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| Iraq + war on terrorism + Middle East conflict + critical perspectives |
 Iraq's Sunnis rethink strategyBy Anthony Shadid, Washington Post, February 5, 2005 Influential Sunni Arab leaders of a boycott of last Sunday's elections expressed a new willingness Friday to engage the coming Iraqi government and play a role in writing the constitution, in what may represent a strategic shift in thinking among mainstream anti-occupation groups. The signs remain tentative, and even advocates of such change suggest that much will depend on the posture the new government takes toward the insurgency and the removal of former Baath Party officials from state institutions. But in statements and interviews, some Sunni leaders said the sectarian tension that surged ahead of the vote had forced them to rethink their stance. Iraqis voted Sunday for seats in a 275-member transitional parliament, which will appoint the government and draft the constitution this year. In all likelihood, the parliament will be dominated by members of the country's Shiite Arab majority and by ethnic Kurdish Sunnis from northern Iraq, leaving Sunni Arabs and others who oppose the presence of foreign troops in Iraq with little representation. "We are taking a conciliatory line because we are frightened that things may develop into a civil war," said Wamidh Nadhmi, the leader of the Arab Nationalist Trend and a spokesman for a coalition of Sunni and Shiite groups that boycotted the election. "The two sides have come to a conclusion that they have to respect the other side if they want a unified Iraq." [complete article] Newly elected Sadr supporters call for troop withdrawalBy Jonathan Steele, The Guardian, February 5, 2005 Newly elected MPs supporting Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia cleric whose militias fought the US army in Najaf and part of Baghdad last year, will push for US and British troops to leave Iraq within a year, according to the deputy governor of Basra. "Troop withdrawals should start next month and finish by January 2006. I think this is realistic," Salam al-Maliki told the Guardian at the heavily guarded governorate building in Basra. The US is planning to pull out 15,000 military personnel in the coming weeks, but will still have 135,000 in Iraq whom it has no firm plans to withdraw from the country. Mr Maliki, a declared "Sadrist", is high on the combined Shia list, the United Iraqi Alliance, which appears to have won last Sunday's vote. He is sure to be in the national assembly. [complete article] Shia scientist may be best hope for ending Iraq insurgencyAgence France Presse (via Tehran Times), February 5, 2005 As bombs rained on Baghdad in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Hussein Shahrastani made a daring escape from the dreaded Abu Ghraib prison, where he had been jailed 10 years for refusing to work on Saddam Hussein's weapons program. Today, he is widely touted as the right man to become Iraq's new prime minister and could be the best hope for ending the country's deadly insurgency. Torture and solitary confinement were the crucible for this soft-spoken man, now a confidante of Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and the number-seven candidate on the frontrunning Shiite parliament list. Shahrastani's strong advocacy of healing Iraq's divisions and his personal story make him one who could offer the olive branch to rebels and calm cries for revenge against former Baathists favored by religious fundamentalists and Shiite political figures. [complete article] UNDERSTANDING THE INSURGENCY Bank heists fuelling Iraq's terrorBy Paul McGeough, Sydney Morning Herald, February 5, 2005 He chuckles. As an insurgency heavy, still determined to fight the US in Baghdad, Abdul recalls the chaotic looting when Saddam Hussein fell - especially when his gang made off from the vaults of the Rasheed Bank in a 40-seater Kia bus bulging with boxes of tightly packed US banknotes. They were ferocious days. Crowds were protesting outside the banks, demanding their deposits; hardened criminals were inside, blasting open the vaults; and bewildered American soldiers looked on, not knowing what to do. Abdul (a pseudonym to preserve his anonymity) is uncertain of how much money there was - but he's sure it was hundreds of millions. During our meeting at a Baghdad hotel, he pauses to sip a soft drink before he reveals the unholy alliance in which the city's most notorious criminal now channels the Baghdad banks' stolen millions to the insurgency that has reduced Iraq to chaos. [complete article] 3 French extremists in U.S. custody in IraqBy Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times, February 5, 2005 U.S. troops in Iraq have detained three French militants and police here rounded up 10 of their comrades from a group that sent raw youths from Europe to take part in the conflict with America, officials said Friday. The first confirmed capture of European Islamist fighters turns attention on the increasing movement of militants from countries such as Italy, Germany, France and Belgium to Iraq, European officials say. Several of the recruits reportedly have died in Iraq, but investigators were unaware Friday of any being held by U.S. forces other than the three Frenchmen. The makeup of the group illustrates the evolving profile and speedy radicalization of Iraq-bound extremists, authorities said. "This is a new and spontaneous generation," said an official in the French Interior Ministry. Unlike previous militants, they had never been to Afghanistan or Bosnia, considered traditional training grounds for Muslim extremists. [complete article] Iraqi police use kidnappers' videos to fight crimeBy Christine Hauser, New York Times, February 5, 2005 In one scene, the videotape shows three kidnappers with guns and a knife, preparing to behead a helpless man who is gagged and kneeling at their feet. In the next, it is one of the kidnappers who is in detention, his eyes wide with fear, his lips trembling, as he speaks to his interrogators. "How do I say this?" says the kidnapper, identified as an Egyptian named Abdel-Qadir Mahmoud, holding back tears. "I am sorry for everything I have done." In the first week after the elections, the Iraqi Interior Ministry and the Mosul police chief are turning the tables on the insurgency here in the north by using a tactic - videotaped messages - that the insurgents have used time and again as they have terrorized the region with kidnappings and executions. [complete article] Kurds back Talibani as next interim president or prime ministerBy Charles Recknagel, RFE/RL, February 4, 2005 Iraqi Kurds are moving quickly to create a strong bargaining position for themselves as they look set to become the second largest group in the National Assembly after the Shi'a. The parties of the Kurdish Unity List that competed in the election for the National Assembly on 30 January met in the northern city of Irbil on Thursday to insist that a Kurd becomes Iraq's next president or prime minister. The parties chose Jalal Talabani as their candidate. Talabani is the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan -- one of the two main Kurdish factions in northern Iraq. Ballot counting for the National Assembly is continuing, but the Kurdish Unity List is widely expected to win the largest bloc of seats in the new body after the largely Shi'a United Iraqi Alliance. Kurdish and Shi'a voters turned out in large numbers for the election, while many Sunni Arabs appear to have stayed home over security concerns and calls by some community leaders to boycott the election. [complete article] Barzani: Turkey should get used to Kurdish stateBy Cetiner Cetin, Zaman, February 4, 2005 Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Mesud Barzani has said it is unacceptable for Turkey to declaring Kerkuk (Kirkuk) as a "red line". Turkey should not interfere with Iraq's internal affairs, Barzani said: "It is our very natural right to have a state. This fact should be seen from now on and accepted." Barzani spoke to Zaman at his compound in Erbil yesterday (Feburary 3) where he spoke about a possible Kurdish state and Kirkuk. Barzani said their first priority at this moment is a federal Kurdish state: "We cannot agree with Turkey on two issues. One is the Kirkuk issue and the other is the situation of a federative Kurdistan within Iraq." The Kurdish leader expressed that they do not want Ankara to intervene in the region and added that Turkish military intervention in the region might be tragic for both parties. [complete article]  Naming U.N. namesEditorial, Washington Post, February 5, 2005 The first and most important point to make about the preliminary report on corruption in the United Nations' oil-for-food program is that it is not a whitewash. Despite dark hints that Paul A. Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman who led the investigation, was too chummy with the U.N. bosses, Thursday's report did name names. Most notably, it accused Benon Sevan of having received the rights to purchase millions of barrels of discounted oil from Iraqi officials while he was serving as the director of the oil-for-food program. Suspicions that Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary general, would try to sweep the story under the carpet also have not proven correct. Mr. Annan has announced that he will pursue disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Sevan and other U.N. officials. The question now is what, if anything, these findings say about the United Nations itself. Congressional critics who see something unique or unusual in this report of U.N. corruption should look harder at the behavior of American, British and other companies in Iraq during that period: The vast majority of the oil smuggling had nothing to do with the United Nations and everything to do with the Western companies and governments that were benefiting, one way or another, from the Iraqi sanctions. More to the point, U.N. Security Council members, including the United States, turned a blind eye to allegations of corruption while it was going on, and they may have even used it to benefit U.S. allies in the region. Mr. Volcker has said that he has found more openness and willingness to share documents about these issues in the United Nations than in some corners of the U.S. government. [complete article] Afghanistan: A cry for justiceBy Sima Samar and Nader Nadery, International Herald Tribune, February 3, 2005 Millions of ordinary Afghans had hoped that they would benefit from the establishment of the rule of law after the Taliban fell. But while some courthouses are being reconstructed and limited efforts are being made to train judges and lawyers, much of Afghanistan lacks a functioning judicial system. In a national poll we conducted, 65 percent of respondents had little or no faith in the current judicial system, with courts staffed by untrained or corrupt judges often acting under the orders of the warlords. The power of Afghanistan's central government is limited, with private armies controlling large parts of the country and continuing to commit human rights abuses. The U.S. military has fought the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the south and east, but has not prevented infighting among warlords, often over control of the opium trade. Civilians are the most common victims of these bloodbaths, and local militias as well as common criminals often enjoy impunity from prosecution. [complete article] Israel's latest land grab is part of an old strategyBy Jonathan Cook, Daily Star, February 4, 2005 The latest legal maneuvers by the Israeli government to confiscate Palestinian land in East Jerusalem have rightly caused outrage, even among senior Israeli officials. Last summer, it emerged that the government secretly resurrected a 55-year-old piece of legislation drafted in the immediate aftermath of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Using the 1950 Absentee Property Law, Israeli officials have the right to seize the holdings of any Palestinian landowner they define as "absent." The renewed application of the law came to light only after an Israeli lawyer pressed the army for a promised entry permit into Israel for his client, Johnny Atik, a Bethlehem farmer who needed to reach his fields. His land lies on the Jerusalem side of the "security barrier." The permit never arrived; instead Atik received a letter advising him that his land had been passed to the office of the Custodian of Absentee Property. His fields now declared state property, he is ineligible for compensation. Atik is not alone. Many other Palestinian residents of the West Bank have been receiving similar letters - an Israeli policy that can only be characterized as a huge land grab. According to Meron Benvenisti, a former deputy mayor of Jerusalem, as much as half of east Jerusalem could be confiscated in this manner. [complete article] Homeland insecurityBy William Finnegan, The New Yorker, January 31, 2005 In November, 2001, President Bush signed a law requiring that all cargo on commercial flights be screened. That is a D.H.S. responsibility. Two years later, less than five per cent of cargo on passenger planes was being screened. Clark Ervin, a veteran of the first Bush's White House who was appointed the department's inspector general, found, in 2003, that he could sneak weapons and explosives past the screeners at fifteen airports. At the same time, he noted, senior managers at the Transportation Security Administration were giving themselves the largest annual bonuses of any federal agency. Ervin produced a series of reports on other gross lapses -- in contract monitoring, in port security -- in what he called a "dysfunctional bureaucracy." In December, the White House replaced him. [complete article] The propaganda presidentBy Jack Shafer, Slate, February 3, 2005 If "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il of North Korea and George W. Bush ever meet, I suspect the two will bond like long-lost brothers. Both men are first-born sons of powerful fathers who partied like adolescents well into their adult lives, after which they submitted to their dynastic fates as heads of state. Both avoid critical thought, preferring to surround themselves with yes men and apply propagandistic slogans to the onrushing complexities of justice, culture, economics, and foreign policy. Bush churns out buzz phrases with the best of them: He believes in "compassionate conservatism" and fancies himself part of the "army of compassion." He's the "reformer with results" who embraces the "culture of life." He shouts his paeans to "liberty" and "freedom" (a combined 27 times during last night's State of the Union speech, according to today's Washington Post) while reducing civil liberties at home. But slogan-chanting is only one small part of an effective propaganda operation. Successful propagandists must also discourage dissenters who might disrupt the party line. And the two best ways to keep people stupid and nodding is by shutting down the information flow and by stiffing the press. At these chores, Bush excels. [complete article] Comment -- Likening Bush to Kim Jong-il is stretching it a bit. To my mind the regal analogy is more accurate. King George W. doesn't have to make much effort to stifle his Washington journalist-courtiers -- they all too happily stifle themselves. Allawi faces defeat as Iraqi cleric's team leads the pollsBy Borzou Daragahi, The Independent, February 4, 2005 The coalition of Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi interim Prime Minister appointed by the Americans, is heading for election defeat at the hands of a list backed by the country's senior Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, partial results released yesterday indicate. The results from Baghdad - where Mr Allawi was expected to do well - show the one-time CIA protégé with only 140,364 votes compared to 350,069 for the alliance, which is headed by a Shia cleric who lived in Iran for many years. Among the mostly five Shia provinces tallied so far, the alliance's lead is even wider. It has 1.1 million of the 1.6 million votes counted at 10 per cent of polling centres in the capital and the Shia south. Mr Allawi's list was second with 360,500. "Large numbers of Shia voted along sectarian lines," said Sharif Ali bin Hussein, head of the Constitutional Monarchy Party. "Americans are in for a shock. A lot of people in the country are going to wake up in shock." [complete article] Kirkuk's Sunni Arabs complain about ballotBy Neil MacDonald, Financial Times, February 3, 2005 Sunni Arab politicians in the ethnically unstablenorthern Iraqi province of Kirkuk claim that their constituents were shortchanged during Sunday's elections by a scarcity of ballots in their districts. The complaints indicate that local elections, which were held simultaneously with the parliamentary vote, are proving divisive in ethnically and religiously diverse provinces such as Kirkuk, where Sunni Arabs, Kurds and Turkomans are all competing for political advantage. At stake is Kirkuk's possible absorption into the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which already controls three largely Kurdish provinces covering what used to be the US-imposed "No Fly Zone" after the 1991 war against Iraq. In spite of a national strategy by prominent Sunni organisations to boycott the elections, Sunni Arab voters in Kirkuk were given special dispensation to take part in provincial voting, specifically to thwart Kurdish candidates from dominating the poll. [complete article] Many Iraqi troops not fully trained, U.S. officials sayBy Eric Schmitt, New York Times, February 4, 2005 Less than a third of the 136,000 members of Iraqi security forces that the Pentagon says are trained and equipped can be sent to tackle the most challenging missions in the country, and Iraqi Army units are suffering severe troop shortages, two top Pentagon officials told a Senate panel on Thursday. Gen. Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said about 40,000 of Iraq's forces "can go anywhere in the country and take on almost any threat," but he quickly added that the remaining forces were useful in less demanding jobs, like police work in relatively stable southern Iraq. Pentagon officials displayed a chart showing 79,116 Iraqi police and Interior Ministry officers, and 56,949 army and other military troops. General Myers said he had more confidence in the military figures than the police ones, saying the police figures might be inflated. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told senators that Iraqi Army units had absentee rates of up to 40 percent partly because many new soldiers had failed to return to duty after going home on leave. [complete article] UNDERSTANDING THE INSURGENCY Wolfowitz says no nationalist insurgency in IraqBy Vicki Allen, Reuters, February 3, 2005 Iraq's elections showed that U.S.-led forces are not fighting a nationalist insurgency but an "unholy alliance of old terrorists and new terrorists" trying to destroy Iraq's newly forming government, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said on Thursday. Buoyed by the turnout and less violence than expected in Iraq's elections on Sunday, Wolfowitz said it showed that a two-year process to establish a new Iraqi government "despite setbacks and tragedies, is still on track," rebutting statements from some Democrats that it has become a quagmire. [complete article] Villagers take up arms against militantsAgence France Presse (via IOL), February 3, 2005 Inhabitants of an Iraqi village killed five insurgents who attacked them for taking part in the country's historic election, police said on Thursday. The insurgents launched the raid after earlier warning the inhabitants of Al-Mudhiryah, south of Baghdad, against taking part in Sunday's vote, said a police captain who requested anonymity. Another eight insurgents and three villagers from the same tribe were wounded in the clashes late on Wednesday, said the police official. Eight cars belonging to the attackers were set ablaze. The village, which is near Mahmudiyah in Babel province, is made up of Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. "We call on the government to intervene to stop the Salafists who have been threatening our country," tribal leader Sheikh Abu Mohammed said, referring to Sunni hardliners. [complete article] 60 hours of terrorBy Ellen McCarthy, Washington Post, February 4, 2005 They came for Hamin Dizayee in the dim light of a Baghdad dawn, brandishing their pistols and AK-47s. They said they had a warrant for his arrest. And as they forced him into the back of a police car, blindfolded and handcuffed, he was certain it was just a mistake. After all, he was an Iraqi and an electrical engineer. His construction company had recently won a subcontract with a U.S. company to help rebuild the Ministry of Defense. And, after five years living in Northern Virginia, he had good relations with the U.S. military, which had trained the Baghdad police. They would straighten it all out at the police station. Dizayee stayed calm. At least that is how he recounts it now, from the comfort of an Arlington apartment where he has been recuperating from back surgery. He plans to return to Iraq this weekend. But when the police car stopped after a 15-minute drive and he was moved into an unmarked car, he realized something was very wrong. These men, despite their uniforms, were not the police. He was in the hands of kidnappers. Dizayee's terrifying ordeal, the 60 hours of negotiations to free him and the ransom paid by his company have, improbably, made him even more determined to resume his work in Iraq, where kidnapping has become a major, if unacknowledged, obstacle to reconstruction. [complete article] Comment -- Paul Wolfowitz should already know that if he goes up to Congress and says that there is no nationalist insurgency in Iraq, at least 50% of the people who hear what he said are going to conclude that there is a nationalist insurgency. But on this specific point -- though not necessarily any of the inferences he draws from it -- I'm inclined to agree with Wolfowitz. Why? I haven't come across a single piece of evidence that the insurgents are attempting to rally Iraqis to a popular cause. On the contrary, as Newsweek recently reported, today in Baghdad "in many neighborhoods you can come across 'renunciation centers,' where those who get death threats must go to publicly proclaim they'll no longer work with any organization targeted by the insurgents." This isn't how you build a movement. In fact, the primary recruiting tool that the insurgents rely upon is the occupation itself. And this of course begs the question: In the absense of occupation forces, would Iraqis dispatch the insurgency as swiftly as the villagers of Al-Mudhiryah rose up against the Salafists in their midst? How will the U.S. know when to pass the baton?By Mark Mazzetti, Los Angeles Times, February 4, 2005 In addressing Congress and the nation this week, President Bush spelled out his idea for an "exit strategy" from Iraq: U.S. troops can begin pulling out as soon as new Iraqi security forces are strong enough to keep the peace themselves. But U.S. officials acknowledged Thursday that they were still struggling with the crucial element of that plan: how to measure the progress of Iraqi troops to determine when the point of self-sufficiency has been reached. Critics in Congress have grown impatient, demanding to know how Washington will gauge when the Iraqis are ready to take over. The military's top uniformed commander offered few details. [complete article] Iran-Contra figure to lead democracy efforts abroadWashington Post, February 4, 2005 Elliott Abrams, who pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information from Congress in the Iran-contra affair, was promoted to deputy national security adviser to President Bush. Abrams, who previously was in charge of Middle East affairs, will be responsible for pushing Bush's strategy for advancing democracy. The White House also announced yesterday that Faryar Shirzad, a deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, will take on added responsibilities for humanitarian affairs, stabilization and reconstruction efforts. Prior to joining the NSC staff, Shirzad was assistant secretary for import administration at the Commerce Department. Before that, he was the lead coordinator of international trade policy for the Bush-Cheney transition team. The White House had earlier tapped J.D. Crouch, the U.S. ambassador to Romania, for the No. 2 job at the National Security Council, under national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley. [complete article] THREATENING IRAN Rice: attacking Iran is 'not on agenda'By Robin Wright, Washington Post, February 4, 2005 Despite tough new language on Iran, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that a U.S. attack on the Tehran regime is "simply not on the agenda" for now. After talks Friday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Rice said the United States and its allies still have "many diplomatic tools" that they will pursue "fully" to ensure that Iran's theocracy does not subvert its legal nuclear energy program to develop a nuclear weapon. Rice's statement followed a round of questions on whether the Bush administration has developed a new Iran policy that includes ousting the clerical regime that assumed power after Iran's 1979 revolution. President Bush, Vice President Cheney and other top foreign policy officials have recently indicated that the administration intends to have a more robust policy in confronting Iran. [complete article] Onward to Iran?By H.D.S. Greenway, Boston Globe, February 4, 2005 Iran's historical nightmare is foreign intervention, whether it be by the Soviets and British in the past, or the American coup against a democratically elected government in the 1950s. With American armies on their borders in Afghanistan and Iraq, and with Bush calling them part of an "axis of evil," some believe that nuclear weapons have become an emotional necessity for Iranians. Senator Joseph Biden said that even if Iran was a full democracy like India, it would want nuclear capability, like India. What the world needed to address was Iran's emotional needs, he said, with a nonaggression pact. [complete article] A bankrupt export of democracyBy Tony Karon, Haaretz, February 4, 2005 Being the "leader of the free world" requires a following, but Bush today finds precious little support in the free world for his export of democracy. So, as much as Bush wagged his fingers at the petty autocrats who serve Washington's purposes in various hot spots, he can't really do without a Musharraf or a Mubarak. And while Iran may be at the top of Bush's "regime-change" wish list, Tehran is well aware that the U.S. military is badly overstretched in Iraq - as is the record-breaking U.S. budget deficit, which grows by $4 billion each week that the troops stay in Iraq. The U.S. quite simply cannot afford another major war of choice right now, and occupying a country three times the size of Iraq may be beyond its capability until it reintroduces the draft. Britain has made a point of not only begging off an Iran adventure, but actively agitating against a military option for dealing with Tehran. [complete article] Comment -- Anyone wondering whether US forces will soon invade Iran should take a few minutes to look at a map. You don't have to be a military expert to recognize that a country (the United States) that for the past thirty years has actually been taking quite small steps as it attempts to reassert its military strength is not about to invade a country (Iran) the size of France, Germany, Britain and Spain, combined! MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD  Koranic duels ease terrorBy James Brandon, Christian Science Monitor, February 4, 2005 When Judge Hamoud al-Hitar announced that he and four other Islamic scholars would challenge Yemen's Al Qaeda prisoners to a theological contest, Western antiterrorism experts warned that this high-stakes gamble would end in disaster. Nervous as he faced five captured, yet defiant, Al Qaeda members in a Sanaa prison, Judge Hitar was inclined to agree. But banishing his doubts, the youthful cleric threw down the gauntlet, in the hope of bringing peace to his troubled homeland. "If you can convince us that your ideas are justified by the Koran, then we will join you in your struggle," Hitar told the militants. "But if we succeed in convincing you of our ideas, then you must agree to renounce violence." The prisoners eagerly agreed. Now, two years later, not only have those prisoners been released, but a relative peace reigns in Yemen. And the same Western experts who doubted this experiment are courting Hitar, eager to hear how his "theological dialogues" with captured Islamic militants have helped pacify this wild and mountainous country, previously seen by the US as a failed state, like Iraq and Afghanistan. [complete article] Shia alliance sees strong showing in poll resultsBy Neil MacDonald and Steve Negus, Financial Times, February 3, 2005 With the final results of Iraq's parliamentary elections still at least a week away, the first tallies released from several provinces point to an extremely strong showing by the Shia Islamist-led United Iraqi Alliance. The results seemingly bolstered an announcement by the head of the Alliance list, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, that the Shia-dominated electoral coalition would not accept anyone from another party as prime minister. Partial results released on Thursday by the Iraqi electoral commission consistently placed the Alliance first, with more than two thirds of the 1.6m votes so far counted and confirmed from the Baghdad and five southern majority-Shia provinces. [complete article] Sunnis allege coercionIWPR, February 2, 2005 Some people in the largely Sunni west of Iraq are complaining that United States troops tried to coerce them into taking part in the January 30 elections. People in the town of Ramadi, about 100 kilometres west of Baghdad in the Anbar governorate, said they felt that raids conducted by US troops prior to the election were part of an effort to force people to go to the polls. "They arrested us on January 29 and released us in January 30," said Fahmi Abid al-Dlemi, a Ramadi resident. "Afterwards, they asked us whether we were going to vote, and we told them we were." Haitham al-Harithi, a university student in Ramadi, told a similar story, "After seizing us, they said they'd release us if we agreed to go and cast our ballots." [complete article] The Shiite earthquakeBy Juan Cole, Salon, February 1, 2005 The elections held on Jan. 30 in Iraq were deeply flawed as a democratic process, but they represent a political earthquake in Iraq and in the Middle East. The old Shiite seminary city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, appears poised to emerge as Iraq's second capital. For the first time in the Arab Middle East, a Shiite majority has come to power. A Shiite-dominated Parliament in Iraq challenges the implicit Sunni biases of Arab nationalism as it was formulated in Cairo and Algiers. And it will force Iraqis to deal straightforwardly with the multicultural character of their national society, something the pan-Arab Baath Party either papered over or actively attempted to erase. The road ahead is extremely dangerous: Overreaching or miscalculation by any of the involved parties could lead to a crisis, even to civil war. And America's role in the new Iraq is uncertain. [complete article] U.S. general says it is 'fun to shoot some people'By Will Dunham, Reuters (via ABC News), February 3, 2005 A senior U.S. Marine Corps general who said it was "fun to shoot some people" should have chosen his words more carefully but will not be disciplined, military officials said on Thursday. Lt. Gen. James Mattis, who led troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, made the comments at a conference Tuesday in San Diego. "Actually it's quite fun to fight 'em, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up front with you, I like brawling," said Mattis. [complete article] Comment -- Gen. Michael Hagee, commander of the Marine Corps, would have us believe that Lt. Gen James Mattis didn't choose his words carefully when he said it's "fun to shoot some people" and that in fact Mattis "intended to reflect the unfortunate and harsh realities of war." Is Gen. Hagee implying that one of the harsh realities of war is that sometimes it turns a soldier into a psychopath? If not, how exactly would Mattis have phrased his statement had he paused, reflected and taken the trouble to find exactly the right words? DARWIN'S DOUBTERS LOVE DNA Evolution takes a back seat in U.S. classesBy Cornelia Dean, New York Times, February 1, 2005 Dr. John Frandsen, a retired zoologist, was at a dinner for teachers in Birmingham, Ala., recently when he met a young woman who had just begun work as a biology teacher in a small school district in the state. Their conversation turned to evolution. "She confided that she simply ignored evolution because she knew she'd get in trouble with the principal if word got about that she was teaching it," he recalled. "She told me other teachers were doing the same thing." Though the teaching of evolution makes the news when officials propose, as they did in Georgia, that evolution disclaimers be affixed to science textbooks, or that creationism be taught along with evolution in biology classes, stories like the one Dr. Frandsen tells are more common. In districts around the country, even when evolution is in the curriculum it may not be in the classroom, according to researchers who follow the issue. Teaching guides and textbooks may meet the approval of biologists, but superintendents or principals discourage teachers from discussing it. Or teachers themselves avoid the topic, fearing protests from fundamentalists in their communities. "The most common remark I've heard from teachers was that the chapter on evolution was assigned as reading but that virtually no discussion in class was taken," said Dr. John R. Christy, a climatologist at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, an evangelical Christian and a member of Alabama's curriculum review board who advocates the teaching of evolution. Teachers are afraid to raise the issue, he said in an e-mail message, and they are afraid to discuss the issue in public. [complete article] Comment -- President Bush drew a healthy round of applause during the State of the Union, when he declared: In America we must make doubly sure no person is held to account for a crime he or she did not commit. So we are dramatically expanding the use of DNA evidence to prevent wrongful conviction. Was he taking a gamble with his fundamentalist Christian supporters? Probably not. The legal value of DNA evidence to both prosecutors and defence lawyers is beyond question. Yet 67% of the Americans who voted for George Bush (according to a recent CBS poll) do not believe in evolution. But no evolution, no DNA. Can't have one without the other. I guess if you skipped your reading assignment on evolution you wouldn't understand why. Insurgents