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

[Robert Naiman]

Just Foreign Policy News
December 12, 2006
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/blog/

1321 days have passed since President Bush declared "Mission
Accomplished in Iraq." Nearly 2800 U.S. troops have been killed in
Iraq since.

No War with Iran: Petition
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Policy petition. Please sign/circulate if you have yet to do so:
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MoveOn.org calls for talks with Iran and Syria, letters to the editor:
Following the release of the Iraq Study Group report, which calls for
the US to talk with Iran and Syria, MoveOn.org sent an action alert
asking for letters to newspapers in support of the ISG's call for
talks.
http://pol.moveon.org/lte/index.html?lte_campaign_id=69

Just Foreign Policy News daily podcast:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/podcasts/podcast_howto.html

Summary:
U.S./Top News
Citing dissatisfaction with Democratic strategy on Iraq, Rep. Dennis
Kucinich announced that he would run for the Democratic presidential
nomination. Mainstream media coverage of the announcement has been
predictably snarky (although NPR this morning reported it straight.)
Kucinich is the only candidate who clearly opposes the Iraq war and
wants to bring the troops home, a fact no doubt correlated with MSM
annoyance at his candidacy.

Reps. Kucinich and Paul hosted a Congressional briefing on Iraqi war
casualties, focused on the Lancet (Johns Hopkins) study. Stephen Soldz
reports that Juan Cole presented various evidence from the media that
supported the Lancet authors' position that the vast majority of
deaths are not presented in the press, and that study co-author Les
Roberts again called for another research group to investigate the
Iraqi mortality rate and confirm or invalidate the Lancet study. [The
Public Radio show "This American Life" recently updated their classic
program on the Lancet Study:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/pages/descriptions/06/320.html]

The Bush Administration has tried to "isolate" Venezuela, writes Just
Foreign Policy President Mark Weisbrot on Huffington Post. This
strategy took another hit at the South American summit in Bolivia,
where President García of Peru, who had previously traded insults with
President Chávez, said, "any kind of argument, any previously made
statements, remain a closed chapter."

President Bush heard a dismal assessment of his handling of Iraq from
a group of military experts, but the advisers shared the White House's
skeptical view of the recommendations made by the Iraq Study Group,
the Washington Post reports. Juan Cole writes: "Giving this small
random group a high-profile hearing contradicts the basic principle
that when someone gets you into a mess, you stop following their
advice."

In a Washington Post-ABC News poll, seven in 10 Americans disapprove
of the way the president is handling the situation in Iraq - the
highest percentage since the March 2003 invasion, the Post reports.
Six in 10 say the war was not worth fighting.

Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the Iraq war and want
most U.S. troops withdrawn within a year, USA Today reports.

In a recent interview, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, incoming chair of the
House intelligence committee, could not describe Hezbollah and said
that al-Qaeda is predominantly Shiite, Reuters reports.

Israel's prime minister appeared to acknowledge during a TV interview
that Israel has nuclear weapons, the New York Times reports. Last week
Robert Gates acknowledged an Israeli nuclear arsenal at his
confirmation hearing to become secretary of defense. Both U.S. and
Israeli officials have refused to confirm this in the past, in part
because such an acknowledgment could in theory trigger sanctions under
U.S. law, and because attention to Israel's nuclear arsenal could
undermine the US case for isolating Iran.

In an op-ed in the New York Times, Eugene Gholz, Daryl Press &
Benjamin Valentino argue that the same logic that supports withdrawing
U.S. forces from Iraq supports withdrawing them from the entire
region, rather than re-deploying them to neighboring countries, where
their presence is sure to inflame public opinion against the U.S. and
host governments.

Iran
Russian officials said that European negotiators have overcome many of
their objections to a draft U.N. Security Council resolution barring
Iran's trade in sensitive nuclear materials and ballistic missiles,
the Washington Post reports. Russia has insisted that sanctions be
narrowly focused on activities suspected to violate international
agreements, rather than the broad sanctions on Iran's legal nuclear
program sought by the US.

Israel's air force plans to enhance its air-refueling capabilities,
increasing the range of its warplanes, USA Today reports. The article
suggests that this is related to Israeli threats to attack Iran. The
article points out that unlike the 1981 Israeli attack on Iraq's
Osirak nuclear reactor, an Israeli attack on Iran would strike at
multiple targets.

Iraq
The Pentagon is trying to bring state-owned factories abandoned by the
Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq back to life, the Washington
Post reports, in a bid to reduce recruits for the insurgency by
reducing unemployment.

Several of Iraq's major political parties are in talks to form a
coalition whose aim is to break the influence of Shiite cleric Moktada
al-Sadr within the government, the New York Times reports. The plan
could provoke a rebellion from Sadr's forces, but US commanders say
efforts to make peace with Sadr through politics may have failed, and
a military assault on Sadr strongholds may be inevitable.

A group of prominent Saudi clerics have called on Sunni Muslims around
the world to mobilize against Shiites in Iraq, the Daily Times of
Pakistan reports.

Lebanon
Violence in Iraq is polarizing communities in Lebanon, Reuters reports.

Cuba
Florida congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen says a video clip in which
she endorses the assassination of Cuban leader Fidel Castro is a fake,
AP reports. Ros-Lehtinen is the top Republican on the House
International Relations committee. A link to the clip is provided
below.

Contents:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/blog/

-
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org

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