Newsroom
Just Foreign Policy News
August 8, 2006
In this issue:
1) Lieberman and Lamont Battle to the Wire
2) Israel Considers Lebanese Troop Offer
3) After Bomb Kills Loved Ones, Life Turns Ghostly
4) NYT Editorial: Start Talking
5) Desolation: Hit on Bridge North of Tyre Isolates South of Lebanon
6) The Environment: Dry Forests in Northern Israel Are Damaged as Hezbollah’s Rocket Attacks Ignite Fires
7) Israeli Soldiers Find a Tenacious Foe in Hezbollah
8) Lebanon's Proposals Change Dynamics
9) Christian support to Israel dies under hail of bombs
10) US Says Iran May Use Lebanon War to Hurt Iraq
11) Sanctions Threaten Russian Ties: Analysts
12) Soldier Who Testified on Killings Says He Feared for His Life
13) C.I.A. Contractor Goes to Trial in Abuse Case
14) Must Haves: Cellphones Top Iraqi Cool List
15) AP Blog: Suitcases Selling Well in Iraq
16) Half of U.S. Still Believes Iraq Had WMD
17) Mexico: Leftist Demands Overhaul on Top of Recount
Contents:
1) Lieberman and Lamont Battle to the Wire
Patrick Healy
New York Times
August 8, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/nyregion/08campaign.html
As Connecticut voters prepared for their highly anticipated Democratic primary today, Senator Joseph Lieberman and Ned Lamont, the two rivals for United States Senate, used sharply different tactics yesterday in a contest that appeared to be tightening. Lieberman, the three-term incumbent whose support for the Iraq war has cost him voters, held nine events over 13 hours. He also spent tens of thousands of dollars on an unconventional two-minute television ad in which he aligned himself with Democratic anger over Iraq and President Bush, an attempt to neutralize Mr. Lamont’s signature antiwar message.At a news conference last night, Mr. Lamont tried to remind voters a final time of his political theme, saying he believed voters were “ready to change course,” in the Senate and, implicitly, in Iraq. The Connecticut race, which has been regarded by some Democrats nationally as a referendum on the party’s wartime posture, had been tilting in Lamont’s favor in the last two weeks, according to public opinion polls and anecdotal evidence from voters. Yet Lieberman seem buoyed yesterday by a new poll from Quinnipiac University that showed him down by 6 points, within the poll’s margin of sampling error.
2) Lebanese Offer to Send Troops to Patrol Border Is Considered by Israel
Hassan M. Fattah And Steven Erlanger
New York Times
August 8, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/middleeast/08cnd-mideast.html
Lebanon’s government offered Monday to deploy 15,000 of its troops in the south if Israel entirely withdraws its forces, a largely symbolic maneuver that would answer a demand by the international community for Lebanon to secure its southern border, which is now controlled by Hezbollah. [The article does not explain why this should be considered a "largely symbolic maneuver" - JFP.] Ghazi Aridi, Lebanon’s information minister, said the proposed deployment underscores the government commitment to a negotiated cease-fire.“The army is ready,” said Aridi. Israel’s prime minister Olmert called the plan "interesting," and said he would study it. "The faster we can leave south Lebanon, the happier we will be," he said. Even so, Israeli officials are determined not to agree to a cease-fire that would allow Hezbollah to rebuild the positions it has been attacking over the last three weeks, and Olmert said his security cabinet would meet Wednesday to discuss expanding its ground campaign if no cease-fire were imminent. The longer it takes for an international force to arrive, the greater is the pressure on the government to order the army further north to push back the short-range Katyushas.
3) After Bomb Kills Loved Ones, Life Turns Ghostly
Sabrina Tavernise
New York Times
August 8, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/middleeast/08survivor.html
After a bomb hits, the remains of a life are modest. Ghazi Samra, a fisherman, is feeling the new shape of his. Last month, his wife, one of his daughters and a granddaughter were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Since then, his life has shrunk to the size of one crooked city block. He tries to sleep in an apartment that is not his own. He wears his wife’s glasses, more out of a craving for closeness to her than as an aid to see. The shirt and shorts he is wearing are his brother’s. He has not felt able to return to his own apartment. “I became a different person,” said Mr. Samra, sitting on a battered chair in a local gathering space at the intersection of two narrow stone streets. “I can’t talk with my children. I’m not wearing my own clothes.”
4) Editorial: Start Talking
New York Times
August 8, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/opinion/08tue1.html
When asked yesterday why the US isn’t talking with Syria about the Lebanon crisis, President Bush replied, "Syria knows what we think." That may be. But Syria is also unlikely to even consider doing what Bush wants - rein in Hezbollah and help halt the killing in Lebanon and Israel - unless its leaders know what potential rewards as well as punishments await them. And for that, the US needs to offer a serious high-level discussion with Syria, and it needs to do it now.
5) Desolation: Hit on Bridge North of Tyre Isolates South of Lebanon
Sabrina Tavernise
New York Times
August 8, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/middleeast/08tyre.html
The one bridge into Lebanon’s south that remained is now gone. The crossing point carried almost all of the traffic over the Litani River, the strategic line that separates Lebanon’s north from its south. It was hit by an Israeli bomb overnight on Sunday. Traffic to the south has been cut. A single tree lying on its side from bank to bank is all that links the river’s two sides, said Doctors Without Borders. "Now all the population living in the south is completely isolated," said Sergio Cecchini, a spokesman for the group, whose workers brought medical supplies across the river on Monday by walking into the water. Even before the bridge went out, conditions had become so difficult that the International Committee of the Red Cross had not gone to villages in the south in three days. In one village, a patient could not be reached by rescue workers for four days, and her leg had to be amputated. Grandmothers in hospitals here in Tyre beg ambulance drivers for rides home, afraid of being shot. On Sunday, missiles killed a man drinking coffee and a bread truck driver, and nearly hit a convoy of journalists, all in town, rescue workers said.
6) Dry Forests in Northern Israel Are Damaged as Hezbollah’s Rocket Attacks Ignite Fires
Dina Kraft
New York Times
August 8, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/middleeast/08fires.html
The Hezbollah rocket fire that has kept Israelis in the north of the country in underground bomb shelters for weeks is also taking a toll on the environment there, igniting hundreds of fires in Israel’s few forests, in the Galilee region. Officials estimated Monday that as much as 9,000 acres of land, including almost 3,000 acres of forest, has been damaged by fire in the nearly four weeks of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
7) Israeli Soldiers Find a Tenacious Foe in Hezbollah
Jonathan Finer
Washington Post
Tuesday, August 8, 2006; A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/07/AR2006080701453.html
While guarding a house in southern Lebanon, Matan Tyler received an unusual order from his commander: Watch out for guys wearing Israeli uniforms. A day earlier, a nearby regiment had been approached by fighters wearing familiar olive shirts and vests with Hebrew writing, Tyler said he was told. The fighters -- Hezbollah militiamen disguised as Israelis -- opened fire on a house full of Israeli soldiers. "You really can't underestimate the Hezbollah," said Tyler, a member of the army's Nahal Brigade. "They are the masters of the field. They know the area better than us. They know where to hide and when to move. They always know where we are." The incident is one among dozens of examples of an enemy that has proven more resilient and better-equipped than Israeli military forces anticipated. After nearly four weeks of air attacks and ground combat, Israeli military officials say that they have killed only a small fraction of Hezbollah's fighters and that the group still has hundreds of launchers and thousands of rockets at its disposal.
8) Lebanon's Proposals Change Dynamics
Arab Delegation to Meet With Security Council as Bush Urges Swift Action
Michael A. Fletcher and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 8, 2006; A15
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/05/AR2006080500533.html
U.S. diplomatic efforts to end the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah stalled Monday amid growing divisions over terms to end the conflict. Lebanon won Arab League support for major revisions to expedite a cease-fire and withdrawal of Israeli forces. An Arab League delegation is scheduled to meet today with the U.N. Security Council to press for amendments to the proposal, prompting officials to postpone a vote on the resolution until later in the week. In a dramatic move, Lebanon's government, including cabinet ministers belonging to Hezbollah, voted unanimously on Monday to deploy 15,000 troops in the south along the border with Israel. It also proposed two major amendments to accompany the deployment. One change calls for Israel, upon cessation of hostilities, to hand over the territory it holds to U.N. troops already deployed in the south and then pull out. Within 72 hours, the U.N. force would transfer control to the Lebanese army. Lebanon also proposed that Shebaa Farms, a disputed territory where Hezbollah and Israel have waged their most intense confrontation for six years, be handed over to U.N. custody until the border between Lebanon and Syria can be determined. Hezbollah has justified keeping a private army to regain control of Shebaa Farms, which abuts Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
9) Christian support to Israel dies under hail of bombs
The Telegraph Group Limited
08/06/2006 08:24 PM
http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Lebanon/10057969.html
For the first 24 days of Israel's campaign against Hezbollah, Lebanese Christians in the Beirut area believed they were protected from the mayhem gripping other parts of the country. But a 15-minute air raid shortly after dawn yesterday on the attractive port of Jounieh destroyed the complacency of the Christians and served to turn them against the Israelis. The capital of Lebanon's Christian heartland is unused to such violence. Even during the 15 years of the 1975-1990 civil war, when Christian and Muslim militias sowed destruction across the country, Jounieh survived unscathed a party zone of nightclubs and beach resorts 10 miles from Beirut. The Israelis' target was not the Christians of Jounieh but its bridges, two in the town and two a little to the north. The intent was to sever the last artery connecting Beirut to the outside world, and in that the Israelis succeeded. But the strikes also destroyed whatever support Israel still enjoyed among Lebanon's Christians.
10) US Says Iran May Use Lebanon War to Hurt Iraq
Reuters
August 8, 2006
Filed at 8:35 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iraq-usa-iran.html
The U.S. ambassador to Iraq accused Iran on Tuesday of having forces in Iraq and said Tehran could use the war between Hizbollah militants and Israel in Lebanon to try and further destabilize the country. "The region is very much interconnected. What happened in Lebanon affects things here,'' Zalmay Khalilzad said. "Iran ... has some forces here. There is the possibility that they might encourage those forces to create increased instability here.'' The US has repeatedly accused Iran of fomenting violence and instability by sending weapons and fighters into Iraq, a charge Tehran denied. It also accuses Iran, as well as Syria, of backing Shi'ite Hizbollah in its fight against Israel.
The Islamic Republic, which has dramatically improved ties with its fellow Shi'ites leading the Baghdad government, says it wants a stable Iraq.
