Just Foreign Policy News
August 5, 2010
A Backdoor to U.S. War with Iran?
Some in Washington are trying to promote the "right" of Israel to strike Iran. But as Gareth Porter noted, the US could likely be drawn in to a military conflict between Israel and Iran, so legitimizing an Israeli strike could create a backdoor to a US war. Urge your Representative to oppose H. Res. 1553, which endorses the "right" of Israel to attack Iran.
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/hres1553
Bacevich: Vietnam vs. Munich, and "Iraq/Afghanistan Syndrome"
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," as Martin Luther King called for in 1967. Because of his personal background and establishment credentials, Bacevich may be able to move Americans now beyond the reach of the peace movement. A key task for ending our current wars and preventing future ones is to break the current near-monolithic support for permanent war among the dominant institutions of the Republican Party – a stance that effectively disenfranchises the substantial minority of Republican voters who oppose the permanent war.
http://www.truth-out.org/bacevich-vietnam-vs-munich-and-creating-iraqafghanistan-syndrome62036
Get the book, read it, give it to a Republican friend
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/buywashingtonrules
September 24th: JFP "Virtual Brown Bag" with Andrew Bacevich
https://www.justforeignpolicy.org/bacevichtalk
Democracy Now: Emily Henochowicz Speaks Out
"I’m not ashamed of the fact that I lost my eye. I’m proud of who I am. I believed in the cause, and that’s why I came to that demonstration on that day."
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/5/exclusiveemily_henochowicz_speaks_out_art_student
South of the Border, scheduled screenings:
http://southoftheborderdoc.com/in-theatres/
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Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) President Obama put the issue of negotiating with Iran firmly back on the table in a White House session with journalists, writes David Ignatius in the Washington Post. "It is very important to put before the Iranians a clear set of steps that we would consider sufficient to show that they are not pursuing nuclear weapons," Obama said. "They should know what they can say ‘yes’ to." As in the past, he left open the possibility the US would accept a deal that allows Iran to maintain its civilian nuclear program, so long as Iran provides "confidence-building measures" to verify that it is not building a bomb. The renewed opening to Iran included a proposal for talks on Afghanistan. He urged that Iran should be included in regional talks about stability.
2) Activists behind the Gaza aid convoy stopped by a deadly Israeli commando raid said they are planning another, bigger flotilla before the end of the year, AP reports.
3) NATO officials acknowledged reports that "between four and a dozen or more" civilians were killed in a coalition airstrike Thursday in Nangarhar Province, the New York Times reports. Afghan accounts put the civilian fatalities as high as 32. In an unrelated case of civilian casualties, Afghan and coalition officials continued to dispute what happened in Sangin District of Helmand Province on July 26, when U.S. Marines fired a missile at a house from which they had been receiving gunfire. A senior official for the international forces said about 6 civilians were killed. Afghan officials initially put the death toll at 52 civilians in the gunbattle, while officials from the international force initially denied that any civilians had been killed. President Karzai said Wednesday that 39 civilians were killed from the rocket strike on the house.
4) Pressure is growing on Mexican President Calderon to justify his strategy in the "war on drugs," after figures released this week put the number of drug war related murders at 28,000, the Guardian reports. This year Mexico’s national congress began a debate on drug legalization as a way to reduce the violence. "Legalisation would render the war pointless as drugs would become just another product like tobacco or alcohol," said Jorge Castañeda, a legalisation advocate and former foreign minister. He added that even if it did prompt an increase in drug use, "It is worth considering whether this is preferable to having 28,000 deaths."
5) A report by former US Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer for the Council on Foreign Relations advises U.S. policy makers to prepare for the possibility of war in the next 12 to 18 months between Israel and Hizbollah, writes Jim Zogby for Truthout. Kurtzer sees it as unlikely that Hizbollah would launch hostilities, and suggests that the more likely scenarios are that Israel would either try to lure the Lebanese militia into a war or take it upon itself to attack Hizbollah positions in Lebanon in an effort to "degrade" the group’s military "capabilities." Kurtzer cautions that no good would come of this renewed conflict. The U.S. would witness severe setbacks to its three major policy objectives in the Middle East: "Slowing or stopping Iran’s nuclear program, withdrawing combat forces from Iraq, and helping Middle East peace talks succeed".
