[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, October 6, 2006

[Robert Naiman]

Just Foreign Policy News
October 6, 2006

Sign the petition - No War with Iran!
As U.S. officials prepare for military attacks, Just Foreign Policy,
in collaboration with Peace Action, is sponsoring a petition against
war with Iran. To sign the petition, use this link:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/iranpetition.html

The Just Foreign Policy News Summary is now podcast daily. The podcast
is generally less than 5 minutes. To subscribe, see
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/podcasts/podcast_howto.html.

Summary:
U.S.
In an Editors' Note, the New York Times conceded today that its report
that President Chavez of Venezuela said he regretted not having met
Noam Chomsky before his death was in error. (The Times had given great
emphasis to the report and the claim was repeated by other media
outlets.) The Times acknowledged that readers (Just Foreign Policy,
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, and the Venezuela Information
Office, among others) quickly pointed out the error to The Times. The
Times acknowledged that editors and reporters should have been more
thorough earlier in checking the accuracy of its report. (In refusing
earlier to run a correction, a Times editor told Just Foreign Policy
that its reporter had thoroughly checked a recording of the press
conference.)

Senator Warner said Thursday the US should consider a "change of
course" in Iraq if violence did not diminish soon. His comments
underscored the growing misgivings of even senior Republicans about
Iraq, the New York Times reports. Warner said the Iraqi government is
incapable of providing even basic human necessities to people in some
areas of the country, the Washington Post reports. Warner acknowledged
that before the invasion of Iraq he failed to aggressively ask
questions about what would happen afterwards. One hopes this
heightened sense of responsibility will have an impact on
Congressional deliberations over U.S. threats to attack Iran.

US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan lack proper equipment, are
overstretched and face serious health problems upon their return home,
according to a poll released by VoteVets.org.

New York University historian Tony Judt claimed new ammunition for his
charge that pro-Israel groups use their influence to stifle debate,
Jewish Week reports. Hours before he was to give a talk about the
Israel lobby at the Polish Consulate, Poland's consul general canceled
the event after being contacted by the Anti-Defamation League and
other organizations.

President Bush and Secretary of State Rice may believe they have
broken with 60 years of U.S. policy to "transform" the Middle East,
but their latest initiatives look painfully familiar, Jim Lobe writes
for Inter Press Service.  Its effort to forge an alliance between
Sunni-led authoritarian states and Israel against Iran - recalls
Cold-War efforts to get these countries to focus on a supposed threat
from the Soviet Union rather than their demands for a resolution of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

U.S. and European negotiators reached an interim deal Friday on
sharing trans-Atlantic air passenger data for anti-terrorism
investigations. EU officials said the agreement would address European
privacy concerns.

Iran
A travel delay forced the US and its partners to postpone until early
next week a decision about what punitive actions to take against Iran
over its nuclear program. U.S. officials said the decision will likely
be made in a conference call among foreign ministers Monday or
Tuesday. The US wants to impose sanctions on Iran in a U.N.
resolution, but Russia said Thursday it still does not back sanctions.
China has been reluctant to impose sanctions, while France has also
not been enthusiastic. President Ahmadinejad has said Iran would not
give up its enrichment program because it is operating within the
Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iraq
A purported spokesman for a Sunni insurgent group, the Islamic Army in
Iraq, offered to open negotiations with the US in a tape aired by
Al-Jazeera Thursday. "We are prepared for any negotiations, whether
secret or public, on the condition only that they are sincere," the
tape said.

Open Doors, an international charity serving Christians in 60
countries, has warned of a sharp upturn in violence against Christians
in Iraq.

A letter from Al Qaeda leaders found in Iraq shows that the group sees
the war as a boon for its cause, the Christian Science Monitor
reports.

Lebanon
Nearly three people have been wounded or killed each day by cluster
bombs Israel dropped in the waning days of the war in Lebanon and
officials say it will take more than a year to clear them, the New
York Times reports. As of Sept. 28, officials said cluster bombs had
severely wounded 109 people and killed 18 others.

Palestine
Palestinian Prime Minister Haniyeh on Friday urged President Abbas to
resume talks on forming a national unity coalition after Abbas
threatened to dissolve the Hamas-led government. Haniyeh vowed no
government in which the Hamas movement served would recognize Israel.

