[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, October 13, 2006

[Robert Naiman]

Just Foreign Policy News
October 13, 2006

No War with Iran
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Just Foreign Policy Hosts Screenings of "Iraq for Sale"
Last night Just Foreign Policy hosted screenings of Robert Greenwalt's
documentary "Iraq for Sale" about abuses of private contractors in
Iraq: at the New School in New York City (more than 150 attended) and
at the Illinois Disciples Foundation in Champaign, Illinois (more than
100 attended.) We circulated the "No Iran War" petition. We encourage
Just Foreign Policy supporters to attend a local screening, or better
still, host your own. The great thing about hosting is that people
find out about your screening from the national web site. But you can
limit attendance as needed. Hosting a screening is very little work.
If you think you might host a screening please let us know:
info at justforeignpolicy.org. The web site for the film, showing local
screenings, is http://iraqforsale.bravenewtheaters.com/

Summary:
U.S./Top News
Most adults in the US want their government to set a date for the
withdrawal of troops from Iraq, according to a poll by the Pew
Research Center for the People and the Press. 53 per cent of
respondents think the U.S. should set a timetable for withdrawal.

Richard Garfield, a public health professor at Columbia University,
mocked President Bush's criticism of a Johns Hopkins study published
in the British medical journal the Lancet which estimated 600,000
Iraqis have been killed as a result of the US invasion. "I loved when
Bush said 'their methodology has been pretty well discredited,' " said
Garfield. "That's exactly wrong. There is no discrediting of this
methodology."

A commission formed to assess the Iraq war and recommend a new course
has ruled out the prospect of victory for America, the New York Sun
reports.

Britain's top military commander, General Dannatt, said British
soldiers should leave Iraq "sometime soon because our presence
exacerbates the security problems."

The US push to win Security Council backing for tough, swift sanctions
against North Korea was set back by China and Russia Thursday,
suggesting trouble for the US in a similar push to punish Iran, the
New York Times reports.

China is planning to adopt a new law that seeks to crack down on
sweatshops and protect workers' rights by giving labor unions real
power for the first time since it introduced market forces in the
1980's, the Times reports. The move, which underscores the
government's growing concern about the widening income gap and threats
of social unrest, is setting off a battle with American and other
foreign corporations that have lobbied against it by hinting that they
may build fewer factories here.

An Army judge sentenced Sergeant Ricky Clousing to 11 months in
confinement for going AWOL.  He will serve 3 months. Clousing worked
in Iraq as an interrogator. "My experiences in Iraq forced me to
re-evaluate my beliefs and my ethics," Clousing said. "I ultimately
felt I could not serve."

16 Afghans released from years in captivity at the U.S. prison in
Guantanamo arrived in Afghanistan Thursday. The head of Afghanistan's
reconciliation commission, said most of the prisoners were innocent
and had been turned in to the U.S. military by other Afghans because
of personal disputes. One former prisoner reported that he was
repeatedly tortured.

Iran
The Iranian leadership is vowing to continue to defy an international
demand to stop nuclear activities, the New York Times reports. Iran's
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Tuesday Iran would
continue its uranium enrichment program, asserting the program was
intended for peaceful civilian purposes. He said the decision was made
easier by the fact that Iran voluntarily suspended enrichment three
years ago, a cooperative gesture that proved fruitless.

Iraq
Iraq Sunni politicians accused Shiite lawmakers Thursday of using
dirty tricks to push through a new law on federalism, AP reports. One
of the main Sunni parties said quorum had not been reached. The
session was closed to the public, and the measure was passed by show
of hands, with no count of the vote.

Trash collection has become one of Baghdad's most dangerous
occupations, the New York Times reports. A bomb could be lurking
beneath any heap of refuse, and insurgents are willing to kill to
prevent them from being discovered. The danger to trash collectors is
at the root of one of the most visible symptoms of collapse in Baghdad
- garbage is ubiquitous, especially in dangerous neighborhoods.

The Progressive Government Institute has published the "Iraq
Reconciliation Plan" resulting from a meeting of U.S. peace activists
with Iraqi members of Parliament, sheikhs, and torture survivors.

Palestine
The Israeli air force carried out strikes that killed eight
Palestinians and wounded about 20 on Thursday, the New York Times
reports.

