[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, September 22, 2006

[Robert Naiman]

Just Foreign Policy News
September 22, 2006
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/index.html

Just Foreign Policy wishes its Jewish readers a happy new year and its
Muslim readers an easy fast. May you be inscribed in the Book of Life,
and may every new year find you in peace.

Summary:
U.S.
On the strength of President Chavez' endorsement in his UN speech,
Noam Chomsky's book Hegemony or Survival  is now #1 on the top sellers
on Amazon.

The New York Times and the Washington Post editorialize today against
the deal that Senators Warner, McCain & Graham negotiated with the
White House on the treatment of detainees. The ink was barely dry when
the White House started trying to wiggle out of its one real
concession, the Times notes, suggesting the administration might
renege on its agreement to drop its insistence on allowing prosecutors
to introduce classified evidence kept secret from defendants.
Meanwhile, the compromise does not bar coerced evidence, allows
detention without trial, and chokes off judicial review. Bush intends
to continue using the CIA to secretly detain and abuse terrorist
suspects by issuing his own interpretation of the Geneva Conventions
and relying on questionable Justice Department opinions that authorize
such practices as exposing prisoners to hypothermia and prolonged
sleep deprivation, the Post notes.

Strains on the Army from the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan have become so
severe that Army officials may be forced to make greater use of the
National Guard to provide troops for overseas deployments, the Times
reports. The prospect presents the Bush administration with a problem:
how to balance the pressing need for troops in the field against
promises to limit overseas deployments for the Guard.

Former President Clinton said Thursday the U.S. should try talking to
Iran about its nuclear weapons ambitions without imposing a lot of
conditions.

President Bush's announcement this month that the CIA has emptied out
its secret prisons has raised new questions about what has happened to
dozens of Al Qaeda suspects who were believed to have been in US
custody. Human rights groups say the fate of dozens of detainees who
were in CIA custody is still unknown.

Iran
The US has agreed, once again, to extend the "weeks, not months"
deadline it set in June for Iran to stop uranium enrichment or face
Security Council sanctions, the Times reports. The new deadline: early
October.

President Ahmadinejad said Thursday his government is prepared to
consider suspending its uranium-enrichment program if Western
governments meet unspecified conditions, the Post reports.

Lebanon
The latest maneuver in the battle for Lebanon's political future is
Hezbollah's call for a national unity government that would threaten
the slim majority held by pro-Western parties, the Times reports. The
surge in popularity Hezbollah has enjoyed since this summer's war has
alarmed those trying to pull Lebanon more securely into the American
orbit, since they fear political gains for Hezbollah translate into
political gains for Iran. Pro-Western Lebanese politicians have
watched with dismay as Iranian influence has spread across the region,
largely with the help, they say, of American foreign policy.

Pakistan
President Musharraf of Pakistan said yesterday that after the Sept. 11
attacks the US threatened to bomb his country if it did not cooperate
with the American campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Musharraf said the threat came from Richard Armitage, then deputy
secretary of state. According to Musharraf, Armitage said: " 'Be
prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age.' "
Musharraf added, "I think it was a very rude remark." Ironically,
"very rude" was the characterization by Secretary General Annan of the
pieing of the IMF Managing Director in Bangkok the previous year.

Afghanistan
The U.S. military plans no troop cuts in Afghanistan before March, as
fighting intensifies against Taliban forces. There are approximately
20,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the highest number since the U.S.
invasion in 2001.

Thailand
On Thursday, General Sonthi banned political gatherings and warned
Thai media executives against publishing "expressions of public
opinion."

Bolivia
In an interview with Democracy Now, Bolivian President Evo Morales
called for the U.S. to extradite former Bolivian president Gonzalo
Sanchez de Lozada to face trial for killing over 100 people. Of oil
companies operating in Bolivia, he said, "The investor has the right
to recuperate their investment and to a reasonable profit. But we
can't allow for the sacking of the country and only the companies
benefiting, not the people." During his address to the General
Assembly Tuesday, Morales vowed to never yield to U.S. pressure to
criminalize coca production.

