Just Foreign Policy News
August 17, 2010
By U.S. Deaths, Afghanistan is Now Obama’s War
According to the data tallied by the website icasualties.org, which is regularly cited in the news media, as of Monday 575 U.S. soldiers had died in the Afghanistan war since Obama took office – the same number that died in the war under President Bush. News media often report on such landmarks; they should report on this one, and press secretary Robert Gibbs should be asked to comment on it.
Update: as of today, it’s Obama 577, Bush 575.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/by-us-deaths-as-of-today_b_683441.html
New counter: US Deaths in Afghanistan, Obama vs. Bush
Just Foreign Policy has created a web counter to allow easy comparison of the U.S. deaths in Afghanistan under President Obama to the U.S. deaths in Afghanistan under President Bush.
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/obamavsbush
Bacevich: Washington Rules
Andrew Bacevich’s new book, "Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War," is a call for Americans to reject the Washington consensus for permanent war, and to demand instead that America "come home."
Get the book
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/buywashingtonrules
(The book may also be available in your local bookstore or public library.)
September 24th: JFP "Virtual Brown Bag" with Andrew Bacevich
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/bacevichtalk
Oliver Stone’s "South of the Border," scheduled screenings:
http://southoftheborderdoc.com/in-theatres/
Help Support Our Work
Your donation helps us educate Americans and create opportunities to advocate for a just foreign policy.
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/donate
Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) A White House spokesman said President Obama remains committed to beginning a withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan next July, the New York Times reports. In an interview with "Meet the Press," General Petraeus had left open the possibility that he would recommend against any withdrawal of US forces next summer. [The White House has been fairly firm on the date for the beginning of the drawdown; what has been in serious dispute, and about which the Administration appears to be trying to create wiggle room, is whether the drawdown will be substantial, as earlier promised by Vice President Biden and as Speaker Pelosi has said she expects – JFP.]
2) Writing in the New York Times in response to General Petraeus’ media blitz, Bob Herbert reminds readers of Jonathan Alter’s account of Administration meetings at the time of the decision to escalate, in which General Petraeus promised not to ask for more time if the "surge" didn’t work: "The president went on: ‘If you can’t do the things you say you can in eighteen months, then no one is going to suggest we stay, right?’ ‘Yes, sir, in agreement,’ said General Petraeus."
3) Desperation is increasing as flooding spreads more widely in Pakistan, the New York Times reports. "Water is still on the rise, and we are in a helpless situation," said a district administrator in Punjab. One resident described how he and a group of 50 people survived while they were stranded on the roof of a house. Each day, he said, one person would set out, floating on tires and rubber tubes, to seek food and water for the group. "We have been calling army and government people but nobody listens to us," he said. "Our children are dying of hunger."
4) The Obama administration is planning to expand opportunities for Americans to travel to Cuba, the New York Times reports. Officials said the policy change was meant to loosen restrictions on academic, religious and cultural groups adopted under Bush, and return to the exchanges allowed under President Clinton.
5) A former Israeli soldier has sparked controversy after posting pictures of herself on Facebook posing with bound and blindfolded Palestinian prisoners, Al Jazeera reports. A Palestinian Authority spokesman said the images typified the treatment meted out to Palestinians by Israeli troops. "This is an example of life under occupation," he said. A lawyer based in Jerusalem said the pictures show illegal activity. "It’s illegal to humiliate prisoners in this way," he said. "It’s illegal to publish these pictures in public showing this soldier making fun of these prisoners."
6) The U.S. is sticking by its nomination of Larry Palmer to be the next ambassador to Venezuela after President Chavez said he wouldn’t be welcome in the country, Bloomberg reports. An economist with Brookings said the U.S. should nominate someone else to the post. "The sooner they suggest another name the better," he said. "The longer they drag it out, the more of an issue it will become."
Afghanistan
7) President Karzai ordered a four-month phase-out of all private security firms in Afghanistan, the New York Times reports. Private security firms protested the move, saying their employees would not work for the Afghan police, because the Afghan police are poorly paid. [In these articles, it is never explained by what law of the universe the Afghan government, funded by US tax dollars, cannot pay policemen a living wage, while the private security firms, also funded by US tax dollars, have apparently no trouble doing so – JFP.]