Lebanon
Michael Ignatieff, a former Harvard professor running for the
leadership of Canada's Liberal Party, is facing a political uproar
over remarks in which he labeled a "war crime" Israel's deadly bombing
of the Lebanese town of Qana, the Washington Post reports.

Venezuela
Mark Weisbrot, writing on Daily Kos, criticizes press coverage of
President Chavez' UN speech for omitting key background for Chavez'
remarks about President Bush: the Bush administration's involvement in
the 2002 military coup that briefly overthrew Venezuela's democratic
government, and the administration's continued intervention in
Venezuela.

France/Turkey
The French National Assembly approved legislation Thursday that would
make it a crime to deny that the mass killings of Armenians in Turkey
during and after World War I were genocide. The legislation, which was
criticized by Turkey's government and some EU officials, could further
complicate talks for Turkey's admission to the EU, the International
Herald Tribune reports.

Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) Americans Demand Timetable for Iraq War's End
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research, October 13, 2006
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/13456
Many adults in the US want their government to set a date for the
conclusion of the coalition effort, according to a poll by the Pew
Research Center for the People and the Press. 53 per cent of
respondents think the U.S. should set a timetable for when troops will
be withdrawn from Iraq.

2) Iraq casualty figures open up new battleground
Dan Murphy, Christian Science Monitor, October 13, 2006 edition
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1013/p01s04-woiq.htm

The researchers, backed up by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health, relied on the same polling methodology that is used to
measure voter preferences or what their favorite TV shows are.

"I loved when President Bush said 'their methodology has been pretty
well discredited,' " says Richard Garfield, a public health professor
at Columbia University who works closely with a number of the authors
of the report. "That's exactly wrong. There is no discrediting of this
methodology. I don't think there's anyone who's been involved in
mortality research who thinks there's a better way to do it in
unsecured areas. I have never heard of any argument in this field that
says there's a better way to do it."

3) Baker's Panel Rules Out Iraq Victory
Eli Lake, New York Sun, October 12, 2006
http://www.nysun.com/article/41371
A commission formed to assess the Iraq war and recommend a new course
has ruled out the prospect of victory for America, according to draft
policy options shared with the New York Sun by commission officials.
Currently, the commission, headed by former secretary of state James
Baker, is considering two option papers, "Stability First" and
"Redeploy and Contain," both of which rule out any prospect of making
Iraq a stable democracy in the near term.

More telling is the ruling out of two options last month. One
advocated minor fixes to the current war plan but kept intact the
long-term vision of democracy in Iraq with regular elections. The
second proposed that coalition forces focus their attacks only on Al
Qaeda and not the wider insurgency.

Instead, the commission is headed toward presenting Bush with two
clear policy choices that contradict his rhetoric of establishing
democracy in Iraq. The more palatable of the two choices for the White
House, "Stability First," argues that the military should focus on
stabilizing Baghdad while the American Embassy should work toward
political accommodation with insurgents. The goal of nurturing a
democracy in Iraq is dropped.

The "Redeploy and Contain" option calls for the phased withdrawal of
American soldiers from Iraq, though the working groups have yet to say
when and where those troops will go. The document says America should
"make clear to allies and others that U.S. redeployment does not
reduce determination to attack terrorists wherever they are." It also
says America's top priority should be minimizing American casualties
in Iraq.

4) General's Remarks on Iraq Cause Stir in Britain
Alan Cowell, New York Times, October 13, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/world/europe/14generalcnd.html
The British government sought today to defuse an embarrassing public
debate over remarks by its top military commander that Britain should
withdraw its troops from Iraq "sometime soon." The comments were
interpreted by some government critics as a challenge to the authority
of Prime Minister Blair since they seemed to be a direct contradiction
of his insistence that a retreat from Iraq would be "a craven act of
surrender."

The officer, General Sir Richard Dannatt, modified some of his remarks
in a series of radio and television interviews to expand on his
comments in The Daily Mail. But he did not completely retract his
assessment that the presence of British forces in Iraq "exacerbated"
the violence there. "I have withdrawn none of the comments that I have
made," he said. "I have given a little more explanation about what I
meant by 'sometime soon'; that's not backtracking."

