Just Foreign Policy News November 30, 2006 National Call-In to Congress, Monday, December 4 With Congressional Democrats meeting December 5 on Iraq and the Iraq Study Group report to be released the following day, peace groups are asking people to call their representatives in Congress on Monday, December 4. Ask your representative and senators to support a timetable for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops and bases from Iraq and to support US talks with Iran and Syria. The Congressional switchboard is 202-225-3121.
No War with Iran: Petition More than 25,800 people have signed the Peace Action/Just Foreign Policy petition. Please sign/circulate if you have yet to do so: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/iranpetition.html Just Foreign Policy News daily podcast: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/podcasts/podcast_howto.html Summary: U.S./Top News The AFL-CIO-affiliated San Francisco Labor Council, often a leading edge of labor movement activism for U.S. foreign policies in the interest of working people, has unanimously passed a resolution in opposition to U.S. military action against Iran and urging Congress to pursue diplomatic, non-military solutions to any disputes with Iran. The Iraq Study Group has reached a consensus on a final report that will call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades now in Iraq but stop short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal, the New York Times reports. The report leaves unstated whether the combat brigades would be brought home, or simply pulled back to bases in Iraq or in neighboring countries. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday at a conference that the war in Iraq "could be considered a civil war," AP reports. Leading Senate Democrats called Wednesday for President Bush to appoint a special envoy to work with Iraqi leaders to bring increasing violence in Iraq under control, the New York Times reports. They said the current American ambassador to Iraq had too many other duties to give his full attention to such an initiative. Former President Carter is accusing Israel of creating an apartheid system in the West Bank and Gaza, Democracy Now reports. The charge comes in his new book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." The nation's newspapers have largely ignored Carter's book since its publication two weeks ago. Experts say it would be difficult if not impossible to implement most of the key ideas for quelling the Iraqi civil war in a memo to President Bush from National Security Adviser Hadley, McClatchy News reports. Trying to push Muqtada al-Sadr out of the ruling coalition, for example, would almost certainly lead to the government's collapse and ignite a wave of violence aimed at US forces. IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei says North Korea's testing of a nuclear device illustrates the need for a world ban on such tests, AP reports. He also said a world nonproliferation system would not endure without serious steps by weapons states toward disarmament. Like the other branches of the military, the Army is seeing a marked increase in the number of troops stripped of their security clearances because they are so deep in debt, AP reports. Iran Iran's president told the American people in a letter Wednesday he was certain they detested President Bush's policies and offered to work with them to reverse those policies, the New York Times reports. Iran is strengthening economic ties with western Afghanistan that could undermine support for U.S. and NATO forces, AP reports. But Iranian officials and analysts say that Iran is simply trying to promote stability in Afghanistan. The article notes that thanks to Iranian aid, the Western Afghan city of Herat has 24-hour electricity, unlike the Afghan capital, Kabul. Iraq Some Sunni Muslim clerics in Iraq are reaching out to Shiite clergy in an effort to pull Iraq back from the abyss, the Los Angeles Times reports. Sunni clerics in Basra, Nasiriya, Amarah and Samawah issued religious edicts Wednesday banning the killing of all Iraqis, supporting reconstruction of a revered Shiite shrine and disavowing "any terrorist organization targeting the innocent blood of our people." The real power in Iraq rests with radical cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, the Washington Post reports. Sadr's popularity and confidence are rising. South Korea's ruling party said Thursday that it wouldn't back government plans to extend the country's deployment in Iraq for another year without an agreement for the eventual withdrawal of all South Korean forces, AP reports. Lebanon Hezbollah and its allies called for mass protests in Beirut Friday in an effort to bring down Lebanon's Western-backed government, AP reports. Opposition groups called on Lebanese "to gather peacefully and stage an open-ended sit-in to protest the absence of real political participation and to demand a national unity government." They called on supporters to carry only the Lebanese flag and to avoid displaying party banners or posters. Ecuador Ecuador's new leader promised to end the U.S. military's counternarcotics operations in Ecuador, saying