These are the archives for the week ending 23rd February 2007
The retreat from Basra
It is an admission of defeat. Iraq is turning into one of the world's bloodiest battlefields in which nobody is safe. Blind to this reality, Tony Blair said yesterday that Britain could safely cut its forces in Iraq because the apparatus of the Iraqi government is growing stronger.
In fact the civil war is getting worse by the day. Food is short in parts of the country. A quarter of the population would starve without government rations. Many Iraqis are ill because their only drinking water comes from the highly polluted Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Nowhere in Mr Blair's statement was any admission of regret for reducing Iraq to a wasteland from which 2 million people have fled and 1.5 million are displaced internally.
Mr Blair gave the impression that the presence of US and British forces is popular among Iraqis. In fact an opinion poll cited by the bipartisan Baker-Hamilton report of senior Democrats and Republicans in Washington showed that 61 per cent of Iraqis favour armed attacks on US and British forces.
Independent, 22/2/07
'Coalition of the willing' crumbles
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington's most important ally in Iraq, late last night announced a decision to bring home 1600 of his country's troops within months, and to further reduce its presence later in the year.
In an address to the House of Commons, Mr Blair also appeared to leave open the possibility of a full withdrawal of British forces from Iraq next year, saying its presence would continue into 2008 only "for as long as we are wanted and have a job to do".
Denmark also announced last night that it would withdraw all of its 460 troops from southern Iraq in August, bringing to at least 18 the number of "coalition of the willing" nations that have reduced or abandoned their Iraq commitment.
The decision caused embarrassment yesterday for Prime Minister John Howard, who has been publicly lashing out at Labor in Australia, and Democrat presidential hopeful Barack Obama in the US, over their proposals for troop withdrawals from Iraq.
The Age, Australia, 22/2/07
Blair's timing is awkward for Bush
As the British announced the beginning of their departure from Iraq yesterday, President Bush's top foreign policy aide proclaimed it "basically a good-news story." Yet for an already besieged White House, the decision was doing a good job masquerading as a bad-news story.
To many back in Washington what resonated was that Bush's main partner in Iraq is starting to get out just as the president is sending in more U.S. troops. Even some Republicans, and, in private, White House aides, agreed that the announcement sent an ill-timed message to the American public.
"What I'm worried about is that the American public will be quite perplexed by the president adding forces while our principal ally is subtracting forces," said Republican Senator John W. Warner , a longtime war supporter who opposes Bush's troop increase. "That is the burden we are being left with here."
The notion that the British pullback actually signals success sounds like bad spin, added another Republican, Senator Arlen Specter. "I think it's Alice in Wonderland looking through the looking glass," he said.
Washington Post, 22/2/07
Iran attack plans revealed
US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned.
It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres. The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment.
But diplomatic sources have told the BBC that as a fallback plan, senior officials at Central Command in Florida have already selected their target sets inside Iran.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the trigger for such an attack reportedly includes any confirmation that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon - which it denies. Alternatively, our correspondent adds, a high-casualty attack on US forces in neighbouring Iraq could also trigger a bombing campaign if it were traced directly back to Tehran.
BBC News, 20/2/07
£500 million more more Blair's wars
The British Ministry of Defence's budget has been increased to meet the costs of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the UK Government announced Tuesday.
The defence budget has been boosted by more than 500 million pounds as the Government announced its spring supplementary estimates. The Ministry's departmental expenditure limit has now been set at more than 34 billion pounds.
Kuwait News Agency, 20/2/07
UK attacks NATO allies
Britain accused its NATO allies on Tuesday of failing to send enough troops and hardware to fight Taliban guerrillas in southern Afghanistan.
"This is a real test of the resolve and of the credibility of NATO and I'm not sure that every NATO member understands the significance of that," Kim Howells, the Foreign Office minister responsible for Afghanistan told parliament. "If they did then I'm sure they'd be far more ready to put more troops and more assets down into the south where the real battle is going on at the moment," he said.
He added: "I know of countries that have helicopters that might as well be parked up in leading European airports for the amount of good they are doing in some parts of Afghanistan."
