Just Foreign Policy News October 5, 2006 Sign the petition - No War with Iran! Just Foreign Policy, in collaboration with Peace Action, is sponsoring a petition against war with Iran. To sign the petition, use this link: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/iranpetition.html
The Just Foreign Policy News Summary is now podcast daily. The podcast is generally less than 5 minutes. To subscribe, see http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/podcasts/podcast_howto.html. Summary: U.S. Key senators say Congress has outlawed waterboarding, but the White House disagrees, the Washington Post reports. The Post notes that in 1947, the US charged a Japanese officer with war crimes for carrying out waterboarding on a U.S. civilian during World War II. The officer was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. Friday is the 30th anniversary of the bombing of a plane which killed 73 people, the Washington Post reports. Attorneys for the Justice Department must respond by Thursday to a recommendation that Luis Posada Carriles, a main suspect in the bombing, be freed because he has not been designated a terrorist in the US and cannot be held indefinitely on immigration charges. The case tests President Bush's statement that nations that harbor terrorists are guilty of terrorism. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are going badly, but if the winds change, Congress is ready to celebrate with a $20 million victory party, AP reported yesterday. The money is contained in the military spending bill that passed last week. EU legislators lashed out Wednesday at a banking consortium and one of its key supervisors, the European Central Bank, which acknowledged that it had known for years that the consortium was giving confidential banking records to US authorities. A Navy corpsman accused of kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi man will give testimony about other Marines' role in the incident in return for having charges against him dropped. Some of the troops are accused of placing a rifle and shovel next to the victim's body to make it look like he was planting a bomb. The US Army and Marines are finishing work on a new counterinsurgency doctrine that draws on lessons from Iraq and makes the welfare and protection of civilians a bedrock element of military strategy, the New York Times reports. The international community must try to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict to stop the Middle East from sliding further into turmoil, the International Crisis Group said Thursday. Iran A letter in which Ayatollah Khomeini cited a need for nuclear weapons has stoked debate over whether to negotiate with the West. In the letter, Khomeini outlined the reasons Iran had to accept a cease-fire in its war with Iraq. The letter has been used by moderates to bolster the case for nuclear talks with the West. AP reported signs of an emerging consensus that the time had come to consider Security Council sanctions against Iran, but Reuters reports that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov reiterated Thursday that his country still opposed sanctions and wanted a diplomatic solution. Iraq Iraq's school and university system is in danger of collapse in large areas of the country as pupils and teachers take flight in the face of threats of violence, the Guardian reports. Palestine The US is proposing to expand the presidential guard for the Palestinian Authority president in a plan to strengthen him and reduce security chaos in the Authority, the New York Times reports. US officials are working to reopen the Karni crossing between Gaza and Israel by early November so Palestinian produce can be exported to Europe. Because of Congressional funding restrictions, US officials are seeking donations for the project. Palestinian Authority president Abbas said talks with Hamas on a unity government had collapsed and warned that Palestinians faced the danger of civil war. Mexico Amnesty International called on the Mexican federal government to take over an inquiry into accusations that police sexually abused women arrested after a clash between police and residents of a town north of Mexico City. Nigeria Militants in Nigeria's oil region said Thursday they had called off attacks on troops and would fight only in response to actions by the military. A fifth of Nigeria's oil production capacity remains blocked. Contents: U.S. 1) Waterboarding Historically Controversial In 1947, the U.S. Called It a War Crime; in 1968, It Reportedly Caused an Investigation Walter Pincus, Washington Post, Thursday, October 5, 2006; A17 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/04/AR2006100402005.html Key senators say Congress has outlawed one of the most notorious detainee interrogation techniques - "waterboarding," in which a prisoner feels near drowning. But the White House will not go that far, saying it would be wrong to tell terrorists which practices they might face. Inside the CIA, waterboarding is cited as the technique that got Khalid Sheik Mohammed to talk and provide information - though "not all of it reliable." In 1968, the Washington Post published a photo of a U.S. soldier questioning a captured North Vietnamese soldier being held down as water was poured on his face while his nose and mouth were covered by a cloth. The caption said the technique induced "a flooding sense of suffocation and drowning, meant to make him talk." The article said the practice was "fairly common" in part because "those who practice it say it combines the advantages of being unpleasant enough to make people talk while still not causing permanent injury." The picture reportedly led to an Army investigation. In 1947, the US charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for carrying out waterboarding on a U.S. civilian. The subject was strapped on a stretcher tilted so his feet were in the air and head near the floor, and small amounts of water were poured over his face, leaving him gasping for air until he agreed to talk."Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor," Sen. Kennedy told his colleagues during debate on military commissions legislation. "We punished people with 15 years of hard labor when waterboarding was used against Americans in World War II," he said. A CIA interrogation training manual, "KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation," outlined a procedure similar to waterboarding. Subjects were suspended in tanks of water wearing blackout masks that allowed for breathing. Within hours, the subjects felt tension and so-called environmental anxiety. "Providing relief for growing discomfort, the questioner assumes a benevolent role," the manual states. After Vietnam period, Navy SEALs and some Army Special Forces used a form of waterboarding with trainees to prepare them to resist interrogation if captured. The waterboarding proved so successful in breaking their will, says one former Navy captain, "they stopped using it because it hurt morale." After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, low-level Taliban and Arab fighters captured in Afghanistan provided little information. When higher-level al-Qaeda operatives were captured, CIA interrogators sought authority to use more coercive methods. These were cleared not only at the White House but also by the Justice Department and briefed to senior congressional officials, according to a statement released last month by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Waterboarding was one of the approved techniques. When questions began to be raised last year about the handling of high-level detainees and Congress passed legislation barring torture, the handful of CIA interrogators and senior officials who authorized their actions became concerned that they might lose government support. Passage last month of military commissions legislation provided retroactive legal protection to those who carried out waterboarding and other coercive interrogation techniques. 2) In 30-Year-Old Terror Case, a Test for the U.S. Decision Due on Cuban Exile Suspected in Airliner Blast Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post, Thursday, October 5, 2006; A20 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/04/AR2006100401974.html A quarter-century before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a bomb ripped a gash in a civilian jetliner off Barbados. The Cubana Airlines plane plummeted into the Caribbean on Oct. 6, 1976. All 73 people on board died, including teenage members of Cuba's national fencing team returning to Havana after winning medals at a tournament in Venezuela. It was the first act of midair airline terrorism in the Western Hemisphere. The 30th anniversary of the bombing is Friday, and coincides with a critical juncture in the case of Luis Posada Carriles, a main suspect in the bombing, held on immigration charges in the US for 16 months. Posada Carriles's legal odyssey has turned into a diplomatic quandary for the Bush administration and a test of the president's post-Sept. 11 credo that nations that harbor terrorists are guilty of terrorism. While the US does not want to free a terrorism suspect, it is also reluctant to send him to Cuba or Venezuela. Attorneys for the Justice Department must respond by Thursday to a Texas magistrate's recommendation that Posada Carriles be freed by a federal judge because he has not been officially designated a terrorist in the US and cannot be held indefinitely on immigration charges. "This is the moment of truth for the Bush administration," said Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archive. The prospect of freeing Posada Carriles, also a suspect in a series of hotel bombings in Havana that left one Italian tourist dead, has outraged Cuban leaders. "It's as if you were to say to the American people that country X has found Osama bin Laden, who arrived without a passport or a visa, and that he is being held as an illegal immigrant but will not be sent back to the U.S.," said Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba's general assembly. 