These are the archives for the week ending 17th August 2007
Ministry of Defence gives access passes to arms merchants
The Ministry of Defence has given security passes to 38 employees of the arms giant BAE, allowing them to go in and out of the ministry's headquarters as they please, it has been revealed.
The disclosure has triggered accusations that the relationship between the MoD and BAE is too close and allows the arms company to exert too much political influence over the government.
It has also emerged that BAE staff have been given passes by two other Whitehall ministries in recent years - two from the trade department and one from the Foreign Office. Critics have claimed that BAE wields huge influence over the government through privileged access and lobbying. The company regularly gives jobs to former MoD officials - 33 in the last 18 months.
Tony Blair and his defence ministers frequently lobbied foreign governments to give lucrative contracts to BAE, Britain's biggest arms firm, which receives contracts worth more than £1bn a year from the MoD.
The security passes enable BAE staff to go into the two main Whitehall buildings housing ministers, top officials and military chiefs, and a third, the home of the ministry's arms sales department. The MoD has given 96 passes to arms companies, including the MoD's privatised research arm, Qinetiq, the US company Lockheed Martin and French firm Thales, according to its latest figures.
Guardian, 16/8/07
US to denounce Iranian 'terrorists'
The Bush administration is preparing to ramp up its confrontation with Iran by declaring part or all of the country's Revolutionary Guard a "global terrorist" organisation and targeting its extensive financial interests.
The move is extremely provocative, given that the 125,000-strong Revolutionary Guard Corps is an integral part of the state rather than a group outside the law. It has its own navy, air force, and ground troops, as well as specialist wings.
The plan is the first concrete illustration of a shift in balance from the "doves" in the Bush administration - Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, and Robert Gates, the defence secretary - to the "hawks" around Dick Cheney, the vice-president, who has expressed frustration over a lack of progress by diplomats and supports eventual military action.
The labelling of the Revolutionary Guard is a concession by Ms Rice and Mr Gates to Mr Cheney. The plan is at an advanced stage: Ms Rice has informed the foreign secretary, David Miliband, of the US intention.
Guardian, 16/8/07
Iraq detainees at all time high
U.S. military operations associated with the troop increase in Baghdad have boosted the number of detainees held in American facilities in Iraq to about 23,000, up 5,000 from four months ago, according to Army Col. Mark Martins, the top military lawyer in Iraq. That number represents an all-time high since the U.S. occupation began in 2003.
Iraqi security forces have picked up 4,052 detainees during the increase, bringing the overall number of security detainees now held in Iraqi prisons to 60,000, said Judge Abdul Satar Bayrkdar, spokesman for the Iraqi Higher Judicial Council.
Washington Post, 15/8/07
US puts pressure on to save Maliki government
With a mid-September deadline looming for the Bush administration to deliver its Iraq progress report to Congress, American diplomats in Baghdad are working in overdrive to prevent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government from total collapse - something that could shatter all efforts to forge a long-elusive national reconciliation.
US Ambassador Ryan Crocker has been in close contact with Iraqi officials in the runup to a crisis summit of leaders, scheduled for this week. He has also met with top Sunni, Kurdish, and Shiite leaders individually.
The US Embassy is offering advice, ideas, and encouragement to make sure that agreements reached by the leaders are specific and meaningful, says an embassy official knowledgeable about the talks.
"Behind the scenes, there is a lot of cajoling and warning. The Americans are very much involved to make sure the Maliki government does not fall," says Rime Allaf of London's Royal Institute of International Affairs.
Christian Science Monitor, 16/8/07
IMF calls for Iraq oil law changes
The Iraqi economy has not been growing as fast as expected, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It blames an expected expansion in oil production that failed to materialise.
The IMF praised the work of the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) in bringing consumer price inflation down to 46% in June from 65% at the end of 2006.
The CBI has allowed the Iraqi dinar to appreciate by 15% and has raised its key interest rate twice so it currently stands at 20%.
