Just Foreign Policy News
March 18, 2011
The Center for Economic and Policy Research is live-blogging Aristide’s return:
Live Blog: Aristide Returns to Haiti
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/live-blog-aristide-returns-to-haiti
Reuters Factbox: Haiti’s Aristide a champion of poor reviled by elite
Some facts about former President Aristide.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/18/us-haiti-aristide-factbox-idUSTRE72H67H20110318
The UN Security Council Has Not Authorized Regime Change in Libya
It’s a good thing that the Obama Administration has resisted calls for unilateral U.S. military action in Libya, and instead is working through the United Nations Security Council, as it is required to do by the United Nations Charter. Now, the Administration needs to follow through on this commitment to international law by ensuring that foreign military intervention remains within the four corners of what the UN Security Council has approved: protection of civilians, not regime change.
http://www.truth-out.org/the-un-security-council-has-not-authorized-regime-change-libya68587
Washington Smackdown: Petraeus vs. "Substantial Drawdown"
A substantial drawdown of U.S. forces from Afghanistan would save many American and Afghan lives and tens of billions of dollars. It would open political space in Afghanistan for a negotiated political resolution that ends the civil war.
http://www.truth-out.org/washington-smackdown-petraeus-vs-substantial-drawdown68516
UN security council resolution 1973 (2011) on Libya – full text
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/17/un-security-council-resolution
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Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) President Obama told Muammar el-Qaddafi on Friday to carry out an immediate cease-fire and stop all attacks on Libyan civilians or face military action from the US and its allies in Europe and the Arab world, the New York Times reports. The Libyan government announced a cease-fire after the UN Security Council approved a resolution authorizing military action against Colonel Qadaffi to protect Libyan civilians. But rebel spokesmen said government forces attacked several locations on Friday.
Obama said France, Britain and the Arab nations would take the lead. That is the clear desire of the Pentagon, which has strongly resisted another American war in the Middle East, the NYT says. Obama said flatly that US ground forces would not enter Libya.
2) A senior administration official says the U.N.-mandated no-fly zone and military action to support it would not necessarily last until Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi steps down, CNN reports. The purpose of the no-fly zone, the administration official said, is to prevent Gadhafi from attacking his own people.
"It’s not designed to have him go. That’s not the purpose," the official said. "The purpose of the military action is to prevent massive humanitarian loss of life, to stop the violence. If the violence stops, then you shouldn’t leap to say then the military action will continue until he leaves."
3) Government supporters opened fire on demonstrators in Yemen, killing at least 45 people and wounding more than 200, the New York Times reports. "It seems like people saw what happened in Bahrain and thought you could do the same here," said one high-ranking Yemeni official, who said he did not know who was responsible for the outbreak. "But in Yemen it is going to be very bad – a disaster," he added. "This will change everything, because the people killed have tribes."
President Obama condemned violence in a written statement that called on President Saleh "to adhere to his public pledge to allow demonstrations to take place peacefully." He added: "Those responsible for today’s violence must be held accountable."
4) Saudi officials, still angry that President Obama abandoned Mubarak, ignored US requests not to send troops into Bahrain to help crush Shiite-led protests there, the New York Times reports. "King Abdullah has been clear that Saudi Arabia will never allow Shia rule in Bahrain – never," an Arab official said. He said King Abdullah’s willingness to listen to the Obama administration had "evaporated" since Mubarak was forced from office. US officials say they want Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to allow political reforms that could lead to more representation for Shiites under Sunni rule.
5) A new National Intelligence Estimate on Hezbollah is nearing completion, reports David Ignatius in the Washington Post. Officials say it assesses Hezbollah in a broad context, as a political and social force in Lebanon in addition to the militia officially designated by the US as a "foreign terrorist organization." Some US officials say the US should seek some kind of direct or indirect engagement with Hezbollah – at least with its political wing. Officials who support this course argue that the organization is like the IRA or the PLO – with nonmilitary components that can be drawn into a dialogue.
6) The Obama administration says it hopes to soon reach a deal with Colombia to address concerns about anti-labor violence that have blocked approval of a trade deal, Reuters reports. The AFL-CIO strongly opposes the Colombia agreement on the grounds that Colombia has not done enough to stop killings of union members and to prosecute those responsible. "We believe it is premature to sign a trade deal with Colombia when the government is unable or unwilling to enforce the rule of law and protect the security, dignity and safety of workers," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said. Told of administration statements that they hoped to resolve such concerns soon, Trumka added: "Hopefully they can. If they had done it last year, 51 trade unionists would still be alive."
