Saturday, March 1, 2008
UN rejects British denial on rendition (Guardian)
Britain's denials that its territories have been used for 'extraordinary rendition' were dramatically undermined last night after the United Nations claimed that Diego Garcia has been used as a detention centre to hold US suspects.
Manfred Novak, the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture, who is charged with investigating human rights abuses, said he had received credible evidence from well-placed sources familiar with the situation on the island that detainees were held on Diego Garcia between 2002 and 2003.
Novak pledged he would consider a request by the UK government to share his information. 'I spoke to my sources on condition of anonymity and it would take time to trace them; I couldn't do it [brief the UK government] without the explicit authorisation of these people,' Novak said. 'But under this caveat, I could share more information.' (Link)
Labels: Torture, U.K., U.N., U.S.
Bush Urges Iraqi Leaders to Give Ahmadinejad Clear Message
Speaking to reporters at his ranch in Texas, Mr. Bush said he understands why Iraqi leaders have invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Baghdad. But Mr. Bush said that during Sunday's visit, he hopes Iraqi officials will send President Ahmadinejad a clear message. "The message needs to be: 'Quit sending in sophisticated equipment that's killing our citizens.' And the message will be: 'We are negotiating a long-term security agreement with the Untied States precisely because we want enough breathing space for our democracy to develop," he said.
In January, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Washington has no interest in setting up permanent military bases in Iraq. But the Bush administration has been working on a Status of Forces Agreement that will govern the military relationship with Iraq for some time. (Link)
US General Seeks to Create Iraqi Jobs (AP)
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch is a West Point graduate with a master's degree in mechanical engineering from MIT. In Iraq, he's also a fish farmer.
Violence in the region Lynch commands, including the so-called "Triangle of Death" south of Baghdad, has dropped nearly 80 percent from a year ago. That, Lynch says, allows him and his troops to spend less effort chasing insurgents and more on helping the citizens rebuild their economy.
"I used to go to patrol bases and plan military operations. Now I walk around and talk to people," Lynch said on a visit to this city 30 miles south of Baghdad.
It was during one of those trips that the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division said he had "a life-changing experience." Local farmers said they needed jobs. "And I thought about how to teach them fish farming." (Link)
Robert Fisk: The gardens of the devil, still sowing death (Independent)
The first time I saw one, my first instinct was to pick it up. It shone in the sunlight, bright green, something new and fresh amid the dry grass of the south Lebanon hills. The little cluster bomblet seemed to have been made to hold in the hand. No wonder the little children died.
Israel rained more than a million bomblets into the orchards and fields of southern Lebanon in 2006 – after the ceasefire to the 34-day Israel-Hizbollah conflict had been announced. So far, post-war, they have killed more than 40 men, women and children. Some of the mine disposal men and women who turned up in Lebanon found that the cluster bombs had themselves been dropped on minefields left behind by the Israelis in 2000.
And these minefields, in somecases, had been laid over old Palestinian minefields. And some of these minefields – and here the 20th century's most titanic war threatens us yet again – had been inadvertently placed over carpets of mines dug into Lebanon's red earth by French Vichy forces in 1941, as they awaited British and Free French invasion from Palestine. (Link)
Labels: Editorial, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon
Abbas: Gaza attacks 'a holocaust'
The Palestinian president has accused Israel of "international terrorism", saying its assault on Gaza constitutes "more than a holocaust".
Mahmoud Abbas's comments on Saturday came as more Israeli air raids brought the total death toll over four days to 88 people, at least a third of which have been children, according to medical sources.
Fifty-four people were killed during Saturday's raids alone.
"It's very regrettable that what is happening is more than a holocaust," Abbas told reporters in Ramallah.
"Children who are barely five-months old are being bombed by the Israeli army."
"We tell the world to see with its own eyes and judge for itself what is happening and who is carrying out international terrorism."
Khaled Meshaal, the exiled Hamas leader living in Syria, also denounced the Israeli attacks against Gaza's civilians as "the real holocaust".
