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

Tue Sep 5 15:17:41 CDT 2006

Just Foreign Policy News
September 5, 2006

Summary:
U.S.
The Bush administration is circulating draft legislation to eliminate
crucial parts of the War Crimes Act. Observers say the Administration
plans to slip it through Congress this fall while there still is a
guaranteed Republican majority - perhaps as part of the military
appropriations bill, the proposals for Guantánamo tribunals or a new
catch-all "anti-terrorism" package. (To ask your Representative to
oppose this move, use this link:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4981)
Filmmaker Robert Greenwald is releasing a documentary, "Iraq for Sale:
The War Profiteers," which argues that private companies helping to
fight the war in Iraq don't have the nation's best interests in mind.
Iran
Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami arrives in Washington to
give a major address on Thursday, the same day that the Bush
administration holds talks in Europe on new U.N. sanctions on Tehran.
He is also speaking in Boston, Charlottesville, Chicago and New York
on the role of the three Abrahamic faiths in the peace process.
Iraq
Iraq's president forecast on Tuesday that British troops could go home
by the end of next year but, on another day of killings, Britain's
visiting foreign minister cautioned against leaving a "security
vacuum." While Washington and London continue to stress the growing
independence of the new sovereign Iraqi government, the U.S.
ambassador weighed in to a row over dropping its Saddam-era flag that
has prompted talk of secession by ethnic Kurds.
Lebanon
UN Secretary General Annan said today that he had put in motion a plan
that could lead to a lifting of the Israeli blockade of Lebanon within
48 hours. Annan said he had coordinated the plan with French,
Lebanese, Israeli and US officials. Annan said yesterday that the UN
would mediate talks on the release of Israeli and Hezbollah prisoners.
The Lebanese government sought to reassert authority over its air and
sea borders Monday in the face of a seven-week Israeli blockade. Prime
Minister Siniora said he would take up a German offer to help patrol
the waters off Lebanon and seal the land border with Syria only after
agreement on operating rules that make clear that the Lebanese
military is in charge.
Israel
Three weeks after a cease-fire ended Israel's monthlong war against
Hezbollah guerrillas, Israel is increasingly concerned that government
officials and army officers traveling abroad could face war crimes
charges, a Foreign Ministry official said Monday. Israeli PM Ehud
Olmert wants to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as soon as
possible after militants release a captured Israeli soldier.
Vice-Prime Minister Shimon Peres said Israel wanted to resume talks
with Abbas on the basis of the peace plan known as the roadmap.
Separately, Abbas said that agreement had been reached on swapping the
captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, for Palestinian prisoners.
Palestine
Israeli prime minister Olmert authorized construction bids on Monday
for another 690 homes in the occupied West Bank in the face of pro
forma American criticism. The houses will be built in Maale Adumim and
Betar Illit, two settlements near Jerusalem that the Israeli
government says it intends to keep in any agreement with the
Palestinians.
Turkey
Turkey's parliament has approved the deployment of its troops in
Lebanon to join to the UN peacekeeping mission. The move to send
Turkish soldiers faces broad domestic opposition, with many unwilling
to engage in a situation in which they could be fighting against
fellow Muslims. In a bid to quell fears, Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan assured the public that the soldiers would withdraw if
they were asked to disarm Hezbollah.
Afghanistan
Lashkar Gah seemed like fertile ground for the US effort to stabilize
the country. During the cold war, Americans carried out the largest
development project in Afghanistan's history here, building a modern
capital with tract homes, a giant hydroelectric dam and 300 miles of
canals. Afghans called this city "Little America." Today, Little
America is the epicenter of a Taliban resurgence that has claimed the
lives of 106 American and NATO soldiers this year. Statistically it is
now nearly as dangerous to serve as an American soldier in Afghanistan
as it is in Iraq.
Mexico
Ruling party conservative Felipe Calderon was finally declared
Mexico's president-elect Tuesday, ending a two-month legal battle over
election fraud claims that plunged the nation into crisis. The
election split the nation along class lines, and leftist protests
claiming fraud have paralyzed the center of Mexico City. Lopez
Obrador, who promised to give priority to Mexico's millions of poor,
has vowed to set up a parallel government with support from the
streets.
Colombia
Rebels holding 62 hostages, including 3 Americans and a former
presidential candidate called for talks with the government on a
prisoner exchange.
In this issue:
U.S.
1) Bush Aims to Kill War Crimes Act
2) Documentary Slams US Companies Working in Iraq
Iran
3) Khatami Arrives As U.S. Weighs Sanctions on Iran
Iraq
4) Iraqi president sees UK troops gone by 2007
Lebanon
5) Annan Working to Lift Israeli Blockade of Lebanon
6) U.N. Expects to Mediate Talks on Captured Israelis
7) Lebanon Seeks to Reassert Sovereignty Over Borders
Israel
8)  Israel Said to Fear War Crimes Charges
9) Israel PM 'to seek Abbas talks'
10) When Napoleon Won at Waterloo
Palestine
11) Over U.S. Objections, Israel Approves West Bank Homes
Turkey
12) Turkey approves Lebanon troops
Afghanistan
13) Afghan Symbol for Change Becomes a Symbol of Failure
Mexico
14) Mexican conservative declared president-elect
Colombia
15) Colombia: Rebels Seek Hostage Swap

