[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, December 14, 2006

[Robert Naiman]

Just Foreign Policy News
December 14, 2006
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/blog/

1323 days have passed since President Bush declared "Mission
Accomplished" in Iraq.
Nearly 2800 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since.

Dennis is Right: Tell Congress, Stop the Money and Bring the Troops Home:
Please write to your Members of Congress if you have not done so
recently. They need to hear from you now.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/iraq.html

Time to Talk to Iran: Petition
More than 26,700 people have signed the Peace Action/Just Foreign
Policy petition. Please sign/circulate if you have yet to do so:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/iranpetition.html

Jewish Voice for Peace: "Carter is Right"
"Congress should heed Carter in crafting a Middle East policy toward a
just peace."
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/jvfp/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=425

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

Summary:
U.S./Top News
Leaders of Iraq 's labor movement today criticized government plans to
hand control over the country's oil production to foreign companies.
At a meeting in Jordan, leaders of Iraq's trade union federations,
representing hundreds of thousands of workers, called for a rethink of
the forthcoming oil law allowing foreign investment in the oil sector.
The law is expected to be presented to the Iraqi parliament in the
coming weeks. The meeting was assisted by the Solidarity Center, a
project of the AFL-CIO.

The nation's top uniformed leaders are recommending the US change its
main military mission in Iraq from combating insurgents to supporting
Iraqi troops and hunting terrorists, the Washington Post reports. The
chiefs do not favor adding significant numbers of troops to Iraq, and
are pressing for a much greater U.S. effort on economic reconstruction
and political reconciliation.

Democrats are planning to assert more control over the billions of
dollars a month being spent on the Iraq war, the New York Times
reports. The incoming Democratic chairs of the House and Senate Budget
Committees said they would demand a better accounting of the war's
cost and move toward integrating the spending into the regular federal
budget.

Some countries in the Middle East are expressing alarm at the pace of
Iran's progress toward mastery of the nuclear cycle, the Christian
Science Monitor reports. Noting that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf
countries announced over the weekend their interest in developing a
nuclear-energy program, former Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross
said, "Who is that message for? Let me tell you, it's not for Iran. It
was for us."

Sen. Bill Nelson defied pressure from the administration and met with
Syrian President Assad, the Washington Post reports. Afterward, Nelson
said he sees a new "crack in the door" for U.S.-Syria relations and
help in stabilizing Iraq. Senators Kerry, Dodd, and Specter are
scheduled to meet with Assad this month.

President Bush will soon seek about $100 billion in additional
emergency funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Reuters reports.

Iraq
President Bush said Wednesday he intended to press the Iraqi
government to reach out to Iraq's minority Sunni Muslim population,
the New York Times reports. Bush's comments were at odds with a view
of some in the Administration that the US should tilt more toward the
majority Shiites in Iraq and abandon efforts to reach out to Sunnis.

Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 as many as two million
civilians seeking sanctuary have fled into neighbouring countries like
Syria, Jordan and Iran, BBC reports. Refugees International calls it
the fastest growing humanitarian crisis in the world.

Iran
Iran won't negotiate on specific issues unless it is part of a broader
package, says former Bush advisor Flynt Leverett. Limited negotiations
won't work and such an approach is not serious. Leverett argued that
the Baker-Hamilton did no go far enough in its recommendations
regarding Iran since it only called for talks on specific issues.

The US and UK are pressing ahead with a sanctions resolution at the UN
retaining language that targets Iranian college students wishing to
study certain scientific subjects, the National Iranian American
Council reports. The resolution's reintroduction has raised fears that
the international Iranian student community may come under fire as a
result of the stand-off between Iran and the West.

Israel/Palestine
Israel blocked the Palestinian prime minister from returning home to
the Gaza Strip today, the New York Times reports, saying he was
carrying tens of millions of dollars that could be used for terror
attacks. Israel and Western countries have cut off the flow of money
to the Palestinian government. The Palestinian Authority needs more
than $150 million a month for salaries and other basic expenses, and
Hamas officials have sought to bring in at least a portion of this on
their trips abroad. Today's episode demonstrated that Israel is able
to shut the border even when its security forces are not present in
Rafah.

Ecuador
Ecuador's President-elect Rafael Correa said he will restructure the
country's $11 billion in international debt, dousing [bondholder]
optimism he wouldn't follow through with a campaign pledge to default,
Bloomberg reports. "With this level of debt, we cannot move the
country forward," Correa said. "A country that spends twice as much on
foreign debt as it does on education cannot develop."

Somalia
Ethiopia, with tacit approval from the US, has been steadily slipping
soldiers across the border into Somalia, trying to shore up Somalia's
weak, unpopular and divided transitional government, the New York
Times reports. The Islamist forces, on the other hand, seem to be very
popular, having defeated Mogadishu's warlords earlier this year to
pacify one of the world's most murderous cities.

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

-
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org