Abbas later requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the Palestinian leader said. (Link)
Labels: Israel, Palestine, U.N.
Armenia declares emergency rule (BBC)
A state of emergency has been declared in Armenia's capital on the 11th consecutive day of protests against an allegedly rigged presidential election.
President Robert Kocharyan signed the decree "to prevent a threat to constitutional order".
It came after police fired in the air to disperse demonstrators. Some reports suggest a number of casualties.
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian won the 19 February vote against opposition challenger Levon Ter-Petrosian.
Mr Ter-Petrosian says he is under house arrest.
The latest clashes erupted after police cleared Freedom Square of opposition demonstrators who had been camping there since the election.
Regrouping later, they used buses as barricades. Some cars were set on fire.
Lines of police were deployed to face the protesters.
A witness told Reuters news agency police had fired in the air "to scare us".
"They have fired tear gas. But people are standing firm. There are thousands of people standing here with us." (Link)
Labels: Armenia
PA suspends peace talks with Israel over Gaza violence (Haaretz)
The Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank on Saturday announced it was halting peace talks with Israel over Israel Defense Forces raids in the Gaza Strip, in which two IDF soldiers and at least 50 Palestinians were killed over the course of the day.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia notified Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of the decision on Saturday evening.
Earlier, Livni had vowed that the IDF would continue to operate against militants in Gaza, despite the PA's threats to suspend negotiations.
"Even if the Palestinians suspend talks, it won't influence in any way the decisions or operations Israel carries out to defend its citizens," she said, adding: "From the beginning this was the basis of talks with the moderate elements in the Palestinian Authority."
Abbas called on Saturday for the United Nations Security Council to hold urgent discussions on the latest round of fighting in the Gaza Strip. (Link)
46 Killed in Israeli Strikes on North Gaza (NY Times)
Israeli aircraft and troops attacked Palestinian positions in northern Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 46 people and wounding more than 100 in the deadliest day of fighting in more than a year. Two Israeli soldiers were killed and seven wounded, the military said.
Hamas militants staked out positions in the northern Gaza Strip during an incursion by Israeli troops on Saturday.
The Israeli attacks, mostly from the air on a clear, bright day, were aimed at stopping rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, especially after Ashkelon, a large city 10 miles from Gaza, came under fire from more advanced, Katyusha-style rockets smuggled in from Iran.
Half the dead were reported to be Hamas gunmen or those belonging to affiliated groups like Islamic Jihad. But as many as 19 Palestinian civilians also died in the heavily populated area, including four children, according to Dr. Moawiya Hassanain of the Gazan Health Ministry. (Link)
Labels: Hamas, Israel, Palestine
Saudis urged to leave Lebanon (Al Jazeera)
The Saudi Arabian embassy in Beirut has called on its nationals to leave Lebanon a day after a US warship was positioned off the country's coast.
The embassy on Saturday sent SMS messages to Saudis living in Lebanon urging them to leave the country as soon as possible, Al Jazeera's correspondent said.
Saudi Arabia issued an advisory last month urging its citizens not to travel to Lebanon because of deteriorating political and security conditions.
Kuwait and Bahrain followed with similar calls. (Link)
Labels: Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia
Armenia set to declare emergency (Al Jazeera)
Armenia has warned it will declare a state of emergency if protests against last month's presidential poll continue.
More than 30 people were injured on Saturday after riot police clashed in Yerevan, the capital, with about hundreds of demonstrators who had been protesting that the electon was rigged.
The violence broke out after police began forcing protesters onto buses. (Link)
Labels: Armenia
US: Iraqi Women Bomber Trainer Caught (AP)
The U.S. military announced the capture Saturday of an insurgent leader who was recruiting and training women, including his wife, to wrap themselves in explosives and blow themselves up - the latest sign that al-Qaida in Iraq plans to keep using women to carry out suicide attacks.
In southern Iraq, a British airman was killed in a rocket attack on a base near Basra late Friday, said Capt. Finn Aldrich, a British military spokesman.
