[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, September 19, 2006

Tue Sep 19 15:21:59 CDT 2006

Just Foreign Policy News
September 19, 2006

Summary:
U.S.
On Sunday, Sam Husseini of IPA Media questioned Director of National
Intelligence John Negroponte about his office's approval of the Fleitz
report on Iran's nuclear program, since discredited by the IAEA.
Negroponte said his office's review only meant that the report was
cleared for publication from the point of view of protecting
classified information, not that the claims in the report were
accurate.

Prior to his speech at the UN, President Bush again called on Iran to
suspend enrichment of uranium and threatened Iran with sanctions if
they do not comply. In his speech, he said that the U.S. wants peace,
but he did not pledge not to attack Iran militarily, even if it
complies with U.S. demands over its nuclear program.

President Bush has called for clarity in the rules for what he calls
"alternative interrogation techniques" used by the CIA. What Bush
really wants, the New York Times reports, is latitude so interrogators
can use methods the military is barred from using under a recently
issued Army field manual.

A Canadian government commission exonerated an engineer of ties to
terrorism and faulted Canada and the US for his deportation to Syria,
where he was tortured.

Iran
President Chirac of France suggested Monday that Iran would not have
to freeze major nuclear activities until talks began on its nuclear
program. Chirac's remarks were the first time a Western leader has
suggested that suspension is not a precondition for talks. Chirac made
clear his opposition to sanctions.

Iraq
Political leaders in Baghdad struggled to reach a deal that would end
the fight over splitting Iraq into autonomous states.

Two truckers who worked in Iraq told Senate Democrats their employer,
a Halliburton subsidiary, knowingly sent a lightly armed convoy of
fuel tankers into a combat zone, leading to the deaths of seven
truckers and at least two soldiers.

U.S. troop levels in Iraq will likely remain at the current number -
more than 140,000 - through next spring, Gen. John Abizaid said.

U.S. forces are taking to collective punishment of civilians in
several cities across the al-Anbar province west of Baghdad, Inter
Press Service reports.

Lebanon
Israel's military chief told lawmakers Tuesday that it plans to
withdraw all its remaining troops from Lebanon by this weekend.

Palestine
As President Abbas tries to assemble a national unity government that
might enable Israeli and Western funds to flow back to the Palestinian
Authority, the battling between gunmen affiliated with his Fatah
faction and those of Hamas continues apace, the New York Times
reports. The "Israeli" funds referred to are actually Palestinian
funds, Palestinian tax revenues currently withheld by Israel.

Pope's Comments on Islam
Many Muslims insisted Monday the Pope did not go far enough in his
apology Sunday. Debate Monday seemed to turn on whether the pope had
actually apologized. Many Muslims - and some Catholics - noted he had
said only that he was sorry for the reaction across the Muslim world.
He did not say he had been wrong.

IMF-World Bank
The IMF's decision to give China and South Korea more clout may not be
enough to reverse a loss of influence in Asia, Bloomberg reports.
Asian nations are forging ahead with plans to develop the Chiang Mai
Initiative, a web of agreements to bail out neighbors in case of a
financial crisis.

Hungary
Prime Minister Gyurcsany vowed to stay in office after protests
truggered by a recording on which Gyurcsany admitted lying ''morning,
evening and night'' about the economy during the election campaign.

Thailand
Thai military forces seized control of Bangkok Tuesday night,
suspended the constitution and declared martial law.

In this issue:
U.S.
1) John Negroponte Questioned on Fleitz Report
2) Bush to Engage Skeptical U.N. on Mideast
3) Experts Say Bush's Goal in Terrorism Bill Is Latitude for
Interrogators' Methods
4) Canadians Fault U.S. for Its Role in Torture Case

Iran
5) Iran's Freeze on Enrichment Could Wait, France Suggests

Iraq
6) Attacks in Iraq Leave 23 Dead as Talks Lag on Autonomy
7) Truckers Testify That Halliburton Put Lives at Risk
8) Iraq Troop Levels to Remain Constant, Abizaid Says
9) US Resorting to 'Collective Punishment' in Iraq

Lebanon
10) Israel to Withdraw All Lebanon Troops in Days

Palestine
11) In Gaza, the Rule by the Gun Draws Many Competitors

Pope's Comments on Islam
12) Pope's Regrets Over Statement Fail to Quiet a Storm of Protests

IMF-World Bank
13) IMF Role Under Threat as Asia Boosts Own Bailout Plan

Hungary
14) Hungarian Leader Refuses to Resign After Riots

Thailand
15) Thai Military Faction Declares Martial Law

Contents:
U.S.
1) John Negroponte Questioned on Fleitz Report
Sam Husseini, IPA Media
September 19, 2006
http://www.husseini.org/content/2006/09/john_negroponte.html
(Questioned outside Fox studios in Washington, Sunday, September 17)

IPA Media: "Ambassador, why did your office approve the Fleitz Report
on Iran's nuclear program, even though according to the IAEA, the
report contained "erroneous, misleading, and unsubstantiated
information," about Iran's nuclear program?

