[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, October 5, 2006

[Robert Naiman]

Just Foreign Policy News
October 5, 2006

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Summary:
U.S.
Key senators say Congress has outlawed waterboarding, but the White
House disagrees, the Washington Post reports. The Post notes that in
1947, the US charged a Japanese officer with war crimes for carrying
out waterboarding on a U.S. civilian during World War II. The officer
was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

Friday is the 30th anniversary of the bombing of a plane which killed
73 people, the Washington Post reports. Attorneys for the Justice
Department must respond by Thursday to a recommendation that Luis
Posada Carriles, a main suspect in the bombing, be freed because he
has not been designated a terrorist in the US and cannot be held
indefinitely on immigration charges. The case tests President Bush's
statement that nations that harbor terrorists are guilty of terrorism.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are going badly, but if the winds
change, Congress is ready to celebrate with a $20 million victory
party, AP reported yesterday. The money is contained in the military
spending bill that passed last week.

EU legislators lashed out Wednesday at a banking consortium and one of
its key supervisors, the European Central Bank, which acknowledged
that it had known for years that the consortium was giving
confidential banking records to US authorities.

A Navy corpsman accused of kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi man will
give testimony about other Marines' role in the incident in return for
having charges against him dropped. Some of the troops are accused of
placing a rifle and shovel next to the victim's body to make it look
like he was planting a bomb.

The US Army and Marines are finishing work on a new counterinsurgency
doctrine that draws on lessons from Iraq and makes the welfare and
protection of civilians a bedrock element of military strategy, the
New York Times reports.

The international community must try to resolve the Arab-Israeli
conflict to stop the Middle East from sliding further into turmoil,
the International Crisis Group said Thursday.

Iran
A letter in which Ayatollah Khomeini cited a need for nuclear weapons
has stoked debate over whether to negotiate with the West. In the
letter, Khomeini outlined the reasons Iran had to accept a cease-fire
in its war with Iraq.  The letter has been used by moderates to
bolster the case for nuclear talks with the West.

AP reported signs of an emerging consensus that the time had come to
consider Security Council sanctions against Iran, but Reuters reports
that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov reiterated Thursday that his
country still opposed sanctions and wanted a diplomatic solution.

Iraq
Iraq's school and university system is in danger of collapse in large
areas of the country as pupils and teachers take flight in the face of
threats of violence, the Guardian reports.

Palestine
The US is proposing to expand the presidential guard for the
Palestinian Authority president in a plan to strengthen him and reduce
security chaos in the Authority, the New York Times reports. US
officials are working to reopen the Karni crossing between Gaza and
Israel by early November so Palestinian produce can be exported to
Europe. Because of Congressional funding restrictions, US officials
are seeking donations for the project.

Palestinian Authority president Abbas said talks with Hamas on a unity
government had collapsed and warned that Palestinians faced the danger
of civil war.

Mexico
Amnesty International called on the Mexican federal government to take
over an inquiry into accusations that police sexually abused women
arrested after a clash between police and residents of a town north of
Mexico City.

Nigeria
Militants in Nigeria's oil region said Thursday they had called off
attacks on troops and would fight only in response to actions by the
military. A fifth of Nigeria's oil production capacity remains
blocked.

Contents:
U.S.
1) Waterboarding Historically Controversial
In 1947, the U.S. Called It a War Crime; in 1968, It Reportedly Caused
an Investigation
Walter Pincus, Washington Post, Thursday, October 5, 2006; A17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/04/AR2006100402005.html
Key senators say Congress has outlawed one of the most notorious
detainee interrogation techniques - "waterboarding," in which a
prisoner feels near drowning. But the White House will not go that
far, saying it would be wrong to tell terrorists which practices they
might face. Inside the CIA, waterboarding is cited as the technique
that got Khalid Sheik Mohammed to talk and provide information -
though "not all of it reliable."

In 1968, the Washington Post published a photo of a U.S. soldier
questioning a captured North Vietnamese soldier being held down as
water was poured on his face while his nose and mouth were covered by
a cloth. The caption said the technique induced "a flooding sense of
suffocation and drowning, meant to make him talk." The article said
the practice was "fairly common" in part because "those who practice
it say it combines the advantages of being unpleasant enough to make
people talk while still not causing permanent injury." The picture
reportedly led to an Army investigation.