In this issue:
U.S.
1) Chavez plug for Chomsky's book boosts sales
2) A Bad Bargain
3) The Abuse Can Continue
4) Top Republicans Reach an Accord on Detainee Bill
5) Strained, Army Looks to Guard for More Relief
6) Bill Clinton: U.S. Should Talk to Iran
7)  Fate of Some CIA Detainees Still Unknown
Iran
8) Iran Is Given More Time to End Uranium Enrichment
9) Iran Open To a Break In Nuclear Program
Lebanon
10) Lebanon's Future: Bending Toward Hezbollah or Leaning to the West?
Pakistan
11) Pakistani Leader Claims U.S. Threat After 9/11
Afghanistan
12) Taliban's Gains Forestall U.S. Troop Reductions in Afghanistan
Thailand
13) Thai Junta Imposes Curbs on News Media
Bolivia
14) Bolivian President Evo Morales on Latin America and U.S. Foreign Policy

Contents:
U.S.
1) Chavez plug for Chomsky's book boosts sales
Andrew Buncombe, The Independent (UK), 22 September 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1696141.ece
Who needs publicists and expensive advertising campaigns when you have
Hugo Chavez plugging your books? When Venezuela's leader spoke at the
UN this week and described George Bush as the devil, he also gave a
resounding boost to a book by another outspoken critic of the US
President, Noam Chomsky. After Chavez recommended that anyone wishing
to understand "what has been happening in the world through the 20th
century" read Professor Chomsky's 2003 work, Hegemony or Survival:
America's Quest for Global Dominance, sales of the book soared. On
Amazon.com's best-seller list , it leapt from 160,722nd position
overnight to seventh. [Now it is #1 - JFP.]

2) A Bad Bargain
Editorial, New York Times, September 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/opinion/22fri1.html
Less than an hour agreement was announced, the White House was trying
to wiggle out of its one real concession. About the only thing that
Senators Warner, McCain & Graham had to show for their defiance was
Bush's agreement to drop his insistence on allowing prosecutors to
introduce classified evidence kept secret from defendants. Bush agreed
to abide by the rules of courts-martial, which bar secret evidence.
(Although the administration's supporters claim this means giving
classified information to terrorists, the rules actually provide for
reviewing, editing & summarizing classified material.)

As Graham notes, the US wouldn't stand for another country convicting
a US citizen with secret evidence. It seemed like a significant
concession - until Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser, said
while the White House wants to honor the deal, the chair of the House
Armed Services Committee, Rep. Hunter, wants to permit secret evidence
and should have his say. To accept this requires believing that
Hunter, who railroaded Bush's bill through his committee, is going to
take any action not blessed by the White House.

On other issues, the three senators achieved only modest improvements
on the White House's original positions. They wanted to bar evidence
obtained through coercion. Now, they have agreed to allow it if a
judge finds it reliable (which coerced evidence hardly can be) and
relevant to guilt. The way coercion is measured in the bill, even
those protections would not apply to prisoners at Guantánamo.

The deal does next to nothing to stop the president from
reinterpreting the Geneva Conventions. While the White House agreed to
a list of "grave breaches" of the conventions that could be prosecuted
as war crimes, it said the president could decide on his own what
actions might be a lesser breach of the Geneva Conventions and what
interrogation techniques he considered permissible. It's not clear how
much the public will learn about those decisions. They will be in an
executive order that is supposed to be made public, but Hadley said
specific interrogation techniques will remain secret.

Even before the compromises, the overall bill prepared by the three
senators had fatal flaws. It allows the president to declare any
foreigner, anywhere, an "illegal enemy combatant" using a dangerously
broad definition, and detain him without any trial. It not only fails
to deal with the fact that many of the Guantánamo detainees are not
terrorists and will never be charged, but it also chokes off any
judicial review.

