[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, September 12, 2006

Tue Sep 12 17:21:12 CDT 2006

Just Foreign Policy News
September 12, 2006

Summary:
U.S.
Government lawyers said Monday American courts had no authority to
stop the military from transferring an American citizen to an Iraqi
court to face charges that he supported terrorists and insurgents.
Government lawyers said American courts did not have jurisdiction
because Omar was being held by a multinational force, not the American
military. Defense lawyers say that is a legal gimmick.

Britain
David Cameron, leader of Britain's opposition Conservatives, sought
Monday to distance his party from what he called a "slavish" bond
established between Britain and the US by Prime Minister Blair.

Iran
Secretary of State Rice signaled that a temporary suspension of Iran's
nuclear programs might be enough to pave the way for direct
negotiations involving the US and Iran. Rice said Iran needs to
suspend uranium-enrichment activities before talks can begin, but did
not rule out something less than a permanent suspension. In talks with
European officials, the Iranian negotiator offered a two-month freeze
at the start of talks. In a response to proposals made by the members
of the U.N. Security Council last June, Iran stopped short of
rejecting demands to halt its nuclear enrichment program, saying the
issue could be resolved in negotiations. The response was made public
on a Web site Tuesday.

Iraq
Brigadier General Mark Scheid told a Virginia newspaper that Rumsfeld
refused to plan for post-war Iraq and threatened to fire anyone who
did so, saying the American public "will not back us if they think we
are going over there for a long war."

Iraq's political process has sharpened the country's sectarian
divisions, polarized relations between its ethnic and religious
groups, and weakened its sense of national identity, the GAO said
Monday.

Iraq had nothing to do with the war on terror until the Bush
administration decided to invade it, notes a New York Times editorial
The president now admits that Saddam Hussein was not responsible for
9/11. But he has failed to offer the country a new, realistic reason
for being there.

A deputy of Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada al-Sadr sketched out his
vision of the Iraq to come, after the Americans withdraw, in a
Washington Post interview. First, "there will be a civil war," he
said. "It would be better than the Americans staying." No matter when
the Americans withdraw, "the first year of transition, it will be
worse," he warned. "After that, it will gradually improve."

Pentagon officials said the rise of "ethno-sectarian violence" has
laid the conditions for civil war, aborting plans to begin withdrawing
U.S. troops. U.S. forces may have to stay in the country for as many
as five or more years, they said.

Lebanon
Hundreds of people protested in Beirut against British Prime Minister
Blair's visit to Lebanon. Several ministers refused to meet him. The
front pages of most of the country's newspapers said he was not
welcome.

Israel
An IDF commander said the IDF fired around 1,800 cluster bombs
containing over 1.2 million cluster bomblets in Lebanon. Soldiers in
IDF artillery units testified that the army used phosphorous shells
during the war. They said the vast majority of such explosive
ordinance was fired in the final 10 days of the war.

An Israeli military judge Tuesday ordered the release of 21
Palestinian Hamas officials detained in a dragnet launched after a
soldier was abducted by gunmen in the Gaza Strip. A senior aide to
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a leader of Hamas, said the
court's decision represented "significant progress" in securing the
release of a captured Israeli soldier.

Uruguay
The Bush administration and Venezuela are jockeying for position in
Uruguay, the New York Times reports. Washington is offering a trade
deal that would pull Uruguay into the US orbit and weaken the regional
trade group Mercosur. Venezuela has countered with investments,
subsidized oil, and acts of charity.

In this issue:
U.S.
1) U.S. Appeals Ruling on American Held in Iraq
Britain
2) Tory Denounces Blair's 'Slavish' Tie to U.S.
Iran
3) Brief Nuclear Halt May Lead to Talks With Iran
4) Iran Proposes Negotiations on Nuclear Stand-Off
Iraq
5) Retired General: Rumsfeld Refused to Plan For Post-War Iraq scheid
6) Iraqi Elections Believed to Have Worsened Divisions, Report Says
7) President Bush's Reality
8) Top Aide to Sadr Outlines Vision of a U.S.-Free Iraq
9) Pentagon Weighing Report On Anbar
Lebanon
10) Protesters in Lebanon Drown Out Blair's Offers of Aid and Support
Israel
11) IDF commander: We fired more than a million cluster bombs in Lebanon
12) Israel orders release of 21 detained Hamas officials
Uruguay
13) Uruguay at Center of Lively U.S.-Venezuela Chess Game

Contents:
U.S.
1) U.S. Appeals Ruling on American Held in Iraq
Associated Press, September 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/12/washington/12court.html
Government lawyers said Monday American courts had no authority to
stop the military from transferring an American citizen to an Iraqi
court to face charges that he supported terrorists and insurgents.
Shawqi Omar, a citizen the US who served in the Minnesota National
Guard, was captured in Iraq in 2004. He is being held in Iraq, where
his family says he has not been charged or allowed to speak with a
lawyer. His family is demanding that Omar be brought before an
American court, where prosecutors would have to show probable cause
for detaining him and he could consult with a lawyer.