Pakistan
7) Tribal leaders in North Waziristan have vowed revenge against the US after drones killed more than 40 people, the BBC reports. Thursday’s drone strike is thought to have killed more civilians than any other such attack since 2006. Observers say anger over the botched drone raid may help Pakistan delay an assault on the Taliban in Waziristan.
One elder said 44 people died at the scene, including 13 children – one as young as seven. Four of his relatives were killed.
Bahrain
8) Bahrain tore down the protest movement’s defining monument on Friday, the pearl at the center of Pearl Square, the New York Times reports. 5,000 people attended the funeral of anti-government activist Ahmed Farhan.
Israel/Palestine
9) Hamas police in Gaza broke up a Thursday rally calling for political reconciliation, AP reports.
El Salvador
10) President Obama will visit the tomb of Archbishop Romero next week, AP reports. "It’s historic," said Congresswoman Lorena Pena of the FMLN. "It’s a recognition of our pastor who was killed for fighting for justice, for democracy and human rights." But a former president of the right-wing Arena party said Obama should also go to the grave of Arena leader Roberto d’Aubuisson, who a U.N. truth commission concluded had ordered Romero’s killing.
Mexico
11) A Wikileaks cable indicates that U.S. and Mexican authorities were primarily concerned about showing "success" in Ciudad Juarez in advance of the 2012 Mexican presidential elections, Laura Carlsen writes for the Center for International Policy. Members of the Calderon cabinet spoke openly of the need to "sustain the confrontation into the next administration," she writes.
Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) Obama Warns Libya on Allied Action
Elisabeth Bumiller, David D. Kirkpatrick and Alan Cowell, New York Times, March 18, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/africa/19libya.html
Washington – President Obama told Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi on Friday to carry out an immediate cease-fire and stop all attacks on Libyan civilians or face military action from the United States and its allies in Europe and the Arab world.
[…] The Libyan government announced a cease-fire just hours after the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution authorizing military action against Colonel Qadaffi to protect Libyan civilians. But rebel spokesmen said government forces attacked several locations on Friday.
Mr. Obama said that with the passage of the Security Council resolution, the United States would not act alone, and that France, Britain and the Arab nations would take the lead. That is the clear desire of the Pentagon, which has strongly resisted another American war in the Middle East. Mr. Obama said flatly that American ground forces would not enter Libya.
[…] He set no deadline and gave no hint when any fighting could start, but he said that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton would travel to Paris on Saturday to consult with the United States’ allies. A military strike did not appear to be imminent.
Specifically, Mr. Obama said, Colonel Qaddafi must stop his troops from advancing against the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and pull them back from other cities. The president also said that water, electricity and gas supplies should not be disrupted, and that aid must be allowed in to those cities.
[…]
2) No-fly zone could be canceled if Libya pulls back forces
CNN, March 18, 2011
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/18/us.libya.no.fly/
Washington – Even as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the ultimate goal for the U.S. was to see Libya’s president cede power, a senior administration official says the U.N.-mandated no-fly zone and military action to support it would not necessarily last until Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi steps down.
This official, who spoke on background because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the issue, said that "right now, we’re focused on stopping the violence."
Clinton said Friday, "The first and overwhelming urgent action is to end the violence. And we have to see a clear set of decisions that are operationalized on the ground by Gadhafi’s forces to move physically a significant distance away from the east, where they have been pursuing their campaign against the opposition."
The purpose of the no-fly zone, the administration official said, is to prevent Gadhafi from attacking his own people.
"It’s not designed to have him go. That’s not the purpose," the official said. "The purpose of the military action is to prevent massive humanitarian loss of life, to stop the violence. If the violence stops, then you shouldn’t leap to say then the military action will continue until he leaves."
The ultimate aim of U.S. policy, the administration official said, remains to force Gadhafi step down. But to accomplish that, the administration’s strategy hinges on "sequencing."
"There are a lot of different measures," the official said. "If you have a cease-fire in place that is verifiable, then you can continue turning the noose without taking necessarily further action. What we’re trying to do is freeze his advance. And then work from there to what was the original call, which was that he has lost legitimacy and he needs to go. But you have to sequence it."
