[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, July 20, 2006

Thu Jul 20 13:08:44 CDT 2006

Just Foreign Policy News
July 20, 2006

In this issue:
1) GOP Lawmakers Edge Away From Optimism on Iraq
2) Where are the Christians?
3) Things Come 'Round in Mideast
4) IDF kidnapped two Palestinian civilians before their soldier was
captured in Gaza
5) Iraqi Prime Minister Denounces Israel's Actions
6) Toll Rises in Middle East; Bunker Is Hit
7) To Disarm Shadowy Guerrilla Army, Israeli Air Power May Not Be Enough
8) Russia Backs UN Deadline on Iran: Lavrov
9) Iran Sticks by Nuclear Plans Despite U.N. Pressure
10) Iran Says Determined to Make Atomic Fuel at Home
11) Iran Says It Will Deliver Response Aug. 22
12) Lebanese PM: Hezbollah Must Be Disarmed
13) Turkey Moves Forward on Push Into Iraq
14) Lebanon Battles Raise Hezbollah Questions
15) U.S. Stance Against Venezuela Has Dangers
16) US Has No Idea of 'War on Terror' Cost: Watchdog
17) Humanitarian Catastrophe Looms
18) Deadliest Day Yet in Assault on Lebanon
19) U.S. at Odds With Allies on Mideast Conflict
20) Editorial: Diplomatic Traps
21) Mum on the Mideast?
22) Presidential Dispute Splits Mexico City

Summary:
The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour,
said what is happening in Lebanon might amount to war crimes. "The
scale of the killings in the region, and their predictability, could
engage the personal criminal responsibility of those involved,
particularly those in a position of command and control," she said.
Arbour is a former war crimes prosecutor.

Homes in southern Lebanon received taped phone calls in Arabic warning
that they needed to evacuate because strikes would hit house by house.
The recording ended by saying it came from the Israeli Army. The
Israelis also used a radio station near the border to broadcast
warnings into southern Lebanon for residents to leave.

Congressional Republicans are shifting their message on the Iraq war
from speaking optimistically of progress to acknowledging the
difficulty of the mission and pointing up mistakes in planning and
execution, the Washington Post reports. Shays vents criticism of the
White House's war strategy and new estimates of the monetary cost of
the war. Gutknecht, once a strong supporter of the war, returned from
Iraq this week declaring that conditions in Baghdad were far worse
"than we'd been led to believe" and urging that troop withdrawals
begin immediately. Republican lawmakers acknowledge that it is no
longer tenable to say the news media are ignoring the good news in
Iraq and painting an unfair picture of the war. The evolving
Republican message on the war contrasts with the strong rhetoric used
by House and Senate Republicans recently in opposing a deadline for
withdrawal from Iraq. During a debate last month, Gutknecht intoned,
"Members, now is not the time to go wobbly." This week, he conceded "I
guess I didn't understand the situation."

At the United Nations the United States opposed a French proposal for
a Security Council resolution calling for a lasting cease-fire in
Lebanon. Rice will travel to the United Nations to discuss with
Secretary General Annan Israeli demands for a 12-mile buffer zone in
southern Lebanon. There is talk of putting international troops in
that zone and along the Syrian border to prevent the import of more
rockets from Syria and Iran.

Iran on Thursday again rejected international calls for it to scrap
nuclear fuel production and accused the United States of trying to
obstruct a diplomatic solution to its atomic dispute with the West.
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator made the statement as the U.N.
Security Council wrangles over a resolution to make legally binding
demands that Tehran halt uranium enrichment.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Iran's top security
decision-making body, said Thursday it would formally respond on Aug.
22 to a Western package of incentives aimed at resolving the standoff
over its nuclear program. A senior Iranian lawmaker said Tuesday the
country's parliament was preparing to debate withdrawal from the
nonproliferation treaty if the U.N. Security Council adopts a
resolution that would force Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment.
Withdrawal from the treaty could end all international oversight of
Iran's nuclear program.

Russia is prepared to back a United Nations resolution giving Iran a
deadline to respond to a package of incentives on its nuclear program,
its Foreign Minister said Thursday.
But he did not say if Russia would support imposing sanctions on Iran
if it failed to comply. The draft under consideration in the U.N.
would make it mandatory for Iran to suspend enrichment and includes
threats of sanctions if it does not comply. Lavrov did not say if
Russia would back that draft. The will set a date, possibly by the end
of August, for Iran to comply.

