[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, November 29, 2006

[Robert Naiman]

Just Foreign Policy News
November 29, 2006

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Write a Letter to the Editor:
Max Boot writes in the Los Angeles Times that there's no point in
talking to Iran and Syria about Iraq because we might have to make
concessions to get their assistance. For example, we might have to
give up promoting "regime change" in Iran. Do you agree?
To send a letter: letters at latimes.com. Boot's piece:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-oe-boot29nov29,1,7625509.column

Release of the Iraq Study Group report:
A press release from the US Institute of Peace says the Iraq Study
Group report will be released on December 6. More info:
http://www.usip.org/isg/

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Summary:
U.S./Top News
As pressure mounts for the US to seek direct talks on Iraq with Iran
and Syria, President Bush appeared to rule out any change in his
administration's policy, the Los Angeles Times reports.

But Robert Gates, Bush's nominee for secretary of defense, in written
testimony submitted to Congress, called for diplomatic engagement with
both countries, the Washington Post reports, noting that "even in the
worst days of the cold war the U.S. maintained a dialogue with the
Soviet Union and China."

World powers seeking to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions are
circulating a significantly weakened draft for a UN Security Council
resolution, the Washington Post reports. The new text has dropped all
mention of sanctions against Iran's power plant at Bushehr. There is
still no agreement on a final draft, five months after US officials
said Iran had "weeks, not months" to comply with U.S. demands to halt
uranium enrichment.

Iraq's president said Wednesday he had reached a security agreement
with Iran, the Washington Post reports. President Ahmadinejad repeated
his calls for the US to withdraw its forces from Iraq. "Based on a
timetable, transfer the responsibilities to Iraqi government," he
said. "This will agree to your interests, too."

Juan Cole expressed skepticism on the truth and significance of a US
intelligence official's leak to the New York Times claiming that
Hizbullah had been training the Mahdi Army, suggesting the leak may
well be disinformation intended to forestall the Baker recommendation
of talks with Iran and Syria.

The Pentagon's emergency spending proposal may push the Defense
Department into conflict with Democrats, the Los Angeles Times
reports. The article notes that the upcoming request, added to the $70
billion already allocated for next year, would easily exceed the
annual cost of the Vietnam War at its height, although the total cost
of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so far is still less than Vietnam
(but not by much, if the new figures are included.)

A classified memorandum by President Bush's national security adviser
expressed serious doubts about whether Prime Minister al-Maliki had
the capacity to control the sectarian violence in Iraq. A New York
Times news analysis says many of the proposals in national security
advisor Steven Hadley's leaked memo appear to be based on an
assumption the memo itself calls into question: that Prime Minister
Maliki can set a new course, or abandon the ruling Shiite religious
alliance to lead a radically different kind of government.

Iran
US troops must leave Iraq if security is to be restored, Iranian
leader Ayatollah Khamenei said during talks with the Iraqi president.
He said the US was powerless to stop the unrest in Iraq, which was
also bad for other countries in the region. Iraqi President Talabani
in turn called on Iran to stop backing Shia militias and support
Iraq's government, Iraq's foreign minister said.

In a letter to the American people, Iranian President Ahmadinejad
called for the pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq and charged that Bush
administration policy is based on "coercion, force and injustice." The
letter said there is an urgent need for dialogue between Iranians and
Americans because of the "tragic consequences" of U.S. intervention
abroad.

Iraq
A U.S. military spokesman said he expects violence in Iraq to escalate
over the next few weeks in response to Thursday's bombings in Sadr
City, the Washington Post reports.

American troops killed five girls when the troops attacked a house
Tuesday in Anbar Province, the New York Times reports.

Prime Minister Nouri Maliki will push for the U.S. military to
relinquish control over his nation's security forces, the Los Angeles
Times reported. The prime minister also will insist government should
drive negotiations with Iran and Syria, they said.

A bloc of Iraqi lawmakers and cabinet ministers allied with militia
leader Moqtada al-Sadr launched a boycott of their governmental duties
to protest Prime Minister Maliki's decision to attend the summit with
Bush, the Washington Post reports. The leader of the parliamentary
bloc said their action did not mean the officials were pulling out of
the government, which would all but guarantee its collapse.