"Despite an unsettled political situation, capacity constraints, and the deterioration in security in 2006, progress has been made in implementing structural reforms, although much remains to be done," the report says.
It calls for a new legislative framework for the oil sector to help encourage foreign investment and bring about the growth in oil production that the IMF had been expecting in 2006.
BBC News, 14/8/07
High level of suicide amongst US troops
Army soldiers committed suicide last year at the highest rate in 26 years, and more than 25 percent did so while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new military report.
The report found that there were 99 confirmed suicides among active- duty soldiers during 2006, up from 88 the previous year and the highest since the 102 suicides in 1991 at the time of the Persian Gulf War.
The suicide rate for the Army has fluctuated over the past 26 years, from last year's high of 17.3 per 100,000 to a low of 9.1 per 100,000 in 2001.
Winston-Salem Journal, 18/8/07
Surge fails to stem violence
The killing of more than 200 people in northern Iraq in the latest bombing atrocity has refocused attention on whether the American "surge" is working.
In January, the US president George Bush, announced that 21,500 more troops would be sent to Iraq to quell sectarian violence, a move regarded by many as a last throw of the dice. Mr Bush said the new strategy would work where other plans had failed because of the increased force levels.
But sectarian violence has continued and many believe the surge has simply led to extremists targeting other areas. Among them is Professor Paul Rogers of the department of Peace Studies at Bradford University.
"If you look from a wide perspective, it is clear the US surge has been massive. It is probably the largest military operation we have seen," he told the BBC's Today programme. "There is a very strong push is Washington to say that the surge is working and things are getting better but objectively I'm afraid that does not appear to be the case and what has happened in the past 24 hours is very clear evidence of that."
Guardian, 15/8/07
Iran visit ruffles US feathers
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, audaciously signalled his determination to counter US global power today by meeting his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai, in open defiance of Washington's wishes.
Mr Ahmadinejad led a high-ranking Iranian delegation to Kabul in a demonstration of growing Iranian influence in Afghanistan, where the US, Britain and other western powers are engaged in a bitter struggle with the Taliban.
The visit - Mr Ahmadinejad's first to Afghanistan - was tailor-made to provoke alarm within the Bush administration, which accuses Tehran of destabilising its efforts while claiming that the Taliban is being armed with Iranian weapons. Iran, which is mainly Shia, denies helping the Taliban, whose puritanical Sunni ideology it has condemned.
Guardian Unlimited 14/8/07
British troops 1 in 36 chance of dying
Figures revealed yesterday show how Britain's front-line troops in Afghanistan now have a one in 36 chance of dying in a six-month tour of the country, compared to a one in 100 chance during a tour of Iraq.
In addition, hundreds have been severely injured. MoD figures also show that, up until July 15, 699 troops have needed hospital treatment due to battle wounds or disease since 2001.
Telegraph 14/8/07
British fear increase in casualties...
Gordon Brown has been warned by senior army officers that delaying withdrawal from Iraq will lead to an increase in the number of British troops being killed.
Senior officers believe an imminent concentration of troops in one base at Basra international airport is bound to lead to the Iraqi militias intensifying their attacks.
The warning comes as new figures show that the airport and a second base at the Basra Palace have been hit by more than 300 rocket and mortar attacks in the past two months, more than in all the previous four years put together. "We have seen a clear increase in attacks as the enemy try to take the initiative," said one senior officer.
"The longer we sit and wait, I fear the more soldiers will die. We need to be given a clear mission or get out."
Sunday Times, 12/8/07
...while US prepares for their withdrawal
America is preparing to pour thousands of extra troops into southern Iraq amid fears that Gordon Brown is committed to withdrawing British troops from the region early next year.
The White House and the Pentagon are understood to have drawn up detailed plans to secure the vital "umbilical cord" link road between Baghdad and Kuwait when the British depart.