11) Sanctions Threaten Russian Ties: Analysts
Reuters
August 7, 2006
Filed at 4:10 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-russia-usa-sanctions.html
U.S. sanctions against two leading Russian arms exporters mark a new low in already chilly ties between Moscow and Washington and could hurt business deals worth billions of dollars. The US announced sanctions on Friday on seven firms from Russia, India, North Korea and Cuba for selling restricted items to Iran. The sanctions were imposed on Russian state export agency Rosoboronexport, headed by a close friend of President Putin, and state-owned warplane maker Sukhoi. "This is going to be very serious because this threatens President Putin and some of his very closest people,'' Pavel Felgenhauer, a Moscow-based defense analyst, said. "The official reaction from the Kremlin, especially when it sinks in about how serious this is, will be severe. I think there will be countermeasures.'' The Kremlin has so far made no comment. The foreign ministry has called the sanctions an "illegitimate attempt'' to make foreign companies work by American rules. Moscow's press reacted sharply, the daily Izvestia daily calling the U.S. move "practically a declaration of economic war against Russia.'' Kommersant's frontpage headline said "The Strategic Partnership between the U.S. and Russia has Ended.'' Rosoboronexport chief Sergei Chemezov played down Washington's decision, saying his company would not be hurt by the sanctions, which affect only purchases by U.S. government agencies, not those by private companies. "Rosoboronexport has no contracts with the United States,'' Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. "The sanctions are a purely political action.'' Analysts said the sanctions could hurt the chances of U.S. companies bidding for business in Russia.
12) Soldier Who Testified on Killings Says He Feared for His Life
Paul von Zielbauer
New York Times
August 8, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/middleeast/08iraq.html
An American Army private who was close to four soldiers charged with raping a 14-year-old girl and then killing her and her family in March described at a hearing on Monday how he became the whistleblower in the case and how, once he spoke to military investigators, he feared for his life. Justin Watt, who was in the same platoon as the four soldiers and another former soldier accused of the crimes, said he came forward after piecing together an account from soldiers he suspected were involved in the March 12 episode. He felt obligated to say something, he said, out of a sense of loyalty to the friends who had fought in Iraq and died.
13) C.I.A. Contractor Goes to Trial in Abuse Case
Associated Press
August 8, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/us/08abuse.html
A C.I.A. contractor broke both the agency’s rules and the law when he used a two-foot-long metal flashlight to beat an Afghan man who later died, a prosecutor said Monday at the federal trial of the first American civilian charged with mistreating a detainee in Iraq or Afghanistan. Lawyers for the defendant, David Passaro, a onetime Special Forces medic, said he had been a frustrated but concerned interrogator who never hit the man and who checked daily on his condition.
14) Must Haves: Cellphones Top Iraqi Cool List
Damien Cave
New York Times
August 8, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/middleeast/08cellphone.htm
The cool kids in Iraq all want an Apache, the cellphone they’ve named after an American military helicopter. Next on the scale of hipness comes a Humvee, followed by the Afendi, a Turkish word for dapper, and a sturdy, rounded Nokia known as the Allawi, a reference to the stocky former prime minister, Ayad Allawi. Even more telling are the text messages and images that Iraqis share over their phones. One of the most popular messages making the rounds appears onscreen with the image of a skeleton. "Your call cannot be completed," it says, "because the subscriber has been bombed or kidnapped."
15) AP Blog: Suitcases Selling Well in Iraq
Robert H. Reid
Associated Press
Tuesday, August 8, 2006; 8:57 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR2006080800356.html
The only store open last weekend at a shopping district in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood was the one selling suitcases. And business was brisk. It seems like every Iraqi in what passes for the middle class either knows someone who has left or is planning to leave. Better-off Iraqis head for Jordan, Syria or the United Arab Emirates, or send their families there. Those without enough money head for areas within Iraq where their religious sect is in the majority. With sectarian death squads lurking, there's safety in numbers. Those who stay put in places where they are in the minority are not necessarily the bravest: they just don't have enough money to leave. Moving isn't that simple. Rents have skyrocketed in Baghdad neighborhoods that are deemed safe, a relative term here in Iraq. Many of those who flee the capital altogether end up living with relatives since chances of finding another job in provincial cities are not good.
16) Half of U.S. Still Believes Iraq Had WMD
Charles J. Hanley
Associated Press
August 7, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0807-05.htm
Do you believe in Iraqi "WMD"? Did Saddam Hussein's government have weapons of mass destruction in 2003? Half of America apparently still thinks so, a new poll finds, and experts see a raft of reasons why: a drumbeat of voices from talk radio to die-hard bloggers to the Oval Office, a surprise headline here or there, a rallying around a partisan flag, and a growing need for people, in their own minds, to justify the war in Iraq. People tend to become "independent of reality" in these circumstances, says opinion analyst Steven Kull. The reality in this case is that after a 16-month, $900-million-plus investigation, the U.S. weapons hunters known as the Iraq Survey Group declared that Iraq had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs in 1991 under U.N. oversight. That finding in 2004 reaffirmed the work of U.N. inspectors who in 2002-03 found no trace of banned arsenals in Iraq. Despite this, a Harris Poll released July 21 found that a full 50 percent of U.S. respondents, up from 36 percent last year, said they believe Iraq did have the forbidden arms when U.S. troops invaded in March 2003, an attack whose stated purpose was elimination of supposed WMD.
17) Mexico: Leftist Demands Overhaul on Top of Recount
James C. Mckinley Jr.
New York Times
August 8, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/americas/08briefs-004.html
Andrés Manuel López Obrador took his anti-government oratory to a new level last night, saying he and his followers were not just seeking a recount in last month’s election, but also wanting to transform the country’s democratic institutions. López Obrador harangued a crowd in front of a courthouse where an electoral tribunal denied his request on Saturday for a full recount, opting instead to order another tally of ballots in about 9 percent of polling places. "We are going to change this reality of injustice and oppression that has done so much damage to the country," he yelled to thousands of his followers.
Just Foreign Policy News
August 7, 2006
In this issue:
1) Just Foreign Policy Pacifica "The Monitor" Interview on Uniting for Peace
2) Cease-Fire Draft at U.N. Falters Amid Arab Criticism
3) Lebanese Premier Seeking Changes to U.N. Proposal
4) Editorial: A Truce for Lebanon
5) Israel threatens to expand Lebanon ground offensive
6) In Southern Lebanon, Weary Resignation: Many See Lives Caught Up in Long War
7) The Militia: A Disciplined Hezbollah Surprises Israel With Its Training, Tactics and Weapons
8) Arab World Finds Icon in Leader of Hezbollah
9) As Shelling Continues, Few Residents Remain in Towns That Once Took Refugees
10) Reuters drops Lebanese photographer over doctored image
11) L.A. Mayor Apologizes to Muslim Leaders
12) Iran Says It Will Ignore U.N. Deadline on Uranium Program
13) Lamont Leads Lieberman 51 - 45 In Dem Primary
14) MoveOn Seeking 1st 2006 Election Victory
15) Iraqi Woman's Blog Taken on Stage
16) Iraqi Medic Describes Carnage: Testimony Begins in Hearing for U.S. Soldiers Accused of Rape
17) Mexican Candidate Says Civil Disobedience Will Continue
Contents:
1) Just Foreign Policy Pacifica "The Monitor" Interview on Uniting for Peace
http://archive.kpft.org/mp3/060806_180001monitor.MP3
Show information:
http://themonitor.wordpress.com/2006/08/06/show-details-for-august-6th-2006/
Just Foreign Policy emphasized that pressure is still urgently needed for the UN General Assembly to act for an immediate ceasefire. Please post and forward our petition:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=325. The Irish Labor Party has joined the call: "'Uniting for Peace' mechanism can be used to achieve an immediate ceasefire" http://www.labour.ie/press/listing/20060804152344.html
2) Cease-Fire Draft at U.N. Falters Amid Arab Criticism
Warren Hoge and Neil MacFarquhar
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/middleeast/07diplo.html
Efforts to adopt a draft resolution to halt the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah faltered at the UN Sunday amid sharp criticism from the Middle East. France and the US, which announced agreement on the draft Saturday, renewed negotiations to meet objections to the proposal offered in amendments by Lebanon and by Qatar, the Arab representative on the Council. The turn of events reflected an outpouring of condemnation across the Middle East that the proposed resolution spoke to Israel’s demands, backed by the US, without addressing those of Lebanon and Hezbollah. The resolution calls for a truce, asks the current UN peacekeeping force to monitor the border area and lays out a plan for a permanent cease-fire and political settlement. But while it called for immediate cessations of "all attacks" by Hezbollah and "offensive military operations" by Israel, it did not require Israeli troops to leave southern Lebanon. In Lebanon, speaker of Parliament Berri said Lebanon rejected the resolution because it did not call for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops and an exchange of prisoners. Arab diplomats were skeptical about the resolution having any chance of halting the fighting. "They are attempting to gain diplomatically what they failed to achieve militarily," one said. "I expect the cease-fire to be rammed through, but it will turn into a war of attrition." Iran and Syria rejected the resolution. The resolution was being viewed in the region as more a vehicle to calm Western public opinion than one that would actually address the problems on the ground. The principal amendment introduced by Lebanese Foreign Ministry official Nouhad Mahmoud would require Israel to hand over its positions in Lebanon to Unifil, the UN peacekeeping force, and withdraw its troops from the country “forthwith.” A second amendment asked for an Israeli withdrawal from the Shebaa Farms area that Israel seized in the 1967 war.
3) Lebanese Premier Seeking Changes to U.N. Proposal
Nora Boustany and Edward Cody
Washington Post
Monday, August 7, 2006; A10
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/06/AR2006080600786.html
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Sunday he is seeking amendments to a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would combine the dispatch of UN and Lebanese army peacekeepers with the immediate pullout of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.
Siniora, in an interview, said his suggestions were an attempt to meet the interests of Israel as well as Lebanon and its Hezbollah movement in seeking an end to the fighting. The resolution proposed by the US and France, he said, is "impractical" because it would leave Israeli occupation troops and Hezbollah militiamen face to face in the border hills, virtually certain to keep fighting. He said Lebanon stands ready to deploy 15,000 soldiers and accept a 2,000-member international force led by the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, until a political settlement can be worked out and a more permanent international peacekeeping force can be assembled and deployed to Lebanon.
4) Editorial: A Truce for Lebanon
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/opinion/07mon1.html
It is now 26 days since Hezbollah and Israel began their latest combat, a very long time for the world to allow such a deadly conflict to rage in the Middle East powder keg. Yet the fighting still continues. Diplomats still dither over cease-fire details. Innocent people still keep dying. Enough. This is the week that the international community must impose a truce, to be followed, in short order, by a political settlement and the dispatch of a robust international force to patrol Lebanon’s oft-violated border with Israel…The first resolution, as it currently stands, would permit Israeli forces to remain in Lebanon, at least until the second resolution is approved and the new international force put in place. That provision has sparked sharp opposition in the Arab world. The longer Israeli troops remain on Lebanese soil, the more likely they are to become a magnet for renewed Hezbollah attacks. Israel would, of course, respond, and that would be the end of any truce.
5) Israel threatens to expand Lebanon ground offensive
Reuters
Monday, August 7, 2006; 10:28 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/07/AR2006080700354.html
Israel will broaden its ground offensive in Lebanon within days if diplomatic efforts to end the fighting fail to make progress, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said on Monday.
"I gave an order that, if within the coming days the diplomatic process does not reach a (successful) conclusion, Israeli forces will carry out the operations necessary to take control of Katyusha rocket launching sites in every location," Peretz told a parliamentary committee in broadcast remarks.
