Archive for the week ending 16th May 2008
Sadr City wall 'a magnet' to resistance
After nearly two months of clashes, the Iraqi government and representatives of radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced a cease-fire for Baghdad's Al-Sadr City, where residents are said to be suffering from shortages of food and fresh water.
The announcement was made on May 11, but gunfire and explosions could still be heard the following day in the volatile district as fighting continued around the 3-mile barrier that U.S. forces are erecting to block extremists from infiltrating the southern section of Al-Sadr City to fire rockets on the capital's International Zone, the seat of the Iraqi national government and headquarters for U.S. military and diplomatic offices.
"It doesn't look like a cease-fire to me," U.S. Army Major Kyle Ferger, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, said. "Just last night there were more than a dozen [incidents] along the wall.
"The wall's a magnet for them. They just keep on attacking."
Radio Free Europe, 14/5/08
US to 'beef up' Lebanese army
The US will 'beef up' the Lebanese army to disarm Hizbullah fighters and resist Iranian and Syrian influence in the region, President George Bush has pledged on the eve of a Middle East tour that is likely to be his last before leaving office.
With Lebanon the freshest crisis in the region, Bush lambasted Hizbullah and its supporters for "destablising the country and turning against the Lebanese people".
"The international community will not allow the Iranian and Syrian regimes, via their proxies, to return Lebanon to foreign domination and control" he said.
Washington would help Fuad Siniora, the embattled Sunni Lebanese prime minister, by strengthening this armed forces as they step up patrols to restore order after a week of violence initiated by the Shia militia.
The destroyer the USS Cole has been sent back to patrol the Lebanese coast to underline US support.
Guardian 14/5/08
Assault turns Mosul into ghost town
Mosul looks like a city of the dead. American and Iraqi troops have launched an attack aimed at crushing the last bastion of al- Qa'ida in Iraq and in doing so have turned the country's northern capital into a ghost town.
The Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki promised this offensive on Mosul as the last battle against al-Qa'ida. He promised revenge for the assassination of the previous police commander for the city who had been assassinated by an al-Qa'ida suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform.
These are critical days for Mr Maliki's government. Since 25 March he has launched military offensives in Basra and Baghdad. He is receiving support from the Americans and the Kurds. But it is not clear if the Iraqi army will fight without the backing of US firepower in the air or on the ground.
On Saturday a ceasefire was agreed with the Mehdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr in Sadr City giving the government greater control. But, as in Mosul, it is not clear how far the government's opponents have simply retreated to fight another day.
Independent, 12/5/08
US prepares to fight future insurgencies
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates implored the U.S. military Tuesday to prepare more for fighting future wars against insurgents and militias such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, rather than spending so much time and money preparing for conventional conflicts.
In unusually strong language, Gates warned against what he described as a tendency in the Pentagon to fall back on Cold War mentalities and said he feared that lessons from the U.S. struggle against insurgencies in Iraq could fade unless military commanders understand that today's enemies are the foes of the future.
Gates said there must be a balance between meeting today's demands and tomorrow's contingencies, but he expressed concern that the defense establishment is not concentrating hard enough on what might be needed in future conflicts. He said the armed services and their corporate counterparts should steer technology and resources toward battling insurgencies.
Washington Post, 14/5/08
US covered for corruption in Iraq
The Bush administration repeatedly ignored corruption at the highest levels within the Iraqi government and kept secret potentially embarrassing information so as not to undermine its relationship with Baghdad , according to two former State Department employees.
Arthur Brennan, who briefly served in Baghdad as head of the department's Office of Accountability and Transparency last year, and James Mattil, who worked as the chief of staff, told Senate Democrats on Monday that their office was understaffed and its warnings and recommendations ignored.
Brennan also alleges the State Department prevented a congressional staffer visiting Baghdad from talking with staffers by insisting they were too busy. In reality, Brennan said, the staffers were watching movies at the embassy and on their computers.
The U.S. embassy "effort against corruption - including its new centerpiece, the now-defunct Office of Accountability and Transparency - was little more than 'window dressing,'" Brennan added.
AFP, 13/5/08
UK palm oil market fuels Colombia death squads
Britain's passion for chocolate, cakes and crisps is fuelling a violent campaign to force Colombian peasants off their land to make way for oil palm plantations, a report claims today.
British consumers have become the biggest export market for the controversial crop which is used in margarine and pastries as well as toothpaste, soap and detergents and cosmetics.
The surge in demand has sustained a ruthless landgrab by rightwing paramilitary groups in Colombia's rural areas, War on Want, a London-based advocacy group, says in its report.
The report details numerous land seizures in the south-west Pacific region where subsistence farmers have been expelled and in some cases killed by armed groups allegedly seeking to cash in on the palm oil bonanza.
Guardian, 12/5/08
Disability cost of US veterans soars
Increasing numbers of U.S. troops have left the military with damaged bodies and minds, a pool of disabled veterans that will cost the nation billions of dollars for decades.
Despite a decline in the total number of veterans - as soldiers from World War II and Korea die - the government expects to be spending $59 billion a year to compensate injured warriors in 25 years, up from today's $29 billion.
And the Veterans Affairs Department concedes that the bill could be much higher. Why? Worse wounds. More disabilities. More vets aware of the benefits and quicker to file for them.
Also, ironically, advanced medical care. Troops come home with devastating injuries that might well have killed them in earlier wars.