An inquest found today that Terry Lloyd, a British television war
correspondent killed in Iraq in March, 2003, had been "unlawfully
killed" by US forces who opened fire on a vehicle carrying the wounded
reporter away from a battlefield. The coroner said the American troops
should not have fired on the vehicle. Britain's National Union of
Journalists called Lloyd's death a "war crime" and the coroner, said
he would write to the attorney general urging him to prosecute the
killers. In the fighting, Lloyd's Lebanese translator, Hussein Osman,
also died and French cameraman, Fred Nerac, is still missing, presumed
dead. [What "fighting"? -JFP.]

General Dannatt's comments drew widespread approval among anti-war
legislators and campaigners and on unofficial websites used by
military bloggers, including soldiers in the field. Britain has some
7,000 troops based primarily around Basra in the south of the country.
In the newspaper interview, General Dannatt said British soldiers
should leave Iraq "sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the
security problems."

5) U.S. Softens North Korea Sanctions Proposal After Objections From
China and Russia
Warren Hoge, New York Times, October 13, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/world/asia/13nations.html
The US push to win Security Council backing for tough, swift sanctions
against North Korea appeared to be set back by China and Russia on
Thursday, in an echo of the obstacles the US faces in a similar push
to punish Iran. The US circulated a softened draft resolution to the
Security Council in response to North Korea's assertion that it
conducted a nuclear test on Monday. The US pressed for a vote by
Friday, but China and Russia immediately signaled their opposition to
critical parts of the measure and said they needed more time. On
Thursday night, a new draft resolution was circulated, and Reuters
quoted the Chinese and Russian ambassadors calling the revisions
improvements.

The first new draft was circulated Thursday dropped earlier Japanese
amendments prohibiting North Korean ships from entering any port and
North Korean aircraft from taking off or landing in any country. The
draft still cited Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which makes sanctions
mandatory and suggests the possibility of military enforcement. China
and Russia have consistently opposed Chapter VII enforcement for North
Korea in the past. The version circulated Thursday night retains
stringent economic and weapons sanctions, but makes clear that the
measures do not include military force, Reuters and AP reported.

The latest draft drops the idea of a weapons embargo and keeps a
provision to allow nations to inspect cargo to and from North Korea.
The provision has aroused particular objections from China, which is
wary of such interdiction moves being conducted off its coasts.

The draft still would require all countries to prevent the sale or
transfer of arms, luxury goods and material related to North Korea's
nuclear, ballistic missile and unconventional weapons programs. It
also maintains a ban on travel by North Korean officials connected to
those programs and a freeze on their assets.

The US said it already had the power to inspect cargo under the
American-led Proliferation Security Initiative, but wanted language in
the resolution that would make it binding on all UN member states.

6) China Drafts Law to Boost Unions and End Labor Abuse
David Barboza, New York Times, October 13, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/business/worldbusiness/13sweat.html
China is planning to adopt a new law that seeks to crack down on
sweatshops and protect workers' rights by giving labor unions real
power for the first time since it introduced market forces in the
1980's. The move, which underscores the government's growing concern
about the widening income gap and threats of social unrest, is setting
off a battle with American and other foreign corporations that have
lobbied against it by hinting that they may build fewer factories
here.

The proposed rules are being considered after the Chinese Communist
Party endorsed a new doctrine that will put greater emphasis on
tackling the severe side effects of the country's remarkable growth.
Whether the foreign corporations will follow through on their warnings
is unclear because of the many advantages of being in China, even with
restrictions and higher costs that may stem from the new law. It could
go into effect as early as next May.

It would apply to all companies in China, but its emphasis is on
foreign-owned companies and the suppliers to those companies. The
conflict with the foreign corporations is significant partly because
it comes at a time when labor, energy and land costs are rising in
this country, all indications that doing business in China is likely
to get much more expensive in the coming years.

But it is not clear how effectively such a new labor law would be
carried out because local officials have tended to ignore directives
from the central government or seek ways around them.

7) A Soldier Hoped to Do Good, but Was Changed by War
Laurie Goodstein, New York Times, October 13, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/us/13awol.html
Sgt. Ricky Clousing went to war in Iraq because, he said, he believed
he would simultaneously be serving his nation and serving God. But
after more than four months on the streets of Baghdad and Mosul
interrogating Iraqis rounded up by American troops, Sergeant Clousing
said, he began to believe that he was serving neither.