6) In Southern Lebanon, Weary Resignation: Many See Lives Caught Up in Long War Anthony Shadid
Washington Post
Monday, August 7, 2006; A09
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/06/AR2006080600902.html
The US and France have agreed on a draft U.N. resolution calling for a cease-fire in the nearly four-week-old war, but already Sunday, U.S. officials were saying that it was only a first step and that it would take a while to end the fighting. Few appeared to disagree in beleaguered southern Lebanon, where weary residents began settling in for the long wait across a terrain more battered by fighting than at any time in the country's modern history.With a sense that both Israel and Hezbollah have the stamina and endurance to fight on, many in southern Lebanon have started to think of their futures placed within a long-running war: Doctors talk about leaving the country for good; some of the hundreds of thousands of displaced within Lebanon have simply come back to their homes in places such as Tyre, fearful the temporary was becoming permanent. "Brother, you try living in a school," said Khodr al-Ruz, who returned two days ago to Tyre after spending three weeks sharing a classroom with 15 other displaced Lebanese.
7) A Disciplined Hezbollah Surprises Israel With Its Training, Tactics and Weapons
Steven Erlanger And Richard A. Oppel Jr.
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/middleeast/07hezbollah.html
Hezbollah has sharply improved its arsenal and strategies in the six years since Israel abruptly ended its occupation of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is a militia trained like an army and equipped like a state, and its fighters "are nothing like Hamas or the Palestinians," said an Israeli soldier who just returned from Lebanon. "They are trained and highly qualified," he said, equipped with flak jackets, night-vision goggles, good communications and sometimes Israeli uniforms and ammunition. "All of us were kind of surprised."
8) Arab World Finds Icon in Leader of Hezbollah
Neil MacFarquhar
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/middleeast/07nasrallah.html
The success or failure of any cease-fire in Lebanon will largely hinge on the opinion of one figure: Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah, who has seen his own aura and that of his party enhanced immeasurably by battling the Israeli Army for nearly four weeks. With Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon, Sheik Nasrallah can continue fighting on the grounds that he seeks to expel an occupier, much as he did in the years preceding Israel’s withdrawal in 2000. Or he can accept a cease-fire, perhaps to try to rearm, and earn the gratitude of Lebanon and much of the world. Analysts expect some kind of middle outcome, with the large-scale rocket attacks stopping but Hezbollah guerrillas still attacking soldiers so that Israel still feels pain. In any case, the Arab world has a new icon.
9) As Shelling Continues, Few Residents Remain in Towns That Once Took Refugees
Jad Mouawad
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/middleeast/07lebanon.html
It took weeks of continuous shelling in southern Lebanon and one long sleepless night for Sheik Naim Hazir to admit it was time to leave. What forced his decision was the death of five of his next-door neighbors, three of them children, as a rocket flattened their two-story home in a raid overnight Saturday. But getting out of Insar with his 90-year-old father and 82-year-old mother was tricky.
10) Reuters drops Lebanese photographer over doctored image
Reuters
Sun Aug 6, 5:46 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060806/ts_nm/mideast_reuters_dc_1
Reuters told a freelance Lebanese photographer on Sunday it would not use any more of his pictures after he doctored an image of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on Beirut.
The photograph by Adnan Hajj, which was published on news Web sites on Saturday, showed thick black smoke rising above buildings in the Lebanese capital after an Israeli air raid in the war with the Shi'ite Islamic group Hizbollah, now in its fourth week. Reuters withdrew the doctored image on Sunday and replaced it with the unaltered photograph after several news blogs said it had been manipulated using Photoshop software to show more smoke. He was among several photographers from the main international news agencies whose images of a dead child being held up by a rescuer in the village of Qana, south Lebanon, after an Israeli air strike on July 30 have been challenged by blogs critical of the mainstream media's coverage of the Middle East conflict. Reuters and other news organizations reviewed those images and have all rejected allegations that the photographs were staged.
11) L.A. Mayor Apologizes to Muslim Leaders
Associated Press
August 7, 2006
Filed at 9:22 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Mayor-Muslims.html
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has apologized to Muslim leaders who accused him of taking Israel's side in the violence in Lebanon by going to a pro-Israel rally and ignoring their invitations to interfaith peace vigils. Villaraigosa met with Muslim leaders Sunday and said a mix-up by his staff had prevented him from seeing their invitations. Villaraigosa called the meeting after the Muslim leaders held a news conference Friday accusing him of not representing all groups touched by the conflict. They noted that he attended a July 23 rally by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, at which he condemned Hezbollah guerrilla rocket attacks on Israel, but failed to respond to repeated invitations to interfaith vigils for people killed on both sides in Lebanon. ''It was gracious of him to say 'I apologize for the lack of communications,''' said Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Shura Council of Southern California. The mayor pledged to visit mosques and attend events in the city's Islamic communities, and assigned one of his senior advisors as liaison to Muslim groups.
12) Iran Says It Will Ignore U.N. Deadline on Uranium Program
Michael Slackman
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/middleeast/07iran.html
Iran’s chief national security official said Sunday that Iran would defy the UN Security Council by refusing to halt enrichment of uranium by the end of the month. During a news conference in Iran, Ali Larijani, the country’s security chief and top nuclear negotiator, condemned the West. He said it had engaged in double-dealing, by first offering a package of incentives in exchange for suspension of its nuclear-enrichment program, and then by issuing a threat. In remarks reported by the official Iranian News Agency, Mr. Larijani did not appear to chart new ground, sticking with Iran’s position that it would not halt enrichment as a precondition of negotiations. Western diplomats in Iran said in recent interviews that it appeared that Iran’s leadership had bet on the notion that it was more likely to get what it wanted if it refused to budge from its position, believing that the Security Council, and the West in particular, would do anything to avoid another ugly confrontation in the Middle East.
13) Lamont Leads Lieberman 51 - 45 In Dem Primary
Quinnipiac University Polling Results
August 7, 2006
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x11362.xml?ReleaseID=945
Connecticut likely Democratic primary voters back challenger Ned Lamont 51 - 45 percent over incumbent Sen. Joseph Lieberman in the U.S. Senate race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. This compares to a 54 - 41 percent Lamont lead among likely Democratic primary voters in an August 3 poll by Quinnipiac University. In this latest survey, 4 percent of likely Democratic primary voters remain undecided, but 90 percent of voters who name a candidate say their mind is made up.
Lieberman's support for the war in Iraq is the main reason they are voting for Lamont, 36 percent of Lamont voters say, while 54 percent say it is one of several reasons.
14) MoveOn Seeking 1st 2006 Election Victory
Associated Press
August 7, 2006
Filed at 7:22 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-MoveOns-Moves.html
Other than the candidates, no one has more riding on this week's Connecticut Democratic Senate primary than MoveOn.org, a liberal organization at the edgy intersection of politics and the Internet. With victory for Ned Lamont, the group can claim a role in helping an anti-war challenger dump Sen. Joe Lieberman, who supports President Bush's policy in Iraq and has the backing of the Democratic establishment. A come-from-behind win for Lieberman would mark yet another setback for MoveOn in its parallel campaign -- to strengthen its credentials as a force to be heeded by Democrats as they seek congressional majorities this fall.
15) Iraqi Woman's Blog Taken on Stage
Reuters
August 7, 2006
Filed at 5:34 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-arts-mideast-blog.html
"Is it time to wash our hands of the country and find a stable life somewhere else?'' The question in "Girl Blog from Iraq'' was posted last weekend by a young Iraqi woman whose weblog has been adapted into a theatrical documentary at the Edinburgh Fringe arts festival. Played by actresses of Palestinian, Syrian, Iranian and Iraqi origin, she recounts the horrors of abduction, murder and rape alongside her determined efforts to carve out a normal life amid the carnage. Known only as "Riverbend,'' the Iraqi blogger has been providing regular dispatches since August 2003, writing in her first entry: ``I'm female, Iraqi and 24. I survived the war. That is all you need to know. It's all that matters.'' Her online diary on www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com was nominated for a major literary prize in Britain. The tone of the diary has markedly changed since war's end. In March, she wrote: "Even the most cynical war critics couldn't imagine the country being this bad three years after the war.'' In the latest update, Riverbend reflects on the Middle East conflict, especially the Israeli air attack on the Lebanese village of Qana. "I woke up this morning to scenes of carnage and destruction on the television and for the briefest of moments I thought it was footage of Iraq. It took me a few seconds to realize it was actually Qana in Lebanon. I just sat there and cried in front of the television. I didn't know I could feel that sort of sorrow toward what has become a daily reality for Iraqis. It's not Iraq but it might as well be.''
16) Iraqi Medic Describes Carnage: Testimony Begins in Hearing for U.S. Soldiers Accused of Rape
Joshua Partlow
Washington Post
Monday, August 7, 2006; Page A12
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/06/AR2006080600803.html
An Iraqi medic who responded to a home where U.S. soldiers allegedly raped and killed a teenage Iraqi girl and murdered her sister and parents described on Sunday a display of carnage so horrific he said it made him sick for two weeks.
17) Mexican Candidate Says Civil Disobedience Will Continue
James C. McKinley Jr.
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/americas/07mexico.html
Andrés Manuel López Obrador vowed Sunday to take the daily mass demonstrations supporting his demand for a full recount of the results in last month’s presidential race to the courthouse where a special electoral court had denied his request. Speaking to thousands of supporters in the capital’s central square, the candidate shied away from calling for more confrontational acts of civil disobedience, like seizing the city’s international airport or shutting down major highways, as some of his supporters had expected. Instead, he told his supporters to prepare themselves for a long, drawn-out battle with the government, a fight “to defend democracy.” He suggested that he would carry on his protest even after the electoral tribunal, which on Saturday turned down the demand for the recount, makes its final decision and certifies the president-elect in September. López Obrador has charged that there were enough irregularities and, in some instances, fraud, to warrant a complete recount. But on Saturday, the seven-member electoral court that must ratify the results said he had not proved widespread fraud. The court rejected his request and instead ordered a partial recount in about 12,000 polling places, fewer than 10 percent of the total, where there were irregularities. With the help of allies in the city government, Mr. López Obrador and his allies have already closed Paseo de la Reforma for several miles, covering it with tents and protest camps.