Washington is also concerned that a British pull-out will leave the border with Iran undefended, as well as undermining US operations at a time when political pressure is mounting for an American withdrawal.
Sunday Telegraph, 12/8/07
Maliki calls crisis meeting
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki overnight called on senior leaders in Iraq's bitterly divided communities to hold crisis talks this week in an effort to save his fraying national unity government.
"I have invited major political leaders to a meeting to discuss substantial matters," Mr Maliki said in a televised speech.
Seventeen ministerial posts in his government are empty or filled by members boycotting cabinet meetings amid protests by many parties, especially the main Sunni Arab bloc, at Mr Maliki's faltering program of national reconciliation.
Hopes that his so-called unity coalition can be saved now depend on the senior leadership of the rival parties cutting a new power-sharing deal that can convince the bitter Sunni minority to return to the fold.
News.com, Australia, 13/8/07
US army 'about broken'
The anecdotal evidence on the ground confirms what others - prominent among them General Colin Powell, the former US Secretary of State - have been insisting for months now: that the US army is 'about broken'.
Only a third of the regular army's brigades now qualify as combat-ready. Officers educated at the elite West Point academy are leaving at a rate not seen in 30 years, with the consequence that the US army has a shortfall of 3,000 commissioned officers - and the problem is expected to worsen.
And it is not only the soldiers that are worn out. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to the destruction, or wearing out, of 40 per cent of the US army's equipment, totalling at a recent count $212bn (£105bn).
Observer, 11/8/07
UN expands Iraq mission...
The Security Council voted unanimously Friday to expand the United Nations' presence in Iraq to help tackle political, economic and humanitarian problems that have eluded the U.S., British and Iraqi governments.
The resolution directs the United Nations to help reconcile rival factions and to mediate territorial disputes, such as in the northern Kurdish territory where there is a pending referendum on the future of oil-rich Kirkuk.
The U.N. mission also should promote talks with Iraq's neighbors on border security and refugee issues, and rally international support for rebuilding the country, the resolution says.
The United States and Britain, which have the largest military forces in Iraq and co-sponsored the resolution, have been pushing the world body to do more in the country because they believe the United Nations is perceived as more neutral and can approach ethnic and religious leaders that they cannot.
Seattle Times, 11/8/07
...but staff refuse to go
Just as the Security Council voted unanimously on Friday to expand the UN's role in Iraq, the UN staff union called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to pull all UN personnel out of Iraq until security improves.
Expanding the UN mission in Iraq may be a good idea. But the expansion calls for more UN staffers, and the employees' union, the UN Staff Council, can resist any further deployment of staff in Iraq, arguing that UN personnel will not be protected adequately by U.S.-led forces in the country.
Underscoring the absurdity of all this is the meager scope of the authorized expansion. The resolution would raise the number of UN staff in Iraq from 65 to 95, a barely noticeable increase.
Newsday, 12/8/07
Marine serves 15 months for murder of Iraqi
The last of five infantry squad members who pleaded guilty in the kidnapping and killing last year of an unarmed Iraqi man in Hamandiya was freed Friday after a review of his sentence.
Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, commanding general of Marine Forces Central Command, ordered the release of Marine Pvt. Robert Pennington, who had served 15 months of an eight-year sentence, after a meeting at Camp Pendleton with Pennington and his parents.
Mattis' move comes in the wake of two courts-martial over the same incident in which Marine juries found two corporals guilty but gave them no jail time beyond the months they had spent locked up awaiting trial.
Pennington was a lance corporal and on his third combat tour in Iraq when he and seven other members of the same squad decided to kidnap and kill an Iraqi as a warning to insurgents to stop attacking Marines in the Hamandiya area west of Baghdad.
Prosecutors alleged that Pennington was one of the leaders of the plot, particularly in planting phony evidence to suggest that the Iraqi was an insurgent killed in a firefight.
