in armour-piercing ammunition, causes widespread damage to DNA which could lead to lung cancer, according to a study of the metal's effects on human lung cells. The study adds to growing evidence that DU causes health problems on battlefields long after hostilities have ceased.
DU is a product of uranium refinement for nuclear power. It is much less radioactive than other uranium isotopes, and its high density - twice that of lead - makes it useful for armour and armour piercing shells.
It has been used in conflicts including Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq and there have been increasing concerns about the health effects of DU dust left on the battlefield.
Now researchers at the University of Maine have shown that DU damages DNA in human lung cells.
Guardian 8/5/07
Iraq's child survival rate plummets
The chance that an Iraqi child will live beyond age five has plummetted faster than anywhere else in the world since 1990, said a report released Tuesday, which placed the country last in its child survival rankings.
One in eight Iraqi children died of disease or violence before reaching their fifth birthday in 2005, said the report by Save the Children, which said Iraq ranked last because it had made the least progress toward improving child survival rates.
Iraq's mortality rate has soared by 150 per cent since 1990. Even before the latest war, Iraq was plagued by electricity shortages, a lack of clean water and too few hospitals.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 7/5/07
'Abuse happens, unfortunately'
With snapshots and stories from his time in Afghanistan, Maj. Ross Cossar spoke proudly yesterday about his role in reshaping the country, even if it's interacting with one person at a time.
After the presentation, Cossar spoke to The Examiner on allegations raised by the Globe and Mail recently that Taliban prisoners picked up by Canadian soldiers were turned over to Afghan authorities and tortured.
"Abuse happens, unfortunately. But you have to remember, we're talking about people who are trying to kill us," Cossar said. "But for the military, part of the process (with prisoners) is to hand them over. We were invited there to help them."
In the Globe and Mail report, 30 Afghan men said they had been beaten, starved, frozen, choked and subjected to electric shocks while in Afghan custody.
Peterborough Examiner, Canada, 7/5/07
Iraq's deepening humanitarian crisis
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday it was stepping up its relief operations in Iraq in the face of what an official called "an ever-deepening humanitarian crisis."
The Swiss-based ICRC said it was upping its Iraqi budget for this year by over 60 percent -- from some $47 million to $75.2 million -- and was appealing to international donors to come up with the extra $29 million as soon as possible.
"Iraq is in an ever-deepening humanitarian crisis. Things are not getting any better," the ICRC's head of operations for the Middle East and North Africa Beatrice Megevand-Roggo told a news conference. The additional funds would be partly used to help the most vulnerable among the growing numbers of internally displaced people -- now estimated at totalling 850,000 across the country -- and the poorest in communities sheltering them, she said.
"This conflict is inflicting immense suffering on all Iraqis. People directly affected by the crisis are finding it increasingly difficult to cope," she declared. Even with the new budget, the ICRC would still not be able to cover "the appalling needs" of a huge swathe of the Iraqi population in health care, water supply and sanitation as well as access to new jobs.
Reuters, 7/5/07
US officers: Iraqis jail many innocents
U.S. officers here say they are increasingly troubled by the high number of innocent Iraqis being detained and held - in some cases for many months - by the Iraqi army. Several officers who serve as advisers to the Iraqis said at least half the people detained by the Iraqi army in Baghdad are innocent.
And the advisers say their close association with the units doing the detaining is placing the Americans on the horns of an ethical dilemma: On one hand, they are forbidden from taking unilateral action in order to free the prisoners; on the other hand, by not freeing innocent detainees being held by their close allies, they feel complicit in what some termed "a war crime."
In at least one case, a U.S. officer received a letter of admonishment from a general officer after taking it upon himself to free 35 prisoners he knew had been wrongly detained.
USA Today, 6/5/07
Proposed oil bill is for benefit of US companies
A draft law being considered by the Iraqi parliament would enable US companies to take control of Iraq's oil industry, oil experts in the country say.
The proposed bill, approved by the Iraqi government in February after months of wrangling, opens the country's oil sector to foreign investors 35 years after it was nationalised.
"The law is designed for the benefit of US oil companies," Ramzy Salman, an Iraqi economist who worked for the Iraqi oil ministry for 30 years, said. "If approved, it would take things back to where they were before the nationalisation of Iraq's oil in 1972."
Al Jazeera, 5/5/07
General predicts rise in US casualties
A U.S. Army general on Sunday forecast a rise in deaths among American forces in the coming months, a prediction underscored by the announcement that a roadside bomb had killed six U.S. soldiers and a foreign journalist north of Baghdad. Five other American troops died elsewhere over the weekend.
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, said casualties will climb as American troops dig into enemy territory as part of a stepped-up military operation ordered by President Bush in January.
Lynch, who oversees a swath of territory to the south and east of Baghdad, gave his bleak prediction on the heels of the deadliest month so far this year for American forces in Iraq. In April, 104 troops were killed, only the fourth time since the beginning of 2005 that U.S. deaths exceeded 100 in a single month.
Houston Chronicle, 7/5/2007
Afghanistan moves to curb press
Afghanistan's government is attempting to curb the nation's independent news media, which have flourished since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. For the past year the Afghan government has been trying to quell the growth of the independent news media, as government officials try to fend off accusations of corruption and ineffectiveness.
Because of government worries, Parliament is considering amendments that critics say would undo much of the press freedom that has been achieved since the Taliban's fall.
Aqa Fazil Sancharaki -- director of the Afghanistan National Journalists' Union, which has been fighting the amendments -- said he was not optimistic. He said one of his main concerns is the possible establishment of a media commission under strong government control.
"The government does not want to see and hear about its corruption and weaknesses on the media," said Shukria Barakzai, a member of Parliament and a former journalist.