Fighting raged between Israelis and Palestinians in both the Gaza
Strip and the West Bank, with 13 Palestinians killed in a series of
Israeli raids. "We have a forgotten war in Gaza and the West Bank,"
said Saab Erekat, a Palestinian legislator and frequent spokesman. "We
urge the international community to offer direct intervention to stop
this Israeli military escalation."

American military analysts caution that Israel may be unable to disarm
a shadowy guerrilla army by missiles, bombs and long-range artillery
alone, the New York Times reports. Small numbers of Israeli commandos
already have entered Lebanon, senior Israeli officials acknowledged
Wednesday, and more ground forces may be sent in.
But the Israeli military campaign is intertwined with another goal
aimed at the Lebanese government and civilian population. "They want
to turn the Lebanese people…against Hezbollah," said Theodore Kattouf,
former American ambassador to Syria. "I think they are quite
misguided...These attacks are, if anything, making people feel
somewhat less hostile to Hezbollah and more convinced in their dislike
of Israel."

Iraq's Prime Minister on Wednesday forcefully denounced the Israeli
attacks on Lebanon. "Israeli attacks and airstrikes are completely
destroying Lebanon's infrastructure," Maliki said. "I condemn these
aggressions and call on the Arab League foreign ministers' meeting in
Cairo to take quick action to stop these aggressions. We call on the
world to take quick stands to stop the Israeli aggression."

Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims fleeing southern Lebanon and
Beirut's southern suburbs have taken refuge in the city's Christian
and Sunni quarters in recent days. The sudden influx of so many
displaced Shiites, many of whom support the militant group Hezbollah,
threatens to upset Lebanon's sectarian balance. For the first time in
decades of conflict, Shiite refugees have had to take shelter in
neighbourhoods where many residents oppose Hezbollah. Israeli
offensives in southern Lebanon have displaced Shiites many times over
the last 30 years, but they've always taken refuge in the largely
Shiite suburbs of south Beirut. But now, both the South and the
southern suburbs are under Israeli fire and the Shiites must flee into
the city itself. Nobody knows is exactly how many people have been
displaced, but it is clear that a humanitarian crisis looms ahead.

The International Committee of the Red Cross and other international
aid agencies cited growing concern over the number of Lebanese
civilians being displaced by the Israeli air campaign, particularly in
the hard-hit villages and towns of southern Lebanon. The number forced
to leave their homes was estimated at 500,000 in a country with a
population of 4 million.

Hezbollah missiles on Wednesday landed in the Israeli Arab town of
Nazareth. Two brothers were killed around 5 p.m. when two rockets
landed in the Safrefeh neighborhood in Israel's largest Arab city.
Nazareth, a city of 75,000 people, has no public bomb shelters or
early-warning sirens commonplace in other Israeli cities across the
north.

The United States faces growing tensions with allies over its support
of Israel's military campaign in Lebanon, amid calls for a cease-fire
to help with the mounting humanitarian crisism the Washington Post
reports. European allies are particularly alarmed about the high
civilian death toll in Lebanon, and concerned that the U.S. position
will increase tensions between the Islamic world and the West. "What
there needs to be now is a cessation of hostilities," U.N. Deputy
Secretary General Malloch Brown said yesterday. "The Middle East is
littered with the results of people believing there are military
solutions to political problems in the region." He said civilians are
"very unfairly bearing the greatest brunt of the conflict." "The one
thing that is guaranteed to send the Arab world and the Persian world
over the edge is for the U.S. to be seen ultimately to be doing what
they always believed -- to be fully in cahoots with Israel," said a
European official. "The danger of allowing it to continue is that the
United States is more and more despised. It's not like the U.S. had a
good reputation within the region to start with."

The Washington Post editorial board again takes up its cudgel against
diplomacy to end the fighting in Lebanon. The Post restates its view
that a ceasefire would serve the interests of extremists. Instead, the
Bush administration should insist on the passage by the U.N. Security
Council of a resolution ordering Iran to stop the enrichment of
uranium.

Howard Kurtz, writing in the Washington Post, reflects on criticism
that the liberal blogosphere has been relatively quiet about the
Israeli bombing of Lebanon.  He notes that Slate Editor Jacob Weisberg
recently returned from a trip to the Israeli-Lebanese border, funded
by AIPAC, and proceeded to endorse the US-Israeli position. Wouldn't
it have been better, Kurtz asks, if Slate, and not a pro-Israel lobby,
had paid for his trip?