The U.N. Security Council extended the mandate of the U.S.-led
coalition in Iraq for another year, as Secretary General Annan
proposed an international conference to forge reconciliation among
Iraq's political parties. Annan said that Iran and Syria should be
included in efforts to stabilize Iraq.

Israel/Palestine
Palestinian Prime Minister Haniyeh used his first foreign tour since
taking office to promote a Palestinian initiative based on an
independent state on land outside Israel's 1967 borders, Reuters
reports. Haniyeh, who is from the Islamist movement Hamas, said it was
time governments in the Middle East and around the world put pressure
on Israel to recognize such an independent Palestinian state.

Afghanistan
Leaders of the 26 NATO nations failed to agree today on President
Bush's demand that member countries with troops in Afghanistan lift
their restrictions on how the troops are used, the New York Times
reports.

Bolivia
The Bolivian Senate passed a sweeping land reform bill proposed by
President Morales, AP reports, overcoming opposition efforts to
prevent the proposal from coming to a vote.

Ecuador
The electoral victory of left economist Rafael Correa marks the eighth
time in the last 8 years that a presidential candidate running against
the "Washington Consensus" in Latin America has won, noted JFP board
president Mark Weisbrot on Huffington Post. The people going over the
heads of their political establishment and leaders in an attempt to
force desperately needed changes in economic policy. Even in the U.S.,
although the biggest issue for voters was the war, there was plenty of
evidence that our own country's long-term economic failure played a
role.

Somalia
The Bush Administration is pushing a U.N. Security Council resolution
that experts believe could well spark a wider war in the Horn of
Africa, writes Jim Lobe for Inter Press Service. The resolution which
would exempt a proposed African "peace support" force from a
longstanding arms embargo on Somalia. "The draft resolution the U.S.
intends to present... could trigger all-out war in Somalia and
destabilise the entire Horn of Africa," warned the International
Crisis Group.

Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) Bush Firm On Iran, Syria Talks
The president appears unlikely to agree to direct talks with Iraq's
neighbors, which the Iraq Study Group is expected to recommend.
Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times, November 29, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-na-iraqstudy29nov29,1,1578951.story
As pressure mounts for the US to seek direct talks on Iraq with Iran
and Syria, President Bush appeared Tuesday to rule out any change in
his administration's policy toward those Iraqi neighbors. By
reaffirming a long-standing administration policy setting strict
conditions on talks with either country, Bush indicated that he may be
unwilling to accept an expected recommendation by a bipartisan
commission assessing policy options on Iraq.

The commission members have said they want the administration to
negotiate with Iraq's neighbors. But Bush said Iran must first agree
to international demands that it halt development of its nuclear
program. "Iran knows how to get to the table with us, and that is to
do that which they said they would do, which is verifiably suspend
their enrichment programs," Bush said Tuesday in Estonia during a trip
that will take him to Jordan later this week to meet with Iraq's
U.S.-backed leader. "And then we'll be happy to have a dialogue with
them."

Bush was less specific about Syria, but gave no hint that he had grown
more willing to hold talks with leaders in Damascus. The Iraq Study
Group is meeting this week in Washington to try to reach a bipartisan
consensus for a final report expected by the end of the year. Although
members agree on the need to negotiate with countries like Iran and
Syria, they have been divided on other key issues, including U.S.
troop levels.
…
One U.S. official said there was growing apprehension within the
government that the Iraq Study Group's recommendations for talks would
become "a club that's going to be used to bash the administration."

2) Gates Warns Against Leaving Iraq 'in Chaos'
Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post, Wednesday, November 29, 2006; A05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/28/AR2006112801604.html
Robert Gates, President Bush's nominee to become the next secretary of
defense, said he opposes a swift pullout from Iraq, arguing in written
testimony submitted yesterday to Congress that "leaving Iraq in chaos
would have dangerous consequences both in the region and globally for
many years to come."