Syria
Pride in Hezbollah's perceived triumph in Lebanon has fostered respect
and a small but escalating number of politically sensitive conversions
for the Shiite faith in Syria, the Washington Post reports.

Turkey
Some writers charged with "insulting Turkishness" under Turkey's
article 301 say the turmoil is forcing a national debate about what it
means to be a democracy that is pushing democracy forward, the New
York Times reports.

Thailand
Thailand's military has agreed to hold talks with Muslim rebels
involved in an insurgency in the country's south, the army chief said
Thursday.

Bolivia
President Morales of Bolivia is on the US government's "no fly"
anti-terror list, CBS News reports.

Contents:
U.S.
1) NYT concedes error: Chavez did not say Chomsky was dead, and NYT
was slow to correct
Editors' Note, Corrections, New York Times, October 6, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/pageoneplus/corrections.html

An article on Sept. 21 about criticism of President Bush at the United
Nations by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad of Iran reported that Mr. Chavez praised a book by Noam
Chomsky, the linguist and social critic. It reported that later, at a
news conference, Mr. Chavez said that he regretted not having met Mr.
Chomsky before he died. The article noted that in fact, Mr. Chomsky is
alive. The assertion that Mr. Chavez had made this misstatement was
repeated in a Times interview with Mr. Chomsky the next day.

In fact, what Mr. Chavez said was, "I am an avid reader of Noam
Chomsky, as I am of an American professor who died some time ago." Two
sentences later Mr. Chavez named John Kenneth Galbraith, the Harvard
economist who died last April, calling both him and Mr. Chomsky great
intellectual figures.

Mr. Chavez was speaking in Spanish at the news conference, but the
simultaneous English translation by the United Nations left out the
reference to Mr. Galbraith and made it sound as if the man who died
was Mr. Chomsky.

Readers pointed out the error in e-mails to The Times soon after the
first article was published. Reporters reviewed the recordings of the
news conference in English and Spanish, but not carefully enough to
detect the discrepancy, until after the Venezuelan government
complained publicly on Wednesday.

Editors and reporters should have been more thorough earlier in
checking the accuracy of the simultaneous translation.

2) Senator Says U.S. Should Rethink Iraq Strategy
David S. Cloud, New York Times October 6, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/world/middleeast/06capital.html
The Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee warned
Thursday that the situation in Iraq was "drifting sideways" and said
the US should consider a "change of course" if violence did not
diminish soon. The chair, Senator Warner of Virginia, expressed
concern that Prime Minister al-Maliki had not moved decisively against
sectarian militias. "In two or three months if this thing hasn't come
to fruition and this level of violence is not under control, I think
it's a responsibility of our government to determine: Is there a
change of course we should take?" Senator Warner said.

He said that the American military had done what it could to stabilize
Iraq and that no policy options should be taken "off the table." His
comments underscored the growing misgivings of even senior Republicans
about the situation in Iraq. They also appeared to be a warning to the
Bush administration that it might have to consider different
approaches after the November midterm elections. Warner said he hoped
his committee would hold hearings in November on policy options
recommended by an independent panel led by former Representative
Hamilton and former Secretary of State Baker.

Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the committee,
said he told Iraqi officials he favored setting a date for a drawdown
of troops. Levin described a plan Maliki announced Monday to increase
security in Baghdad as "very tenuous." The plan has no provisions for
disarming sectarian militias, he said. Levin said that American
ambassador Khalilzad told him such warnings were a "useful message" to
send to Maliki. "I think the time is coming when the administration is
going to deliver that message," he said, "because it's the only way, I
believe, to change the dynamic in Iraq."

3) Warner Downbeat After Iraq Trip
U.S. at Risk of Losing Bid to Control Baghdad, Senator Says Josh
White, Washington Post, Friday, October 6, 2006; A03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501645.html
The Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday
offered a stark assessment of the situation in Iraq, saying parts of
the country have taken "steps backwards" and the US is at risk of
losing the campaign to control Baghdad. Sen. said the Iraqi government
is incapable of providing even basic human necessities to people in
certain areas of the country. He was far less optimistic about the
situation there than he had been over the past three years. Echoing
several leading Democrats on his committee, Warner said the US may
have to reevaluate its approach in Iraq if the situation does not
improve dramatically over the next several months.