Just Foreign Policy News
August 4, 2006
In this issue:
1) Malaysia: OIC demands UN impose cease-fire in Lebanon
2) Majority of Voting Congressional Progressive Caucus Members now support Immediate Cease-Fire in Lebanon
3) Israel Extends Strikes North of Beirut
4) The Overview: Israel Renews Attack on Southern Lebanon
5) 100,000 March Against U.S. and Israel in Baghdad
6) Freeing Prisoners Key Goal in Fight Against Israel
7) Hezbollah’s Prominence Has Many Sunnis Worried
8) Bridge Bombing Paralyses Lebanon Aid Pipeline
9) Op-Ed Contributor: Ground to a Halt
10) Israeli Soldier Incarcerated for Refusing to Fight
11) Au Revoir, Freedom Fries
12) The Sound of One Domino Falling
13) The Military: U.S. General Says Iraq Could Slide Into a Civil War
14) Intelligence: Senator Faults Bid to Classify Report on Iraq
15) Hezbollah Chief's Statement Clarifies Strategy
16) Protesters Attack Iran's British Embassy
17) Human Rights Watch Accuses Israel of War Crimes
18) U.S. to Supply Food with One Hand, Arms with Other
19) Officers Allegedly Pushed 'Kill Counts'
20) US Auditor Lists Failures in Rebuilding of Iraq
Contents:
1) Malaysia: OIC demands UN impose cease-fire in Lebanon
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific - Political
August 4, 2006 Friday
Leaders of 18 Muslim nations yesterday demanded the UN Security Council call for an immediate stop to Israeli military aggression in Lebanon, failing which they want all Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member states to push for the convening of the meeting of the General Assembly under "Uniting for Peace." The leaders also want the peacekeeping operations in the Middle East to be led by Muslim forces. In a declaration on Lebanon issued at the end of the meeting of the OIC Executive Committee they strongly condemned the Israeli attacks. "We demand that the UN Security Council fulfils its responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security without any further delay by deciding on and enforcing an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire", said the declaration issued at the end of the meeting initiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also OIC chairman. Besides Malaysia, other countries attending were Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. They also supported the Lebanese government's seven-point plan for the immediate and comprehensive ceasefire, which included an undertaking to release the Lebanese and Israeli prisoners and detainees through the International Community of Red Crescent (ICRC), the withdrawal of the Israeli army behind the Blue Line, and the return of the displaced to their villages.
Just Foreign Policy did another 3 radio interviews on the Uniting for Peace call today; one of them, with Stephen Zunes on KGNU Boulder, is on the web:
http://kgnu.net/audio/Connections_2006-08-04.mp3.
Our petition in support of the call for a General Assembly meeting on Lebanon under "Uniting for Peace" is here: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=325.
2) Majority of Voting Congressional Progressive Caucus Members now support Immediate Cease-Fire in Lebanon
39 Members of Congress have publicly come out in support of an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon by cosponsoring resolutions introduced by Representative Kucinich and Representative Jackson-Lee. Of these 39, 30 are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a majority of the 59 voting members of the caucus. (Reps. Holmes-Norton of DC, Bordallo of Guam, and Christensen of the U.S. Virgin Islands have not yet cosponsored either resolution.) To ask your Representative to co-sponsor these resolutions, you can use this link:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4697
3) Israel Extends Strikes North of Beirut
John Kifner
New York Times
August 4, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/world/middleeast/04cnd-mideast.html
Israel unleashed airstrikes across Lebanon Friday, severing the last major road link to the outside world and killing more than 30 people. The bombs destroyed four bridges along the main north-south highway in what had been the largely untouched Christian heartland north of Beirut and far from Hezbollah territory. With the road from Beirut to Damascus already cut at several points, this was the only practical way to bring in relief and other supplies from Syria, tightening the sense of siege here. At the steep gorge here cut by the Fidar River, dozens of Maronite Catholic residents gathered to stare in stunned silence at a 200-yard stretch of four-lane highway blasted into rubble. "Where are the Katushas of the Hezbollah here?” asked Joseph Abihana.
4) The Overview: Israel Renews Attack on Southern Lebanon
Richard A. Oppel Jr. And Steven Erlanger
New York Times
August 4, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/world/middleeast/04mideast.html
The Lebanese militia Hezbollah killed 12 Israelis — 8 civilians and 4 soldiers — on Thursday, making it Israel’s deadliest day in more than three weeks of conflict. As Israeli troops tried to create a narrow buffer zone inside Lebanon and bombed southern Beirut, Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, warned that he would send his long-range missiles into Tel Aviv if the airstrikes continued. But he also offered to halt Hezbollah’s missile barrage into Israel if it stopped bombing Lebanon. The Israeli defense minister, Amir Peretz, told the army to begin preparing to push to the Litani River, some 15 miles north of the border, a move that could mean a further call-up of military reservists. That would expand the security zone Israel is trying to create. But it is not clear whether he will receive government approval to do so.
5) 100,000 March Against U.S. and Israel in Baghdad
Damien Cave And Kirk Semple
New York Times
August 4, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/world/middleeast/04cnd-iraq.html
More than 100,000 followers of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr marched today to show support for Hezbollah, denouncing Israel and the United States for the violence in Lebanon. The protesters filled 20 blocks of a wide boulevard and dozens of side streets in the Shiite-dominated Sadr City section of the capital. Waving Lebanese flags and posters of Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, the protesters chanted, “No, no, no, Israel, no, no, no, America,’’ challenged Americans to fight them in their neighborhoods, and called on Hezbollah to strike at Tel Aviv. The fighting in Lebanon has caused a rift between the United States and the Shiite parties that lead Iraq’s new government, which feel a strong solidarity with Hezbollah.
6) Freeing Prisoners Key Goal in Fight Against Israel
Craig S. Smith
New York Times
August 4, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/world/middleeast/04prisoners.html
When Hezbollah guerrillas sneaked into Israel last month, killing and capturing Israeli soldiers and setting off the current crisis, their goal was to trade them for a Lebanese man held by Israel. The prisoner, Samir Kuntar, was part of a cell that in 1979 raided an apartment building in the northern Israeli town of Nahariya, killing several members of the Haran family. After Hezbollah made off with two Israeli soldiers in the raid last month, Israel vowed that it would not negotiate for their release. But the question of prisoners held by Israel — nearly all of them Palestinians — is the subtext of this crisis and is likely to figure in its resolution. It is an issue that animates Hezbollah and the Palestinians as much as anything else in their fight with Israel. The prisoners now number about 9,700, about 100 of them women. About 300 are younger than 18, including two girls and a boy of 14, being held in juvenile detention facilities for acts against Israel. The Israelis say many of them are terrorists, and some clearly are. But the Palestinians say that others are wrongfully accused and that many have never committed a violent act.
7) Hezbollah’s Prominence Has Many Sunnis Worried
Neil MacFarquhar
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/world/middleeast/04muslims.html
August 4, 2006
A Damascus University professor recoils at the destruction he across the border, but deeper down he worries that any Hezbollah triumph will come at the expense of his own Sunni branch of Islam. "Since the Americans invaded Iraq we have all become aware of the danger from the Shiites," said the professor. "Ordinary people only think of Hezbollah as fighting against Israeli aggression. But the educated classes think that if Hezbollah controls the region, then the Sunnis will be abused." Intensifying Sunni-Shiite violence in Iraq in the last couple of years has already raised sectarian awareness across the Middle East in ways not experienced since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. The fighting in Lebanon promises to further increase Sunnis’ unease.
8) Bridge Bombing Paralyses Lebanon Aid Pipeline
Michael Winfrey
Reuters
Friday, August 4, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0804-08.htm
Israel's bombing of key bridges in northern Lebanon and strikes at a Hizbollah stronghold in south Beirut paralysed United Nations aid convoys on Friday, but other aid continued to arrive by air and sea. Air strikes against four bridges on the main coastal highway linking Beirut to Syria stalled an eight-truck convoy carrying 150 tonnes of relief and cut what the UN called its "umbilical cord" for aid supplies. "The whole road is gone," said Astrid van Genderen Stort, senior information officer for the UNHCR refugee agency. "It's really a major setback because we used this highway to move staff and supplies into the country."
9) Op-Ed Contributor: Ground to a Halt
Robert Pape, professor of political science at the University of Chicago, author of "Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism."
New York Times
August 3, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/opinion/03pape.html
Israel has finally conceded that air power alone will not defeat Hezbollah. Over the coming weeks, it will learn that ground power won’t work either. The problem is not that the Israelis misunderstand the nature of the enemy. Hezbollah is principally neither a political party nor an Islamist militia, but a broad movement that evolved in reaction to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982. As more and more Lebanese came to resent Israel’s occupation, Hezbollah expanded into an umbrella organization that tacitly coordinated the resistance operations of a loose collection of groups with a variety of religious and secular aims. In terms of structure and hierarchy, it is less comparable to a religious cult like the Taliban than to the multidimensional American civil-rights movement of the 1960’s.
10) Israeli Soldier Incarcerated for Refusing to Fight
Aaron Glantz
OneWorld.net
Friday, August 4, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0804-03.htm
Israeli authorities have sentenced an army officer to 28 days in a military prison for refusing to serve in the Israeli campaign in Lebanon. Reserve Captain Amir Paster is the first Israeli soldier to be punished for refusing to serve in the current conflict and has received harsh criticism from the Israeli military for setting what it termed a bad example for his troops. According to the soldier support group Yesh Gvul ("There Is a Limit"), Paster refused to serve on the grounds that Israeli operations were harming civilians, declaring at his trial "taking part in this war runs contrary to the values upon which he was brought up." Supporters say Paster's act was courageous given that the vast majority of Jewish Israelis support the war.
11) Au Revoir, Freedom Fries
Editorial, New York Times
August 4, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/opinion/04fri4.html
When Congress renamed the French fries sold in its cafeterias “freedom fries” before the Iraq war, Bob Ney, whose position as House Administration Committee chairman put him in charge of the cafeterias, said the change registered "the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France." In the real world, it mainly allowed people to register their strong displeasure at how juvenile Congress was being.
In the last few weeks, Congress has quietly changed the name back. "Freedom fries," like the "mission accomplished" banner that President Bush stood in front of a few months later, is now a stale relic of a naïve time, when the war’s supporters were convinced that Iraqis would be free right after they finished greeting their liberators with rose petals.
12) The Sound of One Domino Falling
Editorial
New York Times
August 4, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/opinion/04fri1.html
It’s been obvious for years that Donald Rumsfeld is in denial of reality, but the defense secretary now also seems stuck in a time warp. You could practically hear the dominoes falling as he told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday that it was dangerous for Americans to even talk about how to end the war in Iraq. "If we left Iraq prematurely," he said, "the enemy would tell us to leave Afghanistan and then withdraw from the Middle East. And if we left the Middle East, they’d order us and all those who don’t share their militant ideology to leave what they call the occupied Muslim lands from Spain to the Philippines." And finally, he intoned, America will be forced "to make a stand nearer home." No one in charge of American foreign affairs has talked like that in decades. After Vietnam, of course, the communist empire did not swarm all over Asia as predicted; it tottered and collapsed. And the new “enemy” that Mr. Rumsfeld is worried about is not a worldwide conspiracy but a collection of disparate political and religious groups, now united mainly by American action in Iraq.
13) The Military: U.S. General Says Iraq Could Slide Into a Civil War
Thom Shanker
New York Times
August 4, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/world/middleeast/04rumsfeld.html
The commander of American forces in the Middle East bluntly warned a Senate committee on Thursday that sectarian violence in Iraq had grown so severe that the nation could slide toward civil war. The commander, Gen. John Abizaid, also acknowledged that since the security situation remained so unstable, significant reductions in American forces were unlikely before the end of this year. Asked by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan whether Iraq risked falling into civil war, General Abizaid replied, "I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I’ve seen it, in Baghdad in particular, and that if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move towards civil war."
