[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, August 15, 2006

Tue Aug 15 13:17:13 CDT 2006

Just Foreign Policy News
August 15, 2006

In this issue:

Contents:
1) Rewriting the Geneva Conventions
Editorial, New York Times
August 14, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/14/opinion/14mon1.html
When creating the camp at Guantánamo for prisoners from Afghanistan,
Bush said he would be "adhering to the spirit of the Geneva
Convention" in handling the detainees. But Bush did not intend to
follow the Geneva Conventions and still doesn't, despite a Supreme
Court ruling that the prisoners merit those protections. He wants
Congress to make the US the first country to repudiate the language of
the Geneva Conventions. This would allow interrogators to continue
abusive practices banned by the conventions and make sure they cannot
be held accountable. The administration objects to Common Article 3 of
the Geneva Conventions that prohibits "outrages upon personal dignity,
in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment." This standard has
been followed for more than a half-century by almost 190 countries,
including the US. The War Crimes Act of 1996 makes it a felony to
violate the Geneva Conventions. The Bush administration authorized
techniques that clearly break the rules, like prolonged exposure to
extreme temperatures and long periods in stress positions. The
rational response to the court's decision would be to ban those
practices and bring America in line with the civilized world.
The vast majority of Guantánamo inmates are not terrorists. Many do
not appear guilty of anything, not even fighting US troops in
Afghanistan. The administration's real aim is to keep on using abusive
interrogation techniques at the secret prisons run by the CIA. It
wants to make interrogators, and those who give their orders, immune
from prosecution. The administration wants to ban the use of the
Geneva Conventions as the basis for a legal case in American courts.
This would block the route a prisoner used in the case on which the
Supreme Court ruled in June. The Geneva Conventions protect Americans.
If this country changes the rules, it's changing the rules for
Americans taken prisoner abroad.

2) Israel Begins Pullout Amid Fragile Truce
Associated Press
August 15, 2006
Filed at 11:13 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Lebanon-Israel.html
Israel began slowly pulling out forces from southern Lebanon on the
first full day of a tense cease-fire that already has been tested by
skirmishes and rocket fire. Israeli and Hezbollah forces avoided any
escalation, raising hopes that the U.N.-imposed pact could stick, as
governments rushed to assemble international troops to deploy in
southern Lebanon and firm up the peace. As Lebanese refugees streamed
home, Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets over southern Lebanon,
warning residents to stay out of the area until Lebanese and
international troops are deployed. Lebanon's Defense Minister Murr
said the Lebanese force of 15,000 soldiers could be on the north side
of the Litani River by the end of the week. Israeli army officials
said they plan to begin handing over some captured positions on
Wednesday and hope to complete the withdrawal from Lebanon by next
week. Israel's military officials said 13 Hezbollah prisoners and the
bodies of dozens of guerrillas could be offered in exchange for two
captive soldiers. Italy's foreign minister said Tuesday his country
could send up to 3,000 troops. France, Malaysia, Turkey and Indonesia
also have offered to contribute. The peacekeeping force must provide
security for a huge reconstruction effort across southern Lebanon.
Israel said it would continue its blockade of Lebanese ports but was
no longer threatening to shoot any car that moved on roads south of
the Litani. Relief agencies worried about how to move supplies across
southern Lebanon over bombed roads and others clogged with traffic.
Sweden plans to host an international donors' conference Aug. 31 to
help fund the rebuilding.

3) The UK Terror plot: what's really going on?
Craig Murray, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan
August 14, 2006
http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/archives/2006/08/the_uk_terror_p.html
None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a
plane ticket. Many did not even have passports. In the absence of
bombs and airline tickets, and in many cases passports, it could be
pretty difficult to convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt that
individuals intended to go through with suicide bombings, whatever
rash stuff they may have bragged. Many of those arrested had been
under surveillance for over a year.  Nothing from that surveillance
had indicated the need for early arrests. We have Bush and Blair
discussing the possible arrests over the weekend. Both in desperate
domestic political trouble, they longed for "Another 9/11". The timing
is deeply political. This is more propaganda than plot. Of the over
one thousand British Muslims arrested under anti-terrorist
legislation, only twelve per cent are ever charged with anything. That
is simply harrassment of Muslims on an appalling scale. Of those
charged, 80% are acquitted. Most of the very few - just over two per
cent of arrests - who are convicted, are not convicted of anything to
do terrorism, but of some minor offence the Police happened upon while
trawling through the wreck of the lives they had shattered. Be
sceptical. Be very, very sceptical.