United Press International, 7/5/07
Iraqi lawmakers reject US pressure
Iraqi lawmakers said Saturday that they might yet cut short their planned summer recess in order to pass key laws, but warned the United States not to push them to do so.
Some members of parliament said privately that pressure from Washington might even persuade some anti-American parties to insist on taking the two-month break as planned, as a gesture of defiance.
Some US politicians have angrily insisted that the Iraqi parliament cancel a recess due in August and September in order to have more time to pass bills designed to aid war-torn Iraq's quest for national reconciliation.
AFP, 5/5/07
Army turns on Blair
Operation Sinbad, a final effort to wrest control of Basra from the militias, appears to have failed, and there are not enough British soldiers in Iraq for another push, a fact which has caused anger among US commanders throwing reinforcements into the security crackdown in Baghdad.
But even if all the 5,500 British troops left in the country were to be pulled out immediately, it would not relieve the strains imposed by frequent combat tours, shortage of time for rest and retraining, and shortages of equipment needed to fight an infantry war.
Last week commanders in Afghanistan made it clear that they still did not have enough vehicles, despite complaints which go back almost a year. "Mr Blair has been very willing to use the armed forces, but not to sustain the commitment," said General Thompson.
"They are not prepared to spend the money, and this Government's politicisation of the civil service extends to the Ministry of Defence, where the chiefs of staff appear to have lost influence."
He concluded: "This is the Blair legacy. He has pushed the envelope too far in pursuing his policy of 'humanitarian intervention', and the armed forces are haemorrhaging as a result. People are saying that they don't feel supported, and they have had enough. They are probably right to feel that way."
Independent, 6/5/07
Afghanistan: Thousands homeless after US bombing
Almost 1,600 families have been displaced and many others need urgent humanitarian assistance two days after US war planes bombed several villages in the Shindand district of the western province of Herat, Afghan officials said. Reports of displacement follow claims that up to 60 civilians may have died in the fighting.
"Hundreds of houses have been destroyed and thousands of people need emergency relief," the director of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission in Herat, Ghulam Nabi Hakak, said on Thursday.
Between 27 and 29 April United States Special Forces fighting with the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police killed more than 130 Taliban fighters in the Shindand district, a US military press release reported. During the engagement a coalition aircraft bombed targets and an AC-130 gunship was also called in. According to the military press release "there were no civilian casualties reported".
However, the government of Afghanistan and the United Nations has confirmed reports which say more than 45 civilians, including women and children, died as a result of US military operation in Shindand.
Reuters, 3/5/05
Iraqis fear security services
"Be careful," warned a senior Iraqi government official living in the Green Zone in Baghdad, "be very careful and above all do not trust the police or the army." He added that the level of insecurity in the Iraqi capital is as bad now as it was before the US drive to make the city safe came into operation in February.
The so-called "surge", the dispatch of 20,000 extra American troops to Iraq with the prime mission of getting control of Baghdad, is visibly failing. There are army and police checkpoints everywhere but Iraqis are terrified because they do not know if the men in uniform they see there are, in reality, death squad members.
Independent, 5/5/07
US troops support torture
More than one-third of U.S. soldiers in Iraq surveyed by the Army said they believe torture should be allowed if it helps gather important information about insurgents, the Pentagon disclosed yesterday. Four in 10 said they approve of such illegal abuse if it would save the life of a fellow soldier.
In addition, about two-thirds of Marines and half the Army troops surveyed said they would not report a team member for mistreating a civilian or for destroying civilian property unnecessarily.
"Less than half of Soldiers and Marines believed that non-combatants should be treated with dignity and respect," the Army report stated.
About 10 percent of the 1,767 troops in the official survey -- conducted in Iraq last fall -- reported that they had mistreated civilians in Iraq, such as kicking them or needlessly damaging their possessions.
Washington Post, 5/5/07
Iraqis won't miss Blair
British Prime Minister Tony Blair may hope to be remembered as a champion of Iraq's fight against dictatorship, but when his expected resignation comes next week few war-weary Iraqis will regret his departure.
Four years after British forces joined a far larger US invasion force in overthrowing Saddam Hussein, Iraq is mired in sectarian strife and insurgent violence, and Mr Blair is seen here as little more than a White House lackey.
"Blair is the son of America," declared Mahmud al-Bajari, 56, a professor of economics at the University of Basra, the southern Iraqi city that has been the focus of British peacekeeping and reconstruction since the 2003 invasion.
"The occupying British forces are playing havoc in Basra," said history teacher Nadim Saleh. "Since they came until now, they have caused corruption and carried out random arrests and night raids with no justification.
"I am very happy to see Blair leaving his post, and I want to see another person there who does not copy US policy," the 45-year-old Shiite said on Friday, as marchers staged their latest anti-British protest.
"It's a shame that Britain has become a puppet in its policy to another country," he added.
The Australian, 4/5/07
British General says occupation must end
A retired British army general says Iraq's insurgents are justified in opposing the occupation, arguing that the US and its allies should "admit defeat" and leave Iraq before more soldiers are killed.
General Sir Michael Rose told the BBC's Newsnight programme: "It is the soldiers who have been telling me from the frontline that the war they have been fighting is a hopeless war, that they cannot possibly win it and the sooner we start talking politics and not military solutions, the sooner they will come home and their lives will be preserved."
Asked if that meant admitting defeat, the general replied: "Of course we have to admit defeat. The British admitted defeat in north America and the catastrophes that were predicted at the time never happened. The catastrophes that were predicted after Vietnam never happened. The same thing will occur after we leave Iraq."
Guardian, 4/5/07