3) Congress Sets Aside $20M for Wars' Ends Associated Press, October 4, 2006, Filed at 7:41 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Congress-Iraq-Victory.html Top generals have warned Iraq is on the cusp of a civil war and U.S. troops must remain in large numbers until at least next spring. But if the winds blow a different direction, Congress is ready to celebrate with a $20 million victory party. Lawmakers included language in this year's defense spending bill allowing them to spend the money. The funds for ''commemoration of success'' in Iraq and Afghanistan were originally tucked into last year's defense measure, but they went unspent amid an uptick in violence in both countries that forced the Pentagon to extend tours of duty for thousands of troops. Senate Majority Whip McConnell is the original sponsor of the provision, which Democrats agreed to add to last year's defense bill. Senate Republicans kept the authorization in the 2007 bill. Democrats are pointing to it as another example of where the GOP has gone astray in handling the war in Iraq. ''If the Bush administration is planning victory celebrations, Americans deserve to know what their plan is to get us to a victory in Iraq,'' said a spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Reid. McConnell's spokesman said he thought the finger-pointing by Democrats was silly because the provision was added last year by unanimous consent. ''Apparently they were for honoring the troops before they were against it,'' he said. 4) Europeans Berate Bank Group and Overseer for U.S. Access to Data Dan Bilefsky, International Herald Tribune, October 5, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/world/europe/05swift.html EU legislators lashed out Wednesday at a banking consortium and one of its key supervisors, the European Central Bank, which acknowledged that it had known for years that the consortium was giving confidential banking records to US authorities. Last week, the Belgian privacy commission accused the consortium, called Swift, of flouting European data protection rules by allowing analysts from the CIA and officials from other US agencies to search millions of confidential financial transactions for possible terrorist financing activity. An investigation by the privacy commission concluded that Swift had breached European privacy rules. A separate EU group is investigating whether Swift violated European banking law and is considering whether an independent auditor should be appointed to prevent privacy abuses. In a heated parliamentary hearing, lawmakers said Swift and its overseers had ignored privacy rules by not telling the EU or European citizens of the transfers. Several called on Swift to move its US operations to Canada to prevent the US from breaching European civil liberties. Others wanted to know why they had learned of the transfers from a report in the New York Times on June 23 rather than from the European Central Bank, which knew of them as early as June 2002. 5) Sailor to Testify in Iraqi Murder Case Associated Press, October 5, 2006, Filed at 6:40 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Marines-Iraq-Shooting.html A Navy corpsman accused of kidnapping and murdering an Iraqi man will give testimony about seven Marines' role in the incident in return for having charges against him dropped, his attorney said Wednesday. He was a medic who patrolled with the Marine squad that allegedly kidnapped and murdered Hashim Ibrahim Awad last April in the town of Hamdania. All eight were charged with crimes including premeditated murder and kidnapping. Under the deal, he will give details of the incident at a court martial. In return, all of the charges against him will be dismissed. But he will plead guilty to two new charges. His lawyer said he would not be freed after his testimony. Two of the Marines charged in the case pleaded not guilty Wednesday. Besides murder and kidnapping, they also are charged with conspiracy and housebreaking. They face up to life in prison if convicted. One is accused of firing an automatic weapon at Awad. Some of the troops are accused of stealing an AK-47 assault rifle and a shovel and placing them in the hole with Awad's body, apparently to make it look like he was an insurgent planting a bomb. Since the start of the Iraq war in 2003, at least 14 members of the U.S. military have been convicted in connection with the deaths of Iraqis. Two received sentences of up to life in prison, while most others were given little or no jail time. 6) Military Hones a New Strategy on Insurgency Michael R. Gordon, New York Times, October 5, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/washington/05doctrine.html The US Army and Marines are finishing work on a new counterinsurgency doctrine that draws on lessons from Iraq and makes the welfare and protection of civilians a bedrock element of military strategy. The doctrine warns against some practices used early in the war. It cautions against overly aggressive raids and mistreatment of detainees. Instead it emphasizes the importance of safeguarding civilians and restoring essential services, and the rapid development of local security forces. The current military leadership in Iraq has already embraced many of the ideas in the doctrine. But some military experts question whether the Army and the Marines have sufficient troops to carry out the doctrine effectively while also preparing for other threats. Instead of massing firepower to destroy Republican Guard troops and other enemy forces, as was required in the opening weeks of the invasion of Iraq, the draft manual emphasizes the importance of minimizing civilian casualties. "The more force used, the less effective it is," it notes. Stressing the need to build up local institutions and encourage economic development, the manual cautions against putting too much weight on purely military solutions. Noting the need to interact with the people to gather intelligence and understand the civilians' needs, the doctrine cautions against hunkering down at large bases. "The more you protect your force, the less secure you are," it asserts. 