[…]
3) Dozens of Protesters Are Killed in Yemen
Laura Kasinof and Robert F. Worth, New York Times, March 18, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/middleeast/19yemen.html
Sana, Yemen – Yemen’s pro-democracy protests exploded into violence on Friday, as government supporters opened fire on demonstrators in the capital, killing at least 45 people and wounding more than 200. The bloodshed failed to disperse the angry throng of protesters, the largest seen so far in a month of steadily rising demonstrations calling for Mr. Saleh’s ouster.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh declared a state of emergency shortly after the shootings, denying that security forces had been involved and promising a full investigation. The state news agency said the state of emergency would last 30 days.
The shootings seemed certain to provoke more violence in Yemen’s tribal society, and analysts said they could further weaken Mr. Saleh, whose rivals have already used the protests to undermine him. Although the United States has voiced sympathy for pro-democracy protesters here and elsewhere in the Arab world, it has special concerns about the stability of Yemen, a strife-torn country that is home to one of Al Qaeda’s most active branches and has been an American ally in the fight against terrorism.
Protesters have been killed here in recent weeks, but the violence on Friday dwarfed that seen in earlier clashes. There were different accounts of how the shooting started; most Yemenis are armed. Some said it began with a fight between protesters and residents near Sana University – known as a pro-Saleh neighborhood – who have been trying for days to build barriers to protect their homes. Others said men in plain clothes began burning protesters’ tents to stop the protests from expanding further.
If the government was responsible, it would appear to have taken up the same playbook that Libya and Bahrain followed this week, using overwhelming force against protesters. "It seems like people saw what happened in Bahrain and thought you could do the same here," said one high-ranking Yemeni official, who said he did not know who was responsible for the outbreak. "But in Yemen it is going to be very bad – a disaster," he added. "This will change everything, because the people killed have tribes."
[…] President Obama condemned violence in a written statement that called on President Saleh "to adhere to his public pledge to allow demonstrations to take place peacefully." He added: "Those responsible for today’s violence must be held accountable."
[…] Before Friday, at least 40 protesters had been killed in weeks of demonstrations across the country. Most of those deaths occurred in the restive southern port city of Aden, where protests have focused on seceding from the nation rather forcing Mr. Saleh from power.
One of those killed on Friday in Sana was Jamal al-Sharaabi, a photographer for Al Masdar, an independent weekly. The Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate has counted more than 50 attacks on journalists in Yemen since the unrest began, but Mr. Al-Sharaabi was the first to be killed, the news agency said.
Ibrahim Raja, an accountant who protested against Mr. Saleh’s rule on Friday but then fled the violence, stressed the peaceful nature of the demonstrations in the capital, opening his coat to show that he had no weapon. The Yemeni population, among the poorest in the Arab world, is also among the most heavily armed. "All of us have a weapon in house," he said. "None of us have our weapons here."
[…]
4) Interests of Saudi Arabia and Iran Collide, With the U.S. in the Middle
Helene Cooper and Mark Landler, New York Times, March 17, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/world/18diplomacy.html
Washington – The brutal crackdown in Bahrain poses the greatest Middle East democracy dilemma yet to the Obama administration, deepening a rift with its most important Arab ally, Saudi Arabia, while potentially strengthening the influence of its biggest nemesis, Iran.
Relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia have chilled to their coldest since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. Saudi officials, still angry that President Obama abandoned President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in the face of demonstrations, ignored American requests not to send troops into Bahrain to help crush Shiite-led protests there. A tense telephone call between Mr. Obama and King Abdullah on Wednesday, Arab officials said, failed to ease the tensions.
"King Abdullah has been clear that Saudi Arabia will never allow Shia rule in Bahrain – never," an Arab official who was briefed on the talks said. He said King Abdullah’s willingness to listen to the Obama administration had "evaporated" since Mr. Mubarak was forced from office.
The Saudi position is rooted in the royal family’s belief that a Shiite uprising next door in Bahrain could spread and embolden Saudi Arabia’s own minority Shiite population and increase Iranian influence in the kingdom, a fear that American officials share. But where Mr. Obama and King Abdullah have parted ways, administration officials say, is on how to handle the crisis.
American officials want Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to allow political reforms that could lead to more representation for Shiites under Sunni rule. During his telephone conversation with the Saudi king, Mr. Obama called for an end to the violence that has accelerated in Bahrain over the last few days.