John Negroponte: "We did not...of course, as you know, that report was
written by a staff member of the House Intelligence Committee, we did
not originate it, and we weren't commenting so much on the content, as
we were…we dealt with it from a declassifcation point of view, what
could be published in an unclassified format, so I wouldn't associate
us one way or another, we didn't comment one way or another on the
conclusions that were drawn by that report."

IPA: "Ambassador, do you know that Israel has nuclear weapons?"

Negroponte: "I don't want to get into a discussion about Israel's
nuclear powers."

2) Bush to Engage Skeptical U.N. on Mideast
Associated Press, September 19, 2006, Filed at 10:53 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Bush.html
President Bush pressed Iran once more Tuesday to immediately begin
negotiations on its nuclear program. Before going to the UN to address
the General Assembly, Bush warned any delay on the part of Tehran
would bring consequences. ''Should they continue to stall,'' Bush
said, ''we will then discuss the consequences of their stalling.'' The
president, said those consequences would include the possibility of
sanctions. Bush said that Iran must first suspend uranium enrichment
''in which case the U.S. will come to the table.'' Bush readied a
speech for later Tuesday, seeking to persuade skeptical world leaders
to embrace his vision for the Middle East. He was to call on the world
to ''stand up for peace'' in the face of violent extremism. Bush's
speech was the last in a series on the war on terror, timed to
surround last week's fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and to
set the tone for the final weeks of the U.S. midterm elections.

3) Experts Say Bush's Goal in Terrorism Bill Is Latitude for
Interrogators' Methods
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/washington/19interrogate.html
President Bush has repeatedly called for clarity in the rules for what
he calls "alternative interrogation techniques" used by the CIA. What
Bush really wants, legal experts say, is latitude so interrogators can
use methods the military is barred from using under a recently issued
Army field manual. Despite his call for clarity, the president has
been vague in talking about the alternatives, which in the past have
included sleep deprivation, playing ear-splittingly loud music and
waterboarding, which induces a feeling of drowning. "They can't come
out and say we want more leeway to rough these people up," said John
Radsan, former assistant general counsel for the CIA. "That doesn't
sell. So he says we need clarity. It doesn't play well to say we need
to deprive them of sleep and play loud music." The House postponed its
vote on Bush's proposal until at least next week. The White House had
been counting on the House to pass the measure this week, a step it
hoped would prod the Senate into action before lawmakers break at the
end of the month for midterm elections.
Jeffrey Smith, a general counsel for the CIA under Clinton, said the
language in the Senate bill would not bar the controversial
techniques, but that the White House bill appeared to give the agency
greater latitude. "The senators seem to be prepared to allow some
techniques, but not nearly as many as the administration wants," Smith
said.
In a setback for the White House, the top uniformed lawyer for the
Army has now told Warner he prefers the Senate approach. The lawyer,
Maj. Gen. Scott Black, joined military lawyers last week in a letter
saying he did not object to the administration bill. But Friday
General Black sent a second letter to Warner in which he said that the
Senate bill was preferable and that "further redefinition of Common
Article 3 is unnecessary and could be seen as a weakening of our
treaty obligations."

4) Canadians Fault U.S. for Its Role in Torture Case
Ian Austen, New York Times, September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/americas/19canada.html
A Canadian government commission Monday exonerated a computer engineer
of any ties to terrorism and issued a scathing report that faulted
Canada and the US for his deportation four years ago to Syria, where
he was imprisoned and tortured. The report on the engineer, Maher
Arar, said American officials had apparently acted on inaccurate
information from Canadian investigators and then misled Canadian
authorities about their plans for Arar before transporting him to
Syria.

