The Diplomatic Times Review

January 01, 2006

A Few Front Pages From Around the World

Here are few front pages of prominent newspapers around the world, for January 1 and 2, 2006 :The Times (Britain), The New York Times (USA), The Washington Post (USA),The Australian (Australia), People's Daily (China), Arab News (Saudi Arabia) and The Daily Star (Lebanon)

Others are:The Globe and Mail (Canada) Deutsche Welle (Germany), Der Spiegel (Germany), Jerusalem Post (Israel) Le Monde (France) MosNews.com (Russia), Buenos Aires Herald (Argentina) and East African Standard (Kenya)

Posted by Munir Umrani at 04:08 PM | Comments (0)

New Year Greetings

Happy New Year to Diplomatic Times Review readers who follow the Christian Calendar. My gift to you, beginning today, is a return to the comprehensive, daily roundup of world news and opinion. I will also provide more news and opinion at The Opinion Gazette and The Blogging Journalist.

Munir Umrani
Editor and Founder

Posted by Munir Umrani at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)

December 13, 2005

Who Owns Iranian Relics Held by University of Chicago?

The Chicago Sun-Times reported December 13, 2005 that, "A group of terrorism victims is claiming that a set of ancient tablets worth millions rightfully belongs to them -- and not the University of Chicago, which is holding the Iranian texts." The U.S. Justice Department supports the university's position. Read why.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:49 AM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2005

Bush Wants 16 Provisions of the USA Patriot Act Renewed

Today U.S. President George W. Bush applauded "for its good work" a "House and Senate conference committee" that "reached an agreement on reauthorization of the Patriot Act."

"Now Congress needs to finish the job," he said during his weekly radio address. Both the Senate and the House need to hold a prompt vote, and send me a bill renewing the Patriot Act so I can sign it into law." Mr. Bush added:

This week's agreement would renew all 16 provisions of the Patriot Act that are scheduled to expire at the end of this month -- and it would make 14 of these provisions permanent.

Frankly, I find the prospect of the act being renewed frightening. With this act, legislation for a congressionally mandated dictatorship is in place.

Here's a White House transcript of Mr. Bush's December 10, 2005 radio address.

Note: This item is cross posted at The Opinion Gazette.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2005

Syria Had Planned to Honor Mustapha Akkad Later This Month

Mahmoud al-Sayed, Syria's Minister of Culture, said Syria had planned to honour Syrian-born Filmmaker Mustapha Akkad at the Damascus Cinema Festival later this month, according to Reuters. While he is best known in the United States among film buffs for his Halloween movie series, in the Arab and Muslim world he is known primarily for two powerful films: the 1976 epic "The Message," starring Anthony Quinn, and Lion of the Desert, also starring Quinn. The former about the early days of Islam. Quinn played Hamza, an uncle of Prophet Mohammad. No actor played the Prophet, who was represented by a shadow. A depiction of the Prophet would have invited trouble.

"Lion of the Desert, " is a 1981 film. Quinn portrays as Omar al-Mukhtar, a Libyan school teacher-resistance leader who fought the Italians from 1911 to 1931 to end italy's colonial administration in Libya. He was hanged on September 16,1931.

My family own copies of both films and intend to watch them again. Perhaps within the next week.

Meanwhile, according to Morocco Times.Com, Akkad "was also working on filming the historical epic Salah Al-Din, starring Irish actor Sean Connery and Egyptian actor Hussein Fahmi." While I have seen and enjoyed Egyptian director Youssef Chahine's interpretation of the life of Salah A-Din, I can imagine that Akkad's version would have been superb given his mastery of Hollywood filmmaking techniques. Unfortunately, Akkad won't get to make the film. He died November 9, 2005 in a Jordanian hospital from injuries suffered in a bomb blast at one of three hotels hit by suicide bombers in Amman, Jordan. He and his daughter, Reema, were among 57 people to die from the bombings. Akkad was buried in Aleppo, Syria.

Hopefully, another Muslim filmmaker will take up the mantle and do a film on Salah Al-Din, one the greatest Muslim heroes. A documentary on Akkad would be a worthy film project for some student currently studying cinema.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2005

Africa, Middle East at Risk for Bird Flu

"A UN agency warned Wednesday [October 18, 2005]that the risk of bird flu spreading to the Middle East and Africa has markedly increased following the confirmation of outbreaks in Romania and Turkey," according to The Associated Press.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:42 AM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2005

Washington Post: 'Cheney's Office Is A Focus in Leak Case'

The Washington Post reports in its October 18, 2005 edition that:

As the investigation into the leak of a CIA agent's name hurtles to an apparent conclusion, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has zeroed in on the role of Vice President Cheney's office, according to lawyers familiar with the case and government officials.

Post reporters Jim VandeHei and Walter Pincus said, "The prosecutor has assembled evidence that suggests Cheney's long-standing tensions with the CIA contributed to the unmasking of operative Valerie Plame Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

October 11, 2005

Bloomberg Wisely Treated Bomb Reports as Credible

New York Newsday says Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York continues "to insist the city didn't overreact" to reports that attacks on New York subways would take place this past weekend. Some say it was a hoax. I think Bloomberg was right to act as if the reports were credible.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:00 PM | Comments (0)

October 03, 2005

What Bombshell?

Professor Juan Cole at the influential Informed Comment said in an October 3, 2005 post that, "George Stephanopolous dropped a bombshell on his show on Sunday," October 2, 2005 on ABC News This Week.

What is this bombshell? The answer is here.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:52 AM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2005

The State Department's September 14, 2005 Press Briefing

If you are interested in the U.S. Department of State's Daily Press Briefing, here's the September 14, 2005 briefing delivered by deputy spokesman Adam Ereli.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:42 PM | Comments (0)

September 03, 2005

Kanye West's Statement on Bush Censored on U.S. West Coast

NBC didn't like what Hip Hop superstar Kanye West said about U.S. President George W. Bush during a televised benefit concert in New York on September 2, 2005. So it tried to censor West's contention that, "George Bush doesn't care about black people." The solution: Switch to a non-controversial African-Americans such as comedian Chris Tucker before West could say too much.

West, who deviated from the script, saw his statement cut out of the West Coast broadcast.

I suspect many prominent African-Americans feel the way West does but don't have the balls to say it. Here's more.

Here's Billboards article on West's statement.

By the way, West also took a shot at the way the media portrays African-Americans compared to Caucasians.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 04:05 PM | Comments (0)

Despite Bush Claim, New Orleans Levee Breach Was Anticipated

Some newspapers and other news outlets in the United States downplayed President George W. Bush's September 1, 2005 claim in an interview with ABC New's Diane Sawyer that:

I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees (in New Orleans). They did anticipate a serious storm. But these levees got breached, and as a result, much of New Orleans is flooded. And now we are having to deal with it and will.

A few news outlets, according to Media Matters for America (MMFA), did challenged Mr. Bush's claims." For indepth coverage on this issue, see this MMFA article on The New Times' failure to contradict Mr. Bush's claim.

Also see "News outlets downplay Bush administration's failure to prepare for and respond to Hurricane Katrina."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 01:14 PM | Comments (0)

The Opinion Gazette Has Update on New Orleans Refugees

The Opinion Gazette, one of my other blogs, has updates on Americans in New Orleans who are refugees as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

September 02, 2005

The Plight of the New Orleans Refugees: A Mirror to the World

As I look at the tired, desperate, scared, hungry refugees trapped in New Orleans, I wonder if President George W. Bush and his administration would have moved faster to provide relief for them if they were predominantly white Republicans.

Looking at the mostly black faces reminded me of scenes of African refugees I've seen on television over the years, and the U.S.' general response to tragedy on that continent. The response is usually muted, except from non-governmental organizations, when it comes to Africa. In recent years, the tragedies in Rwanda and Liberia symbolizes the general lack of U.S. interest in providing help to Africans. Unlike with the Tsunami that struck Asia last December, the U.S. could not score any political and public relations points as they did against the Muslim world by claiming Muslim leaders wouldn't help their own or were slow in doing so.

Well, who's slow now in providing aid to their own people, most of whose ancestors were brought to the U.S. in the 1800s from Africa by slave traders? Perhaps it's that African connection that gets in the way. Even the names of some places in Louisiana and New Orleans speaks to the African connection: Congo Square and Algiers in New Orleans. Then there is Angola, where the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary is located "about 55 miles north of Baton Rouge." It was named after the area in Africa from where many of the slaves in Louisiana were brought.

But back to the present: As Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine states in a September 1, 2005 post, "This terrible tragedy" in New Orleans "has now become a scandal." Consider this from Jarvis, who never bites his tongue on an issue:

Aaron Brown just asked a correspondent whether he thought he'd ever stand on the soil of the United States of America and report what he is reporting from New Orleans.
Through a lack of quick action and resources and any semblance of planning, the people left in New Orleans have been condemned to thirst, hunger, filth, disease, fear, crime, danger, and in too many cases death.

The convention center in New Orleans is a symbol of shame. How can we not figure out how to get water there? Babies are starving. People are dying. There is no authority; police have pulled back to defend their own stations or, according to CNN, deserted their posts.

Authorities from Bush down to cabinet officials down to legislators down to state officials down to the soon-to-be-former-mayor down to those police have failed these people. No one would argue that this was going to be smooth or easy. But the basics water, food, safety, goals are abandoned.

Political careers at every level will end because of this failure.

Good. political careers should end over the New Orleans/ Gulf Coast of Mississippi refugee situations. It's inescusable considering that the the U.S. is the greatest military and industrial power on Earth, at the moment. If we can spend billions destroying Iraq and them claim it's being rebuilt--mainly by firms connected to President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney and their powerful cronies--certainly we should spend billions to save Americans.

In fact, I wish the Administration moved as fast in New Orleans and Mississippi as it does in Baghdad and Fallujah.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:43 AM | Comments (0)

September 01, 2005

Visit The Opinion Gazette for News on Hurricane Katrina

Visit The Opinion Gazette, another blog I publish, for my coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

Look for more news at The Diplomatic Times Review after 7 p.m. Central Standard Time in the Unite States

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:45 AM | Comments (0)

August 17, 2005

Clinton Global Initiative's Inaugural Meeting is Sept.15-17, 2005

Former President Bill Clinton's Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) will hold its inaugural meeting September 15-17, 2005 in New York at the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers. According to CGI's website:

This nonpartisan conference will bring together a diverse and select group of current and former heads of state, business leaders, noteworthy academicians, and key NGO representatives to participate in a series of dynamic interactive workshops. The group will strategize on the best methods to reduce poverty; use religion as a force for reconciliation and conflict resolution; implement new business strategies and technologies to combat climate change; and strengthen governance.

"The goal for NYC 2005, the inaugural meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, is to develop an agenda for action that all the participants can help implement during the coming year," according to the CGI website. .

Posted by Munir Umrani at 02:15 AM | Comments (0)

August 16, 2005

Former AIPAC Analysts, Larry Franklin Plead Not Guilty

"Steven Rosen, 63, the former foreign policy director for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and AIPAC's former senior Middle East analyst, Keith Weissman, [today] pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to communicate national defense information provided by [U.S. Defense Department] analyst Lawrence Franklin," according to Reuters and other news outlets. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:46 PM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2005

Meet the Press Transcript for August 14, 2005

Here is NBC's Meet the Press Transcript for August 14, 2005. Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, was one of the guest along with U.S. Senator Joseph Biden of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 02:51 PM | Comments (0)

August 07, 2005

Condolences to the Family of ABC News Anchor Peter Jennings

The Diplomatic Times Review offers condolences to the family of ABC News anchor Peter Jennings. He passed away tonight. May his soul rest in peace. Here is ABC's statement on his death.

Munir Umrani, editor and publisher.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:12 PM | Comments (0)

August 03, 2005

Bush: Good Intelligence Needed to Defeat Killers Who Hide

During an August 3, 2005 address at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, in which he discussed his "Second Term Accomplishments and Priorities," U.S. President George W. Bush said, among other things:

To win this war on terror, we will use all elements of national power. We will use our military. For those of you who have got loved ones in the military, I want to thank you -- tell them to thank -- you thank them for me, on behalf of a grateful nation.

We'll use our diplomatic corps. In other words, we're working with friends and allies. Part of winning this war on terror is to remind others of what's at stake, and to work diplomatically to get people to keep pressure on the enemy. We've got our Treasury Department working with our friends and allies to cut off money. One way to defeat the enemy is deny them access to money. And when we find money being spent illegally, or funding these terrorist organizations that funnel money to these killers, we do something about it.

We're beefing up our intelligence here in America. We want to make sure that the FBI and CIA can share intelligence. We want to make sure that we not only get the best intelligence, we analyze it properly, and we share it with our friends and allies and vice versa.

See, it's a different kind of war. In the old days you'd have armies that were funded by states. You knew where they were, you could trace them. This war is against killers who hide, and then they show up and kill innocent life, and then they retreat. And so you've got to have good intelligence in order to defeat them. We're working hard to coordinate law enforcement around the world. In other words, we're using all assets of this great nation in order to defeat this enemy.It's call guerilla warfare, sir, and has been used for centuries by smaller forces to defeat larger, more conventional forces such as those you have in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is not a police action, as you imply, but a war that will go on until one side is defeated or retreats from the battlefield.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:03 PM | Comments (0)

August 01, 2005

MP George Galloway Visits Syria

"British Member of Parliament George Galloway, who has acquired an international status on issues such as arguing against the US-UK lead sanctions that crippled Iraq during the 1990s where Galloway contributed humanitarian help to Iraqis, arrived Damascus" the night of July 29, 2005 "in a visit to Syria to deliver a lecture at al-Assad Library on justice in the new world order," according to Arabic News.Com.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 02:20 AM | Comments (0)

July 30, 2005

VOA Highlights Latino Muslims In The U.S.

The Voice of America's July 13, 2005 report on "Latino Muslims Growing in Number in the US" is interesting. Many Americans have no idea that there are Spanish Muslims in the U.S.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Will Israel Allow FBI To Interrogate Naor Gilon?

Haaretz Correspondent Aluf Benn reported July 28, 2005 that, "The Federal Bureau of Investigation is demanding that Naor Gilon, head of the political department at the Israeli embassy in Washington, be interrogated in connection to the Pentagon spy case."

"It is possible the FBI will also want to interrogate other Israeli diplomats in connection with Pentagon analyst Lawrence Franklin, an Iran expert under investigation for allegedly passing classified documents to Israel via the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)," he wrote.

Mr. Benn said, "The American request was discussed a few weeks ago at an interministerial meeting in Jerusalem. The consensus was that neither Gilon nor other officials should be allowed to undergo investigation by the FBI but that Israel would be prepared to respond in writing to questions."

I'm waiting to see if President George W. Bush will publicly back the FBI on this, Frankly, I doubt it. It would good if he proved me wrong.

For more, see "FBI seeks to probe senior Israeli diplomat in Pentagon spy case."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 05:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 18, 2005

Think Tank Scholars Accused Of Making 'Excuses For Terrorist'

The Glascow Daily Record said July 19, 2005 that, "a bitter row broke out yesterday over claims that Britain's Iraq war role could be to blame for the London bombings." Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Chatham House Report Has Blair On The Defensive

The Chatham House and Economic and Social Research Council report issued July 18, 2005 titled "Security, Terrorism and the UK" has British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his cabinet on the defensive, especially the assertion that "There is no doubt that the situation over Iraq has imposed particular difficulties for the UK, and for the wider coalition against terrorism."

BBC News quotes Mr. Blair, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Defense Minister John Reid's reaction to the report, which is being quoted all over the world. The debate is on and there is nothing they or their supporters in the conservative punditocracy can do about it.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 17, 2005

Sr. Jeremy Greenstock's Book on Iraq Reportedly Being Blocked

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain's ambassador to the United Nations during the build-up to the invasion of Iraq, has written a book about his experiences during that time. According to EPolitix.com, he "expresses strong criticism of coalition policies." Consequently, "Number 10 and the Foreign Office are said to be blocking" the book, EPolitix said.

Mr. Greenstock was Britain's former representative in occupied Iraq and served as deputy administrator in the Bush Administration's Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, once headed by former ambassador Lewis Paul Bremer III, an American. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)

July 16, 2005

Egyptian Lawyers Demand Legal Protection For Al-Nashar

Nahdat Misr, an independent Egyptian Arabic daily, reported July 16, 2005 that,

Immediately after the news [of the arrest of Egyptian biochemist, Magdi Mahmoud al-Nashar, for questioning over the July 7, 2005 London bombings], Egyptian Lawyers' Union spokesman Muntasir al-Ziyat announced his committee would contact General Prosecutor Mahir Abd-al-Wahid and demand legal guarantees and full protection for Al-Nashar if the British accusations are proved right.

"He also asked for members of the committee to be present at his questioning and for Al-Nashar not to be handed over to any foreign side," according to Nahdat Misr.

The BBC Monitoring Service translated the Nahdat Misr report.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)

Some Egyptain Newspapers Shocked By al-Nashar Arrest

BBC News Worldwide reported July 16, 2005 that, "Egypt's newspapers on Saturday [July 16, 2005] conveyed widespread shock at the arrest in Cairo of an Egyptian biochemist, Magdi Mahmoud al-Nashar, for questioning over the [July 7, 2005] London bombings."

BBC Monitoring, which "selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages," translated several Egyptian newspapers for its subscribers. Here's a link to opinion in six of those publications.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:44 AM | Comments (0)

July 15, 2005

Did Media Draw Hasty Conclusions About Magdy El-Nashar

Magdy el-Nashar, the Egyptian chemistry professor arrested and interrogated in Egypt in connection with the July 7, 2005 bombings in London, has no link to al Qaeda, Habib el-Adli, Egypt's interior minister, told Egypt's al-Gomhuria newspaper, according to Reuters.

The wire service said Mr. el-Adli said "Western and Arab media had drawn hasty conclusions." Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:50 PM | Comments (0)

Has Alleged Mastermind Of London Bombings Been Captured?

CTV.ca News staff of Canada has reported that, "the U.S.-trained Egyptian chemist, who police believe to be the mastermind behind last week's [July 7, 2005] bombings in London, has been captured and is being interrogated in Egypt."

"An Egyptian government official confirmed that 33-year-old Magdy El Nashar was taken into custody in suburban Cairo," CTV reported, adding: "El Nashar, whom British authorities have yet to formally call a suspect, left Britain two weeks before the transit attacks." Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:21 AM | Comments (0)

July 14, 2005

Ali Al-Timimi's Statement in Court Before Receiving Life Sentence

Dr. Ali Al-Tamimi addressed Federal District Court Judge Leonie M. Brinkema and the court for about ten minutes before he was sentenced to life in prison on July 13, 2005. He was convicted in April 2005 for allegedly urging his followers to travel to Afghanistan and help the Taliban fight US troops, after they invaded Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

See "Dr. Al-Timimi's Statement in Court," to read his entire address. Thanks to Islamic Awakening.Com for posting it.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:26 PM | Comments (0)

Have We Heard The last Of The Tamimi Case?

In reporting on the life sentence given to Dr. Ali Tamimi on July 14, 2005, Barbara Ferguson, the Washington correspondent for Arab News of Saudi Arabia wrote:

A prominent Islamic scholar, whom prosecutors called a purveyor of hate and war, was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday [July 13, 2005] for urging his followers after the Sept. 11 attacks, to join the Taleban and fight against US troops. Ali Al-Timimi, was defiant to the end, telling a federal judge in a 10-minute speech prior to sentencing that he considered himself a prisoner of conscience who was being persecuted for his Islamic beliefs. The district court judge in the case, Leonie M. Brinkema, reluctantly ordered the life sentence against Al-Timimi, saying she was bound by federal guidelines.

I heard Dr. Tamimi speak at an Islamic Assembly of North America conference in Rosemont, IL a few years ago. I have also listened to his tapes. I don't think we've heard the last of this case.