On appeal Monday before the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit,
government lawyers said American courts did not have jurisdiction
because Omar was being held by a multinational force, not the American
military. Defense lawyers say that is a legal gimmick. The three-judge
panel hearing the case expressed skepticism, saying the government's
theory might allow the military to arrest someone inside the US and
hold him without due process under the guise of a multinational force.
Lawyers for Omar's family say he is innocent and is likely to be
tortured if handed over to the Iraqi government.

Britain
2) Tory Denounces Blair's 'Slavish' Tie to U.S.
Alan Cowell, New York Times, September 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/12/world/europe/12tory.html
David Cameron, leader of Britain's opposition Conservatives, sought
Monday to distance his party from what he called a "slavish" bond
established between Britain and the US by Prime Minister Blair.
Cameron is the main opposition contender likely to challenge whoever
takes over the governing Labor Party from Blair, who has promised to
quit within a year. His remarks seemed intended to sharply demarcate
his foreign policy from that of Blair, for whom the war in Iraq and
his ties with President Bush have proved politically ruinous. His
remarks, a Conservative accusing a Labor leader of being too far to
the right, showed just how far the British political spectrum has
shifted since Blair's rise to power in 1997.

Iran
3) Brief Nuclear Halt May Lead to Talks With Iran
Rice Suggests Temporary Move Could Be Enough
Glenn Kessler and Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, Tuesday, September
12, 2006; A20
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/11/AR2006091100766.html
Secretary of State Rice signaled yesterday that a temporary suspension
of Iran's nuclear programs might be enough to pave the way for the
first direct negotiations involving the US and Iran in more than a
quarter-century. Rice said Iran needs to suspend uranium-enrichment
activities before talks can begin, but she did not rule out something
less than a permanent suspension. In talks over the weekend between
Iranian and European officials, the chief Iranian negotiator offered a
two-month freeze at the start of the talks.

4) Iran Proposes Negotiations on Nuclear Stand-Off
John Ward Anderson, Washington Post, Tuesday, September 12, 2006; 3:38
PM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/AR2006091200470.html
Iran has proposed extensive negotiations with major world powers to
resolve the stand-off over its nuclear program, but it is threatening
to cut off talks and other cooperation if the case against it proceeds
in the U.N. Security Council, as advocated by the US. In a response
given three weeks ago in reply to a set of proposals made by the
members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany last June, Iran stops
short of rejecting demands to halt its nuclear enrichment program,
saying the issue can be resolved in negotiations. The response was
made public on a Web site Tuesday.

Iraq
5) Retiring General: Rumsfeld Refused to Plan For Post-War Iraq
(actual title: "Katie in the Evening")
Howard Kurtz, Washington Post, Monday, September 11, 2006; 8:08 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/09/11/BL2006091100257_pf.html
Orin Kerr notes that the Daily Press in Hampton Roads, Virginia, has a
troubling interview with Brigadier General Mark Scheid, commander of
the Army Transportation Corps who was one of the early planners for
the war in Iraq. Scheid, retiring from military service, spoke about
Rumsfeld's instructions for drafting plans for the invasion of Iraq.
" 'The secretary of defense continued to push on us . . . that
everything we write in our plan has to be the idea that we are going
to go in, we're going to take out the regime, and then we're going to
leave,' Scheid said. 'We won't stay.' Scheid said the planners
continued to try 'to write what was called Phase 4,' or the piece of
the plan that included post-invasion operations like occupation.

"Even if the troops didn't stay, 'at least we have to plan for it,'
Scheid said. 'I remember the secretary of defense saying that he would
fire the next person that said that,' Scheid said. 'We would not do
planning for Phase 4 operations, which would require all those
additional troops that people talk about today. He said we will not do
that because the American public will not back us if they think we are
going over there for a long war.' "

6) Iraqi Elections Believed to Have Worsened Divisions, Report Says
Drew Brown, McClatchy Newspapers, Tuesday, September 12, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0912-01.htm
Iraq's political process has sharpened the country's sectarian
divisions, polarized relations between its ethnic and religious
groups, and weakened its sense of national identity, the Government
Accountability Office said Monday. In spite of a sharp increase in
Sunni-Shiite violence, however, attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces
are still the primary source of bloodshed in Iraq, the report found.

7) President Bush's Reality
Editorial, New York Times, September 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/12/opinion/12tue1.html
When Bush warns that Al Qaeda means what it says, that there are
Islamist fanatics around the world who wish us harm and that the next
assault could be even worse than the last, he does not need to press
the argument. After that, paths diverge. Bush has described a world
where Iraq is a young but hopeful democracy with a "unity government"
that represents its diverse population. Al Qaeda-trained terrorists
who are terrified by "the sight of an old man pulling the election
lever" are trying to stop the march of progress. The US and its
friends are holding firm in a battle that will decide whether freedom
or terror will rule the 21st century. If that were actual reality, the
president's call to "put aside our differences and work together to
meet the test that history has given us" would be inspiring, instead
of frustrating and depressing.

Iraq had nothing to do with the war on terror until the Bush
administration decided to invade it. The president now admits that
Saddam Hussein was not responsible for 9/11 (although he claimed last
night that the invasion was necessary because Iraq posed a "risk").
But he has failed to offer the country a new, realistic reason for
being there.