Iran
5) Iran's Freeze on Enrichment Could Wait, France Suggests
Elaine Sciolino, New York Times, September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html
In an effort to jump-start formal negotiations between six world
powers and Iran over its nuclear program, President Chirac of France
suggested Monday that Iran would not have to freeze major nuclear
activities until the talks began. Chirac has consistently taken a hard
line against Iran both in public and private. But his remarks in a
radio interview could be interpreted as a concession to Iran, whose
officials have said they will not suspend their production of enriched
uranium as demanded by the UN Security Council. "During this
negotiation I propose that…the six refrain from referring the issue to
the Security Council, and that Iran refrain from uranium enrichment
during the duration of the negotiation," Chirac said. Chirac's remarks
were the first time a leader of one of the six countries has suggested
that the suspension is not a precondition for talks. Chirac also made
clear his opposition to sanctions.

Iraq
6) Attacks in Iraq Leave 23 Dead as Talks Lag on Autonomy
Richard A. Oppel Jr. & Abdul Razzaq Al-Saiedi, New York Times,
September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/middleeast/19iraq.html
Political leaders in the capital struggled to reach a deal that would
end the fight over splitting Iraq into autonomous states. Negotiators
from major political blocs met to resolve the bitter fight over how
soon Shiite provinces in the south can break off into autonomous
regions. A faction of Shiites and Kurds led by the Supreme Council for
Islamic Revolution in Iraq proposed a compromise on Monday. Sciri
wants to pass a bill in Parliament giving provinces a quick route to
forming autonomous regions, which are allowed by the Constitution's
federalism provisions. But Sunni Arab leaders say the Constitution
might not have been approved had it not been for their support. They
gave that support only after a provision was added that called for
portions of the Constitution to be renegotiated as soon as Parliament
was called into session. But that has not happened.

7) Truckers Testify That Halliburton Put Lives at Risk
James Glanz, New York Times, September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/middleeast/19halliburton_lede.html
Two truckers who worked in Iraq told a Senate Democratic policy
committee Monday their employer, a Halliburton subsidiary, knowingly
sent a lightly armed convoy of fuel tankers into a combat zone in
April 2004, leading to the deaths of seven truckers and at least two
soldiers. The allegations form the basis of a lawsuit that families of
the dead, along with truckers wounded in the same incident, have
brought against the subsidiary, KBR, formerly Kellogg Brown & Root.
While lawsuits, criminal investigations and Congressional inquiries
have accused KBR and its subcontractors with overcharging and other
offenses, this is the first case to assert that the company put its
employees' lives at risk in the service of profit.

8) Iraq Troop Levels to Remain Constant, Abizaid Says
Ann Scott Tyson & Bill Brubaker, Washington Post, September 19, 2006;
11:40 AM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091900459.html
U.S. troop levels in Iraq will likely remain at the current number -
more than 140,000 - through next spring, the senior U.S. commander in
the Middle East said today. Gen. John Abizaid said current troops
levels are needed because of the sectarian violence in Iraq, problems
with the country's police force, and the slow progress that has been
made in establishing an Iraqi government. Last year, U.S. military
officials predicted that 100,000 to 110,000 U.S. forces would be in
Iraq by the end of 2006. Army Gen. George Casey Jr., top commander of
U.S. forces in Iraq, said in July 2005 he hoped to make "fairly
significant" troop reductions by spring 2006. U.S. military officials
have backed away from those predictions in recent months.

9) US Resorting to 'Collective Punishment' in Iraq
Dahr Jamail & Ali al-Fadhily, lnter Press Service, Monday, September 18, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0918-02.htm
U.S. forces are taking to collective punishment of civilians in
several cities across the al-Anbar province west of Baghdad, residents
and officials say. Destroying infrastructure and cutting water and
electricity "for days and even weeks is routine reaction to the
resistance," said a local doctor. "Guys of the resistance do not need
water and electricity, it's the families that are being harmed, and
their lives which are at stake."

Lebanon
10) Israel to Withdraw All Lebanon Troops in Days
Associated Press, September 19, 2006, Filed at 11:21 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast.html
Israel's military chief told lawmakers Tuesday that it plans to
withdraw all its remaining troops from Lebanon by this weekend,
meeting a key requirement of the cease-fire. The withdrawal would end
a more than two-month troop presence in Lebanon and complete the
transfer of security responsibilities along the border to the Lebanese
army and a beefed-up U.N. peacekeeping force. Since the Aug. 14
cease-fire went into effect, Israel has slowly been withdrawing troops
but has said the pullout would not be complete until the peacekeeping
force was strong enough to secure the border and prevent Hezbollah
from rearming. Israel's army chief, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, told a
meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that all
remaining troops would leave by the start of the Jewish New Year at
sundown Friday.