Reuters, 20/2/07
The problem of Sadr City
U.S. and Iraqi forces have moved aggressively in the past week to combat Sunni Arab insurgents in neighborhoods across the capital and to establish a stronger presence in religiously mixed districts plagued by sectarian violence.
But as the new security crackdown enters a second week, the forces face their most sensitive challenge: whether, when and how to move into the Shiite-dominated slum of Sadr City, stronghold of the Mahdi army militia.
Americans took heavy casualties when they tried to storm Sadr City in the spring and summer of 2004. For Americans, the street fights with black-clad teens holding AK-47s while running down the streets in slippers represented a nadir few want to relive. Rather than crush the Mahdi Army, the U.S. ultimately wound up bolstering al-Sadr's street credibility and undermining the popularity of pro-American Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.
Los Angeles Times, 20/2/07
Cheyney claims terrorism caused by weakness
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday the United States wants to finish its mission in Iraq and "return with honour", despite the war's growing unpopularity at home and doubts among U.S. allies.
In a speech delivered aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier at Yokosuka Navy Base near Tokyo, Cheney said: "We know that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength, they are invited by the perception of weakness."
"We know that if we leave Iraq before the mission is completed, the enemy is going to come after us. And I want you to know that the American people will not support a policy of retreat," he added.
Scotsman, 21/2/07
Resistance attacks US base
In a coordinated assault on an American combat outpost north of Baghdad, suicide bombers drove three cars laden with explosives into the base, killing two American soldiers and wounding at least 17 more, according to witnesses and the American military.
The brazen and highly unusual attack, which was followed by fierce gun battles and a daring evacuation of the wounded Americans by helicopter, came on a day of violence across the country that left more than 40 people dead in shootings, suicide bombings, mortar attacks and roadside explosions.
The violence was directed at civilians, Americans and the Iraqi security forces. Many of the attacks north of Baghdad were conducted by Sunni militants, possibly seeking a firmer hold on havens outside of Baghdad as American and Iraqi troops flood the streets here in an attempt to stem the bloodshed, according to American and Iraqi military officials.
New York Times, 20/2/07
Security forces rob Iraqi academics
When Iraqi soldiers and police smashed their way into Mohammed al-Jabouri's home on the first day of Baghdad's latest security crackdown last week, he did not imagine they would steal the family's life savings.
The security forces separated the men from the women and then ordered Jabouri's wife to give them a suitcase filled with jewellery and £20,000 in cash.
Later the same night, security forces raided a compound containing the homes of 110 university professors and their families. Professor Hameed al-Aathami described what happened: "They dragged us out of our beds as we slept with our wives and children, took us outside, bound our hands and blindfolded us. They beat, cursed and insulted us."
"They gathered all the men in the centre of the compound and proceeded to their homes, where they broke furniture, stole money, mobile telephones and jewellery as we sat outside listening to our women and children scream and cry," he said.
"It was very hard for us to go through this. This is the security crackdown they have been bragging about. There is no such thing as a security plan; it is all an attempt to rid the country of the few remaining educated and decent people," said Aathami, who is planning to leave Iraq as soon as he can.
Sunday Times, 18/2/07
US fighting covert war in Iran
Bullet cartridges bearing a U.S. insignia and English lettering were among the weaponry seized last week from Sunni militants suspected of killing 11 members of Iran's elite Shiite-dominated Revolutionary Guards, Iranian officials said Sunday.
A photograph of the cartridge box, along with an array of other ammunition, was published by Iranian newspapers and agencies. Officials said weapons used in the attack, which also wounded 31 people, were U.S. and British-made.
"Moreover, the arrested terrorist agents have confessed that they have been trained by English-speaking people," an official said.
Over the past year, Iran has experienced a wave of protests and bombings by non-Shiite minorities, especially Sunni Muslims living along the nation's western border with Iraq and its eastern border with Pakistan and Afghanistan, where there were two bombings last week.
