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News archives for the week ending 25th July 2008

World bank must 'help' Iraq over oil

At a time of high oil prices and supply shortages, the dispute over Iraq's oil reserves, which could produce an additional 1.5m barrels a day with minimum investment, demands urgent resolution.

Iraq's oilfields require immediate and expert maintenance, and the Iraqi people need the funds the oil can command on the global market. But negotiations on a draft national oil law are hopelessly stalled and controversy has erupted over proposed contracts with foreign oil companies.

Iraq needs international support to negotiate fair and sustainable deals. International financial institutions must help develop a transparent and legitimate system for awarding contracts, and ensure that the profits help build Iraq's economy and benefit its citizens. With its bureaucracy in disarray, Iraq and its potential partners require assistance to make standards meaningful.

The World Bank's commercial lending arm, the International Finance Corporation, should participate in the contract development process. The IFC traditionally has guided private investors in emerging markets by sharing risk and providing co-financing and insights into conditions on the ground.

Financial Times, 24/7/08

Iraq president denounces election law

Iraq's president has denounced a draft law paving the way for provincial elections, after MPs adopted it despite a walkout by the Kurdish bloc.

President Jalal Talabani, who is himself Kurd, says he is confident the three-member presidential council which he chairs will not approve it. Mr Talabani said he could not agree to a law approved by only 127 out of 275 MPs and he wanted it reconsidered.

Elections were scheduled for 1 October but are now likely to be delayed.

BBC News, 23/7/08

Escalating the Afghan war

The success of the surge of American troops in Iraq is putting pressure anew on the Pentagon to build a surge plan to counter a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan. But experts warn that it will take more than just additional troops to turn things around there.

US military officials are scrambling to devise a plan to send as many as three brigades to Afghanistan by next year, with Defense Secretary Robert Gates saying last week that he would send more forces "sooner rather than later."

Presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain have in the past week voiced support for an Afghanistan surge, with Senator Obama, who just visited the country, calling the requirements there "precarious and urgent."

Christian Science Monitor, 24/7/08

Britain to switch focus to Afghanistan

Only days before he is to meet in London with Senator Barack Obama, Prime Minister Gordon Brown outlined a tentative plan on Tuesday for withdrawing most of Britain's remaining troops from Iraq early in 2009.

Mr. Brown told Parliament that Britain planned a "fundamental change of mission" at the turn of the year for the 4,100 troops it has in its Iraq contingent, the second largest group of foreign troops serving in Iraq. Defense Ministry officials said the aim was to withdraw most of the troops in the first half of 2009, if the security improvements of recent months are sustained. Britain has 8,000 troops in Afghanistan, and has said that it intends to concentrate on its future combat role there.

Mr. Brown announced last fall that Britain would move by the spring of 2008 to reduce its military presence in Iraq to a strength of 2,500, but that plan was set aside over the winter, partly in response to pressure from the Bush administration.

In renewing the withdrawal plan, officials of the Defense Ministry said Mr. Brown was responding to an improved security situation in Basra, where most British troops are based, and to a call by the chiefs of Britain's forces for relief from the "overstretch" they say the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have imposed on British troops.

New York Times, 23/7/08

Iraq election law passes, but date in doubt

Iraq's parliament on Tuesday passed a law setting guidelines for provincial elections, despite a boycott by Kurdish lawmakers. Officials have targeted sometime in autumn for the polls, but the political dispute -- coupled with parliament's one-month break beginning July 31 -- makes it unclear when elections could be held.

The U.S. and Iraq's government regard local elections as essential to developing democracy and promoting national reconciliation, key goals they say would help stabilize the country. Such elections would give groups such as Sunni Arabs more of a say in the country's politics.

The measure now goes to the country's presidency council -- President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd; Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni Arab; and Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite. Many observers believe Talabani would stand with his Kurdish compatriots and vote against the measure, bringing it back to square one.

CNN, 22/7/08

Pakistan fears US attack

Strong suggestions by the United States that it could resort to unilateral intervention against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan are generating increasing anxiety in the Pakistani press and among government officials, who warn that such an action could backfire.