He asked for a "political process as the only way to peacefully address the legitimate grievances of Bahrainis and to lead to a Bahrain that is stable, just, more unified and responsive to its people," according to Jay Carney, the White House press secretary.
But "there’s not too much listening going on," a senior administration official said, noting that Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton were forced to cancel visits to Saudi Arabia in recent days because the king was not willing to host them. (The official reason given was that he was ill.) "There appears to be a great deal of annoyance still," added the official, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
[…] But where the United States and the Saudis split is over how to prevent Iran from gaining traction. While American officials say the Saudi and Bahraini governments can head off trouble by making political reforms, the Saudis believe that political reforms would only open the door to greater instability.
"Our message to Saudi Arabia is that if you want to avoid the fate of Mubarak, you need to move toward genuine and gradual reform," said Mr. Malley of the Crisis Group. "But what the Saudis are hearing instead is that reform is actually the path to Mubarak’s fate."
[…]
5) How Best To Engage The Enemy
Obama weighs talking to the Taliban, Hezbollah
David Ignatius, Washington Post, Thursday, March 17, 7:54 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obama-weighs-talking-to-the-taliban-hezbollah/2011/03/17/AB4e1vm_story.html
In a rapidly changing Islamic world, the Obama administration is weighing how best to talk with adversaries such as the Taliban and, perhaps, Hezbollah.
One model for the administration, as it thinks about engagement of enemies, is the British process of dialogue during the 1990s with Sinn Fein, the legal political wing of the terrorist Irish Republican Army. That outreach led to breakthrough peace talks and settlement of a conflict that had been raging for more than a century.
In the case of the Taliban, the administration has repeatedly stated that it is seeking a political settlement of the war in Afghanistan rather than a military one. That formula sometimes seems hollow when more than 100,000 U.S. troops are in combat. But it got more definition last month from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who opened the doors wider for dialogue.
Clinton, in a Feb. 18 speech to the Asia Society, subtly altered the terms for Taliban participation in peace talks. She repeated the administration’s "red lines for reconciliation" – that Taliban representatives must renounce violence, reject al-Qaeda and abide by the Afghan constitution. But rather than making these preconditions for talks, as before, she said they were "necessary outcomes of any negotiation."
To draw the Afghan insurgents toward reconciliation, the administration is supporting a plan by President Hamid Karzai that would allow the Taliban to open an office in Kabul or perhaps outside Afghanistan, where contacts might be easier. Saudi Arabia was discussed as one possible site, but a more likely venue would be Turkey. The Turkish government is pondering the issue.
[…] The Hezbollah issue is still being framed, in terms of policy debate. But the White House has focused on it in recent weeks because of a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Hezbollah that is nearing completion.
Officials who have read draft versions of the estimate say it assesses Hezbollah in a broad context, as a political and social force in Lebanon in addition to the militia officially designated by the United States as a "foreign terrorist organization." Like most NIEs, this one is said to contain a broad array of views, with some analysts stressing Hezbollah’s terrorist capabilities and others noting the organization’s growing political role, including its representation in the Lebanese cabinet.
The political time bomb ticking away in the NIE is the question of whether the United States should seek some kind of direct or indirect engagement with Hezbollah – at least with its political wing. Officials who support this course argue that the organization is like the IRA or the PLO – with nonmilitary components that can be drawn into a dialogue.
Contrarian thinking about Hezbollah was voiced publicly by John Brennan, the White House counterterrorism adviser. In May 2010, he described it as "a very interesting organization" and said the United States should try to "build up the more moderate elements." And at a conference in August 2009, he offered this summary: "Hezbollah started out as purely a terrorist organization back in the early ’80s and has evolved significantly over time" to have members in the Lebanese parliament and cabinet.
The high-level discussion of Hezbollah illustrates the ferment in U.S. thinking about a Middle East that is being transformed by democratic uprisings. Officials caution that for now, the Hezbollah question is a matter for intelligence analysts, not policymakers. The White House recognizes that it has enough to deal with already without opening a new question that would produce shock waves in Israel, Saudi Arabia and other countries.