Los Angeles Times, 11/8/07
British want US troops out of Afghanistan
British frontline commanders in Afghanistan want US special forces commandos barred from Helmand because they say the Americans' gung-ho approach is undermining the UK's hearts-and-minds campaign in the province.
A Nato spokesman admitted yesterday there had been "tensions" over differing approaches to operational doctrine, though he tried to play down the growing rift between British and American military leaders.
More than 380 Afghan civilians have been killed this year by airstrikes, many called in by US Delta Force or Green Beret teams in the volatile south.
British military sources say the Americans' instant use of overwhelming firepower when faced with even minor Taliban attacks is creating new recruits for the insurgents and wiping out any goodwill created by civil reconstruction projects.
The Herald, Scotland, 10/8/07
Maliki government on point of collapse
Talk about whether Iraq's government will survive is taboo among U.S. officials, but experts and diplomats say the hobbled coalition is in big trouble and the betting is it won't last.
Nearly half of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Cabinet members have quit or are boycotting meetings at a time when the Bush administration is under pressure to show Congress that Iraq's warring factions are reconciling.
Former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel said it would be a "disaster" for President George W. Bush's troop surge strategy if Maliki's government collapsed and would weaken his case to Congress, which expects a report next month from the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus.
"No matter how many numbers General Petraeus can come up with, if the government is falling apart, the American people will see that the strategy has failed on the political side," said Riedel, now with the Brookings Institution.
"It's no wonder the administration does not want to talk about it. It is a nightmare for them."
Washington Post, 10/8/07
Australian government under pressure on Iraq
John Howard has demanded the Iraqi Government make faster progress towards resolving the country's political differences or face the prospect of a withdrawal of Australian troops and those of other Western nations.
The Prime Minister, in a blunt letter to his Iraqi counterpart Nouri al-Maliki, urges the Iraqi Government to speed the sharing of oil wealth among all sections of the Iraqi community, including the minority Sunni population.
The letter displays Mr Howard's deep and growing frustration with the Maliki Government, which has suspended sittings of the Iraqi parliament for the whole of this month. With the federal election looming, it shows Mr Howard is under real political pressure on Iraq for the first time.
The Australian, 11/8/07
War good for profits
Work to re-equip UK and US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has helped profits to soar at defence group BAE Systems. The UK's largest defence firm, BAE made a pre-tax profit of £657m , compared with £378m a year earlier.
BAE said the "high tempo" of UK and US military operations was increasing demand for land systems to support armed forces overseas. BAE, which is facing an anti-corruption probe by US authorities, saw its half-year revenues rise by 10%.
BBC News, 9/8/07
US backing is 'kiss of death'
Lebanon's political spin masters have been trying in recent days to explain the results of last Sunday's pivotal by-election, which saw a relatively unknown candidate from the opposition narrowly beat a former president, Amin Gemayel.
There has been talk of the Christian vote and the Armenian vote, of history and betrayal, as each side sought to claim victory.
There is one explanation, however, that has become common wisdom in the region: Mr. Gemayel's doom seems to have been sealed by his support from the Bush administration and the implied agendas behind its backing.
"It's the kiss of death," said Turki al-Rasheed, a Saudi reformer who watched last Sunday's elections closely. "The minute you are counted on or backed by the Americans, kiss it goodbye, you will never win."
New York Times, 9/8/07
Iraq's gays under attack
Human rights groups say that Iraqi gays increasingly are targeted by militias and police. The United Nations and State Department have issued reports documenting some of the more recent killings.
A UN report in January cited attacks on gays by militants, as well as the existence of "religious courts, supervised by clerics, where homosexuals allegedly would be tried, sentenced to death and then executed."
Iraqi leaders dismiss those claims, and Middle East specialists say it is difficult to tell whether the attacks are state-sanctioned.
"Nobody's paying attention to this issue," said Ali Dabbagh, spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "It is not the custom of the people of Iraq. Not only Iraq, but the whole region."
Boston Globe, 10/8/07