Warner acknowledged that, before the invasion of Iraq, there was a
lack of understanding among members of Congress about how much it
would take to give Iraq full sovereignty. He blamed himself for not
aggressively asking such questions before the war. [One wonders if
this heightened sense of responsibility will have an impact on
Congressional deliberations over U.S. threats to attack Iran. - JFP]

4) Inadequate Equipment, Health Problems Face Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans: Poll
Jocelyne Zablit, Agence France Presse, Thursday, October 5, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1005-01.htm
US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan lack proper equipment, are
overstretched and face serious health problems upon their return home,
according to a poll released by an advocacy group. The poll by
VoteVets.org, a political action committee made up of veterans from
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, showed nearly half (42%) of all
veterans who served in either country felt their equipment did not
meet military standards.

It said 35% of veterans reported that their trucks had no armor
protection, while 10% said the trucks were "up-armored" with scrap
metal. "The results of this poll should be a wake-up call to every
American," said Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and chairman of
VoteVets. "We are shortchanging our troops, in combat and at home."

The poll by VoteVets showed soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan also
often had their service extended past the original time frame and some
encountered emotional and physical health problems, as well as
economic hardships, as a result of their service. "Overall, 63% of all
Iraq and Afghanistan veterans believe the Army and Marine Corps are
overextended," the poll report said.

It said 79% of veterans agree National Guard and Reserve veterans
deserve the same type of health coverage as active-duty personnel.
Soltz and Clark said one reason the poll was being released now was so
Americans could demand answers from their leaders at the polls. "The
American people need to look beyond the American flag lapel pins and
start asking who is really putting the priorities on keeping the
country safe," Clark said.

5) Off Limits? Talk By Israel Critic Canceled
Latest in string of cases involves NYU's controversial Tony Judt
Larry Cohler-Esses, Jewish Week, 10/06/2006
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=13081.
New York University historian Tony Judt claimed new ammunition for his
charge that pro-Israel groups use their influence to stifle debate.
Hours before he was to give a talk about the Israel lobby at the
Polish Consulate Tuesday night, Poland's consul general canceled the
event after being contacted by Jewish and non-Jewish organizations.
But whether Jewish groups - in particular, the Anti-Defamation League
- pressured Consul General Krzysztof Kasprzyk remained in dispute.

ADL National Director Abraham Foxman acknowledged ADL spoke with
Kasprzyk, but strongly denied exerting any such pressure. And Kasprzyk
denied receiving threats or pressure from the ADL or any other group
in deciding to cancel the talk. Judt, director of NYU's Remarque
Institute in European Studies, charged otherwise, citing the account
he received from the lecture's outside sponsor soon after Kasprzyk
canceled it. "Whatever your views on the Middle East, I hope you find
this as serious and frightening as I do," Judt wrote in an e-mail to a
long list of academic and media figures. "This is, or used to be, the
United States of America."

The episode joins a list of disputed allegations that pro-Israel
advocates use their influence to stifle debate, or harm the careers of
individuals who step out of bounds. The last two years have seen such
charges by Joseph Massad, a Columbia University professor of Middle
East studies accused by some students of bigoted outbursts toward
Jewish and Israeli students. A university investigation largely,
though not entirely, exonerated him of the charges.

Pro-Israel advocates claimed their lobbying of Yale University donors
succeeded in preventing Juan Cole, a University of Michigan Middle
Eastern studies professor, from receiving a tenured appointment at
Yale. University officials denied they played a role.

Acclaimed British architect Richard Rogers was threatened with the
loss of billions of dollars in design work from New York City until he
renounced ties to an architects' group strongly critical of Israel.
The group was threatening to call for an economic boycott of Israel to
protest its occupation of the West Bank.

Another flap involved the cancellation of an award-winning play in New
York about Rachel Corrie, a college graduate who went to Gaza with a
solidarity group to protest the occupation. Corrie was killed by an
Israeli bulldozer demolishing a Palestinian home. The play, scheduled
to open at the New York Theatre Workshop, was canceled, with the
Workshop's artistic director citing pressure from unnamed Jewish
leaders. The play is set to reopen at the Minetta Lane Theatre this
month.