Gates, whose confirmation hearings are scheduled to begin next week,
also staked out positions on Iran and Syria that are consistent with
his past views but appear to be at odds with the Bush administration's
current policies. He called for diplomatic engagement with both
countries, noting that "even in the worst days of the cold war the
U.S. maintained a dialogue with the Soviet Union and China and I
believe those channels of communication helped us manage many
potentially difficult situations."

Until he was nominated earlier this month by President Bush, Gates was
a member of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by former secretary
of state James A. Baker III and former representative Lee H. Hamilton
(D-Ind.). That group is said to be leaning toward recommending that
the Bush administration seek stability in Iraq partly by holding an
international conference that includes Iraq's neighbors. In 65 pages
of written answers to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gates
repeatedly mentions such a conference. "Our engagement with Syria need
not be unilateral," Gates stated. "It could, for instance, take the
form of Syrian participation in a regional conference."

3) Iran Resolution, Still Not Final, Drops Mention Of Sanctions
Helene Cooper, New York Times, November 29, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/world/middleeast/29iran.html
The six world powers seeking to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions are
circulating a significantly weakened draft for a UN Security Council
resolution against Tehran's nuclear program, in a bid to keep their
fragile coalition from falling apart. The new text under consideration
has dropped all mention of sanctions against Iran's first nuclear
power plant at Bushehr, according to European diplomats. The US had
initially proposed including Bushehr on the list of programs to single
out, but Russia, which has been helping to build the power plant with
the Iranians, balked.

Diplomats from the six countries, which also include Britain, France,
Germany and China, have been squabbling about the draft resolution for
almost three months. There is still no agreement on a final draft.
Complicating the matter is the steady drumbeat in Washington, from
inside and outside the Bush administration, calling on President Bush
to initiate talks with Iran over the worsening violence in Iraq. "This
has to be carefully managed," said one European diplomat. "It's
important for the U.S. to separate the two issues, because the
Iranians would like everything to be combined."

It has been six months since the six powers offered Iran a list of
incentives to stop enriching uranium and threatened sanctions if Iran
did not. In June, at the time of the initial offer, American officials
said Iran had "weeks, not months" to comply.

The growing call for Washington to initiate talks with Tehran over
Iraq is only one of the complicating factors. Also holding things up
is that Russia and China - but Russia in particular - dislike like the
idea of punitive sanctions, and have been dragged along kicking and
screaming, according to diplomats.

American officials have sought a strongly worded resolution that would
prohibit any technical or financial assistance that could benefit
Iran's nuclear program, and would impose a ban on visas for any
Iranians involved in nuclear activities, according to American and
European diplomats involved in the talks.

4) Iraq, Iran Reach Agreement on Security
Nasser Karimi, Associated Press, Wednesday, November 29, 2006; 1:25 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112901086.html
Iraq's president said Wednesday he had reached a security agreement
with Iran, which the US accuses of fueling the chaos in the war-torn
country. Iran's president called on countries to stop backing
"terrorists" in Iraq and for the Americans to withdraw. Tehran is
believed to back some of the Shiite militias blamed in the vicious
sectarian killings that have thrown the country into chaos. The US has
said the Iraqi government should press Iran to stop interfering in its
affairs in a bid to calm the violence.

Presidents Jalal Talabani of Iraq and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran held
talks Wednesday hours before President Bush was due to meet with the
Iraqi prime minister in Jordan in talks aimed at finding a solution to
Iraq's spiraling bloodshed. "We discussed in the fields of security,
economy, oil and industry. Our agreement was complete," Talabani told
reporters. "This visit was 100 percent successful. Its result will
appear soon."

It was not clear if Talabani's comments reflected an agreement by
Tehran to try to rein in Shiite militias. Most of the militias are run
by political parties that are a powerful part of the coalition
government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He has resisted U.S.
pressure to crack down on the militias.

Ahmadinejad repeated his calls for the US to withdraw its forces from
Iraq. "I advise you to leave Iraq," he said, addressing the Americans.
"Based on a timetable, transfer the responsibilities to Iraqi
government. This will agree to your interests, too."