In 1947, the US charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war
crimes for carrying out waterboarding on a U.S. civilian. The subject
was strapped on a stretcher tilted so his feet were in the air and
head near the floor, and small amounts of water were poured over his
face, leaving him gasping for air until he agreed to talk."Asano was
sentenced to 15 years of hard labor," Sen. Kennedy told his colleagues
during debate on military commissions legislation. "We punished people
with 15 years of hard labor when waterboarding was used against
Americans in World War II," he said.

A CIA interrogation training manual, "KUBARK Counterintelligence
Interrogation," outlined a procedure similar to waterboarding.
Subjects were suspended in tanks of water wearing blackout masks that
allowed for breathing. Within hours, the subjects felt tension and
so-called environmental anxiety. "Providing relief for growing
discomfort, the questioner assumes a benevolent role," the manual
states. After Vietnam period, Navy SEALs and some Army Special Forces
used a form of waterboarding with trainees to prepare them to resist
interrogation if captured. The waterboarding proved so successful in
breaking their will, says one former Navy captain, "they stopped using
it because it hurt morale."

After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, low-level Taliban and Arab fighters
captured in Afghanistan provided little information. When higher-level
al-Qaeda operatives were captured, CIA interrogators sought authority
to use more coercive methods. These were cleared not only at the White
House but also by the Justice Department and briefed to senior
congressional officials, according to a statement released last month
by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Waterboarding
was one of the approved techniques.

When questions began to be raised last year about the handling of
high-level detainees and Congress passed legislation barring torture,
the handful of CIA interrogators and senior officials who authorized
their actions became concerned that they might lose government
support. Passage last month of military commissions legislation
provided retroactive legal protection to those who carried out
waterboarding and other coercive interrogation techniques.

2) In 30-Year-Old Terror Case, a Test for the U.S.
Decision Due on Cuban Exile Suspected in Airliner Blast
Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post, Thursday, October 5, 2006; A20
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/04/AR2006100401974.html
A quarter-century before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a bomb ripped
a gash in a civilian jetliner off Barbados. The Cubana Airlines plane
plummeted into the Caribbean on Oct. 6, 1976. All 73 people on board
died, including teenage members of Cuba's national fencing team
returning to Havana after winning medals at a tournament in Venezuela.
It was the first act of midair airline terrorism in the Western
Hemisphere.

The 30th anniversary of the bombing is Friday, and coincides with a
critical juncture in the case of Luis Posada Carriles, a main suspect
in the bombing, held on immigration charges in the US for 16 months.
Posada Carriles's legal odyssey has turned into a diplomatic quandary
for the Bush administration and a test of the president's post-Sept.
11 credo that nations that harbor terrorists are guilty of terrorism.
While the US does not want to free a terrorism suspect, it is also
reluctant to send him to Cuba or Venezuela.

Attorneys for the Justice Department must respond by Thursday to a
Texas magistrate's recommendation that Posada Carriles be freed by a
federal judge because he has not been officially designated a
terrorist in the US and cannot be held indefinitely on immigration
charges. "This is the moment of truth for the Bush administration,"
said Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archive.

The prospect of freeing Posada Carriles, also a suspect in a series of
hotel bombings in Havana that left one Italian tourist dead, has
outraged Cuban leaders. "It's as if you were to say to the American
people that country X has found Osama bin Laden, who arrived without a
passport or a visa, and that he is being held as an illegal immigrant
but will not be sent back to the U.S.," said Ricardo Alarcón,
president of Cuba's general assembly.

3) Congress Sets Aside $20M for Wars' Ends
Associated Press, October 4, 2006, Filed at 7:41 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Congress-Iraq-Victory.html
Top generals have warned Iraq is on the cusp of a civil war and U.S.
troops must remain in large numbers until at least next spring. But if
the winds blow a different direction, Congress is ready to celebrate
with a $20 million victory party. Lawmakers included language in this
year's defense spending bill allowing them to spend the money. The
funds for ''commemoration of success'' in Iraq and Afghanistan were
originally tucked into last year's defense measure, but they went
unspent amid an uptick in violence in both countries that forced the
Pentagon to extend tours of duty for thousands of troops.