6) "Strategic Consensus" Redux?
Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service, Thursday, October 5, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1005-04.htm
President Bush and Secretary of State Rice may believe they have
broken with 60 years of U.S. policy to "transform" the Middle East,
but to regional observers, their latest initiatives look painfully
familiar. Washington's current courtship of Sunni-led authoritarian
states - notably, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt - raise troubling
questions about its self-proclaimed commitment to democratizing the
region.

Its effort to forge a de facto alliance between those states and
Israel against a supposedly common external threat - Iran - recalls
the Cold-War period, and the first years, in particular, of the
administration of President Reagan. Back then - as during the "Baghdad
Pact" era of the 1950's - the aim was to achieve a "strategic
consensus" between Israel and its "moderate" Arab neighbors, including
Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states, in opposition
to Soviet "trouble-making".

A secondary aim of such a consensus was to contain a revolutionary
Iran and an Iran-Iraq war that, in the words of Secretary of State
Haig, had exposed "deeply rooted rivalries and historic animosities".
He was referring to what the New York Times called "the dangers of the
Iran-Iraq war's broadening into a clash between Shiite Moslems in
Iran, Syria and parts of Iraq and Sunni Moslems who rule Iraq, Jordan,
Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states."

The assumption behind "strategic consensus" was that Arab states,
including Iraq, would be more concerned about the threats posed by
Moscow or Tehran than by Israel's refusal to recognize Palestinian
rights and return to its 1967 borders. William Safire observed in
1982, when Iran appeared to have turned the tide in the war, that
"(t)he very Arab states who snickered loudest at our urging to set
aside Arab-Israeli hatred in the face of a Soviet threat are now
panic-stricken at the Iranian threat, especially since they know that
the ayatollahs are dangerously close to alliance with the Soviets."

Safire argued that Arab fears of Iran should be used as leverage to
get them to either put aside or compromise their demands for the U.S.
to put serious pressure on Israel to withdraw from the occupied
territories. That argument proved ill-founded, especially after Israel
launched a full-scale invasion of Lebanon the following month and,
backed by the Reagan administration, subsequently rejected the Fahd
Plan. A Saudi initiative endorsed by the Arab League in 1982, the plan
offered Israel peace with its Arab neighbors in exchange for
dismantling of Jewish settlements, return to 1967 borders, and
recognition of Palestinian national rights.

"The holy grail of U.S. policy in the region has always been to get
the Arabs to forget about the Arab-Israeli conflict and to focus
instead on some other threat," noted Gary Sick, an expert on Iran and
the Gulf states at Columbia. "If you don't think you can or are not
prepared to deal with the Arab-Israel dispute, then trying to convince
the Arabs that they should subordinate it to other strategic concerns
is really a very attractive thought."

That appears to be the administration's thought today, as Rice tours
capitals of "moderate" Arab states to rally support for demands that
Iran unconditionally freeze its nuclear program which, according to
Washington, poses a threat not only to Israel, but to the Arab states.
While speaking vaguely of a renewed U.S. effort to restart peace talks
between Israel and the Palestinians, Rice and the administration
apparently believe Arabs are sufficiently frightened of Iran and the
emergence of a so-called "Shia Crescent" that they will not press
their demands - recently packaged in another Saudi initiative adopted
by the Arab League in 2002 - for Washington to exert serious pressure
on Israel on the Palestinian front.

U.S. officials point to the denunciation by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and
Egypt of Lebanon's Hezbollah in the early days of this summer's war
between Israel and the Iran-backed Shia group, as well as reports of
unprecedented meetings between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and
at least one top Saudi official, as indications that an anti-Iranian
"strategic consensus" embracing Israel and Arab "moderates" is at
hand. While it appears that Arabs are concerned about Iran's increased
influence in the region, most experts believe Washington is
exaggerating their willingness to confront Iran, particularly in
conjunction with the U.S. and Israel.

"They know they have to live with Iran; it's not going to go away,"
said Robert Hunter, Middle East expert at RAND. "It's not like the
early 1980s when the mullahs tried and failed to spread their
revolution; the concern is more geopolitical than ideological. Aside
from (their backing of) Hezbollah and a few minor scrapes here and
there, Iran has not been particularly assertive toward these
countries."