Turkey
8) The White House denied the U.S. has threatened Turkey with withholding future arms sales because of its tougher stance towards Israel and vote against U.N. Iran sanctions, Laura Rozen reports in the Politico. Turkish sources also say there has not been any U.S. arms ultimatum, although they concede Ankara’s standing in Congress has been hurt as a result of Turkish-Israeli diplomatic tensions. U.S. sources say Turkey has played a far more constructive role in recent weeks regarding the possible Iran fuel swap, consulting the U.S. frequently. Of note is the key role Turkey played at a July 25 meeting at which Iran agreed to formally respond to the IAEA about a possible fuel swap deal, and to meet E.U. representative Catherine Ashton after Ramadan.
Iran
9) U.S. officials said suggestions that the Obama administration has endorsed alleged Saudi plans to allow Israeli attackers to overfly Saudi territory for an attack on Iran are false, Newsweek reports. Officials say U.S. agencies appear confident that while bomb-related research may be moving forward in Iran, Iranian leaders still have made no decision to start building an atomic bomb, and are at least a year away from any "point of no return." They say they believe that the Bushehr civilian nuclear reactor supplied by Russia has nothing to do with any clandestine Iranian efforts related to nuclear weapons.
Lebanon
10) Lebanon expanded employment rights for 400,000 Palestinian refugees, AP reports. Tuesday’s decision allows Palestinians to work in the same professions as other foreigners. Lebanese law restricts some professions only to Lebanese, while many other professions – such as law, medicine and engineering – require the employees to be members of the relevant professional association. But most of these associations say foreign membership depends on reciprocity in their home country, which effectively bars Palestinians who don’t have one.
Colombia
11) Colombian President Santos offered a $27,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the slaying of trade unionist Luis German Restrepo, the Latin American Herald Tribune reports. Restrepo stood out among Colombian labor leaders for his support of a trade agreement with the US, which was signed in 2006 but has yet to be ratified by the U.S. Congress. According to the June report of the International Trade Union Confederation, 101 union representatives were killed worldwide in 2009, almost half (48) of them in Colombia.
Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) White House Reaffirms Afghan Strategy, Despite Petraeus Remarks
Helene Cooper, New York Times, August 16, 2010, 12:26 PM
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/white-house-reaffirms-afghan-strategy-despite-petraeus-remarks/
Menomonee Falls, Wis. – President Obama remains committed to beginning a withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan next July, a White House spokesman said on Monday, playing down recent remarks by the American military commander in Afghanistan that he might recommend a delay if conditions warrant.
"The date is not negotiable," the deputy press secretary, Bill Burton, told reporters aboard Air Force One at the start of a three-day campaign-style swing around the country by the president.
Mr. Burton was referring to remarks by General David Petraeus in several interviews on Sunday in which he opposed the rapid pullout from Afghanistan, as many Democrats would like. In an interview with The New York Times, the general argued against any precipitous withdrawal of forces by July 2011, the date set by Mr. Obama to begin at least a gradual reduction of the 100,000 troops on the ground.
And in an interview with the NBC program, "Meet the Press," General Petraeus left open the possibility that he would recommend against any withdrawal of American forces next summer. "Certainly, yes," he said when the show’s host, David Gregory, asked him if, depending on how the war was proceeding, he might tell the president that a drawdown should be delayed. "The president and I sat down in the Oval Office , and he expressed very clearly that what he wants from me is my best professional military advice."
Mr. Burton sought Monday to minimize any appearance of a split between the White House and the military. "There’s no daylight between the president and his commanders," he said. He said that General Petraeus’s comments were only a small sliver of a larger interview in which he indicated that he believed the president’s Afghanistan war strategy was on track.
2) No ‘Graceful Exit’
Bob Herbert, New York Times, August 16, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/opinion/17herbert.html
In his book, "The Promise," about President Obama’s first year in office, Jonathan Alter describes a brief conversation between the president and Vice President Joe Biden that took place last November at the end of Mr. Obama’s long deliberation about what to do in Afghanistan.
Mr. Biden asked whether the new policy of beginning a significant withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2011 was a direct presidential order that could not be countermanded by the military. The president said yes.
The two men were on their way to a meeting in the Oval Office with members of the Pentagon brass who would be tasked with carrying out Mr. Obama’s orders. Among those at the meeting was Gen. David Petraeus, then the chief of the United States Central Command, which included oversight of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to Mr. Alter, the president said to General Petraeus:
"David, tell me now. I want you to be honest with me. You can do this in eighteen months?"
