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October 7, 2008
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On Invasion Anniversary, British Govt Says: Talk to Taliban
Tonight
is the second presidential debate. It is also the anniversary of the
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. To mark the occasion, the British
government, our closest allies in Europe, are sending us a message on
all channels: there is no military solution, there must be a political
solution, and there should be talks with the Taliban. It would be a
step forward for U.S. policy if both Presidential candidates would
acknowledge this reality in tonight's debate.
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/7/125632/842/608/622807
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Summary:
U.S./Top News
1)
Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday endorsed efforts to reach out
to members of the Taliban or other militants in Afghanistan who may be
considered reconcilable, AP reports.
2) A former Taliban
ambassador said the hard-line militants sat with Afghan officials and
Saudi King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia last month, AP reports. The former
Taliban official denied the could be construed as peace talks. But
President Karzai has long called for negotiations with the Taliban, and
the meeting could spur
future initiatives, AP notes. A Taliban spokesman said Monday that the
militant group is independent from al-Qaida.
3) A new study says up to 3,200 civilians have been killed in NATO
and US action in Afghanistan since 2005 but compensation payouts have
been far lower than in other global cases, AFP reports. The study's
author says groups tracking the civilian cost of the war, such as Human
Rights Watch, underestimate the death toll. "Air strikes are 4-10 times
as deadly for Afghan civilians as are ground attacks," he says.
4) McCain was closely connected to a private group that supplied aid to
rebels trying to overthrow the government of Nicaragua during the
Iran-Contra affair, AP reports. The U.S. Council for World Freedom was
part of an international organization linked to former Nazi
collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America.
Iran
5)
A top Iranian military official on Tuesday
urged Iraq to reject a proposed U.S.-Iraqi security deal, calling the
agreement a "disgrace," AP reports. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri's comments
came as Iraq's parliamentary speaker
arrived in Iran to discuss the deal and as Iraq's foreign minister told
reporters in Baghdad that Iraq and the U.S. were close to reaching an
agreement.
Iraq
6)
The Arab League dispatched an ambassador to Baghdad, the Washington
Post reports. The previous envoy of the Arab League quit in 2007,
criticizing Arab countries for not doing more to ease Iraqis'
suffering. "The Iraqis look forward to a larger role by the Arab League
in Iraq as well as positive and good relations with the Arab
countries," a lawmaker from the Shiite Fadhila Party, told the National
Iraqi News Agency.
7) The deputy speaker of the Iraqi
Parliament, called for the article guaranteeing political
representation of Christians and other minorities to be put
back into the law, saying the exclusion of the article was a mistake,
the New York Times reports.
Afghanistan
8)
The brother of Afghanistan's
president denied any involvement in the heroin trade, saying
accusations linking him to heroin shipments represented pressure on the
president after his criticism of a recent US airstrike that killed
scores of civilians, the New York Times reports. "Whenever anything
happens between the international community and President Karzai, there
has been an article about me," Ahmed Wali Karzai said.
Israel/Palestine
9)
Police in Egypt blocked a convoy organised by opposition groups to
carry medical supplies to Gaza, the BBC reports. Reports say at least
15 people were detained in Cairo. The Egyptian government has also
co-operated in the Israeli blockade of Gaza, the BBC notes. But many
Egyptians oppose their government's policy.
Bolivia
10)
President Morales will forge ahead with reforms opposed by rightist
governors after talks to ease political tensions collapsed and revealed
his rivals have few options left to derail his plans, Reuters reports.
More than two weeks of negotiations broke down on Sunday. Last week,
Morales said he will send a bill to Congress shortly to call for a
referendum on the constitutional draft approved last year in an elected
assembly boycotted by opposition parties. Some analysts say the
opposition has lost support among middle-class backers due to their use
of violent tactics.
Guatemala
11)
Former Guatemalan President Portillo was extradited from Mexico to face
corruption charges, Reuters reports. Guatemala's attorney general's
office said he diverted $15.7 million, slated for the defense ministry,
to his own accounts.
Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) Gates: Afghan Militants Key To Country's Future
Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press, Monday, October 6, 2008; 7:34 PM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/06/AR2008100602477.html
Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday endorsed efforts to reach out
to members of the Taliban or other militants in Afghanistan who may be
considered reconcilable, much like what has happened in Iraq. And he
rejected assertions made by a British commander that the Afghan war is
not winnable.
Speaking to reporters en route to international
meetings in Macedonia and Hungary, Gates said that efforts must be made
to determine who is willing to be part of the future of Afghanistan and
who is not. "That is one of the key long-term solutions in Afghanistan,
just as it has been in Iraq,"
said Gates, "Part of the solution is reconciliation with people who are
willing to work with the Afghan government going forward."
Those who are not willing to work with
the government must be dealt with militarily, he said. Gates' comments
followed revelations that Taliban representatives met with Afghan
government officials last month in Saudi Arabia, a former high-level
Taliban ambassador said Monday.
2) Taliban, Afghan officials meet in Saudi Arabia
Jason Straziuso, Associated Press, Monday, October 6, 2008; 8:20 PM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/06/AR2008100601307.html
A former Taliban ambassador said Monday that the hard-line militants
sat with Afghan officials and Saudi King Abdullah over an important
religious meal in Saudi Arabia late last month as the insurgency raged
back home.
Abdul
Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, denied that
the get-together could be construed as peace talks. But President Hamid
Karzai has long called for negotiations with
the Taliban, and the meeting could spur future initiatives.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said Monday that the militant
group is independent from al-Qaida. The U.S. and other Western
countries will never accept a peace deal with al-Qaida, the group
behind 9/11. That could provide incentive for Taliban leader Mullah
Omar to cement his independence from bin Laden's organization.
3) US, NATO attacks killed 3,200 Afghan civilians since 2005: study
AFP, Tue Oct 7, 5:18 AM ET
https://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081007/wl_afp/afghanistanunrestcivilians7years_081007091818
Up to 3,200 civilians have been killed in NATO and US action in Afghanistan since 2005
but compensation payouts have been far lower than in other global cases, according to research by a US professor.
The use of air power is growing, raising risks for civilians,
University of New Hampshire professor Marc W. Herold says in research
released on the anniversary of the October 7, 2001 launch of the
invasion of Afghanistan.
International troops arrived to topple the Taliban and have remained to
fight an insurgency in which civilians are killed in military action
and attacks, although the government and militaries involved do not
release numbers.
Herold says other groups tracking the
civilian cost of the war, such as Human Rights Watch, underestimate the
tolls while international military and media attach low value to Afghan
life in the accounting of events.
Herold, who runs the Afghan
Victim Memorial Project, says his research shows between 2,699 and
3,273 civilians were killed in direct action by international forces in
Afghanistan from 2005 to so far this year.
His figures, which
he says are also underestimates because civilians are sometimes
labelled militants by the military and unknown numbers of
injured dying, are based on media and nongovernment organisation
reports and other research.
"By relying upon aerial close air support attacks, US/NATO forces spare
their pilots and ground troops but kill lots of innocent Afghan
civilians.
"Air strikes are 4-10 times as deadly for Afghan civilians as are ground attacks," he says.
Herold says the US military gives families of its victims at most 2,500
dollars as a condolence payment - not "compensation" which would admit
wrong-doing. Canadian per person condolence payments to Afghans since
2006 range from 1,100-9,000 dollars, he says.
This compares to
1.85 million paid for victims of the 1988 bombing of a flight over
Lockerbie, Scotland, and 150,000 dollars per victim of a 1999
US bombing on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade that killed three Chinese
and wounded 23 other people.
4) McCain link to private group in Iran-Contra case
Pete Yost, Associated
Press, Tuesday, October 7, 2008; 12:20 AM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/07/AR2008100700025.html
John
McCain's campaign is criticizing Barack Obama for his ties to a former
radical who engaged in violent acts four decades ago, but McCain
himself was closely connected to a private group that supplied aid to
rebels trying to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua during
the Iran-Contra affair.