Contents:
U.S.
1) Bush Aims to Kill War Crimes Act
Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith, The Nation, September 5, 2006
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060918/brecher
The US War Crimes Act of 1996 makes it a felony to commit grave
violations of the Geneva Conventions. The Washington Post recently
reported that the Bush administration is quietly circulating draft
legislation to eliminate crucial parts of the War Crimes Act.
Observers on The Hill say the Administration plans to slip it through
Congress this fall while there still is a guaranteed Republican
majority--perhaps as part of the military appropriations bill, the
proposals for Guantánamo tribunals or a new catch-all "anti-terrorism"
package. (To ask your Representative to oppose this move, use this
link: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4981)

2) Documentary Slams US Companies Working in Iraq
"Iraq for Sale" Claims Halliburton and Others Profit at Expense of Safety
Dan Harris, ABC News, Sept. 4, 2006
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2392965
He's tackled Wal-Mart and Fox News with his scathing documentaries.
Now, filmmaker Robert Greenwald is releasing a documentary which
argues that private companies helping to fight the war in Iraq don't
have the nation's best interests in mind. "Iraq for Sale: The War
Profiteers" presents an assault on companies that provide the kinds of
services in Iraq that the military once handled itself, such as
supplying food, water and mail delivery for the reconstruction. In the
film, former KBR/Halliburton water purification specialist Ben Carter
is interviewed and says when a motor went out on a truck, they would
"buy a new truck … and bill the government." Greenwald also
interviewed relatives of four Blackwater Security guards who were
mutilated in Fallujah in March, 2004. One mother claimed her son died
because the company cut corners, failing to supply armored vehicles or
maps.

Iran
3) Khatami Arrives As U.S. Weighs Sanctions on Iran
Former Embassy Hostages Criticize Trip
Robin Wright, Washington Post, Tuesday, September 5, 2006; A16
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090400720.html
Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami arrives in Washington to
give a major address on Thursday, the same day that the Bush
administration holds talks in Europe on new U.N. sanctions on Tehran.
Khatami's five-city U.S. tour this week has ignited both controversy
and curiosity - infuriating former hostages from the U.S. Embassy
seizure and alarming some in Congress but winning praise from foreign
policy experts. Khatami's visit has also been controversial in Tehran,
where a newspaper called the U.S. visa "suspicious" and a critic
suggested the Shiite cleric should be defrocked for committing "worse
than a sin" in his trip to the US. Many Iranian exiles in this country
are also enraged, with some threatening protests. Khatami, who was
president from 1997 to 2005, is the highest-ranking Iranian to visit
Washington since the US severed ties in 1980. He is also speaking in
Boston, Charlottesville, Chicago and New York on the role of the three
Abrahamic faiths in the peace process. Khatami's tour comes as the
State Department presses for punitive action for Iran's failure to
meet a U.N. deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, a process for
nuclear energy that can be converted to develop a nuclear weapon.
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns will meet in Berlin on Thursday
with diplomats from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia to
discuss which sanctions to impose on Iran. The administration hopes
Secretary of State Rice will be able to wrap up the resolution when
she attends the General Assembly opening later this month.