it targets rebels from neighboring Colombia, the Washington Times reports. Rafael Correa said shortly after Sunday's election he would not renew the agreement with the US which allows the program to operate out of the port city of Manta. Correa's distaste for the U.S. presence is not unfounded, said Just Foreign Policy board president Mark Weisbrot."I'm not sure it's in Ecuador's interest to continue to have a foreign military presence in their country," Weisbrot said. IMF/World Bank Despite commitments to the contrary, the World Bank and IMF are still using loans, grants, and debt cancellation to make developing countries implement inappropriate economic policies, says Oxfam in a new report. If the world is to make poverty history, this practice must be stopped, Oxfam says. Aid must be conditional on being spent transparently and on reducing poverty, and nothing more. The European Commission and the British and Norwegian governments have developed policies to end the tying of their aid to privatization and liberalization conditions, says Oxfam. But a recent World Bank report reveals that one in four of World Bank policy conditions in 2006 push economic reforms. A 2006 study by the Norwegian government of IMF conditionality revealed that 26 out of 40 poor countries still have privatization and liberalization conditions attached to their IMF loans. Contents: U.S./Top News 1) Resolution on Threat of Military Action Against Iran Adopted by Unanimous Vote San Francisco Labor Council, Nov. 27, 2006 http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=12330 Therefore be it resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO, hereby declares its opposition to U.S. military action against Iran, and urges all organizations with which it is affiliated to demand that Congress take measures to prevent any such military assault, and rather, to promote diplomatic non-military solutions to any disputes with Iran; and Be it finally resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council join with other antiwar forces to organize mass popular opposition to any military assault on Iran, and to respond rapidly should such an assault occur. 2) Iraq Panel To Recommend Pullback Of Combat Troops 15 Brigades Would Gradually Stand Down Under Plan David E. Sanger & David S. Cloud, New York Times, November 30, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/middleeast/30policy.html The bipartisan Iraq Study Group reached a consensus on Wednesday on a final report that will call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades now in Iraq but stop short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal, according to people familiar with the panel's deliberations. The report, unanimously approved by the 10-member panel, led by James Baker and Lee Hamilton, is to be delivered to President Bush next week. It is a compromise between distinct paths that the group has debated since March, avoiding a specific timetable, which has been opposed by Bush, but making it clear that the American troop commitment should not be open-ended. The recommendations of the group, formed at the request of members of Congress, are nonbinding. A person who participated in the commission's debate said that unless the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki believed that Bush was under pressure to pull back troops in the near future, "there will be zero sense of urgency to reach the political settlement that needs to be reached." The report recommends that Bush make it clear that he intends to start the withdrawal relatively soon, and people familiar with the debate over the final language said the implicit message was that the process should begin sometime next year. The report leaves unstated whether the 15 combat brigades that are the bulk of American fighting forces in Iraq would be brought home, or simply pulled back to bases in Iraq or in neighboring countries. (A brigade typically consists of 3,000 to 5,000 troops.) From those bases, they would still be responsible for protecting a substantial number of American troops who would remain in Iraq, including 70,000 or more American trainers, logistics experts and members of a rapid reaction force. As the commission wound up two and a half days of deliberation in Washington, the group said in a public statement only that a consensus had been reached and that the report would be delivered next Wednesday to President Bush, Congress and the American public. Members of the commission were warned by Baker and Hamilton not to discuss the contents of the report. But four people involved in the debate, representing different points of view, agreed to outline its conclusions in broad terms to address what they said might otherwise be misperceptions about the findings. Some said their major concern was that the report might be too late. "I think we've played a constructive role," one person involved in the committee's deliberations said, "but from the beginning, we've worried that this entire agenda could be swept away by events." Even as word of the study group's conclusions began to leak out, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said two or three battalions of American