[…]
6) U.S. eyes Colombia labor deal in "near future"
Doug Palmer, Reuters, Thu, Mar 17 2011
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/17/us-usa-colombia-trade-idUSTRE72G75D20110317
Washington – The Obama administration hopes to soon reach a deal with Colombia to address concerns about anti-labor violence that have blocked approval of a bilateral free trade deal for more than four years, officials said on Thursday.
"We share the sense of urgency that we have heard from all of you," Deputy Trade Representative Miriam Sapiro told the House of Representatives Ways and Means trade subcommittee. "We want to be in a position where we can advance this agreement. I am optimistic that we will get there and we will get there in the near future."
Sapiro told the panel she would meet again later on Thursday with senior Colombian officials to discuss how to address the administration’s concerns, which include the protection of internationally recognized labor rights, prevention of violence against labor leaders and the prosecution of perpetrators of such violence, Sapiro said.
Republicans, who control the House, have been pressing the White House to send trade agreements with Colombia and Panama to Congress for a vote, along with a bigger trade deal with South Korea that the administration already plans to submit.
In recent weeks, Obama administration officials have said they are committed to winning approval of all three agreements but have frustrated Republicans and some senior Democrats by refusing to set out a firm timeline for action on the Latin American pacts.
House Republicans have said they want to consider all three agreements by July 1.
[…] The 12.2-million-member AFL-CIO labor federation strongly opposes the Colombia agreement on the grounds that the Andean nation has not done enough to stop killings of union members and to prosecute those responsible. "We believe it is premature to sign a trade deal with Colombia when the government (of Colombia) is unable or unwilling to enforce the rule of law and protect the security, dignity and safety of workers," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Told about Sapiro’s remark that the administration hoped to resolve such concerns soon, Trumka added: "Hopefully they can. If they had done it last year, 51 trade unionists would still be alive."
[…]
Pakistan
7) Pakistan: Calls for revenge after US drones kill 40
BBC, 18 March 2011 Last updated at 11:13 ET
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12784675
Tribal leaders in the Pakistani region of North Waziristan have vowed revenge against the US after drones killed more than 40 people near the Afghan border. "We are a people who wait 100 years to exact revenge. We never forgive our enemy," the elders said in a statement.
Thursday’s attack has caused fury – most of the dead were tribal elders and police attending an open-air meeting.
Observers say anger over the botched drone raid may help Pakistan delay an assault on the Taliban in Waziristan. The Pakistani military has so far resisted US pressure for such an assault. It is already fighting militants in a number of other parts of the country’s north-west.
The BBC’s M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says Thursday’s casualties will also add to pressure from Islamabad on the US to scale back drone strikes which regularly target Waziristan.
[…] Thursday’s drone strike is thought to have killed more civilians than any other such attack since 2006.
[…] "The world should try and find out how many of the 40-odd people killed in the drone attack were members of al-Qaeda," the elders said in their statement following the attack near North Waziristan’s regional capital, Miranshah. "It was just a jirga being held under local customs in which the prominent elders of Datta Khel sub-division, and common people were participating to resolve a dispute. But the Americans did not spare our elders even."
One of the elders, Malik Faridullah Wazir Khan, said he reached the scene 30 minutes after the missiles hit – four of his relatives were killed.
"The area was completely covered in blood," he told the BBC. "There were no bodies, only body parts – hands, legs and eyes scattered around. I could not recognise anyone. People carried away the body parts in shopping bags and clothing or with bits of wood, whatever they could find."
He said 44 people died at the scene, including 13 children – one as young as seven.
[…]
Bahrain
8) Bahrain Tears Down Monument
Ethan Bronner, New York Times, March 18, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/middleeast/19bahrain.html
Manama, Bahrain – Bahrain tore down the protest movement’s defining monument on Friday, the pearl at the center of Pearl Square. The destruction of the 300-foot sculpture, a stone pearl held by six sweeping arches, was part of a chain of events that in a matter of days turned the country from a symbol of hopeful pro-democratic protest into one of repression.
The official Bahrain News Agency reported the change as a "facelift" to "boost the flow of traffic." But Bahrain’s foreign minister, Sheik Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, told a news conference, "We did it to remove a bad memory." He added of the month-long anti-government rallies: "The whole thing caused our society to be polarized. We don’t want a monument to a bad memory."