For more see, "Al-Timimi Jailed for Life in Virginia Jihad Case."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:13 PM | Comments (0)

Group Of 33 To Work With Other Developing Nation Groupings

"The Group of 33 today, July 14, 2005, agreed to enhance cooperation with other developing-country groupings such as the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP), least developing countries (LDCs), the Africa Group and the Group of 20 to defend the interests of developing nations in agriculture," according to the Business Standard of India. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:47 PM | Comments (0)

July 13, 2005

Douglas Feith Tells Washington Post About Missteps In Iraq

"Douglas Feith, a top Pentagon official who was deeply involved in planning the Iraq war, said there were significant missteps in the administration's strategy, including the delayed transfer of power to a new Iraqi government, and said he did not know whether the invading U.S. force was large enough," according to The Washington Post.

Why is he just now publicly speaking out? Is it because his tenure at the Pentagon is up? Just asking. See "Pentagon aide talks of missteps in Iraq."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)

Even The Karl Rove Controversy Is About Iraq

David Gregory, White House correspondent for NBC News, said July 13, 2005 that, the "root of the Karl Rove controversy is the war in Iraq." I agree.

Mr. Rove is U.S. President George W. Bush's deputy chief of staff, and chief political adviser. He is suspected of exposing the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame to punish her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, for disputing the Bush Administration's claim that Iraq had sought uranium yellowcake from Niger for use in weapons of mass destruction (WMD). One of the Administration's excuses for invading and occupying Iraq was to remove wmds. Iraq had no such weapons.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)

The Independent Profiles Suspected London Bombers

Arifa Akbar of The Independent Online of London has profiles on four men authorities have identified as suicide bombers in the July 7, 2005 attacks in London that left more than 50 dead and hundreds wounded. Here's the link.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:37 AM | Comments (0)

July 11, 2005

Is Iraq War Creating A Global Jihad?

Christian Science Monitor staff writer Dan Murphy, in a revealing article datelined Cairo, said, "Investigators still don't know who carried out last Thursday's [July 7, 2005] attacks in London. But they say those responsible were probably Islamist terrorists who viewed their assault as revenge for Britain's part in the Iraq war." Mr. Murphy said, "According to U.S. assessments, the turmoil in Iraq has replaced the still-simmering conflict in Afghanistan as the chief recruiter of international jihadis. Analysts say anger over the conflict is helping to spread the ideology of global jihad to young Muslims in Europe," he wrote. See "Iraq, Internet fuel growth of global jihad" for more of Mr. Murphy's report.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2005

Chicago Tribune: 'Attack Was No Surprise In London'

Chicago Tribune correspondent Tom Hundley reported July 10, 2005 that, "After nearly 30 years of dealing with the Irish Republican Army, British police have developed some of the most extensive and expensive intelligence-gathering infrastructures in the world."

"Over the past three years they have broken up at least two cells--and perhaps as many as five--that were plotting major attacks in Britain," he said in a report in which Tribune senior correspondent John Crewdson also contributed.

Mr. Hundley noted that, "Italian law-enforcement authorities gained valuable experience in their long struggle against the Mafia and the Red Brigades, experience they have put to use monitoring the activities of local Islamic cells. That is one reason Italian authorities were deeply annoyed in February 2003 when CIA operatives allegedly abducted an obscure Egyptian cleric in Milan and transferred him to Egypt, where he remains imprisoned."

See "Attack was no surprise in London" for more of the Hundley report.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 02:54 PM | Comments (0)

Italy Tightens Controls Following UK Bombings

AGI Online of Italy reported July 10, 2005 that, "The terrorism alarm [following the July 7, 2005 bombings in London] has resulted in extraordinary control measures by the carabinieri police all over Lombardy, especially in Milan."

The publication said the "maxi-operation also involved 2,000 soldiers and lasted for two days. They arrested 142 people for various offences, 83 of whom were non-EU passport holders and 52 of whom were on the point of being deported." Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:44 AM | Comments (0)

July 09, 2005

Who Is Mustafa Setmariam Nasar?

Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, a 47-year-old Syrian, who is "believed to have organized last years Madrid train attacks, is emerging as a figure in the hunt for the London bombers," according to The Sunday Times Online.

The publication said, "Spanish security sources are said to have warned four months ago that Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, a 47-year-old Syrian, had identified Britain as a likely target."

"Coded commands from the Syrian, thought to have included threats to other European countries including Britain, were found in a flat raided after the Madrid bombings in March 2004," The Times said.

See "Mastermind of Madrid is key figure" for more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:33 PM | Comments (0)

UK Internet Providers Asked To Preserve E-Mails

The Sunday Observer of London reports that "the National Crime Squad has contacted Internet service providers in the UK, appealing for them to preserve email messages in case they prove useful to the manhunt" for those responsible for the July 7, 2005 bombing in London. The publication said, "The messages could include highly personal information." See "Email spying 'could have stopped killers,'

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)

MPs To Quiz Blair Over Downgraded Terror Threat

British Prime Minister Tony Blair "will this week face calls for an investigation into the July 7 attacks in London, as he attempts to coordinate the government's response to one of the most critical emergencies since he came to office," Scotsman.Com reported July 10, 2005. See "MPs to quiz Blair over downgraded terror threat."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)

Were white "mercenary terrorists' Hired To Bomb UK Facilities?

Sophie Goodchild, Severin Carrell and Raymond Whitaker are reporting in the July 10, 2005 edition of The Independent of Britain that, "Police and intelligence agents are investigating the theory that a gang of white "mercenary terrorists" was hired by al-Qa'ida to carry out last week's devastating attacks on London."

"The Independent on Sunday can reveal today that investigations into the bombings of three Tube trains and a bus, which left at least 49 people dead, are focusing on the possibility that criminal gangs were paid to mount the worst atrocities in British history," the reporters wrote.

For more, see "Police hunt 'mercenary' terror gang recruited by al-Qa'ida."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)

Blair Warned In 2004 About Impact of Iraq War On British Muslims

The Sunday Times of London reported July 10, 2005 that, British Prime Minister Tony Blair "was warned last year that the war in Iraq might be responsible for thousands of young British Muslims turning to extremism."

"The grim warning was contained in a personal briefing paper on Young Muslims and Extremism, which has been leaked to The Sunday Times", Robert Winnett, The Times' Whitehall Correspondent wrote.

He said, "The paper, part of a Whitehall-wide effort to combat home-grown terrorism, identifies the key grievances driving Muslims militancy as anger at Tony Blair's decision to wage war in Iraq and resentment at the deprivation suffered by Muslim communities."

See "Bombers may be British born" for more. Read Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | and Part 4 of "Relations With The Muslim Community."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)

Is There An Algerian Link To UK Bombings

Nick Fealty at Slugger O'Toole's reported July 9, 2005 that,

We are hearing that one of the main lines of inquiries on the London bombers is that the bombers may have been a team from Algeria, who entered Britain through France. It is further rumoured that the French police have a presence in Britain to help track the surviving bombers down - they're thought to be part of a cell that the French busted a couple of weeks ago.

Mr. Fealty said, "This remains a rumour at present, but we recommend you keep an eye on the UK papers tomorrow for confirmation or denial of an Algerian link."

We will Nick although we are in Chicago, Illinois, USA. See "Rumour Mill: Algerian connexion to bombers?" for more

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Posted by Munir Umrani at 04:31 PM | Comments (0)

'30,000 Messages Of Hate Via E-mail'

"The Muslim Council of Britain, which represents the country's 1.6 million Muslims, said it had received 30,000 messages of hate via e-mail after four bomb attacks rocked the city Thursday [July 7, 2005]," according to an Associated Press, Reuters article in the International Herald Tribune headlined "London's Muslims frightened by messages of hate."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)

McClellan's Statement On Killing of Egyptian Envoy

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the July 7, 2005 killing of Ehab al-Sherif, Egypt's envoy to Baghdad, "further underscores the desperate and evil agenda of terrorists working to undermine progress toward democracy around the world."

"Justifying the murder of a fellow Muslim in the name of God, these terrorists have again shown that their senseless fight is against all men and women of peace," Mr. McClellan said in a written statement.

I wonder whether he really cares whether one Muslim kills another.

See "Statement on Murder of Egypt's Chief of Mission to Iraq" for the entire position.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)

Bush: 'We Are Now Waging A Global War On Terror'

During his July 9, 2005 Radio address, U.S. President George W. Bush said:

We are now waging a global war on terror -- from the mountains of Afghanistan to the border regions of Pakistan, to the Horn of Africa, to the islands of the Philippines, to the plains of Iraq. We will stay on the offense, fighting the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them at home. We will continue to deny the terrorists safe haven and the support of rogue states. And at the same time, we will spread the universal values of hope and freedom that will overwhelm their ideology of tyranny and hate.

Mr. Bush also said, "The free world did not seek this conflict, yet we will win it."

Question: Can it be done by invading and occupying some Muslim countries and building military bases there. Such actions suggest a long-term stay and the inevitable armed opposition against it..

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)

Reuters: Sharon Tells Ministers To Keep Quiet About UK Bombings

Matt Spetalnick of Reuters, writing from Jerusalem, reported July 8, 2005 that, "Israel's Ariel Sharon has imposed a gag order on his cabinet over the London bombings to avoid offending British sensibilities with comparisons to his country's fight against Palestinian militants, officials said."

"The prime minister muzzled his normally talkative cabinet after Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom seemed to equate Thursday's [July 7, 2005] deadly attacks with suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, comments that Israeli commentators said were ill-timed," Mr. Spetalnick wrote, adding that, "Keep quiet. Limit any response to expressions of condolences," was Sharon's message to his ministers after rush-hour blasts killed more than 50 people in central London."

For more, see "Ariel Sharon muzzles ministers on London blasts."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)

Were Israelis Warned About London Bombings?

Associated Press (AP) Writer Amy Teibel reported July 7, 2005, that, "British police told the Israeli Embassy in London minutes before Thursday's [July 7, 2005] explosions that they had received warnings of possible terror attacks in the city, a senior Israeli official said." She also wrote:

Benjamin Netanyahu (the Israeli Finance Minister) had planned to attend an economic conference in a hotel over the subway stop where one of the blasts occurred, and the warning prompted him to stay in his hotel room instead, government officials said. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he wasn't aware of any Israeli casualties.

Ms. Teibel said, "Just before the blasts, Scotland Yard called the security officer at the Israeli Embassy to say they had received warnings of possible attacks, the official said. He did not say whether British police made any link to the economic conference."

If the AP is right, why would the Israeli Embassy get a warning and no one else? Does this mean that the bombing did not catch some British authorities by surprise? Just asking.

See "Netanyahu Changed Plans Due To Warning" for more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)

July 08, 2005

Galloway: Londoners Paid Price For Blair's Afghan, Iraq Polices

The BBC reported July 8, 2005 that, "Within hours of Thursday's bombing atrocity [in London] Respect MP George Galloway was on his feet in the House of Commons saying Londoners had paid the price for Tony Blair's policy in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:27 PM | Comments (0)

British MP Reassures Muslim Constituency

"Crispin Blunt, the Member of Parliament for Reigate, today [July 8, 2005] visited Redhill Islamic Centre on Earlswood Road so that he could spend time with local Muslims during their Friday prayers," according to a press release published at ePolitix.Com.

"His visit was organized so that he could reassure members of the local Islamic community and address their concerns that they might be subject to reprisals following the bombings in London yesterday," the press release said.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:56 PM | Comments (0)

Charles Clarke: 'We Did Miss The Needles In The Haystack'

Charles Clarke, the British "Cabinet minister responsible for internal security used a series of interviews on Friday [July 8, 2005] to reassure the public that all efforts are being made to investigate and catch the perpetrators" of the four bombings in London on July 7, 2005, according to ePolitix.Com.

"But he warned that the search would be difficult and conceded that prevention against terrorism would never be absolute." the publication. It quoted Mr. Clarke as saying the attacks

certainly was a failure of intelligence in the sense that we didn't know this was coming. "But by definition when you're looking for needles in haystacks you can miss the needles and the tragedy of yesterday is that we did miss the needles.

For more, see "Terror hunt task is huge, says Clarke.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:48 PM | Comments (0)

British Asked To Resist Any Calls For Religious or Racial Hatred

Pacific News Service quotes Jamal Dajani, director of Middle Eastern programming at Link TV as saying, "The National Association of British Arabs issued a press release to all Arab media on the day of the attacks" in London condemning the widely reported bombings.

"They unequivocally condemned the bombing, calling it a "horrific" attack against "this most diverse of cities," he was quoted as saying "They noted that two of the blasts took place in largely Arab and/or Muslim communities, and called on all Londoners to "resist any voices inciting racial or religious hatred."

For more, see "Arab Media Condemn Attacks ..."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:24 PM | Comments (0)

July 07, 2005

An Un-Diplomatic Measure

In an article in Al-Ahram that was obviously written before al-Qaeda in Iraq announced that it had killed Ehab El-Sherif, head of Egypt's diplomatic mission to Iraq, correspondent Dina Ezzat wrote that the July 2, 2005 kidnapping of the senior Egyptian diplomat in Baghdad "sent shockwaves through Egypt's diplomatic corps and sounded alarm bells in many Arab capitals."

The article, headlined "Undiplomatic measures," is still relevant. El-Sherif had been in Iraq a month and a day before he was grabbed.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:34 PM | Comments (0)

"These Evil Deeds Make Victims Of Us All'

In responding to the July 7, 2005 bombings in London, the Muslim Council of Britain said in a statement that,

These evil deeds make victims of us all. The evil people who planned and carried out these series of explosions in London want to demoralize us as a nation and divide us as a people. All of us must unite in helping the police to capture these murderers.

Here's the entire statement and more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:18 PM | Comments (0)

Some Arab, Muslim Leaders Condemn London Bombings

"Deadly blasts that rocked London's underground trains and a bus have drawn shock and sympathy from several Arab capitals - some of them all too familiar with carnage on their own streets," Al-Jazeera.Net reported July 7, 2005.

See "Arab world condemns London blasts" for more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:09 PM | Comments (0)

Yemen Condemns London Attacks

The Yemen Observer reported July 7, 2005 that, "Yemen condemned the terrorist attacks on civilians in London today."

An official source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was quoted as saying: "Those criminal acts target lives and create sense of insecurity among innocent citizens. Such acts disclose the ugly face of terrorism which is rejected by all heavenly and human legislations."

See "Yemen strongly condemns London blasts" for more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:02 PM | Comments (0)

Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri

I wonder whether Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri was in court today, in London, when the bombs went off that killed many commuters and left hundreds wounded?

"Who is Abu Hamza al-Masri and why is he on trial?" you may ask

For an answer, see "Abu Hamza accused of inciting hate and murder." Also see "Trial for Radical Cleric Opens in U.K."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 04:31 PM | Comments (0)

A Reuters Report On World Leaders' Views On London Bombings

Reuters Alert Net has reaction from world leaders on the July 7, 2005 London attacks, which resulted in the loss of at least 40 lives. One report said the number is higher. See "World reaction to London attacks" for more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Deutsche Welle's Round-up Of Reactions To London Bombings

Deutsche Welle, in a round-up of opinion on the July 7, 2005 "explosions that rocked London," said the blast "also sent shock waves across Europe, with governments stepping up security and offering their condolences to the people of Britain."

See "Europe Reacts to London Bombings" for Deutsche Welle's "round-up of reactions."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

BBC: 'The Political Impact Of London Bombs'

This [July 7, 2005 attack in London] was the terrorist attack [British Prime Minister] Tony Blair has dreaded and the thought of which, he confessed, kept him awake at night," contends Nick Assinder, political correspondent for the BBC News website.

In an analysis headlined "The political impact of London bombs," Mr Assinder wrote:

Time and again, ministers and security chiefs have said an attack on the UK was inevitable - it was a case of when, not if.

And it came at a time when the eyes of the world were on the UK, as Mr Blair hosted the G8 meeting in Gleneagles.
To that extent, the terrorists succeeded in securing the greatest possible global impact.

Mr. Assinder also noted that, "But Tony Blair has also insisted that, when the inevitable attack came it must not succeed in demoralizing or dividing the country. That would be to hand the killers victory."

I recommend the entire analysis. Also see "Blair vows Terrorists Won't Win."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Muslim, Christian And Jewish Leaders Condemn London Attacks

Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders have condemned the July 7, 2005 attacks in London, according to Ruth Gledhill, The Times of London's Religion Correspondent. Press reports say at least 40 persons were killed and hundreds injured.

Some reports say the attackers claim the blasts were in retaliation for Britain's role in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, there will likely be more such attacks.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Comment On Reports Of The Death of Ihab al-Sherif

"Al-Qaida in Iraq says on a website that it killed [Ihab al-Sherif] Egypt's top envoy in Iraq, posting a video of the blindfolded diplomat identifying himself," Al-Jazeera.Net, like many publications around the world, reported July 7, 2005.

Al-Sherif, 51, arrived in Baghdad on June 1, 2005, according to July 4, 2005 Al-Jazeera report, and "had served as charge d'affairs in Syria and Israel before being transferred to Iraq." He "is the second Egyptian diplomat to have been captured in the country. The same report said:

Egypt has been training Iraqi security forces and civil servants under a US-backed international program and on Friday [July 1, 2005] about 140 Iraqi civil servants arrived in Cairo.

Al-Jazeera.Net's July 7 report, which is from Agence France Presse, said, "A written statement, the authenticity of which could not be confirmed, on Thursday read: "We announce in the al-Qaida in Iraq that the verdict of God against the ambassador of the infidels, the ambassador of Egypt, has been carried out. Thank God."

"The video does not show the envoy, Ihab al-Sherif, being killed," according to Al-Jazeera.

If the reports are true, Muslim and Arab governments would be unwise to risk their diplomats' lives to give international legitimacy to a government that wouldn't exist without U.S. military presence. Secondly, as long as the U.S. military is in Iraq, there will be an insurgency and danger to everyone that supports that presence. In addition, there will also continue to be what some of us in the west call "collateral damage." That's our nice way of saying civilians will be killed, and so what?

Finally, once Iraq's social fabric was disturbed by the U.S. invasion, and given the fact that such events attract Muslim warriors from all over the world, the logical outcome is what we see today: Chaos. This means that diplomats, who should be off limits, will be targets as they were in Iran in 1979 and in Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. Unfortunately, more diplomats will be seized and killed before the Iraq war ends years from now.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 02, 2005

Was CIA Kidap Victim Once An Informant For The Spy Agency?

Chicago Tribune correspondents John Crewdson and Tom Hundley notes in a July 2, 2005 Tribune exclusive that,

"Among the multiple mysteries swirling around the [CIA's] abduction of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr in Italy, one stands out as by far the most perplexing. Why would the U.S. government go to elaborate lengths to seize a 39-year-old Egyptian who, according to former Albanian intelligence officials, was once the CIA's most productive source of information within the tightly knit group of Islamic fundamentalists living in exile in Albania?

One possible answer: The "abduction was a bold attempt to turn him back into the informer he once was," according to Crewdson and Hundley, who have doggedly pursued the story. See "Abducted imam aided CIA ally" for more of their story.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 01, 2005

IRNA: Leaders Of Hostage-Takers Say Ahmadinejad Had No Role

"Abbas Abdi, Mohsen Mirdamadi, and Hamid Reza Jalaeipour, the leaders of "Students Following the Path of Imam" who took over the U.S. embassy in Iran in 1979, say "reports on President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's role in the siege are "not true," according to a July I 1, 2005 report by the Islamic Republic News Agency. See "Ahmadinejad had no role in US Embassy siege: Hostage-takers" for more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 26, 2005

Did CIA's Dirty Work Crews Conduct Kidnappings All Over Europe?