Stratfor, a Texas-based security and intelligence analysis firm, said in a report Saturday that the attacks "fall in line with U.S. efforts to supply and train Iran's ethnic minorities to destabilize the Iranian regime." It said a "covert intelligence war" between Iran and the United States is "well under way."
Houston Chronicle, 19/2/07
US economic policies bring poverty to Iraq
A third of Iraqis live in poverty, according to a study released under United Nations auspices Sunday, dire findings for a nation that enjoyed widespread prosperity less than three decades ago.
The report, produced by a division of the Iraqi government and the United Nations Development Program, found that by 2004, Iraqi living standards had deteriorated considerably compared with that of the 1970s and '80s, particularly in the areas of water, electricity, sanitation, jobs, income and assets.
Though living standards started to decline under the decades-long leadership of Saddam Hussein, and continued through two wars and crippling sanctions that followed, the report takes aim at economic policies put in place after the 2003 invasion.
The policies, which reflect American free-market priorities, dismantled state-run enterprises that employed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and ended subsidies. The policies presented Iraqis with wrenching change, leading to high unemployment and frustration, the report said.
Los Angeles Times, 19/2/07
Bombs mar 'brilliant success'
A bomb has exploded on a bus in central Baghdad killing at least four people, the day after three car bombs in mainly Shia areas of the capital killed at least 63 people and injured more than 139.
The blasts came just days after Iraq's prime minister described Operation Imposing Law as a "brilliant success". US generals had cautioned the downturn might be temporary as fighters decided on their next move and adapted their tactics.
Al Jazeera, 18/2/07
Refugee crisis grows in Iraq
Almost 18,000 individuals have been displaced in the past three weeks in the 15 central and southern governorates of the volatile Iraq, according to monitoring by the International Organization for Displacement (IOM). An estimated 290,000 people have now been displaced in these governorates since February 2006 with a further 84,000 having been forced to leave their homes in Iraq's three northern governorates.
With no sign of further displacement ending and with the possibility of surrounding borders being closed to Iraqi refugees, IOM estimates that as many as an additional one million people could be displaced this year in a country where pre-2006 displacement figures had reached about 1.4 million.
"We have to remember that those who are internally displaced are largely people who don't have the financial resources to leave the country to seek safety and who have very few means to help themselves,"said Rafiq Tschannen, IOM's chief of mission for Iraq.
Several of the more stable Iraqi governorates have decided to restrict entrance to or have closed their governorates altogether to the internally displaced as new arrivals place an ever greater burden on local hospitals, schools and sanitation facilities. In addition, an increase in rent and unemployment is adding to growing tension between the newly displaced and the host communities.
International Organization for Displacement, 16/2/07
Massive arms build up by pro-western gulf states
The Middle East's biggest arms fair, IDEX-2007, has opened in the United Arab Emirates with hundreds of manufacturers displaying state-of-the-art weaponry to oil-rich monarchies that are keen on upgrading their armed forces.
The pro-Western Gulf Arab states are seeking to reinforce their armed forces and security systems amid heightened instability in neighbouring Iraq and the international community's nuclear standoff with Iran.
After earning more than 400 billion dollars in oil revenues in 2006 on the back of high world prices, the six Gulf Arab states have record budget surpluses and money to spend. Between them Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE control some 45 percent of world oil reserves.
In 2006, they concluded armament deals worth 35 billion dollars, said Mustafa Alani, a security expert at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Centre (GRC). British suppliers won some 13 billion dollars of these contracts, US firms 11 billion and French manufacturers 10 billion, Alani told AFP. Between 2000 and 2005, accummulated armament spending by the six countries totalled 233 billion dollars, representing 70 percent of armament expenditure in the Arab world and four percent worldwide, a survey published by the GRC in January found.
AFP, 18/2/07
Hearts and minds
First, American soldiers scoured the home for weapons as four veiled Iraqi women cowered on a dusty rug. Then a platoon sergeant politely wiped his muddy boots, came in and talked to the family about the violence suffocating their city.
Staff Sgt. Michael James of the Army's 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment came with his platoon on a search-and-seizure mission. But he was careful to follow up with expressions of respect and concern. "Tell them, 'Thank you,' for their hospitality," James asked his translator.
