[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, January 23, 2007

[Robert Naiman]

Just Foreign Policy News
January 23, 2007
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/blog/

Ask your Representative to Co-Sponsor the DeFazio and Jones "Iran War
Powers" Resolutions
Representative DeFazio (D) and Representive Jones (R) have introduced
resolutions re-affirming that President Bush cannot attack Iran
without Congressional authorization.
Ask your Representative to support them.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/warpowers.html

January 27-29: March on Washington and Lobby Day
UFPJ, MoveOn, Win Without War, many other groups and coalitions.
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3468

Support the Work of Just Foreign Policy
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate.html

Just Foreign Policy News daily podcast:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/podcasts/podcast_howto.html

Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) In his speech outlining the new U.S. strategy in Iraq, President
Bush promised to "seek out and destroy" Iranian networks that he said
were providing "advanced weaponry and training to our enemies,"
Alexandra Zavis and Greg Miller write in the Los Angeles Times. He is
expected to strike a similar note in tonight's State of the Union
speech. For all the aggressive rhetoric, however, the Bush
administration has provided scant evidence to support these claims.
Nor have reporters traveling with U.S. troops seen extensive signs of
Iranian involvement. The article notes that in addition to the lack of
evidence, some of the claims of U.S. officials are highly implausible,
such as the claim that the government of Iran is backing Sunni
insurgents who are responsible for most attacks on U.S. forces.

2) Sen. John Warner, former chair of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, endorsed a resolution opposing President Bush's buildup of
troops in Baghdad, as some of the most loyal Republicans scrambled to
distance themselves from the President's policy, the Washington Post
reports.

3) Democratic lawmakers who stray too far from their constituents
could find themselves facing primary opponents financed by unions,
trial lawyers and political activists, AP reports. Anti-war activists
led by groups such as MoveOn.org and Win Without War have already
mobilized, pressuring Democrats and Republicans to denounce President
Bush's troop boosting plan for Iraq

4) Retired General Wesley Clark has been smeared by right-wing Jewish
groups as an anti-Semite for expressing concern that the Bush
administration is going to launch a war with Iran, writes Matthew
Yglesias for the American Prospect. Yglesias notes that if Clark's
statements had been made by a supporter of the Bush Administration's
policies, there would have been no charges of anti-Semitism.

Iran
5) Senior Israeli politicians and analysts appear to be preparing the
Israeli public for military conflict with Iran, reports Anne Penketh
for the Independent.

6) Iran is barring 38 nuclear agency inspectors from entering the
country in retaliation for a United Nations resolution aiming to curb
Iran's nuclear program, the New York Times reports. The head of the
Iranian Parliament's committee for foreign policy and national
security said Iran planned to continue its cooperation with the
agency, and that Iran would remain a party to the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty. An I.A.E.A. spokeswoman said the agency was
confident it could continue to monitor Iran's nuclear program. "There
are a sufficient number of inspectors designated for Iran, and the
I.A.E.A. is able to perform its inspection activities in accordance
with Iran's Comprehensive Safeguard Agreement," she said.

7) A ranking Iranian diplomat on Monday said the chaos of Iraq was
spilling over into his country, spreading a destabilizing influence to
its Arab population, the Los Angeles Times reports.  The assertion by
the Iranian consul in Basra runs counter to the Bush administration
claim that violence and instability flow the opposite direction - from
Tehran to Baghdad.

Iraq
8) A senior Iraqi defense official said a private U.S. security
company helicopter was shot down over central Baghdad Tuesday, AP
reports. On Saturday, a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter was downed
northeast of Baghdad and 12 service members were killed. A Pentagon
official said there was evidence in the wreckage that it may have been
shot down by a surface-to-air missile.

9) Palestinians living in Iraq have been warned that they will be
killed by Shia militias unless they leave the country immediately, the
Sunday Telegraph reports. Shia militias are stepping up their campaign
to drive out Iraq's 20,000 remaining Palestinians – half the estimated
40,000 living in the country at the start of the war.

Lebanon
10) The Hezbollah-led opposition cut roads across Lebanon to enforce a
strike Tuesday aimed at toppling the Lebanese government, embarrassing
officials ahead of an international aid conference, Anthony Shadid
reports for the Washington Post. The conference has become a
centerpiece of the government's economic plans.

Contents:
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/blog/

-
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org