Hezbollah has created a ''state within a state'' in Lebanon and must
be disarmed, Lebanese Prime Minister Saniora said in an interview
published Thursday in an Italian daily, AP reports. Saniora's office
said the prime minister had been misquoted. According to the report,
Saniora had said that the Shiite militia has been doing the bidding of
Syria and Iran, and that it can only be disarmed with the help of the
international community and once a cease-fire has been achieved. He
also said that international help was needed to persuade Israel to
withdraw from the Shebaa Farms, a disputed territory that Lebanon
claims and Hezbollah uses as a pretext to keep attacking Israeli
forces.

The Turkish military is moving forward with plans to send forces into
northern Iraq to clear out Turkish Kurdish guerrilla bases, the prime
minister said Wednesday. But Erdogan also said officials were holding
talks with the United States and Iraq in an attempt to defuse
tensions.

Writing in TruthDig, JFP Board Member Tom Hayden offers his own
experience as a legislator influenced by the "Israel lobby" to reflect
on the Lebanon crisis. He notes that as a candidate in California, he
felt he had to be certified as "kosher" by Israel's counsel general in
Los Angeles. The de facto Israeli endorsement was communicated
indirectly, in compliance with laws that prohibit foreign interference
in an American election. Hayden expresses deep regret for his
endorsement of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, suggesting that
he was deceived about the war's aims, and offers his experience as a
caution to Americans today. He notes that it is not being a "friend of
Israel" to turn a blind eye to its actions.

In his syndicated column, Pat Buchanan argues that "what Israel is
doing is imposing deliberate suffering on civilians, collective
punishment on innocent people, to force them to do something they are
powerless to do: disarm the gunmen among them. Such a policy violates
international law...It is un-American and un-Christian." Buchanan asks
why there hasn't been more criticism from Christian leaders. "Why is
Pope Benedict virtually alone among Christian leaders to have spoken
out against what is being done to Lebanese Christians and Muslims?"

Foreign policy critic Noam Chomsky in recent interviews has emphasized
the context of Hamas' capture of the Israeli soldier which has been
underreported in the U.S. press: the kidnapping of two Palestinian
civilians by the IDF from their home in Gaza the day before, citing
among other sources Gideon Levy in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz.

The US government has lost track of the cost of the "war on terror"
unleashed after the September 11 attacks and which is now taking up
tens of billions of dollars a year in Iraq and Afghanistan, the
Government Accountability Office says. The GAO says that neither the
Defence Department nor Congress had any accurate idea how much the war
has cost since the attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.

The United States is lobbying hard to block Venezuela's bid for a seat
on the U.N. Security Council, claiming that Venezuela will disrupt the
body as it confronts hot issues such as Iran. But interviews with some
15 diplomats of member states reveal substantial wariness about the
U.S. effort, with the critics warning it could boomerang against the
U.S. choice, Guatemala, when the General Assembly votes in October.A
European diplomat said U.S. lobbying against Venezuela would only gain
it votes.

Scuffles, vandalism and angry accusations by supporters of Mexico's
two presidential rivals forced politicians to appeal for calm to
prevent the country's election dispute from erupting into violence.
Local media reported late Wednesday that electoral officials had
conducted a recount at about 2 percent of polling places that showed
relatively untrained polling officials made mathematical errors that
inflated totals for all candidates. The recounts -- which were
conducted at polling places where Lopez Obrador claimed fraud had
bolstered Calderon's vote total -- yielded new totals that favored
Calderon.

Articles:
1) GOP Lawmakers Edge Away From Optimism on Iraq
Jonathan Weisman and Anushka Asthana
Washington Post
Thursday, July 20, 2006; A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/19/AR2006071901787.html

Faced with almost daily reports of sectarian carnage in Iraq,
congressional Republicans are shifting their message on the war from
speaking optimistically of progress to acknowledging the difficulty of
the mission and pointing up mistakes in planning and execution.

2) Where are the Christians?
Patrick J. Buchanan
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
July 19, 2006
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14044.htm

When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert unleashed his navy and air
force on Lebanon, accusing that tiny nation of an "act of war," the
last pillar of Bush's Middle East policy collapsed.

3) Things Come 'Round in Mideast
Tom Hayden
TruthDig
July 18, 2006
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060718_tom_hayden_things_come_round/

Twenty-five years ago I stared into the eyes of Michael Berman, chief
operative for his congressman-brother, Howard Berman. I was a neophyte
running for the California Assembly in a district that the Bermans
claimed belonged to them. "I represent the Israeli defense forces,"
Michael said. I thought he was joking. He wasn't. Michael seemed to
imagine himself the gatekeeper protecting Los Angeles' Westside for
Israel's political interests, and those of the famous Berman-Waxman
machine. Since Jews represented one-third of the Democratic district's
primary voters, Berman held a balance of power.