7) EU, U.S. Agree on Air Passenger Data
Associated Press, October 6, 2006, Filed at 11:21 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-EU-Air-Passenger-Data.html
U.S. and European negotiators reached an interim deal Friday on
sharing trans-Atlantic air passenger data for anti-terrorism
investigations. The agreement, valid until July 2007, was reached
nearly a week after negotiators missed an Oct. 1 deadline. It replaces
a 2004 air passenger privacy deal the EU's high court voided last year
for technical reasons. The EU's national governments are expected to
give final approval to the interim agreement next week. EU Justice
Commissioner Frattini said the agreement defused fears in the European
Parliament that Europeans flying to the US would lose privacy rights.

Under the deal, the U.S. Homeland Security will no longer have an
automatic right to pull data from European airlines' computer systems,
and must instead ask for such information. The department also may
disclose passenger data to U.S. law enforcement agencies only if
''they have comparable standards of data protection,'' Frattini said.
It cannot give those agencies direct electronic access to the
passenger data, he added.

Iran
8) Decision Delayed on Sanctions Against Iran Over Nuclear Issue
Robin Wright, Washington Post, Friday, October 6, 2006; 9:10 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100600353.html
A travel delay has forced the US and its partners to postpone until
early next week a decision about what punitive actions to take against
Iran over its nuclear program. Secretary of State Rice and
counterparts from Britain, France, Russia and China and Germany are to
hold talks in London Friday. But Rice was delayed because of problems
with her plane. Although she is still expected to attend, the delay
will mean the entire group will not be together to discuss the issue
in full because the Russian foreign minister must leave London early
for a cabinet meeting in Moscow.

U.S. officials said the decision will likely be made in a conference
call among foreign ministers Monday or Tuesday. The US wants to impose
sanctions on Iran in a U.N. resolution, but divisions are deep over
whether to go that far and, if so, in what form. Russian Foreign
Minister Lavrov said Thursday his country does not back sanctions. EU
foreign affairs chief Javier Solana said talks should not be closed
off. China has been reluctant to impose tough sanctions, while France
has not been as adamant as the US and Britain. The first stage of
sanctions could include a travel ban on Iranian officials involved in
the nuclear program and a ban on selling Iran dual-use equipment that
could be adopted for weapons. Tougher actions could follow. U.S.
officials remain optimistic they can win agreement -- in large part
because of Iran itself. President Ahmadinejad repeated in recent weeks
that Iran would not give up its enrichment program because it is
operating within the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iraq
9) Purported spokesman for an Iraqi insurgent group offers
negotiations with the US
Associated Press, October 5, 2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/05/africa/ME_GEN_Iraq_Islamic_Army.php
A purported spokesman for a Sunni insurgent group, the Islamic Army in
Iraq, offered to open negotiations with the US in a tape aired by
Al-Jazeera Thursday. The tape was said to be from Ibrahim al-Shimmari,
whose name has appeared in past statements by the group, which has
claimed responsibility for a number of suicide bombings against
civilians and attacks on U.S. troops. "We are prepared for any
negotiations, whether secret or public, on the condition only that
they are sincere," the tape said. The Islamic Army rejected a call
from Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki earlier this year for insurgents
to join the political process, saying it would not participate until
there was a timetable for withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.

10) Open Doors Warns of Increasing Attacks Against Iraq's Christian Community
Daniel Blake, Christian Post, Thu, Oct. 05, 2006
http://world.christianpost.com/article/20061005/25029.htm
Open Doors, an international charity serving persecuted Christians in
60 countries, has warned of a sharp upturn in violence against
Christians in Iraq. The surge in attacks has coincided with the Muslim
observance of Ramadan, with many saying the Pope's controversial
remarks on Islam have ignited an explosive atmosphere. Iraq is already
struggling to contain violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and
now more and more aggression is being seen against the minority
Christian community.

Recently several Christians have been kidnapped, abused, and even
murdered. A hand grenade was thrown at a priest's car. In Baghdad and
Mosul, several churches have been attacked, and last week a group of
men reportedly fired rockets on the Chaldean Church of the Holy Spirit
in Mosul. An Open Doors contact reported that a man wrote on the doors
of the Church of the Holy Spirit, which was attacked a week ago: "If
the Pope does not apologize, we will bomb all churches, kill more
Christians and steal their property and money." Open Doors sources in
Baghdad report that at least two people have been killed and many more
have been injured by bombs in front and behind the cathedral and
Patriarchate of the Ancient Church of the East.