4) Iranian Leader Opens Up
Ahmadinejad Speaks Candidly With Mike Wallace About Israel, Nukes, Bush
CBS News
Aug. 13, 2006
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/09/60minutes/main1879867.shtml
When Mike Wallace interviewed Iran's President Ahmadinejad in Tehran
last week, it became apparent that he sees the fighting between Israel
and Hezbollah as part of a larger battle between the U.S. and a
militant Islam for control of the Middle East. He told Wallace the
Security Council is doing America's bidding by trying to prevent Iran
from developing nuclear energy. "But if Mr. Bush thinks that he can
stop our progress, I have to say that he will be unable to do that,"
Ahmadinejad said. "Basically we are not looking for — working for the
bomb," the president said. "I don't know why [the US is] opposed to
Iranian progress," the president said. Asked if he really believed
that the United States is against Iranian progress and development,
Ahmadinejad said, "That is true. That is what I am saying." "You know
that's not so," Wallace replied. "Before the revolution, the German,
French, American government and the Canadian government had signed
contracts with us to produce nuclear fuel inside Iran. But immediately
after the establishment of the Islamic Republic, their opposition
started," Ahmadinejad said. "Right now, they are opposed to our
nuclear technology. Now why is that?"

5) Iran and Syria applaud 'victory'
Syria and Iran have praised Hezbollah for what both describe as the
group's defeat of Israel in Lebanon.
BBC News
2006/08/15
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4794363.stm
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad hailed the "glorious battle". Iran's
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Hezbollah had thwarted US plans to dominate
the Middle East. Mr Assad, said Israel had been defeated and Hezbollah
had "hoisted the banner of victory", following the month-long
conflict. He added that peace in the Middle East was not possible with
the Bush administration in power in Washington. "This is an
administration that adopts the principle of pre-emptive war that is
absolutely contradictory to the principle of peace," he said.
"Consequently, we don't expect peace soon or in the foreseeable
future." The defiant speech is the clearest sign of how US opponents
in the Middle East have been emboldened by the outcome of the
conflict, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Damascus.

6) Bush Defends U.S. Handling of Lebanese Conflict, Asserting That
Hezbollah Is the Loser
Jim Rutenberg
New York Times
August 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15prexy.html
President Bush on Monday defended his handling of the war between
Israel and Hezbollah, declaring that Hezbollah had been the loser in
the monthlong fight and warning Syria and Iran against resupplying the
Lebanese militia.Bush and his advisers sought to portray the
cease-fire deal that was established under a UN Security Council
resolution as an affirmation of American foreign policy. Bush spoke on
a day of intense competition to shape world opinion on the conflict.
Hezbollah said it had won an "historic victory" by fending off a
regional superpower; Israel and the United States said Hezbollah was
the loser because the resolution calls for ending its control of
southern Lebanon. A senior official acknowledged the possibility that
Hezbollah would build public support in southern Lebanon by flooding
the area with rebuilding money, as it has vowed to do.

7) News Analysis: Testing How Long the Truce Can Last
Steven Erlanger
New York Times
August 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15assess.html
For the moment, Hezbollah is bathed in a heroic light, not just in
Lebanon but throughout the Muslim world. Lebanon's prime minister,
Fouad Siniora, appears unable or unwilling to force the issue of
Hezbollah's disarmament. Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah,
said in a television speech that his fighters would accept the
cease-fire. Yet he insisted that Hezbollah would continue to fight so
long as Israeli troops remained on Lebanese soil.