8) Top Aide to Sadr Outlines Vision of a U.S.-Free Iraq
Ellen Knickmeyer &Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post, September 12, 2006; A18
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/11/AR2006091101337.html
A top deputy of Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada al-Sadr sketched out his
vision of the Iraq to come, after the Americans withdraw. First,
"there will be a civil war," said the aide, Mustafa Yaqoubi. The
rising violence and rivalries under the American occupation make a
shaking-out all but inevitable once foreign forces go. "No matter the
number of people who would lose their lives, it is better than now,"
he added. "It would be better than the Americans staying."

When the tumult ends, he said, Iraq's Shiite majority will finally be
able to claim its due, long resisted by the Americans -- freedom to
usher in a Shiite religious government that Yaqoubi said would be
moderate. No matter when the Americans withdraw, "the first year of
transition, it will be worse," Yaqoubi warned. "After that, it will
gradually improve."

9) Pentagon Weighing Report On Anbar
Violence Negated Plan to Pull Troops
Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post, Tuesday, September 12, 2006; A19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/11/AR2006091101005.html
In congressional testimony on security in Iraq, Pentagon officials
said the rise of "ethno-sectarian violence" has laid the conditions
for civil war, aborting plans by U.S. commanders to begin withdrawing
U.S. troops. Gaps in the capabilities of Iraqi security forces leave
open the prospect that U.S. forces may have to stay in the country for
as many as five or more years, they said.

Lebanon
10) Protesters in Lebanon Drown Out Blair's Offers of Aid and Support
Craig S. Smith, New York Times, September 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/12/world/middleeast/12lebanon.html
Prime Minister Blair of Britain dodged raucous demonstrators and
endured a series of diplomatic snubs on his visit to Lebanon, offering
help for the Lebanese Army and vowing to renew efforts to bring peace
to the Middle East. His message was largely lost on a population angry
at his failure to demand an earlier end to the fighting, which had
killed nearly 1,200 Lebanese, an overwhelming majority of them
civilians.

Hundreds of people gathered to protest near Martyrs Square on the edge
of downtown Beirut. "Blair, bow your head before the children you have
murdered," read one of the placards in the crowd. Several ministers
refused to meet him, including the speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri.
The front pages of most of the country's newspapers said he was not
welcome.

Israel
11) IDF commander: We fired more than a million cluster bombs in Lebanon
Meron Rappaport, Haaretz, 12/09/2006 14:20
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=Rappaport&itemNo=761781
"What we did was insane and monstrous, we covered entire towns in
cluster bombs," the head of an IDF rocket unit in Lebanon said
regarding the use of cluster bombs and phosphorous shells during the
war. Quoting his battalion commander, the rocket unit head stated that
the IDF fired around 1,800 cluster bombs, containing over 1.2 million
cluster bomblets. Soldiers in IDF artillery units testified that the
army used phosphorous shells during the war, widely forbidden by
international law. According to their claims, the vast majority of
said explosive ordinance was fired in the final 10 days of the war.

12) Israel orders release of 21 detained Hamas officials
Dan Williams, Reuters, Tuesday, September 12, 2006; 11:10 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/AR2006091200649.html
An Israeli military judge Tuesday ordered the release of 21
Palestinian Hamas officials detained in a dragnet launched after a
soldier was abducted by gunmen in the Gaza Strip. A lawyer for the
detainees said the release ordered by Ofer Military Court would be on
bail, and that the roster included three Palestinian cabinet
ministers, one of them a parliament member, as well as 18 other
lawmakers. The Israeli army said implementation would be deferred
until Thursday so prosecutors could appeal. Israeli forces took at
least 30 Hamas officials into custody after Corporal Gilad Shalit was
seized in a June 25 raid.

Israel said the detainees were suspected of offences linked to Hamas's
role in spearheading a 6-year-old Palestinian revolt. But Palestinians
accused Israel of rounding up "bargaining chips" to force Shalit's
release. A senior aide to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a
leader of Hamas, said the court's decision represented "significant
progress" in securing Shalit's release. "The military court decision
is part of a deal coming together to release Shalit, and in the coming
days more will be known," Ahmed Youssef told Israel Radio.

Uruguay
13) Uruguay at Center of Lively U.S.-Venezuela Chess Game
Larry Rohter, New York Times, September 12, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/12/world/americas/12uruguay.html
Long taken for granted by its much larger neighbors, Uruguay suddenly
finds itself one of the main fronts in the struggle between the US and
Venezuela for dominance in South America. The Bush administration and
President Chávez of Venezuela are jockeying for position here, each
trying to undercut the other by winning over Uruguay's left-wing
government. Washington is offering a free-trade agreement that would
pull Uruguay into the US orbit and weaken Mercosur, the regional trade
group to which Uruguay and Venezuela belong. Chávez has countered with
investments, subsidized oil, acts of charity and a growing alliance
with left-wing factions of the ruling Broad Front.

--------
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org

Just Foreign Policy is a membership organization devoted to reforming
U.S. foreign policy so that it reflects the values and interests of
the majority of Americans.