Mr. Petraeus replied: "Sir, I’m confident we can train and hand over to the A.N.A. [Afghan National Army] in that time frame."
The president went on: "If you can’t do the things you say you can in eighteen months, then no one is going to suggest we stay, right?"
"Yes, sir, in agreement," said General Petraeus.
Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was also at the meeting, and he added his own crisp, "Yes, sir."
That was then. The brass was just blowing smoke, telling the commander in chief whatever it was that he wanted to hear. Over the past several days, at meetings with one news media outlet after another, General Petraeus has been singing a decidedly different song. The lead headline in The Times on Monday said: "General Opposes a Rapid Pullout in Afghanistan."
Having taken over command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan after the ouster of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Mr. Petraeus is now saying he did not take that job in order to preside over a "graceful exit." His goal now appears to be to rally public opinion against the very orders that President Obama insisted, as he told Joe Biden, could not be countermanded.
[…]
3) Desperation Grows Over Pakistan Flood Damage
Waqar Gillani, New York Times, August 17, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/world/asia/18pstan.html
Lahore, Pakistan – With disastrous flooding spreading yet more widely in Pakistan, reports of looting and protests over food on Tuesday deepened the sense of desperation across Punjab Province, the country’s most populous region and its agricultural hub.
Flood survivors told stories of taking the search for aid upon themselves, swimming to dry areas to find food for people still marooned and waiting for rescue.
As many as 8.5 million people in Punjab have been affected, and property damage is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, the chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif told reporters. Punjab’s provincial cabinet met Tuesday and ordered development funds to be used for emergency aid.
The floods have caused lasting damage to roads and other infrastructure, livestock and agriculture. On Tuesday, the World Bank pledged to reroute $900 million from other projects in Pakistan to help in recovery and reconstruction efforts.
Across southern Punjab, scenes repeatedly played out of people seeking food and aid on their own as they remained isolated by floodwaters that reached as high as five feet. "Water is still on the rise, and we are in a helpless situation," said Muhammad Usman, a district administrator.
One resident, Abdul Ghafoor, described how he and a group of 50 people survived while they were stranded on the roof of a concrete house in Muzaffargarh. Each day, he said, one person would set out, floating on tires and rubber tubes, to seek food and water for the group. "We have been calling army and government people but nobody listens to us," he said. "Our children are dying of hunger."
[…]
4) U.S. Said to Plan Easing Rules for Travel to Cuba
Ginger Thompson, New York Times, August 16, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/world/americas/17cuba.html
Washington – The Obama administration is planning to expand opportunities for Americans to travel to Cuba, the latest step aimed at encouraging more contact between people in both countries, while leaving intact the decades-old embargo against the island’s Communist government, according to Congressional and administration officials.
The officials, who asked not to be identified because they had not been authorized to discuss the policy before it was announced, said it was meant to loosen restrictions on academic, religious and cultural groups that were adopted under President George W. Bush, and return to the "people to people" policies followed under President Bill Clinton.
Those policies, officials said, fostered robust exchanges between the United States and Cuba, allowing groups – including universities, sports teams, museums and chambers of commerce – to share expertise as well as life experiences.
Policy analysts said the intended changes would mark a significant shift in Cuba policy. In early 2009, President Obama lifted restrictions on travel and remittances only for Americans with relatives on the island.
[…] In effect, the new policy would expand current channels for travel to Cuba, rather than create new ones. Academic, religious and cultural groups are now allowed to travel under very tight rules. For example, students wanting to study in Cuba are required to stay at least 10 weeks. And only accredited universities can apply for academic visas.
Under the new policy, such restrictions would be eased, officials said. And academic institutions, including research and advocacy groups and museums, would be able to seek licenses for as long as two years.
In addition, the administration is also planning to allow flights to Cuba from more cities than the three – Miami, New York and Los Angeles – currently permitted. And there are proposals, the officials said, to allow all Americans to send remittances or charitable donations to churches, schools and human rights groups in Cuba.
[…]
5) Storm over Israeli ‘Abuse’ Photos
Al Jazeera, Tuesday, August 17, 2010
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/08/2010816164542801123.html
A former Israeli soldier has sparked controversy after posting pictures of herself on Facebook posing with bound and blindfolded Palestinian prisoners. The photographs show Eden Abergil positioned provocatively with the men, prompting lurid comments from other users of the popular social networking site.