Senate Majority Whip McConnell is the original sponsor of the
provision, which Democrats agreed to add to last year's defense bill.
Senate Republicans kept the authorization in the 2007 bill. Democrats
are pointing to it as another example of where the GOP has gone astray
in handling the war in Iraq. ''If the Bush administration is planning
victory celebrations, Americans deserve to know what their plan is to
get us to a victory in Iraq,'' said a spokeswoman for Senate Minority
Leader Reid.

McConnell's spokesman said he thought the finger-pointing by Democrats
was silly because the provision was added last year by unanimous
consent. ''Apparently they were for honoring the troops before they
were against it,'' he said.

4) Europeans Berate Bank Group and Overseer for U.S. Access to Data
Dan Bilefsky, International Herald Tribune, October 5, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/world/europe/05swift.html
EU legislators lashed out Wednesday at a banking consortium and one of
its key supervisors, the European Central Bank, which acknowledged
that it had known for years that the consortium was giving
confidential banking records to US authorities. Last week, the Belgian
privacy commission accused the consortium, called Swift, of flouting
European data protection rules by allowing analysts from the CIA and
officials from other US agencies to search millions of confidential
financial transactions for possible terrorist financing activity.

An investigation by the privacy commission concluded that Swift had
breached European privacy rules. A separate EU group is investigating
whether Swift violated European banking law and is considering whether
an independent auditor should be appointed to prevent privacy abuses.
In a heated parliamentary hearing, lawmakers said Swift and its
overseers had ignored privacy rules by not telling the EU or European
citizens of the transfers. Several called on Swift to move its US
operations to Canada to prevent the US from breaching European civil
liberties. Others wanted to know why they had learned of the transfers
from a report in the New York Times on June 23 rather than from the
European Central Bank, which knew of them as early as June 2002.

5) Sailor to Testify in Iraqi Murder Case
Associated Press, October 5, 2006, Filed at 6:40 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Marines-Iraq-Shooting.html
A Navy corpsman accused of kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi man will
give testimony about seven Marines' role in the incident in return for
having charges against him dropped, his attorney said Wednesday. He
was a medic who patrolled with the Marine squad that allegedly
kidnapped and murdered Hashim Ibrahim Awad last April in the town of
Hamdania. All eight were charged with crimes including premeditated
murder and kidnapping.  Under the deal, he will give details of the
incident at a court martial. In return, all of the charges against him
will be dismissed. But he will plead guilty to two new charges. His
lawyer said he would not be freed after his testimony.

Two of the Marines charged in the case pleaded not guilty Wednesday.
Besides murder and kidnapping, they also are charged with conspiracy
and housebreaking.  They face up to life in prison if convicted.  One
is accused of firing an automatic weapon at Awad. Some of the troops
are accused of stealing an AK-47 assault rifle and a shovel and
placing them in the hole with Awad's body, apparently to make it look
like he was an insurgent planting a bomb.

Since the start of the Iraq war in 2003, at least 14 members of the
U.S. military have been convicted in connection with the deaths of
Iraqis. Two received sentences of up to life in prison, while most
others were given little or no jail time.

6) Military Hones a New Strategy on Insurgency
Michael R. Gordon, New York Times, October 5, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/washington/05doctrine.html
The US Army and Marines are finishing work on a new counterinsurgency
doctrine that draws on lessons from Iraq and makes the welfare and
protection of civilians a bedrock element of military strategy. The
doctrine warns against some practices used early in the war. It
cautions against overly aggressive raids and mistreatment of
detainees. Instead it emphasizes the importance of safeguarding
civilians and restoring essential services, and the rapid development
of local security forces.

The current military leadership in Iraq has already embraced many of
the ideas in the doctrine. But some military experts question whether
the Army and the Marines have sufficient troops to carry out the
doctrine effectively while also preparing for other threats.

Instead of massing firepower to destroy Republican Guard troops and
other enemy forces, as was required in the opening weeks of the
invasion of Iraq, the draft manual emphasizes the importance of
minimizing civilian casualties. "The more force used, the less
effective it is," it notes. Stressing the need to build up local
institutions and encourage economic development, the manual cautions
against putting too much weight on purely military solutions.

Noting the need to interact with the people to gather intelligence and
understand the civilians' needs, the doctrine cautions against
hunkering down at large bases. "The more you protect your force, the
less secure you are," it asserts.