14) Intelligence: Senator Faults Bid to Classify Report on Iraq
Mark Mazzetti
New York Times
August 4, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/world/middleeast/04intel.html
The Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee lashed out at the White House on Thursday, criticizing attempts by the Bush administration to keep secret parts of a report on the role Iraqi exiles played in building the case for war against Iraq. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas chastised the White House for efforts to classify most of the part that examines intelligence provided to the Bush administration by the Iraqi National Congress.
15) Hezbollah Threatens Tel Aviv
Chief's Statement Clarifies Strategy
Edward Cody
Washington Post
Friday, August 4, 2006; Page A13
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080301435.html
The leader of Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, threatened Thursday night to fire rockets at Tel Aviv if Israel expands its bombing attacks against Beirut. Nasrallah declared that Hezbollah's missile attacks on Israel are calibrated in response to Israeli air attacks on Lebanon. While warning of attacks on Israel's most populous city, he also said that if Israeli airstrikes cease, so will the rocket launchings such as those that killed eight more Israeli civilians Thursday.
16) Protesters Attack Iran's British Embassy
Associated Press
August 4, 2006
Filed at 11:57 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast-Fighting-Iran.html
About 100 demonstrators threw stones and firebombs at the British Embassy in Tehran on Friday, damaging the building but not harming anyone as they accused Britain and the United States of being accomplices in Israel's fight against Hezbollah. Demonstrators also smashed some of the building's windows as they called for its closure and the expulsion of the British ambassador. A British Foreign Office spokesman said nobody was harmed. ''Protesters were throwing bricks and at least one petrol bomb but everyone's OK,'' he said. ''There was just some damage to perimeter of the embassy.''
17) Human Rights Watch Accuses Israel of War Crimes
Jim Lobe
Inter Press Service
Thursday, August 3, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0803-02.htm
In systematically failing to distinguish between Hezbollah fighters and civilian population in its military campaign in Lebanon, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have committed war crimes, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch Wednesday. The 50-page report, "Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon," detailed nearly two dozen cases of IDF attacks in which a total of 153 civilians, including 63 children, were killed in homes or motor vehicles. In none of the cases did HRW researchers find evidence that there was a significant enough military objective to justify the attack, given the risks to civilian lives, while, in many cases, there was no identifiable military target. In still other cases cited in the report, Israeli forces appear to have deliberately targeted civilians. "By consistently failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians, Israel has violated one of the most fundamental tenets of the laws of war: the duty to carry out attacks on only military targets," according to the report.
18) U.S. to Supply Food with One Hand, Arms with Other
Thalif Deen
Inter Press Service
Thursday, August 3, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0803-01.htm
As Israel's bombing of Lebanon continues, the US says it stands ready to provide food, medicine and humanitarian assistance to the thousands of internally displaced Lebanese caught in the crossfire. But Washington has also decided to accelerate the supply of lethal weapons to Israel -- ''perhaps intended to kill the very Lebanese the US is planning to feed and shelter,'' says one Arab diplomat at the United Nations. ''It is U.S. hypocrisy at its worst,'' he told IPS, speaking on condition of anonymity, because his country receives millions of dollars in U.S. economic aid. Irene Khan, secretary-general of Amnesty International, was equally critical. ''It is ridiculous to talk about providing humanitarian aid on the one hand, and to provide arms on the other,'' she says. ''It is imperative that all governments stop the supply of arms and weapons to both sides immediately.''
19) Officers Allegedly Pushed 'Kill Counts'
Investigators believe the leaders of a unit accused in Iraq detainee deaths fueled a climate of hate.
Borzou Daragahi and Julian E. Barnes
Los Angeles Times
Thursday, August 3, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0803-07.htm
Military prosecutors and investigators probing the killing of three Iraqi detainees by U.S. troops in May believe the unit's commanders created an atmosphere of excessive violence by encouraging "kill counts" and possibly issuing an illegal order to shoot Iraqi men. At a military hearing Wednesday on the killing of the detainees near Samarra, witnesses painted a picture of a brigade that operated under loose rules allowing wanton killing and tolerating violent, anti-Arab racism. Some military officials believe that the shooting of the three detainees and the killing of 24 civilians in November in Haditha reveal failures in the military chain of command, in one case to establish proper rules of engagement and in the other to vigorously investigate incidents after the fact. "The bigger thing here is the failure of the chain of command," said a Defense Department official familiar with the investigations.
20) US Auditor Lists Failures in Rebuilding of Iraq
Farah Stockman
Boston Globe
Thursday, August 3, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0803-06.htm
The top auditor of the US reconstruction effort in Iraq yesterday detailed a series of failures, including a $218.5 million emergency radio network that doesn't work, a hospital that is turning out to be twice as expensive as planned, an oil pipeline that is spewing lakes of crude oil onto the ground, and a prison that was meant to hold 4,400 inmates but can house only about 800. Stuart Bowen Jr. , the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, cited multiple causes for the failures at a Senate hearing yesterday, among them the growth of the Iraqi insurgency, poor planning by the US government, and corruption in the Iraqi government. But he also took aim at the "cost-plus" contracts given to American construction firms, which guaranteed profits on top of the cost of the project, even with huge overruns.
Just Foreign Policy News
August 3, 2006
In this issue:
1) Just Foreign Policy does more radio on "Uniting for Peace"
2) Iran, Other Islamic States May Call for UN Meeting
3) New Poll Shows Lieberman Losing Ground
4) Israel Restarts Beirut Strikes; Blair Says U.N. Near Deal
5) Civilians Lose as Fighters Slip Into Fog of War
6) News Analysis: Israel’s Long-Term Battle
7) Kafr Kila: To Many in a Town Under Attack, Militiamen Are Defenders
8) The Fighting: Israeli Jets, Helicopters and Ground Forces Attack Baalbek, Hezbollah Hub in Bekaa Valley
9) Israeli Warplanes Pound Beirut's Suburbs
10) Among the Militiamen, Patience and Talk of Victory
11) 7 Palestinians Killed in Gaza
12) World Opinion Roundup: The Qana Conspiracy Theory
13) Future of Orthodox Jewish Vote Has Implications for GOP
14) Detainees: G.I.’s Say Officers Ordered Killing of Young Iraqi Men
15) In Iraq, It’s Hard to Trust Anyone in Uniform
16) A Grim Prognosis for Iraq
17) Lebanon could overshadow Iran's study of nuclear deal
18) Iran warns of $200 oil if US pursues sanctions
19) Iran' s President Voices New Optimism
20) Mexico Leftist Threatens More Protests
Contents:
1) Just Foreign Policy does more radio on "Uniting for Peace"
Radio journalists continue to express interest in the idea that the UN General Assembly could act to bring about a cease-fire in Lebanon, given the failure of the Security Council to do so, under Resolution 377 (see also the next item on the Organization of Islamic Conference calling for UN General Assembly action.) Just Foreign Policy was interviewed by the BBC this morning, and will be on KGNU Boulder tomorrow 10:30-11:30 Eastern, 8:30-9:30 Mountain, webcast at www.kgnu.org. The Just Foreign Policy petition in support of UN General Assembly action is at http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=325. The list of signatories is growing.
2) Iran, Other Islamic States May Call for UN Meeting
Angus Whitley
Bloomberg
Last Updated: August 3, 2006 07:51 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aUPZZwugopYo&refer=europe#
Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and 15 other states said they will call for a meeting of the UN General Assembly to achieve a cease-fire in the Middle East should the UN Security Council fail to end hostilities immediately. The UN Security Council should enforce an "unconditional'' cease-fire without delay, the Organization of Islamic Conference said today in a statement after meeting in Malaysia. The group said OIC countries should cooperate with UN members to support a General Assembly meeting in the absence of instant measures to end the fighting. "We strongly condemn the relentless Israeli aggression against Lebanon,'' the group said. "We express our concern at the inability of the UN Security Council to take the necessary actions for a cease-fire.'' The OIC meeting, convened by Malaysia, is the largest gathering of Muslim nations since war broke out in Lebanon last month.
3) New Poll Shows Lieberman Losing Ground
Associated Press
August 3, 2006
Filed at 8:45 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Connecticut-Senate.html
Businessman Ned Lamont opened a double-digit lead over veteran Sen. Joe Lieberman less than a week before Connecticut's Democratic primary, according to a poll released Thursday. Lamont had support from 54 percent of likely Democratic voters in the Quinnipiac University poll, while Lieberman, now in his third term, had support from 41 percent of voters. The sampling error margin was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
A similar survey July 20 showed Lamont with a slight advantage for the first time in the campaign. ''Senator Lieberman's campaign bus seems to be stuck in reverse,'' poll director Douglas Schwartz said. ''Despite visits from former President Bill Clinton and other big-name Democrats, Lieberman has not been able to stem the tide to Lamont.'' ''Although we realize the only vote that counts is Aug. 8, we hope this energizes our base,'' said Liz Dupont-Diehl, a spokeswoman for the Lamont campaign.
4) Israel Restarts Beirut Strikes; Blair Says U.N. Near Deal
John Kifner And John O’Neil
New York Times
August 3, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-mideast.html
British Prime Minister Blair said that the UN Security Council would likely agree within the next two days on a cease-fire plan that would be followed by negotiations for a longer-term settlement. The two-step approach marks a sharp change from the position held previously by Blair and President Bush, who have resisted halting the fighting until a plan for a "sustainable" peace could be adopted. Blair acknowledged that the new approach reflects the "very real danger" that continued civilian deaths and destruction in Lebanon could end up making Hezbollah and other extremist groups more popular. Blair said that the negotiations that would follow a cease-fire would be based on both Israel’s need for security from Hezbollah attacks and on the seven-point plan put forward by Lebanon's Prime Minister, which calls for a prisoner exchange and an Israeli withdrawal from disputed territory along the border.
The Israeli Defense Forces announced that an investigation into the bombing at Qana said the raid was based on mistaken information "that the building was not inhabited by civilians and was being used as a hiding place for terrorists." Dan Halutz, the chief of staff, said that policies on the choosing of targets would be reviewed. Much of southern Lebanon was a landscape of destruction on Wednesday, with smoke rising from shelled villages.
The Maronite Catholic patriarch convened a meeting this week of religious leaders of other communities, Shiite and Sunni Muslims and several varieties of Christians, resulting in a statement of solidarity and photographs in Wednesday’s newspapers. Their joint statement, condemning the Israeli "aggression," hailed "the resistance, mainly led by Hezbollah, which represents one of the sections of society." [Editor's note: A recent poll in Lebanon, cited by Jefferson Morley in item 12, suggests that four out of five Lebanese Christians support Hizbollah's "resistance against the Israeli aggression.": http://www.beirutcenter.info/default.asp?contentid=692&MenuID=46.]