The pictures, which were uploaded into a folder entitled "Army – the best time of my life," and associated comments were discovered by bloggers, who circulated them on the internet on Monday.
Palestinians have long claimed that they are subject to humiliating and degrading treatmentwhile held in Israeli custody, but Israeli authorities have always rejected such allegations.
[…] The Israeli military has sought to distance itself from the controversy, saying Abergil is no longer a serving member of the country’s army. "This is shameless behaviour by the soldier," a military spokesman told Al Jazeera. The army also posted a video on YouTube calling the photos "shameful" and "disgraceful." Captain Barak Raz, the Israeli army spokesman who appeared in the video, said the photographs were in "total opposition" to the army’s "ethical code".
[…] But Ghassan Khatib, the Palestinian Authority spokesman, said that the images typified the treatment meted out to Palestinians by Israeli troops. "This is an example of life under occupation," he said. "All aspects of occupation are humiliating. We call on the international organisations, starting with the UN, to work hard to end the occupation, because it is the source of humiliation for Palestinians and a source of corruption for the Israelis."
Sami Ershied, a lawyer based in Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera that the pictures show illegal activity. "It’s illegal to humiliate prisoners in this way," he said. "It’s illegal to publish these pictures in public showing this soldier making fun of these prisoners."
[…]
6) U.S. Stands By Palmer for Venezuela Envoy as Chavez Says He’s Not Welcome
Charlie Devereux and Flavia Krause-Jackson, Bloomberg, Aug 17, 2010
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-17/u-s-stands-by-palmer-for-venezuela-ambassador-post-as-chavez-objects.html
The U.S. is sticking by its nomination of Larry Palmer to be the next ambassador to Venezuela after President Hugo Chavez said he wouldn’t be welcome in the country. "He has the qualifications to engage Venezuela effectively and resolve our bilateral differences," State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said in an e-mail today.
Palmer evoked Chavez’s ire last month when he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Venezuela has "clear ties" with terrorist groups and its army suffers from low morale. Chavez, who said Aug. 8 that Palmer "can’t come here," yesterday urged President Barack Obama to appoint another candidate if he wants better relations between the countries. "The healthiest option would be to look for someone else," Chavez said in a telephone interview broadcast on state television. "We’d surely have to expel him."
Palmer is a former U.S. ambassador to Honduras.
Mauricio Cardenas, an economist with the Brookings Institute, said the U.S. should nominate someone else to the post. "The sooner they suggest another name the better," he said. "The longer they drag it out, the more of an issue it will become."
[…]
Afghanistan
7) Karzai Orders Guard Firms to Disband
Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times, August 17, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/world/asia/18afghan.html
Kabul, Afghanistan – President Hamid Karzai ordered a four-month phase-out of all private security firms in Afghanistan, domestic and foreign, a move that, if carried out, would create an extraordinary shift in the country’s security, likely slowing many foreign projects and potentially delaying some day-to-day military activities.
The sole exception to the order allows private guards to continue to operate within compounds of embassies, consulates, nongovernmental organizations and economic organizations, like the World Bank.
Mr. Karzai had previously expressed interest in regulating both Afghan security companies, which in some cases act as private armies for other power-brokers, and foreign companies, some of which have been involved in civilian casualties. But the scale of his order and the short timetable struck many as a political gesture that served to remind both the Afghans who use the companies and Mr. Karzai’s foreign allies of his leverage.
The timetable was so curtailed that analysts questioned whether it might be delayed and changed as more detailed rules to carry it out were negotiated. However, there was support for the overall goal. John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who was on a two-day visit here, said a reorganization of the country’s security was called for.
"It is in his interest to build his own security capacity as fast as possible," said Mr. Kerry, adding that it was also in the Americans’ interest. However, he said, the timetable would need to be worked out.
[…] The American military said it supported the goal of phasing out private security firms, but it also signaled that the four-month schedule was unrealistic. "This is an undertaking that requires a deliberate process," said Maj. Joel Harper, a spokesman for the NATO mission in Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force. "ISAF pledges to work closely with the Afghan government to help make this transition successful under a timeline that recognizes the scale and scope of this issue will take time to fully implement," he said.
[…] The American government alone employs some 26,000 private security contractors who work for 37 private security firms, Major Harper said. Seventeen of those firms are Afghan, he added. In all, 52 private security companies are licensed by the Interior Ministry.