ambush 50-strong Iraqi police convoyBy Gideon Long, Reuters, February 3, 2005 Iraqi insurgents staged a major ambush on a road near Baghdad Thursday, killing two policemen, wounding 14 and leaving at least 16 missing on the worst day of violence since last Sunday's election. The attack came a day after guerrillas in the north dragged Iraqi soldiers off a bus and shot 12 of them dead, and suggests the country's 22-month-long insurgency is far from over, despite its failure to stop last weekend's vote. Police said insurgents attacked a police convoy Thursday between Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, and the capital. Police initially feared 36 were missing but reduced the number as some began returning to Diwaniya. U.S. forces sealed off the site of the ambush, near the Abu Ghraib area on Baghdad's western fringes. Police said some of the wounded were treated in hospital in Diwaniya. At least a dozen civilians were also killed in Thursday's bloodshed, the worst this week. [complete article] WARNING! Saddam Hussein 'death' photos used as worm baitBy Dawn Kawamoto, CNET News, February 3, 2005 Photos of a "dead" Saddam Hussein are the lure for a new mass-mailing worm, Sophos warned on Thursday, in the latest instance of attackers using well-known figures as bait. The Bobax.H worm purports to offer photos that show that the former Iraqi leader has been killed after attempting to escape from custody, the antivirus company said. [...] The attachments in the Bobax.H e-mails carry a number of different file names, and the body of the message varies too, Sophos said. Examples of message bodies include: "Saddam Hussein - Attempted Escape, Shot dead. Attached some pics that i found" and "Osama Bin Laden Captured. Attached some pics that i found." [complete article] No exitBy Fred Kaplan, Slate, February 2, 2005 Much can be challenged and attacked in tonight's address, but one charge leveled by the president's critics -- that he hasn't laid out a strategy for our continued presence in Iraq -- was firmly laid to rest. Those who thought President Bush might use Iraq's election as the occasion to withdraw U.S. troops had their illusions dashed tonight. "We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq," he said. "We are in Iraq to achieve a result -- a country that is democratic, representative of all its people, at peace with its neighbors and able to defend itself." Only when those results are achieved, he added to stormy, bipartisan applause, will our troops come home. Some might dispute this strategy or these preconditions for withdrawal, but if they do, let them devise their own plans and start a substantive debate. Why do I doubt this will happen? Still, that is quite a list of preconditions, and, by the most optimistic of appraisals, it suggests we're staying in Iraq for many years. Take just those two last criteria of success -- that Iraq must be "at peace with its neighbors and able to defend itself." This requires not just a trained police force but also a well-equipped army. Iraq has few if any tanks or fighter planes, and few surviving soldiers or pilots who could operate them. Nor is the U.S. military training effort (which the president acknowledged is just beginning to get serious) geared toward defending borders or repelling an invasion. [complete article] BUSH WORLD Two words that didn't make it into the State of the Union: environment and tsunami. The closest Bush got to the environment was to say that our ability to make more money means we "need reliable supplies of affordable, environmentally responsible energy." On the subject of the largest human disaster in living memory, nothing. Global warming: scientists reveal timetableBy Michael McCarthy, The Independent, February 3, 2005 A detailed timetable of the destruction and distress that global warming is likely to cause the world was unveiled yesterday. It pulls together for the first time the projected impacts on ecosystems and wildlife, food production, water resources and economies across the earth, for given rises in global temperature expected during the next hundred years. The resultant picture gives the most wide-ranging impression yet of the bewildering array of destructive effects that climate change is expected to exert on different regions, from the mountains of Europe and the rainforests of the Amazon to the coral reefs of the tropics. [complete article] Swept into the worldBy Paul Watson, Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2005 Nine days after giant waves struck Little Andaman island, a child was born in a soccer stadium and the Onge tribe of hunters and gatherers took a step away from extinction. The rain forest that surrounds the tribe, along with traditional Onge wisdom, saved it in a catastrophe that killed more than 150,000 people across southern Asia. Now some experts fear that the tsunami's aftermath will prove more dangerous than the waves. The Onge are one of five endangered hunter-gatherer tribes that have lived for tens of thousands of years in the forests of India's far-flung Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where the pressures of modern development have threatened to wipe them out. The birth of a girl, at a makeshift relief camp at the stadium, raised the Onge population to 97. Although the outside help that arrived after the tsunami may have improved the odds of survival for the anemic mother and her newborn, activists fighting to protect the archipelago's indigenous people say the aid, including inappropriate shelter, food and clothing, is among several post-disaster shocks that have endangered the ancient societies. [complete article] National security's hard menBy Fred Kaplan, Slate, February 2, 2005 Condoleezza Rice flies off to Europe this week, presumably to mend rifts in the Atlantic alliance. She seems to be staffing her State Department with pragmatists and diplomats, as opposed to ideologues and obstructionists. But don't infer just yet that the Bush administration plans a second-term shift to a more conciliatory foreign policy. Quite aside from whether Rice herself is an advocate of "soft power" (and much evidence suggests otherwise), the intense focus on her doings and whereabouts is a distraction from the churnings in those other two buildings -- the White House and the Pentagon -- where the real decisions get made and the prevailing concept of power is unequivocally harsher. [complete article] Halliburton doing business with the 'axis of evil'By Jefferson Morley, Washington Post, February 3, 2005 The award for oddest geopolitical couple of 2005 goes to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Houston-based Halliburton. You might not think that a charter member of President Bush's "axis of evil" could enlist the oil-services firm once run by Vice President Cheney to bolster its bargaining position with an international community intent on curbing its nuclear ambitions. But that is apparently what happened last month. [complete article] Documents show U.S. condoned Iraq oil smugglingBy Elise Labott and Phil Hirschkorn, CNN, February 2, 2005 Documents obtained by CNN reveal the United States knew about, and even condoned, embargo-breaking oil sales by Saddam Hussein's regime, and did so to shore up alliances with Iraq's neighbors. The oil trade with countries such as Turkey and Jordan appears to have been an open secret inside the U.S. government and the United Nations for years. The unclassified State Department documents sent to congressional committees with oversight of U.S. foreign policy divulge that the United States deemed such sales to be in the "national interest," even though they generated billions of dollars in unmonitored revenue for Saddam's regime. [complete article] All players gained from 'oil-for-food'By Maggie Farley, Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2005 It was the summer of 1990, and Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard had just stormed into oil-rich Kuwait. The U.N. Security Council, hoping to induce Iraq to withdraw and disarm, responded by imposing sanctions. Nearly 15 years, two wars and a regime change later, those sanctions and the multibillion-dollar "oil-for-food" program that followed them still shadow the United Nations. Eight investigations are underway in Washington and New York into how Hussein subverted and the U.N. mismanaged a program that was meant to deny the Iraqi dictator funds for weapons but instead buoyed his regime. [complete article] Nuclear evidence could point to PakistanBy Glenn Kessler and Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, February 3, 2005 The Bush administration's claim this week that North Korea appears to have been the supplier of converted uranium to Libya is based on evidence that could just as easily point to Pakistan, a key U.S. ally, as the source, according