11) How Al Qaeda views a long Iraq war
A letter from Al Qaeda leaders found in Iraq shows that the group sees
the war as a boon for its cause.
Dan Murphy, Christian Science Monitor, October 06, 2006
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1006/p01s04-woiq.html
President Bush has been campaigning against withdrawing troops from
Iraq, arguing that to leave now would hand a victory to Al Qaeda and
inspire new generations of jihadists to attack the US. But a letter
that has been translated and released by the US military indicates
that Al Qaeda itself sees the continued American presence in Iraq as a
boon for the terror network.

"The most important thing is that the jihad continues with
steadfastness ... indeed, prolonging the war is in our interest," says
the writer. The letter was recovered from the house where Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi was killed by a US bomb in June. If the letter is accurate,
it provides a window into the group's thinking on Iraq that differs
starkly from the one the Bush administration has been expressing - a
view the president reiterated Wednesday when he said that Al Qaeda
believes that "America is weak, and if they can kill enough innocent
people we'll retreat. That's precisely what they want."

Lebanon
12) Israeli Bomblets Plague Lebanon
Michael Slackman, New York Times, October 6, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/world/middleeast/06cluster.html
Since the war between Israel and Hezbollah ended in August, nearly
three people have been wounded or killed each day by cluster bombs
Israel dropped in the waning days of the war, and officials now say it
will take more than a year to clear the region of them. UN officials
estimate southern Lebanon is littered with one million unexploded
bomblets, far outnumbering the 650,000 people in the region. They are
stuck in the branches of olive trees and the broad leaves of banana
trees. They are on rooftops, mixed in with rubble and littered across
fields, farms, driveways, roads and outside schools. As of Sept. 28,
officials said cluster bombs had severely wounded 109 people and
killed 18 others.

Palestine
13) Palestinian PM urges Abbas to resume unity talks
Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters, Friday, October 6, 2006; 12:51 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100600484.html
Palestinian Prime Minister Haniyeh on Friday urged President Abbas to
resume talks on forming a national unity coalition after Abbas
threatened to dissolve the Hamas-led government. Haniyeh is embroiled
in a bitter power struggle with Abbas, fueled by their failure to
agree a unity coalition Palestinians hope will lift Western sanctions.
Clashes earlier this week between Hamas gunmen and forces loyal to
Abbas's Fatah movement triggered fears of civil war. Haniyeh vowed no
government in which the Hamas movement served would recognize Israel,
a stance that is a non-starter for Abbas and Western nations.

Syria
14) In Syria, Converting For Sake of Politics
Hezbollah's Gains During Lebanon War Inspire Some Sunnis to Become Shiites
Ellen Knickmeyer, Washington Post, Friday, October 6, 2006; A19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100502073.html
Munir al-Sayed, a Sunni Arab from Aleppo, slipped into a Shiite shrine
and bowed his head in prayer - not as a Sunni, but as a Shiite. His
step across the dividing line between the two main sects of Islam had
nothing to do with religion and everything to do with political
affairs, he said: he was seized with a heartfelt desire to pay homage
to Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah, whose Shiite militia has been
seen by many Muslims as having humiliated the Israeli military and the
U.S. in Lebanon. "I'm Sunni, but I belong to Hasan Nasrallah," he
said. "I've converted politically." Sayed is far from alone, Shiite
clerics say. Pride in what is perceived as Hezbollah's triumph has
fostered respect and a small but escalating number of politically
sensitive conversions for the Shiite faith in Syria.

Some Shiites and Sunnis say the Israel-Hezbollah war brought Shiites
and Sunnis closer. Many Shiites and Sunnis outside Lebanon share a
common pride in Nasrallah even as they share a common worry over the
sectarian bloodshed in Iraq, clerics and political analysts said.
"George Bush has done us a favor. He has united the Arabs," joked
Mustafa al-Sada, a Shiite cleric who works with many of the Sunnis who
come to Shiite religious institutions with questions about conversion.
Sada said he knows of about 75 Sunnis in Damascus who have converted
since fighting in Lebanon started in mid-July. A secular analyst close
to Syria's authoritarian government marveled at the sect-crossing
allegiances brought on by this summer's war. Al-Qaeda, Hamas and the
Muslim Brotherhood vied with statements of varying degrees of support
for the fight by Hezbollah, whose Shiite faith normally would make it
a target, not an ally, of Sunni groups. "The Wahhabis and the Shiites
getting together!" exclaimed the analyst. "Such a phenomenon. Who
would have thought we would see it?"