6) The US is in negotiations to share nuclear technology with Vietnam in a deal that would allow Hanoi to enrich its own uranium – terms critics say would undercut the more stringent demands the U.S. has been making of its partners in the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reports. Both the Obama and Bush administrations had been requiring countries interested in nuclear cooperation with the U.S. to renounce the right to enrich uranium in-country for civilian purposes, a right provided to signatories of the NPT. The US is negotiating a pact with Jordan in which Washington is demanding Jordan commit to not developing an indigenous nuclear-fuel cycle. "It’s ironic…as nonproliferation is one of the president’s top goals that the U.A.E. model is not being endorsed here," said a senior Arab official whose government is pursuing nuclear power. "People will start to see a double standard, and it will be a difficult policy to defend in the future."
7) Treasury approved a license to the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights to challenge the targeting for assassination of US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, the New York Times reports. The groups said they appreciated the "quick response to our lawsuit" but would press forward with seeking to have the licensing requirement system struck down.
Afghanistan
8) Izatullah Nasrat Yar is campaigning to be the first former Guantanamo detainee to be elected to the Afghan parliament, McClatchy reports. Yar, who’s a Pashtun, suggested that in arresting him the Americans had been duped by rival Tajiks in his village who were looking to boost their power and influence. Yar called President Karzai the leader of a U.S. "puppet government," but said running for parliament was the best choice among unpalatable options. While many election experts are wary of the upcoming vote, there’s broad agreement that postponing it would be a mistake.
9) Gen. Petraeus has launched a PR offensive to focus attention on the Taliban-led insurgency’s killings and abuse of Afghan civilians, McClatchy reports. Some U.S. officials had argued against calling too much attention to insurgent attacks and mistreatment of civilians. Doing so, they contended, would only remind people in Afghanistan and in ISAF-contributing nations that Karzai and his foreign backers have had difficulty providing security.
Iran
10) A new poll shows that the percentage of the Arab world that thinks a nuclear-armed Iran would be good for the Middle East has doubled since last year and now comprises the majority, the Washington Times reports. Sixty-one percent of respondents cite the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the issue on which they are most disappointed with the Obama administration.
Venezuela
11) US ambassador-designate to Venezuela Larry Palmer told Senator Lugar’s office he was "keenly aware of the clear ties between members of the Venezuelan government" and leftist Colombian guerrillas, including the FARC, AFP reports.
Guatemala
12) The leader of the union representing employees of the Guatemalan immigration service was found murdered inside his home, EFE reports. An official of the CGTC labor federation, Jose Pinzon, condemned the murder and demanded a thorough investigation. Forty-six Guatemalan union leaders have been slain since 2007 and the majority of the killings have gone unpunished, Pinzon said.
Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) Obama offers Iran an opening on engagement
David Ignatius, Washington Post, Thursday, August 5, 2010; A17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/04/AR2010080406238.html
President Obama put the issue of negotiating with Iran firmly back on the table Wednesday in an unusual White House session with journalists. His message was that even as U.N. sanctions squeeze Tehran, he is leaving open a "pathway" for a peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue.
"It is very important to put before the Iranians a clear set of steps that we would consider sufficient to show that they are not pursuing nuclear weapons," Obama said, adding: "They should know what they can say ‘yes’ to." As in the past, he left open the possibility that the United States would accept a deal that allows Iran to maintain its civilian nuclear program, so long as Iran provides "confidence-building measures" to verify that it is not building a bomb.
The renewed opening to Iran also included a proposal for talks on Afghanistan. Obama said he favored a "separate track" for discussion of this issue, in which the two sides have a "mutual interest" in fighting the Taliban. He urged that, as part of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s push for "reintegration" with the Taliban, Iran should be included in regional talks about stability. "Iran should be a part of that and could be a constructive partner," he said.
[…] Obama said he hadn’t had any direct contact with Khamenei or Ahmadinejad about renewing talks, but he said Iranian officials have said they want to rejoin the Geneva negotiations with the group of leading nations known as the "P5-plus-one," perhaps in September.
[…] What came through in Obama’s upbeat presentation was the administration’s view that for all Tehran’s bombast, the United States and its allies have the upper hand.
One reason for this confidence is that Iran appears to be having serious technical problems with its enrichment process – due to bad design, bad luck or deliberate sabotage. A senior official said that only 3,800 centrifuges were now operating at Natanz, at only about 60 percent of their design capacity, with another 4,000 in reserve to cope with breakdowns.