5) Civilians Lose as Fighters Slip Into Fog of War
Sabrina Tavernise
New York Times
August 3, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/world/middleeast/03civilian.html
A convoy of Lebanese villagers was fleeing north shortly after the war began. They had heard Israeli soldiers telling them to evacuate. Suddenly, a rocket struck a pickup truck full of people. Twenty-one people were killed, more than half of them children. Israel said it believed the convoy was transporting rockets. The convoy had not notified Israel that it was going to make the trip. Those who survived said in interviews that they were simply following Israeli orders to flee the south as best they could. The case was one of those noted in a report released on Wednesday by Human Rights Watch. It said the killings formed a pattern so extensive that it seemed to indicate that the Israelis were deliberately shooting civilians. It went so far as to accuse Israel of war crimes. "In many of these strikes there is no military objective anywhere in the vicinity," said Peter Bouckaert, who conducted the study. "Day after day we are documenting these strikes where they clearly hit civilian targets."
6) News Analysis: Israel’s Long-Term Battle
Steven Erlanger
New York Times
August 3, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/world/middleeast/03israel.html
Israel is fighting now to win the battle of perceptions. Prime Minister Olmert wants to ensure that when a cease-fire is finally arranged, Israel is seen as having won a decisive victory over Hezbollah. It is important for him politically. Israel wants to recover from an image of an unimpressive military venture against a tough, small, but well-trained group of fighters. Israel also wants to send a message to the Palestinians, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran, that attacks on Israel will be met with overwhelming force. Giora Eiland, Israel’s national security adviser under Sharon, predicts a solution in the next week or so that is "far from Israel’s original intent." He sees a political package negotiated at the UN that includes an exchange of Lebanese prisoners, with Israel regaining its two soldiers; a security zone in southern Lebanon under the control of a multinational force; an Israeli promise not to violate Lebanon’s sovereignty; and "a general understanding or commitment by the Lebanese government to be responsible for Hezbollah’s behavior."
7) Kafr Kila: To Many in a Town Under Attack, Militiamen Are Defenders
Jad Mouawad
New York Times
August 3, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/world/middleeast/03village.html
For the past week, Israel’s army has thrown everything at Kafr Kila. It has bombed it, unleashed tank fire against it, lobbed phosphorus shells into it. Many residents have fled the destruction, but so far the defenders, local fighters with Hezbollah and allied factions, have held on. Villagers are overwhelmingly supportive of the group and of allied organizations like Amal. Kafr Kila has been without power or water since the Israeli attack began nearly three weeks ago. Food and medicine are running short for residents who have remained.
8) Israeli Jets, Helicopters and Ground Forces Attack Baalbek, Hezbollah Hub in Bekaa Valley
Hassan M. Fattah
New York Times
August 3, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/world/middleeast/03baalbek.html
In peacetime, Baalbek is best known for its Roman ruins and its summer festivals. But in war, it is a prime target, a strategic center for Hezbollah in the Bekaa Valley. Seven people, including two children, were killed when Israeli planes bombed a house in Jamaliye, a few miles outside Baalbek. In the house were about 50 members of an extended family who had fled the house when the jets were flying over. After the family returned, a rocket landed in the garden, one relative said.
9) Israeli Warplanes Pound Southern Beirut
Hezbollah Sprays Rockets, Killing 5 Israelis
Jonathan Finer, Edward Cody and Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post
Thursday, August 3, 2006; 10:42 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080300305.html
Israeli warplanes pounded the southern suburbs of Beirut Thursday for the first time in eight days, and a barrage of Hezbollah rockets fired across the border killed at least five people in northern Israel. Hezbollah fighters and Israeli ground troops were engaged in fierce ground battles in Lebanese border towns and villages that left two Israeli soldiers dead and two others injured. Israeli jets also bombed roads and bridges in the northern part of Lebanon, in an apparent effort to cut off potential resupply routes from Syria.
Lebanese prime minister Fuad Siniora said the death toll in his country has risen above 900 in the three weeks since hostilities broke out after a Hezbollah raid into Israel. More than 3,000 have been wounded, Siniora said. He said a third of the total casualties have been children under 12.
10) Among Militia's Patient Loyalists, Confidence and Belief in Victory
Anthony Shadid
Washington Post
Thursday, August 3, 2006; A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/02/AR2006080201584.html
Three weeks into its war with Israel, Hezbollah has retained its presence in southern Lebanon, often the sole authority in devastated towns along the Israeli border. The militia is elusive, with few logistics, little hierarchy and less visibility. Even residents often say they don't know how the militiamen operate or are organized. Communication is by walkie-talkie, always in code, and sometimes messages are delivered by motorcycle.
11) Seven Palestinians Killed in Israeli Raid in Rafah
Molly Moore
Washington Post
Thursday, August 3, 2006; 7:24 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080300293.html
Israeli military forces killed seven Palestinians, including a 13-year-old boy, during a midnight attack on the outskirts of Rafah. At least two of those killed were identified as members of the militant group Islamic Jihad, according to a report issued by the organization. Palestinian witnesses in the area reported that the Israeli military fired tank rounds and fired rockets from an unmanned drone patrolling overhead. They said Israeli forces enter the area nightly in search of Palestinian fighters.
12) World Opinion Roundup: The Qana Conspiracy Theory
Jefferson Morley
Washington Post
August 2, 2006; 10:30 AM ET
http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/worldopinionroundup/
An alternative view of the Qana attack is emerging in blogs -- that the incident was actually staged by Hezbollah. The Qana conspiracy theory not only underscores how the Internet can misinform, it also reveals a popular demand for online content that attempts to explain away news reports that Israel (and by proxy, its closest ally and arms supplier, the United States) was responsible for the deaths of dozens of women and children in a Hezbollah stronghold. At a time when American and Israeli public opinion of the war diverge radically from the world opinion elsewhere, the emergence of a right-wing equivalent of the Sept. 11 conspiracy theories is worth noting. EU Referendum claimed that a Lebanese rescue worker seen in many photos from Qana was a "Hezbollah official." I e-mailed co-author of the site, Richard North, to ask for his evidence. "All I have to go on is gut instinct," North replied. I appreciate his candor. It confirms that he has no evidence to support the central claim of his blog posts. North says he is just trying to "raise questions," which is certainly a legitimate goal. My question is: What is it about the photos from Qana that made Israel's supporters prefer fantasy to fact?
13) Future of Orthodox Jewish Vote Has Implications for GOP
Small but Growing Group Receptive to Republican Ideas
Jim VandeHei
Washington Post
Thursday, August 3, 2006; Page A06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/02/AR2006080201692.html
Republicans are hoping a strong defense of Israel translates into greater support among Jewish voters this fall, but the biggest political benefits are likely to come long after the 2006 campaign concludes, according to political and demographic experts studying Jewish voting trends. The Jewish group proving most receptive to Republican overtures over the past decade is among the smallest: Orthodox Jews. Right now, they account for roughly 10 percent of the estimated 5.3 million Jews in the United States, hardly enough to tip most elections. This is likely to change significantly in the years ahead because Orthodox Jews are the fastest-growing segment of the Jewish population, raising the possibility that one of the most reliable Democratic voting blocs will be increasingly in play in future elections, according to surveys of Jewish voting and religious and social habits.
14) G.I.’s Say Officers Ordered Killing of Young Iraqi Men
Paul von Zielbauer
New York Times
August 3, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/world/middleeast/03abuse.html
Four American soldiers from an Army combat unit that killed three Iraqis in a raid in May testified Wednesday that they had received orders from superior officers to kill all the military-age men they encountered. The soldiers gave their accounts at a military hearing to determine if four colleagues should face courts-martial on charges that they carried out a plan to murder the three Iraqis. Their testimony gave credence to statements from two defendants that an officer had told their platoon to “kill all military-age males” in the assault. That officer, Col. Michael Steele, has declined to testify, an unusual decision for a commander. “We are now talking about the possibility of command responsibility, not just unlawful orders and simple murder,” said Gary D. Solis, a former military judge and prosecutor who teaches the law of war at Georgetown University. Colonel Steele, who led the 1993 mission in Somalia later made famous in the film “Black Hawk Down,” has a reputation for aggressive measures. In Iraq, as a commander involved in harrowing assaults against insurgents, he inspired the use of “kill boards” to track how many Iraqis each soldier had killed over time.
15) In Iraq, It’s Hard to Trust Anyone in Uniform
Damien Cave
New York Times
August 3, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/world/middleeast/03uniforms.html
The camouflaged Iraqi commandos who kidnapped 20 people from a pair of central Baghdad offices this week used Interior Ministry vehicles and left little trace of their true identities. Were they legitimate officers? Members of a Shiite or Sunni death squad? Or criminals in counterfeit uniforms bought at the market? Majid Hamid, a Sunni human rights worker whose brother was kidnapped and killed by men in uniform four months ago, said he doubted that the answer would ever be known. Now, he said, the authorities normally trusted to investigate may be responsible for the crime. “Whenever I see uniforms now, I figure they must be militias,” Mr. Hamid said in a recent interview. “I immediately try to avoid them. If I have my gun, I know I need to be ready to use it.”
16) 'Low Intensity Civil War' Likely in Iraq, Ambassador Says
Mary Jordan and Fred Barbash
Washington Post
Thursday, August 3, 2006; 7:10 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080300277.html
Britain's outgoing ambassador to Iraq has advised his government that the country is more likely headed to "low intensity civil war" and sectarian partition than to a stable democracy, the BBC reported Wednesday. The network said it obtained a diplomatic dispatch from William Patey to Prime Minister Blair and top members of Blair's cabinet.
Patey wrote that "the prospect of a low intensity civil war and a de facto division of Iraq is probably more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy. Even the lowered expectation of President Bush for Iraq -- a government that can sustain itself, defend itself and govern itself and is an ally in the war on terror -- must remain in doubt." Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has reversed a decision to skip a public hearing on Capitol Hill and said he will testify Thursday at a session on the Iraq war. The move came after pressure from Senate Democrats who urged him to come before the Senate Armed Services Committee to answer questions about the administration's Iraq policies.
17) Lebanon could overshadow Iran's study of nuclear deal
Clarence Fernandez
Reuters
Thursday, August 3, 2006; 9:47 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080300576.html
Iran said on Thursday it was still weighing an international package of incentives to suspend its nuclear programme but conflict in Lebanon had diverted its attention. On Monday, the U.N. Security Council demanded that Iran suspend its nuclear activities by August 31 or face the threat of sanctions, although Iran responded by insisting on its right to produce nuclear fuel. "We have said we are open to negotiations, and in the shadow of negotiations it is possible to settle any dispute," President Ahmadinejad said."And even now some sort of dialogue is going on, but the crimes committed by the Zionist regime have overshadowed all our considerations," he said in a reference to Israel's campaign in Lebanon.
18) Iran warns of $200 oil if US pursues sanctions
Reuters
Thursday, August 3, 2006; 10:59 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/03/AR2006080300577.html
Global oil prices could hit $200 per barrel if the United States pursues international sanctions against Iran, an Iranian official said on Thursday, although analysts passed the comment off as saber rattling. Markets appeared to shrug off the comment, with U.S. crude oil falling $1.01 to $74.80 on signs that Tropical Storm Chris would not become a hurricane. Tension over Iran's nuclear ambitions, which has rattled oil markets in recent weeks, has been overshadowed by the bloody conflict in Lebanon.
