[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, January 5, 2007

[Robert Naiman]

Just Foreign Policy News
January 5, 2007
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/blog/

Reid/Pelosi letter against a "surge"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/01/05/dem_n_37915.html

The Four Questions
The new Congress has taken its seats. President Bush is planning to
"surge" troops in Iraq. Get Members of Congress and presidential
candidates on the record on the Four Questions:The "Surge." The
timetable. The funding. Talks with Iran.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weisbrot-and-robert-naiman/the-four-questions-get_b_37841.html

Tell Your Representatives: Stop the Money and Bring the Troops Home
Please write/call your Members of Congress if you have not done so
recently. http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/iraq.html

Talk to Iran: Petition
More than 40,000 have signed the Peace Action/Just Foreign Policy
petition. Please sign/circulate if you have yet to do so.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/iranpetition.html

Support the Work of Just Foreign Policy
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Summary:
U.S./Top News
Sen. Biden, said yesterday he believes top officials in the Bush
administration have privately concluded they have lost Iraq and are
simply trying to postpone disaster so the next president will "be the
guy landing helicopters inside the Green Zone, taking people off the
roof," the Washington Post reports.

President Bush confronts a wary Congress unconvinced the
administration can chart a successful exit from the war, the Los
Angeles Times reports. But the new Democratic majorities are reluctant
to assume responsibility for the war, leaving unclear Congress'
willingness to block any troop escalation or to compel Bush to change
strategy.

One of Donald Rumsfeld's last acts as Defense secretary was to urge
President Bush to let the Pentagon create a new Africa Command, the
Christian Science Monitor reports. Bush is said to have agreed to the
idea and is expected announce it early this year. The US government's
motives include countering Al Qaeda's presence in Africa, safeguarding
future oil supplies, and competing with China.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry acknowledged Thursday that an Iraqi police
officer whose existence had been denied by the Iraqis and the U.S.
military is in fact an active member of the force, and said he now
faces arrest for speaking to the media, AP reports.

Congress has a way out of Iraq that sidesteps President Bush without a
partisan debate on the war, writes Roscoe Born in the Baltimore Sun.
Congress can replace the resolution authorizing force in Iraq with one
stating that US military presence in Iraq is no longer authorized.
Congress used this procedure in 1993 to withdraw U.S. troops from
Somalia.

Oprah Winfrey's new school in South Africa is part of a growing
worldwide campaign to improve girls' education, the Christian Science
Monitor reports. The article notes that "Many African governments have
recently eliminated primary school fees, which have hampered girls'
enrollment." But in listing challenges that remain, it neglects to
mention the removal of these fees in other countries. The fees are a
legacy of the IMF and the World Bank.

Iran
Five Iranians arrested by US troops in Iraq last month were on a
covert mission to influence Iraq's government, British officials told
the BBC. The story contradicts statements from US officials, who have
tried to link the Iranians to attacks on US troops. Rather, the story
suggests that the "threat" represented by the Iranians was one of
political influence with their allies in the Iraqi government, who
also happen to be allies of the US government.

Israel/Palestine
A meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Olmert met and Egyptian
President Mubarak to give momentum to Israeli-Palestinian peace
negotiations was overshadowed by an Israeli raid in Ramallah which
killed four and wounded 20, the New York Times reports.

Israeli peace activist Tali Fahima, released after 30 months in jail,
says her crime was meeting Palestinians and refusal to cooperate with
Israel's Shin Bet, the Guardian reports. Fahima had been a Likud voter
until 2003, when she decided she wanted to understand why the
Palestinians were attacking Israel.

Afghanistan
Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar said he would never negotiate with
the US-backed government of Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan, the New York
Times reports. He also threatened to continue the war until foreign
troops withdraw from Afghanistan. [It's worth recalling that when
then-Senate Majority Leader Frist called on the US to bring "people
who call themselves Taliban" into the government, he was talking about
lower-level people, not top leaders like Omar.] Omar emphasized that
his goal was the removal of US troops from Afghanistan, not the
broader jihad advocated by bin Laden.

Pakistan's prime minister said Thursday he wanted the three million
Afghan refugees in Pakistan to go home as one way to end the problem
of insurgents using the country as a haven, the New York Times
reports. Afghan president Hamid Karzai said the gulf in relations
between the two countries is growing wider.

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