U.S. officials also appear increasingly confident that because of Iran’s setbacks and aggressive monitoring by U.S. intelligence, it will be hard for Tehran over the next year or two to achieve either a "breakout," where it announces it has a bomb, or a "sneak out," where it reaches that goal surreptitiously.
Obama’s strengths were on display Wednesday in his strategic analysis and his command of detail. Skeptics in Israel and elsewhere would question whether Iran subjects its nuclear policy to a cost-benefit analysis. But Obama, uncertain about that issue himself, is at least proposing to put it to the test.
2) New Gaza aid flotilla planned before year-end
Malin Rising, Associated Press, Wednesday, August 4, 2010; 1:04 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/04/AR2010080403243.html
Stockholm – Pro-Palestinian activists behind the Gaza aid convoy stopped by a deadly Israeli commando raid in May said Wednesday they are planning another, bigger flotilla before the end of the year.
The network of organizations involved in the effort is growing and now has support groups around the world, including in the U.S., Venezuela, Chile, and Malaysia, said Dror Feiler, a spokesman for the Swedish group Ship to Gaza. He said European representatives of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an umbrella group, met in Stockholm on Wednesday to plan a new flotilla with up to 12 ships.
They are hoping to include celebrity activists including lawmakers, musicians, artists and sports stars from around world, Feiler said, but didn’t give any names.
Israeli commandos on May 31 raided a six-ship aid flotilla, killing eight Turks and one Turkish-American. Although Israel claimed the soldiers acted in self defense, the bloodshed provoked an international outcry that forced it to ease its Gaza blockade – imposed when Hamas seized control of the area in 2007.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said Israel’s steps have not been enough. "Israel’s alleged easing of the closure on Gaza has been purely cosmetic, intended only to deflect criticism from its illegal policies," the organization said in a statement released at the Stockholm meeting. "Expanding the list of items permitted into Gaza does not address the most fundamental concern of the people there – freedom of movement," it said.
[…]
3) Afghans Say NATO Strikes Killed Civilians
Rod Nordland, New York Times, August 5, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/world/asia/06afghan.html
Kabul, Afghanistan – NATO officials acknowledged preliminary reports that "between four and a dozen or more" civilians were killed in a coalition airstrike Thursday in Nangarhar Province. Afghan accounts put the civilian fatalities as high as 32.
A statement from the international forces confirmed that they had mounted a joint operation with Afghan forces in the area to search for a Taliban commander, and killed 2 senior Taliban leaders as well as 15 to 20 other insurgents. As the force departed they were fired on from several locations and called in an airstrike to cover their withdrawal, they said.
"Coalition forces deeply regret that our joint operation appears to have resulted in civilian loss of life and we express our sincerest condolences to the families," Rear Adm. Greg Smith, the international force’s director of communication, said in a statement.
At the scene, in the village of Hashim Khail Wadi in the Khogeyani District, a reporter for The New York Times counted 12 fresh graves. Residents said they had just buried civilian victims of the bombing and that a total of 32 people had been killed there and in another village nearby, Nakrro Khail, in Sherzad District.
The victims were said to be in a house in Nakrro Khail and at a ford in Hashim Khail Wadi, where vehicles were blocked by a flood and parked waiting to cross when they were rocketed by planes. The attack took place about 4 a.m., the residents said.
President Hamid Karzai ordered an investigation. Tolo TV in Kabul quoted local officials putting the civilian death toll at 12.
[…] In an unrelated case of civilian casualties, Afghan and coalition officials continued to dispute what happened in Sangin District of Helmand Province on July 26, when U.S. Marines fired a missile at a house from which they had been receiving gunfire.
A senior intelligence official for the international forces, speaking on condition of anonymity as a matter of policy because of his position, said that about 6 civilians were killed, as well as Taliban fighters for a total of 14 deaths. The civilians were killed when the Marines fired a shoulder-mounted Javelin rocket at a house where Taliban had taken up positions on the roof, while keeping civilians trapped inside.
[…] Afghan officials initially put the death toll at 52 civilians in the gunbattle, while officials from the international force initially denied that any civilians had been killed.
President Karzai sent a delegation of provincial and local officials to investigate and announced after meeting with them on Wednesday that 39 civilians were killed from the rocket strike on the house, where large numbers of people had taken refuge from the fighting.