"Milan [Italy] prosecutors and police spent the last two years documenting Americans' role in the February 17, 2003 disappearance of Hussan Mustafa Omar Nasr, 42, an Egyptian cleric," notes The Washington Post in a June 26, 2005 article headlined "Italians Detail Lavish CIA Operation." The Post recalled that, " On Thursday [June 23, 2005], a Milan judge ruled that there was enough evidence to warrant the arrest of 13 suspected CIA operatives on kidnapping charges."

"The Americans' whereabouts are unknown, and Italian authorities acknowledged that the odds were slim that they would ever be taken into custody," the paper said. "The CIA has declined to comment."

Surely The Post did not expect the Bush Administration and the CIA to provide an opportunity for more speculation about the controversial "special rendition" program conducted by the CIA's " Special Removal Unit." The unit takes so-called terror suspects to countries like Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Syria and Uzbekistan, where they are reportedly tortured to obtain information beneficial to the U.S. See Jane Mayer's article in the February 14, 2005 issue of The New Yorker headlined "Outsourcing Torture: The secret history of Americas extraordinary rendition program" for more on this subject.

The New York Times also weighed in on the Milan judge's call for the arrest of the U.S. CIA agents cited in The Post story. Stephen Grey and Don Van Natta, Jr., in an article also published in the June 27, 2005 edition of the New York Times Company-owned International Herald Tribune, characterized it this way:

The extraordinary decision by an Italian judge to order the arrest of 13 people linked to the CIA on charges of kidnapping a terrorism suspect here [in Milan] dramatizes a growing rift between American counterterrorism officials and their counterparts in Europe.

European counterterrorism officials have pursued a policy of building criminal cases against terrorism suspects through surveillance, wiretaps, detective work and the criminal justice system. The United States, however, has frequently used other means since Sept. 11, 2001, including renditions - abducting terror suspects from foreign countries and transporting them for questioning to third countries, some of which are known to use torture.

They said, "The two approaches seem to have collided for an Egyptian cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, or Abu Omar, accused of leading a militant mosque in Milan."

"By early 2003," The Times reported, "the Italian secret police were aggressively pursuing a criminal terrorism case against Nasr, with the help of American intelligence officials. Italian investigators said they had told the Americans they had strong evidence that he was trying to build a terror recruitment network, possibly aimed for Iraq if the United States went forward with plans to topple Saddam Hussein. On Feb. 17, 2003, Nasr disappeared," the paper noted.

Chicago Tribune reporters John Crewdson, Tom Hundley and Liz Sly, in a June 25, 2005 article, also used the term extraordinary. They wrote:

The move was no less extraordinary for coming from a country whose prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is one of the few European leaders who support the U.S.-led intervention in Iraq and which has contributed 3,000 troops to that effort.Current and retired CIA officers, none of whom agreed to be quoted by name, said they could not remember one of their own having been charged abroad with a crime other than espionage, and certainly not in a country friendly to the U.S.

"Although the CIA refuses to talk about the Milan abduction or even acknowledge that it occurred, documents obtained by the Tribune clearly link the intelligence agency with the identities, addresses and cell phones used by several of the American operatives. The existence of the CIA's supersecret abduction squads has come to light since the events of Sept. 11, 2001, although the agency's practice of snatching suspected criminals abroad goes back at least to the Reagan administration.

On March 20, 2005, Crewdson and Hundley reported that, "Before he resigned last June, former CIA Director George Tenet testified that the CIA had orchestrated more than 70 renditions during his seven-year tenure. There reportedly have been another 30 or so since then."

This revelation is contained in their article about how a Gulfstream Jet, "which bore the tail number N85VM" and is "owned by one of the Boston Red Sox's partners," departed from Aviano Italy, "which is home to the U.S. Air Force's 31st Fighter Wing," around "the time of Omar's disappearance. " from Italy.

"... Federal Aviation Administration records obtained by the Chicago Tribune show that Gulfstream N85VM has been many places around the world that the Red Sox have almost certainly never gone," Crewdson and Hundley wrote. "Between June 2002 and January of this year, the Gulfstream made 51 visits to Guantanamo, Cuba, site of the U.S. naval base where more than 500 terrorism suspects are behind bars."

They said, "during the same period, the plane recorded 82 visits to Washington's Dulles International Airport as well as landings at Andrews Air Force Base outside the capital and the U.S. air bases at Ramstein and Rhein-Main in Germany."

"The plane's flight log also shows visits to Afghanistan, Morocco, Dubai, Jordan, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic." See "Jet's Travels Cloaked in Mystery" for more.

Meanwhile, Tracy Wilkinson of the Los Angeles Times, in an article headlined "CIA Said to Leave Trail in Abduction, "said "If Italian authorities are right, they have exposed a CIA operation here that on some levels was brazen and perhaps reckless, even as it successfully spirited away a notorious Egyptian imam."

Could it be that the warrants were issued because the CIA agents were so brazen?

Finally, Italy is not the only European nation upset with the U.S. for staging kidnappings on its soil. London Observer correspondent Barbara McMahon, writing from Rome, noted in an article in the June 26, 2005 issue of The Sunday Observer that, "Other nations have also begun to oppose [and expose] Washington's forcible removal of terror suspects.

"Canada is holding hearings into the deportation of a Canadian to Syria for questioning about alleged ties to al-Qaeda," the publication noted. "German prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation into the suspected kidnapping of a German man who was flown to Afghanistan."

"In Stockholm," Ms. McMahon added, "a parliamentary investigator has already concluded that CIA agents violated Swedish law by subjecting two Egyptian nationals to 'degrading and inhuman treatment' during a rendition in 2001. See "Italians hunt covert CIA snatch squad"

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 25, 2005

President Bush's Deadly Respect For Iraq

In his welcome address during Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's June 24, 2005 visit to the White House, U.S. president George W. Bush said he "told the Prime Minister that the American people share his democratic vision for Iraq. I told him of our nation's deep and abiding respect for Islam, for the people of Iraq, and for the potential of the nation that now belongs to them," he said.

Questions: If he has an abiding respect for the people of Iraq, why did he invade their country? Why is he occupying their nation? Why is he waging war against them?

I think a better show of respect would be to leave Iraq immediately and pay reparations for the damage that has been done. But as Mr. Bush said June 24, 2005, leaving is not likely to happen anytime soon. This is so despite the daily increasing U.S. casualty rate in a war that the U.S. will not win although it can win every battle.

See "President Welcomes Iraqi Prime Minister Jaafari to the White House" for Mr. Bush's entire welcome address and Mr.Jaafari's acceptance.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 24, 2005

Human Rights Watch, Liberty Send A Letter To Mr. Blair

On June 23, 2005, Human Rights Watch and Liberty sent a joint letter to British Prime Minister Tony Blair on his intent to seek diplomatic assurances against torture." The organization said they were

deeply concerned about the British governments stated intention to seek diplomatic assurances against torture in order to deport terrorism suspects to their home countries or to third countries where they would be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

"Human Rights Watch and Liberty consider returns on the basis of such assurances as incompatible with the international prohibition on the return of persons to countries where they face a risk of torture (nonrefoulement)," they wrote. "We urge you to reconsider this fatally flawed initiative and immediately to halt any negotiations with countries of return regarding securing such assurances."

Here is the letter to Mr. Blair.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

How Italy Tracked CIA Kidnappers

"Fundamental in the investigation" that led to the indictment in Italy of 13 U.S. Central Intelligence Agents (CIA )"for the abduction" of Imam Hassan Mustafa Osama "in the northern city of Milan and his transfer to Cairo "was the use by the CIA operatives of Italian cellphones," according to the Italian publication adn kronos international (AKI).

Arrests warrants have been issued for the agents.

AKI noted in a June 24, 2005 report that, "a total of 17 mobile phones were identified operating in the street where Imam Osama, also known as Abu Omar "was seized between 12.28 and 12.33 of 17 February 2003." According to the publication:

Some of these were found to have placed calls to the US consulate in Milan and to a number in Virginia (where the CIA headquarters are based, at Langley).One mobile phone was traced as being located in Cairo the next day, the others led investigators to the luxury hotel where the group stayed and, consequently, to the identities - or false identities - of the agents.

AKI said "serving the arrest warrants on the CIA agents "may prove near impossible and the prospect of extraditing CIA agents to Italy seems even more remote." Read more here.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

CIA's 'Extraordinary Rendition' Policy Back In The News

As the Italian publication adn kronos international (AKI) noted in its June 24, 2005 report on the indictment in Italy of 13 U.S. Central Intelligence Agents (CIA )"for the abduction" of Imam Hassan Mustafa Osama "in the northern city of Milan and his transfer to Cairo, the episode puts the spotlight again on the controversial 'extraordinary rendition' practice" the Bush Administration uses in its so-called "War on Terror.

The practice allows the U.S. to torture individuals by proxy in countries such as Egypt and Jordan. This allows the U.S. to deny that it engages in torture. According to AKI, "Human rights groups have strongly criticized the sending of terror suspects to third countries where they are tortured."

See "Italy: CIA Agents Indicted For Imam Abduction."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 22, 2005

Russia Favors G8 Dialogue With China

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko told Interfax on June 21, 2005 that Russia favors the expansion of a dialogue between the G8 and China. He said:

The enlargement of the G8 composition is not on the agenda now. At the same time, we stand for the further consistent expansion of the dialogue between the G8 and the countries whose growing economic might is making them more and more significant players on the world arena. China is definitely among these countries

Interfax also quotes Mr. Yakovenko as saying: "As for the level and pace of interaction between the G8 and other countries, it will depend, particularly, on the preparedness of these countries themselves to expand cooperation." Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Most G8 Foreign Ministers Meeting In London

G8 foreign ministers from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the United States are meeting in London June 23-24, 2005. Canada, a G8 member, did not send Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew to the summit "because of domestic political concerns," according to the Toronto Globe and Mail..

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

AI, Oxfam, IANSA: G8 Arms Exports Fuelling Poverty, Rights Abuse

Amnesty International (AI), Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms said June 22, 2005 that, "G8 member states are undermining their commitments to poverty reduction, stability and human rights with irresponsible arms exports to some of the world's poorest and most conflict-ridden countries."

G8 weapons have been exported to countries including Sudan, Myanmar (Burma), the Republic of Congo, Colombia and the Philippines," the organizations said.

See "G8 arms exports fuelling poverty and human rights abuses" for more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Irene Khan: Gitmo Is A Stain On America's Reputation

Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International (AI), has an editorial in the June 22, 2005 issue News Amnesty in which she addresses the Bush Administration's reaction to Amnesty's recent report on the Guantanamo Bay Prisoner of War Camp, where about 500 Muslims prisoners are held. AI created world-wide debate on the camp when it called it the "Gulag of our times." The Bush Administration condemned the characterization. Ms. Khan wrote:

Offensive. Irresponsible. Reprehensible. Unfortunate and sad. Absurd.

Were President Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld reacting to our concerns over torture, ill-treatment and murders in US detention centres? Were Condoleezza Rice and General Richard Myers assuring the American people that abuses being perpetrated in their name, including the use of dogs and sexual humiliation, would be stamped out and investigated?

Not quite. Instead these words were used by the Administration to attack AI's Report 2005 and divert attention from some hard truths.

Over the past three and a half years, Amnesty International has produced several detailed reports on US policies and practices on human rights in the context of the War on Terror. The most recent, containing 164 pages of evidence and analysis, was published just weeks before the launch of the 2005 AI Report. Another published in October 2004, ran to over 200 pages. The Bush Administration failed to respond to either of these reports. The detention camp in Guantánamo is a stain on Americas reputation. "But Guantánamo is just the visible tip of an iceberg of abuse," she added, "the most notorious link in a chain of detention camps ranging from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan to prisons in Iraq and elsewhere. Evidence of terrible abuse continues to seep out of this shadowy network."

See "USA: Close Guantánamo and disclose the rest" for the entire editorial.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Is Bush Struggling To Assert His Authority In Washington?

Alex Massie, The Scotsman's, Washington correspondent, told the paper's readers in a June 23, 2005 report that it's "six months into George Bush's second term and the talk in Washington is of what went wrong, not in Iraq but in the capital itself, where the U.S. President is struggling to assert his authority and make progress towards implementing his agenda."

"The most recent New York Times/CBS opinion poll reported that his approval rating had slumped to just 42 per cent," he wrote. " Although most second terms prove problematic, Bill Clinton's approval ratings never dipped that low and it took the Iran-Contra scandal to bring Ronald Reagan's approval to rating below 50 per cent."

See "Bush's plans stall as bold agenda is shunned by Congress" for more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Some Republicans Want Bush To Turn Over Bolton Documents

James Kuhnhenn of Knight Ridder Newspapers reported June 22, 2005 that, "A growing number of Senate Republicans say John Bolton won't be confirmed as United Nations ambassador unless the White House turns over documents that Democrats say they need to assess Bolton's fitness for the post".

Knight Ridder said, "Though the White House continued Wednesday [June 22, 2005] to demand an up-or-down vote on Bolton, these Republican senators say the Senate is in a standoff that only President Bush can resolve.

"I hope the president will take a very hard look at the documents," Senator Lamar Alexander, (R-Tenn), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview with Knight Ridder. "Unless we resolve this dilemma quickly, Mr. Bolton is not going to be the U.N. ambassador. ... The president should understand that we're at an impasse. It may be more important to preserve the doctrine of separation of powers than to have John Bolton in the U.N." I wonder how many other republications hold this view.

See "Republicans press Bush to turn over Bolton documents."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

U.S. Senator Durbin Forced To Say He's Sorry Over Gitmo Statement

"Teary Durbin: I'm sorry" is an thought-provoking article by Chicago Sun-Times Washington correspondent Lynn Sweet. She recounts how Senator Richard "Dick" Durbin (D-IL) has been forced to apologize "for comparing the U.S. treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo to Nazis, Soviets and Pol Pot."

What's thought-provoking about the Sweet article is that it shows that even the number two ranking Democrat can be forced by powerful media and political forces in the U.S. to follow a conservative, Republican party line on some issue.

See "Statement of Senator Dick Durbin" for what he acutally said.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 19, 2005

Times of London Publishes Another British Foreign Office Leak

Rupert Murdoch's Times of London continues its important exposes of U.S. and British plans for provoking a war with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. When that didn't work, The Times' reporting indicates, the Bush Administration did not hesitate to manufacture reasons to invade and occupy Iraq.

The Times latest expose, published June 19, 2005, says "a sharp increase in British and American bombing raids on Iraq in the run-up to war to put pressure on the regime was illegal under international law, according to leaked Foreign Office legal advice."

The publication said "the advice was first provided to senior ministers in March 2002. Two months later RAF and USAF jets began spikes of activity designed to goad Saddam Hussein into retaliating and giving the allies a pretext for war. The Foreign Office advice shows military action to pressurize the regime was not consistent with UN law, despite American claims that it was," the publication said. See "British bombing raids were illegal, says Foreign Office." Also see "Foreign and Commonwealth Office legal advice."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 18, 2005

Kurtz: MSM Taking Second Look At Downing Street Memo

Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz says for "For many liberals frustrated with the media's coverage of President Bush, it has become a rallying cry: What about the Downing Street Memo?"

"Their anger, amplified by left-wing advocacy groups, columnists, bloggers and some Democrats in Congress, gradually has forced the mainstream media to take a second look at the July 2002 document," he wrote in a recent column. " In recounting a meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his aides, the memo said intelligence on Iraq "was being fixed" by the Bush administration and that war was inevitable."

Mr. Kurtz said, "Since the existence of the memo, written by a British foreign-policy adviser, was reported May 1 by London's Sunday Times, U.S. journalists have offered various explanations for why they were slow to respond." Read the excuses of those interviewed by Mr. Kurtz.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Heard in Washington: Calls To Impeach Bush Over Iraq

"The emotive and charged word "impeachment" was voiced yesterday [June 16, 2005] on Capitol Hill as a clutch of Democratic congressmen, backed by distraught mothers of soldiers slain in Iraq, put together a piece of theatre that could become the summer's political drama," reports Paul Koring at Globe and Mail.Com. See "Launch Drive To Impeach Bush, Activist Urge" for more .

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June 15, 2005

Erdogan: Turkey Will Only Accept Full Membership in EU

"It is impossible for Turkey to accept any other formulas, regardless of what it is referred to, other than a full membership to the EU," according to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was quoted in the June 15, 2005 issue of Zaman Online. See "Turkey's Accession is not Part of a Win-Lose Game" for more.

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Is Turkey's EU Dream Fading?

The Foreign News Desk of Zaman Online reported June 15, 2005 that, "messages coming from members of the European Union (EU), which has undergone a critical process following the European Constitution rejection in France and The Netherlands, paved the way for interpretations suggesting that Turkey's dreams [of becoming a member of the EU] are fading and doubts about them in the West are increasing." See "Turkey's EU Dream Fades; Doubts Mounting" for more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 14, 2005

Is Larry Franklin A Heroe To Arnaud de Borchgrave?

Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor at large of The Washington Times and of United Press International, sounds like a public relations agent for indicted Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Israel in a June 12, 2005 article headlined "Leaving well enough alone." He said, in part:

The FBI unfortunately threw caution to the wind when it ignored this column's friendly advice last September and decided to try touching the third rail [of U.S. geopolitics, which is Israel, according to Mr. de Borchgrave]. What a mess that made. A Pentagon official, Larry Franklin, who had worked at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and fell in love with Israel, was seen sharing national security documents with his pals at AIPAC over lunch at the Tivoli restaurant in Arlington. FBI surveillance tapes show Mr. Franklin relaying top-secret information to Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman. But this was the kind of routine exchange that had gone on for a half-century. It was hardly another Jonathan Pollard case, the Israeli spy who carted off secret documents by the wheelbarrow-full, and is now serving a life sentence.

As David Johnston notes in the June 15, 2005 issue of The New York Times, "A federal grand jury has indicted" Mr. Franklin, "charging him with disclosing classified information to an Israeli official, including intelligence about a weapons test related to Iran's nuclear program, according to an indictment unsealed" in Washington, D.C., the U.S. capital. The Times noted that Mr. Franklin "had already been charged in a complaint accusing him of passing classified information to two employees of a pro-Israel lobbying group (AIPAC). Along with the new charge about turning over information to Israel, the six-count indictment offered a fuller account and new details of the investigation," according to The Times.

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Cheney Argues For Keeping Gitmo POW Camp Open

In June 13, 2005, dispatch from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, John D. Banusiewicz of American Forces Press Service quotes U.S. Vice-President Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney as saying, in part:

We absolutely have to have a facility like this [at Guantanamo Bay Cuba] as long as we're engaged in the global war on terror. And the important thing is that we not release these people back on to the street so they can go out and kill more Americans. I think there has been a certain lack of perspective ... on the part of some public officials as well as a number of folks in the press, frankly, who spend all their time thinking somehow that's representative, or that what we're doing at Abu Ghraib or, in this case, Guantanamo, is somehow unlawful or illicit, or not consistent with American practices and principles.

Let me get this straight, Mr. Cheney: Are you saying torture and desecration of religious books is consistent with American practices and principles? See "Good Things U.S. Troops Do Far Outweigh Detainees' Allegations" for more on Mr. Cheney's speech at MacDill.

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June 12, 2005

African Debt Relief Campaign Didn't Start With Tony Blair

Mark Engler, an analyst with Foreign Policy In Focus, has an excellent article in the May 2005 issue headlined "Debt Cancellation: Historic Victories, New Challenges." The article is highly significant in the wake of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's belated but important call for debt relief for African nations. I highly recommend Mr. Engler's article.

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The Downing Street Memo And The U.S. Postwar Plan In Iraq

Veteran Washington Post journalist Walter Pincus reported in the papers June 12, 2005 edition that,

A briefing paper prepared for British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top advisers eight months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq concluded the U.S. military was not preparing adequately for what the British memo predicted would be a "protracted and costly" postwar occupation of that country.