[…] "There are already lots of jobless people in our society and in addition to that the government wants to make 50,000 more people jobless?" said Emal Khan, who runs a security company based in Kandahar that works with a British security company to protect NATO convoys on routes in southern and central Afghanistan.
[…] The police typically pay at best $240 for a regular policeman, while many guards for security companies earn at least twice that, Mr. Khan said.
[…]
Turkey
8) White House denies Turkey arms ultimatum
Laura Rozen, Politico, August 16, 2010
http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/0810/White_House_denies_Turkey_arms_ultimatum.html
The White House denied Monday that the U.S. has threatened Turkey with potentially withholding future arms sales because of its tougher stance towards Israel and vote against U.N. Iran sanctions.
The White House "emphatically denied" an assertion in a Financial Times report that the president had told Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that future arms sales would be contingent on softening his anti-Israel talk, White House pool reporter Jonathan Weisman of The Wall Street Journal writes.
Earlier today, the Financial Times cited an Obama administration official who said the President had warned Erdogan in a meeting in June that Ankara’s rhetoric on Israel would make it harder to get arms sales to Ankara through Congress. Obama also told Erdogan that Turkey had failed to act as an ally in voting against the UN Iran sanctions resolution in June, the paper reported.
"The President and Erdogan did speak about 10 days ago, and they talked about Iran and the flotilla and other issues related to that," White House spokesman Bill Burton told the press aboard Air Force One Monday. "We obviously have an ongoing dialogue with them. But no such [arms] ultimatum was issued."
[…] Turkish diplomatic sources also say there has not been any U.S. arms ultimatum, although they concede Ankara’s standing in Congress has been hurt as a result of Turkish-Israeli diplomatic tensions in the wake of Gaza flotilla violence in May. That tension has eased somewhat in recent weeks. Turkey and Israel agreed earlier this month to the formation of a U.N. panel to oversee investigations of the Gaza flotilla violence.
By many accounts, Obama did take a tough tone with Erdogan at a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 in Canada in late June. But Turkish officials say the meeting was positive as it helped dispel any lingering sense of U.S. ambiguity about Turkey’s role in negotiating a possible Iran nuclear fuel swap deal.
U.S. diplomatic sources also say Turkey has played a far more constructive role in recent weeks regarding the possible Iran fuel swap, consulting the U.S. frequently on developments in negotiations.
Of note is the key role Turkey played at a July 25 meeting in Turkey of the Turkish, Iranian and Brazilian foreign ministers, at which Iran was persuaded to formally respond to the International Atomic Energy Agency about a possible fuel swap deal, and to agree to meet with the E.U.’s High Representative for Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton after Ramadan. The U.S. was extremely satisfied with Turkey’s role in the July negotiations, diplomatic sources say.
[…]
Iran
9) Talk About Iran Attack Seems Very Overheated
Mark Hosenball, Newsweek, August 16, 2010
http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/2010/08/16/talk-about-iran-attack-seems-very-overheated.html
An article in The Atlantic reports that Iran may be nearing the "point of no return" in its pursuit of an atomic bomb. Therefore, says author Jeffrey Goldberg, there is a "better than 50 percent chance" Israel will launch an attack against Iranian nuclear sites by "next July." The Times of London suggests that some key arrangements for such an attack are already in place. According to the paper, Saudi Arabia has already told the Israelis they can overfly Saudi airspace in any assault against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Moreover, The Times quotes a "U.S. defense source" saying that Saudi overflight permission has been endorsed by the U.S. State Department.
But U.S. and European national-security and counterproliferation officials tell Declassified that speculation about a possible Israeli attack on Iran-and alleged signals from Washington offering direct or indirect support for such an operation-are premature and exaggerated, if not untrue. Two U.S. officials, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said suggestions that the Obama administration has endorsed alleged Saudi plans to allow Israeli attackers to overfly Saudi territory are false. A European official described recent reports about these and other alleged preparations for an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities as "rumors" similar to other speculation that has surfaced, then died, then resurfaced on several occasions over recent years.
[…] Two U.S. officials, who are familiar with the most up-to-date government reporting and analysis on the issue, say that U.S. agencies appear confident that while bomb-related research may well be moving forward, Iranian leaders still have made no decision to start building an atomic bomb. In an interview with ABC News in June, CIA Director Leon Panetta summed up the current U.S. assessment of Iranian leaders’ nuclear weapons policy: "I think they continue to work on designs in that area. There is a continuing debate right now as to whether or nor they ought to proceed with the bomb." U.S. officials say there has been no significant change in this analysis.