He urged countries to stop backing militants in Iraq, saying,
"supporting terrorists is the ugliest act that they can do." He did
not specify which countries he was referring to. Ahmadinejad said
"extremists should be dismissed (from the Iraqi government) no matter
to which group and ethnicity they belong to. This is the only way to
salvation."

The US accuses Iran and its ally Syria of stirring up violence in
Iraq. Tehran denies this, saying it seeks calm in its neighbor and
that an end to the bloodshed can only come when U.S. forces withdraw.

5) Hizb and Mahdi: Do they or Don't they?
Juan Cole, Informed Comment, Wednesday, November 29, 2006
http://www.juancole.com/2006/11/hizb-and-mahdi-do-they-or-dont-they.html
The NYT was told by somebody in Washington that Hizbullah has trained
between 1,000 and 2,000 Mahdi Army militiamen. I don't know if I
believe it, and I am not sure it is significant if true. There are
thousands of Mahdi Army militiamen, and some have much more direct war
experience, fighting the Marines in 2004, than does Hizbullah. Their
popularity has anyway more to do with their charitable work, as WaPo
pointed out Monday, than with their military prowess, such as it is.

The logistics are suspicious here. To get from southern Iraq to
Lebanon you have to go through Iraqi Sunni Arab territory, which would
get most Shiites killed. And, why take the militiamen for training all
the way to Lebanon when Iran is right next door and easy to get to via
Kermanshah or Basra?

Nor can the effect of the training be seen on the ground. Hizbullah's
signature tactic is setting shaped charges, which is rare for the
Mahdi Army but is often engaged in by the Sunni Arab guerrillas, who
are not to say the least being helped by Iran or Hizbullah. And, it is
being alleged that Mahdi Army is being trained to kidnap and torture.
That needs training?

There is a real possibility that this report is disinformation
"leaked" by the Cheney/Wurmser axis in order to forestall a move to
negotiation with Iran and Syria over Iraq, which the Baker-Hamilton
Commission will likely recommend.

6) Controversy Over Pentagon's War-Spending Plan
The emergency request of at least $127 billion is criticized as a wish
list. The military cites a big need to buy equipment.
Julian Barnes & Peter Spiegel, Los Angeles Times, November 29, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-na-warcosts29nov29,1,405091.story
The Pentagon is preparing an emergency spending proposal that could be
larger and broader than any since the Sept. 11 attacks, covering not
only the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but extending to other military
operations connected to the Bush administration's war on terrorism.
The spending plans may push the Defense Department into conflict with
Democrats as they take control of Capitol Hill. Democrats had been
planning to limit the emergency "supplemental" spending measures that
have funded the wars in favor of the regular federal budget process,
which affords greater oversight and congressional control.

Congressional and military officials have said the Pentagon is
considering a request of $127 billion to $150 billion in new emergency
war spending, the largest such request since the special spending
measures were begun in 2001. So far, Congress has allocated $495
billion for Afghanistan, Iraq and terrorism-related efforts.

Even within the Pentagon, the spending request is generating
controversy. The Pentagon was due to forward its request to the White
House by about Nov. 15. But a senior Defense Department official said
that the decision has been delayed and that Pentagon officials have
asked Army and Air Force officials to provide more justification for
their spending demands. The services have been pushing to increase the
size of the supplemental appropriation in order to replace equipment,
and they have argued that the overall military budget is too small
given the demands on the armed forces.

Pentagon officials would not comment on the budget figures, which are
due to be made public in February. The upcoming request, added to the
$70 billion already allocated for next year, would easily exceed the
annual cost of the Vietnam War at its height. Adjusted for inflation,
the U.S. spent $121 billion on the Vietnam War in 1968, according to
the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

Still, the overall cost of the Vietnam War - about $663 billion
adjusted for inflation - is still larger than the combined costs of
the fighting thus far in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the
research service.

7) Deeper Crisis, Less U.S. Sway In Iraq
John F. Burns & Kirk Semple, New York Times, November 29, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/world/middleeast/29politics.html
When President Bush meets in Jordan on Wednesday with Prime Minister
Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq, it will be a moment of bitter paradox:
at a time of heightened urgency in the Bush administration's quest for
solutions, American military and political leverage in Iraq has fallen
sharply. Dismal trends in the war - measured in a rising number of
civilian deaths, insurgent attacks, sectarian onslaughts and American
troop casualties - have merged with growing American opposition at
home to lend a sense of crisis to the talks in Amman. But American
fortunes here are ever more dependent on feuding Iraqis who seem, at
times, almost heedless to American appeals, American and Iraqi
officials in Baghdad say.