to analysts and officials familiar with the data. Two senior staff members on the National Security Council have toured China, Japan and South Korea in recent days to brief top officials that U.S. scientific tests strongly suggest North Korea provided Libya with uranium hexafluoride gas, which can be processed into material for a nuclear weapon. Their trip came as U.S. officials are trying to build a united front with key allies if, as expected, North Korea soon agrees to restart six-nation talks on its nuclear programs. China and South Korea, in particular, have been skeptical of administration assertions that North Korea has a clandestine uranium-enrichment program. Michael J. Green, the NSC's senior director for Asian affairs, brought a handwritten message from President Bush for South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun, according to reports in Seoul. The questions raised yesterday about the administration's evidence are significant in light of the controversy over the administration's allegations -- later disproved -- that Iraq had illicit arms. Several experts said the administration has to be careful in making its case to allies, given resulting skepticism. [complete article] Bush vision at odds with Arab alliesBy Dan Murphy and Nicholas Blanford, Christian Science Monitor, February 3, 2005 Shortly after Sunday's vote in Iraq, President Bush called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah, and Jordan's King Abdullah. The purpose: to talk about ways to build on changes in Iraq. For Mr. Bush, the election is just the first step in his broader vision for the Middle East, one in which freedom and democracy will spread quickly. But at just about the same time, Egypt was cracking down on political opponents of Mr. Mubarak. Saudi Arabia and Jordan recently arrested dissidents. Herein lies Bush's problem, say analysts. While opinion polls show that most Arabs want free elections, some of democracy's biggest opponents are today's Arab leaders. It took foreign occupation to conduct these elections. So a key question remains: Will Iraq's vote stir democratic change throughout the region? [complete article] 19 killed in insurgent attacks in IraqBy Jason Keyser, Associated Press (via WP), February 3, 2005 Insurgents struck back with a vengeance following a post-election lull, waylaying a minibus carrying new Iraqi army recruits, firing on Iraqis heading for work at a U.S. base and gunning down an Iraqi soldier in the capital, officials said Thursday. Two U.S. Marines were killed in action. At least 20 people, including the Marines, died in insurgent-related incidents starting Wednesday night, according to U.S. and Iraqi reports. Insurgents had eased up on attacks following Sunday's elections, when American and Iraqi forces imposed sweeping security measures to protect the voters. In the deadliest incident, insurgents stopped the minibus south of Kirkuk, ordered army recruits off the vehicle and gunned down 12 of them, said Maj. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin. The rebels allowed two of the soldiers to go free and ordered them to warn others against joining Iraq's U.S.-backed security forces, he said. [complete article] Top Shi'ite clerics begin to press for an Islamic constitutionBy Thanassis Cambanis, Boston Globe, February 2, 2005 Top Shi'ite clerics, emboldened by what they perceive as a massive turnout by their followers for the coalition of Shi'ite religious parties, have already directed their attention to advocating for an Islamic constitution, several of them said in the aftermath of Sunday's election. The turnout for the top-finishing electoral slate, a coalition of Islamist parties supported by the Shi'ite clerical establishment, has convinced leading clerics in Najaf that religious parties will have a majority in the Transitional National Assembly that will write Iraq's next constitution. The clerics of Najaf who orchestrated the Shi'ite political party coalition say they expect a constitutional debate between hard-core Islamists, who want Koranic law to be the constitution's primary source, and moderate Islamists, who want a milder form of religious law. This debate, they say, will dwarf any challenge from secular parties. US officials are counting on Islamists who oppose a direct role for clerics in government to prevail; otherwise, they fear, Iraq's Shi'ite majority could push the country in the direction of neighboring theocratic Iran. The officials say Iraq's Shi'ite clergy has supported democratic principles, including elections, and shown political restraint since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Interviews with clerics representing the leading schools of thought in Najaf reveal a major debate between the moderate and extreme Islamists, and a growing belief that clerics will shape the constitutional debate far more than secular politicians. [complete article] Sunni clerics offer their cooperationBy Doug Struck, Washington Post, February 3, 2005 Leading Sunni Muslim clerics who boycotted Sunday's elections said Wednesday that they would "respect the choice of those who voted" and work with a new government, even though they considered the election invalid. The statement, issued by the Association of Muslim Scholars, contained renewed criticism of the election but appeared to suggest that the influential Sunni group wants to be included in forming a new government. Ballots from Sunday's vote, which are still being counted, are widely expected to show light turnout in Sunni-populated areas and result in correspondingly low Sunni representation in Iraq's new National Assembly. Many of Iraq's major political groups, however, have said assembly seats should be apportioned to give Sunnis an equitable share of power, saying they would put rivalries aside for the sake of national stability. [complete article] Low voting rate risks isolation for Sunni IraqisBy Dexter Filkins, New York Times, February 3, 2005 As poll workers tally the ballots from Sunday's election, Iraqi and Western officials say, it is increasingly clear that the country's once powerful Sunni minority largely boycotted the voting, confirming the group's political isolation. While Shiites and Kurds, who make up more than 80 percent of the population, turned out to vote in great numbers, a Western diplomat said Monday, the turnout in Sunni areas appeared to be "quite low." The thin turnout means the Sunnis, many of whom already feel deeply alienated from the American-backed enterprise here, could be vastly underrepresented in the national assembly. The 275-member parliament will oversee the drafting of a constitution, which is to be put before Iraqi voters later this year. [complete article] Iraqi refugees overwhelm SyriaBy Scott Wilson, Washington Post, February 3, 2005 Sabbah Zaker had a small, sturdy construction company in the Iraqi city of Mosul, and although he did not agree with the U.S. invasion, he accepted a $10,000 contract last summer to renovate schools and health clinics across his ethnically mixed home town. A few months later, his name began appearing on the walls of his neighborhood as a warning from insurgents not to cooperate with the Americans. Zaker, a Christian, had been agonizing over whether to leave Iraq since August, when a series of church bombings shook Mosul and Baghdad. The graffiti made the decision for him, and last September he sent one of his four sons to this city in northern Syria to find a place for the family to settle. Zaker, his wife and their sons now sleep on the floors of a cramped apartment across from a church. "Our people hated me, and I didn't even know what was in their hearts," said Zaker, 52, who wore a tightly knotted tie on a recent morning despite having no place to go. "If the situation continues like it is in Iraq, more of us will come. And the money is running out." Although regional and global concerns about Syria's 450-mile border with Iraq have focused mostly on foreign Arabs slipping across to join the insurgency, a growing number of Iraqis like the Zakers are moving in the opposite direction. U.N. officials say they are witnessing the exodus they had expected 22 months ago, when the United States and its allies invaded, and the Syrian government and international aid agencies say they are seeing the first worrisome social effects of the migration. Syrian officials say 700,000 Iraqis from various ethnic, religious and economic backgrounds have arrived since the U.S.