Kansas City Star, 11/5/08
Bush prepares 'parting gifts' for Israel
The Bush administration appears set to offer Israel a powerful radar system that could greatly boost Israeli defenses against enemy ballistic missiles while tying it directly into a growing U.S. missile shield.
George W. Bush is expected to discuss the matter during a visit to Israel on Wednesday to mark the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state amid mounting U.S. concerns about perceived threats from Iran, people familiar with the matter said.
An Israeli defense official said Israel had discussed a range of "parting gifts" from Bush, who leaves office on January 20, including military pacts and technologies.
Reuters, 10/5/08
US says Syria, Iran, stir Lebanon fighting
The Bush administration accused Iran and Syria of fueling ongoing violence in Lebanon by inciting members of the radical Hezbollah movement to take up arms against the Western-backed government.
As Hezbollah militants seized control of large parts of Beirut, the administration denounced the show of force and reaffirmed its support for Prime Minister Fuad Siniora's shaky coalition.
"Backed by Syria and Iran, Hezbollah and its allies are killing and injuring innocent citizens and undermining the legitimate authority of the Lebanese government and the institutions of the Lebanese state," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States had evidence that Iran and Syria had taken an active role in encouraging the violence that has killed at least 14 people and wounded 20.
Chicago Tribune 11/5/08
Iraqi factions agree truce
Iraqi Shi'ite factions on Saturday reached a deal to end fighting between militia and security forces in the Baghdad bastion of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr that has killed hundreds of people, officials said.
The violence has trapped the 2 million residents of Sadr City in a battle zone for around seven weeks and prompted aid workers to warn of a humanitarian crisis.
But it is unclear how much control the anti-American Sadr has over many of the militiamen who claim allegiance to him in Sadr City, stronghold of his Mehdi Army militia.
The U.S. military declined to make any immediate comment on the deal, reached between the Sadr movement's bloc in parliament and the ruling Shi'ite alliance.
U.S. helicopters have been hovering over Sadr City 24 hours a day, hunting rocket and mortar crews. It was unclear if Maliki had ordered the U.S. military to stop offensive operations.
Bahaa al-Araji, a parliamentarian from Sadr's movement, said the faction wanted no U.S. troops there. Most U.S. ground troops have stayed in an area around the southern portion of the slum.
Reuters 11/5/08
Iraq contractor makes comeback
Last fall, Blackwater Worldwide was in deep peril. Guards for the security company were involved in a shooting in September that left at least 17 Iraqis dead at a Baghdad intersection. Outrage over the killings prompted the Iraqi government to demand Blackwater's ouster from the country, and led to a criminal investigation by the F.B.I., a series of internal investigations by the State Department and the Pentagon, and high-profile Congressional hearings.
But after an intense public and private lobbying campaign, Blackwater appears to be back to business as usual. The State Department has just renewed its contract to provide security for American diplomats in Iraq for at least another year.
Threats by the Iraqi government to strip Western contractors of their immunity from Iraqi law have gone nowhere. No charges have been brought in the United States against any Blackwater guard in the September shooting, either, and the F.B.I. agents in Baghdad charged with investigating whether Blackwater guards have committed any crimes under United States law are sometimes protected as they travel through Baghdad by Blackwater guards.
The chief reason for the company's survival? State Department officials said that they did not believe they had any alternative to Blackwater, which supplies about 800 guards to the department to provide security for diplomats in Baghdad.
Officials say only three companies in the world meet their requirements for protective services in Iraq, and the other two do not have the capability to take on Blackwater's role in Baghdad. After the shooting in September, the State Department did not even open talks with the other two companies, DynCorp International and Triple Canopy, to see if they could take over from Blackwater.
"We cannot operate without private security firms in Iraq," said Patrick F. Kennedy, the under secretary of state for management. "If the contractors were removed, we would have to leave Iraq."
New York Times 10/5/08
Shell pulls out of Iran gas deal
Oil major Royal Dutch Shell has pulled out of a planned gas project in Iran, after coming under pressure not to participate from U.S. lawmakers who were concerned about Iran's nuclear programme.
Iran will now need to find new partners for the project. Media reports have suggested Russia's Gazprom, Indian Oil and Chinese companies could join, as they are expected to be less susceptible to U.S. political pressure.
Reuters 10/5/08
Guantanamo general dropped from Pakistan post
When the Pentagon announced in March that Maj. Gen. Jay W. Hood would become the senior American officer based in Pakistan, it reflected the military's aim to put a crisis-tested veteran in a critical job at a pivotal time in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas.
But nearly two months later, the military has quietly canceled the assignment of General Hood, a 33-year Army veteran who was excoriated in the Pakistani news media for one of his previous jobs: commander of the United States prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The decision to withdraw General Hood's assignment has not been announced, but it appears to reflect the widening shadow that the military prison at Guantánamo is casting over American foreign policy.
While the United States considers Pakistan a close ally in its counterterrorism efforts, the accounts by Pakistanis who have returned to Pakistan after being held at Guantánamo Bay have added to anti-American sentiment in the country.
Several leading Pakistani military and foreign affairs commentators denounced General Hood's selection in recent weeks, calling on their new government to block his appointment. In interviews this week, American military officials said they had reluctantly concluded that General Hood's effectiveness could be seriously hindered, and that his personal safety might even be at risk if he were to take up the post.
New York Times, 9/5/08