troops were being sent to Baghdad from elsewhere in Iraq to assist in shoring up security there. Another Pentagon official said the additional troops for Baghdad would be drawn from a brigade in Mosul equipped with fast-moving, armored Stryker vehicles. As described by the people involved in the deliberations, the bulk of the report by the Baker-Hamilton group focused on a recommendation that the US devise a far more aggressive diplomatic initiative in the Middle East than Bush has been willing to try so far, including direct engagement with Iran and Syria. Initially, those contacts might be part of a regional conference on Iraq or broader Middle East peace issues, like the Israeli-Palestinian situation, but they would ultimately involve direct, high-level talks with Tehran and Damascus. 3) Powell: Iraq Meets Civil War Definition Associated Press, November 29, 2006, Filed at 4:08 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq-Powell-Civil-War.html Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday at a business conference in Dubai that the war in Iraq "could be considered a civil war," the conference organizer said. Powell made the comment during a question-and-answer session after a keynote speech, according to David Hellaby, who organized the "Leaders in Dubai Business Forum." No cameras were allowed in to record the talk, but Hellaby was present and issued a press release quoting Powell. Powell could not be immediately reached for comment. 4) Democratic Leaders Seek Special Iraq Envoy To Try To Stem The Violence Carl Hulse, New York Times, November 30, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/middleeast/30capital.html Leading Senate Democrats called Wednesday for President Bush to appoint a special envoy to work with Iraqi leaders to bring increasing violence in Iraq under control. "Violence in Iraq has reached critical levels, and the violence is not predominantly instigated by insurgents, but is taking place between Sunnis and Shia," said Senator Harry Reid, who will become the majority leader, and four other top Senate Democrats in a letter sent to Bush. "It is our belief that coalition military action alone cannot end this violence." The lawmakers said in the letter that the special American envoy could follow up on issues raised between Bush and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq during their planned meeting on Thursday in Jordan. Reed helped initiate the letter, which was also signed by the incoming majority leader; Senator Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat; Senator Carl Levin, the incoming chair of the Armed Services Committee; and Senator John Rockefeller who will become chair of the Intelligence Committee. In their letter, the Democrats said that a special envoy with existing relationships in Iraq and elsewhere in the region could devote full attention to keeping the pressure on Maliki to try to contain the violence. They said the current American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, had too many other duties to give his full attention to such an initiative. "A special envoy can play an indispensable role in assisting the Iraqis in finding solutions," wrote the Democrats. House Democrats have scheduled an informal forum on Iraq policy for next Tuesday at which they plan to hear from foreign policy, national security and military experts. They hope that the session will help to increase the pressure on the administration for a change in strategy and consideration of a withdrawal of American forces. 5) Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid: Jimmy Carter In His Own Words Democracy Now, Thursday, November 30th, 2006 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/30/1452225 Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is accusing Israel of creating an apartheid system in the West Bank and Gaza. The charge comes in his new book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." In his new book, Jimmy Carter writes, "Israel's continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land." Carter criticizes Israel for building what he describes as an imprisonment wall through the West Bank. He accuses Israel of strangling the residents of Gaza where the poverty rate has reached 70 percent and where the malnutrition rate mirrors countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. And Carter is critical of Washington's role. He writes, "The US is squandering international prestige and goodwill and intensifying global anti-American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories." Meanwhile, the nation's newspapers have largely ignored Jimmy Carter's book since its publication two weeks ago. The book hasn't even been mentioned in the news pages of the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Boston Globe or Los Angeles Times. 6) Experts question proposals in leaked Iraq memo Jonathan Landay & Nancy Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers, Posted Wed, Nov. 29, 2006 http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/16125300.htm It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to implement most of the key ideas for quelling the Iraqi civil war that are outlined in a classified Nov. 8 memo to President Bush from National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, experts said Wednesday. Trying to push anti-U.S. Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr out of the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, as the memo suggests, would be throwing gasoline on a fire, they said. Sadr's party is the largest in parliament, with 32 seats, and Maliki became prime minister only with his support. Sadr's Mahdi Army militia controls large parts of Baghdad and southern Iraq, and many Iraqi Shiites hail him as their only protection from attacks by rival Sunni Muslims, which American and Iraqi forces have failed to stop. "Sadr is aware of the considerable extent to which his forces ... constitute a significant part of the power in the streets, and there is no reason why he would simply want to surrender that leverage," said Paul Pillar, the former top U.S. intelligence analyst on the Middle East. In what appeared to be a warning from Sadr to Maliki, Sadr followers suspended their participation in the government and parliament to protest Maliki's plan to meet Bush on Wednesday in Jordan. Within an hour of the statement, Jordanian officials announced that the meeting had been postponed. … Hadley's central suggestion was to bring Maliki's political reliance on Sadr "to closure" and pursue Mahdi Army members who "do not eschew violence." Trying to force Sadr out of the government - in which his followers control some of the key ministries - and crack down on his militia almost certainly would lead to the government's collapse. It also would ignite a wave of violence by his militia and supporters in Baghdad and the Shiite-dominated south, much of it probably aimed at the U.S.-led multinational force. "Sadr is not going to rein in the Mahdi Army," said Vali Nasr of the Naval Postgraduate School, in Monterey, Calif., and the author of a new book on modern political Shiism. Hadley suggested that Maliki overhaul his Cabinet by replacing key members of Shiite and Sunni religious parties with "nonsectarian, capable technocrats." But the Iraqi Constitution requires that new ministers be approved by two-thirds of parliament, a vote that Sadr could block. A Cabinet shakeup also would unravel the power-sharing deal on controlling the ministries that took the religious parties months to negotiate. "The ministries are run like fiefdoms," Nasr said. "Most ministers don't even come to Cabinet meetings." Experts also were skeptical of a Hadley proposal that the US provide "monetary support" for forming a new coalition of moderate Shiite, Sunni and ethnic Kurdish parliamentarians to keep Maliki in power if he's unable to cut loose from Sadr. Several experts wondered what moderates Hadley was referring to. Moreover, such an alliance would require Maliki to forge stronger bonds with Sadr's chief rival, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim. He's the head of another Shiite party that belongs to the ruling coalition and whose militia maintains even closer ties to the Islamic regime of neighboring Iran than the Mahdi Army does. Finding Sunnis to join such a grouping would be impossible, because Hakim has been a leading proponent of purging members of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from the bureaucracy and the military, Nasr said. 7) IAEA Chief Urges Ban on Nuclear Tests Associated Press, November 30, 2006, Filed at 9:25 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Japan-IAEA.html North Korea's testing of a nuclear device last month illustrates the need for a world ban on such tests, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Thursday. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also called on established nuclear weapon states - such as the U.S. - to move toward nuclear disarmament. ElBaradei, in Tokyo for talks with Japanese officials, said at a lecture that Pyongyang's test showed the need to put tight controls on the spread of uranium enrichment and nuclear fuel reprocessing technology. The agency chief also said a world nonproliferation system would not endure without serious steps by weapons states toward disarmament. 8) Army Sees Rise in Soldier Debts Thomas Watkins, Associated Press, Wednesday, November 29, 2006; 1:48 PM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112901076.html Like the other branches of the military, the Army is seeing a marked increase in the number of troops stripped of their security clearances because they are so deep in debt, according to military data obtained by The Associated Press. Soldiers need security clearance when they work with secret information and sometimes when they are sent overseas. The Pentagon says financial problems can distract personnel from their duties or make them vulnerable to bribery and treason. The number of soldiers who are losing their clearances because of financial problems has nearly doubled over last year but is still an extremely small percentage of the Army's ranks. The Associated Press reported in October that growing numbers of Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force troops are so deep in debt they are losing their security clearances. The Army