The Democrats have largely stood silent and allowed the trio of
Republicans to do the lifting. It's time for them to either try to fix
this bill or delay it until after the election. The American people
expect their leaders to clean up this mess without endangering U.S.
troops, eviscerating American standards of justice, or further harming
the nation's severely damaged reputation.

3) The Abuse Can Continue
Senators won't authorize torture, but they won't prevent it, either.
Editorial, Washington Post, Friday, September 22, 2006; A16
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101647.html
The good news about the agreement is that Congress will not - as Bush
had demanded - pass legislation that formally reinterprets U.S.
compliance with the Geneva Conventions. Nor will the Senate endorse
the administration's use of interrogation techniques that most of the
world regards as cruel & inhumane, if not outright torture. Trials of
accused terrorists will be fairer than the system outlawed in June by
the Supreme Court.

The bad news is that Bush intends to continue using the CIA to
secretly detain and abuse terrorist suspects. He will do so by issuing
his own interpretation of the Geneva Conventions and relying on
questionable Justice Department opinions that authorize such practices
as exposing prisoners to hypothermia and prolonged sleep deprivation.
Under the compromise, Congress would recognize his authority to take
these steps and prevent prisoners from appealing them to U.S. courts.
The bill would immunize CIA personnel from prosecution for all but the
most serious abuses and protect those who in the past violated U.S.
law against war crimes.

It's hard to credit the statement by McCain that "there's no doubt
that the integrity and letter and spirit of the Geneva Conventions
have been preserved." The agreement means that U.S. violations of
international law can continue as long as Bush is president, with
Congress's assent. The senators who fought to rein in the
administration's excesses failed to break Bush's commitment to
"alternative" methods that virtually every senior officer of the U.S.
military regards as unreliable, counterproductive and dangerous for
Americans who may be captured by hostile governments.

Bush wanted Congress to formally approve these practices and to
declare them consistent with the Geneva Conventions. It will not. But
it will not stop him either, if the legislation is passed in the form
agreed on yesterday. Bush will go down in history for his embrace of
torture and bear responsibility for the enormous damage that has
caused.

4) Top Republicans Reach an Accord on Detainee Bill
Kate Zernike, New York Times, September 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/washington/22detain.html
The Bush administration and Congressional Republicans reached
agreement Thursday on legislation governing the treatment and
interrogation of terrorism suspects after weeks of debate that divided
Republicans. Under the deal, Bush dropped his demand that Congress
redefine the nation's obligations under the Geneva Conventions,
handing a victory to a group of Republicans. The administration's
original stance had run into fierce resistance from former and current
military lawyers and Bush's former secretary of state, Colin Powell.
They argued, as did McCain and the other two senators leading the
resistance, that any redefinition would invite other nations to alter
their obligations and endanger American troops captured abroad.

5) Strained, Army Looks to Guard for More Relief
Thom Shanker & Michael R. Gordon, New York Times, September 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/world/22army.html
Strains on the Army from the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan have become so
severe that Army officials say they may be forced to make greater use
of the National Guard to provide enough troops for overseas
deployments. The prospect presents the Bush administration with a
politically vexing problem: how, without expanding the Army, to
balance the pressing need for troops in the field against promises to
limit overseas deployments for the Guard. The Guard has a goal of
allowing 5 years at home between foreign deployments to not disrupt
family life and careers of citizen soldiers. But it has been sending
units every 3-4 years. The question of how to sustain the high level
of forces abroad became more acute this week as Gen. Abizaid, senior
American commander in the Middle East, said the number of troops in
Iraq, currently more than 140,000, could not be expected to drop until
next spring at the earliest.