He said he saw American soldiers shoot and kill an unarmed Iraqi
teenager, and rode in an Army Humvee that sideswiped Iraqi cars and
shot an old man's sheep for fun - both incidents Sergeant Clousing
reported to superiors. He said his work as an interrogator led him to
conclude that the occupation was creating a cycle of anti-American
resentment and violence. After months of soul-searching on his return
to Fort Bragg, Sergeant Clousing, 24, failed to report for duty one
day.

In a court-martial here on Thursday, an Army judge sentenced Sergeant
Clousing to 11 months in confinement for going AWOL, absent without
leave. He will serve three months because of a pretrial agreement in
which he pleaded guilty. "My experiences in Iraq forced me to
re-evaluate my beliefs and my ethics," Sergeant Clousing said. "I
ultimately felt I could not serve."

The case against Sergeant Clousing, a born-again Christian is a small
one. Yet military prosecutors made clear Thursday the stakes were
high. Although they did not challenge his motives, they said if one
young soldier disillusioned by the reality of war could give up the
uniform without punishment, what of others?

Sergeant Clousing said he was stunned at the number of Iraqis he was
assigned to interrogate who were either innocent or disgruntled
citizens resentful about the American occupation. He said he told his
commander: "Your soldiers and the way they're behaving are creating
the insurgency you're trying to fight."

Back in Fort Bragg, Sergeant Clousing took his misgivings to
superiors. They sent him to a chaplain, who showed him in the Bible
where God sent his people to war, the sergeant said. Then they sent
him to a psychologist who said he could get out of the military by
claiming he was crazy or gay. Sergeant Clousing said he had not been
looking for a way out and found the suggestion offensive. He called a
hotline for members of the military run by a coalition of antiwar
groups. The man who took the call was Chuck Fager, who runs Quaker
House, a longtime pacifist stronghold in Fayetteville.

Fager said hotline receptionists took more than 7,000 calls from or
about military members last year. "I said to him, you're not crazy or
a heretic for having difficulty reconciling Jesus' teachings with
what's going on in Iraq." Sergeant Clousing said he could not file for
conscientious objector status because he could not honestly say he was
opposed to all war. After several months of soul-searching, he went
AWOL.

He tried to talk with his church friends. Some understood, but others
said he had to support the government because of a biblical injunction
to "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's." They felt "God established
government and we're supposed to be submitting to authorities, and by
me leaving it's rebelling again the authority that God established,"
Sergeant Clousing said. "Their politics has infiltrated their religion
so much, they can't see past their politics."

8) Ex - Gitmo Detainees Arrive in Afghanistan
Associated Press, October 12, 2006, Filed at 8:43 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Afghan-Guantanamo-Prisoners.html
16 Afghans released from years in captivity at the U.S. prison in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, arrived in Afghanistan Thursday, an Afghan
official said. The 16 Afghans appeared at a news conference alongside
Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, head of Afghanistan's reconciliation
commission, which assists with the release of detainees from
Guantanamo and the U.S. prison at the Bagram military base north of
Kabul. Mujaddedi said many of the detainees, who are now free, had
served up to four years in Guantanamo. He said ''most'' of the
prisoners were innocent and had been turned in to the U.S. military by
other Afghans because of personal disputes.

One of the released prisoners, Sayed Mohammead Ali Shah, said he had
been a delegate at the country's first loya jirga, a council of
leaders that helped establish the interim government in 2002 after the
U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban in 2001. ''For four years they
put me in jail in Cuba for nothing,'' said Shah, a doctor from the
eastern province of Paktia.

''All those Afghans still in Cuba, they are innocent,'' he told
reporters. ''All were arrested because of false reports, and the
Americans, without investigating, they arrested innocent people and
put them in jail for a long time.''

Another former prisoner, Habib Rahman, 20, said he was arrested
because he had a weapon in his home. ''They told me, 'You are against
us, you are anti-American and anti-government and you are fighting
with us,''' said Rahman, from Paktia. ''At that time in our area
everyone had weapons. I was innocent and I hadn't participated in any
fighting.''