The U.S. military said it had killed six insurgents and detained 13 suspects Friday and Saturday during operations against al-Qaida in Iraq in central and northern Iraq. (Link)
Iran: Talks With US Help Iraq Security (AP)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday that U.S.-Iran talks have helped improve security in Iraq but he rejected claims that the Islamic republic is fueling violence there, the state news agency reported.
"The outcome of (U.S.-Iran) talks have helped stabilize conditions in Iraq a great deal," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as telling Iraqi journalists in Tehran, a day ahead of his landmark visit to Iraq.
Iran and the United States have held three rounds of talks about the security situation in Iraq, and in recent months U.S. officials have cited a dramatic drop in violence.
Iraqi ambassador to Tehran, Abu Haidar al-Sheikh, called on Iran and the U.S. to upgrade the talks, which have been between ambassadors. (Link)
The U.S.S. Cole; A “Show of Support” to Whom?
I have recently written an article on the Rational Manifesto answering why the U.S.S. Cole has been deployed to Lebanon, regardless of the fact that nobody in Lebanon wants it there. (Link)
Labels: Egypt, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, U.S.
Lebanon PM denies warship request (Al Jazeera)
Fouad Siniora, the prime minister of Lebanon, has denied asking the US for the warship USS Cole and two support ships to take up positions off the coast of Lebanon, amid the ongoing political deadlock in the country.
He reportedly summoned the US ambassador on Friday to explain the decision.
Siniora said: "We did not request any warships from any party."
He also stressed the importance of Lebanon's independence and sovereignty "so that it will not become an arena for the conflicts of regional and international powers". (Link)
Israeli raids on Gaza kill 32 (Guardian)
Israeli air and artillery strikes have killed 32 Palestinian residents of Gaza, 16 of them civilians.
This brings the number of Palestinian deaths in the coastal strip to above 60 in four days.
The deaths came in some of the heaviest Israeli raids on Gaza since Hamas took control. The raids were launched in response to the death of one Israeli citizen, a 44-year-old man, in the town of Sderot in a missile strike last week.
The rising Palestinian death toll came a day after Israeli deputy defence minister, Matan Vilnai, warned that increasing rocket fire from Gaza would bring Palestinians a shoah – the Hebrew word normally used to denote the Nazi Holocaust inflicted on Jews during the second world war.
"As the rocket fire grows, and the range increases – and they haven't yet said the last word on this – they are bringing upon themselves a greater shoah because we will use all our strength in every way we deem appropriate, whether in air strikes or on the ground," he said.
The latest round of clashes, which began on Wednesday, has renewed threats of an Israeli invasion of Gaza to crush militant rocket squads that bombarded southern Israel daily. Over 60 people have died since battles between Israel and extremists affiliated with Hamas spiked earlier this week.
At least 32 of the Palestinian dead were civilians, the youngest a 6-month-old boy. (Link)
Top Turk general says Iraq withdrawal on schedule (Reuters)
Turkey's top general said on Saturday the Turkish armed forces withdrew its troops from northern Iraq on schedule and dismissed speculation that it had acted under pressure from its NATO ally the United States.
Turkey pulled its troops out of northern Iraq on Friday, ending a major offensive against Kurdish PKK rebels that Washington had feared might destabilize the wider region.
Yasar Buyukanit, head of the military General Staff, told the Milliyet daily the decision to pull out was taken on military grounds and said there was no need to continue the ground operation against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). (Link)
Extremist accused in Bhutto killing (AP)
Pakistani police on Saturday formally accused the top Taliban leader in the country and four others of planning the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
Police filed preliminary charges in court against Baitullah Mehsud, who had been named by the Pakistani government in the Dec. 27 killing of Bhutto in a suicide and gun-attack during a public rally. Mehsud, alleged to have al-Qaida connections, is underground and it is not clear if the police are anywhere close to catching him. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Iraq violence surges in February (AFP)
The number of Iraqis killed in February rose by 33 percent over January, reversing a six-month trend of reduced violence, in a setback to the US military plan to curb the bloodshed ravaging the country.