The U.S. Council for World Freedom was
part of an international organization linked to former Nazi
collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. The
group was dedicated to stamping out communism around the globe.
The council's founder, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, said
McCain became associated with the organization in the early 1980s as
McCain was launching his political career in
Arizona. Singlaub said McCain was a supporter but not an active member
in the group.
...
In the Iran-Contra affair, the Reagan White House arranged covert arms
shipments to the Contra rebels financed in part by secret arms sales to
Iran. Iran-Contra proved to be the undoing of Singlaub's council.
In 1987, the Internal Revenue Service withdrew the tax-exempt status of
Singlaub's group because of its activities on behalf of the Contras.
Elected to the House in 1982 and at a time when he was on the board of
Singlaub's council, McCain was among Republicans on Capitol Hill
expressing support for the Contras, a CIA-organized guerrilla force in
Central America. In 1984, Congress cut off CIA funds for the Contras.
Months before the cutoff, top Reagan
administration officials ramped up the secret White House-directed
supply network and put National Security Council aide Oliver North in
charge of running it. The goal was to keep the Contras
operational until Congress could be persuaded to resume CIA funding.
Singlaub's private group became the public cover for the White House
operation. Secretly, Singlaub worked with North in an effort to raise
millions of dollars from foreign governments.
McCain has said
previously he resigned from the council in 1984 and asked in 1986 to
have his name removed from the group's letterhead. "I didn't know
whether (the group's activity) was legal or illegal, but I didn't think
I wanted to be associated with them," McCain said in a newspaper
interview in 1986.
Singlaub does not recall any McCain
resignation in 1984 or May 1986, nor does Joyce Downey, who oversaw the
group's day-to-day activities.
Iran
5) Iran
opposes US-Iraq security deal,
Ali Akbar Dareini, AP, October 7, 2008
https://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j1Q4-XFCWyo9mk9IciOiFPRGFjNwD93LJ9880
A top Iranian military official on Tuesday urged Iraq to reject a
proposed U.S.-Iraqi security deal, calling the agreement a "disgrace."
Gen. Masoud Jazayeri's comments came as Iraq's parliamentary speaker
arrived in Tehran to discuss the deal and as Iraq's foreign minister
told reporters in Baghdad that Iraq and the U.S. were close to reaching
an agreement, though obstacles remain.
Iran, which is close to
Shiite parties who dominate Iraq's government, has repeatedly expressed
its opposition to any security deal that allows American forces to
remain in neighboring Iraq. Tehran contends that the American presence
is the cause of instability in Iraq and the region.
Iraq
6) Arab League Envoy Takes Up Post In Iraq
Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, Tuesday, October 7, 2008; A15
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/06/AR2008100601145.html
The Arab League dispatched an ambassador to Baghdad on Monday, the
latest sign of progress in the Iraqi and U.S. effort to ease this
country's diplomatic isolation.
Hani Khalaf arrived a day
after the first visit by an Egyptian foreign minister in 18 years. The
previous envoy of the 22-member Arab League quit in January 2007,
criticizing Arab countries for not doing more to ease Iraqis' suffering.
The U.S. government has urged the Sunni-dominated Arab governments in
the region to reestablish ties with Iraq's Shiite-led government. Many
have been hesitant because of violence here and
concerns that they could appear to be endorsing the U.S.-led invasion
of 2003. In addition, some nations are wary about the close ties the
Iraqi government has developed with Iran.
Khalaf, an Egyptian diplomat, told reporters before leaving Cairo that
he would try to promote reconciliation in Iraq. Violence has declined
here sharply in the past year but is still at staggering levels. "We
need a more active Arab role in Iraq," Khalaf said.
His arrival ended an embarrassing gap in representation by the Arab
League, which groups 21 predominantly Arabic-speaking nations and the
Palestinian Authority. The previous ambassador, Mukhtar Lamani, wrote a
scathing article after he quit about "the contrast between the enormous
suffering I saw daily in Baghdad and the persistent indifference
evident in the Arab League meetings in Cairo."