4) IDF kidnapped two Palestinian civilians before their soldier was
captured in Gaza
Interview of Noam Chomsky by Tom Murphy
http://representativepress.blogspot.com/2006/07/lebanon-israel-facts-media-isnt.html

Chomsky cites Gideon Levy's piece in Haaretz, "A black flag," July 3:
"The legitimate basis for the IDF's operation was stripped away the
moment it began. It's no accident that nobody mentions the day before
the attack on the Kerem Shalom fort, when the IDF kidnapped two
civilians, a doctor and his brother, from their home in Gaza. The
difference between us and them? We kidnapped civilians and they
captured a soldier, we are a state and they are a terror
organization." http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=733427
Also refered to in Chomsky's Democracy Now interview:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/14/146258

5) Iraqi Prime Minister Denounces Israel's Actions
Edward Wong And Michael Slackman
New York Times
July 20, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/20/world/middleeast/20shiites.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 19 — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq
on Wednesday forcefully denounced the Israeli attacks on Lebanon,
marking a sharp break with President Bush's position and highlighting
the growing power of a Shiite Muslim identity across the Middle East.
"The Israeli attacks and airstrikes are completely destroying
Lebanon's infrastructure," Mr. Maliki said at an afternoon news
conference inside the fortified Green Zone, which houses the American
Embassy and the seat of the Iraqi government. "I condemn these
aggressions and call on the Arab League foreign ministers' meeting in
Cairo to take quick action to stop these aggressions. We call on the
world to take quick stands to stop the Israeli aggression."

6) Toll Rises in Middle East; Bunker Is Hit
Jad Mouawad And Steven Erlanger
New York Times
July 20, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/20/world/middleeast/20mideast.html

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 19 — The deadliest day yet in the deepening
two-front Middle East crisis claimed more than 70 lives on Wednesday
in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and northern Israel, with no
immediate cease-fire in sight. "The country has been torn to shreds,"
a desperate Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, said at a meeting
he had called of foreign diplomats, including the American ambassador.
"Is this the price we pay for aspiring to build our democratic
institutions?" he asked in a bitter and emotional speech. "Can the
international community stand by while such callous retribution by the
state of Israel is inflicted on us?"

7) To Disarm Shadowy Guerrilla Army, Israeli Air Power May Not Be Enough
Thom Shanker
New York Times
July 20, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/20/world/middleeast/20military.html

WASHINGTON, July 19 — With its bombardment of Lebanon, Israel aims to
accomplish the military goals of eliminating Hezbollah's ability to
fire missiles over the border, cutting its lines of resupply from
Syria or Iran and demonstrating — under pain of chaos — the cost to
the Lebanese government of allowing the militant group to operate
freely from its territory.

8) Russia Backs UN Deadline on Iran: Lavrov
Reuters
July 20, 2006
Filed at 2:52 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-nuclear-iran-russia.html

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is prepared to back a United Nations
resolution giving Iran a deadline to respond to a package of
incentives on its nuclear program, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was
quoted as saying on Thursday. But he did not say if Russia would
support imposing sanctions on Iran if it failed to comply -- an issue
that has split the U.N. Security Council.

9) Iran Sticks by Nuclear Plans Despite U.N. Pressure
Reuters
July 20, 2006
Filed at 7:31 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-nuclear-iran.html

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Thursday once again rejected international
calls for it to scrap nuclear fuel production and accused the United
States of trying to obstruct a diplomatic solution to its atomic
dispute with the West.

10) Iran Says Determined to Make Atomic Fuel at Home
Reuters
July 20, 2006
Filed at 6:04 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-nuclear-iran-larijani.html

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Thursday it was determined to produce
nuclear fuel on its territory in defiance of international calls to
halt the work and accused the United States of trying to prevent a
negotiated solution to its dispute with the West.

11) Iran Says It Will Deliver Response Aug. 22
Associated Press
July 20, 2006
Filed at 8:58 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iran-Nuclear.html

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran said Thursday it would formally respond on
Aug. 22 to a Western package of incentives aimed at resolving the
standoff over its suspect nuclear program -- the first time the
Islamic republic has set a specific date for its reply.

12) Lebanese PM: Hezbollah Must Be Disarmed
Associated Press
July 20, 2006
Filed at 8:18 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast-Fighting-Hezbollah.html

ROME (AP) -- Hezbollah has created a ''state within a state'' in
Lebanon and must be disarmed, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora
said in an interview published Thursday in an Italian daily. Saniora's
office said the prime minister had been misquoted and that his words
had been translated from English into Italian.