refused to supply data at the time, but later complied with a Freedom of Information Act request from the AP. Over the past five years, 400 Army soldiers have been stripped of their clearances for financial reasons; during that span, the Army granted 747,000 clearances. After hovering at around 70 revocations per year since 2002, the number jumped to 149 in the fiscal year that ended in September. Iran 9) Iran's President Criticizes Bush in Letter to American People Michael Slackman, New York Times, November 30, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/world/middleeast/30iran.html Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told the American people on Wednesday that he was certain they detested President Bush's policies - his support for Israel, war in Iraq and curtailed civil liberties - and he offered to work with them to reverse those policies. The call came in the form of a six-page letter in English, published online and addressed to "noble Americans" that discussed "the many wars and calamities caused by the U.S. administration." It suggested that Americans had been fooled into accepting their government's policies, especially toward Israel. 10) Iran Strengthens Ties With Afghanistan Fisnik Abrashi, Associated Press, Wednesday, November 29, 2006; 8:40 AM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112900425.html
From cheap ice cream to 24-hour electricity, Iran is strengthening
economic ties with western Afghanistan that could undermine support for U.S. and NATO forces. Western Afghanistan has a newly paved 75-mile stretch of highway between the Iranian border and its main city, Herat, courtesy of the Islamic republic. Iran is also considering building a rail line on the busy route, and has pledged another $560 million to help rebuild Afghan infrastructure and businesses. "Iran is not going away from here," a Herat-based Western diplomat said. "The question is whether we can coexist in this region together and realize that some of our aims might even be the same when it comes to Afghanistan." Tehran has built 10 schools and built several clinics in western Afghanistan, and paid for the equipment to provide electricity 24 hours a day in Herat, unlike in most other parts of the country, including the capital, Kabul. Iranian influence here dates back to ancient times and, while dependent on U.S. military and financial support, the Afghan government tries not to antagonize Iran, which currently houses about 2 million Afghan refugees. "Our hope is for Afghanistan to be peaceful and stable because that would be good for the region," said an Iranian diplomat in Kabul. "Everyone wants a stable neighbor." If Iran and the US are at odds, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said, "we will stay out of it." Local political analyst Mohammed Rafiq Shaeir says Iran wants greater influence in western Afghanistan to promote its own national interests, both security and economic. "The people of Herat have doubts about why Iran is putting so much attention into this area, but they still recognize that it is good for our own national interests and security in the region to have friendly relations with Iran," Shaeir said. Saeed Laylaz, a prominent political analyst in Tehran, said Iran is investing in Afghanistan chiefly for its own national interests, rather than to counter Western influence. "Regardless of presence of the NATO forces there, Iran has been always suffering from lack of stability in Afghanistan," Laylaz said in a phone interview. "An unstable Afghanistan would cause difficulties for Iran." Iraq 11) Some Sunnis In Iraq Have A Plan For Peace Clerics want to form a council that would reach out to Shiites. Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times, November 30, 2006 http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-sunnis30nov30,1,4562125.story With sectarian violence reaching new extremes, some Sunni Muslim clerics are breaking with the most militant factions in their sect and reaching out to Shiite clergy in an effort to pull Iraq back from the abyss. Some members of the Muslim Scholars Assn., which has acted as a broker between Western officials and members of the country's Sunni-driven insurgency, worry that their group has done little more than clasp hands before television cameras with their Shiite counterparts and issue joint appeals for calm. "The Muslim Scholars Assn. so far has not participated in any real, effective negotiations," said Sheik Mahmoud Sumaidaie, a senior member who preaches at the organization's Baghdad headquarters, the Umm Qura Mosque. Sumaidaie said more than 70 clerics across Iraq want to form a new religious council that can unite all Sunni factions and open a channel of communication with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country's most revered Shiite cleric. Without it, he said, "we will never be able to stop the bloodshed in Iraq." Some top Sunni leaders are resisting the idea because they fear being marginalized, Sumaidaie said, accusing them of running the association like a dictatorship. But he predicted that the council would be officially founded within weeks. Iraq's religious leaders represent some of the last