8) US 'knew of Israel bombing plan'
BBC News
2006/08/14
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4792961.stm
Israel and the United States were in close contact about Israel's war
on Hezbollah long before it began, a US investigative journalist has
claimed. "Israel had devised a plan for attacking Hezbollah, and
shared it with Bush administration officials, well before" 12 July,
Seymour Hersh wrote. Israeli officials visited Washington to secure US
support for its plans before Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers
on 12 July, the ostensible cause of the Israeli bombardment of
Lebanon.

9) US Sending 300 Newly Returned Troops Back to Iraq
Will Dunham
Reuters
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0815-03.htm
About 300 U.S. soldiers who just weeks ago returned home to Alaska
after a year in Iraq are being ordered back to try to help bolster
security in Baghdad. The soldiers are part of the 3,900-strong 172nd
Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Wainwright in Alaska. Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on July 27 ordered the unit to remain in
Iraq for up to four months past its scheduled departure. That order
provoked anger and disappointment among some of the soldiers' families
in Alaska. It also made clear that any significant reduction in the
135,000-strong U.S. force in Iraq was unlikely in the immediate
future.

10) Military Recruiting Violations Rise: GAO
Reuters
August 14, 2006
Filed at 2:44 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-arms-usa-recruiting.html
Allegations of wrongdoing by U.S. military recruiters jumped by 50
percent from 2004 to 2005, and criminal violations such as sexual
harassment and falsifying documents more than doubled, a congressional
agency said Monday. The Government Accountability Office said the full
extent of violations by military recruiters is unknown because the
Defense Department does not have an oversight system. While the GAO
said available information likely underestimated the problem, it
showed that allegations of recruiter wrongdoing increased to 6,600
cases in fiscal year 2005 from 4,400 a year earlier. Substantiated
cases rose to almost 630 cases from 400, and criminal violations
jumped to 70 from about 30, it said. The military's 20,000 recruiters
have been under pressure to meet recruiting goals while a fairly
strong economy has sustained a competitive job market and the death
toll in the Iraq war has been rising. "Determined to find ways to
succeed in a challenging recruiting environment, some recruiters
reportedly have resorted to overly aggressive tactics, such as
coercion and harassment,'' the GAO report said.

11) Rosy Assessments on Iraq 'Not Related to Reality,' Some Say
Tom Lasseter
McClatchy Newspapers
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0815-02.htm
As security conditions continue to deteriorate in Iraq, many Iraqi
politicians are challenging the optimistic forecasts of governments in
Baghdad and Washington, with some worrying that the rosy views are
preventing the creation of effective strategies against the escalating
violence. Their worst fear, one that some American soldiers share, is
that top officials don't really understand what's happening. Those
concerns seem to be supported by statistics that show Iraq's violence
has increased steadily during the past three years."The American
policy has failed both in terms of politics and security, but the big
problem is that they will not confess or admit that," said Mahmoud
Othman, a Kurdish member of parliament. Shiite Muslim parliament
member Jalaladin al Saghir had a similar view. "All the American
policies have failed because the American analysis of the situation is
wrong; it is not related to reality," Saghir said. Some U.S. soldiers
in Iraq reluctantly agree. "As an intelligence officer ... I have had
the chance to move around Baghdad … and see the city and violence from
the ground," wrote one American military officer in Iraq. "the
greatest problem that we deal with is that our leadership has no real
comprehension of the ground truth…When I have briefed General
Officers…Many have been surprised at what I have to say, but I suspect
that in the end nothing will or has changed."