They say they see few policy options that can turn the situation
around, other than for Iraqi leaders to come to a realization that
time is running out. It is not clear that the US can gain new traction
in Iraq with some of the proposals outlined in a classified White
House memorandum, which was compiled after the national security
adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, visited Baghdad last month.

Many of the proposals appear to be based on an assumption that the
White House memo itself calls into question: that Prime Minister
Maliki can be persuaded to break with 30 years of commitment to Shiite
religious identity and set a new course, or abandon the ruling Shiite
religious alliance to lead a radically different kind of government, a
moderate coalition of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish politicians.

The memo's assessment of Maliki tracks closely with what his American
and Iraqi critics in Baghdad say: that six months after taking office,
he has still not shown that he is willing or capable of rising above
Shiite sectarianism.

8) Bush Adviser's Memo Cites Doubts About Iraqi Leader
Michael R. Gordon, New York Times, November 29, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/world/middleeast/29cnd-military.html
A classified memorandum by President Bush's national security adviser
expressed serious doubts about whether Prime Minister al-Maliki had
the capacity to control the sectarian violence in Iraq and recommended
that the US take new steps to strengthen the Iraqi leader's position.
The Nov. 8 memo was prepared for Bush and his top deputies by Stephen
Hadley, the national security adviser, and senior aides on the staff
of the National Security Council.

The memo suggests that if Maliki fails to carry out a series of
specified steps, it may ultimately be necessary to press him to
reconfigure his parliamentary bloc, a step the US could support by
providing "monetary support to moderate groups," and by sending
thousands of additional American troops to Baghdad to make up for what
the document suggests is a current shortage of Iraqi forces.

Text of U.S. Security Adviser's Iraq Memo:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/world/middleeast/29mtext.html

Iran
9) Iran: US exit key to Iraq peace
BBC News, November 29, 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6190662.stm?ls
US troops must leave Iraq if security is to be restored, Iranian
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said during talks with the
Iraqi president. He said the US was powerless to stop the unrest in
Iraq, which was also bad for other countries in the region. Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani in turn called on Iran to stop backing Shia
militias and support Iraq's government instead, Iraq's foreign
minister said.

10) Iranian President Calls for U.S. to Pull Out of Iraq
Robin Wright, Washington Post, Wednesday, November 29, 2006; 1:26 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112901085.html
In an unusual letter to the American people, Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad today called for the pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq and
charged that Bush administration policy is based on "coercion, force
and injustice." The five-page letter, which was both conciliatory in
references to "noble Americans" and scathing in lambasting Jewish
influence in the US, said there is an urgent need for dialogue between
Iranians and Americans because of the "tragic consequences" of U.S.
intervention abroad.

In Iraq, he wrote, hundreds of thousands have been killed, maimed or
displaced, while terrorism has grown exponentially and even daily life
has become a challenge. "With the presence of the U.S. military in
Iraq, nothing has been done to rebuild the ruins, to restore the
infrastructure or to alleviate poverty," he wrote. "I consider it
extremely unlikely that you, the American people, consent to the
billions of dollars . . . from your treasury for this military
misadventure."

Ahmadinejad also challenged whether terrorism can be defeated by
traditional warfare. "If that were possible, then why has the problem
not been resolved?" he wrote. "The sad experience of invading Iraq is
before us all."

Iraq
11) U.S. Military Predicts Rising Violence In Iraq
Nancy Trejos, Washington Post, Wednesday, November 29, 2006; A17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/28/AR2006112800319.html
Parliament voted unanimously Tuesday to keep Iraq under a state of
emergency for 30 more days, as a U.S. military spokesman said he
expects violence to escalate over the next few weeks in response to
Thursday's bombings in Sadr City. Renewed every month since first
authorized in November 2004, the state of emergency allows the Iraqi
government to impose a nighttime curfew and make arrests without
warrants.