Pearl Square had become a tent camp with free food and a carnival atmosphere modeled on Tahrir Square in Cairo. But Bahraini troops forcefully cleared it out on Wednesday. In removing it, the country cost itself a landmark designed to honor the six gulf states whose economic life was based, before oil, on pearls. The six, including Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, make up the Gulf Cooperation Council – which sent in 2,000 troops in a show of force just before Bahrain’s own security forces moved to crush the protests.
[…] Whether the Pearl Monument’s destruction – coming after the rout in the square and a rash of arrests of opposition figures – represented a definitive death blow for the protest movement was unclear. But even as it was being removed, the funeral of one of the anti-government activists killed this week offered a different kind of symbol.
The family of Ahmed Farhan, 30, who was killed on Tuesday by security forces in Sitra, an activist Shiite village, was finally given his body. There were shotgun pellet wounds to his back and a gaping hole in his skull.
The day he died, martial law was declared, making it illegal to hold rallies. Still, 5,000 people came to help the Farhan family bury Ahmed. Sitra turned into a sea of raised fists and tearful wailing, piety and political indignation.
The Farhan family is poor, like many in this village and like many of the 70 percent of the country that is Shiite. Ahmed Farhan, who never married, lived with his family in a ramshackle structure around a courtyard, having lost his job as a fisherman some years ago.
[…] After praise of God and his prophet, the leader turned to insults of the Bahraini royal family. "Down with the Khalifas!" he shouted to thunderous repetition. "Occupation forces out! Death to the Saudis! Death to Khalifa! Freedom for Bahrain!"
They chanted: "With our soul and our blood, we will redeem you, O martyr." A military helicopter circled high in the sky, and at the village entrance, troops and tanks awaited trouble. None came.
Ali Hbel, a taxi driver injured in the police action at Pearl Square on Wednesday, was at the funeral. He showed his splintered arm and pointed at the coffin of Mr. Farhan and said, "This is not going to go for free."
Israel/Palestine
9) Hamas police detain 3 at Gaza rally for Palestinian political reconciliation
Associated Press, Thursday, March 17, 2:44 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/hamas-police-detain-3-at-gaza-rally-for-palestinian-political-reconciliation/2011/03/17/AB3M7jk_story.html
Gaza City, Gaza Strip – Hamas police in Gaza detained a Palestinian protester and two Palestinian cameramen on Thursday while breaking up a rally calling for political reconciliation, and 16 other protesters briefly holed themselves up in a U.N. school.
The event took place a day after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas offered to go to the Gaza Strip for talks with his Hamas rivals.
About 40 activists gathered in front of a U.N. school, waving flags and chanting slogans for unity between the rival Hamas and Fatah factions. When Hamas police approached the group, it dispersed, and police detained the three Palestinians.
The 16 other Palestinians rushed into the U.N. school compound, where Hamas police are prevented from operating. Protester Nuha Wajeh told reporters by text message that the group vows not to leave the school until representatives from the dueling Palestinian parties, Hamas and Fatah, meet with them and pledge to end their bitter rivalry.
Chris Gunness, spokesman of UNRWA, which aids refugees, said his agency appealed to authorities in Gaza to "allow these 16 people safe passage from the UNRWA compound and to guarantee their safety."
The protesters later departed peacefully after the U.N. reached an agreement with Hamas to allow them to leave without further harassment.
[…]
El Salvador
10) Obama to visit tomb of slain Salvadoran human rights activist
Associated Press, Friday, March 18, 5:06 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/obama-to-visit-tomb-of-slain-salvadoran-human-rights-activist/2011/03/18/AB39uXr_story.html
San Salvador, El Salvador – President Barack Obama will visit the tomb of slain Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero during his visit to El Salvador next week, a gesture that some say is U.S. recognition of the slain human rights activist’s cause.
Romero spoke out against repression by the U.S.-backed Salvadoran army during the Central American country’s 12-year civil war in which at least 75,000 people died. He was gunned down March 24, 1980, as he celebrated Mass in a hospital chapel. The government and leftist guerrillas reached a peace treaty in 1992.
"It’s historic," said Congresswoman Lorena Pena, a former guerrilla fighter with the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, a rebel group-turned-political party. "It’s a recognition of our pastor who was killed for fighting for justice, for democracy and human rights."
Robert White, who was the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador in the early 1980s, said that the visit by Obama to Romero’s tomb "is like a U.S. stamp of approval on the positive influence Romero’s life and death have had on Latin America and the world."