Turkey
15) Turkish Writers Say Efforts to Stifle Speech May Backfire
Ian Fisher, New York Times, October 6, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/world/europe/06turkey.html
Not a week after a court dropped the case against a best-selling
Turkish novelist, another well-known writer was charged with the same
crime, one of the most ambiguous and contentious here, that of
"insulting Turkishness." Hrant Dink, the accused editor of an
Armenian-language newspaper, takes the charges - against him and
scores of other writers and publishers - as positive news. "It is
something good for Turkey," said Dink, though he faces the prospect of
three years in jail. "There is a strong movement from inside, and I
can say for the first time we are seeing a real democratic movement."

This has not been the usual interpretation since the law was passed
last year, at a time when riot policemen guarded trials and the EU
issued dire warnings that the law, Article 301, stood as a major
obstacle to Turkey's ambitions for membership. But some of the accused
say the turmoil is forcing a national debate about what it means to be
a democracy that is pushing democracy forward, even if painfully.

"A lot of people were saying, 'Wait a minute, this needs to be
changed, and we are so embarrassed about what is going on,' " said
Elif Shafak, a novelist who went on trial in September for portraying
a character who referred to a "genocide" against Armenians in her
novel, "The Bastard of Istanbul." In her case the charges were quickly
dropped. A fuller court ruling issued Thursday defended her broadly
and called for changes in the law, Reuters reported. A judge wrote,
"It is unthinkable to talk about crimes committed by fictional
characters" and added, "it is necessary to define the boundaries of
the 'Turkishness' concept and place it on firm ground."

Thailand
16) Thai Military Agrees to Talk With Muslim Rebels
Rungrawee C. Pinyorat, Associated Press, Friday, October 6, 2006; A19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100501802.html
Thailand's military has agreed to hold talks with Muslim rebels
involved in an insurgency in the country's south, the army chief said
Thursday. The announcement marked a reversal of a policy held by the
elected government that was deposed in a coup last month. Gen. Sonthi
Boonyaratkalin, who led the coup on Sept. 19,  said officials from
rebel factions had contacted a top army officer and requested talks.
"I have agreed to the talks," Sonthi said. "I stress that these will
be talks, not negotiations." Wan Kadir Che Man, a leader of the
Bersatu rebel group, confirmed that members of his organization had
been in contact with "certain Thai authorities" about holding peace
talks. "If the coming government handles it correctly, there is no
reason why an internal conflict among ourselves could not be
resolved," he wrote. Sonthi's coup was welcomed by many Thais who saw
the ouster of Thaksin as a good chance to end the bloody Muslim
insurgency, which has killed more than 1,700 people.

Bolivia
17) Unlikely Terrorists On No-Fly List
List Includes President Of Bolivia, Dead 9/11 Hijackers
Steve Kroft, CBS News, Oct. 5, 2006
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/05/60minutes/main2066624.shtml
60 Minutes, in collaboration with the National Security News Service,
has obtained the secret list used to screen airline passengers for
terrorists and discovered it includes names of people not likely to
cause terror, including the president of Bolivia, people who are dead
and names so common, they are shared by thousands of innocent fliers.
Steve Kroft's investigation, in which an ex-FBI agent who worked on
its al Qaeda task force says the list of 44,000 names is ineffective,
will be broadcast this Sunday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

The former FBI agent, Jack Cloonan, knew the list that was hastily
assembled after 9/11, would be bungled. "When we heard the name list
or no-fly list … the eyes rolled back in my head, because we knew what
was going to happen," he says. "They basically did a massive data dump
and said, 'Okay, anybody that's got a nexus to terrorism, let's make
sure they get on the list,'" he tells Kroft.

The "data dump" of names from the files of several government
agencies, including the CIA, fed into the computer compiling the list
contained many unlikely terrorists. These include Saddam Hussein, who
is under arrest, Nabih Berri, Lebanon's parliamentary speaker, and Evo
Morales, the president of Bolivia. It also includes the names of 14 of
the 19 dead 9/11 hijackers. But the names of some of the most
dangerous living terrorists or suspects are kept off the list.

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

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