The U.S. military spokesman, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, told
reporters Tuesday that he expects to see "elevated levels of violence"
as a result of the car bombings that killed more than 200 people in
Sadr City, a Shiite district in northeast Baghdad. The coordinated
attacks set off a wave of retaliatory killings in Sunni neighborhoods.

12) U.S. Troops Kill 5 Girls In Assault On Insurgents
Edward Wong, New York Times, November 29, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/world/middleeast/29iraq.html
American troops killed five girls, including at least one baby, and
what the military described as either a boy or a man, when the troops
attacked a house Tuesday in volatile Anbar Province after they
suspected insurgents of firing at them from the roof. The military
said the killings occurred after the Americans spotted two suspected
insurgents before dawn near a roadside bomb in the town of Hamaniyah,
west of Baghdad. The men fled to the roof of a nearby house. When the
Americans began defusing the bomb, the suspected insurgents began
shooting, the military said.

The military said the Americans returned fire with machine guns and
small arms and rounds from the main gun of one or more tanks. After
the firefight, the Americans discovered the six dead Iraqis in the
house. It was unclear what happened to the suspected insurgents, but
the military said "it was reported" that one was wounded in the fight
and carried away by other insurgents.

13) Iraqi Premier Wants More Control Over His Military
Maliki will press Bush for the U.S. to relinquish some authority. His
government holds direct talks with Syria and Iran.
Alexandra Zavis & Peter Wallsten, Los Angeles Times, November 29, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fg-maliki29nov29,1,3539229.story
Prime Minister Nouri Maliki will push for the U.S. military to
relinquish control over his nation's security forces when he meets
President Bush today to discuss a strategy to quell raging violence in
Iraq, aides and political insiders said Tuesday. Frustrated by U.S.
accusations that he isn't doing enough, Maliki says his hands are tied
as long as he does not have the authority to deploy forces as he sees
fit. He wants Bush to accelerate the training of the army and police,
fund more recruits and provide them with bigger and better weapons,
lawmakers briefed by Maliki said.

The prime minister also will insist at the two-day summit in Jordan
that his government should drive negotiations with Iraq's neighbors,
Iran and Syria, they said. Maliki's emboldened stand comes at a time
of uncertainty for U.S. strategy in Iraq. Bush is under pressure to
make changes after Democrats swept the midterm congressional election
on a wave of unhappiness about the war's results.

Democrats want Bush to set a timeline to start reducing the number of
U.S. forces in Iraq. But Bush maintained Tuesday that there was no
possibility of an immediate pullout. Bush is also under pressure to
enlist the help of Iran and Syria in curbing the bloodshed. But he
ruled out direct negotiation with Iran unless it halts a uranium
enrichment program that potentially could be used to produce nuclear
weapons. While the US considers its options, Maliki's government has
opened direct talks with both countries.

14) Bush-Maliki Summit Delayed
Iraqi Leader's Ability to Control Sectarian Violence Questioned
Sudarsan Raghavan, Michael Abramowitz & Debbi Wilgoren, Washington
Post,  November 29, 2006; 2:52 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112900324.html
President Bush's planned meeting Wednesday in Jordan with Iraqi Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki was put off following the public disclosure
of U.S. concerns about the Iraqi leader's ability to control the
raging sectarian violence in his country. Shortly after Bush arrived
in Amman, the White House said the two leaders would still meet on
Thursday, however. Bush was in Amman for talks with Jordan's King
Abdullah and Maliki. White House counselor Dan Bartlett told reporters
the change was not connected to the leak of a White House memo that
questioned Maliki's ability to quell the escalating violence in Iraq.
…
The plan change also came as a bloc of Iraqi lawmakers and cabinet
ministers allied with militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr launched a
boycott of their governmental duties to protest Maliki's decision to
attend the summit in Jordan with Bush. It was not immediately clear if
the change of plans in Jordan would affect the Iraqi lawmakers'
boycott. "We announce the suspension of our participation in
government and parliament," said Nasar al-Rubaie, the leader of Sadr's
parliamentary bloc. "We gave a promise last Friday that we will
suspend our participation if the Prime Minister met with Bush and
today [Wednesday] we are doing it as a Sadrist bloc."