Palestine
11) In Gaza, the Rule by the Gun Draws Many Competitors
Steven Erlanger, New York Times, September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/middleeast/19gaza.html
As Abbas tries to assemble a national unity government that might
enable Israeli and Western funds to flow back to the Palestinian
Authority, the battling between gunmen affiliated with his Fatah
faction and those of Hamas, the radical Islamist party which came to
power after January's legislative elections, continues apace. [Note:
the "Israeli" funds referred to are actually Palestinian funds -
Palestinian tax revenues currently withheld by Israel - JFP.] Even in
the strikes by civil servants against the Hamas government led by
Prime Minister Ismail Haniya - strikes orchestrated by Fatah, but
rooted in genuine anger over nonpayment of salaries - there is an
element of armed menace. As Fatah-affiliated policemen marched
recently, they chanted in rhyming Arabic: "You Zahar, tell Haniya,
we're going to go back to era of the bottle," a reference to one means
of torture, when prisoners were sodomized with a soda bottle.

Pope's Comments on Islam
12) Pope's Regrets Over Statement Fail to Quiet a Storm of Protests
Ian Fisher, New York Times, September 19, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/europe/19pope.html
Many Muslims insisted Monday Pope Benedict XVI did not go far enough
in his apology Sunday for offense caused by a speech he gave that
discussed Islam and holy war. In Basra, protesters burned an effigy of
the pope. In Iran, Superme Leader Khamenei called the pope's remarks
"the latest link" in the "chain of conspiracy to set off a crusade."
Apart from continuing anger at the pope's speech, in which he cited a
medieval passage that called Islam "evil and inhuman," debate Monday
seemed to turn on whether the pope had actually apologized. Many
Muslims - and some Catholics - noted he had said only that he was
sorry for the reaction across the Muslim world. He did not say he had
been wrong to have used the quotations. "You either have to say 'I'm
sorry' in a proper way or don't say it at all," said Mehmet Aydin, a
state minister in Turkey, which Benedict is scheduled to visit in
November.

IMF-World Bank
13) IMF Role Under Threat as Asia Boosts Own Bailout Plan
Christopher Swann & Arijit Ghosh, Bloomberg, Sept. 19
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aoPmF4DXqxf4
The IMF's decision to give China and South Korea more clout may not be
enough to reverse a loss of influence in Asia. Asian nations are
forging ahead with plans to develop the Chiang Mai Initiative, a web
of agreements to bail out neighbors in case of a financial crisis.
Indonesia also plans to repay IMF loans early to free itself from the
fund's policy restrictions. "Chiang Mai is already starting to look
like a shadow IMF and it may already be too late for the fund to stop
this trend,'' said Fred Bergsten of the Institute for International
Economics. "If Asia continues to break away, the IMF's role as a
global body would be greatly weakened.''

Hungary
14) Hungarian Leader Refuses to Resign After Riots
Associated Press, September 19, 2006, Filed at 12:08 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Hungary-Politics.html
Prime Minister Gyurcsany vowed to stay in office after rioters angered
by his lying about the economy stormed the headquarters of state
television and forced it off the air. Protests were triggered by a
recording on which Gyurcsany admitted lying ''morning, evening and
night'' about the economy during the campaign. The outpouring of rage
may be linked to austerity measures Gyurcsany's coalition has
implemented. The government has raised taxes and announced plans to
lay off scores of state employees, introduce direct fees in the health
sector and start charging tuition for most university students. In the
recording, Gyurcsany could be heard admitting his coalition had lied
about the economy - keeping it afloat through ''hundreds of tricks.''
His comments were full of crude remarks. "We screwed up. Not a little,
a lot,'' Gyurcsany was heard saying. ''No European country has done
something as boneheaded as we have…I almost died when for a year and a
half we had to pretend we were governing. Instead, we lied morning,
evening and night.''

Thailand
15) Thai Military Faction Declares Martial Law
Seth Mydans & Thomas Fuller, New York Times, September 20, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/world/asia/20thaicnd.html
A faction of the Thai armed forces seized control of Bangkok Tuesday
night, suspended the constitution and declared martial law, effective
immediately. The moves came while Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
was in New York preparing to address the UN Wednesday. His speech has
been moved up to 7 p.m. New York time on Tuesday because of the
developments.

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Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org

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U.S. foreign policy so that it reflects the values and interests of
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