[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, December 6, 2006

[Robert Naiman]

Just Foreign Policy News
December 6, 2006
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/blog/

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Summary:
U.S./Top News
Advocates of meaningful troop withdrawal from Iraq - a position
supported by the majority of the public - continue to be marginalized
in the media debate over Iraq, writes Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting in a news advisory. According to the 2006 exit polls, 55
percent of voters prefer that the U.S. withdraw some or all of its
troops from Iraq, while a recent Pew poll found 56% favored a
timetable for withdrawal. FAIR noted a Washington Post editorial that
called Murtha's redeployment proposal "an extreme step that most
congressional Democrats oppose," although half of the Democratic
caucus have co-sponsored the Murtha resolution.

Robert Gates was unanimously approved by a Senate committee yesterday
to become President Bush's new defense secretary, after a confirmation
hearing in which he bluntly stated that the US is not winning the war
in Iraq.

U.S. troops should begin withdrawing from combat and Washington should
launch a diplomatic and political push to halt a "grave and
deteriorating" crisis in Iraq, the Iraq Study Group said Wednesday.
The report called for the US to engage with Iran and Syria in an
effort to stabilize the country.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes, incoming chair of the House Intelligence
Committee, said he wants to see an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S.
troops as part of a stepped up effort to "dismantle the militias,"
Newsweek reports online. The Texas Democrat voted against the October
2002 authorization that enabled the US invasion, but now opposes a
timetable for withdrawal.

Top Democrats in Congress are ignoring calls from within their caucus
to eliminate funding for troops in Iraq, a strategy some say is
necessary to end U.S. involvement in the war, the Washington Times
reports. "There is only one way in which the US will withdraw from
Iraq prior to the end of President Bush's term," said Rep. Dennis
Kucinich. "Congress must vote to cut off funds." Democratic leaders
flatly rejected the idea, insisting they will move to "change the
course" of the war but will continue to appropriate money to support
the troops fighting in Iraq.

House Democrats sent a signal to President Bush Tuesday they will
attach conditions he is likely to find unpalatable to his anticipated
request early next year for another $100 billion or more to pay for
the war in Iraq, AP reports. Democratic leaders said they will seek to
enforce greater transparency for the billions of dollars in contracts
that the Pentagon pays private firms to perform numerous functions in
Iraq. Some anti-war voices in the House said they want to use the
supplemental spending bill to force Bush to bring home the 140,000
troops in Iraq.

More than 73,000 soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have
been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and with problems
such as drug abuse and depression, the Miami Herald reports. Internet
blogs written by soldiers or their wives tell of suicide attempts,
harmed careers, and broken marriages.

With Americans leaning consistently in favor of disengagement from
Iraq, President Bush has warned that a precipitate withdrawal would
create a terrorism superstate in the Middle East, the Los Angeles
Times reports. But to many U.S. lawmakers, regional experts and Middle
East leaders, the chief risk is a Lebanese-style civil war that could
result in the deaths of thousands more Iraqis and expand the conflict
by drawing in neighboring states.

The lead-up to the invasion of Iraq has become notorious in the annals
of American journalism, Norman Solomon writes for Common Dreams. But
it's happening again, as the New York Times and other major media beat
the drum for the idea that the war must go on.

In the new Senate Chris Dodd will play a greater role in shaping U.S.
policy towards Latin America, writes Andres Oppenheimer in the Miami
Herald. Dodd called for engagement with "center-left" presidents in
Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua.

Iran
David Ignatius, writing in the Washington Post, says Iran has set "a
tough condition" for help in stabilizing Iraq: a US timetable for
withdrawing its troops. Of course, this "tough condition" is supported
by a majority of Americans and Iraqis.

Iran's top national security official urged Arab leaders to expel the
U.S. military from the region and join Iran in a regional security
alliance, AP reports. Ali Larijani told Arab business leaders and
political analysts that Washington is indifferent to their interests
and will cast them aside when they are no longer useful.

Iraq
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Tuesday that he would send
envoys to neighboring countries to plan a conference on Iraq, the New
York Times reports. Juan Cole notes on his blog that this reversal of
position follows the Arab League's endorsement of the proposal.

Syria
US engagement with Syria on Iraq would benefit hundreds of thousands
of Iraqi refugees now in Syria, writes Kenneth Bacon of Refugees
International in the Washington Post. Syria's resources are stretched
thin, and without international help, it may not be able to accept
vulnerable Iraqis much longer. Working with Syria through the UN to
help Iraqi refugees could provide a humanitarian first step for
greater engagement.

North Korea
The US has offered a detailed package of economic and energy
assistance in exchange for North Korea's giving up nuclear weapons and
technology, the New York Times reports.

Venezuela
Latin America's leftward swing, cemented by Hugo Chavez's landslide
re-election in Venezuela, Rafael Correa's triumph in Ecuador and
Daniel Ortega's return in Nicaragua, doesn't necessarily reflect a
yearning for Cuban-style communism, AP reports. Instead, it's all
about delivering life's basics - food, shelter, health care - to
people excluded from the benefits of the free market that Washington
has championed in the region for more than two decades.

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

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