6) Bill Clinton: U.S. Should Talk to Iran
Associated Press, September 21, 2006, Filed at 8:44 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Clinton-Iran.html
Former President Clinton said Thursday the U.S. should try talking to
Iran about its nuclear weapons ambitions without imposing a lot of
conditions. The Bush administration has refused to hold direct talks
with Iran until it agrees to suspend enrichment of uranium. ''The
United States should not be afraid to talk to anyone. They should not
be reluctant and shouldn't have too many conditions,'' said Clinton,
who said his own offer to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's predecessor had been rebuffed.

7)  Fate of Some CIA Detainees Still Unknown
Missing Boston woman among them, kin say
Farah Stockman, Boston Globe, Friday, September 22, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0922-07.htm
President Bush's announcement this month that the CIA has emptied out
its secret prisons has raised new questions about what has happened to
dozens of Al Qaeda suspects who were believed to have been in US
custody. A senior administration official said fewer than 100
detainees had been held in the CIA program and all of them have been
turned over to the Department of Defense to be held at Guantánamo,
returned to their country of origin, or entered into a legal process.
But human rights groups say the fate of dozens of detainees who were
in CIA custody is still unknown.

"The Red Cross has said 36 high-level suspects have been in CIA
custody," said Zachary Katznelson, counsel to Reprieve, a British
legal aid society. "Fourteen have been transferred to Guantánamo Bay,
and President Bush says that there are now no terrorists in the CIA
program. Where are those 22 other men?" Joanne Mariner of Human Rights
Watch said, "There are certainly detainees unaccounted for, and we are
very concerned about their present circumstances and the possibility
of continued arbitrary detention and abusive treatment." Human Rights
Watch released a list last year of 27 suspects who were thought to be
in CIA detention. Thirteen of the 27 were among the 14 transferred
recently to Guantánamo Bay.

Iran
8) Iran Is Given More Time to End Uranium Enrichment
Helene Cooper, New York Times, September 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/world/middleeast/22iran.html
The US has agreed, once again, to extend the "weeks, not months"
deadline it set in June for Iran to stop uranium enrichment or face
Security Council sanctions. The new deadline: early October. A senior
Bush administration official said Thursday that foreign ministers from
six world powers seeking to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions decided
Tuesday to give Iran a little more time to comply with their demand.
Iran missed an Aug. 31 deadline for suspending enrichment, and the US
is pushing for a new measure imposing travel bans and asset freezes on
Iranian officials. European officials urged Secretary of State Rice to
allow more time for EU diplomat Javier Solana to continue talks with
Iran's nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, and she agreed. The new
deadline was first reported Thursday in The Washington Post.

At a news conference at the UN Thursday, President Ahmadinejad said
talks were "moving on the right path," but Iran was seeking
"guarantees" and a "framework" because it had "bitter experiences"
with unfulfilled promises by the West. He held out the possibility
that Iran might agree to end nuclear activities. "We have said that
under fair conditions and just conditions, we will negotiate about it,
under fair and just conditions," he said.  He added: "The bottom line
is we do not need the bomb. Some think that bombs can be effective in
international relations, but we know that these nuclear arsenals will
not benefit anyone."

9) Iran Open To a Break In Nuclear Program
But Ahmadinejad Demands 'Fair, Just' Conditions for Talks
Colum Lynch, Washington Post, Friday, September 22, 2006; A13
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/20/AR2006092002122.html
President Ahmadinejad said Thursday his government is prepared to
consider suspending its uranium-enrichment program if Western
governments meet unspecified conditions.
His remarks indicated that he is prepared to move ahead with
preliminary discussions with European powers aimed at heading off a
confrontation with the West. The statement comes two days after the US
and other key powers authorized the EU's Solana to continue sessions
with Iran's nuclear negotiator Larijani. The two negotiators have been
seeking to set the terms of formal talks on Iran's nuclear program
that would place the US and Iran at the same negotiating table.
Ahmadinejad accused the West of reneging on previous agreements to
support Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear power program. He said
Tehran is seeking assurances that the US and its European partners
will provide enforceable guarantees that they will abide by any
agreements they ultimately make in formal negotiations.