The visit "is a declaration that the United States is no longer identified with oligarchic governments," added White, who is now director of the Washington-based Center for International Policy, a foreign policy think tank.
But not all in El Salvador are happy with Obama’s visit to Romero’s tomb.
"I imagine that (Obama) is doing something natural … a courtesy visit to someone who is supposed to represent some measure of national spirit, (but) half of Salvadorans do not believe Romero is worthy of sanctification," Mario Valenti, a former president and member of the right-wing party Nationalist Republican Alliance, or Arena, was quoted by El Mundo newspaper as saying in its Friday edition. Obama "should also go to the grave of Major Roberto d’Aubuisson," Valenti said, referring to the notorious death squad leader.
Before his death in 1992, D’Aubuisson denied ordering Romero’s killing, but the following year a U.N. truth commission on El Salvador concluded that he had.
[…]
Mexico
11) Wikileaks: Electoral Politics Drive Juarez Drug War Strategy
"We have 18 months"; No time for institution-building
Goal to "sustain the confrontation into the next administration"
Mexican authorities criticize lack of strategy in initial phase of Merida Initiative
Laura Carlsen, Center for International Policy, 16/03/2011
http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/4125
Wikileaks cable 002882 indicates that U.S. and Mexican authorities were primarily concerned about showing "success" in Ciudad Juarez in advance of the 2012 Mexican presidential elections, and discarded longer-term strategies to resolve the endemic violence that afflicts the border city. Members of the Calderon cabinet spoke openly of the need to "sustain the confrontation into the next administration."
The summary of cable 002882 from October of 2009 notes:
"At a dinner hosted by PGR for a visiting DOJ (Department of Justice) delegation, National Security Coordinator [Jorge] Tello Peon and Undersecretary for Governance [Geronimo] Gutierrez Fernandez told the delegation they would like to explore seriously focusing our joint efforts on two or three key cities to reverse the current wave of violence and instability and show success in the fight against the DTOs in the next 18 months. They suggested starting in Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana, and one other city with a joint planning cell to review what resources we could collectively bring to bear. They believe the symbolism of turning several of the most violent cities would be potent, sending a signal to the rest of the country that the fight against organized crime can be won, and combating the current sense of impotence felt by many Mexicans. They believe it would also go a long way toward stitching up the country,s (sic) damaged international reputation."
According to the cable account of the meeting, "in retrospect he [Gutierrez Fernandez] and other GOM (Government of Mexico) officials realize that not enough strategic thought went into Merida in the early phase. There was too much emphasis in the initial planning on equipment, which they now know is slow to arrive and even slower to be of direct utility in the fight against the DTOs (drug-trafficking organizations). Of more immediate importance is building institutions that can effectively use the equipment."
Rather than discussing how to build institutions, however, the cable astoundingly goes on the note that it is too late for institution-building due to the proximity of federal elections:
"Gutierrez went on to say, however, that he now realizes there is not even time for the institution building to take hold in the remaining years of the Calderon administration. ‘We have 18 months,’ he said, ‘and if we do not produce a tangible success that is recognizable to the Mexican people, it will be difficult to sustain the confrontation into the next administration.’"
The goal, recorded in this cable, is to "sustain the confrontation." Not good news for the people of Ciudad Juarez. A superficial goal of showing success within eighteen months in showcase cities while maintaining the conflict also opens the door to repressive tactics that would merely displace the violence geographically or create a military/police state that suppresses violence at the expense of basic liberties. With no mention of resolving the violence or dismantling the drug cartels, the cable raises serious doubts about the real motivations behind the drug war.
Instead, it would appear that the U.S. government shares the Calderon cabinet’s priority of achieving a "symbolic" victory for the Calderon government before the end of its administration and assuring a continuation of the drug war into the next.
The cable marks a strategy not to defeat cartels but to reinforce support for a drug war that lacks transparency, was launched without the consent of the Mexican Congress or people, lacks a clear strategy or evaluation of the situation, has had disastrous results in public safety and is rapidly losing public support.
The U.S. Embassy comment at the end states the intention to follow up on the strategy of "selecting a few key cities and working to turn security." If both sides did indeed follow up on this strategy since October of 2009, it has failed spectacularly. In 2010, Ciudad Juarez suffered a record 3,000 deaths related to the drug war. The city is poised to break its own record and maintain its place as the murder capital of the world in 2011.
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