19) Iran's President Voices New Optimism
Associated Press
August 3, 2006
Filed at 10:21 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iran-Nuclear.html
Iran's president expressed optimism Thursday that the dispute over his country's nuclear program can be resolved through talks, despite mounting impatience with his rejection of U.N. Security Council demands to suspend uranium enrichment. Underlining the international concern, one of Iran's leading trade partners, Russia, issued a statement Thursday telling the Tehran regime it must respect the council's Aug. 31 deadline to stop enrichment.
20) Mexico Leftist Threatens More Protests
Reuters
August 3, 2006
Filed at 0:41 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mexico-election.html
Lopez Obrador, heading protests to pressure Mexico's electoral court into ordering a full recount of votes in the July 2 presidential election, threatened on Wednesday to turn the screws even tighter despite anger over demonstrations that have crippled Mexico City.
Thousands of Lopez Obrador's supporters have seized the capital's vast Zocalo square and main Reforma boulevard, causing three days of traffic chaos and drawing fire from the government. "Mexico City belongs to everyone. All those who live here deserve to have their rights respected,'' said Ruben Aguilar, spokesman for President Vicente Fox.
The protests have been peaceful, but are angering residents and alienating some former Lopez Obrador supporters. Lopez Obrador has apologized for the disruption, but insisted it was a small price to pay. The former Mexico City mayor said he would decide whether to step up the campaign of civil disobedience after a court decision over a recount, which he expected within days. "It causes annoyance, anger, we know that, but there is no other choice ... we have to make democracy count in our country,'' he said.
Just Foreign Policy News
August 2, 2006
In this issue:
1) Just Foreign Policy does radio on "Uniting for Peace"
2) Jackson-Lee Introduces cease-fire resolution
3) Israeli Troops Sweep Southern Lebanon
4) Hezbollah Fires Over 200 Rockets Into Israel
5) U.S. Insists Truce Must Await Plan to Disarm Hezbollah
6) European Union Seeks Halt to Battles as First Step
7) Olmert Stands Firm as Fighting Continues
8) At Beacon of Learning, Looking to Pass a New Test in Beirut
9) US, France Working on Two - Phase UN Mideast Plan
10) Believing Bombing Over, Lebanese Paid High Price
11) Widening War Complicates US Policy Goals
12) US Rebukes UN No. 2 for Criticizing Mideast Policy
13) Saudi Arabia Criticizes US Policy Over Lebanon
14) U.N. Again Postpones Peacekeeper Meeting
15) EU Rejects Ceasefire Call and UN Fails to Act as Disunity Prevails
16) How Israel's Bombing Turned Hizbollah Leader into a Symbol of Muslim Pride
17) Iran VP: Country Still Considering Offer
18) Soldiers Smiled Before Killings in Iraq: Witness
19) Report Faults Iraq Reconstruction Plans
20) Mexico Leftist Under Fire as Vote Protests Drag On
Contents:
1) Just Foreign Policy does radio on "Uniting for Peace"
Just Foreign Policy did three radio interviews today in support of the petition for the UN General Assembly to take action for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon under the "Uniting for Peace" resolution, on Pacifica/WPFW, KCSB, and XM radio.
2) Jackson-Lee Introduces cease-fire resolution
On July 25, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) introduced H.Res.945, calling for secure humanitarian corridors to be opened in Lebanon, an immediate cease-fire, and a comprehensive and just resolution to the Israeli-Arab conflict. 16 Members have signed on to the Jackson-Lee resolution.
3) Israeli Troops Sweep Southern Lebanon
Associated Press
August 2, 2006
Filed at 3:16 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Lebanon-Israel.html
Israel pressed the first full day of a massive new ground attack, sending 8,000 troops into southern Lebanon on Wednesday and seizing five people it said were Hezbollah fighters in a dramatic airborne raid on a northeastern town. Hezbollah retaliated with its deepest strikes yet into Israel, firing a record number of more than 210 rockets. Diplomatic efforts faltered, with France saying it will not participate in a Thursday U.N. meeting that could send troops to help monitor a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. France, which may join or even lead such a force, said it does not want to talk about sending peacekeepers until fighting halts and the U.N. Security Council agrees to a wider framework for lasting peace. Pope Benedict XVI issued a new appeal for peace in the Middle East.
4) Hezbollah Fires Over 200 Rockets Into Israel
John Kifner And Hassan M. Fattah
New York Times
August 2, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/world/middleeast/02cnd-mideast.html
Hezbollah guerrillas fired more than 200 rockets into Israel today, a record number, even as Israel poured thousands of troops backed by tanks and armored bulldozers into fierce fighting along the border. As the battles raged in a half-dozen pockets just over the border, Prime Minister Olmert vowed that Israel would fight on until an international force moved into southern Lebanon, an uncertain prospect that could take weeks or more.
Olmert declared that Hezbollah’s infrastructure had been “entirely destroyed” and asserted that some 770 command and control centers has been struck and taken out of action. But even as he spoke, shadowy Hezbollah fighters, flitting between shattered villages and underground bunkers, were showering Israel with the biggest barrage of rockets in the 22-day-old war.
5) U.S. Insists Truce Must Await Plan to Disarm Hezbollah
Jim Rutenberg And Thom Shanker
New York Times
August 2, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/washington/02diplo.html
The US firmly reiterated its position on Tuesday that there can be no cease-fire in the Middle East until there is a solid plan in place to disarm Hezbollah. Secretary of State Rice had seemed to be ready to hasten the diplomatic effort to end the crisis on Monday, saying a solution was possible this week. But after she had dinner with Mr. Bush on Monday night, and France effectively postponed a United Nations session to work out the details of a international peacekeeping force, the administration strongly reiterated its message: a cease-fire will not be hastened without a plan to make it a lasting one.
On Tuesday, European officials, joined by some United States counterparts, said the diplomacy could easily extend into next week.
6) European Union Seeks Halt to Battles as the First Step, With Cease-Fire to Follow
Elaine Sciolino And Dan Bilefsky
New York Times
August 2, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/world/europe/02europe.html
The 25 countries of the EU called Tuesday for an immediate end to the fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, hoping to create the momentum for a political solution and the deployment of an international military force to secure the peace. The meeting suggested a widening gap between the European and American positions. The Europeans essentially gave their support to a French proposal for a UN Security Council resolution that envisions an immediate stop to the fighting, followed by a permanent cease-fire and a political agreement, and only then the deployment of an international force. That sequence of events is opposed by the US, which says there can be a cease-fire and political arrangements only after the formation of a foreign force to enforce them. The Europeans called for the “immediate cessation of hostilities, to be followed by a sustainable cease-fire.”
7) Olmert Stands Firm as Fighting Continues
Associated Press
August 2, 2006
Filed at 1:11 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast-Fighting-Olmert.html
In an interview with AP, Olmert said Israel's offensive against Hezbollah will stop only once a robust international peacekeeping force is in place in southern Lebanon, his clearest indication to date that Israel would resist European pressure for an immediate cease-fire. Olmert said the release of two Israelis seized by Hezbollah on July 12 must be unconditional, signaling Israel does not favor a prisoner swap. ''Israel will stop fighting when the international force will be present in the south of Lebanon,'' he said. ''We can't stop before because if there will not be a presence of a very effective and robust military international force, Hezbollah will be there and we will have achieved nothing.''
8) At Beacon of Learning, Looking to Pass a New Test in Beirut
John Files
New York Times
August 2, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/education/02beirut.html
Through decades of violence and unrest in the Middle East, the American University of Beirut has preserved its reputation as one of the best institutions of higher learning in the region. As the university again finds itself in the midst of conflict and uncertainty, with the fighting in southern Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, the university’s president, on a visit here last week, said he was optimistic that the institution would persevere. So far, the university’s campus has been spared from the Israeli bombing campaign that has killed dozens and driven thousands from their homes. But summer programs have been suspended indefinitely. The university runs summer sessions for graduate students, as well as programs for Americans and other foreigners to study Arabic and Middle East history, culture and politics. It was unclear whether fall classes would begin the first week of October as scheduled.
9) US, France Working on Two - Phase UN Mideast Plan
Reuters
August 2, 2006
Filed at 1:17 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast-un.html
The US, France and Britain hope for a U.N. Security Council resolution within a week that would call for a truce and perhaps beef up U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon until a more robust force can be formed, diplomats said Wednesday. The US and France are rapidly working out differences on an initial resolution that would also call for the creation of a buffer zone and the need to disarm Hizbollah guerrillas. But Paris has made it clear it will not join an international force without a truce and an agreement in principle on the political framework of a long-term peace deal. Once fighting has ended, negotiations would begin at the UN on a second resolution setting out a permanent cease-fire that all combatants could accept. That resolution would also authorize an international force in southern Lebanon and set out terms for a sustainable cease-fire. Russia and China have not yet been involved in the negotiations. A key issue is whether all sides would accept a truce. The US had anticipated a Security Council meeting at the foreign minister level next week, but no date has been set. Meanwhile France, often mentioned as a leader of an international force, rejected a U.N. meeting of potential troop contributors set for Thursday because there was no political deal on ending the conflict.
Consequently, the United Nations called off the meeting, for the second time this week.
10) Believing Bombing Over, Lebanese Paid High Price
Reuters
August 2, 2006
Filed at 12:01 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast-lebanon-danger.html
Ali Bajouk set off to deliver supplies to elderly relatives in the village of Aita al-Shaab thinking Israel had suspended its aerial bombardment of southern Lebanon. He was wrong. Bajouk now lies in a hospital bed in Beirut, his body, head and face wrapped in bandages to cover the burns caused by an air strike which scorched half his skin.
"We went up to Aita on the grounds there was a ceasefire,'' he said, his mouth and eyes all that were visible beyond thick layers of bandages. "They are liars." Israel had said on Sunday it would suspend air strikes on southern Lebanon for 48 hours to investigate an air strike on the village of Qana. There were fewer air strikes on Monday and Tuesday, but warplanes still struck. The Israeli military said it had reserved the right to strike at Hizbollah guerrillas firing rockets into Israel from their strongholds in south Lebanon. Israel also warned civilians to leave the area but residents say they are hindered by bomb damage to roads.
11) Widening War Complicates US Policy Goals
Reuters
August 2, 2006
Filed at 10:02 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-mideast-usa-policy.html
President Bush has described the Israel-Hizbollah crisis as another opportunity to remake the Middle East in his democratic vision. But as civilian casualties from the conflict in Lebanon mount, the situation looks increasingly chaotic, and a damage-control operation will make it harder to advance U.S. foreign policy interests, analysts say. "I think the chances of this having a silver lining are diminishing,'' said Ellen Laipson, former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council. "The phrase 'this is an opportunity' is such a best-case scenario. Haven't we learned from the Iraq experience? Be careful of setting out a strategic goal that is so unrealistic,'' Laipson said. Bush's agenda was already loaded when rocket attacks by Hizbollah guerrilla group three weeks ago provoked Israeli retaliation. [Note this innovation in the sequence of events - JFP.] Initially, the world focused on Hizbollah as the aggressor. But Israeli air attacks caused hundreds of civilian deaths and stoked a new backlash against Israel and America, its chief ally.