Rahman said that he was treated harshly at Guantanamo, and that one
time he was kept awake for 38 hours while being questioned about ties
to terrorists. ''The last time they tortured me like that was four
months ago,'' he said. ''They were kicking us all the time, beating us
with their hands.''

Sayed Sharif Yousufy, a spokesman for the Afghan reconciliation
commission, last month said that between 90 and 110 Afghans were still
at Guantanamo, meaning that between about 74 and 94 would still be
there. One of the released prisoners said 74 Afghans remain in
Guantanamo.

Iran
9) Iran Defies Call to Drop Nuclear Plans
Nazila Fathi, New York Times, October 13, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/world/middleeast/13iran.html
The Iranian leadership is vowing to continue to defy an international
demand to stop nuclear activities while refusing to condemn North
Korea for its reported test of a small nuclear device.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Tuesday Iran would
continue its uranium enrichment program, asserting, as other senior
Iranian leaders have done, that the program was intended for peaceful
civilian purposes. He said the decision was made easier by the fact
that Iran voluntarily suspended enrichment three years ago, a
cooperative gesture that proved fruitless. "If we had not experienced
that path, perhaps we would have criticized ourselves today," he said.
"But now we will pursue with a strong heart."

Iraq
10) Sunni accuse Shiites of dirty tricks in passing controversial federalism law
Associated Press, October 12, 2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/12/africa/ME_GEN_Iraq_Federalism.php
Iraq Sunni politicians accused Shiite lawmakers Thursday of using
dirty tricks to push through a new law on federalism, a landmark
measure that will transform Iraq by allowing Shiites to form a
self-rule mini-state in the south. The dispute reflects the deep
controversy over federalism, which top leaders of Iraq's majority
Shiites support but which Sunnis deeply oppose, fearing it will tear
the country to pieces and further fuel sectarian violence.

The passage of the bill has deepened feelings among some Sunni Arabs
that their voices are being ignored in the political process, where
Shiite parties dominate the government and parliament. The vote on the
law Wednesday was marred by a boycott by the Sunni bloc of lawmakers,
along with several Shiite parties, who also reject some specifics of
the bill.

The boycott delayed the vote for several hours as supporters tried to
convince the boycotters to attend and scrambled to make quorum — 138
of the 275 lawmakers. The session was closed to the public, and after
repeated counts it was announced that 140 lawmakers were in
attendance. The measure was passed unanimously by a show of hands,
with no count of the vote.

One of the main Sunni parties, however, accused the Shiites of fudging
the numbers, saying quorum had not been reached. "The session was
confused and turbulent. They claimed they met the quorum but they did
not. There were no more than 126 lawmakers," said Mohammed al-Daimi,
spokesman for the National Dialogue Council. "We will raise an appeal
against the process and seek an investigation into the vote," al-Daimi
said.

11) Even Picking Up Trash Is a High Risk in Baghdad
Michael Luo, New York Times, October 13, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/world/middleeast/13trash.html
Sabah al-Atia sometimes calls home every 10 minutes when working to
let his wife know he is still alive. His job is one of the most
dangerous in the city. He is a trash collector.

In a city where a bomb could be lurking beneath any heap of refuse,
and where insurgents are willing to kill to prevent them from being
discovered, an occupation that pays only dollars a day has become one
of the deadliest. Most of the 500 municipal workers who have been
killed here since 2005 have been trash collectors, said the city's
deputy mayor.

The danger to trash collectors is at the root of one of the most
visible symptoms of collapse in Baghdad. Garbage is ubiquitous,
especially in dangerous neighborhoods, blanketing street medians,
alleys and vacant lots in stinking, fly-infested quilts. Trash
collection has joined a long list of basic services, including
electricity, water and sewerage, that have slipped badly in many
places since the American-led invasion.