Iraqi
politicians welcomed Khalaf's arrival. "The Iraqis look forward to a
larger role by the Arab
League in Iraq as well as positive and good relations with the Arab
countries," Bassam Sharif, a lawmaker from the Shiite Fadhila Party,
told the National Iraqi News Agency.
...
Lebanon, Yemen and the Palestinian Authority maintain embassies in
Baghdad. The extreme violence of recent years has contributed to some
countries' reluctance to keep high-level representatives here.
7) Iraqis Unite To Restore Minority Representation Law
Erica Goode & Stephen Farrell, New York Times, October 7, 2008
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/world/middleeast/07iraq.html?ref=world
The
protest was small but determined. About 75 Christians and others
gathered at a church here on Monday to demand that the Iraqi Parliament
reinstate a section of an earlier version of the provincial elections
law that ensured political representation for Iraq's minorities.
The provision, which allowed for provincial council seats for
Christians and two other minority groups, was dropped before Parliament
approved the elections law on Sept. 24.
The
protesters, holding lighted candles, marched from the front steps of
Mar Yousef Church in central Baghdad to the church's garden, where
church leaders gave speeches and a brief prayer was said.
"We have a question mark at this point about why our government is
rejecting us," said Thair al-Sheekh, a priest at Sacred Heart Church in
Baghdad, who attended the late afternoon gathering. "They told us we
don't have a place in our government, and we don't know why."
Parliament's removal of the provision for minorities, he said, was the
most significant political development for Christians since American
troops overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003. "I think it is the first time
our government said that they don't want the Christians to stay here,"
he
said. "This is what we understand from this decision."
The organizers of the protest said that they were pleased with the turnout and happy that several tribal leaders
and other Muslim representatives from a council in the Karada neighborhood came to show their support.
But some participants said that they were disheartened by the
relatively small size of the gathering. Many Christians stayed away out
of fear of bombings or other violence, they said. "My friends are
afraid, and they said I was mad to come here," said a 50-year old woman
who identified herself as a high school physics teacher but requested
anonymity to avoid reprisals.
...
The provision on minorities
that was removed from a draft version of the law provided 13 provincial
council seats for Christians and 2 seats for two small minority groups,
Yazidis and Shabeks, in six provinces.
Younadim Kanna, head of
the Assyrian Democratic Movement and the only
Christian member of Parliament, said that the presidential panel had
indicated it would approve the elections law, but that it would also
recommend to Parliament that the measure dealing with
minorities be reinstated. Mr. Kanna said he hoped to present to the
speaker of the Parliament on Tuesday a petition signed by 50 members
requesting that the lawmakers vote again on the set-asides for
minorities.
More than a million Christians once lived in Iraq, but their numbers have dwindled to 500,000 or fewer.
The United Nations has expressed strong support for the concerns of
Christians and other minorities about the election law. Sheik Khalid
al-Attiya, the deputy speaker of the Parliament, also called for the
article to be put back into the law. "There was no intention, in fact,
to exclude the minorities," Mr. Attiya said, adding that the removal of
the article was "an unintentional mistake."
But Mr. Kanna said
arguments over the
seats allotted for Yazidis and Shabeks, and resistance to the provision
within two large Shiite political parties, had led to the measure being
dropped.
Afghanistan
8) Brother Of Karzai Denies Links To Heroin
Abdul Waheed Wafa, New York Times, October 7, 2008
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/world/asia/07afghan.html
The brother of Afghanistan's president denied any involvement in the
heroin trade at a news conference on Monday, saying accusations linking
him to heroin shipments were "baseless" and represented political
pressure on the president after his criticism of a recent American
airstrike that Afghanistan maintains killed scores of civilians.
The brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, was challenging an article in The New
York Times on Sunday, which examined the concerns of top American
officials that he might be involved in
heroin shipments, and that in any case, widespread perceptions that
President Hamid Karzai might be protecting him were damaging the
government's credibility and undermining efforts by the
United States to buttress it.
...