Iraq
4) Iraqi president sees UK troops gone by 2007
Alastair Macdonald, Reuters, Tuesday, September 5, 2006; 1:59 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/05/AR2006090500430.html
Iraq's president forecast on Tuesday that British troops could go home
by the end of next year but, on another day of killings, Britain's
visiting foreign minister cautioned against leaving a "security
vacuum." Iraq's parliament extended a state of emergency, granting
Prime Minister al-Maliki extraordinary powers for another month to
tackle a Sunni insurgency and sectarian bloodshed. The monthly renewal
of Maliki's emergency powers came as gunmen shot dead four Shi'ite
pilgrims, the U.S. military reported the deaths of three more of its
soldiers, and Baghdad police found seven bodies with gunshots to the
head. While Washington and London continue to stress the growing
independence of the new sovereign Iraqi government, the U.S.
ambassador weighed in to a row over dropping its Saddam-era flag that
has prompted talk of secession by ethnic Kurds. President Talabani,
himself a Kurd, said there must be a new flag. "Unilateral steps by
regions or parties on this issue are inappropriate and do not have the
support of the US," U.S. envoy to Iraq Khalilzad said, adding that
Washington was committed to "Iraq's unity and territorial integrity."
U.S. ally Turkey, as well as Iran and Syria, worry their own Kurdish
minorities want to emulate Iraqi Kurds' wide autonomy. The Kurdish
regional government has banned the use of the Iraqi flag on public
buildings as a symbol of oppression under Saddam Hussein. Maliki has
demanded the use of the national tricolour and said only parliament
can decide on a new flag, but his spokesman said designing a new flag
was now a priority.

Lebanon
5) Annan Working to Lift Israeli Blockade of Lebanon
Warren Hoge, New York Times, September 5, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/world/middleeast/05cnd-diplo.html
UN Secretary General Annan said today that he had put in motion a plan
that could lead to a lifting of the Israeli blockade of Lebanon within
48 hours. Annan said regional leaders had told him that the embargo
was the single biggest impediment to beginning Lebanon's recovery. He
has argued that it is illogical to stop goods from entering Lebanon at
the same time as the UN is asking people to send help and resources
there. Annan described a three-step process that he hoped would begin
later today with an announcement from the president of France about
deploying French ships along the Lebanese coast. This announcement
would trigger an immediate dispatch of French, Italian and Greek
vessels to patrol the coast for the next two weeks, until a promised
German fleet arrives. The second step is a letter to Annan from the
Lebanese prime minister authorizing the Germans to take up their
positions in the Mediterranean off Lebanon as part of the expanded UN
force responsible for guarding southern Lebanon and preventing a
recurrence of hostilities. The final step that Annan hopes for is an
announcement that Israel will lift the blockade. Annan said he had
coordinated the moves with Chirac, Siniora, Israeli prime minister
Olmert, and Secretary of State Rice. Israel has recently eased the
restrictions on commercial flights into Beirut. Lebanon's Middle East
Airlines and Jordan's Royal Jordanian Airline have been conducting
limited service and on Monday a Qatar Airways passenger jet was
allowed to land. The airline announced it was resuming daily service
between Doha and Beirut.

6) U.N. Expects to Mediate Talks on Captured Israelis
Warren Hoge, New York Times, September 5, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/world/middleeast/05nations.html
Secretary General Annan said Monday that the UN would mediate talks on
the release of Israeli and Hezbollah prisoners. Even though the
Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has been under increasing
domestic pressure to win the release of three captured soldiers, there
has been no official confirmation from the government that it would
negotiate on the issue. Israel has maintained that its soldiers should
be returned unconditionally as part of the Security Council resolution
that ended the fighting. But in past cases, Israel has released
prisoners in exchange for captives and, in a deal with Hezbollah in
2004, for the return of the bodies of soldiers killed in battle. And
Hezbollah has made clear from the start that it was interested in
swapping prisoners.

7) Lebanon Seeks to Reassert Sovereignty Over Borders
Edward Cody, Washington Post, Tuesday, September 5, 2006; A12
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090400496.html
The Lebanese government sought to reassert authority over its air and
sea borders Monday in the face of a seven-week Israeli blockade. Prime
Minister Siniora said he would take up a German offer to help patrol
the waters off Lebanon and seal the land border with Syria only after
agreement on operating rules that make clear that the Lebanese
military is in charge. His position flew in the face of an Israeli
demand that international troops be the ones who guarantee that
transport in and out of the country does not include weapons or other
supplies for the Hezbollah militia. Siniora's stand on the continuing
air and sea blockade reflected outrage among Lebanese and an effort by
the government to reassert its sovereignty after a month-long war
during which Hezbollah was making the country's vital decisions on war
and peace. With its demand that foreign troops police the ports and
border, Israel has prolonged a situation in which some of the most
important government functions - security and border controls - are
being assumed by others.