13) Turkey Moves Forward on Push Into Iraq
Associated Press
July 19, 2006
Filed at 8:30 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Turkey-Kurds.html

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- The Turkish military is moving forward with
plans to send forces into northern Iraq to clear out Turkish Kurdish
guerrilla bases, the prime minister said Wednesday. But Recep Tayyip
Erdogan also said officials were holding talks with the United States
and Iraq in an attempt to defuse tensions.

14) Lebanon Battles Raise Hezbollah Questions
Associated Press
July 19, 2006
Filed at 6:22 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast-Hezbollah.html

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Israel said Wednesday it had wiped out half of
Hezbollah's arsenal in a week of fighting, but the Shiite guerrilla
group and some experts say that claim is wishful thinking. With supply
lines disrupted and no early cease-fire in sight, the big question is
how long Hezbollah can hold out.

15) U.S. Stance Against Venezuela Has Dangers
Associated Press
July 19, 2006
Filed at 3:01 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Blocking-Venezuela.html

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United States is lobbying hard to block
Venezuela's bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council, fearful that
Hugo Chavez, its fiercely anti-American president, will disrupt the
body as it confronts hot issues such as Iran and Sudan. But interviews
with some 15 diplomats of member states reveal substantial wariness
about the U.S. effort, with the critics warning it could boomerang
against the U.S. choice, Guatemala, when the General Assembly votes in
October.

16) US Has No Idea of 'War on Terror' Cost: Watchdog
Agence France Presse
July 19, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0719-02.htm

The US government has lost track of the cost of the "war on terror"
unleashed after the September 11 attacks and which is now taking up
tens of billions of dollars a year in Iraq and Afghanistan, a Congress
watchdog warned. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that
neither the Defence Department nor Congress had any accurate idea how
much the war has cost since the attacks on New York and Washington in
2001.

17) Humanitarian Catastrophe Looms
Displaced Shiites flood Christian areas
Influx threatens city's delicate balance
Andrew Mills
Toronto Star
July 18, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0718-01.htm

BEIRUT — Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims fleeing danger and death
in southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs have taken refuge in
the city's Christian and Sunni quarters in the last six days. The
sudden influx of so many displaced Shiites, many of whom support the
militant group Hezbollah, threatens to upset Lebanon's delicate
sectarian balance.

18) Deadliest Day Yet in Assault on Lebanon
Hezbollah Rockets Fired Into Israel Kill Two Arab Boys
Edward Cody, John Ward Anderson and Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post
Thursday, July 20, 2006; 9:18 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/20/AR2006072000584.html

BEIRUT, July 20 -- Israel on Thursday warned Lebanese residents to
leave the southern sector of the country below the Litani River, a day
after punishing airstrikes killed more than 50 people across Lebanon
in the deadliest day since hostilities erupted July 19.

19) U.S. at Odds With Allies on Mideast Conflict
Citing Civilian Casualties, European Nations and U.N. Eager for Cease-Fire
Robin Wright and Colum Lynch
Washington Post
Thursday, July 20, 2006; A17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/19/AR2006071901932.html

The United States faces growing tensions with allies over its support
of Israel's military campaign to cripple Hezbollah, amid calls for a
cease-fire to help with the mounting humanitarian crisis.

20) Editorial: Diplomatic Traps
The usual means of stopping the fighting in the Middle East would only
reward the aggressors.
Washington Post
Thursday, July 20, 2006; A22
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/19/AR2006071901717.html

AS FIGHTING in the Middle East continues, the Bush administration is
coming under pressure to launch some sort of diplomatic initiative.
These calls sound reasonable; the loss of innocent life in Lebanon and
Israel is tragic, the dangers of further escalation are real and U.S.
shuttle diplomacy has been instrumental in halting previous conflicts.
The problem is this: The usual options in the State Department's
playbook would hand to the extremists who launched this war exactly
the results they have hoped for.

21) Mum on the Mideast?
Howard Kurtz
Washington Post
Thursday, July 20, 2006; 7:34 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/07/20/BL2006072000365.html

Does an opinion writer have to have an opinion on everything?
More to the point, does such a writer have to weigh in on the Middle East?

22) Presidential Dispute Splits Mexico City
Associated Press
July 20, 2006
Filed at 3:30 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mexico-Elections.html

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Scuffles, vandalism and angry accusations by
supporters of Mexico's two presidential rivals forced politicians to
appeal for calm to prevent the country's election dispute from
erupting into violence. Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has called
on his backers to mount a civil resistance campaign against what they
claim is vote fraud that helped his conservative Felipe Calderon win
the July 2 vote.

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