The eight-page memo, written in advance of a July 23, 2002, Downing Street meeting on Iraq, provides new insights into how senior British officials saw a Bush administration decision to go to war as inevitable. The memo also showed how the British officials realized more clearly than their U.S. counterparts the potential for the post-invasion instability that continues to plague Iraq. Mr. Pincus said, "In its introduction, the memo, "Iraq: Conditions for Military Action," notes that U.S. "military planning for action against Iraq is proceeding apace" but adds that "little thought" has been given to, among other things, "the aftermath and how to shape it." See "British prewar memo hit U.S. postwar plan" for more. Here's a list of some of Mr. Pincus' other articles.

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Outside The Beltway: 'Downing Street Memo Hits The Press'

James Joyner at the always interesting, at least to me, Outside The Beltway, opined in a June 12, 2005 post that, "the mainstream press is suddenly all over the so-called Downing Street Memo, which purports to show that the Bush Administration was hell bent on war with Iraq and willing to invent any excuse to achieve that end. I shan't do the usual blogospheric "We've been talking about this on the blogs for days!" bit," he said, "since I have reacted to the story with a yawn as well."

I wonder how many will yawn if, and when, the alternative Pentagon version of events leading up to the invasion is leaked. Just as there are sometimes two sets of books in a financial instituion, there is often two versions of policy issues.

See "Downing Street Memo Hits the Press" for more of Mr. Joyner's analysis.

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A Timid Media And The Downing Street memo

ANG Newspapers reporter Brenda Payton, in a June 12, 2005 column published in The Argus of Freemont, California, noted that Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) recently said of the U.S. news media:

It's shocking when you see how easily they fold in the media today. They don't stand their ground. If they're criticized by the White House, they just fall apart. I mean c'mon, toughen up, guys, it's only our Constitution and country at stake.

"Her remarks illicited sustained applause" from supporters Ms. Payton wrote in her column headlined "Timid media overlook Downing Street Memo," adding:

I have to agree with Clinton. From the coverage of the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanomo to the American and Iraqi casualties in the war in Iraq, the media has been for the most part timid, seemingly afraid to ask tough questions and hold the White House accountable. The timidity dates back before Iraq was invaded. The media too easily accepted the Bush administration's assertions that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Reporters embedded with military units during the invasion had just one perspective of the events. Further, they were compromised by their relationships with soldiers.

Ms. Payton said, "from them, we got a good idea of what it was like to march into Iraq; they couldn't provide a view of what it was like to be an Iraqi civilian enduring the bombing and fighting." Here's more.

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The Times Publishes Another Document on Blair's Iraq War Plans

On June 12, 2005 The Sunday Times of London published a transcript of a document "produced by the Cabinet Office [of British Prime Minister Tony Blair] on July 21, 2002" that lends context to the so-called "Downing Street Memo" and the British Government's decision to help the Bush Administration invade and occupy Iraq.

The Times published "a transcript rather than the original document in order to protect the source." I wonder how long before a Pentagon leaker steps forth and provides documents that will shed more light on the Bush Administration's decision to invade and occupy Iraq.

See "Cabinet Office paper: Conditions for military action" for more. Also see the Downing Street Memo Blog.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 03:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 10, 2005

LA Times: Terror Allegations Vanish In Affidavit

Why was the Justice Department version of the affidavit used to charge Umer Hayat, 47, and his son, 22-year-old Hamid Hayat, "significantly different" from the version used to arrest the Lodi, California men for lying about Hamid's al-Qaeda's connection?

Rone Tempest, Greg Krikorian and Lee Romney, staff writers for the Los Angeles Times, tried to provide answers in a June 10, 2005 report. The Times reported:

Attorneys for a father and son arrested in Lodi in connection with a broad FBI terrorism probe plan to challenge the government case in court today over significantly differing versions of the affidavit used to charge the two men.

The first version of the affidavit released to media organizations by the Justice Department in Washington said potential terrorist targets included hospitals and groceries, and contained names of key individuals and statements about the international origins of "hundreds" of participants in alleged al-Qaida terrorist training camps in Pakistan.

These details among the most alarming in the case were widely reported in the news media, but then deleted in the final version filed with the federal court in Sacramento on Wednesday [June 8, 2005]. Federal prosecutors blamed the problem on confusion inside the bureaucracy as different versions circulated between federal offices.

Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra called this "An unfortunate oversight due to miscommunication," according to The Times. The publication said "Sacramento FBI spokesman John Cauthen said the deletions in the document were made because the original details were "not relevant or not accurate in context" for the purpose of proving a probable cause to arrest Hamid Hayat and his father." See "Terror allegations vanish in affidavit" for more.

Question can the damage be undone? I doubt it since FBI Special Agent Pedro Tenoch Aguilar's widely reported affidavit reportedly says that Hamid claimed that "potential targets for attack would include hospitals and large food stores". People don't generally remember corrections of news stories.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 09, 2005

Bush, Blair And The World Tribunal on Iraq

"On May 17 [2005] a legal summons was delivered to U.S. and UK embassies in capitals around the world-including Istanbul, Tokyo, Lisbon, and Brussels-on behalf of the World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI)," Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith noted in an article in the June 9, 2005 edition of Belleciao. "The summons requested the attendance of President [George W. Bush and [British] Prime Minister [Tony] Blair to defend charges that they are in violation of common values of humanity, international treaties, and international law for waging war in Iraq."

According to WTI,

On June 23rd to the 27th 2005, at the start of the third year of the occupation of Iraq, the culminating session will take place in Istanbul. This session will reach a decision following an examination of the results of the previous sessions as well as new reports and testimonies, while evaluating the implications of the aggression against Iraq for the world at large.

I doubt Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair will take the summons seriously. Why should they? They have nothing to fear from a body without coercive power. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Downing Street Memo And The U.S. News Media

"A simmering controversy over whether American media have ignored a secret British memo about how President Bush built his case for war with Iraq bubbled over into the White House on Tuesday [June 7, 2005], USA TODAY reported on that date in its first mention of the Downing Street Memo. The Times of London first reported the memo on May 1, 2005. The USA TODAY article was updated on June 8, 2005.

USA TODAY reporter Mark Memmott said "It was the most attention paid by the media in the USA so far to the "Downing Street memo," which "is said by some of the president's sharpest critics, such as Democratic Representative John Conyers of Michigan, to be strong evidence that Bush decided to go to war [in Iraq] and then looked for evidence to support his decision."

Mr. Memmott said, "the subject came up, "at a late afternoon news conference," when "Reuters correspondent Steve Holland asked Mr. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair about a memo that's been widely written about and discussed in Europe but less so in the USA."

The Diplomatic Times Review has a link to the Downing Street Memo blog in the navigation bar under the nameplate. See 'Downing Street memo' gets fresh attention" for more of the USA TODAY article. Also see Representative Conyers' "Letter to President Bush Concerning the "Downing Street Minutes."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 08, 2005

Latin America, The U.S. And Venezuela

Jonah Gindin at Venezuelanalysis.com has good coverage on the 35th General Assembly of the Organization of American States held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "Venezuela Dominates Preliminary Discussion at 35th General Assembly of the Organization of American States" is very insightful. Also see "Latin America Defies US Over Venezuela at OAS."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 03:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

U.S. Under Pressure to Close 'Camp Stronghold Freedom'

"The United States has come under fresh international pressure to close its military base in Uzbekistan and drop the country's President [Islam Karimov] as a strategic ally after Human Rights Watch released a damning report into the recent Andijan massacre," according to Adam Osborn, The Independent of London's Moscow corespondent. Here's more. Also see "'Bullets Were Falling Like Rain." The Andijan Massacre, May 13, 2005."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 12:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 04, 2005

Africa Needs Trade, Not Aid, To Make Progress

Simon Jenkins of The Times of London notes in a cynical but thought-provoking article in the June 5, 2005 issue of the Sunday Times that the Group of Eight (G-8) "gatherings are 30 years old this year. They were founded by the French president, Valéry Giscard dEstaing, in 1975 as library chats between the heads of rich first-world governments," he added. He also said:

"There would be no aides present and agendas would be ad hoc. By keeping meetings small and informal the exalted could commune above the level of petty bureaucratic concerns. Like Giscard's doomed exercise in European constitution-building, things soon got out of hand. The group of five became eight. Canada was included but China, India and anyone black or brown were out.

Mr. Jenkins said, "The best thing Gleneagles could do is announce not another fancy aid package but a revival of Britain's old imperial preference. This means more than debating the EUs partnership agreements, promising to buy specific goods from specific poor countries and not dump on them in return. It means actually implementing such agreements. Yet I see from the spin that Britain is downplaying trade in favour of yet more aid and debt relief. The reason, I fear. is simple. Pledging taxpayers money costs politicians nothing."

Mr. Jenkin's commentary is definitely worth reading and reflecting on. See "Aid sounds mighty nice, but its trade that feeds Africa" for more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Gordon Brown Wants OPEC To Donate Cash For Africa

Gordon Brown, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, "has written to the leaders of the big oil producing countries asking them to donate some of their oil wealth to boost aid to Africa," according to David Smith in the June 5, 2005 issue of the Sunday Times of London.

"The chancellor, who hopes to have a substantial African aid initiative in place by the time of the G8 summit in Gleneagles next month, has written to leading members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) asking them to contribute," Mr. Smith added. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 03, 2005

Marwan Hamadeh Announces 'Unto Death' Effort to Depose Lahoud

Lebanese Lobby reports in a June 3, 2005 article that, "A national schism has developed in the aftermath of writer Samir Kassir's [June 1, 2005] assassination as the pan-Lebanon opposition front sacked General [Michel] Aoun from its ranks and vowed 'unto death' campaign to overthrow President [Emile] Lahoud, while the General rushed to Lahoud's defense, holding the opposition indirectly responsible for Kassir's death.

"Yes, definitely we have expelled General Aoun and his Free Patriotic Movement," Former Economy minster and Druze member of parliament Marwan Hamadeh said over slain ex-Premier [Rafik] Hariri's Future TV network, according to Lebanese Lobby The publication said this comes "hard on the heels of an opposition declaration that formally proclaimed the General a renegade, citing his electoral coalition pacts with "the lingering symbols of Syria's tutelage over Lebanon." .

The publication also quotes Mr. Hamadeh as saying:"The situation must henceforth be crystal clear. Ambiguities are no longer permissible." It noted that Mr."Hamadeh, who miraculously survived a car-bomb assassination attempt near his Beirut house October 1, 2004," also said, "The General has to either quit his election pacts with the lingering symbols of Syria's trusteeship or face a head-on confrontation with the united opposition front."

Mr. Aoun, a Maronite Christian, returned to Lebanon on May 7, 2005 after 15 years of exile in France. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 02, 2005

Some Lebanese Blame Syria For Kassir's Assassination

Jessy Chahine reports in a June 3, 2005 article in The Daily Star of Lebanon that, "Emotions ran high at the scene of the Samir Kassir's assassination as angry crowds accused Lebanon's pro-Syrian regime of murdering opposition journalist Samir Kassir.

"Assassins! Agents of Syrian corruption! Who will be the next victim?" they yelled, venting frustration at the attack against the renowned anti-Syrian journalist and founding member of the Democratic Left movement," The Star reported, adding: "Kassir, 45, was a main force behind the popular uprising triggered by Rafik Hariri's killing" on February 14, 2005. See "Lebanese enraged by Kassir murder point fingers at Syria."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Who Killed Samir Kassir?

As Nicholas Blanford, a Times of London correspondent in Beirut, noted in a June 3, 2005 dispatch that, "Opposition figures" in Lebanon "were swift to blame Syria and its allies in Lebanon" for the June 2, 2005 assassination of prominent Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir.

"Bashar al-Assad and Emile Lahoud are behind it," The Times quotes Marwan Hamade, "an opposition leader who survived an attempt on his life in October, [2004]" as saying. He was "referring to the Syrian and Lebanese Presidents," Mr. Blanford noted.

Mr. Hamade said "Samir Kassir was a defender of democracy in the Arab world and a courageous journalist who confronted dictatorships, especially the joint dictatorship established by Lebanon and Syria." See "Bomb kills crusading journalist."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Washington Post Has a Deep Throat Blog

The Washington Post has started a blog on Deep Throat, Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's major source for its Watergate investigation that forced former President Richard M. Nixon to resign on August 9, 1974. Vanity Fair revealed this week that Former FBI agent Mark Felt was Deep Throat. The post had vowed not to reveal his name until he was dead or released Woodward and Bernstein from their oath to ensure his confidentiality as a source.

The blog seems pretty good. You can even leave comments. Here's the link.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Defending John Bolton

Nico at Think Progress, in a post headlined "Another Rousing Defense of John Bolton," excerpts an observation "From the June 6 The Week section of The National Review, slamming Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH)." The National Review is quoted as saying:

In refusing to vote for Bolton at the committees meeting May 12, [Voinovich] endorsed the absurd idea that Bolton was a kiss up, kick down kind of guy at the State Department, when Bolton repeatedly clashed with his superior Colin Powell

"Lets get this straight," Think Progress said. "The National Review is refuting the charge that Bolton is a kiss up, kick down guy not by challenging the claims of Bolton's detractors, but by claiming that, in the case of Colin Powell, Bolton tried to obstruct and undermine him instead of kissing up to him. And this is a good thing?" Good question.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 01, 2005

Haim Yavin: 'Since 1967, We've Been Brutal Conquerors...'

The Guardian's Chris McGreal reports from Jerusalem that, "The revered anchor of Israel's Channel One news program for more than three decades has caused controversy by making a personalized documentary in which he concludes that Jewish settlements are endangering the country and that the occupation of Palestinian land is a crime."

"Since 1967, we have been brutal conquerors, occupiers, suppressing another people," Haim Yavin, "who was a founder of Channel One and once its chief editor, says in the program," according to Mr. McGreal.

On May 31, 2005, "the Yesha Council of Settlements" demanded that Mr. Yavin be fired, according to Haaretz. Here's more of the Guardian article.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 31, 2005

Did CIA Buy Some Gitmo Detainees From Bounty Hunters?

Helena Cobban, the proprietor of Just World News, asks in a May 31, 2005 post: "How many of the roughly 530 detainees in the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo were actually sold into bondage by bounty-hunters eager to make a fortune from U.S. rewards programs?"

"Quite possibly, a large proportion of them," she said, noting that, "AP reporter Michelle Faul has a very shocking piece on the wire today that makes this claim." See Guantanamo detainees sold into bondage?

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 30, 2005

European Council Scheduled to Meet June 16, 2005

The European Council is scheduled to meet in Brussels on June 16, 2005 to discuss consequences of the French and Dutch referendums on the EU Constitution. The French rejected it on May 29, 2005. The Dutch are scheduled to vote June 2, 2005.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

U.S. Reporting on France's No on the EU Constitution

The Andalou News Agency of Turkey's told its clients May 30, 2005 that, "the U.S. press interpreted the French voters voicing a "no" for the European Union (EU) Constitution at the referendum held yesterday (May 29) as thumbing their noses at the country's governing elite." Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 29, 2005

Meyers: al-Zarqawi's Death Won't End al-Qaida in Iraq

General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on "Fox News Sunday" May 29, 2005:

I think what people need to know though, as the leader, as the al-Qaeda's leader and the foreign fighter leader, the jihad leader in Iraq, that he's [Abu Musab al-Zarqawi] an important target, but even getting him, the movement will continue. Al-Qaeda has a way of continuing to put people in those leadership positions. Having said that, we're putting 24-hour-a-day seven-days-a-week pressure on Zarqawi, his organization.

General Myers' candor should be welcomed. However, I wonder how long before someone calls for his resignation for being so candid. Here's more. Here's a Transcript of General Myers on Fox News Sunday.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 26, 2005

Uzbekistan's Karimov Signs Oil Exploration Deal With China

Kommersant reported May 26, 2005 that, "Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov sealed in Beijing yesterday a long-term cooperation agreement for exploration and subsequent production of Uzbek crude. But in China, they are not willing to confine to the power industry, viewing Tashkent as the crucial component to ensure stability of its western frontier. Exactly this stance determines today's attitude of China to Uzbekistan and to all events happening there." Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 25, 2005

Dakota Voice: 94 Defense and Foreign Policy Experts Back Bolton

The Dakota Voice, which covers "the issues, people and politics of South Dakota," reported May 25, 2005 that,

The Senate is expected to vote soon on President Bush's nomination of John Bolton to become the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. In anticipation of this historic vote, the Center for Security Policy has released an updated version of a letter in support of Mr. Bolton it had circulated earlier this month to the Foreign Relations Committee, and which has now been signed by ninety-four of America's most accomplished defense and foreign policy practitioners."

Read the Voice report here.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 05:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

French, Dutch Citizens Send Strong Signals on EU Referendum

"The fact that the imminent referendum on the European Constitution has split French society shows that a lack of legitimacy is plaguing European institutions," according to the Greek newspaper eKathimerini.Com. "The crisis is hardly exclusive to France. According to opinion polls, the Dutch, who will cast ballots three days after the French, have grave misgivings about the EU text, too," the publication said.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim Thinks Iraq Won't Have a Civil War

Bassem Mroue of the Associated Press (AP) reported May 24, 2005 that Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, "who heads both the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and the governing United Iraqi Alliance," does not see a civil war in Iraq's future.

"The awareness of the Iraqi people and the links between them will prevent such a war, God willing," he said "in his heavily guarded Baghdad home overlooking the Tigris River," according to the AP. Here's more. Also see "Iraq Civil War Fears as Violence Intensifies."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 05:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 2005 a Deadly Month For U.S. Troops in Iraq

"So far, insurgents [in Iraq] have killed 54 U.S. troops in May [2005], including four yesterday [May 24, 2005] and 14 in the past three days," according to Tom Lasseter, Knight Ridder Newspapers' Baghdad correspondent. The Iraqi death toll probably far exceeds that. There will be more deaths for both U.S. troops and Iraqis before the month ends. Here's his report.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 05:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Why 'Friction is Inevitable' Between Japan and China

China Daily, citing news agency reports, said Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told a Tokyo busines forum on May 25, 2005 that "friction is inevitable" between Japan and China "as both enlarge their influence regionally and internationally." He added:

"A collision is not inevitable, because both governments see the benefits of cooperation and neither wants a conflict. "But both sides need to moderate nationalist sentiments, manage territorial and other disputes which arise and find wise ways to gradually defuse the issue and work toward reconciliation.

Mr. Lee, who spoke at "a forum in Tokyo hosted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily, said the problem is that,"The two countries have not reconciled and come to terms with the history of the Second World War the way Germany and France have done in Europe." Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 05:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

If Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Dies, the Insurgency in Iraq Won't End

The Times of London's Richard Beeston noted in a dispatch from Baghdad that U.S. occupation forces in Iraq, "who have teams of special forces troops hunting the fugitive Jordanian" Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, treated the May 24, 2005 announcement that he was seriously wounded "with caution. Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Boylan, the US military spokesman in Baghdad, said that the announcement could be ploy," according to Mr. Beeston. "He is still our No 1 target to be captured or killed and, until that happens, the hunt is on."

Mr. Beeston noted that, "All sides in the conflict accept that the insurgency is driven by disaffected members of the Sunni community, including former officials of the ousted Baathist regime, as well as Islamic militants."

While Zarqawi is real, the question is: Does he head the resistance in Iraq? Wikipedia notes in its biography of him that,

In one report, the conservative newspaper Daily Telegraph (of London) described as myth the claim that Zarqawi was the head of the terrorist network in Iraq. According to a U.S. military intelligence source, the Zarqawi myth resulted from faulty intelligence obtained by the payment of substantial sums of money to unreliable and dishonest sources. The faulty intelligence was accepted, however, because it suited US government political goals, according to an unnamed intelligence officer.[See "How US fuelled myth of Zarqawi the mastermind"] The Zarqawi myth has also been purported to be the product of U.S. war propaganda designed to promote the image of a demonic enemy figure to help justify continued U.S. military operations in Iraq[7].