In an earlier statement, the 30 lawmakers and five cabinet ministers
loyal to Sadr said their action was necessary because the Amman summit
constituted a "provocation to the feelings of the Iraqi people and a
violation of their constitutional rights." But Rubaie cautioned that
their action did not mean the officials were pulling out of the
government, which would all but guarantee the collapse of Iraq's unity
government. "The suspension does not mean our withdrawal from the
political process," said Rubaie. He added the Sadr bloc would meet in
coming days to discuss how long members would remain out of the
government.

15) Annan Seeks Summit Outside Iraq To Reconcile Factions
Robin Wright & Colum Lynch, Washington Post, Wednesday, November 29, 2006; A17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/28/AR2006112801437.html
The U.N. Security Council unanimously extended the mandate for the
160,000-strong U.S.-led coalition in Iraq for an additional 12 months
yesterday, as Secretary General Kofi Annan proposed an international
conference at a venue outside the war-torn country to forge
reconciliation among Iraq's political parties.

Addressing what may be the most controversial issue to face the Bush
administration, Annan said that Iran and Syria should be included in
efforts to stabilize Iraq. "The two countries have a role to play, and
they should become part of the solution," he told reporters,
reflecting strong international momentum behind a broader approach to
Iraq's strife. "And we should bring them in and get them to work with
us in resolving the issue and let them assume some of the
responsibility."

Israel/Palestine
16) Palestinian PM Pushes 1967 Borders Proposal
Reuters, November 29, 2006, Filed at 9:29 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-palestinians-israel-haniyeh.html
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday set the tone
for his first foreign tour since taking office by promoting a
Palestinian initiative based on an independent state on land outside
Israel's 1967 borders. After talks with Arab League Secretary General
Amr Moussa, Haniyeh told a news conference it was time governments in
the Middle East and around the world put pressure on Israel to
recognize such an independent Palestinian state.

Haniyeh is from the Islamist movement Hamas, which has traditionally
advocated a single Palestinian state in all of Palestine as it existed
before the creation of Israel in 1948. Some analysts see a gradual and
cautious evolution in the position of Hamas, which took office this
year after winning a majority in parliamentary elections in January.

But Haniyeh sidestepped a question on whether a Palestinian state in
the 1967 borders - Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem - would mark
a temporary or a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. "Before we talk about permanent or temporary we are talking
about a Palestinian political vision based at this stage on setting up
a state in the 1967 borders," he said.

Afghanistan
17) NATO Talks Fail to Agree on a Bush Demand
Sheryl Gay Stolberg & Judy Dempsey, New York Times, November 29, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/world/europe/30natocnd.html
Leaders of the 26 NATO nations failed to agree today on President
Bush's demand that member countries with troops in Afghanistan lift
their restrictions on how the troops are used. Those rules keep some
soldiers from operating in the most dangerous part of the country.
Instead of lifting the restrictions entirely, France, Germany and
Italy agreed to allow their troops to be sent in emergencies to
bolster the NATO forces in the south, where Taliban forces have fought
with renewed vigor.

Bolivia
18) Bolivian Senate OKs Sweeping Land Reform
Associated Press, November 29, 2006, Filed at 6:28 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Bolivia-Land-Reform.html
Bolivia's leftist president won passage of an ambitious land
redistribution bill and signed it into law to the cheers of
impoverished Indian supporters, who stand to benefit from what
eventually could be the confiscation of private holdings the size of
Nebraska. Evo Morales, Bolivia's first Indian president, is intent on
reversing centuries of dominance by a European-descended minority and
granting greater power to its poor indigenous majority.

He's already given poor farming communities some 8,500 square miles of
government land this year, and hopes the new land reform bill will
eventually allow his government to redistribute some 77,000 square
miles of unproductive land. Morales has said the government will not
seize productive land, but rather large tracts of Bolivia's sparsely
populated east held by a handful of wealthy families.