[…]
4) Mexico looks to legalisation as drug war murders hit 28,000
President joins calls for debate after figures reveal extent of violence since launch of military offensive against cartels in 2006
Jo Tuckman, Guardian, Wednesday 4 August 2010 20.13 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/04/mexico-legalisation-debate-drug-war
Mexico City – Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón, has joined calls for a debate on the legalisation of drugs as new figures show thousands of Mexicans every year being slaughtered in cartel wars.
"It is a fundamental debate," the president said, belying his traditional reluctance to accept any questioning of the military-focused offensive against the country’s drug cartels that he launched in late 2006. "You have to analyse carefully the pros and cons and key arguments on both sides." The president said he personally opposes the idea of legalisation.
Calderón’s new openness comes amid tremendous pressure to justify a strategy that has been accompanied by the spiralling of horrific violence around the country as the cartels fight each other and the government crack down. Official figures released this week put the number of drug war related murders at 28,000.
Until recently the government regularly played down the general impact of the violence by claiming that 90% of the victims were associated with the cartels, with the remainder largely from the security forces. In recent months it has started to acknowledge a growing number of "civilian victims" ranging from toddlers caught in the cross fire to students massacred at parties.
Momentum behind the idea that legalisation could be part of the solution has been growing since three prominent former Latin American presidents signed a document last year arguing the case. César Gaviria of Colombia, Fernando Cardoso of Brazil and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico urged existing governments to consider legalising marijuana as a way of slashing cartel profits.
This year Mexico’s national congress began a debate on the possibility that resurfaced again this week during a series of round table discussions between the Calderón, security experts, business leaders and civic groups. The "Dialogue for Security: Evaluation and Strengthening" is part of a new government effort to counter the growing perception in Mexico that the president’s drug war strategy is a disaster.
"I’m not talking just about legalizing marijuana," analyst and write Hector Aguilar Camin said during the Tuesday session, "rather all drugs in general."
[…] Calderón did not mention current moves to soften drug laws in the US, including a planned vote in California in November on an initiative that would allow marijuana to be sold and taxed. Nor did he address the home grown argument that legalisation would remove the roots of the violence raging in the country.
"Legalisation would render the war pointless as drugs would become just another product like tobacco or alcohol," Jorge Castañeda, a legalisation advocate and former foreign minister, told W Radio. He added that even if it did prompt an increase in drug use, "It is worth considering whether this is preferable to having 28,000 deaths."
[…]
5) Dangerous Illusions
James J. Zogby, Truthout, Wednesday 04 August 2010
http://www.truth-out.org/dangerous-illusions61990
After a century in which tragedy has been heaped upon tragedy across the Middle East, it is distressing to see how many dangerous illusions still shape the behavior of so many of the region’s principal players.
This truth was brought home by a recent report, "A Third Lebanon War", issued by the influential Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). The author of the report, former Ambassador to Egypt and Israel, Dan Kurtzer, after methodically assessing factors on all sides, advises U.S. policy makers to prepare for the possibility of war in the next 12 to 18 months between Israel and Hizbollah forces in Lebanon.
[…] The developments that prompt Kurtzer’s assessment are twofold: Israel’s growing concerns with the quantity and quality of weapons alleged to have been amassed by Hizbollah in violation of U.N. Security Council Res. 1701, and the heightened war-like rhetoric on both sides.
Kurtzer sees it as unlikely that Hizbollah would launch hostilities, and suggests that the more likely scenarios are that Israel would either try to lure the Lebanese militia into a war or take it upon itself to attack Hizbollah positions in Lebanon in an effort to "degrade" the group’s military "capabilities".
Kurtzer cautions that no good would come of this renewed conflict. Lebanon would again pay a bitter price. Israel, already experiencing some degree of international isolation, would see its standing further compromised, and such an adventure would most likely not result in dislodging or weakening Hizbollah. And the U.S. would witness severe setbacks to its three major policy objectives in the Middle East: "Slowing or stopping Iran’s nuclear program, withdrawing combat forces from Iraq, and helping Middle East peace talks succeed".