U.S. troops are working hard to strike a tricky balance between force and friendship in the opening days of a push to bring order to Iraq's capital. They storm into neighborhoods with tons of U.S. armor, kicking through doors. They later return quietly on foot offering stickers and soccer balls decorated with doves and olive branches.
During so-called "walk and talks," they meet Iraqis face to face to assure them peace is coming - although past promises have turned out to be mirages.
"Winning the hearts and minds - that's what it's all about," said James, 32, of Chillicothe, Mo.
But swaying sentiments and calming anger is not always as simple as handing out gifts. Some children have seen troops burst into their homes and haul away their fathers and brothers. In Ramadi, about 70 miles west of Baghdad, soldiers have been pelted with the same candy they tossed out as presents.
San Jose Mercury News, 17/2/07
More troops to Afghanistan
Indicating that some countries including Turkey, the UK, Poland and Bulgaria have agreed to send more troops to the region, Bush referred to Turkey`s decision to increase its troops in Afghanistan to 1,000 from 778, saying that he appreciates the "many allies who have embraced the idea of sending more troops."
However, Bush said that NATO allies need to deploy more troops and be willing to send soldiers into the most violent battles with Taliban fighters, calling 2006 "the most violent year in Afghanistan since the invasion."
Pakistan Tribune, 18/2/07
Growing Kurdish distrust of US
Leaders of Iraq's Kurdish minority, who were key US allies in the 2003 invasion, are becoming increasingly critical of US actions in Iraq and are now seeking assurances from the Bush administration that Americans will protect their region if violence reaches its borders.
Qubad Talabani , the Washington-based representative of the Kurdish Regional Government, said he has met with White House and State Department officials to seek a public US commitment to intervene in the event of an invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan by outsiders from elsewhere in Iraq or neighboring countries, but that so far he has received no official response.
The remarks of Talabani, the son of Iraq's president Jalal Talabani, suggest that Iraq's peaceful Kurdish provinces are increasingly pessimistic about the prospects for a unified and stable Iraq.
They also underscore a growing distrust of the United States among Iraqi Kurds, who say US officials have ignored or undermined their interests as Washington focuses on quelling the violence in Arab Sunni and Shi'ite areas.
Boston news, 15/2/07
Waste, fraud and abuse 'could be astronomical'
About $10 billion has been squandered by the U.S. government on Iraq reconstruction aid because of contractor overcharges and unsupported expenses, and federal investigators warned Thursday that significantly more taxpayer money is at risk.
The three top auditors overseeing work in Iraq told a House committee their review of $57 billion in Iraq contracts found that Defense and State department officials condoned or allowed repeated work delays, bloated expenses and payments for shoddy work or work never done.
More than one in six dollars charged by U.S. contractors were questionable or unsupported, nearly triple the amount of waste the Government Accountability Office estimated last fall.
Of the $10 billion in overpriced contracts or undocumented costs, more than $2.7 billion were charged by Halliburton Co., the oil-field services company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.
Noting that auditors still have $300 billion of Iraq spending to review, Waxman said the total amount of waste, fraud and abuse "could be astronomical."
CNN, 16/2/07
Security sweeps meet resistance
U.S. and Iraqi forces pushed deeper Thursday into Sunni strongholds in Baghdad - where cars rigged with explosives greeted their advance - while British-led teams in southern Iraq used shipping containers to block suspected weapon smuggling routes.
The series of car bomb blasts, which killed at least seven civilians, touched all corners of Baghdad. But they did little to disrupt a wide-ranging security sweep seeking to weaken militia groups' ability to fight U.S.-allied forces - and each other - as Iraq slips further into factional bloodshed.
The attacks, however, pointed to the critical struggle to gain the upper hand on Baghdad's streets. The Pentagon hopes its current campaign of arrests and arms seizures will convince average Iraqis that militiamen are losing ground. Yet each explosion is another reminder of the militants' resources and resolve.
Pakistan Times, 16/2/07