Keep in mind that resistance to U.S. occupation won't stop if Zarqawi dies or is already dead. It will continue as long as those forces and their allies are in Iraq. In fact, some U.S. military officials expect it to last for years. Others say the resistance is being defeated. Also keep in mind that Zarqawi was part of what the Bush Administration likes to call foreign Muslims fighting in Iraq although it does not refer to itself as foreign Christians fighting in Iraq. The point is that the major resistance seems to be carried out by Iraqis.

Finally, it is often noted that only a small number of Iraqis are resisting the U.S. occupation. That doesn't mean much since historically guerilla war is carried out by a small segment of a population.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 03:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 24, 2005

Karzai Performs His Role Well

Ron Hutcheson of Knight Ridder Newspapers observed in a May 24, 2005 report that, "Afghan President Hamid Karzai defended America to the Muslim world yesterday [May 23, 2005], saying reports of prisoner abuse in U.S. detention facilities don't represent the real America."

"Newsweek's story is not America's story," the Afghan leader said, referring to the magazine's retracted account of Qur'an desecration at a detention camp for suspected terrorists," Mr. Hutcheson reported "There is this freedom in America for religion, and there are Muslims, on a daily basis, praying in mosques in America. And there are Qur'ans, holy Qur'ans, all over America."

Sure there are. In fact there are probably hundreds of thousands. I have at least five myself. However, that doesn't mean that interrogators didn't desecrate it in an attempt to humiliate Muslims at Camp X-Ray at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Facility. Interrogators will use whatever they can to rattle detainees. But what do you expect Mr. Karzai to say? He is the Bush Administration's caretaker in Kabul, the Afghan capital. In fact, I expect him to say anything the administration wants him to say.

By the way, I agree that the things described by Newsweek, and what what The New York Times described in a May 20, 2005 report as taking place at Bagram detention facility in Afghanistan doesn't represent the real America. It represents the America that most of us don't see and don't want to see.Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Newsday: Afghanistan Left in the Lurch by U.S.

Newsday contends in a May 24, 2005 editorial that, "The United States is paying the price for its sins of omission in Afghanistan. Freed from the Taliban's religious shackles, the nation was never afforded the attention, aid and expertise to turn it into a well-functioning state as the Bush administration shifted its focus to the Iraq war. Despite billions of dollars in economic aid and military help, Afghanistan teeters on the edge of dysfunction today.," the paper said. Expect even more trouble if the U.S. builds permanent bases in Afghanistan. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 23, 2005

Karzai: 'No Afghan is a Puppet'

The Times of India told its readers on May 23, 2005 that, in an interview with Fox News, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said:

"No Afghan is a puppet, you know. There is a stronger ownership of the Afghan government and the Afghan people now.

If he is not a puppet, why does he need U.S. permission to do anything significant? Why does he need U.S. troops and mercenaries to protect him? Why was he handpicked to lead Afghanistan? Just asking. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Mr. Karzai's Attempt to Save Face

"George Bush served notice that U.S. forces in Afghanistan would remain under American control, despite renewed allegations of prisoner abuse by U.S. troops," reports Rupert Cornwell, The Independent of London's Washington correspondent.

According to Reuters, Mr. Bush said:

We will consult with them [the Afghans] in terms of how to achieve mutual goals and that is to rout out the remnants of al Qaeda and to deal with those folks who would come and would like to create harm to U.S. citizens and Afghan citizens.

On the question of repatriating Afghan prisoners detained at Camp X-Ray, which is located at the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Mr. Cromwell said "President Bush also made clear that Washington would not be pressured into an early repatriation of all Afghan detainees. "

Afghan President Hamid Karzai had publicly stated that he wanted U.S. occupation troops in Afghanistan put under his control. He also called for Afghan prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay to be repatriated to Afghanistan.

Before even broaching the subjects, he had have know that his desires would not be met. However, I can understand his need to save face after Afghans held anti-U.S. demonstrations last week following a Newsweek report that some interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had flushed the Qur'an down a toilet and desecrated the holy book of Muslims. He can't protect himself. So how is he going to tell U.S. troops what to do. Occupiers do what they want, not what their satraps demand of them. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

White House Transcript of Bush and Karzai's May 23 Press Conference

Here is a White House transcript of remarks made by President George W. Bush and and Afghan President Hamid Karzai during a joint press conference in The East Room of the White House following their May 23, 2005 meeting in Washington.]

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Secretary of State Rice's Speech to the AIPAC Policy Conference

Here is the U.S. Department of State's transcript of a speech that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice delivered May 23, 2005, at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's Annual Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Clouds Over AIPAC

Dr. James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute in Washington, DC states in a May 23, 2005 article in Media Monitors Network, that, "Despite recent controversy, the thousands of pro-Israel activists gathering at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) annual policy conference will find official Washington appearing to be as receptive as ever to the organization and its cause. But there are clouds over AIPAC and a persistent debate within the Jewish community that must be noted, as well." Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Why Calls for AIPAC to Register as a Foreign Agent May Escalate

Buried in Haaretz correspondent Nathan Guttman's May 24, 200 article on the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) annual policy conference underway in Washington is this candid observation:

AIPAC is making a special effort to communicate its complete loyalty to the U.S., something that was taken for granted in the past. The Franklin affair has rekindled the question of the lobby's loyalty and its definition as an American organization. Some marginal groups which have been working for years against AIPAC have taken advantage of the Franklin investigation to call for AIPAC to register as a "foreign agent" - a special status reserved for lobbying organizations that work for a foreign country.AIPAC rejected this completely, saying it was an all-American organization, completely loyal and committed to the American notion of voluntary action to achieve common goals.

Mr. Guttman said, "The Franklin-AIPAC investigation is far from over, but it is already clear that if the organizations' former employees are indicted and the court decides that they did indeed transfer information to Israeli representatives, the demands to have AIPAC registered as a foreign agent will intensify." Here's more of "AIPAC flies the flag for American values."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 22, 2005

Huntington: Turkey in 'Best Position' to Lead Islamic World

Zaman Daily Online reported May 22, 2005 that, acclaimed political scientist Professor Samuel Huntington, "well known by his "Clash of civilizations" thesis," said that Turkey is in the "best position" to lead the Islamic world." There would be problems with some of the Ummah as long as Turkey was perceived as kowtowing to the U.S. and constantly begging to be accepted as European.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Huntington to Speak on 'Contemporary Dynamics of the World Politics'

Professor Samuel Huntington of Harvard University, whose Clash of Civilization theories in international relations have been the source of academic and political controversy for years, "will give a conference titled "Contemporary Dynamics of the World Politics" on May 24th [2005] in Istanbul, Turkey," according to Zaman Daily Online. Read more here.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Has Israeli Foreign Minister Shalom Fired Ambassador Ayalon?

Israel Insider reported May 22, 2005 that, "After a week of keeping quiet," Israeli Foreign Minister "Silvan Shalom told his side of the story on [Israel's] Channel 2's TV program "Meet the Press" regarding the controversy surrounding Danny Ayalon, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States.

Israel Insider said, "The foreign minister said that he would not extend Ambassador Ayalon's term in Washington."

"With all due respect, three years is more than enough," Mr. Shalom was quoted as saying. "The prime minister has the right to change the head of the Shin Bet; the defense minister can replace the IDF chief of staff, and the foreign minister has similar rights," M. Shalom said. Israel Insider said the firing is taking place "despite the fact that Ayalon was appointed by Prime Minister [Ariel] Sharon, who would like to see Ayalon fulfill another term."

Associated Press Jerusalem Correspondent Ramit Plushnick-Masti reported May 22, 2005 that, Mr. Shalom and Mr. Ayalon "have long had tense relations as they jockey for power in Israel's most important diplomatic stage - Washington." The writer said, Mr. Shalom "feels the ambassador has sidelined him by reporting directly to the prime minister. He is also angered that he has been unable to get White House meetings, apparently because of his lukewarm support for a plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip this summer."

The New York Post reported May 22, 2005 that, "The heavyweight feud between Israel's two best-known diplomats flared after Ayalon refused Shalom's instructions to fire his secretary."

"Ayalon has said the secretary's only crime was that he failed to arrange a meeting and a photo-op with Madonna and Shalom's wife [Judy] when the Material Girl visited Israel in September," The Post said.

On May 22, 2005, Arutz Sheva said, "Ambassador Ayalon enjoys the total support of Prime Minister Sharon regarding the rising tensions with the foreign minister." Here's more. See also The Lesson of Danny Ayalon.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 05:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Haaretz: AIPAC to Turn Annual Policy Meeting Into a Display of Force

Nathan Guttman, Haaretz's Washington Correspondent, reported May 22, 2005 that, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), "America's pro-Israel lobby, opens its 2005 policy conference Sunday [May 22, 2005] in Washington with 5,000 delegates and dignitaries present, including U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Congressional leaders and [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon."

"This is AIPAC's first policy conference since a FBI investigation against two senior AIPAC officials was made public last summer," Mr. Guttman wrote. "The officials are being investigated for allegedly receiving classified information from Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin and conveying it to Israel."

Mr. Guttman added: "AIPAC is aiming to turn the conference into a display of force that will prove that the lobby was not compromised by the investigation. A great deal of attention, therefore, was placed on publicizing the conference and on bringing top-notch officials from the administration and from Congress to speak at the event. The organization claims the investigation is ongoing, and that the dismissal of the senior officials who were involved in the affair, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, did not affect the organization's work on Capitol Hill and with the U.S. administration. "AIPAC is focused on its one central mission - strengthening Israel-U.S. ties," AIPAC's spokesman Josh Block said last week," according to the Guttman report. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 05:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Jamat-e-Islami Calls for World-wide Muslim Protest Against U.S.

On May 22, 2005, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, leader of Pakistan's Jamat-e-Islami political party, called on "Muslims across the globe to stage protest on May 27 [2005] against the desecration of the Holy Qur'an by the U.S. forces at Guantanamo Bay," according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 01:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 21, 2005

The Washington Note's Update on the Bolton Nomination

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note reported May 20, 2005, that:

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar and Ranking Member Joseph Biden both sought from the administration the names, contextual information, and, if possible, the unedited actual intercept material that John Bolton [President George W. Bush's choice for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations] reviewed during his tenure as Under Secretary of State for International Security and Arms Control.
Lugar's request was rebuffed by the White House, but thus far he seems not to have made any public comment about the fact that his evidence requests regarding John Bolton were not complied with.

"In addition," Mr. Clemons wrote, "it turns out that there is significant confusion about whether Deputy Director of National Intelligence Michael Hayden did in fact show the intercept material to Senators Roberts and Rockefeller -- as previously reported." Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 03:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

U.S. Keep's Control Over 'Development Fund for Iraq'

On May 19, 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush renewed U.S. control over the so-called Development Fund for Iraq . He said,

Because the obstacles to the orderly reconstruction of Iraq, the restoration and maintenance of peace and security in the country, and the development of political, administrative, and economic institutions in Iraq continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, the national emergency declared on May 22, 2003, and the measures adopted on that date, August 28, 2003, July 29, 2004, and November 29, 2004, to deal with that emergency must continue in effect beyond May 22, 2005. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency protecting the Development Fund for Iraq and certain other property in which Iraq has an interest.

Here's Continuation of the National Emergency Protecting the Development Fund for Iraq and Certain Other Property in Which Iraq Has An Interest. I wonder who really benefits from Iraqi oil and other resources. I'd welcome comments on this subject from Diplomatic Times readers.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 01:40 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Al Qaeda Denies Meeting in Syria to Plan Bombings

"Iraq's Al Qaeda [which is reportedly led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi] has denied U.S. accusations that an upsurge in car bomb attacks in Iraq was ordered at a meeting of insurgents in Syria, according to an Internet statement posted on Friday [May 20, 2005]," reports Reuters. Al Qaeda reportedly said:

The enemies of God are floundering after the increase in attacks against them. Is there no longer any room on earth so that the mujahideen (holy fighters) have to meet in Syria? These attacks ... were planned in Iraq and your brothers are continuing their jihad (holy war) and fighting Gods enemies.

Al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq reportedly made "the statement dated May 19 and posted on an Islamist Web site," Reuters said. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 01:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Karzai's Demands Carry No Weight in Washington, or Anywhere Else

President Hamid Karzai, the U.S. satrap in Afghanistan, said The New York Times article headlined In U.S. Report, Brutal Details of 2 Afghan Inmates' Deaths "...has shocked me thoroughly."

Agence France Presse quotes Mr. Karzai, who will meet with U.S. President George W. Bush on May 23, 2005 in Washington, as saying:

All Afghan prisoners... in Bagram, Guantanamo, or elsewhere should be held in Afghan prisons and (the US) should help us with the building and formation of facilities for the prisoners.

He has also been quoted as telling Journalists:

We have conveyed to the US government in the past year, and in an increasing manner, demands that no operations inside Afghanistan should take place without the consultation of the Afghan government.

The question is: What government? A government is able to protect its own leaders and insure progress for its people. Mr. Karzai wouldn't survive without U.S. soldiers and mercenaries protecting him. And he certainly doesn't control anything outside of Kabul, the Afghan capital. The approximately 18,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan are the bosses in that landlocked country. Mr. Karzai said earlier this month that, "Without them, and without the international community, Afghanistan will immediately go back to chaos," according to Agence France Presse. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 01:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Bush Paints a Rosy Picture of U.S. Role in Afghanistan

During his May 21, 2005 Radio Address, U.S. President George W. Bush said:

On Monday, I will meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the White House to discuss freedom's remarkable progress in his nation. Afghanistan now has a constitution, an elected President, and its citizens will return to the polls this September to elect provincial councils in the lower house of the National Assembly. We're helping Afghanistan's elected government solidify these democratic gains and deliver real change. A nation that once knew only the terror of the Taliban is now seeing a rebirth of freedom, and we will help them succeed.

Mr. Bush also said "In Afghanistan, we have brought to justice dozens of terrorists and insurgents. In Pakistan, one of Osama bin Laden's senior terrorist leaders, a man named Al-Libbi, was brought to justice. In Iraq, we captured two deputies of the terrorist Zarqawi, and our forces have killed or captured hundreds of terrorists and insurgents near the Syrian border."

In the long run, it will not matter how many fighters are captured or killed. The U.S. will eventually have to leave Afghanistan. History will record Mr. Bush's efforts as just another chapter in the long history of colonialism in which previous occupiers, including the British and the Russians, also said they were bringing civilization to a backwards Muslim country. In the end, their efforts to politically and culturally dominate the tribe-based, landlocked country were unsuccessful. It's all part of "The Great Game."

Here's a link to Mr. Bush's May 21, 200 5 Radio Address.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 12:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Bush Empasizes Close Ties With U.S. Controlled Afghanistan

"U.S. President George W. Bush on Saturday [May 21, 2005] emphasized close ties with Afghanistan two days before he was to meet with an angry President Hamid Karzai, who has demanded control of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan after a report of prisoner abuse," according to Reuters. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 12:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Waiting for the Spin on Reports of Cruelty at Bagram POW Camp

The New York Times article headlined "In U.S. Report, Brutal Details of 2 Afghan Inmates' Deaths" is one of the most disturbing reports of cruelty I've ever read. If the acounts of torture and murder at the U.S.' Bagram prison camp in Afghanistan are true, and I believe they are, Bagram is just as bad, or worse, than the Abu Ghraib prison atrocities. The Times' May 20, 2005 article is based on a 2,000-page U.S. military file on atrocities at Bagram. The paper said:

Sometimes the torment seems to have been driven by little more than boredom, cruelty, or both.

I wonder whether the Bush Administration and its supporters in the media and the Blogosphere will demand that The Times apologize for publishing the article. How will the administration spin this one?

For another report on the U.S.' use of torture on Muslims, see Mother Jones' "From Bagram to Abu Ghraib."

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Deputy Sec. of State Zoellick's Speech to World Economic Forum

On May 20, 2005, Robert Zoellick, U.S Deputy Secretary of State, delivered what the World Economic Forum (WEF) called "a special message to participants in the World Economic Forum in Jordan 2005 meeting at the Dead Sea," which got under way May 20 and ends May 22, 2005. Here's the WEF transcript of Mr. Zoellick's speech.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

World Economic Forum Meeting in Amman

The World Economic Forum is meeting in Amman, Jordan, from May 20-22, 2005. Here's a list of programs conferees can participate in.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Laura Bush: 'You Can't Blame it All on Newsweek'

Associated Press correspondent Nedra Pickler, in a dispatch from Amman, Jordan reported May 21, 2005, that U.S. First lady Laura Bush said:

"In the United States, if there's a terrible report, people don't riot and kill other people. And you can't excuse what they did because of the mistake - you know, you can't blame it all on Newsweek.

The AP said Ms. Bush, who spoke May 21, 2005 at the World Economic Forum, in Amman, said "we've had terrible happenings that have really, really hurt our image of the United States. And people in the United States are sick about it." Here's more. And here's a brief summary of her speech on women's rights.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Did Duffy Contradict Bush on Impact of Saddam Photos

Did President George W. Bush's deputy press secretary, Trent Duffy, contradict Mr. Bush's May 20, 2005 assertion that he didn't think photos published in the British tabloid, The Sun, of a half naked Saddam Hussein would inspire the insurgency in Iraq and further exacerbate tensions between the United States and many in the Islamic world?

Mr. Bush stated on May 20, 2005:

I don't think a photo inspires murderers. I think they're inspired by an ideology that is so barbaric and backwards that it's hard for many in the Western world to comprehend how they think.

According to The New York Times, "Less than two hours later, after White House officials discussed the possible repercussions of the images, Bush's deputy press secretary, Trent Duffy, said the release of the pictures violated American military regulations, and probably the Geneva Conventions.

"I think this could have a serious impact," Duffy said Friday afternoon [May 20, 2005], comparing it to the revelations of prisoner abuses last year," reported the The Times, adding: He promised "there will be a thorough investigation into this instance" and said President Bush was upset about the release and "wants to get to the bottom of it immediately."

The paper said, "Administration officials were clearly concerned that they would be accused of deliberately portraying Hussein in a humiliating light, a fallen emperor with few clothes."

"These photos were wrong; they're a clear violation of DOD (Department of Defense) directives, and possibly Geneva Convention guidelines for the humane treatment of detained individuals," Duffy said. "And the multinational forces in Iraq, as well as the president, are very disappointed at the possibility that someone responsible for the security, welfare and detention of Saddam Hussein would take and provide these photos for public release."

I would think U.S. officials could come up with better explanation than "These photos were wrong" and the president is "very disappointed" that U.S. military personnel would take photos and give them to a newspaper. A better explanation would be this: We were wrong for invading and occupying Iraq. We've gone too far with the atrocities committed by U.S. officials at Abu Ghraib, the killing of thousands of Iraqi civilians, the destruction of Iraqi cities, etc, so we are pulling out in three months. We will pay reparations to Iraq and let Iraqis decide their own destiny. That would be a better explanation. Of course, it will not happen anytime soon.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What Ideology Are You Referring to, Mr. Bush?

Various news accounts say President George W. Bush was asked whether the pictures of a half naked Saddam Hussein published in Rupert Murdoch's British tabloid, The Sun, might "further inflame tensions and fuel the insurgency in Iraq".

"I don't think a photo inspires murderers," Mr. Bush reportedly answered. "I think they're inspired by an ideology that is so barbaric and backwards that it's hard for many in the Western world to comprehend how they think."

What ideology was Mr. Bush referring to? Did he mean Islam? Just asking

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 20, 2005

Erdogan Vows to Punish Nations That Recognize 'Armenian Genocide'

"Countries which have officially recognized the so-called Armenian genocide will face retaliation from Turkey, warned Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday," says an article in May 20, 2005 Journal of Turkish Weekly. Mr. Erdogan "added that these 15 countries which have made decisions against Turkey without proof will face similar treatment from Turkey's Parliament, albeit with proof on its side," the Journal said. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 12:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 19, 2005

Why Hugo Chavez Vexes the U.S.