[…]
6) U.S., Hanoi In Nuclear Talks
Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2010
Vietnam Plan to Enrich Uranium May Undercut Nonproliferation Efforts, Rile China
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704741904575409261840078780.html
Washington – The Obama administration is in advanced negotiations to share nuclear fuel and technology with Vietnam in a deal that would allow Hanoi to enrich its own uranium-terms that critics on Capitol Hill say would undercut the more stringent demands the U.S. has been making of its partners in the Middle East.
[…] Some counterproliferation experts and U.S. lawmakers briefed on the talks say the deal also marks a step backward in Washington’s recent nonproliferation efforts, pointing to a key proviso that would allow Hanoi to produce nuclear fuel on its own soil.
Both the Obama and George W. Bush administrations had been requiring that countries interested in nuclear cooperation with the U.S. renounce the right to enrich uranium in-country for civilian purposes, a right provided to signatories of the United Nations’ Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The technologies required to produce fuel for power reactors can also be used to create atomic weapons, raising proliferation fears.
U.S. officials have hailed a nuclear-cooperation agreement that President Barack Obama signed last year with the United Arab Emirates as a nonproliferation model, because the Arab country agreed to purchase all of its nuclear fuel from the international market. The Obama administration is currently negotiating a nuclear pact with Jordan in which Washington is also demanding that the country commit to not developing an indigenous nuclear-fuel cycle.
The senior U.S. official briefed on the Vietnam talks said the State Department is setting a different standard for Hanoi, as the Middle East is viewed as posing a greater proliferation risk than Asia. "Given our special concerns about Iran and the genuine threat of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, we believe the U.A.E….agreement is a model for the region," said the U.S. official. "These same concerns do not specifically apply in Asia. We will take different approaches region by region and country by country."
[…] Congressional staff and nonproliferation experts briefed on the negotiations have been quick to criticize the State Department’s position as a rollback of a key Obama administration nonproliferation platform. They also say Washington’s position exposes it to criticism from Arab and developing countries that the U.S. is employing a double standard in pursuing its nuclear policies.
This could cause Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other nations currently pursuing cooperation agreements with Washington to balk at accepting the same tough terms as the U.A.E.
"It’s ironic…as nonproliferation is one of the president’s top goals that the U.A.E. model is not being endorsed here," said a senior Arab official whose government is pursuing nuclear power. "People will start to see a double standard, and it will be a difficult policy to defend in the future."
[…]
7) Lawyers Win Right To Aid U.S. Target
New York Times, August 4, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/world/05terror.html
Washington – The Treasury Department on Wednesday granted permission to a group of human rights lawyers who want to file a lawsuit on behalf of a radical Muslim cleric thought to be hiding in Yemen. The Obama administration has authorized killing the cleric as a terrorist despite his American citizenship.
The department approved a license to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights to challenge the targeting of the man, Anwar al-Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico and is accused of having ties to Al Qaeda.
Last month, Mr. Awlaki’s father retained the two groups to bring a lawsuit seeking to stop the government from trying to kill his son without a trial. But on July 16, the Treasury Department labeled Mr. Awlaki a "specially designated global terrorist." That made it illegal for lawyers to work on his behalf without a license.
The groups applied for a license on July 23, and on Tuesday they filed a lawsuit arguing that the licensing regulation was unconstitutional. In a statement, the groups said they appreciated the "quick response to our lawsuit" but would press forward with seeking to have the licensing requirement system struck down.
Afghanistan
8) Ex-Guantanamo detainee now campaigning in Afghanistan
Dion Nissenbaum, McClatchy Newspapers, Wed, Aug. 04, 2010
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/08/04/98642/prison-to-parliament-ex-guantanamo.html
Sorobi, Afghanistan – In a country whose young parliament is filled with warlords, suspected drug barons, one-time mujahedeen fighters and religious zealots, Izatullah Nasrat Yar can still make history. Yar has set out to become the first "enemy combatant" once held at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to become an elected Afghan lawmaker in this fall’s legislative elections.
After nearly five years in America’s controversial prison, Yar is one of 2,500 candidates who are running in a September election that’s expected to be a barometer of the nation’s political maturity. "I believe there is no need for fighting now," Yar said in an interview at his family-run gas station on the road between Kabul and Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. "This is the time to fight with the pen and words. This is the time to put down the weapons."
[…] Not far from this gas station, Yar’s journey to Guantanamo began on March 1, 2003, when U.S. forces turned up at his home to ask some questions. Yar left his house with American forces, expecting to return within the hour. It was more than five years before he saw most of his family again.