7) Outlook Grim for Resolving Mideast Conflict: Report Reuters, October 5, 2006, Filed at 7:00 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast-peace.html The international community must try to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict to stop the Middle East from sliding further into turmoil, a respected think tank said Thursday. The International Crisis Group said the Lebanon war showed that as long as a comprehensive solution could not be found, the Arab-Israeli conflict would remain a "bottomless source and pretext for repression, radicalization and bloodletting.'' It said the UN, the EU and the Arab world had to come up with fresh ideas in the face of reluctance from Israel and its main ally, the US, to act boldly. "Virtually all dynamics - Palestinian disintegration and chaos, Israeli anxiety after the Lebanon war, the discrediting of pro-Western Arab governments, the absence of a credible U.S. peacemaking role, the rise of militancy and Islamism and Iran's greater assertiveness - point in the direction of conflict," the report said. The report said any mechanism for comprehensive talks needed to be realistic, such as beginning with a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians. And the endgame must be clear from the outset: security and recognition for Israel within recognized borders and an end to occupation for the Palestinians and an independent state based on boundaries that existed before the 1967 Middle East war. That political horizon would echo previous Israeli-Palestinian peace proposals. Iran 8) An Old Letter Casts Doubts on Iran's Goal for Uranium Nazila Fathi, New York Times, October 5, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/world/middleeast/05iran.html A letter in which Ayatollah Khomeini cited a need for nuclear weapons has stoked debate over whether to negotiate with the West and raised questions about Iran's nuclear intentions. Within hours after the letter appeared on the Web site of the news agency ILNA, the word "nuclear" was removed, after a call from the Iranian National Security Council. President Ahmadinejad sharply criticized the release of the letter. The letter, which had been previously published elsewhere, was written in 1988, near the end of Iran's eight-year war with Iraq. It was brought to light again Friday by former president Rafsanjani, to defend himself against critics who accuse him of ending the war when Iran was on the brink of victory. But the letter has also been used by moderates to bolster the case for nuclear talks with the West. In the letter, Khomeini outlined the reasons Iran had to accept the bitter prospect of a cease-fire in the war, which had ground to a stalemate, with 250,000 Iranians dead and 200,000 disabled. It did not specifically call for Iran to develop nuclear weapons, but referred indirectly to the matter by citing a letter written by the officer leading the war effort, Mohsen Rezai. "The commander has said we can have no victory for another five years, and even by then we need to have 350 infantry bridges, 2,500 tanks, 300 fighter planes," the ayatollah wrote, adding that the officer also said he would need "a considerable number of laser and nuclear weapons to confront the attacks." Ayatollah Khomeini determined that the nation could not afford to continue the war, and in a compared the decision to "drinking a chalice of poison." ILNA, the Iranian Labor News Agency, removed the word "nuclear" within hours of putting the letter on the Web, after receiving a call from the Iranian National Security Council, according to a reporter with the agency. The letter has provided an opportunity for moderate voices to warn about the risks Iran takes in defying the UN, comparing the consequences to what happened during the war with Iraq. They argue that, when confronted with the realities of the war, Ayatollah Khomeini decided that the confrontation was not sustainable. On Saturday the daily Kargozaran called the letter evidence of "Iran's realistic understanding of the international situation," and concluded the "experience should become a basis in the decision makings, including Iran's nuclear plans." A reformist politician said politicians who welcomed confrontation with the West should learn a lesson from the letter so they would not have to "drink a chalice of poison" themselves. 9) Nuclear Talks Seen Leaving Iran Closer to U.N. Sanctions Associated Press, Thursday, October 5, 2006; A30 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/04/AR2006100402052.html President Ahmadinejad warned Wednesday that sanctions will not stop Iran from enriching uranium after a European negotiator conceded "endless hours" of talks had made little progress and suggested that the dispute could wind up at the UN soon. The latest comments suggested an emerging consensus that the time has finally come to consider Security Council sanctions. 