In a telephone interview
after the news conference on Monday, Ahmed Wali Karzai addressed a 2004
episode described in the article, in which Afghan security forces found
a cache of heroin in a tractor-trailer in Kandahar but, according to
notes taken by American investigators, were told by a presidential aide
to release the drugs and the vehicle. Ahmed Wali Karzai said that some
of the security forces, including the Kandahar police commander,
Habibullah Jan, were political opponents of President Karzai's and that
they were disgruntled over programs that cost them arms and influence.
...
President Karzai has increased his criticism of foreign forces in
Afghanistan as civilian casualties have mounted in operations meant to
strike at
insurgents.
The United States military is investigating an
assertion by villagers in western Afghanistan that about 90 people,
most of them children, died in a missile attack on Aug. 22.
The Afghan government and a United Nations investigation have backed
that assertion, but American officers have said that fewer than 10
civilians were killed in the strike.
"Whenever anything happens between the international community and
President Karzai, there has been an article about me," Ahmed Wali
Karzai said at the news conference, "as if I am a boxing bag for their
training."
Israel/Palestine
9) Egypt blocks Gaza protest attempt
BBC, Monday, 6 October 2008
https://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/7655184.stm
Police in Egypt have blocked a convoy organised by opposition groups to
carry medical
supplies to the Gaza Strip. The convoy had been due to leave from the
journalists' syndicate in central Cairo but activists gathering there
were surrounded by police.
Reports say at least
15 people were detained in Cairo - some of them linked to the Muslim
Brotherhood. Some activists were reportedly detained trying to cross
into Sinai and some nearer Rafah.
The protest is being supported by other opposition groups in Egypt.
Egyptian police prevented a similar attempted protest by Islamists in
September.
...
The Egyptian government has also co-operated in
the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which Israel says aims to undermine
support among Gaza Palestinians for the Islamist movement Hamas. But
many Egyptians oppose their government's policy. The crossing at Rafah
is closed almost all of the time.
Bolivia
10) Bolivia crisis talks breakdown won't slow Morales
Eduardo Garcia, Reuters, Oct 6
https://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06402746.htm
President Evo Morales will forge ahead with his leftist reforms opposed
by
rightist governors after talks to ease political tensions collapsed and
revealed his rivals have few options left to derail his plans.
More than two weeks of negotiations broke down late on Sunday, but
Morales has shown no signs of backtracking on the issue at the heart of
the conflict: implementing a leftist constitution.
...
Last
week, Morales said he will send a bill to Congress shortly to call for
a referendum on the constitutional draft approved last year in an
elected assembly boycotted by opposition parties. That will set up a
showdown. Morales' Movement Toward Socialism party controls the lower
house, but the opposition holds a majority in the Senate.
After staging sometimes-violent protests, Morales' rivals have lost
support among middle-class backers
in eastern and central regions, says Kathryn Ledebur, head of the
Andean Information Network think tank. "They need to change their
strategy," she said.
...
Morales'
supporters have vowed to rally to Bolivia's administrative capital La
Paz next week to press lawmakers to ratify the referendum bill. Morales
has also said he would like to call a general election next year once
the constitution is approved - a move that could further strengthen him
politically.
Guatemala
11) Ex-president of Guatemala extradited for corruption
Sarah Grainger, Reuters, Tuesday, October 7, 2008; 3:58 PM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/07/AR2008100701921.html
Former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo, accused of fraud and corruption at the end of his term in 2004, was extradited on
Tuesday from Mexico to face charges in his home country.
Portillo slipped into Mexico amid a wave of arrests of his former cabinet members after he left office. Guatemala's attorney
general's office said he diverted $15.7 million, slated for the defense ministry, to his own accounts.
The ex-president arrived in Guatemala from Mexico and was on his way to
court to face charges, a foreign ministry official told Reuters. A
Mexican judge ordered his extradition in 2006 but the process was held
up by appeals. Portillo gave himself up to Mexican authorities,
Guatemalan radio reported on Tuesday.
Portillo won office
promising to redistribute wealth in impoverished Guatemala. He was the
candidate for the party of dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who was accused
of masterminding massacres of Mayans at the height of Guatemala's
1960-1996 civil war.
-
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
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