7) Outlook Grim for Resolving Mideast Conflict: Report
Reuters, October 5, 2006, Filed at 7:00 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast-peace.html
The international community must try to resolve the Arab-Israeli
conflict to stop the Middle East from sliding further into turmoil, a
respected think tank said Thursday. The International Crisis Group
said the Lebanon war showed that as long as a comprehensive solution
could not be found, the Arab-Israeli conflict would remain a
"bottomless source and pretext for repression, radicalization and
bloodletting.'' It said the UN, the EU and the Arab world had to come
up with fresh ideas in the face of reluctance from Israel and its main
ally, the US, to act boldly.

"Virtually all dynamics - Palestinian disintegration and chaos,
Israeli anxiety after the Lebanon war, the discrediting of pro-Western
Arab governments, the absence of a credible U.S. peacemaking role, the
rise of militancy and Islamism and Iran's greater assertiveness -
point in the direction of conflict," the report said.

The report said any mechanism for comprehensive talks needed to be
realistic, such as beginning with a ceasefire between Israel and the
Palestinians. And the endgame must be clear from the outset: security
and recognition for Israel within recognized borders and an end to
occupation for the Palestinians and an independent state based on
boundaries that existed before the 1967 Middle East war. That
political horizon would echo previous Israeli-Palestinian peace
proposals.

Iran
8) An Old Letter Casts Doubts on Iran's Goal for Uranium
Nazila Fathi, New York Times, October 5, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/world/middleeast/05iran.html
A letter in which Ayatollah Khomeini cited a need for nuclear weapons
has stoked debate over whether to negotiate with the West and raised
questions about Iran's nuclear intentions. Within hours after the
letter appeared on the Web site of the news agency ILNA, the word
"nuclear" was removed, after a call from the Iranian National Security
Council. President Ahmadinejad sharply criticized the release of the
letter.

The letter, which had been previously published elsewhere, was written
in 1988, near the end of Iran's eight-year war with Iraq. It was
brought to light again Friday by former president Rafsanjani, to
defend himself against critics who accuse him of ending the war when
Iran was on the brink of victory. But the letter has also been used by
moderates to bolster the case for nuclear talks with the West.

In the letter, Khomeini outlined the reasons Iran had to accept the
bitter prospect of a cease-fire in the war, which had ground to a
stalemate, with 250,000 Iranians dead and 200,000 disabled. It did not
specifically call for Iran to develop nuclear weapons, but referred
indirectly to the matter by citing a letter written by the officer
leading the war effort, Mohsen Rezai. "The commander has said we can
have no victory for another five years, and even by then we need to
have 350 infantry bridges, 2,500 tanks, 300 fighter planes," the
ayatollah wrote, adding that the officer also said he would need "a
considerable number of laser and nuclear weapons to confront the
attacks."

Ayatollah Khomeini determined that the nation could not afford to
continue the war, and in a compared the decision to "drinking a
chalice of poison." ILNA, the Iranian Labor News Agency, removed the
word "nuclear" within hours of putting the letter on the Web, after
receiving a call from the Iranian National Security Council, according
to a reporter with the agency.

The letter has provided an opportunity for moderate voices to warn
about the risks Iran takes in defying the UN, comparing the
consequences to what happened during the war with Iraq. They argue
that, when confronted with the realities of the war, Ayatollah
Khomeini decided that the confrontation was not sustainable.

On Saturday the daily Kargozaran called the letter evidence of "Iran's
realistic understanding of the international situation," and concluded
the "experience should become a basis in the decision makings,
including Iran's nuclear plans." A reformist politician said
politicians who welcomed confrontation with the West should learn a
lesson from the letter so they would not have to "drink a chalice of
poison" themselves.

9) Nuclear Talks Seen Leaving Iran Closer to U.N. Sanctions
Associated Press, Thursday, October 5, 2006; A30
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/04/AR2006100402052.html
President Ahmadinejad warned Wednesday that sanctions will not stop
Iran from enriching uranium after a European negotiator conceded
"endless hours" of talks had made little progress and suggested that
the dispute could wind up at the UN soon. The latest comments
suggested an emerging consensus that the time has finally come to
consider Security Council sanctions.