-led invasion, far more than in any other country in the region. The flow has spiked in the past four months. [complete article] Electricity was top concern for Iraqi votersBy Nancy A. Youssef, Knight Ridder, February 2, 2005 When millions of Iraqis braved violence Sunday to elect a National Assembly charged with crafting a new constitution, they also elected local assemblies in hopes of getting something far simpler: electricity. Residents in Najaf and elsewhere said the election finally gives them an elected local government they can hold accountable for turning on the power. And they're threatening to flex their newly acquired voting muscle, saying if the government doesn't fix the electricity by the end of the year - when the next election will be held - they'll be ready to vote out the scoundrels. "We gave them (the interim government) an excuse because they didn't have the authority. But if the people vote for them, that means they are legitimate," said Adnan Mehdi Shaed, 36, who exchanges currency in Najaf. "I want them to fix the electricity." [complete article] Kuwait intensifies crackdown on Islamist militantsBy Roula Khalaf, Financial Times, February 3, 2005 Islamist extremists have taken their fight against the US military presence in Iraq to neighbouring Kuwait, the small oil-rich emirate that acts as a transit route for US troops. Over the past month security forces have clashed several times with suspected militants, leaving three policemen dead and another 11 wounded. This week, however, the government intensified its crackdown, launching raids on suspected hideouts of militants. Eight militants were killed and another 14 were arrested. [complete article] Israel to quit West Bank cities, free Palestinian prisonersBy Aluf Benn, Arnon Regular and Amos Harel, Haaretz, February 3, 2005 A special ministerial team approved on Thursday afternoon a draft of security arrangements with the Palestinian Authority that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will present on Tuesday's summit with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Jordan in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. The ministers decided to release 900 Palestinian prisoners, 500 immediately and another 400 in three months. A cabinet minister said no Palestinians with "blood on their hands," a reference to attacks that caused Israeli casualties, would be freed under the decision. It was also decided to gradually transfer to the PA security responsibility for five West Bank cities, starting with Jericho. Bethlehem, Qalqilyah, Tul Karm and Ramallah will follow but the order of their transfer to the PA has not yet been determined. [complete article] Sharon and Abbas to meet next week in EgyptBy Chris McGreal, The Guardian, February 3, 2005 Ariel Sharon and the new Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, are to hold their first summit next week in Egypt, the highest-level talks between the two sides for more than four years. They had already agreed to meet and yesterday the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, offered to host the summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday. There is growing international pressure to secure a comprehensive ceasefire by Palestinian armed groups and an Israeli commitment to curtail its attacks. Mr Mubarak's office said he had made the offer in the light of the delicacy of the present stage the peace process, and "in an endeavour to seize the auspicious opportunity to achieve tangible progress on the Palestinian track". [complete article] Outposts built despite Israeli vow, report saysBy Dan Ephron, Boston Globe, February 3, 2005 Israelis built four new settlement outposts in the West Bank last year and significantly expanded 12 others, according to an Israeli watchdog group, despite the government's pledge nearly two years ago to dismantle such unauthorized communities and freeze settlement expansion. The Israeli group Peace Now, which monitors construction in nearly 250 settlements and outposts in the West Bank and Gaza Strip through visits and flyovers, presented its findings for 2004 on the same day that Israeli and Palestinian leaders said they would meet at a summit next week at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan, in the most tangible sign yet that 4˝ years of fighting could be drawing to an end. But the annual report on settlements underscored what has been a fixture of the conflict for decades and a sore spot for Palestinians: that Israel, in times of both conciliation and confrontation, and in defiance of international pressure as well as its commitments as part of the US-backed "road map" to peace, has persistently expanded its presence on land Palestinians claim as part of their future state. [complete article] Land seizure bid heightens tension over Sharon plansBy Ben Lynfield, Christian Science Monitor, February 2, 2005 There was a sense of respite, but not relief, as this town bordering Jerusalem learned Tuesday that Israel's attorney general had thwarted one of the biggest Israeli seizures of Palestinian land since 1967. The seizure could have included about a third of Beit Jala property remaining from previous expropriations. "It's a good sign, but I can't be sure what will happen over time," says Mayor Raji Zeidan of the decision. "They could use other methods in the future to take the land." Although thwarted, critics say the land maneuver offers a window into the intentions of the Sharon government regarding the future of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, even as it readies to withdraw from Gaza. [complete article] ELECTION PROBLEMS Parties say violations hurt Sunni turnoutBy Anne Barnard, Boston Globe, February 2, 2005 As reports pour in from thousands of Iraqi poll observers, several political parties are alleging polling violations and logistical problems on Sunday that they say helped depress the election turnout among the country's disaffected Sunni Muslims. In Kirkuk, where Sunni Arabs vie with Kurds for control, Sunni leaders said Kurdish officials opened extra polling stations in Kurdish neighborhoods but forced Arab villagers to walk long distances. In Aadhamiya, a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad, most polling centers did not open, and at those that did, many Sunnis found their names missing from voting lists, according to party observers. And in Samawa, in the heavily Shi'ite south, one woman told an observer for the Constitutional Monarchy Party that a female poll worker warned her that if she did not vote for a slate of prominent candidates for Shi'ite Islamist parties, the clerics would nullify her marriage. Iraq's interim president, Ghazi al-Yawer, acknowledged yesterday that tens of thousands of voters were shut out because polling stations ran out of ballots. According to the leaders of two parties whose efforts to reach out to Sunni voters have been praised by US diplomats, many of those excluded prospective voters were Sunnis in key areas in the north, including restive Mosul and Kirkuk. [complete article] Iraqi Christians claim their votes blockedBy Eric Fleischauer, Decatur Daily, February 2, 2005 Even as Iraqi Muslims proclaimed Sunday's elections a success, the Christians of that country complained that they were prevented from voting both in Iraq and in the United States. Christian Assyrians, 1 million of whom reside in Iraq, claim that Kurdish officials in North Iraq blocked the delivery of ballot boxes from Assyrian-dominated villages, leaving many Assyrians disenfranchised. They also claim that election officials placed U.S. voting locations in areas that maximized the distance expatriate Assyrians had to travel. Susan Patto, chief of staff to the secretary general of the Assyrian Democratic Movement in Iraq, said officials failed to deliver ballot boxes to five towns in the Ninevah Plain of Northern Iraq. All are predominantly populated by Christian Assyrians. [complete article] (Additional background information on Iraqi Christians.) Influential group of Sunni clerics calls Iraq's vote illegitimateBy Sameer N. Yacoub, Associated Press (via Boston Globe), February 2, 2005 Iraq's leading Sunni Muslim clerics said Wednesday the landmark elections lack legitimacy because large numbers of Sunnis did not participate in the balloting which the clerics had asked them to boycott. Emboldened by the elections, which U.S. and Iraqi authorities cited as a victory for democracy, the police chief in Mosul demanded the insurgents hand over weapons within two weeks or he would ''wipe out'' anyone giving them shelter. Large numbers of majority Shiite Muslims and Kurds took part in Sunday's election for a new National Assembly and regional parliaments. Although no results or turnout figures have been released, U.S. officials say turnout appeared much lower in Sunni areas where the insurgent is strongest. In its first statement since the balloting, the Association of Muslim Scholars said the balloting lacked legitimacy because of low Sunni participation. The Association called months ago on Sunnis to shun the polls because of the presence of U.S. and other foreign troops. [complete article] Iraqi president rejects withdrawal of U.S. troops; Shiites