12) Iraq Reconciliation Plan
Progressive Government Institute
http://www.progressivegovernment.org/page.php?name=reconciliation
The Progressive Government Institute published on its website the
"Iraq Reconciliation Plan" resulting from a meeting of U.S. peace
activists, led by Medea Benjamin and Raed Jarrar of Global Exchange
and Jodie Evans and Gael Murphy of CODEPINK, with Iraqi members of
Parliament, sheikhs, and torture survivors. The Iraqi MPs represented
185 (130 Shia, 44 Sunni, 11 secular) of 275 members of Iraq's
Parliament. The meetings were held in Amman, Jordan, on August 2-3,
2006. The Reconciliation Plan documents how the Iraqis propose to
solve their country's crisis. The Plan consists of 10 key points,
captured via extensive interviews with the Iraqi participants.

Palestine
13) 8 Palestinians Die as Israeli Raids and Airstrikes Intensify
Greg Myre, New York Times, October 13, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/world/middleeast/13mideast.html
Israeli ground troops raided a village in the Gaza Strip, and the air
force carried out strikes that killed eight Palestinians and wounded
about 20 on Thursday, according to Palestinian medical workers. The
fighting was among the deadliest in recent weeks. At least four
militant members of Hamas were among the dead, but a girl and a
teenage boy were also killed, the medical workers said.

Lebanon
14) Remark Roils Canadian Contest
Candidate Called Israeli Attack on Lebanese Town a 'War Crime'
Doug Struck, Washington Post, Friday, October 13, 2006; A23
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101201857.html
Michael Ignatieff, a former Harvard professor running for the
leadership of Canada's Liberal Party, is facing a political uproar
over remarks in which he labeled as a "war crime" Israel's deadly
bombing of the southern Lebanon town of Qana. Ignatieff, a noted human
rights scholar and the front-runner in the race to lead the party,
said in a French-language radio interview Sunday that the July 30 Qana
bombing, which killed 28 civilians, "was a war crime, and I should
have said that."

The co-chairman of Ignatieff's Toronto campaign, Parliament member
Susan Kadis, abruptly quit the campaign Wednesday, and Canadian Jewish
groups sharply criticized the candidate. Israel's ambassador to
Canada, Alan Baker, said Thursday that Ignatieff's statement was
"upsetting and disappointing." Kadis said Ignatieff should "have a
better handle on the Middle East."

The Lebanese civilians were killed when an Israeli warplane bombed a
residential building in Qana. Israel said that it did not know
civilians were in the apartment building and that Hezbollah fighters
had fired rockets from nearby sites. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan
rejected Israel's explanation. He noted after the bombing that an
Israeli bombardment had killed more than 100 Lebanese civilians at
Qana 10 years earlier and said Israel was "causing death and suffering
on a wholly unacceptable scale."

The controversy is a blow to Ignatieff, who holds a narrow lead in the
party race ahead of its convention at the end of next month. The party
leader would become prime minister if the Liberal Party regains
control of the government, which it lost to the Conservative Party in
January.

Venezuela
15) Correct the Facts on US-Venezuela Relations: Remember the Attempted Coup?
Mark Weisbrot, Daily Kos, Fri Oct 13
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/13/12181/162
Here is some background, missing from almost all press coverage, about
why President Hugo Chavez might see George W. Bush as "the Devil:"
namely, the Bush administration's involvement in the 2002 military
coup that briefly overthrew Venezuela's democratic government, and the
administration's continued intervention inside Venezuela, to this day.

France/Turkey
16) French Pass Bill That Punishes Denial of Armenian Genocide
Thomas Crampton, International Herald Tribune, October 13, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/world/europe/13turkey.html
The National Assembly, defying appeals from Turkey, approved
legislation Thursday that would make it a crime to deny that the mass
killings of Armenians in Turkey during and after World War I were
genocide. The legislation, which was criticized by Turkey's government
and some EU officials, could further complicate talks for Turkey's
admission to the EU.

With 106 deputies voting in favor and 19 against, the law sets fines
of up to about $56,000 and a year in prison for denying the genocide.
Of the 577 members of the Assembly, 4 abstained and 448 did not vote
at all, raising the question of whether there would be enough
political will to push the law through the Senate.

Scholars and most Western governments have recognized the killing of
more than a million Armenians by Ottoman Turks from 1915 to 1919 as
genocide. But the subject is still taboo in Turkey, and charges have
been pressed against writers and others who have brought attention to
the genocide, including Orhan Pamuk, who was just awarded the Nobel
Prize in literature.

--------
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
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