Israel
8)  Israel Said to Fear War Crimes Charges
Matti Friedman, Associated Press, Tuesday, September 5, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0905-03.htm
Three weeks after a cease-fire ended Israel's monthlong war against
Hezbollah guerrillas, Israel is increasingly concerned that government
officials and army officers traveling abroad could face war crimes
charges, a Foreign Ministry official said Monday. A special legal team
is preparing to provide protection for officers and officials involved
in the 34-day conflict in Lebanon, the official said. More than 850
Lebanese were killed during the conflict, mostly civilians. Amnesty
International has accused Israel of war crimes, including
indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilian targets.  The
Foreign Ministry official said the legal-defense team is maintained by
the government to help officials facing the possibility of war crimes
charges abroad. It was first assembled to deal with charges related to
Israeli actions in the West Bank and Gaza. He would not comment on a
report in the Haaretz daily that the ministry has urged top officials
against making inflammatory statements that might be used against them
in legal proceedings. Israeli fears of prosecution abroad are based on
experience. A retired general arriving in London last year who had
commanded Israeli forces in Gaza was tipped off by an Israeli diplomat
that he was about to be arrested by British authorities over a 2002
air strike that killed a Hamas leader and 14 others, nine of them
children. Doron Almog remained on the plane and returned to Israel. In
2001, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faced a lawsuit in Belgium over his
alleged role in a 1982 massacre in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps
in Beirut. Daniel Machover, a British attorney involved in attempts to
prosecute Israeli officers, said he knew of "at least two" teams
compiling evidence in Lebanon for use in future legal cases.

9) Israel PM 'to seek Abbas talks'
BBC News, Tuesday, 5 September 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5315834.stm
Israeli PM Ehud Olmert wants to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas as soon as possible after militants release a captured Israeli
soldier. Vice-Prime Minister Shimon Peres announced the proposed
meeting. He said Israel wanted to resume talks with Mr Abbas on the
basis of the peace plan known as the roadmap. Separately, Mr Abbas
said that agreement had been reached on swapping the captured Israeli
soldier, Gilad Shalit, for Palestinian prisoners.

10) When Napoleon Won at Waterloo
Uri Avnery, Gush Shalom, 09/02/2006
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1157243723
Napoleon won the battle of Waterloo. The German Wehrmacht won World
War II. The US won in Vietnam, and the Soviets in Afghanistan. The
Zealots won against the Romans, and Olmert won the Second Lebanon War.
You didn't know that? Well, during the last few days the Israeli media
has paraded a long series of experts, who did not leave any room for
doubt: the war has brought us huge achievements, Hizbullah was routed,
Olmert is the great victor. Yesterday I switched on the TV and saw a
person explaining how our victory in Lebanon opens the way for the
inevitable war with Iran. The analysis was worthy of a high-school
pupil. I was shocked to learn that the man was a former chief of the
Mossad. Anyway, we won this war and we are going to win the next one.

Palestine
11) Over U.S. Objections, Israel Approves West Bank Homes
Steven Erlanger, New York Times, September 5, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/world/middleeast/05mideast.html
Israeli prime minister Olmert authorized construction bids on Monday
for another 690 homes in the occupied West Bank in the face of pro
forma American criticism. The houses will be built in Maale Adumim and
Betar Illit, two settlements near Jerusalem that the Israeli
government says it intends to keep in any agreement with the
Palestinians.
Olmert, who was elected on a promise to pull thousands of Israeli
settlers out of the West Bank, beyond the route of Israel's separation
barrier, has been clear about keeping and expanding settlements inside
the barrier, even though they are on land occupied since the 1967 war.
The Construction and Housing Ministry published advertisements on
Monday seeking construction proposals for the largest settlement
activity undertaken by this government. Israel has promised President
Bush that it will pull down more than 20 illegal outposts created
since March 2001, but has not done so. The Bush administration's
position is that Israel should not expand settlements in the West
Bank, because it makes the process of a final agreement harder. In
general, much of the world considers Israeli settlements in territory
seized in the 1967 war, including East Jerusalem, to be illegal, which
Israel disputes.