project big winBy Tom Lasseter, Knight Ridder, February 2, 2005 Iraq's interim president and defense minister said Tuesday that withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq was out of the question for the time being, in a stark reminder of the danger posed by the Iraqi insurgency even in the wake of Sunday's election. As Iraq reopened its international airport and allowed traffic back on the road, President Ghazi al-Yawer said it would be "complete nonsense" for foreign troops to leave the country right away. [complete article] Handicapped boy who was made into a bombBy Paul McGeough, Sydney Morning Herald, February 2, 2005 Amar Ahmed Mohammed was 19 years old. But the fact that he had the mind of a four-year-old did not stop the insurgency's hard men as they strapped explosives to his chest and guided him to a voting centre in suburban Al-Askan. Before dawn yesterday in Baghdad, his parents strapped his broken remains to the roof of a taxi to lead a sorrowful procession to the holy city of Najaf. There, they gave him a ceremonial wash and shrouded him in white cotton before burying him in the shadow of the shrine of Imam Ali, the sainted founder of their Shiite creed. Unlike the hundreds of others in the region who knowingly volunteered for an explosive death, Amar died because he did not know. He had Down syndrome. [complete article] Kurds 'hold balance of power' in IraqBy Gareth Smyth, Financial Times, February 1, 2005 The Iraqi Kurds are now the "arbiters" of politics in Iraq and can win the "big prize" of autonomy, Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's interim foreign minister, has said. Mr Zebari, a leading official in the Kurdistan Democratic party, said he expected the Kurdish list to take 75-85 of 275 parliamentary seats and hold the balance between the main Shia list, topped by Abd al-Aziz Hakim, and the list of Iyad Allawi, the interim prime minister. "We will be the arbiters of many key decisions," he said in an interview with the Financial Times. Since the high Kurdish turnout in Sunday's election, the KDP has been consulting the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the second main party on the list. Mr Zebari said the two parties would keep "a coherent and united [Kurdish] position - if we are going to side, hypothetically, with the Shia list, it is because they are going to run the government according to what we want. We will pick and choose". [complete article] Fresh hope and doubts from Arabs elsewhereBy Hassan M. Fattah, New York Times, February 1, 2005 As Eissa al-Tayib sat glued to the television on Sunday evening at his home in the village of Nital, a 45-minute drive to the south of Amman, his mind began racing. The news of the Iraqi election astounded him, and it was becoming clear that the process, if not the results, could have major implications for much of the Arab world. Would this bring peace and stability, Mr. Tayib wondered, or would it create division and civil war? And what about other Arab nations? "If your rights are guaranteed," he said Monday in his dusty convenience store set along a highway, "you won't see this election as a problem." The voting in Iraq offered Arabs outside that country two conflicting pictures: Iraqis were freely voting, but they were doing it under an occupation; they were choosing a group of legislators to draft a constitution, but they were voting for political parties that are sectarian and, many say, divisive. [complete article] Within Shiite bloc, diverse views emergeBy Dan Murphy, Christian Science Monitor, February 2, 2005 Far from being monolithic, Iraq's Shiites differ on everything from how to organize the state to the role of clerics in government. These divisions will be played out as the new parliament writes the constitution. "Since the American invasion we've been suffering a lot because of some religious figures,'' says Muslim Hussein, who at age 40 is the oldest of 11 children. "We followed those parties into trouble before, but since they've been in charge in Najaf, they've forgotten us. They just look after their own favorites and family members." [complete article] INSURGENTS PAUSE FOR REFLECTION? Iraqis count the votes and enjoy the quietBy Doug Struck and Karl Vick, Washington Post, February 2, 2005 Iraqis held their breath at the unaccustomed quiet in the capital Tuesday, reveling in post-election euphoria as officials began what they said could be a week-long count of ballots and political jockeying began over the next government. The interim government reopened the borders, turned on the lights at the airport to allow commercial flights to land and lifted the daytime curfews imposed in a largely successful effort to prevent disruption of Sunday's national elections. Residents slowly returned to the streets and stores in Baghdad, proudly displaying the fading purple ink on their fingers to prove that they had voted and swapping stories of their bravery in ignoring insurgents' threats and going to the polls. The optimistic mood has been prolonged by a sharp drop in violence in the city since Sunday. Few dared to believe the suicide and car bombings had ended, but the respite was a tantalizing reminder of the pleasures of normal life. [complete article] Comment -- Though the election has been widely criticized for many reasons, one dimension that has received little comment is the degree to which insurgents may now be assessing the vote as a referendum on their own operations. While George Bush and his supporters are capitalizing on the fact that the election was not thwarted, this will be of little concern to the average insurgent. Their attention will be directed towards the street, mindful that if there has been a shift in mood it could now expose them to new risks. Limited Sunni participation in the election does not necessarily imply the insurgents will continue to enjoy passive support from bystanders who previously looked the other way. The assumption of many observers has been that the effect of early elections would be to further marginalize the Sunni population, but if feelings of exclusion now fuel a desire for greater inclusion, it may be the insurgency itself rather than the wider Sunni population that becomes increasingly marginalized. Anger as American troops kill four inmates in jail riotBy Kim Sengupta, The Independent, February 2, 2005 American troops killed four detainees and injured six others to quell a riot at a prison in British-controlled southern Iraq. The deaths, on the day the elections were held, drew an angry response from the Iraqi interim government which called for the troops to be put on trial if they were found to have used excessive force. The US authorities said the soldiers had used "lethal force" on the inmates corralled into compounds, surrounded by razor wire, at Camp Bucca after failing to quell rioting. They also admitted that no American soldiers had been seriously injured by stones thrown by the inmates and the disturbance had lasted just 45 minutes before the decision was taken to open fire. [complete article] Iran open to ties with U.S.By Barbara Slavin, USA Today, January 31, 2005 Iran's top national security official said Monday his government wants better relations with the United States, but he advised the Bush administration to stop threatening Iran and said his country will not yield to demands that it permanently stop its effort to enrich uranium -- which the White House says is intended to make a nuclear bomb. In a rare interview, Hassan Rowhani, Iran's equivalent of national security adviser and the nation's chief negotiator on the nuclear issue, repeated Iran's assertion that its nuclear program is only for the production of energy. Iran agreed in November to suspend efforts to enrich uranium, but Rowhani said the suspension could last only for "some months, not years," while Iran talks with Britain, Germany and France about concessions on trade and other matters. [complete article] Iran's bloggers get caught in crossfire of 'war on terror'By Michael Theodoulou, Christian Science Monitor, February 2, 2005 Iran's dissenting and liberal voices, reeling from a crackdown in cyberspace by their country's old guard, now worry about a new challenge from an unexpected quarter: America. The alarm sounded when the online news site Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) said that The Planet, a leading international Web-hosting firm based in Dallas, abruptly terminated its contract. Now, other Iranian websites that rely on US Webservers are bracing for similar action. The independent voices may be getting caught up in a larger battle, some analysts argue. The shutdown, they say, may be collateral damage from "war on terror" efforts to silence Internet communications from the "axis of evil." [complete article]
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