The combined figures obtained by AFP from the interior, defence and health ministries showed that the total number of Iraqis killed in February was 721, including 636 civilians, compared with 541 dead in January.
It reverses the six-month trend of a steady fall in casualties across the country on the back of a massive US and Iraqi military assault, mainly targeting Al-Qaeda in Iraq. (Link)
Labels: Iraq
Pakistan Probes Bombing That Killed 40 (AP)
Police searched for clues Saturday after a suicide attack at a police officer's funeral killed more than 40 people in northwestern Pakistan, where troops are fighting pro-Taliban militants.
Another suicide bombing Saturday killed one person and wounded 19 others in the region, officials said.
More than 60 people were also hurt Friday night when a bomber blew himself up amid some 800 mourners who had gathered for the funeral of Javed Iqbal, a senior police officer who was killed in a roadside bombing earlier in the day. Among the dead was Iqbal's 16-year-old son, Ghazan. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Iran Offers $1 Billion Loan for Iraq Projects (NY Times)
Iran is offering a $1 billion loan to Iraq for projects to be handled by Iranian companies, an Iranian deputy foreign minister said Friday.
The announcement came two days before a landmark visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Baghdad, the first by an Iranian president since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran and Iraq fought an eight-year war in the 1980s that left about one million people dead, but relations between the countries have warmed substantially since the United States-led invasion in 2003 that toppled the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. (Link)
U.S.-Saudi Effort Seeks to End Syrian Interference in Lebanon (Washington Post)
The United States and Saudi Arabia have launched a joint campaign to pressure Syria to end its political interference in Lebanon, including the U.S. deployment of the USS Cole and two other warships off the Lebanese coast, according to U.S. and Arab officials.
The new military, economic and diplomatic steps include the toughest actions taken by the Bush administration against the regime of President Bashar Assad, such as a recent presidential executive order allowing sanctions against Syrian officials meddling in Lebanon and a member of Assad's family. Saudi Arabia is withdrawing its ambassador from Damascus and pressed for an Arab League meeting, to be held next week, to discuss the political vacuum in Lebanon brought on by its inability to elect a new president since November, U.S. officials said. (Link)
Labels: Saudi Arabia, U.S.
Iraqi detainees released in Lebanon (AP)
Lebanon on Friday released 13 Iraqis who had been detained for staying in the country illegally. The move was expected to lead to the release of Iraqis who fled their wartorn country.
Unlike other Arab countries, Lebanon has a policy of arresting Iraqis who are in the country illegally.
About 77 percent of the roughly 50,000 Iraqis in Lebanon entered the country illegally, the Danish Refugee Council estimated in December. Hundreds of them are believed to be in detention.
Last week, the government began giving Iraqis in Lebanon illegally a three-month grace period to legalize their status.
Ayaki Ito, a protection officer with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told The Associated Press that the releases came after "a constructive and pragmatic discussion" with Lebanese authorities. (Link)
A right royal coup - how the MoD won over the media (Guardian)
The Sun had its own free pullout poster. The broadcasters have been running film on a loop of him out in Afghanistan - firing guns, sitting in tanks and eating an awful lot of army rations.
The media has feasted on Prince Harry since his deployment to Helmand province was revealed on Thursday, and it is likely to continue when he returns to Britain, probably later today.
The extent of the coverage, and the way all the British media - including the Guardian - agreed to keep his tour of duty a secret, has provoked a furious debate and led to questions about whether the third in line to the throne, who is being withdrawn for safety reasons, had become a pawn in a propaganda war. (Link)
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Stephen said the other day that if the Guardian didn't write this article up, then "it's all over, we lost, we can just pack our bags and leave." Thankfully, they did. :)
Labels: U.K.
UN vote on Iran sanctions delayed (AP)
Britain and France on Friday delayed a U.N. Security Council vote on new sanctions against Iran while they try to get more support for the resolution.