Turkey
12) Turkey approves Lebanon troops
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5315712.stm
Turkey's parliament has approved the deployment of its troops in
Lebanon to join to the UN peacekeeping mission. Lawmakers, recalled
from the summer recess for the emergency session, voted 340-192 in
favour of sending the troops, despite widespread opposition. Thousands
protested in the capital Ankara, calling on politicians not to send
troops to fight fellow Muslims. Several were detained. The government
believes involvement in the Lebanon mission would bolster its role
within the Middle East and advance its ambition to join the European
Union. But the move to send Turkish soldiers faces broad domestic
opposition, with many unwilling to engage in a situation in which they
could be fighting against fellow Muslims. In a bid to quell fears,
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan assured the public that
the soldiers would withdraw if they were asked to disarm Hezbollah. On
Monday, Qatar became the first Arab state to commit troops to the UN
peacekeeping force in Lebanon, offering 200 to 300 military personnel.

Afghanistan
13) Afghan Symbol for Change Becomes a Symbol of Failure
David Rohde, New York Times, September 5, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/world/asia/05afghan.html
Last July, Taliban gunmen shot dead Helmand Province's most powerful
cleric as he walked to the mosque. Five months later, they executed a
teacher at a village school as students watched. The following month,
they walked into another mosque and gunned down an Afghan engineer
working for a foreign aid group. This spring and summer, the siege of
this southern provincial capital intensified. The Taliban and their
allies set up road checkpoints, burned 20 trucks and slowed the flow
of supplies to reconstruction projects. All told, in Helmand Province,
five teachers, one judge and scores of police officers have been
killed. Dozens of schools and courts have been shuttered. "Our
government is weak," said Fowzea Olomi, a women's rights advocate
whose driver was killed in May and fears she is next. "Anarchy has
come." When the Taliban fell, Lashkar Gah seemed like fertile ground
for the US effort to stabilize the country. During the cold war,
Americans carried out the largest development project in Afghanistan's
history here, building a modern capital with suburban-style tract
homes, a giant hydroelectric dam and 300 miles of canals. Afghans
called this city "Little America." Today, Little America is the
epicenter of a Taliban resurgence and an explosion in drug cultivation
that has claimed the lives of 106 American and NATO soldiers this year
and doubled American casualty rates countrywide. Across Afghanistan,
roadside bomb attacks are up by 30 percent; suicide bombings have
doubled. Statistically it is now nearly as dangerous to serve as an
American soldier in Afghanistan as it is in Iraq.

Mexico
14) Mexican conservative declared president-elect
Alistair Bell and Catherine Bremer, Reuters, Tuesday, September 5, 2006; 2:42 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/05/AR2006090500461.html
Ruling party conservative Felipe Calderon was declared Mexico's
president-elect Tuesday, ending a two-month legal battle over election
fraud claims that plunged the nation into crisis. Judges at Mexico's
top electoral court unanimously ruled that the July 2 vote was not
rigged and that Calderon won by a razor-thin margin of about 234,000
votes out of some 41 million cast. But left-wing candidate Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador vows not to recognize Calderon as president and
protests by leftists are expected to continue.  The judges censured
Fox on Tuesday for breaking presidential neutrality and backing
Calderon during the election campaign, but ruled his intervention was
not enough to change the final result. The election split the nation
along class lines, and leftist protests claiming fraud have paralyzed
the center of Mexico City. Lopez Obrador, who promised to give
priority to Mexico's millions of poor, has vowed to set up a parallel
government with support from the streets. Calderon's first challenge
will be to stave off mass protests and win over some of the 30 percent
or more of Mexicans who believe he stole the election. "We don't want
him, we are going to overthrow him," said Belen, a mother of 11 from
western Mexico outside the court on Tuesday, sticking her middle
finger up at the court house. Leftists vow to make life unbearable for
Calderon in office starting December 1. Calderon plans to cut deals
with centrist opposition parties to push pro-business tax, labor and
energy reforms through Congress, where his National Action Party is
the biggest party but remains well short of a majority.

Colombia
15) Colombia: Rebels Seek Hostage Swap
Reuters, September 5, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/world/americas/05briefs-004.html
Rebels holding 62 hostages, including 3 Americans and a former
presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt, called for talks with the
government on a prisoner exchange. A statement on the Web site of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, called for a
"face-to-face agreement." Interior Minister Carlos Holguín said the
statement lacked clarity. The Americans, all Defense Department
contractors, were captured in 2003, and Ms. Betancourt was captured in
2002. The government and the FARC, a 17,000-strong rebel army, are
deadlocked over terms for starting negotiations.

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Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org