12) Fragile Cease-Fire Allows Thousands to Return Home
John Kifner
New York Times
August 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15mideast.html
Tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of Lebanese clogged roads to the
south on Monday night as a tense, fragile cease-fire began between
Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas. As the cease-fire dawned on
Monday morning, Israeli airplanes blanketed Beirut with leaflets
showing a cartoon of a black-turbaned cleric, presumably Sheik
Nasrallah, poised over a sandcastle, saying that Hezbollah and its
Syrian and Iranian masters had brought the Lebanese people to "the
edge of the abyss" with only "destruction, displacement and death."
The leaflet warned that Israel could return "with all necessary
might." But the psychological warfare appeared to have little effect
on the refugees packing up their belongings and heading south,
expressing their hatred for Israel — and, to a striking degree in this
normally Western-leaning nation — for America, which is seen as the
Israelis' unquestioning backer. "Bush did this," said Majid Kubaisy,
standing in the broken glass and rubble of his sportswear shop in a
largely Shiite area of southern Beirut. Residents returned to a
desolate landscape of ruined apartment buildings cascading dust and
the smell of explosives. Like many of the people who were finding
their way back to their old neighborhoods, Mr. Kubaisy blamed the
United States as much as Israel for the destruction, saying the
conflict had only redoubled his allegiance to Hezbollah.

13) Beirut: Returning Home to Ruins: Shock Is Mixed With Outrage
Robert F. Worth
New York Times
August 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15beirut.html
Four hours after the cease-fire with Israel started Monday morning,
Dr. Abdel Munaim Mansour stood staring in disbelief at the mountainous
hash of rubble that was once the apartment building where his family
lived. "We will kill every American for this!" Dr. Mansour shouted,
his voice cracking with rage. "Every Shiite Muslim will kill
Americans! We will grind them under our shoes!" Dr. Mansour and his
wife, who work at a nearby hospital, stumbled on through their old
neighborhood in a state of shock, seeming almost not to recognize the
charred and shredded landscape around them. They had returned, after
weeks of exile in the relative safety of the mountains, to the
capital's southern Shiite district, which has been largely deserted
during a month of heavy Israeli bombardment. Around the couple,
thousands of others streamed back on Monday into the ruined streets,
where smoke and the smell of rotting flesh rose from the rubble. Some
cursed America and Israel and swore revenge; others simply wept. Most
said that before they returned, they had no idea of the scale of the
destruction in this area, which includes many Hezbollah offices.

14) Hezbollah Fighters Limp Out Into the Light, Yet Manage a Bit of a Swagger
Sabrina Tavernise
New York Times
August 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15hezbollah.html
When the thunder of the bombs stopped in this southern Lebanese town
on Monday morning, the fighters emerged from shrapnel-spattered
buildings, moving with the confidence of men who felt they had won.
Sometimes they bragged. "It was a small group, but we defeated America
and Israel, both of them," said a man who identified himself as Abu
Haidar. But it was the Shiites returning to their homes who made clear
that this war had taken the hearts of the Shiite majority in this part
of the country, at least for now. "Do you know why we're happy?" asked
Hassan Suhed. "We're born anew."
Ahmed Abdullah, a 31-year-old shop owner, waved a cellphone toward his
apartment, now missing part of a wall. "You see all of this?" he said,
smiling. "We don't care." A man who identified himself as Abu Hassan
said his house, his parents' house, and his brother's house had all
been destroyed. "We're ready to give up a lot more houses to preserve
our dignity," he said.

15) 'Blame war' looms for Israel leaders
Jonathan Marcus
BBC News
2006/08/15
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4792261.stm
A new war is about to erupt on Israel's home front; indeed the first
skirmishes have already begun. It will be a war of recriminations and
blame, but it will also be a struggle to determine the true lessons of
the fighting in Lebanon. It is a struggle from which few of Israel's
political or military leaders may emerge unbruised. And it is a
struggle that will determine the fate not just of Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert, but also of his plan to withdraw Israeli settlers from
significant parts of the occupied West Bank.

16) Skeptical of Deal, Israelis Step Tentatively From Bunkers
Greg Myre
August 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15israel.html
With a cease-fire bringing calm to this rocket-riddled town, residents
began emerging from bomb shelters on Monday. Traffic lights were
turned on. A few cafes opened. And Freddy Misika was in his bright
orange Lotto kiosk on the main street, promising winning tickets for
all, just as he had done throughout the fighting.