vestiges of authority at a time of growing disaffection with politicians, who are widely seen as corrupt and ineffective. If Sunni clerics can unite in a council that is willing to compromise with Shiites, it could offer some hope of a solution to the carnage. There is political and religious backing for the venture among the beleaguered Sunni minority - which dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein - particularly those who live in Shiite-dominated parts of the country. However, Sunnis are fragmented and some association members privately dismissed the effort as futile. In defiance of national leaders, Sunni clerics representing the association in Basra, Nasiriya, Amarah and Samawah issued religious edicts Wednesday banning the killing of all Iraqis, supporting reconstruction of a revered Shiite shrine and disavowing "any terrorist organization targeting the innocent blood of our people." 12) Sadr Casts A Shadow Over Bush-Maliki Meeting Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post, Thursday, November 30, 2006; A19 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/29/AR2006112901624.html When President Bush meets Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Amman, Jordan, on Thursday, it will be clear that the real power in Iraq rests with radical cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr. In one swift maneuver Wednesday, Sadr cast a shadow over the diplomacy in Amman and issued a reminder of his growing influence in Iraq when a bloc of his party's lawmakers and cabinet members suspended their participation in the government to protest Maliki's decision to meet with Bush in Jordan. The move raises concerns about the ability of Maliki and Iraq's fragile unity government - beset by political paralysis, feuding rivalries and corruption - to survive. If Sadr decides to prolong his departure from government, it could lead to deeper crisis in a nation already divided by sectarian strife. Sadr is bringing pressure to bear on Maliki to not give in to demands by the US on security matters. They include the U.S. drive to dismantle Iraq's Shiite militias, of which Sadr runs the largest and most violent, the Mahdi Army. Shiite leaders, including Sadr and Maliki, want the US to cede more operational control of Iraq's security forces. At the same time, Sadr appears to be sending a clear message to Washington, analysts and Iraqi politicians say, as tensions are growing between Sadr and U.S. military forces, which routinely stage raids inside his Baghdad stronghold of Sadr City. "It was a way to make both Maliki and Washington understand that he holds a lot of cards," Vali Nasr, an expert on Shiite politics, said of the walkout from parliament. Sadr's popularity and confidence are rising. The latest boost came last week, in the aftermath of a barrage of car bombs, mortars and missiles that battered the Shiite slum of Sadr City. More than 200 were killed in the attacks, the single deadliest assault against Iraqis since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. A day after those attacks, powerful politicians allied with Sadr vowed to pull out of the government if Maliki met with Bush. On Wednesday, they kept their promise. In a statement, the 30 lawmakers and five cabinet ministers loyal to Sadr launched the boycott. 13) S.Korean Lawmakers Seek Troop Withdrawal Associated Press, November 30, 2006, Filed at 2:54 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-SKorea-Iraq.html South Korea's ruling party said Thursday that it wouldn't back government plans to extend the country's deployment in Iraq for another year without an agreement for the eventual withdrawal of all South Korean forces. The Uri Party earlier claimed the government agreed to a full withdrawal by the end of 2007. But Noh Woong-rae, a party spokesman, said later that the government "hadn't accepted or agreed" to the proposal. He added, however, that the government would have to follow the parliament's position since it requires lawmakers' approval for any troop deployment. South Korea sent troops to the northern Iraq city of Irbil in 2004 to support U.S.-led actions there, but has been gradually reducing its presence. Seoul's current contribution of 2,300 troops makes it Washington's biggest coalition partner after Britain. The contingent's mission was to expire at the end of this year, but the Defense Ministry plans to submit a proposal to parliament to keep them there until the end of 2007. The Uri Party has 139 seats in the 297-member National Assembly. The deployment is unpopular among South Koreans, mainly due to security concerns. In June 2004, Islamic insurgents beheaded a South Korean civilian working in Iraq after Seoul rejected demands to withdraw its troops. Lebanon 14) Hezbollah Calls for Mass Protests Associated Press, November 30, 2006, Filed at 8:15 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Lebanon-Protests.html Hezbollah and its allies called for mass protests in Beirut Friday in an effort to bring down Lebanon's Western-backed government, which the militant group's leader called incompetent. Hassan Nasrallah said Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's administration "has