The two countries co-sponsored the resolution that would impose a third round of sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. They are seeking the same unanimous vote they got in the first two rounds - or close to it.
The vote, which had been expected on Saturday, has been put off until Monday morning.
"We think the wider the base of support, the clearer the political signal" sent to Iran, Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers said Thursday. (Link)
Gunmen kidnap Iraqi Chaldean Catholic archbishop (Reuters)
Gunmen kidnapped the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul on Friday in the northern Iraqi city and killed his driver and two guards, police said.
In Rome, Pope Benedict deplored the kidnapping of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho as a "despicable" crime and urged the gunmen to free the prelate.
Provincial police spokesman Brigadier-General Khaled Abdul Sattar said Rahho was kidnapped in the al-Nour district in eastern Mosul when he left a church.
"Gunmen opened fire on the car, killed the other three and kidnapped the archbishop," he said. (Link)
Labels: Iraq
Friday, February 29, 2008
Turkey withdraws troops from northern Iraq (Reuters)
Turkey pulled its troops out of northern Iraq on Friday, ending a major offensive against Kurdish PKK rebels that Washington feared could spread conflict through the region.
A statement by Turkey's armed forces General Staff denied any foreign influence on the decision, which came a day after U.S President George W. Bush urged a swift end to offensive.
"There was no question of completely liquidating the terrorist organization, but Turkey has shown the organization that northern Iraq is not a safe haven for them," the General Staff said.
Turkey sent thousands of soldiers into remote, mountainous northern Iraq on February 21 to crush rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who use the region as a base for attacks on Turkish territory.
"It was determined that the aims set at the start of the operation had been achieved," the General Staff said in a statement. "Our units returned to their bases (in Turkey) on the morning of February 29." (Link)
Hezbollah Reject US Ships Off Lebanon (AP)
Hezbollah denounced the deployment of U.S. warships off Lebanon and said Friday it won't be intimidated, while the U.S.-backed Lebanese government distanced itself from the military move.
"We did not request any warships from any party," U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said, hours after the U.S. military announced it was sending ships off Lebanon.
He insisted the U.S. ships would cruise off the coast, not in Lebanese territorial waters.
Saniora, who has been accused by the opposition of following U.S. policy, spoke in front of Arab diplomats at government headquarters in Beirut after his Hezbollah opponents called the U.S. deployment a threat to Lebanese sovereignty and independence. (Link)
Labels: Hezbollah, Lebanon, U.S.
Israeli minister warns of Palestinian 'holocaust' (Guardian)
An Israeli minister today warned of increasingly bitter conflict in the Gaza Strip, saying the Palestinians could bring on themselves what he called a "holocaust".
"The more Qassam [rocket] fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves," Matan Vilnai, Israel's deputy defence minister, told army radio.
Shoah is the Hebrew word normally reserved to refer to the Jewish Holocaust. It is rarely used in Israel outside discussions of the Nazi extermination of Jews during the second world war, and many Israelis are loath to countenance its use to describe other events.
The minister's statement came after two days of tit-for-tat missile raids between Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli army. At least 32 Palestinians and one Israeli have been killed since the surge in violence on Wednesday. (Link)
Israel warns of Gaza invasion (Al Jazeera)
Israel is "not afraid" of launching a "major ground" invasion in Gaza, Ehud Barak, the country's defence minister, has said, amid ongoing air raids on the territory.
At least 32 Palestinians, nine of them children, have died in two days of Israeli shelling, with at least 60 others injured.
"The major ground operation is real and tangible. We are not afraid of it," Barak said on Thursday, a participant at a closed-door meeting said.
Israel has in the past been reluctant to invade Gaza, due to concerns of getting "bogged down" there. (Link)
Local police units stop work in key Iraqi province (Reuters)
Thousands of members of neighborhood police units have stopped work in one of Iraq's most dangerous provinces, Iraqi and U.S. military officials said on Friday.
The mainly Sunni Arab units, widely known as concerned local citizens, or "CLCs", said they had disbanded altogether which would represent a major blow to U.S. and Iraqi efforts to pacify Diyala province.