U.S. officials say hysterical headlines last week about a move by Russia to start loading fuel into a civilian Iranian reactor, which officials believe has nothing to do clandestine Iranian efforts related to nuclear weapons, have helped to fuel speculation about imminent Israeli moves against Iran-or, alternatively, about Israeli efforts to somehow goad the Obama administration into launching an attack. But the officials say the United States and many of its allies still believe that Iran is at least a year away from the "point of no return" in its efforts to design and actually assemble a bomb. For the moment, the officials say, this means that current talk about a forthcoming attack on Iran is greatly overheated.
Lebanon
10) Lebanon Gives Palestinians Employment Rights
Associated Press, August 17, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/08/17/world/AP-ML-Lebanon-Palestinian-Rights.html
Beirut – Lebanon expanded employment rights for 400,000 Palestinian refugees Tuesday, changing a decades-old law that many have criticized for keeping the community impoverished and excluded from Lebanese society.
Palestinian leaders in Lebanon and human rights workers welcomed the move, but said it is only a first step toward improving the lives of stateless refugees who have been banned from all but the most menial professions for decades.
"I was born in Lebanon and I have never known Palestine," said Ahmad al-Mehdawi, 45, a taxi driver who lives in Ein el-Hilweh, one of 12 crowded and squalid refugee camps in Lebanon. "What we want is to live like Lebanese. We are human beings."
Some 4.7 million Palestinian refugees – who fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948 and 1967 Israeli-Arab wars – and their descendants are scattered across the Middle East. They live mostly in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, according to U.N. figures.
Their fate is one of the most emotionally charged issues in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Palestinian negotiators have demanded at least partial repatriation, but Israel has refused, saying an influx of refugees would dilute its Jewish majority and threaten the existence of the state.
Tuesday’s decision allows Palestinians to work in the same professions as other foreigners, one of the most serious efforts yet by Lebanon to transform its policies toward the refugees.
But the laws governing foreign workers here pose a unique problem for Palestinians, who are stateless. Lebanese law restricts some professions only to Lebanese, while many other professions – such as law, medicine and engineering – require the employees to be members of the relevant professional association.
But most of these associations say foreign membership depends on reciprocity in their home country, which effectively bars Palestinians who don’t have one. "If you’re a Palestinian born and raised in Lebanon and your dream is to become a doctor, you’re out of luck," said Nadim Houry, the Beirut director at Human Rights Watch.
Unlike in neighboring Arab countries Syria and Jordan, where Palestinians enjoy more rights, the refugees in Lebanon live mostly on U.N. agencies’ handouts and payments from the rival Palestinian factions. Those who are employed work either at the U.N. agency UNRWA or as laborers at menial jobs such as construction.
Ali Hamdan, an aide to Lebanon’s parliament speaker, said Tuesday’s vote will legalize much of the work that many Palestinians already are doing as well as open up positions in fields such as insurance and banking.
[…]
Colombia
11) Reward Offered in Killing of Colombian Unionist.
Latin American Herald Tribune. August 14, 2010
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=363131&CategoryId=12393
Bogota – Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Saturday offered a 50-million-peso ($27,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the slaying of unionist Luis German Restrepo.
The president denounced the killing of the president of the Sintraempaques union of packaging workers and urged authorities to do their utmost to identify who was behind the murder.
"A 10-million-peso reward had been offered for information that leads us to his killers; I want to raise that to 50 million for any person who gives us information on this despicable murder that we condemn categorically," Santos said.
[…] He described Restrepo as a "person who has done nothing other than defend Colombians’ labor rights, defend the basic rights of his countrymen, defend his ideas with integrity, with conviction," Santos said.
The 58-year-old union leader was shot dead Thursday in a coffee shop in downtown Medellin, Colombia’s second city.
He stood out among Colombian labor leaders for his support of a free-trade agreement between Bogota and Washington, which was signed in November 2006 but has yet to be ratified by the U.S. Congress.
[…] According to the latest annual report by the International Trade Union Confederation, published in June, 101 union representatives were killed worldwide in 2009, almost half (48) of them in Colombia.
—
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
Just Foreign Policy is a membership organization devoted to reforming US foreign policy so it reflects the values and interests of the majority of Americans.