The Christian Science Monitor takes a look at the relationship between Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in an article headlined "A Castro ally with oil cash vexes the U.S." The subhead is: "Venezuela's Chávez is the new driving force for a left-leaning region." It's worth reading

Posted by Munir Umrani at 11:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Red Cross Says it Told Pentagon About Qu'ran Desecration

The Chicago Tribune reports in its May 19, 2005 edition that, "The International Committee of the Red Cross documented what it called credible information about U.S. personnel disrespecting or mishandling Qurans at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and pointed it out to the Pentagon in confidential reports during 2002 and early 2003." The paper cited an ICRC spokesman who reportedly referred to the reports on May 18, 2005. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Yes, the Bolton Nomination is Still in the News

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note has more excellent coverage of the John Bolton confirmation battle. Mr. Bolton is U.S. President George W. Bush's choice for U.S. ambassador to the United nations.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 03:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Transcript of George Galloways Senate Speech

George Galloway, the Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow, England,and his charity, the Mariam Fund, have been accused of corruption by some members of the U.S. Senate. On May 17, 2005 the British subject appeared before Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman's Subcommittee on Investigations, to combat charges that he benefitted from the United Nations Oil-for-Food program, in collaboration with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. As Wikipedia states,

"The Oil-for-Food Programme was established by the United Nations in 1996 to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine and the like. The ostensible intent of the program was to help the Iraqi government provide for the needs of ordinary Iraqi citizens affected by international economic sanctions imposed on the government in the wake of the first Gulf War, without letting the country rebuild its military.

Thanks to Deep Blade Journal for pointing to a link to The Times of London's transcript of Mr. Galloway's statement to the senators.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 03:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 18, 2005

Jay Rosen's Interesting Take on the Newsweek Controversy

Jay Rosen at PressThink has an interesting take on the controversy surrounding Newsweek's controversial report that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba desecrated the Qur'an by placing it in toilets to rattle Muslim prisoners of war held there. Mr. Rosen's post is headlined "Newsweek's Take-Our-Word-For-It World." It's definitely worth reading.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 01:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 17, 2005

CCR: Former Guantánamo Detainees Confirm Qur'an Abuse

The Centre for Constitutional Rights said May 16, 2005 that "Former Guantánamo Detainees Confirm Allegations of Abuse of the Qur'an. Here's another interesting report that mentions desecration of the Qu'ran.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Was U.S. Public Aware of Earlier Qur'an Desecration Claims?

Newsweek can apologize for publishing "Gitmo: SouthCom Showdown" for as long as the Bush Administration demands but it won't change the fact that there are Muslim former prisoners of war who've claimed for months that U.S. personnel at detention centers desecrated the Qur'an. However, the allegations went virtually unnoticed by the U.S. public until Muslims started holding anti-U.S. demonstrations in Pakistan and Afghanistan after Newsweek made reference to Qu'ran desecration at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in its May 9 issue.

Here are References to Earlier Reports
Probe into Holy Quran Desecration Comes After one Year of Allegations--Daily Times
Newsweek Report on Quran Matches Many Earlier Accounts--Bellacio
Britons Allege They saw U.S. Guards Desecrate Quran--The Peninsula
Prisoner Alleges Holy Quran Desecration--Daily Times

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

White House Reportedly Wants Heads to Roll at Newseek

James Gordon Meek of the New York Daily News' Washington bureau has reported that, "White House officials have privately demanded heads roll" at Newsweek "while publicly expressing outrage over what they called an unproven allegation that sparked riots in Afghanistan that left at least 15 people dead,"

Mr. Meek noted that"Newsweek "bowed to intense White House pressure Monday [May 16, 2005] and retracted its report that Korans were thrown in toilets at the Guantanamo Bay terror prison." Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 03:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

BBC Looks at Press Reaction to Newsweek's Retraction

The BBC reported May 17, 2005 that, "There has been a strong press reaction in the Muslim world after the US magazine Newsweek retracted a report that the Koran had been desecrated by US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay. The article is headlined "Press unmoved by Newsweek retraction.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 02:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

USA TODAY: Detainees' Lawsuits Also Allege Desecration

USA TODAY's Toni Locy reported May 16, 2005 that, "Current and former detainees have been alleging for more than a year that American soldiers in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have desecrated the Koran — but none of the allegations has been substantiated by military investigators."

The paper noted that, "The claims are made in some of the 65 lawsuits that have been filed in U.S. District Court in Washington on behalf of nearly 180 detainees, as well as in accounts given to human rights workers." Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 02:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Robin Wright: U.S. Long Had Memo on Qur'an Handling

Robin Wright of The Washington Post reports that, "More than two years ago, the Pentagon issued detailed rules for handling the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, requiring U.S. personnel to ensure that the holy book is not placed in "offensive areas such as the floor, near the toilet or sink, near the feet, or dirty/wet areas."

"The three-page memorandum, dated Jan. 19, 2003, says that only Muslim chaplains and Muslim interpreters can handle the holy book, and only after putting on clean gloves in full view of detainees," she wrote in a May 17, 2005 article.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Effect of a Few Sentences

USA Today's Peter Johnson has an interesting article on the Newsweek retraction headlined "Even a few sentences can have a huge effect." He wrote, in part: "Given the explosive nature of the world today, journalism's latest black eye should serve as a warning to the media to exercise caution in reporting because certain sensitive stories "carry grave implications if you get it wrong," says Tom Fiedler, editor of The Miami Herald." I think that sums up the entire Newsweek ordeal. It's not whether the story is accurate, it's the impact that certain articles will have on the Islamic world.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Despite Retraction, Some Muslims Say Qur'an Was Desecrated

"Newsweek is backtracking, but it's not just their report," said Ghaffar Aziz, a top official of the Jamaat-e-Islami party," according to a report at Independent Online of South Africa, which was originally published in The Mercury. "All innocent people released from U.S. custody have said on the record that there was desecration of the Qur'an," he said. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 07:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Foreign Minister Kasuri: Newsweek's Retraction Harms U.S. Image

Zaman Daily Online reports that, "Pakistani Foreign Minister Hurshid Kasuri has said since Newsweek magazine withdrew the story claiming that the U.S. Guantanamo Bay base interrogation officers had insulted Islam's holy book the Koran, it has harmed the image of the Washington administration." Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 06:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Some Pakistanis Say Newsweek's Retraction Not Enough

Liaquat Baloch, deputy secretary general of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) told Agence France Presse (AFP) May 17, 2005 "Those who planned and flashed this story in Newsweek ((on the alleged desecration of the Qur'an at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba prisoner of war camp) must be exposed and punished," according to an article published in Siffy News of India. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 05:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 16, 2005

There Have Been Other Reports of Qur'an Abuse

Associated Press Correspondent Stephen Graham stated in a May 12, 2005 report that, "It was unclear why demonstrations [in Afghanistan protesting U.S. interrogators' alleged desecration of the Holy Qur'an at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prisoner of war camp,] broke out this week and not after previous media reports. In July 2004, for example," he wrote, "the Arab station Al-Jazeera ran an interview with a former Guantanamo detainee who claimed he saw a U.S. soldier stomp on the Qur'an and that another American soldier in the southern city of Kandahar [Afghanistan] threw a holy book into the toilet." Here's more.

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May 15, 2005

Karzai Reportedly Plans Shake-up Over Anti-U.S. Demonstrations

The Australian reports in its May 16, 2005 issue that, "Afghan President Hamid Karzai has blamed opponents of his plans for long-term ties with the U.S. for four days of riots in his country that have left at least 14 people dead and 120 wounded. He promised a shake-up of his administration in the wake of Afghanistan's worst unrest since the fall of the Taliban more than three years ago, with anti-U.S. protests across the country," the paper said.

"The question comes up the demonstrations began in Jalalabad and were peaceful but why later was it dragged into violence?" Mr Karzai said on the weekend, after returning from a European trip," according to The Australian. I think Mr. Karzai is embarrassed that Afghans would demonstrate against a country that supposedly liberated them. He is treading on dangerous ground and probably should let the matter play itself out. Here's more.

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150-Member Shura Council Demands U.S. Apology

P.K. Abdul Ghafour reported in the May 16, 2005 issue of Arab News that, "The 150-member Shura Council [of Saudi Arabia] yesterday [May 15, 2005] strongly condemned the reported desecration of the Holy Qu'ran at the hands of US officials at Guantanamo Bay and asked the United States, if the incident was true, to apologize in order to avoid hatred and violence."

"The Shura urged the U.S. authorities to launch a prompt investigation into a May 9, [2005] Newsweek magazine report that investigators probing abuses at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay found that interrogators had desecrated the Qu'ran to rattle Muslim prisoners," the paper said. It quoted the Shura as saying:

If the report proved true, it would become important that an apology be issued and addressed to Muslims all over the world to avoid increasing the hatred between nations and followers of religious faiths as well.

The statement, reported by the Saudi Press Agency, said, "The council considers it as an attack on the feelings of Muslims and their sanctity... and a violation of international law and human customs." Here's more.

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Is Newsweek Doing the Bush Administration a Favor?

Is an article in the May 23, 2005 issue of Newsweek headlined How a Fire Broke Out" an attempt by Newsweek editors to help the Bush Administration cool growing anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world that erupted as a result of a Newsweek report headlined "Gitmo: SouthCom Showdown"? That report in the May 9, 2005 issue said U.S. interrogators at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had desecrated the Qur'an "in an attempt to rattle suspects" at the prisoner of war camp? Most of the 520 POWs at Gitmo, as the camp is called, are Muslims. They were taken prisoner during the U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation of Afghanistan and hunt for Usama bin Laden.

Imran Khan Niazi, a Pakistani cricket star from 1971 to 1992, and currently a member of Pakistan's National Assembly, or lower house of parliament, put the spotlight on the alleged desecration on May 6, 2005, according to PakTribune. He demanded that the U.S. apologize for it "during an emergency press conference at the PTI's (Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf) Central Secretariat in Islamabad," Pakistan, according to the Tribune.

Because Mr. Khan's status in some parts of the Muslim world is akin to that of Michael Jordan in the U.S., people listen to him. Publications reported his demand for a U.S. apology. Since then, Muslims have condemned the alleged desecration and the U.S. has said that it can't find any evidence that it actually happened, and that it would continue to investigate the claim..

"How did Newsweek get its facts wrong? And how did the story feed into serious international unrest?" Evan Thomas asks in the issue of Newsweek dated May 23, 2005. He wrote:

While continuing to report events on the ground, Newsweek interviewed government officials, diplomats and its own staffers, and reconstructed this narrative of events: At Newsweek, veteran investigative reporter Michael Isikoff's interest had been sparked by the release late last year of some internal FBI e-mails that painted a stark picture of prisoner abuse at Guantánamo. Isikoff knew that military investigators at Southern Command (which runs the Guantánamo prison) were looking into the allegations. So he called a longtime reliable source, a senior U.S. government official who was knowledgeable about the matter. The source told Isikoff that the report would include new details that were not in the FBI e-mails, including mention of flushing the Qur'an down a toilet. A SouthCom spokesman contacted by Isikoff declined to comment on an ongoing investigation, but Newsweek National Security Correspondent John Barry, realizing the sensitivity of the story, provided a draft of the NEWSWEEK PERISCOPE item to a senior Defense official, asking, "Is this accurate or not?" The official challenged one aspect of the story: the suggestion that Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, sent to Gitmo by the Pentagon in 2001 to oversee prisoner interrogation, might be held accountable for the abuses. Not true, said the official (the PERISCOPE draft was corrected to reflect that). But he was silent about the rest of the item. The official had not meant to mislead, but lacked detailed knowledge of the SouthCom report."

But did the senior official really mislead Newsweek? If the portion about the Qur'an desecration was wrong, why did he not also correct it? Is it because he knew the remainder of the story was correct? Again, could it be that the senior official did not mislead? In trying to explain what happened, Newsweek has raised more questions than it answered. Besides, Newsweek noted that publications in Pakistan, Russia and the Middle East had already quoted released detainees as saying U.S. interrogators did desecrate the Qur'an. Here's more. Here's a link to The Editor's Desk

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Is Probe of White House Leak on Valerie Plame About to Widen?

Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, in a May 13, 2005 post headlined "A Leak's Wider Ripples," said "For journalists, the [Valerie Plame] case raises agonizing issues: Where is the dividing line between journalistic ethics, which demand that reporters protect their sources, and ordinary ethics, which say people should cooperate with law enforcement if they know about possible criminal activity? Do journalists have a special status that exempts them, in certain cases, from the normal responsibilities of citizenship? But this case should worry most of all any White House insider who may have talked with reporters about Valerie Plame and then lied about it under oath."

Time magazine's Matthew Cooper and The New York Times' Judith Miller are currently in a legal bind for refusing to disclose sources to U.S. Attorney Peter Fitzgerald , who is investigating a White House leak about Ms. Plame. It resulted in journalist Robert Novak disclosing that Ms. Plame was a CIA agent under non-official cover. See "Mission to Niger." Also See "A Question of Trust" and "A War on Wilson," about Ms. Plame's Husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV. Mr. Cooper was subpoenaed because of these two articles.

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Will Some Bloggers Get Subpoenas in Franklin Spy Case?

missed Justin Raimondo's "Israeli Spy Scandal: Bloggers in the Dock?" when it first appeared at Antiwar.Com on May 9, 2005. It's worth reading.

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Journalists Reportedly Questioned in Franklin Spy Case

David Johnston of The New York Times reported May 14, 2005 that, "Federal agents have begun asking reporters about any conversations they had with a former Pentagon analyst [Larry Franklin]who has been charged with illegally disclosing military secrets [to Israel] , senior government officials said on Friday [May 13, 2005]. Here's more.

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How Did Bolton Get Through White House Screeners?

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note points to an article by Paul Light, "professor at New York University's Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, and senior adviser to the Brookings Institution's Presidential Appointee Initiative," according to Newsday.Com, that "Asks the Right Question: 'How Did Someone Like John Bolton Get Through the Screeners?'" Read it here. Mr. Bolton is President George W. Bush's choice to be the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

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More War News From Iraq

Today in Iraq has interesting links to news about Iraq. Contrast it with coverage by Free Iraq.

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U.S. Terms of Engagement in Iraq Worry Some British Officers

Juan Cole at Informed Comment reported May 15, 2005 that, "The British officers corps is continuing in its efforts to convince the U.S. military that its current rules of engagement are over-kill and result in the loss of many civlian lives (thus driving Iraqis to join or support the guerrillas). The British commanders feel that they learned lessons from Northern Ireland relevant to the U.S. in Iraq," Mr. Cole wrote. "Sean Rayment quotes a British officer (as saying):

I explained that their tactics were alienating the civil population and could lengthen the insurgency by a decade. Unfortunately, when we explained our rules of engagement which are based around the principle of minimum force, the US troops just laughed.

Mr. Cole said, "The British are concerned that the U.S. will eventually so alienate Iraqis as to endanger British troops, as well." Here's more.

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Deep Blade Journal Analyzes U.S. Corruption Iraq

On May 12, 2005, Deep Blade Journal posted a highly informative article on the widespread corruption practiced by some U.S. firms doing business in U.S. occupied Iraq. Hopefully, the mainstream media will abandon its cheerleader role and expose how U.S. taxpayers are being fleeced on Iraq. Deep Blade's post is headlined "Iraq corruption deflection." I recommend it.

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Recommended Reading on Central Asia

If current events in Uzbekistan has prompted you to seek more information on the political upheaval in Central Asia, The Diplomatic Times Review highly recommends "Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia" by highly regarded Pakistan journalist Ahmed Rashid. Also see his "Taliban: Islam, Oil and the new Great Game in Central Asia".

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Some Afghan Scholars, Elders Meet Over Alleged Qur'an Desecration

The Associated Press (AP) reports that "About 500 Islamic scholars and tribal elders gathered in Faizabad, 310 miles northeast of the [Afghan]capital, Kabul, to pass a resolution calling for anyone found to have abused the Qur'an to be punished, said Maulawi Abdul Wali Arshad, head of the religious affairs department in Badakhshan province." Mr. Arshad "and the provincial police chief said the scholars demanded a ``reaction'' from U.S. authorities within three days, but they denied reports that the scholars threatened to declare a holy war if the deadline was not respected," the AP said. If any Diplomatic Times Review reader is interested in how insults, disrespect and efforts to impose foreign systems on Afghanistan can spark a jihad, please read Steve Coll's "Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001." Also see the late Artyom Borovik's "The Hidden War: A Russian Journalist's Account of the Soviet War in Afghanistan." Here's more of the AP article.

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Karzai Blames 'Enemies' Of Afghanistan for Anti-U.S. Protests

Ayaz Gul, in a May 15, 2005 Voice of America (VOA) report from Islamabad, Pakistan, said "Afghanistan is peaceful, after days of bloody protests over a magazine report that U.S. interrogators in Guantanamo, Cuba allegedly desecrated the Qur'an. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has blamed "enemies" of Afghanistan's progress and its ties with the international community for the violence," the report says, adding: "The protest over the alleged desecration is not over." I wouldn't expect Mr. Karzai to blame anyone but internal 'enemies." Why would he blame Americans? They are the ones responsible for what little power he has, and for protecting him. Here's the VOA report.

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May 14, 2005

Don't Blame the Media for Reporting Interrogator's Actions

Blogger News Network has an interesting analysis by Rick Moran headlined "Foreign Media Fans The Flames Of Anti-Americanism." It's about the anti-American protest that has hit some parts of the Muslim world since Newsweek reported in the May 9, 2005 issue that some interrogators at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison camp, where some Muslim prisoners of war are being held, put the Qur'an in toilets." The foreign media or Newsweek shouldn't be blamed for reporting this story or commenting on it. If Americans interrogators hadn't put the Qur'an in the toilet, there wouldn't have been a story. Here's more.

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Karzai Weighs in On Qur'an Descecration Controversy

"Afghan president Hamid Karzai urged the United States yesterday [May 14, 2005] to prosecute and punish anyone found guilt of desecrating the Qur'an as anti-U.S. protests flared for a fifth day in Afghanistan, " according to the Sunday Herald of Australia. Anti-American sentiment has risen in Afghanistan since Newsweek reported in the May 9, 2005 issue that some U.S. interrogators at the U.S. prisoner of war camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, put the Muslim holy book in toilets. POWs from Afghanistan, among others, are held at the camp. The Herald said, "Sixteen Afghans have been killed and more than 100 injured since Wednesday [May 11, 2005], in the worst anti-U.S. protests across Afghanistan since U.S. forces invaded in 2001 to oust the Taliban." Here's more.

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Kasuri to U.S.: Don't Treat Qur'an Descration Like Abu Ghraib

Khurshid Kasuri, Pakistan's Foreign Minister, has demanded that the Bush Administration punish those responsible for desecrating the Qur'an at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prisoner of war camp. According to The Independent of London, Mr. Kasuri wants the U.S. to take "much stronger action" than it did after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq erupted in Iraq and embarrassed the U.S. Newsweek reported the desecration of the Qu'ran, which caused widespread protests by Muslims around the world despite claims by the U.S. that it was investigating the alleged desecration, in which interrogators a Guantanamo allegedly placed copies of the Qur'an on toilets, and flushed one down the toilet in order to humiliate and break Muslim POWs, most of whom were captured in Afghanistan. The Bush Administration said it has found no evidence so far that the acts occurred. Here's more.

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May 13, 2005

Are The Russians Right About Western NGOs?

Simon Saradzhyan and Carl Schreck, staff writers for The Moscow Times.Com, reported May 13, 2005:

U.S., British and other foreign nongovermental organizations are providing cover for professional spies in Russia, while Western organizations are bankrolling plans to stage peaceful revolutions in Belarus and other former Soviet republics bordering Russia, Federal Security Service director Nikolai Patrushev told the State Duma on Thursday [May 12, 2005]. Patrushev said the FSB has monitored and exposed intelligence gathering activities carried out by the U.S. Peace Corps, the British-based Merlin medical relief charity, Kuwait's Society of Social Reforms and the Saudi Red Crescent Society. He said foreign secret services rely on NGOs to collect information and promote the interests of their countries.