Violence across Iraq is down 60 percent since June, due mainly to an extra 30,000 U.S. troops and the growth of the CLC units, which sprang up in western Anbar province in late 2006.
The U.S. military said the units in ethnically and religiously mixed Diyala had stopped work over pay and a disagreement with the provincial police chief. (Link)
Labels: Iraq
'Chemical Ali' execution approved (Al Jazeera)
Iraq's presidency council has approved the execution of Ali Hassan al-Majid, a cousin and senior official under executed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, a senior Iraqi official says.
Al-Majid was nicknamed "Chemical Ali" for overseeing the gassing of thousands of Iraqi Kurds during the Operation Anfal campaign in 1988.
The official said no date has been fixed for the execution.
Al-Majid was convicted, along with two others, on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in June. (Link)
Labels: Iraq
Dubai fund hits back at criticism (BBC)
The boss of one of the Middle East's best-known sovereign wealth funds has warned against any European Union (EU) moves to increase their regulation.
State-run investment vehicles, Chinese and Middle East sovereign wealth funds have recently bought stakes in a number of Western banks and other businesses.
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of Dubai World, said such funds might choose not to invest in Europe.
He was responding to EU criticism that the funds are too "opaque".
The comments came earlier this week from EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia and EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy.
(Link)Labels: European Union, U.A.E.
Visas for War Zone Translators Halted (Washington Post)
The applicants, all of whom have worked for U.S. military forces, received an e-mail notice from the State Department's National Visa Center last week. "We have temporarily stopped processing cases," the message said, adding that "the applicant should NOT make any travel arrangements, sell property or give up employment until the US Embassy or Consulate General has issued a visa."
The halt is the latest obstacle for many of the several thousand translators who have worked for U.S. military units in Iraq and Afghanistan, risking their lives and leaving their families vulnerable to retaliation from insurgents who see them as accomplices of American troops. More than 250 interpreters working for U.S. forces or their contractors have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Many American service members have worked to help their former translators gain a visa to come to the United States under a 2006 congressional program initially designed to admit 50 translators per year, a quota later increased to 500. (Link)
US: IAEA Report Raises Questions on Iran (AP)
A new report by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog raises "very troubling questions" about Iran's engagement in weapons production and will open a new page in the probe into Tehran's alleged activities, a senior U.S. official said Thursday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency released a report last week saying that suspicions about most past Iranian nuclear activities had eased. But it also pointed to Tehran's continuing efforts to enrich uranium.
It called weaponization "the one major ... unsolved issue relevant to the nature of Iran's nuclear program." (Link)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Iran tells U.N. council sanctions aren't legal (Reuters)
Iran's foreign minister has written to the U.N. Security Council arguing that sanctions resolutions against the country over its nuclear program lack any legal basis and undermine the council's credibility.
The 15-nation Security Council meets later on Thursday to discuss a third sanctions resolution, which Britain, France and Germany have revised to respond to objections raised by some council members. They are not expected to vote on the draft.
Tehran denies Western charges it seeks nuclear weapons and has ignored three previous Security Council resolutions demanding it freeze its uranium enrichment program, which can produce fuel for nuclear power plants or atomic weapons. (Link)
USS Cole 'ordered to position off Lebanese coast' (Daily Star)
A US Navy warship has been ordered to take up station off Lebanon's coast as a "show of support" as the standoff between Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government and the opposition continues, the Reuters news agency quoted an official in Washington as saying on Thursday.
According to the agency, the USS Cole - the same high-tech destroyer whose bombing by Al-Qaeda militants off Yemen in 2000 killed 17 sailors - left Malta on Tuesday and will remain over the horizon, at least for the time being.
Following repeated US warnings for Syria to stop its alleged meddling in the Lebanese crisis, the deployment was seen as the strongest signal yet that Washington means to maintain pressure on Damascus. (Link)
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You do not position a high tech war ship off the coast of a country to "show support." If they wanted to show support, a cable, a speech or some sort of formal address would have sufficed. You position military units to threaten, and that's just what is happening here.