In his youth, Yar served as a local commander for Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hezb-i-Islami, one of two main insurgent groups that fought the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan with U.S. backing and are now allied with the Taliban. For days, interrogators at Bagram Air Base grilled Yar about his ties to Hekmatyar and accused him of planning rocket attacks on American forces. They challenged his contention that the 700 weapons stored in his family compound were collected at the request of the new Afghan government.
As Yar’s detention dragged on, his father, Nusrat Khan, decided to complain. He, too, was arrested. Soon, the feeble father in his 70s was on his way to join his son, as one of the oldest prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.
[…] Yar, who’s a Pashtun, the ethnic group that dominates southern Afghanistan and the Taliban movement, suggested that the Americans had been duped by rival Tajiks in his village who were looking to boost their power and influence. "They couldn’t find any excuse to get rid of us (so) they just tied these allegations on (to) us to get us put in jail," Yar told a Guantanamo detainee review board in 2005. "Anybody who is not on their side would be put in jail so they can get total control of the government."
[…] "Based on my experience, it seemed that there was a pretty high probability that they were the victims of allegations made by rivals," said Peter Ryan, the Philadelphia-based attorney for Yar, his father and more than a dozen other Guantanamo detainees. "He always came across to me as a sincere and well-intentioned person who was mystified as to why he was in Guantanamo and deeply, deeply troubled to be so far away from his family."
[…] Yar returned to Afghanistan with a palpable disdain for Americans. "When they took me to the plane and shaved my beard, I realized that Americans are the cruelest people in the world and they’re very stupid," Yar said. "You destroy the life of someone whose crime is unproved and claim you are protecting human rights."
Yar called Afghan President Hamid Karzai the leader of a U.S. "puppet government," but said running for parliament was the best choice among unpalatable options.
Taliban stalwarts, who control about a third of Sorobi, have indirectly discouraged Yar from taking part in the election. Although several candidates already have been attacked during the campaign, Yar appeared unfazed. "There are two ways: One is the Taliban way and one is the government way," he said. "I choose the government. I think it is the better way to serve the country and people."
[…] Even though security problems have worsened since Karzai was re-elected and voters in strategic swaths of the country could be unable to vote, there appears to be little appetite for postponing the elections, however. "It’s not just an academic point," said one Western diplomat in Kabul, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity so he could be more candid in discussing his views about the Afghan election. "One of the biggest challenges is narrowing the gap between the government and the people and an election is a fundamentally important mechanism to do that, whether it’s a perfect election or not."
While many election experts are wary of the upcoming vote, there’s broad agreement that postponing it would be a mistake. "I believe postponing the elections would further undermine the legitimacy of this government and will add to the disillusionment of those communities and groups who feel they are marginalized totally by the government," said Nader Nadery, the head of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan and a veteran human rights activist.
"They strongly believe that the only way for them currently is to be elected in parliament, and if for whatever reason the elections are postponed, they would accept the conspiracy theory that the government is trying to control and marginalize other ethnic groups from the centers of power," Nadery said.
9) U.S. PR Offensive Highlights Insurgent Attacks On Afghan Civilians
Jonathan S. Landay and Dion Nissenbaum, McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/08/04/98644/us-pr-offensive-highlights-insurgent.html
Kabul, Afghanistan – In one of his first major initiatives since he took command of the international force in Afghanistan a month ago, Army Gen. David Petraeus has launched a public relations offensive to focus attention on the Taliban-led insurgency’s killings and abuse of Afghan civilians.
Besides issuing press releases, Petraeus has urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai to speak out more forcefully against the insurgency’s targeting of civilians, three U.S. officials said. Karzai has been quick to lambaste the U.S.-led international force for accidentally killing non-combatants, but far more restrained in condemning deliberate acts by insurgents, they said.
[…] The new campaign was a subject of intense debate within ISAF and the U.S. government over whether focusing greater attention on civilian casualties caused by the insurgency could help or hurt Karzai and his foreign allies, U.S. officials said.
Some U.S. officers and officials had argued successfully against calling too much attention to insurgent attacks and mistreatment of civilians. Doing so, they contended, would only remind people in Afghanistan and in ISAF-contributing nations that Karzai and his foreign backers have had difficulty providing security.