Over the last week, the Pakistani press has been filled with commentaries warning that American attacks without Pakistan's permission would further inflame anti-American sentiment, drive more people into the camp of the militants and fatally undermine the already fragile civilian government. Privately, one senior government official said American strikes would produce "chaos."

President Bush said at a White House news conference last week that "some extremists are coming out of parts of Pakistan into Afghanistan." He added, "That's troubling to us, troubling to Afghanistan, and it should be troubling to Pakistan." Such statements have been interpreted here as a sign of rising American impatience with a lack of action to stem the tide of militants by the Pakistani government.

Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, said on Sunday, while visiting Afghanistan, that if the United States had "actionable intelligence against high-value Al Qaeda targets, and the Pakistani government was unwilling to go after those targets," the United States should strike. Mr. Obama, of Illinois, has been viewed warily in Pakistan because of similar previous comments.

New York imes, 22/7/08

Brown backs Israel's 'fight for liberty'

Britain is determined to prevent Iran developing nuclear arms, Gordon Brown is due to tell the Israeli parliament. Tehran must abandon its nuclear programme, he will say, or face "growing isolation" - a hint that further sanctions could be considered.

He will also vow to stand beside Israel in its "fight for liberty".

BBC News, 21/7/08

Britain cannot rely on US torture assurances

The British government should no longer accept US assurances that it does not use torture, a parliamentary oversight committee said today in a wide-ranging report looking at London's human rights policy. Ministers have previously taken at face value statements from their US counterparts, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President George W. Bush, that Washington does not resort to such practices.

But the cross-party foreign affairs committee said that stance should be abandoned given admissions from the US director of national intelligence, Michael McConnell, that "water-boarding" had been used on terror suspects. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has told parliament on two occasions this year that the practice, which simulates drowning during interrogation, amounts to torture.

Mr Miliband's position has "serious implications" for government policy, the committee said in its 214-page Human Rights Annual Report 2007-8. "We conclude that, given the clear differences in definition, the UK can no longer rely on US assurances that it does not use torture, and we recommend that the government does not rely on such assurances in the future," it said.

Sydney Herald Sun, 19/7/08

Afghanistan hit by record number of bombs...

Air Force and allied warplanes are dropping a record number of bombs on Afghanistan targets. For the first half of 2008, aircraft dropped 1,853 bombs - more than they released during all of 2006 and more than half of 2007's total - 3,572 bombs.

Information from the Air Force shows that in June warplanes released 646 bombs - the second-highest monthly total for Afghanistan or Iraq. The record was set in August 2007, when 670 bombs fell on Afghanistan.

As high as those numbers are, they may understate the intensity of the combat. The statistics do not include cannon rounds shot by fighters or AC-130 gunships, Hellfire and other small rockets launched by warplanes, and assaults by helicopters. In close-quarter firefights where friendly soldiers could be wounded if bombs are used, cannon fire and missiles are often the preferred alternative.

Air Force Times, 18/7/08

...with predictable results

At least 13 civilians and police officers have been killed in two clashes involving Nato forces in Afghanistan. Nato said its forces accidentally killed at least four civilians in clashes in eastern Afghanistan, while an official in the west of the country said foreign troops used air strikes against Afghan police, killing nine.

The reported civilian and police deaths could damage popular support for the Afghan government as well as for foreign forces operating here.

The Scotsman, 21/7/08

Election authority proposes postponing Iraq election

Iraq's election authority proposed Sunday to delay important provincial balloting in an apparent sign of frustration over a political impasse that has stalled preparations for voting planned for this fall.

The provincial election plan - strongly backed by Washington - would shift more political powers to regions and is viewed by Sunni Arabs as path to gain more influence over decisions by the Shiite-led government. U.S. officials see the voting as another key step in national reconciliation. But any prolonged setbacks could slow momentum for giving Sunnis a greater voice in political and security affairs - considered essential to stabilize the country and maintain pressure on al-Qaida in Iraq and other militant factions.

But the election plans remain snared in one of Iraq's thorniest political dilemmas: the future of the oil-rich northern region of Kirkuk. Iraq's Kurds, who control a semi-autonomous region in the north, have held up parliament passage of a law to allocate funds and set guidelines for the provincial elections, at the moment scheduled for Oct. 1.