12) US Rebukes UN No. 2 for Criticizing Mideast Policy
Reuters
August 2, 2006
Filed at 2:46 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-mideast-un-usa.html
The US sharply rebuked the No. 2 U.N. official, Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown, on Wednesday for his repeated criticism of Washington after he said America should allow others to share the lead in solving the Lebanon crisis. "We are seeing a troubling pattern of a high official of the U.N. who seems to be making it his business to criticize member states and, frankly, with misplaced and misguided criticisms,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. McCormack's remarks were in response to an interview published in the Financial Times on Wednesday, in which the U.N. official also told Britain to adopt a lower profile to end fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
13) Saudi Arabia Criticizes US Policy Over Lebanon
Reuters
August 2, 2006
Filed at 11:18 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-mideast-saudi-usa.html
Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally, criticized Washington's stance on the Israeli military campaign in Lebanon and urged it on Wednesday to press for an immediate ceasefire.
"We disagree with the U.S. policy in this area ... the United States is the super power and it can seek an immediate ceasefire,'' Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said "(We) take issue with the United States that it did not take a position that prevents Israel from striking Lebanon.'' He said Washington was morally obliged to prevent Israel from using U.S.-made weapons in attacks against civilians.
14) U.N. Again Postpones Peacekeeper Meeting
Associated Press
August 2, 2006
Filed at 12:53 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast-Fighting-UN.html
The U.N. announced Wednesday that it was again postponing a meeting of nations that could send peacekeepers to south Lebanon, saying talks about sending troops were pointless before there was progress on peace between Israel and Hezbollah. Diplomats still claimed substantial progress toward agreement on a peace plan, saying there was general agreement on the elements required for a lasting solution. Those include halting the fighting, disarming Hezbollah, deploying peacekeepers and creating a buffer zone in south Lebanon free of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops. ''I'm confident that by tomorrow we'll be in a position to have discussions in the Council on a text which actually takes us forward,'' Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry said. The diplomats are debating a French draft resolution that would impose that framework for peace and lay the conditions for a peacekeeping force. But France, considered a possible leader of a peacekeeping force, wants fighting to stop immediately, to create the political framework, and then to send the troops. France has refused to take part in a meeting of nations willing to contribute troops. That refusal has now led the U.N. to postpone the meeting twice.
15) EU Rejects Ceasefire Call and UN Fails to Act as Disunity Prevails
Nicholas Watt, Ewen MacAskill, Simon Tisdall and Oliver Burkeman
Guardian / UK
August 2, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0802-01.htm
Efforts to secure an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon collapsed again yesterday after a divided EU issued a watered-down statement and the UN postponed a full security council discussion promised by Blair and Rice. Despite escalating violence in southern Lebanon, EU foreign ministers rejected a draft statement that would have called for an immediate ceasefire and would have branded Israel's bombardment as "a severe breach of international humanitarian law". In a semantic bow to Washington and Tel Aviv, they called instead "for an immediate cessation of hostilities to be followed by a sustainable ceasefire". Germany and four other countries joined Britain in opposing the tougher language that had been urged by France. In EU parlance, a "cessation" now appears to mean a temporary pause, whereas a "ceasefire" implies a more permanent arrangement.
The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, denied the compromise amounted to a "green light" for Israel to continue its military offensive. "I would be saddened and dismayed if someone would read that into today's conclusions," she said. The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said: "Cessation of hostilities is not the same as a ceasefire. A ceasefire can perhaps be achieved later ... We can now only ask the UN security council and put pressure on it not to waste any more time."
16) How Israel's Bombing Turned Hizbollah Leader into a Symbol of Muslim Pride
Patrick Cockburn
Independent / UK
August 2, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0802-04.htm
A year ago Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbollah, was an important figure in Lebanon but seemed destined to remain on the sidelines of Middle East politics. Nasrallah's great moment had apparently come and gone in May 2000 when Israel had unilaterally withdrawn its troops from southern Lebanon after years of harassment by Hizbollah guerrillas. He returned in triumph to reconquered Lebanese territory and, if the military victory over Israel was small in scale, it was still an accomplishment not enjoyed by many Arab leaders over the past half century. But the departure of the Israelis from Lebanon also robbed Hizbollah of its raison d'être and excuse for forming a state within a state. No doubt its leader, Nasrallah, would remain a power within Lebanon but it seemed increasingly unlikely that he would be anything more. It was Israel that decided otherwise. By launching a massive military campaign in retaliation for the kidnapping of two of its soldiers on 12 July it made Nasrallah into a symbol of resistance to Israel in the Muslim world.
17) Iran VP: Country Still Considering Offer
Associated Press
August 2, 2006
Filed at 1:33 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iran-Nuclear.html
Iran is still considering a package of incentives offered by Western nations in June for Tehran to suspend its nuclear program, Iranian Vice President Isfandiar Rahim Mashaee said Wednesday. Mashaee also repeated Iranian criticism of a U.N. resolution calling for Iran to halt its uranium enrichment by Aug. 31 or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions. ''The U.N. Security Council resolution was adopted despite the fact Iran is seriously studying the incentives package ... Western countries are resorting to pressure, not dialogue, and wish to deny Iran its rights,'' Mashaee said. Mashaee's remarks came a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced the U.N. resolution adopted earlier this week, telling a crowd in northeastern Iran that Tehran would not give in to United Nations threats. Tehran has said it would reply to the package on Aug. 22, but the council decided to issue a resolution and not wait for Iran's response.
18) Soldiers Smiled Before Killings in Iraq: Witness
Reuters
August 2, 2006
Filed at 7:28 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iraq-usa-hearing.html
U.S. soldiers charged with murdering three detainees in Iraq smiled before carrying out the shootings and threatened to kill another soldier if he informed on them, a military court heard on Wednesday. Prosecution witness Private First Class Bradley Mason, under cross examination, said the rules of engagement were "we get to kill all the male insurgents.''
19) Report Faults Iraq Reconstruction Plans
Pauline Jelinek
Associated Press
August 2, 2006
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0802-09.htm
The beleaguered Iraq reconstruction effort was beset by problems from the very start and is also hampered by a long pattern of corruption in the country, a new report finds. For several months before the war, government agencies didn't consult each other on what they were doing because their work was classified. The report is a chronological review of American contracting and purchasing efforts starting in the summer of 2002 for post-invasion relief and rebuilding. "It is a story of mistakes made, plans poorly conceived or overwhelmed by ongoing violence," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. "And of waste, greed and corruption that drained dollars that should have been used to build schools, improve the electrical grid, and repair the oil infrastructure." The report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction is being presented Wednesday before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which Collins chairs.
20) Mexico Leftist Under Fire as Vote Protests Drag On
Reuters
August 2, 2006
Filed at 1:26 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mexico-election.html
Mexico's leftist opposition leader came under fire on Wednesday for crippling Mexico City with protests against alleged fraud in a tight presidential election, but his supporters vowed to fight on. Thousands of leftists seized the capital's Zocalo square, one of the biggest in the world, and the main boulevard running through the city, causing three straight days of chaos. Lopez Obrador is heading the protests to pressure Mexico's electoral court to order a full recount of votes in the July 2 presidential election. While the protests have been effective, some analysts say the tactic could backfire by angering residents and alienating some of Lopez Obrador's former supporters. The government of President Fox increased the pressure on Lopez Obrador and his supporters on Wednesday by saying the protests were hurting the city's economy, putting jobs at risk and violating residents' rights of free movement.
Just Foreign Policy News
August 1, 2006
In this issue:
1) Just Foreign Policy joins Brecher/Smith call for UN General Assembly Action on Immediate Cease-Fire
2) Doggett, Velazquez, Clay Join Kucinich Resolution for Immediate Cease-Fire
3) Cease-Fire Diplomacy in Lebanon - NYT editorial
4) Israel Expands Offensive to Drive Back Hezbollah
5) To Stay or to Go Isn’t an Easy Choice for Many in Villages
6) Lebanese Race to Save Lives, but Find Death
7) Lebanese Premier Faces Impossible Job
8) U.N. Aid Convoys to Lebanon Delayed
9) For Lebanese, Calm Moment to Flee Ruins
10) Stop the Band-Aid Treatment - Carter op-ed
11) 'There is no ceasefire. There will not be any ceasefire'
12) 'No Hezbollah Rockets Fired from Qana'
13) Republican Senator Criticizes US Policy on Middle East
14) Republican Realists Call for Major Course Change
15) Bush Baggage Could Cost Lieberman Primary
16) Mideast Conflict a Setback for Iran Reform Movement
17) Democratic Leaders Ask Bush to Redeploy Troops in Iraq
18) Iran’s Leader Rejects U.N. Resolution
19) U.N. Gives Iran Deadline to End Nuclear Work
20) Lopez Obrador Backers Slow Mexico City
Contents:
1) Just Foreign Policy joins Brecher/Smith call for UN General Assembly Action on Immediate Cease-Fire
With the UN Security Council failing to take action to bring about a ceasefire in Lebanon, Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith call on the UN General Assembly to take action under Resolution 377, "Uniting for Peace," to bring about an immediate unconditional cease-fire. (http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0727-27.htm) A similar call in the run-up to the Iraq war generated significant international pressure on the United States. Just Foreign Policy is circulating a petition in support of this demand: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/issues/lebanon.html.
2) Doggett, Velazquez, Clay Join Kucinich Resolution for Immediate Cease-Fire
Rep Lloyd Doggett [TX-25], Rep Velazquez, Nydia M. [NY-12], and Rep Wm. Lacy Clay [MO-1] have joined on as co-sponsors to the Kucinich resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon, bringing the number of co-sponsors to 33, of whom 27 are members of the Progressive Caucus. The current list of Progressive Caucus members who have not yet agreed to co-sponsor the Kucinich resolution is at http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/issues/prog_cauc_noceasefire.xls. A form for contacting Members of Congress is at http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=4697.
3) Cease-Fire Diplomacy in Lebanon
Editorial
New York Times
August 1, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/opinion/01tue1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
It took the worldwide uproar over the Qana casualties to finally jolt the Bush administration into asking for something it should have sought many days earlier. Washington’s instant turnabout and Israel’s instant response has left the damaging impression that had America expressed similar concerns sooner, these and many other innocent Lebanese lives might have been saved. Israel is already rolling out plans for an expanded ground offensive, which Washington has done nothing to discourage. Before that happens, the temporary lull in Israeli attacks needs to be broadened into a full cease-fire and extended indefinitely while the United Nations Security Council works to create an international armed force to secure Lebanon’s border.
4) Israel Expands Offensive to Drive Back Hezbollah
Craig S. Smith And Steven Erlanger
New York Times
August 1, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/world/middleeast/01cnd-mideast.html
Israel sharply stepped up its ground campaign in southern Lebanon after the Israeli cabinet decided to expand its operations, aiming to push Hezbollah back from the border before a cease-fire is declared