"You’ve got to strike a balance between the harm that the insurgents are causing and the extent to which you’re highlighting what you’re doing to prevent that," said a senior U.S. military official involved in the debate who requested anonymity in order to discuss the issue. "The greater lengths you go to in highlighting the bad things the insurgents are doing can have an impact. But at the same time, you are highlighting the inability of the pro-government forces to protect the people."
[…]
Iran
10) Poll finds majority of Arab world views nuclear-armed Iran positively
Obama’s popularity in region plummets
Benjamin Birnbaum, Washington Times, Thursday, August 5, 2010
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/aug/5/poll-majority-of-arab-world-views-nuke-armed-iran-/
A new poll shows that the percentage of the Arab world that thinks a nuclear-armed Iran would be good for the Middle East has doubled since last year and now comprises the majority.
The 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll found that 57 percent of respondents not only believe that Iran’s nuclear program aims to build a bomb but also view that goal positively, nearly double the 29 percent who said so in 2009. The percentage of those who view it negatively fell by more than half, from 46 percent to 21 percent.
The survey was conducted June 19 through July 20 by University of Maryland professor Shibley Telhami in conjunction with the polling firm Zogby International. It included 3,976 respondents from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 1.6 percentage points.
[…] Among other findings:
*President Obama’s favorable ratings fell from 45 percent in 2009 to 20 percent this year while his unfavorables nearly tripled, from 23 percent to 62 percent. Similarly, the number of respondents who described themselves as "hopeful" for the administration’s Middle East policy declined from 51 percent to 16 percent, while the ranks of the "discouraged" ballooned from 15 percent to 63 percent.
*Sixty-one percent of respondents cite the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the issue on which they are most disappointed with the Obama administration, while 27 percent choose Iraq and 4 percent Afghanistan.
*Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 86 percent would support a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, in principle. The percentage who would oppose it under any circumstances fell from 25 percent in 2009 to 12 percent this year. Those who believe a solution can be attained only through negotiations outnumber those who favor war as the preferred means 39 percent to 16 percent.
Asked which world leader outside their own country they admire most, the largest percentage of respondents (20 percent) named Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish leader appears to have earned credit across the Arab world for taking a hard line against Israel after nine Turks were killed May 31 aboard a Turkish-flagged ship trying to run Israel’s blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Venezuela
11) FARC operate freely in Venezuela: new US envoy.
AFP, August 5, 2010
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5goo9c_apOFXMZwIamXg7JCvYrvQA
Washington – Colombian guerrillas operate freely in Venezuela and some occasionally appear in public in Caracas, a US ambassador-designate said in comments released Wednesday that back Bogota’s claim in a bitter diplomatic row. Larry Palmer, who has been nominated as the US ambassador to Venezuela, made the comments in a written answer to questions from a US senator released Wednesday, offering a more detailed explanation of Washington’s view of the dispute.
Palmer said he was "keenly aware of the clear ties between members of the Venezuelan government" and leftist Colombian guerrillas, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
He said FARC guerrillas "maintain camps in Venezuela, and members of the FARC high command have occasionally appeared in public in Caracas. "The Venezuelan government has been unwilling to prevent Colombian guerrillas from entering and establishing camps in Venezuelan territory."
The response released by Senator Richard Lugar was more specific than that from a State Department official last month who said that allegations that Venezuela is harboring leftist Colombian guerrillas in its territory should be taken "very seriously."
[…]
Guatemala
12) Guatemalan Union Leader Murdered
EFE, August 2, 2010
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=361693&CategoryId=23558
Guatemala City – The leader of the union representing employees of the Guatemalan immigration service was found murdered inside his home in the capital, authorities said Monday. Juan Fidel Pacheco’s body was discovered last Saturday night by a friend of the family, police said in a report.
The body bore signs of torture and several stab wounds, according to the report.
Guatemala’s national ombud, Sergio Morales, told reporters that Pacheco filed a report with his office last Friday about an alleged migrant-trafficking operation in Central America.
Pacheco, who spent more than two decades in the immigration service, had a criminal record for forging passports and was accused in 2005 of providing phony documents for anti-Castro militant Luis Posadas Carriles, accused in the deadly 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner.
An official of the CGTC labor federation, Jose Pinzon, condemned Pacheco’s murder and demanded a thorough investigation.
Forty-six Guatemalan union leaders have been slain since 2007 and the majority of the killings have gone unpunished, Pinzon said.
–
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
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