Labels: Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria, U.S.
TED 2008: How Good People Turn Evil, From Stanford to Abu Ghraib (Wired)
An interview with Philip Zimbardo and a photo slide show of unreleased pictures from Abu Ghuraib. This is very hard to swallow, disgusting, and definitely not something you want to be looking at at work. Zimbardo, the professor behind the Stanford University prison experiments, served as an expert defense witness for an Abu Ghraib guard. The video after the link contains unreleased images he compiled for the trial. (Link)
Four children die in Gaza strike (BBC)
Four Palestinian children have been killed in an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip, local medics say.
Reports say they were playing near the Jabaliya refugee camp. Israel said it had targeted a rocket-launching cell.
Later, a Hamas militant was killed in an Israeli air strike near Beit Hanoun and a security post near the house of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya was hit.
On Wednesday, a rocket fired by Hamas killed an Israeli student near Sderot, the first such death in nine months.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said "terrorists" in the territory would pay a very heavy price for the attacks. (Link)
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The boys were aged 8-15
At least 22 Palestinians have been killed in the last two days.
4 Israelis have been killed in the last 9 months, only one due to rocket fire from Palestinian militant groups. "In that time, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military."
Iraq rewards trump risks for job seekers (AP)
Help wanted: possibly life-threatening risks, little freedom outside work, long hours but competitive pay. Must be willing to relocate to Iraq.
For many around the world, that is the sound of opportunity knocking.
The war in Iraq - nearing the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion - has focused attention on some modern twists to life in the field, from soldier-bloggers to base coffee shops serving up lattes.
But few are as profound as the rise in military outsourcing. (Link)
Labels: Iraq
Egypt plans to provide all of Gaza's electricity needs (Haaretz)
Egypt is working on a plan with the Palestinians to supply all the besieged Gaza Strip's electricity needs and wean it off its reliance on Israel for power, an Egyptian energy official said Thursday.
Earlier this month, Israel began reducing its supply of electricity to the Hamas-ruled coastal strip after the High Court of Justice ruled that doing so would not cause a humanitarian crisis. Israel's plan includes gradually reducing the electricity supply by small increments, in efforts to pressure the Hamas government to prevent Qassam rocket fire from the Strip into southern Israel. So far, Israel has supplied most of the electricity utilized in Gaza. (Link)
Labels: Egypt, Israel, Palestine
Blast kills 12 in Pakistan border zone (AP)
A pre-dawn explosion demolished a house in Pakistan's wild frontier zone on Thursday, killing up to 12 suspected militants, the military, intelligence officials and a local militant said.
The explosion "ripped through heavy explosives stored at a house" in a village in South Waziristan, a region bordering Afghanistan where militants linked to al-Qaida and the Taliban operate, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told The Associated Press.
Abbas added that 10 to 12 people died in the explosion. He would not say who the slain men were, or how many foreigners may have been present. (Link)
Labels: Pakistan
Britain reviews Prince Harry's Afghanistan role (Reuters)
Britain is reviewing Prince Harry's presence in Afghanistan, where he has been deployed with the army for 2-1/2 months, following leaks in the international media that he was deployed there, the Defence Ministry said.
"The chief of the general staff will be making a statement about the situation shortly, but what I can say at this time is that we are reviewing his presence there," a spokesman for the ministry said on Thursday. (Link)
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Interviews with him while he was in Afghanistan, have already appeared on various television news stations.
Labels: Afghanistan, U.K.
Iran 'targeting' women activists (BBC)
Amnesty International has called on Iran to stop persecuting people who campaign for women's rights.
The human rights group says activists involved in a big campaign to improve women's rights have been targeted.
In a new report, Amnesty says women activists have suffered an "acute" backlash since the campaign was launched in August 2006.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has insisted women in his country are treated better than anywhere else.
The so-called Campaign for Equality aims to collect a million signatures for a petition to push for an end to discrimination against women.