17) Letter From Beirut: Three Guerrillas Walk Into a Bar
Nora Boustany
Washington Post
Tuesday, August 15, 2006; C01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/14/AR2006081401195.html
Barely a week into a war that sent the hopes of many Lebanese tumbling
down with their bridges, buildings and roads, stunned civilians
trapped in the crossfire started trading self-deprecating gags about
their situation. As one joke has it, residents fleeing the Shiite
suburbs of Beirut were flashing the victory sign -- to indicate that
only two buildings were still left standing. It was followed by
excited speculation that real estate values in the poor neighborhood
of Ain al-Rummaneh had shot up by 50 percent. It now has a sea view.
Another story has Haifa Wehbe, the curvaceous bombshell of Lebanese
music videos, dispatched by the Hezbollah leadership to Israel to
conduct negotiations. She returns pregnant. Confronted about her
condition, Wehbe insisted she was only trying to help: "I thought I
would get you another small hostage." The elderly women of the
Christian neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh regard Nasrallah as their new
idol and sex symbol, goes one line, because he has taken them back 40
years. Another joke extols Nasrallah, saying he is now worthy of a
statue since he managed to put the entire Shiite Muslim community,
with its high rate of illiteracy, in schools. The most popular joke
involves stumblebum folk hero Abul Abed. He threatens Israeli Prime
Minister Olmert that he has collected thousands of followers of the
Abul Abed Movement who are ready with shoulder-mounted rockets like
the Mujahedeen of Afghanistan. Olmert replies: "You will be no match
for the 2 million Israeli soldiers massed along the border, ready to
attack." "Two million?" asks Abul Abed. "In that case I am going to
have to surrender. We simply do not have enough room to keep 2 million
hostages."

18) Democrats See Security as Key Issue for Fall
Carl Hulse
New York Times
August 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/washington/15dems.html
After being outmaneuvered in the politics of national security in the
last two elections, Democrats say they are determined not to cede the
issue this year and are working to cast President Bush as having
diminished the nation's safety. "They are not Swift boating us on
security," said Representative Nancy Pelosi of California. Seeking to
counter White House efforts to turn the reported terrorist plot in
Britain to Republican advantage, Democrats are using the arrests of
the suspects to try to show Americans how the war in Iraq has fueled
Islamic radicalism and distracted Bush and the Republican Congress
from shoring up security at home. They say they intend to drive that
message home as the nation observes the coming anniversaries of
Hurricane Katrina and the Sept. 11 attacks.
A video Monday on the Web site of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign
Committee showed footage of Osama bin Laden, referred to an increase
in terror attacks, highlighted illegal immigration and pointed out the
nuclear aspirations of Iran and North Korea. "Feel safer?" it
concludes. "Vote for change."

19) Tighter Security Is Jeopardizing Orchestra Tours
Daniel J. Wakin
New York Times
August 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/arts/music/15tour.html
Strict regulations imposed last week forced the New York-based
Orchestra of St. Luke's to cancel a long-awaited tour of Britain over
the weekend and sent other ensembles with imminent trips, including
the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Minnesota
Orchestra, scrambling to cope with the new rules. All travelers in
Britain had to adapt to the ban on carry-on items, which was relaxed
yesterday to allow one small carry-on. But not all travelers ply their
trade with highly personal artifacts made of centuries-old wood,
horsehair and precious metals that many musicians are loath to put in
the hold. The violin virtuoso and conductor Pinchas Zukerman said
security officials had even asked him to remove the strings of his
1742 Guarneri del Gèsu.

20) Mexico poll protests turn violent
Mexican riot police fired tear gas and used clubs to break up a
protest by supporters of left-wing presidential challenger Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4793271.stm
Leftist lawmakers were among at least 30 people injured in the
scuffles outside Congress in Mexico City. Lopez Obrador's supporters
have been camped out in protest at the 2 July election they say was
stolen by conservative rival Felipe Calderon. This is the first time
the authorities have used force on the protesters. Lopez Obrador later
told his supporters that the events showed the authorities are "taking
off their masks and putting aside their talk of supposed legality and
respect".

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Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org