Lebanon
10) Lebanon's Future: Bending Toward Hezbollah or Leaning to the West?
Craig S. Smith, New York Times, September 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/world/middleeast/22lebanon.html
The battle for Lebanon's political future continues apace. The latest
maneuver in that fight is Hezbollah's vociferous call for a national
unity government that would threaten the slim majority held by
pro-Western parties, known as the March 14 movement after a huge
demonstration on that date in 2005. "The political map now is
different," said Ahmad Malli, a member of Hezbollah's politburo.
"March 14 doesn't represent the real majority in Lebanon anymore." The
struggle is about the shifting alliances of Lebanese domestic
politics. But the surge in popularity and power that Hezbollah has
enjoyed since this summer's war has alarmed those who are trying to
pull Lebanon more securely into the American orbit, since they fear
that political gains for Hezbollah translate into political gains for
Iran. Pro-Western Lebanese politicians have watched with dismay as
Iranian influence has spread across the region, largely with the help,
they say, of American foreign policy.

Pakistan
11) Pakistani Leader Claims U.S. Threat After 9/11
Reuters, September 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/world/asia/22pakistan.html
President Musharraf of Pakistan said yesterday that after the Sept. 11
attacks the US threatened to bomb his country if it did not cooperate
with the American campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan. General
Musharraf, in an interview with "60 Minutes" that will be broadcast
Sunday, said the threat came from Richard Armitage, then the deputy
secretary of state, and was made to General Musharraf's intelligence
director. Musharraf said the intelligence director had told him that
Armitage had said: " 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back
to the Stone Age.' " Musharraf added, "I think it was a very rude
remark."

Afghanistan
12) Taliban's Gains Forestall U.S. Troop Reductions in Afghanistan
Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post, Friday, September 22, 2006; A13
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101249.html
The U.S. military plans no troop cuts in Afghanistan before March, as
fighting intensifies against Taliban forces that have gained influence
in a political and security "vacuum" in the southern part of the
country, according to a senior U.S. commander. "Our troop levels in
Afghanistan will remain about steady through … February," said Lt.
Gen. Karl Eikenberry. There are approximately 20,000 U.S. troops in
Afghanistan, the highest number since the U.S.-led invasion in October
2001 to overthrow the Taliban government. Eikenberry said Taliban
fighters and extremists have grown more numerous, organized and
determined in some parts of the south and southeast, where foreign
troops were limited and the Afghan government was weak.

Thailand
13) Thai Junta Imposes Curbs on News Media
Thomas Fuller, International Herald Tribune, September 22, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/world/asia/22thailand.html
On Thursday, General Sonthi sought to strengthen the grip of his
junta, banning political gatherings and "activities" and summoning
Thai media executives to army headquarters to warn them against
publishing "expressions of public opinion" - possibly a reference to
opinion polls but perhaps also including commentaries.

Bolivia
14) Bolivian President Evo Morales on Latin America and U.S. Foreign Policy
Democracy Now, Friday, September 22nd, 2006
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/22/1323211
Democracy Now devoted its program today to an interview with Bolivian
President Evo Morales. Morales called for the U.S. to extradite former
Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada to face trial for killing
over 100 people. "A government that says it fights against terrorism,
for human rights, against corruption, it's not conceivable that this
person would still be here," Morales said. Of oil companies operating
in Bolivia, he said, "The investor has the right to recuperate their
investment and to a reasonable profit. But we can't allow for the
sacking of the country and only the companies benefiting, not the
people." During his address to the General Assembly Tuesday, Morales
vowed to never yield to U.S. pressure to criminalize coca production.
During his speech he held up a coca leaf, though it is banned in the
US. [The speech can be viewed here:
http://www.un.org/webcast/ga/61/gastatement19.shtml]

--------
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.