Labels: Amnesty International, Iran, Womens Rights
Afghan clashes over poppy drive (Al Jazeera)
At least 29 Taliban fighters were killed in southern Afghanistan when they tried to attack a government-backed poppy eradication mission in the area, police said.
According to General Mohammad Hussein Andiwal, police chief of Helmand province, the clashes had gone on for six hours on Wednesday in the Marja district, leaving 25 fighters dead.
Four fighters were killed on Thursday when a landmine they were planting in a road in Helmand province exploded early, Andiwal said. (Link)
Labels: Afghanistan
Sadr anger over Iraq law setback (BBC)
The faction loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has reacted angrily to the rejection by Iraq's presidency council of a draft law on regional powers.
A spokesman for the bloc, Nassar Rubaie, denounced the council's decision as a form of dictatorship.
He said his group was considering calling for sit-ins and a general strike in protest.
The presidency council has not said which of its three members objected to the law.
However, Sadrist politicians have blamed the decision on one of the vice-presidents, Adel Abdulmahdi, who is a senior figure in a rival Shia party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. (Link)
Labels: Iraq
Sunni Forces Losing Patience With U.S. (Washington Post)
U.S.-backed Sunni volunteer forces, which have played a vital role in reducing violence in Iraq, are increasingly frustrated with the American military and the Iraqi government over what they see as a lack of recognition of their growing political clout and insufficient U.S. support.
Since Feb. 8, thousands of fighters in restive Diyala province have left their posts in order to pressure the government and its American backers to replace the province's Shiite police chief. On Wednesday, their leaders warned that they would disband completely if their demands were not met. In Babil province, south of Baghdad, fighters have refused to man their checkpoints after U.S. soldiers killed several comrades in mid-February in circumstances that remain in dispute. (Link)
Desperate Africans seek unlikely refuge in Yemen (Reuters)
Yemen is a poor and often dysfunctional Arab country, but to thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians it is a notch better than misery and danger at home.
Obah Idli, a 19-year-old from Somalia's anarchic capital Mogadishu, made it to an isolated refugee camp in the desert, relieved to be alive after paying smugglers to sail her across the Red Sea from Djibouti with 30 of her compatriots.
"It was a very small boat. Everyone was fighting for space and water came in," she said, shifting her pink shawl as she waited for UNHCR refugee agency staff to register her at the Kharaz camp, 180 km (110 miles) from the port city Aden. (Link)
Labels: Yemen
Iran 'targeting' women activists (BBC)
Amnesty International has called on Iran to stop persecuting people who campaign for women's rights.
The human rights group says activists involved in a big campaign to improve women's rights have been targeted.
In a new report, Amnesty says women activists have suffered an "acute" backlash since the campaign was launched in August 2006.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has insisted women in his country are treated better than anywhere else.
The so-called Campaign for Equality aims to collect a million signatures for a petition to push for an end to discrimination against women.
Labels: Amnesty International, Iran, Womens Rights
Al-Zawahiri vows revenge in video (Al Jazeera)
Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's second-in-command, has vowed revenge for the killing of Abu Laith al-Libi, a top commander of the group in a suspected US attack in Pakistan.
"No chief of ours had died of a natural death, nor has our blood been spilled without a response," al-Zawahiri said in a new video posted on the internet
Al-Libi was reportedly one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants in Afghanistan. (Link)
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The true cost of war (Guardian)
Fitful spring sunshine is warming the neo-gothic limestone of the Houses of Parliament, and the knots of tourists wandering round them, but in a basement cafe on Millbank it is dark, and quiet, and Joseph Stiglitz is looking as though he hasn't had quite enough sleep. For two days non-stop he has been talking - at the LSE, at Chatham House, to television crews - and then he is flying to Washington to testify before Congress on the subject of his new book.
Whatever their reservations - and there will be a few - representatives will have to listen, because not many authors with the authority of Stiglitz, a Nobel prize-winner in economics, an academic tempered by four years on Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers and another three as chief economist at the World Bank (during w