The government's first step will likely be deciding how to determine
whether a parcel of land is productive or not - a process sure to
spark heated debate with Bolivian agribusiness leaders who have long
fought against Morales' agrarian reform. Conservative leaders walked
out of the Senate last week to block the bill, which was pushed
through the Senate on Tuesday in a vote that saw a majority of
lawmakers absent.

More than 3,000 Indian demonstrators had descended on the capital, La
Paz - some walking for weeks - as opposition lawmakers tried to stall
passage of the reforms. Morales had threatened to circumvent Congress
and impose the law by presidential decree if the Senate did not
reconvene by Tuesday afternoon. The bill passed 15-0 with the
remainder of the 27 senators absent from vote.

The conservative opposition party Podemos holds 13 of the Senate's 27
seats. With help from two senators from minor opposition parties,
Podemos previously prevented the body from reaching a 14-seat quorum.
Morales' Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, has 12 Senate seats.
But Tuesday night, one Podemos senator returned to the chamber to vote
for the land reform, joined by assistants filling in for two other
opposition senators. It was not immediately clear whether the
assistants' votes would hold up to legal scrutiny.

Ecuador
19) Ecuador and US: Ballot Box Revolt in the Americas
Mark Weisbrot, Huffington Post, 11.28.2006
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weisbrot-and-robert-naiman/ecuador-and-us-ballot-bo_b_35093.html
The electoral victory of left economist Rafael Correa marks the eighth
time in the last 8 years that a presidential candidate running against
the "Washington Consensus" or "neoliberal" reforms in Latin America
has won. (This does not count the re-elections of Lula Da Silva of
Brazil and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela). This is out of 11 elections
where such a candidate existed, and in the three remaining elections -
Mexico, Costa Rica, and Peru - the left candidate came very close.

What we are witnessing in this continuing leftward sweep is the people
going over the heads of their political establishment and leaders
(including economists), in an attempt to force desperately needed
changes in economic policy. The long term growth failure in Latin
America over the last 25 years has been unprecedented, but the
established institutions and political parties have been unwilling to
change policy and in many cases to even recognize the failure. We
might even view our own election on November 7 as the U.S. joining
most of the rest of the Americas in this sense. Although the biggest
issue for voters was the war, there was plenty of evidence that our
own country's long-term economic failure played a role.

Somalia
20) Somalia: US-Backed UN Resolution Risks Wider War
Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service, Wednesday, November 29, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1129-02.htm
Fearful that Islamist forces are transforming Somalia into a safe
haven for al Qaeda, the administration of President Bush is pushing a
new U.N. Security Council resolution that experts believe could well
spark a wider war in the Horn of Africa. The resolution, which would
exempt a proposed African "peace support" force from a longstanding
arms embargo on Somalia, is due to be taken up by the Council this
week despite warnings by the powerful Islamic Courts Union (ICU) that
it will oppose any deployment of foreign forces on behalf of the
Ethiopia-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

"The draft resolution the U.S. intends to present to the U.N. Security
Council... could trigger all-out war in Somalia and destabilise the
entire Horn of Africa region by escalating the proxy conflict between
Ethiopia and Eritrea to dangerous new levels," warned the
Brussels-based International Crisis Group earlier this week.

Other analysts said passage of a resolution at this time was certain
to be taken as a serious provocation by the ICU, which gained control
of most of Somalia after routing the forces of U.S.-backed warlords
from the country last summer and which the U.S. accuses of harbouring
several perpetrators of suicide attacks on its embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania in 1998.

"If you try to deploy a lightly armed African force into Mogadishu,
you're going to have a battle," warned Ted Dagne, a Horn of Africa
specialist at the Congressional Research Service, who added that any
deployment should be part of a larger peace initiative that would also
require the withdrawal of what some observers believe are several
thousand Ethiopian troops from Somalia.

"A negotiated settlement between the TFG and the ICU is key," he
added. "The ICU is there; they cannot be ignored. They seem to have
popular support from the Somalis in the areas they control, and the
one entity that the U.S. supports [the TFG] really doesn't have
control of anything beyond Baidowa," its interim capital.

-
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
majority of Americans.