The accused deny that organizations ran by their nationals are covers for spies. For years, I've often wondered whether some NGOs were fronts for spying. Here's more.

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Chinese Students Reportedly Running ‘Spy Network’ in Europe

"A network of Chinese students coordinated from Belgium is believed to be carrying out industrial espionage in several northern European countries, according to a think-tank known as the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Centre," says an Agence France Press report in the May 12, 2005 issue of The Peninsula, "Qatar's leading English language daily. Here's more of this interesting story.

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U.S. Soldiers and Non-Iraqi Guerillas Are All Foreigners in Iraq

James Janega, a Chicago Tribune correspondent reporting from al-Qaim, Iraq, reported May 11, 2005, that U.S. commanders say they believe they've "found strong indications that foreign fighters make up part of the resistance facing them as they conduct an offensive aimed at rooting out insurgents near the Syrian border." He quotes Colonel Stephen Davis, "commander of Regimental Combat Team-2, responsible for this corner of Anbar province," as saying:

I've always been skeptical of the amount of foreign fighters said to be out here. That skepticism is removed as of this operation.

American fighters and non-Iraqi Muslim fighters are all foreigners. So why are foreign Americans occupying Iraq making an issue out of foreign Muslims fighting the occupation? Just asking. Here's more.

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Myers Admits Iraqi Insurgency Could Last for Years

On May 12, 2005, General Richard Bowman Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged what is a truism of guerilla warfare and liberations struggles. He said the insurgency in Iraq could last for years.

"This requires patience," he said at a news conference," according to the AP. "This is a thinking and adapting adversary ... I wouldn't look for results tomorrow. One thing we know about insurgencies, that they last from three, four years to nine years."

"What we're seeing is really an attempt to discredit this new Cabinet and new government," Mr. Myers added. "This is, the most cases, Iraqis blowing up other Iraqis. And I don't know how they expect to curry favor with the Iraq population when we have Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence." Well, sir, it seems that Iraqis are throwing stones at U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies for failing to protect them. If the U.S. and Iraqi forces retaliate with deadly forces against the stone throwers, they risk creating more insurgents. Besides, the Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence the general cites is an outcome of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Those who fight invaders generally fight collaborators, too. Here's more.

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Aljazeera: Men Set to Fight U.S. In Qaim Say They're All Iraqis

Aljazeera.net reported May 14, 2005 that, "the fighters preparing to fight the U.S. forces in Qaim, Iraq, 320 kilometers west of Baghdad, insist there are no foreigners among them. "We are all Iraqis," declared one fighter, his face covered with a scarf," according to Aljazeera.net. Here's more.

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The Guardian Newsblog on 'Bush, Political Capital and John Bolton

The Guardian Unlimited Newsblog said May 13, 2005, that, "The Bush administration had to fight hard to keep alive the nomination of John Bolton as US ambassador to the UN. The senate foreign relations committee voted along party lines - 10 Republicans and eight Democrats - took the unusual step of sending Bolton's nomination to the full senate 'without recommendation,'" the weblog said, adding: "It was an embarrassment for the administration, but their man survived." And the fight's not over. Here's more.

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The Poster Child for What a Diplomat Shouldn't Be

The Herald Sun of Sydney, Australia told its readers in the paper's May 14, 2005 edition that, John Bolton, President Bush's choice for U.S. ambassador to the U.N., "is the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be. George W. Bush was humiliated last night when a powerful Senate committee refused to back his choice as the next US ambassador to the United Nations," the paper said. Read more here.

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The Washington Note's Bolton News and Views

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note (TWN) has his usual good round up of news and views about the Bush Administration's efforts to get John Bolton, President George W. Bush's choice for U.S. ambassador to the U.N., confirmed. He reported May 13, 2005 that, "Sources in the White House tell TWN that there is genuine shock and disbelief among the Executive Office ranks about the difficulties of getting Bolton confirmed for the U.N." Here's more.

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May 12, 2005

Group of 77 to Meet June 15 and 16, 2005 in Qatar

"Some 60 heads of state and many prime ministers, including Britain's Tony Blair, will attend the second Group of 77 and China South Summit in Doha on June 15-16,[2005]," Mohammad Al-Rumaihi, Qatar's Assistant Foreign Minister, told reporters on May 12, 2005, according to Agence France Press. Read more here.

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'From Fallujah to Qaim' is Worth Reading

Charles Recknagel and Kathleen Ridolfo have an interesting article in Asia Times Online headlined "From Fallujah to Qaim." It's worth reading

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May 10, 2005

Were Insurgents in Iraq Tipped-Off About Marine Operation?

James Janega of of the Chicago Tribune, in an article datelined al-Qaim, Iraq, made this observation about fighting May 9, 2005 in Ubaydi, Iraq:

The Marines who swept into the Euphrates River town of Ubaydi confronted an enemy they had not expected to find and one that attacked in surprising ways. As they pushed from house to house in early fighting, trying to flush out the insurgents who had attacked their column with mortar fire, they ran into sandbagged emplacements behind garden walls. They found a house where insurgents were crouching in the basement, firing upwards through slits hacked at ankle height in the ground-floor walls, aiming at spots that the Marines body armor did not cover.

Mr. Janega said, "The shock was that the enemy was not supposed to be in this town at all. Instead, American intelligence indicated that the insurgency had massed on the other side of the river. Marine commanders expressed surprise Monday [May 9, 2005] not only at the insurgents presence but also the extent of their preparations, as if they had expected the Marines to come." Here's more.

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May 08, 2005

Australian Sheikh on a Mercy Mission to Iraq

Imam Taj Aldin Alhilali, "the leader of Australia's Muslims," according to The Australian, "is flying to Iraq to try to save Australian hostage Douglas Wood."We are going to Iraq to help our Australian brother," the sheik was quoted as saying. "We feel for his family and we will do all the best to bring Douglas Wood home" Read more here.

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Turks.US: Thousands Protest Bush's Visit to Netherlands

Turks.US reported May 8, 2005 that, "Thousands of anti-war activists protested on the streets of Masstricht, Netherlands in a reaction to the visits of .U.S President George W. Bush, who is in the Netherlands to pay his respects to those who died in World War II for Dutch freedom. Protesters said that the man responsible for the Iraq war had no business being in the country on such a day," Turks.US said. Read more here.

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Sunday Times: Suicide Bombers Stream Into Iraq

The Sunday Times of London says "A remarkable insight into the purpose and planning of suicide attacks" in Iraq "was given to The Sunday Times last week by an active insurgent commander who has co-ordinated assaults by diverse rebel groups scattered across the country." The paper said, "Amid signs of shifting insurgent tactics and a rapidly evolving coalition response Arab volunteers such as Abu Bakr are streaming into Iraq to carry out what senior British and U.S. officers refer to as spectaculars: headline-grabbing suicide assaults that produce dozens of casualties."

If the article is true, and at this point I have no reason to doubt it, it suggests that the U.S. invasion of Iraq is doing what the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 did for Muslim fighters. It gave them a cause. Here's more of this insightful article.

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Abu Faraj al-Libbi Characterized as 'Flotsam and Jetsam" in Al-Qaeda

Christina Lamb and Mohammad Shehzad, writing from Islamabad, Pakistan for The Times of London, noted that "the capture of a supposed Al-Qaeda kingpin by Pakistani agents last week was hailed by President George W. Bush as a critical victory in the war on terror. According to European intelligence experts, however, Abu Faraj al-Libbi was not the terrorists' third in command, as claimed, but a middle-ranker derided by one source as "among the flotsam and jetsam" of the organization," they wrote. The article is rich in detail and provides the kind of perspective that suggests that at least one of the reporters knows the Pakistani political and intelligence terrain. Here is their article.

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Arrest of Abu Farraj al-Libbi Won't Bring Down Al-Qaeda

Asia Times Online's Syed Saleem Shahzad says his analysis of the arrest of 40-year-old Libyan Abu Farraj al-Libbi in Pakistan by Pakistani intelligence agents suggest that it "will prove of little value in helping the U.S. or anyone else reach Osama bin Ladin, or in debilitating al-Qaeda." Initially, the U.S. thought Abu Farraj al-Libbi was Anas Al-Liby, considered by U.S. intelligence to be the third in Al-Qaeda. As The Times of London correspondents Christina Lamb and Mohammad Shehzad noted in a May 8, 2005 dispatch from Islamabad, Pakistan, headlined "Captured Al-Qaeda kingpin is case of mistaken identity":

The capture of a supposed Al-Qaeda kingpin by Pakistani agents last week was hailed by President George W. Bush as a critical victory in the war on terror. According to European intelligence experts, however, Abu Faraj al-Libbi was not the terrorists third in command, as claimed, but a middle-ranker derided by one source as among the flotsam and jetsam of the organization.

One of the most important aspects of Syed Saleem Shahzad's article is his description of how Al-Qaeda uses operatives.

Al-Qaeda is a very different type of organization from, say, Palestinian groups that promote champions such as Abu Abbas and Abu Nidal, who carried out repeated acts of terror. Al-Qaeda does not encourage ``heroes'' in this manner. Instead, previously unknown people are picked for attacks, and only then do they come onto the radar of intelligence agencies.

"Take, for example, Ramzi Binal Shib, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and Mohammed Atta," Mr. Shahzad wrote, "all involved in 9/11, and dozens of others. They are set up for one event, and that's it. With al-Libbi's arrest, one cell is dead. Maybe it was already. But new teams comprising unknown faces have been assembled. Al-Qaeda's structure remains intact."

I think even if Osama bin Ladin is killed or captured it won't matter. Al-Qaida is just as much a movement as organization. Leadership will emerge on various fronts as is needed. We've seen in Iraq and will see it in other parts of the world. Here's a link to Syed Saleem Shahzad's informative article.

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Arab, Latin American Leaders to Hold Summit in Brazil

Beginning May 9, 2005, leaders from 22 Arab and 12 South American nations will attend a first ever, four-day summit of Arab and Latin American leaders. Here's more on the historic event.

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May 07, 2005

Transcript of Bush's May 7, 2005 Remarks at Latvian Society House

Here is a link to a White House Press Office transcript of remarks made May 7, 2005 by President George W. Bush of the U.S., President Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia, President Arnold Ruutel of Estonia and President Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania at the Latvian Society House in Riga, Latvia.

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Transcript of Bush Interview With Russia's NTV

Here is a link to a White House Transcript of President George W. Bush's May 5, 2005 interview with NTV, Russian Television. The interview took place at the White House.

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Bush Using Europe Trip To Celebrate 'End of Tyranny'

"President Bush says his trip to Latvia, the Netherlands, Russia and Georgia May 6-10 will be a chance to celebrate the end of tyranny and to talk with Europeans about "common values, common goals and the need for us to continue to work together" to advance freedom, democracy and tolerance," according The Washington File, a State Department publication. Here's more.

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Bush says U.S. Played a Role in Post-War Division of Europe

President George W. Bush said May 7, 2005 that the United States, under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, played a role in the division of Europe after World War II when Mr. Roosevelt signed the Yalta Agreement at the end of a February 4 to 11, 1945
meeting with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Yalta, a town in the Crimea in southern Ukraine.

Mr. Bush called the agreement "one of the greatest wrongs of history'' because it led to Soviet domination of Central and Eastern Europe for decades.

``We will not repeat the mistakes of other generations, appeasing or excusing tyranny, and sacrificing freedom in the vain pursuit of stability,'' The Associated Press quotes Mr. Bush as saying. ``We have learned our lesson; no one's liberty is expendable. In the long run, our security and true stability depend on the freedom of others.''

Mr. Bush is on a four-day trip that culminates in the May 9, 2005 commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat in 1945. Here's more.

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Gul says West Using 'Alleged Armenian Genocide' Against Turkey

"Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Gul has claimed that some countries are using the Armenian genocide allegations as an excuse to exclude Turkey from the European Union," Zaman Daily Online reported May 6, 2005. Mr. Gul said:

It is not only Armenians that do this. In some countries opposition parties use the this against the government, by misrepresenting the relations between the government and Turkey in the light of these allegations. There are 34,000 Armenian Germans, and 600,000 Turkish German citizens in Germany. It is beyond comprehension when you look from the political side also. They use it to attack the government. Some of them want Turkey to isolate itself and do not want to say 'no' directly to Turkey. There are countries including many in the European Union (EU) that want to make Turkey accept this.

Zaman Daily Online said Mr. Gul warned: "Everybody should ask himself 'What can I do in this situation? Because this case is a big trap before us." Zaman also reported that, Mr. Gul said "all the archives have been opened, and nearly 30 foreign scientists including one Armenian citizen have been doing studying these archives."

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May 06, 2005

RFE/RL Interviews Latvian Foreign Minister Andris Pabriks

In the introduction to a May 6, 2005 interview with Latvian Foreign Minister Andris Pabriks, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty told its listeners:

As Moscow prepares to host world leaders to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, uncomfortable chapters from the past are being reexamined, casting a shadow over the celebrations. In recent days, senior U.S. and EU officials have called on Moscow to denounce the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, under which Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union carved up Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. The Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania paid a high price under the pact. They were annexed by the Soviet Union and only regained their independence upon the breakup of the USSR 50 years later

"Tens of thousands of their citizens were shipped off to the Siberian Gulag, where many perished," the station said. "But this week, Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the Soviet Union never occupied the Baltic states against their will and that Moscow has no reason to apologize." Here's the interview with Andris Pabriks. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is funded by the U.S. Congress and was used extensively by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency during the Cold War in its propaganda battles with the old Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact nations.

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May 05, 2005

White House Said to Want Discussion of John Bolton to Stop

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note, whose coverage of Washington affairs is very informative, reported May 4, 2005 that, " The White House is apparently working over-time schmoozing the media and suggesting that there is nothing new out there on John Bolton," President George W. Bush's controversial choice for U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

You could have fooled me," Mr. Clemons said.

He added: "If swiping memos from Colin Powell's briefing materials, sabotaging Jack Pritchard and [Richard] Armitage on North Korea policy, keeping [Secretary of State Condoleeza] Rice and [former Secretary of State Colin] Powell in the dark on fundamental policy issues, being stricken from the Libya negotiating team -- and Iran team -- at the request of British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, and harrassing intelligence analysts like Christian Westermann and Rexon Ryu is collectively not enough...."

"Well....wait for the NSA intercepts before making your mind up. . .and wait until we have more information on Mr. Matt Freedman," Mr. Clemons recommended. Here's more.

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May 04, 2005

Haaretz Analyzes the Larry Franklin- AIPAC Affair

Nathan Guttman, Haaretz's Washington correspondent, reports that "ten pages of the indictment" of Lawrence Anthony "Larry" Franklin on espionage charges reveal that the Defense Department analyst "was under close surveillance and that every aspect of the case had been looked into: He was followed to meetings, his home and office were searched, and there were wiretaps," Mr. Guttman wrote, adding:"But the indictment still leaves three significant questions unanswered: What information was transferred, what, if anything, are the AIPAC people suspected of, and if and how is Israel involved in the case?" Here's more.

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Is FBI Laying Groundwork to Charge Former AIPAC Officials?

Haaretz Correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote on May 4, 2005 that, the charges against former Defense Department Analyst Lawrence Anthony "Larry" Franklin, who was arrested today and released on bail, made no mention of suspected espionage; that Franklin knowingly helped a foreign government,[ Israel] as originally reported when the scandal was revealed last summer; nor of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or the state of Israel."

"Nonetheless," he added, "official sources involved in the inquiry say that AIPAC officials are suspected of receiving the secret information. The Justice Department said that the investigation continues, which presumably means focusing on the two former AIPAC officials, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, who allegedly received the information, as well as on the activities of the lobbying group. That kind of probe could end with indictments against the two or a plea bargain. Rosen and Weissman were fired by AIPAC last month," Mr. Guttman noted. Read more here.

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Franklin's Arrest Puts Spotlight Back on Israeli Spying and AIPAC

The Jewish Week, which serves "the Jewish community of Greater New York, told its readers May 4, 2005, that, "The ongoing FBI investigation of employees at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby, took a dramatic turn Wednesday [May 4, 2005]with the arrest of the Pentagon Mideast analyst at the center of the controversy. Larry Franklin turned himself in after being charged with one count of disclosing classified information related to potential attacks upon U.S. forces in Iraq to individuals not entitled to receive the information, according to the Justice Department," wrote James D.Besser."He was scheduled to appear Wednesday in U.S. District Court."

Mr. Besser reminded readers that, Mr. Franklin "came under suspicion after a June 2003 lunch meeting with two AIPAC officials. AIPAC recently fired the two senior staffers caught up in the investigation: Steve Rosen, the groups policy director, and Keith Weissman, deputy director of foreign policy," he noted. Here's more.

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Is Alleged Al-Zarqawi Letter Part of a Disinformation Campaign?

The Associated Press notes that, "The U.S. military released on Tuesday [May 3, 2005] a letter it believes was addressed to terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from an underling complaining that incompetence of leaders in his al-Qaida in Iraq network is hurting morale among his fighters." It sounds like disinformation to me. Here's more.

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The New Yorker Describes a Neocon's Library

Jeffrey Goldberg describes the library of Douglas Feith, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the current Bush Administration, in an article in the May 9, 2005 issue of The New Yorker. He describes it thusly:

It is apparent that he has devoted considerable care and money to its design and, in particular, to its collection, which numbers at least five thousand volumes. The floors and shelves are dark oak, and the walls are covered in hunter-green wallpaper. The library is not in the style of the high-station Washington bureaucrat who wants to telegraph his indispensability; there are few photographs of Feith in the company of potentates and prime ministers and presidents. Instead, Feith has filled the room with images of figures who have earned his admiration. Busts of Washington and Lincoln sit on the shelves; Churchill scowls in the direction of Feith's desk. A black-and-white portrait of Theodore Herzl, the founder of Zionism, hangs over a green leather couch. In his collection, history has displaced nearly every other subject; fiction--his favorite is Nabokov--has been exiled to the basement. The library is weighted disproportionately to the history of the British Empire, and Feith has spent many hours schooling himself in the schemes and follies of the British on the playing fields of the Middle East.
History serves another purpose, Feith suggests: it provides solace to leaders who are misunderstood by their peers.

Mr. Goldberg said Mr. Feith told him "When history looks back, I want to be in the class of people who did the right thing, the sensible thing, and not necessarily the fashionable thing, the thing that met the aesthetic of the moment." The article offers insights into one of the prominent neoconservatives in the Bush Administration. Here's more.

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May 03, 2005

The Washington Notes' Coverage of the Bolton Confirmation Battle

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note continues his informative coverage of the Bush Administration's seemingly futile effort to get John Bolton confirmed as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Here's a link to "Key quotes and passages in three interviews on John Bolton-Christian Westermann "Removal from Portfolio" Incident."

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Amnesty: Activists Persecuted in Europe and Central Asia

"The Russian Federation, Belarus, Turkmenistan and Turkey are among the countries in Europe and Central Asia with the poorest record of government harassment and persecution of people for peacefully exercising these rights," according to an Amnesty International press (AI) release dated May 3, 2005. AI said it "is concerned that the activities of human rights activists are being criminalized by the state, and that state officials are harassing, arresting and torturing them without fear of repercussions."

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William J. Luti Gets New Post in Bush Administration

On May 3, 2005, Stephen J. Hadley, Assistant to President George W. Bush for National Security Affairs, announced "the appointment of William J. Luti as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Defense Policy and Strategy." Here's the White House press release on the appointment.