They oppose a proposed equal distribution of provincial council seats in the Kirkuk region, which is outside the Kurdish territory but considered by many Kurds to be part of their historical land. The Kurds also are pressing the government to hold a long-delayed referendum in Kirkuk on whether to join the Kurdish area.

Associated Press, 20/7/08

Brown points to British withdrawal

Gordon Brown yesterday held out the prospect of a substantial withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, possibly as early as next year, when he outlined a four-point road map paving the way for an end to Britain's involvement.

On a one-day visit to Iraq - with a heavy military presence by his side at all times - Brown declared that Iraqi forces would take over Basra airport, the main British military headquarters. He told British soldiers that they were on the final leg of duties in Iraq. Critics pointed to the fact that in October last year Brown pledged to cut the number of troops to 2,500 by spring but yesterday there were still 4,100 holed up at the airport.

His declaration, which could lead to the bulk of British forces leaving Iraq by the time of the general election in 2010, came 24 hours after the White House announced that the US and the Iraqi authorities had agreed a 'general time horizon' for the 'further reduction of US combat forces in Iraq'.

Observer, 20/7/08

Turks bomb Kurdish Iraq...

Kurdish rebels say Turkish warplanes have bombed abandoned guerrilla camps in northern Iraq. They say there were no casualties. The PKK rebel group says the attack happened in the Zab region at dawn on Friday.

Rebel spokesman Bahrouz Idyal says the Turkish jets bombed the area twice. The Turkish military had no immediate comment.

Turkey has conducted frequent air raids on suspected rebel positions in northern Iraq, and it launched a weeklong ground offensive there earlier this year.

Associated Press, 18/7/08

...and so do Iranians

Iraqi MPs and politicians have accused the Baghdad government of tolerating an Iranian military campaign on Iraq's northern territories. They say the Iranian military has been bombing remote Iraqi Kurdish villages along the northern Iraq-Iran borders for months under the pretext that Iranian Kurdish rebels from the party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) are taking shelter there.

Hussain al-Jaff, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), told Al Jazeera: "The Kurdish people denounce the media blackout imposed on this topic. We really do not understand how the Iraqi government remains silent at bombing its own national soil."

Mohamad al-Talabani, Al Jazeera's correspondent in northern Iraq says the central government's inaction has fuelled mounting feelings of bitterness and resenment among Iraqi Kurds.

Al Jazeera, 18/7/08

Bush sets 'time horizon' for withdrawal

President Bush and Iraq's prime minister have agreed to set a "time horizon" for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq, White House officials said here Friday. The agreement, which was reached in a video conference Thursday between Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, marks a dramatic shift for the Bush administration.

For years the administration has condemned any talk of timetables for withdrawal. But security conditions in the war-ravaged nation continue to improve. And al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders in recent weeks have begun demanding firm withdrawal deadlines from the U.S.

"In the area of security cooperation, the president and the prime minister agreed that improving conditions should allow for the agreements now under negotiation to include a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals," a Whitehouse statement said.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel denied that the agreement with al-Maliki represented a concession by the Bush administration. Previous discussions of timetables "came from Democrats who wanted to arbitrarily retreat from Iraq," he told reporters in Tucson.

"These are aspirational goals, not arbitrary timetables based on political expediency," Stanzel said.

Kansas City Star, 18/7/08

Afghanistan drawing in more fighters

Afghanistan has been drawing a fresh influx of jihadi fighters from Turkey, Central Asia, Chechnya and the Middle East, one more sign that al-Qaeda is regrouping on what is fast becoming the most active front of the war on terrorist groups.

More foreigners are infiltrating Afghanistan because of a recruitment drive by al-Qaeda as well as a burgeoning insurgency that has made movement easier across the border from Pakistan, U.S. officials, militants and experts say. For the past two months, Afghanistan has overtaken Iraq in deaths of U.S. and allied troops, and nine American soldiers were killed at a remote base in Kunar province Sunday in the deadliest attack in years.

Jihadist websites from Chechnya to Turkey to the Arab world featured recruitment ads as early as 2007, said Brian Glyn Williams, associate professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts.

Toronto Globe and Mail, 18/7/08