10) Lavrov Says Russia Still Against Iran Sanctions
Reuters, October 5, 2006, Filed at 6:37 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-iran-russia.html
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov reiterated Thursday that his country
opposed sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program ahead of a
meeting of major powers in London this week. "I believe that until
diplomatic means are exhausted, sanctions would be too radical,''
Lavrov said. "We have to do everything to persuade Iran to begin
negotiations ... The issue needs to be resolved diplomatically.''
Leaders from the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are
planning to meet Friday or Saturday to discuss Iran.

Iraq
11) Iraq's universities and schools near collapse as teachers and pupils flee
Peter Beaumont, Guardian (UK), Thursday October 5, 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1887804,00.html
Iraq's school and university system is in danger of collapse in large
areas of the country as pupils and teachers take flight in the face of
threats of violence. Professors and parents have told the Guardian
they no longer feel safe to attend their educational institutions. In
some schools and colleges, up to half the staff have fled abroad,
resigned or applied to go on prolonged vacation, and class sizes have
also dropped by up to half in the areas that are the worst affected.

Palestine
12) U.S. Plan Would Expand Palestinian Leader's Security Force
Steven Erlanger, New York Times, October 5, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/world/middleeast/05crossing.html
The US is proposing to expand the presidential guard for the
Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, to 6,000 men from
3,500 in a $26 million plan to strengthen Abbas and reduce security
chaos in the Authority, donors briefed by Washington's security
coordinator for the Palestinians said Wednesday. The security
coordinator, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, is in talks with Abbas to reduce
the number of overlapping Palestinian security services in order to
create a single national police force.

The Americans are pressing Israel and the Palestinians for an
agreement by Nov. 1 on a plan to reorganize and reconstruct the
Palestinian side of the main crossing for goods between Gaza and
Israel, the Karni crossing. Israel has often closed Karni, citing
security threats, and Dayton has proposed a project to cost an
additional $25.5 million that would include a modern security center
for checking and scanning trucks on the Palestinian side, with the
goal of allowing up to 400 trucks a day to leave Gaza with exports.

The Americans hope to put new procedures for Karni into effect by
early November, in time for the harvest and the planned exports of
cherry tomatoes, persimmons and other produce through Israel to
European markets.

The Dayton plan calls for international monitors to work with the
Palestinians. The plan has received "tacit agreement" from the
Palestinians, including from Hamas, a donor reported General Dayton as
having said. Israeli officials have discussed the plan but have not
approved it.  Because of Congressional restrictions on aid to a
Palestinian Authority run by Hamas, Dayton has approached
international donors for funds for Karni.

Because the presidential guard works directly for Abbas, American
funds might be able to be used for that purpose, American officials
say, but it would require a specific appropriation from Congress.
Dayton is hoping the US will provide $9 million.

13) Abbas Says Talks With Hamas on Unity Government Falter
Philip Shenon & Greg Myre, New York Times, October 5, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/world/middleeast/05mideast.html
Palestinian Authority president Abbas said Wednesday that talks with
Hamas on a unity government had ground to a halt and warned Secretary
of State Rice that the West Bank and Gaza could face the possibility
of civil war.

Mexico
14) Mexico: Amnesty Says Abuse Inquiry Is Stalled
Elisabeth Malkin, New York Times, October 5, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/world/americas/05briefs-007.html
Amnesty International called on the federal government to take over an
inquiry into accusations that the police sexually abused women
arrested after a clash between the police and residents of San
Salvador Atenco, a north of Mexico City, in May. The rights group said
in a report that the local authorities initially refused to allow the
women to file complaints and only reluctantly began an inquiry. The
report said that investigation had been ineffective and called for it
to be passed to the federal attorney general's office.

Nigeria
15) Nigerian militants call off attacks in oil delta
Estelle Shirbon, Reuters, Thursday, October 5, 2006; 8:31 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100500183.html
Militants in Nigeria's oil heartland said Thursday they had called off
attacks on troops after two bloody gunbattles and would fight only in
response to actions by the military. The Movement for the Emancipation
of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it had killed 17 soldiers in firefights
in the Niger Delta Wednesday but would now hold back. The group was
behind a wave of attacks on oil installations in February that slashed
output. A fifth of Nigeria's production capacity remains blocked. MEND
has been threatening all year to halt Nigerian exports completely but
has yet to show it can carry out the threat.

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

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