failed to fulfill its promises and achieve anything significant." Peaceful protests should force it to resign, he said. "I call upon you all for a popular action to put pressure to achieve this goal," Nasrallah said in a broadcast on Hezbollah's television station, Al-Manar, stressing that the demonstrations should be "peaceful and civilized." Hezbollah and other opposition groups said on their television stations that the protest would begin on Friday at 3 p.m. in downtown Beirut, where Saniora's embattled government has its headquarters. The call came after weeks of political tension between pro-Syrian groups in the opposition, led by the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah, and anti-Syrian factions supporting the government, which has wide Western backing. The prime minister and members of his Cabinet have been bracing for mass demonstrations for days. The security forces have deployed troops, barbed wire and armored vehicles outside the main government office complex, where the prime minister and some ministers have been sleeping in a guest house. Opposition groups said in a statement that they "call on all the Lebanese of all sects and parties ... to gather peacefully and stage an open-ended sit-in to protest the absence of real political participation and to demand a national unity government." They called on supporters to carry only the Lebanese flag and to avoid displaying party banners or posters. Ecuador 15) New Leader Vows To Oust U.S. Anti-Drug Squad Carmen Gentile, Washington Times, Published November 30, 2006 http://www.washtimes.com/world/20061129-103217-3546r.htm Ecuador's outspoken new leader has promised to end the U.S. military's counternarcotics operations in the South American country, saying it targets rebels from neighboring Colombia. Even though his victory will not be official until later this week , Rafael Correa, the leftist economist with a doctorate from the University of Illinois, said shortly after Sunday's election that he would not renew the agreement with the US. The agreement, which allows the U.S. program to operate out of an airstrip in the port city of Manta, some 140 miles southwest of the capital, Quito, expires in 2009. … Correa's distaste for the U.S. presence in the region is not unfounded, said Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research."I'm not sure it's in Ecuador's interest to continue to have a foreign military presence in their country," Weisbrot said. "This U.S. war on drugs is a dubious proposition. ... It's not affecting the street price of drugs here [in the US] or the quantity available." IMF/World Bank 16) Kicking the Habit: How the World Bank and the IMF are still addicted to attaching economic policy conditions to aid http://www.oxfam.org/en/policy/briefingpapers/bp96_kicking_the_habit_061127 Despite numerous commitments to reform, The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are still using their aid to make developing countries implement inappropriate economic policies, with the tacit approval of rich-country governments. These economic policy conditions undermine national policy-making, delay aid flows, and often fail to deliver for poor people. If the world is to make poverty history, this practice must be stopped. Aid must be conditional on being spent transparently and on reducing poverty, and nothing more. Over the last five years there has been a growing international consensus that economic policy conditionality does not work. 'Policy conditionality…is both an infringement on sovereignty and ineffective' noted the Africa Commission in 2005. The European Commission and the British and Norwegian governments have developed policies to end the tying of their aid to privatization and liberalization conditions. Even the World Bank and the IMF, historically the chief proponents of economic policy conditionality, agreed to use it far more sparingly and only when two important safeguards were met. Economic policy conditions had firstly to be 'country-owned', and secondly to be based on analysis of the impact of the policy on poor people prior to their application. However, the evidence to date shows that the World Bank and the IMF have failed to kick the habit. A recent World Bank report assessing its own progress on reforming conditionality reveals that one in four of World Bank policy conditions in 2006 push economic reforms. A 2006 study by the Norwegian government of IMF conditionality revealed that 26 out of 40 poor countries still have privatization and liberalization conditions attached to their IMF loans. There have been some improvements in enhancing country ownership of reform with the advent of nationally-created poverty plans. But, when the World Bank surveyed poor-country government staff in 2005, 50 per cent still felt that 'the Bank introduced elements that were not part of the country program'. Finally, both institutions are not systematically assessing the impact of economic policy reforms on the poor. - Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org Just Foreign Policy is a membership organization devoted to reforming U.S. foreign policy so it reflects the values and interests of the majority of Americans.