10) Lavrov Says Russia Still Against Iran Sanctions Reuters, October 5, 2006, Filed at 6:37 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-iran-russia.html Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov reiterated Thursday that his country opposed sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program ahead of a meeting of major powers in London this week. "I believe that until diplomatic means are exhausted, sanctions would be too radical,'' Lavrov said. "We have to do everything to persuade Iran to begin negotiations ... The issue needs to be resolved diplomatically.'' Leaders from the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are planning to meet Friday or Saturday to discuss Iran. Iraq 11) Iraq's universities and schools near collapse as teachers and pupils flee Peter Beaumont, Guardian (UK), Thursday October 5, 2006 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1887804,00.html Iraq's school and university system is in danger of collapse in large areas of the country as pupils and teachers take flight in the face of threats of violence. Professors and parents have told the Guardian they no longer feel safe to attend their educational institutions. In some schools and colleges, up to half the staff have fled abroad, resigned or applied to go on prolonged vacation, and class sizes have also dropped by up to half in the areas that are the worst affected. Palestine 12) U.S. Plan Would Expand Palestinian Leader's Security Force Steven Erlanger, New York Times, October 5, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/world/middleeast/05crossing.html The US is proposing to expand the presidential guard for the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, to 6,000 men from 3,500 in a $26 million plan to strengthen Abbas and reduce security chaos in the Authority, donors briefed by Washington's security coordinator for the Palestinians said Wednesday. The security coordinator, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, is in talks with Abbas to reduce the number of overlapping Palestinian security services in order to create a single national police force. The Americans are pressing Israel and the Palestinians for an agreement by Nov. 1 on a plan to reorganize and reconstruct the Palestinian side of the main crossing for goods between Gaza and Israel, the Karni crossing. Israel has often closed Karni, citing security threats, and Dayton has proposed a project to cost an additional $25.5 million that would include a modern security center for checking and scanning trucks on the Palestinian side, with the goal of allowing up to 400 trucks a day to leave Gaza with exports. The Americans hope to put new procedures for Karni into effect by early November, in time for the harvest and the planned exports of cherry tomatoes, persimmons and other produce through Israel to European markets. The Dayton plan calls for international monitors to work with the Palestinians. The plan has received "tacit agreement" from the Palestinians, including from Hamas, a donor reported General Dayton as having said. Israeli officials have discussed the plan but have not approved it. Because of Congressional restrictions on aid to a Palestinian Authority run by Hamas, Dayton has approached international donors for funds for Karni. Because the presidential guard works directly for Abbas, American funds might be able to be used for that purpose, American officials say, but it would require a specific appropriation from Congress. Dayton is hoping the US will provide $9 million. 13) Abbas Says Talks With Hamas on Unity Government Falter Philip Shenon & Greg Myre, New York Times, October 5, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/world/middleeast/05mideast.html Palestinian Authority president Abbas said Wednesday that talks with Hamas on a unity government had ground to a halt and warned Secretary of State Rice that the West Bank and Gaza could face the possibility of civil war. Mexico 14) Mexico: Amnesty Says Abuse Inquiry Is Stalled Elisabeth Malkin, New York Times, October 5, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/world/americas/05briefs-007.html Amnesty International called on the federal government to take over an inquiry into accusations that the police sexually abused women arrested after a clash between the police and residents of San Salvador Atenco, a north of Mexico City, in May. The rights group said in a report that the local authorities initially refused to allow the women to file complaints and only reluctantly began an inquiry. The report said that investigation had been ineffective and called for it to be passed to the federal attorney general's office. Nigeria 15) Nigerian militants call off attacks in oil delta Estelle Shirbon, Reuters, Thursday, October 5, 2006; 8:31 AM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/05/AR2006100500183.html Militants in Nigeria's oil heartland said Thursday they had called off attacks on troops after two bloody gunbattles and would fight only in response to actions by the military. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it had killed 17 soldiers in firefights in the Niger Delta Wednesday but would now hold back. The group was behind a wave of attacks on oil installations in February that slashed output. A fifth of Nigeria's production capacity remains blocked. MEND has been threatening all year to halt Nigerian exports completely but has yet to show it can carry out the threat. -------- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org Just Foreign Policy is a membership organization devoted to reforming U.S. foreign policy so that it reflects the values and interests of the majority of Americans.