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The AP Examines U.S., Italian Reports on Calipari

The Associated Press takes a a look at the differences between the U.S. and Italian reports on the death of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari, who was killed on March 4, 2005 as he tried to escort Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to safety after she was released by kidnappers in Baghdad, Iraq. Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi reportedly altered the Italian report to protect U.S.-Italian relations. The U.S. reportedly issued a version with some portions blacked out. An uncensored version is reportedly on the Internet. However, I've been unable to find it. Here's the AP Report.

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Did Berlusconi Alter Italy's Report on Calipari's Death?

ABC News Online of Australia reported on May 3, 2005, that, "Reports have surfaced that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi intervened to ensure that a report on the killing of an Italian intelligence agent in Baghdad by US troops would not damage relations with Washington. An Italian report released on Monday [May 2, 2005] blamed the killing of Nicola Calipari, while he was escorting a freed Italian hostage, on the "inexperience" of US troops acting under stress and without proper rules of engagement," ABC said. Here's more.

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May 01, 2005

U.S. Female Casualties in Iraq on the Rise

Sunday Observer Correspondent Joanna Walters reported May 1, 2005 that, "The ground war in Iraq has made the historical tradition of not having women in combat unworkable. A total of 35 US servicewomen have now died in Iraq and 271 have been injured," she wrote. "It is a small percentage of the 1,500 U.S. service personnel fatalities and the 11,600 wounded, but these women are being killed and injured under enemy fire." When the total reaches the hundreds killed, captured or maimed, there will be a public outcry in the U.S. against women on the frontlines, which is every where in a guerilla war. Here's more.

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Attacks by Iraqi Insurgents Seem to Be Escalating

Professor Juan Cole at Informed Comment has a round up of insurgent and political activity in Iraq, where the death toll among civilians and U.S. forces continue to rise. Here's a link. Also see this International Herald Tribune article on insurgent attacks.

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Did U.S. Quickly Clear Away Evidence in Calipari Killing in Baghdad?

Associated Press Correspondent Frances D'Emilio reported May 1, 2005 that, "The Italian Foreign Ministry said it planned to release its version of events in the March 4 [2005] ''friendly fire'' shooting death of agent Nicola Calipari on Monday May 2, 2005], two days after the U.S. military reported its investigation had cleared American soldiers of wrongdoing in the checkpoint shooting in [Baghdad, Iraq]which also injured Giuliana Sgrena, the Italian journalist that Mr. Calipari had just freed from insurgent captivity."

"Italian newspapers published what they said were extracts of the report Sunday, with Italian investigators concluding that U.S. authorities were informed of the operation several hours before the shooting and were told of Ms. Sgrena's release 25 minutes before Mr. Calipari was killed," The Associated Press reported, adding that, "The Italian report also contends that evidence at the shooting was quickly cleared away by the Americans, Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica said. Surely the Italians didn't think the Americans would side with them against U.S. citizens. They aren't that naive, are they? Here's more.

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Javier Solana to Visit Washington May 2-3, 2005

Constance Cumbey at My Perspective--What Constance Thinks offers thought-provoking comments on Javier Solana Madariaga's visit to Washington on May 2-3, 2005. Mr. Solana, Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union (EU), "will be meeting with Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice and her predecessor in her old job as National Security Advisor, Stephen Hadley," according to Ms. Cumber. "Additionally," she wrote, "he will be speaking to a House of Representatives Committee.This will be an opportunity for Javier Solana, always the charmer, to make new American friends. He has lots of friends in the United States Senate, so this time he is concentrating on an important segment of the House of Representatives. I hope in listening that they don't get lulled to sleep over the most important item on his agenda -- that the EU is about to start allowing sale of arms to China." Here's more.

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Mr. Bush's Neo-con Appointments

Purple Daze: Imperial Journal 1 has a May 1, 2005 commentary headlined "Bush never backs down on a NeoCon appointment." I found this perspective on John Bolton, President George W. Bush's embattled choice for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, quite interesting.

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Did Businessman Charles Pasqua Pay Bribe to Saddam Hussein?

GeoPoliticalReview reports that "new documents confirm allegations that Ex-French Minister of the Interior, Charles Pasqua, was bribed by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Business people from many nations benefitted from the U.N.'s oil-for-food program for Iraq. Two U.S. businessmen were recently arrested "over oil-for-food bribes." Here's the GeoPolitical Review report.

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NSA Recommends Release of Intercepts Requested by Bolton

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note reports that, "the National Security Agency has now recommended that the intercept material and the names of U.S. officials requested by John Bolton [President George W. Bush's choice for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations] be released to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee." Here's more.

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John Bolton and State Department Foreign Travel Rules

Laura Rozen at War and Piece posted a revealing article on April 29, 2005, in which she comments on John Bolton's "repeated efforts to meet with foreign officials without first clearing his foreign travel with the relevant State Department offices." Is this significant in the Bush Administration's effort to get Mr. Bolton confirmed as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations? Here's what Ms. Rozen has to say about that.

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April 29, 2005

Boston Globe: Rank and File Have Taken Heat for Abu Ghraib

"With his job on the line over the shocking revelations of torture at Abu Ghraib prison last year, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told the world to ''watch how democracy deals with wrongdoing and scandal and the pain of acknowledging and correcting our own mistakes and, indeed, our own weaknesses," writes reporter Charlie Savage in the April 28, 2005 issue of the Boston Globe. "Now, exactly one year after the photographs from Abu Ghraib became public, the Defense Department has placed seven low-ranking guards under court-martial. No general -- or colonel, or CIA intelligence officer, or political appointee -- has faced any charges." An they probably won't, Mr. Savage. The little guy is always the scapegoat. Besides, generals look after generals unless one of them is a woman some generals probably don't want in their ranks. Here's more.

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After Abu Ghraib, Why is U.S. Coaching Iraqi Troops on Human Rights?

The April 29, 2005 issue of Daily Times of Pakistan says "Almost exactly a year after the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal broke out, the U.S. military said Thursday [April 28, 2005] it was launching a human rights training program for the Iraqi army's detention personnel.The pilot project kicked off as the U.S. military's own human rights record was back in the spotlight on the first anniversary of the scandal over the sexual and physical abuse of prisoners inside the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison," the paper added. The Daily Times story includes quotes from a story the U.S. military reportedly sent to some news outlets.

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April 28, 2005

SPN: State Department Keeps Terrorism Report Under Wraps

SecurityProNews reported April 28, 2005 that, "On the same day that the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) released a report indicating that the number of terrorist attacks tripled in 2004, the US Dept. of State reported that global terrorism remained a "significant threat." And then, they put the report back into their pockets," SPN said. Here's a link to SPN's report.

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April 27, 2005

Canada Investigating Whether U.S. Killed a Canadian in Iraq

According to CTV.ca, Cloe Rodrigue, Canada's Foreign Affairs spokesperson, said Canada is investigating whether a Canadian in Iraq was killed by U.S. forces on Saturday [April 23, 2005].

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Iraqi Press Monitor Resumes Publication

Helena Cobban at Just World News reported on April 26, 2005 that, "Yesterday [April 25, 2005], the Institute for War and Peace reporting put out the first edition of once-daily 'Iraqi Press Monitor' since February 2nd [2005]." I'm glad the publication is back. It fills in the gap in mainstream reporting on Iraq. Here's more.

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April 26, 2005

Muslim Scholar Ali Al-Tamimi Convicted in the U.S.

Ali Al-Timimi, one of the most prominent Islamic scholars in the U.S., was convicted August 26, 2005, of 10 counts alleging he encouraged followers on September 16, 2001 to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops in Afghanistan, according to Arab News and other publications. "Jurors reached their verdict in their seventh day of deliberations," the paper said. I've heard Mr. Tamimi, who is free on $75,000 bail pending his sentencing in July 2005, speak in person and have listened to his tapes. He is a well-respected scholar among English speaking Muslims in the U.S., Europe and Australia.

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Is U.S. Sponsoring Militias and Death Squads in Iraq

On April 24, 2005, Deep Blade Journal posted a worth-reading article headlined "US-sponsored militias and death squads in Iraq." The subhead is:"US program unleashes ex-Baathist enforcers." Read it here.

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The Primary Focus of Bush-Abdullah Meeting Was Oil Prices

Arab News correspondent Barbara Ferguson noted in an April 27, 2005 article, that:

President Bush's meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at his ranch in Crawford, Texas on Monday [April 26, 2005] focused on soaring global oil prices as well as political reform in Saudi Arabia, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the so-called war on terror. But it was the price of oil that topped the agenda. Crude oil prices hit record highs in April, briefly topping $58 dollars a barrel. Nationwide retail gas prices have climbed to over $2.28 a gallon.

She said, "The Saudis reiterated their recent pledge that the oil-rich nation will soon increase its output, currently running at 9.5 million barrels per day." Read more of "Bush-Abdullah Meeting Focused on Oil Prices."

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U.S. Troops Cleared in Shooting of Agent Protecting Journalist

The U.S. soldiers in Baghdad, Iraq who shot and killed Nicola Calipari, an Italian secret service agent escorting Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena to what he thought was safety on March 4, 2005, after she was freed from hostage takers, will be cleared, according to The Associated Press. Ms. Sgrena, a veteran correspondent who works for Italy's Il Manifesto, told TG3 television, according to Reuters: "Now they're not even talking about an accident, at least according to the reports, but it seems they want to lay all the blame on the Italians," "This represents a slap in the face for the Italian government."

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April 24, 2005

The Interpreter: A Four Stars Political Thriller

"The Interpreter" is not for you if your film appetite leans towards French Connection-style car chases or violence such as that in Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry movies. But if you are looking for a slice of life in the world of diplomacy and intrigue, with deception thrown, in you will thoroughly enjoy this political thriller starring Sean Penn, Nicole Kidman and the United Nations, where much of it was shot. One cannot but reflect on what it takes to keep the lid on or end regional crises so they don't threaten international peace. I highly recommend this film. It's a four star thriller.

I saw Director Sydney Pollack's 128 minute Universal Pictures production at Loew's Cineplex here in Chicago, where the cost of a ticket was $9.25. Loew's was one of the 2,758 theaters in which the film opened on April 22 in the U.S. and Canada. According to Reuters, "the film opened last weekend overseas, grossing $9.3 million from 1,157 playdates in the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia, among other foreign territories." This weekend's take was "$22.8 million in receipts, easily knocking "The Amityville Horror" to second place with $14.2 million," according to MarketWatch.

The theater was already sold out when my wife and I arrived for a 3 o'clock showing. We decide to catch the 4 o'clock show. This gave me a chance to observe those waiting to get in and those leaving the theater. In fact, I observed three audiences and noted that each was 99.9 percent Caucasian. They were also mostly of middle age. I wondered why the film did not attract many African-Americans or Hispanics since most of the nations in the UN are populated by people of color. This is something that General Electric, the owner of Universal, may want to look into.Anyway, "The Interpreter" is an excellent thriller despite Sean Penn's tiresome, sad-faced smirk that seems to be his trademark. He plays Federal Agent Tobin Keller who is assigned to protect the "The Interpreter,'' Sylvia Broome, one of the 113 staff interpreters, not translators, hired by the U.N. She is African-born and is from the fictional African nation of Matobo (Zimbabwe). She speaks an obscure tribal dialect among other languages.

While returning to U.N. headquarters to retrieve her bags following a building evacuation, she overhears a plot to assassinate Matobo President Edmund Zuwani, who is scheduled to address the United Nation's General Assembly. Zuwani, a one-time highly revered intellectual and liberator turned tyrant in his old age, is trying to protect himself from prosecution for crimes against humanity. His argument is that his actions were undertaken to thwart terrorism in Matobo. He is played by Bermuda-born actor Earl Cameron, who made his film debut in the 1951 movie "There Is Another Sun."

Of course what Broome overhears puts her in danger. Her identity becomes known when a light in the booth where she works is flipped on and the plotters get a good look at her. She goes to the Feds with what she knows and Keller is assigned to thwart the plot, if there is one. Only he doesn't believe her, or doesn't think she is telling the whole truth. There is no love lost between the two although a friendship eventually blossoms. In fact, Keller is pining over his wife, who left him for a dancer. Perhaps that accounts for the sadness he displays in the first half of the movie.

The assassination plot is believable to this reviewer. I had scares in Jamaica in 1979 while covering a United nations Conference Against Apartheid, where someone I trust overheard Jamaican agents saying I was a U.S. intelligence agent and speculating whether to do me harm. In Libya in the early 1980s, while covering an Organization of African Unity Summit, I was placed on a watch list and was allowed to leave the country after a Libyan official who had studied in the United States, and had befriended me, demanded that I be allowed to leave. Again, I was suspected of being American intelligence American agent.

Finally, it is quite scary when someone whispers in your ear and tells you that you are being watched by agents. It takes a certain coolness to operate under that kind of pressure. And coolness is what the assassins in "The Interpreter" have. They are played ably by Byron Utley and Michael Wright, another perpetual brooder in films. I think the ending will surprise you.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 05:26 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Is John Bolton Winning His Confirmation Battle?

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note has an insightful analysis of the Bolton confirmation battle headlined The John Bolton Battle: Who is Winning?Mr. Bolton is President George W. Bush's choice for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

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U.S. Army Clears Sanchez, Other Top Brass of Abu Ghraib Abuses

The Sunday Times of London: "The American army has cleared Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, former senior commander in Iraq, and three other top officers of all allegations of wrongdoing in connection with prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib jail." Here's more.

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HRW Wants Rumsfeld, Tenet Investigated for Torture

Human Rights Watch HRW) has issued a report titled Getting Away with Torture?Command Responsibility for the U.S. Abuse of Detainees. HRW notes in the Executive Summary:

It has now been one year since the appearance of the first pictures of U.S. soldiers humiliating and torturing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Shortly after the photos came out, President George W. Bush vowed that the wrongdoers will be brought to justice.

In the intervening months, it has become clear that torture and abuse have taken place not solely at Abu Ghraib but rather in dozens of U.S. detention facilities worldwide, that in many cases the abuse resulted in death or severe trauma, and that a good number of the victims were civilians with no connection to al-Qaeda or terrorism. There is also evidence of abuse at U.S.-controlled secret locations abroad and of U.S. authorities sending suspects to third-country dungeons around the world where torture was likely to occur.

To date, however, the only wrongdoers being brought to justice are those at the bottom of the chain-of-command. The evidence demands more. Yet a wall of impunity surrounds the architects of the policies responsible for the larger pattern of abuses.

As this report shows, evidence is mounting that high-ranking U.S. civilian and military leaders including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former CIA Director George Tenet, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, formerly the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Major General Geoffrey Miller, the former commander of the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba made decisions and issued policies that facilitated serious and widespread violations of the law. The circumstances strongly suggest that they either knew or should have known that such violations took place as a result of their actions. HRW said, "There is also mounting data that, when presented with evidence that abuse was in fact taking place, they failed to act to stem the abuse."

This article is also posted at The Opinion Gazette.

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April 23, 2005

Summit Leaders Endorse Asia-Africa Strategic Partnership

"Leaders of more than 100 Asian and African countries representing two thirds of the world's population endorsed on Saturday, April 23, 2005, a strategic partnership aimed at breathing new life into a half-century alliance," according to Islam Online.net. The publication cites an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report in which Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, host to the now concluded Asian-African Summit, as saying:

Through this partnership we will create, in the years ahead, a legacy of social, economic and cultural development for future generations of Asians and Africans.The declaration of the new Asian-African strategic partnership is a milestone.

According to Islam Online, "the meeting marked the 50th anniversary of the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in the Indonesian city of Bandung, where the Third World sought to assert itself for the first time, inspiring the Non-Aligned Movement." South African President Thabo Mbeki, the co-host of conference, said on April 23, 2005, "We have the responsibility to follow up on all of this." If they do follow up, it should enhance African and Asian economic development and diplomatic and political cooperation. Here's more.

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Scientists Ask Nuclear Powers to Work to Abolish all Nuclear Arms

The Committee of Seven for World Peace Appeal, "a seven-member group of Japanese scientists and academics has urged the world's five major nuclear powers to stick to a global treaty on nuclear nonproliferation and work toward the complete abolition of nuclear arms," reports The Japan Times. If non-white nations can't have nuclear nations, then all nations should get rid of theirs. That would end the double standard on nuclear issues. Here's more.

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'The Interpreter' Getting Coverage Around the World

The Interpreter, which Sun-Sentinel.Com of Florida calls "A thriller for smart grown-ups" and Xinhua of China says brings "glitz, gore to UN," is being talked about around the world. Maybe it's because the UN is one of the stars. I intend to see it today. I also intend to post a review. By the way, most of the reviews I've read have been positive.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 09:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Moussaoui's al-Qaida Role Was to 'Strike the White House'

Al-Qaida operative Zacarias Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy on April 22, 2005, said he was not scheduled to be part of the September 11, 2001 al-Qaida mission that attacked the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Instead, he was chosen for a later mission in which his role was to fly a 747 and "strike the White House" with it. This was a "different conspiracy than 9/11," he said.

I hope the full transcript of his confession is released immediately so those of us interested can get the entire context of the confession. I also want Mr. Moussaoui's views on the history of the conspiracy. Mainstream media and blogger reports, including this one, do not have the depth that I seek. Here's more on his April 22, 2005 confession. And here is a Findlaw link to the pleadings in United States v. Zacarias Moussaoui aka Shaqil, aka Abu Khalid al Sahraw.

Note: This post can also be found at The Opinion Gazette and The National Political Observer.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 08:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 21, 2005

The Asian-African Business Summit

On April 21, 2005, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono opened the Asian-African Business Summit, according to Jakarta Post.Com. The publication said the summit was "attended by at least 500 businesspeople from 24 countries from the Asian and African continents." Here's more.

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Historic Asia-Africa Summit Gets Underway in Indonesia

The Times of India notes that, "while many Asian and African nations enjoy greater political freedoms and more peace 50 years after the first Asia-Africa summit, poverty has risen dramatically in the two continents and this weekend leaders will seek ways to profit from closer, strategic ties." Here's more.

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Is Rice Trying to Instigate Revolution in Belarus?

Roland Watson, The Times of London's Washington correspondent:Condoleeza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State, said yesterday [April 21, 2005] that Belarus was the last dictatorship in Central Europe and encouraged voters to evict its tyrannical ruler. "It's time for change in Belarus," Dr Rice said after meeting seven leading Belarussian dissidents in Lithuania. She said the presidential elections next year would provide the opportunity for voters to express their will, and that Washington will watch carefully to ensure that they were free and fair." I guess it's ok to foment revolution in Belarus while punishing guerillas in Iraq for doing the same. Here's more.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 10:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sue Blackwell Defends Boycott of Israeli Academics

Guardian Unlimited: "Sue Blackwell, a Birmingham lecturer, who is launching her second attempt to secure a national boycott of Israeli academia, said that, if successful, the move would increase the pressure on the "illegitimate state of Israel". She accused the country's universities of being complicit in the alleged abuse of Palestinians in the occupied territories." Here's more. Another perspective is here.

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AIPAC Dumps Staffers Under Investigation in Pentagon Spy Case

Nathan Guttman at Haaretz.Com analyzes American-Israel Public Affairs Committee's pragmatic decision to fire policy director Steve Rosen and Iran expert Keith Weissman. Both men and Pentagon staffer Lawrence Franklin are under investigation for allegedly being part of an Israeli spy ring in the Pentagon. Speculation has it that Mr. Franklin is an Israeli mole who passed classified documents on U.S. policy on Iran to Israel through the two men. According to Mr. Guttman:

The two senior officials directly concerned with the Franklin affair - Rosen and Weissman - will have to pay the price by facing legal charges, possibly even indictments, analysts in Washington said yesterday, while the organization will emerge almost unscathed. But the price will be a heavy one. Rosen is not merely another AIPAC official; in the eyes of many, he is AIPAC itself. He joined the lobby after the struggle over the sale of AWACS surveillance equipment to Saudi Arabia, a struggle that AIPAC lost but that put it on the map at Capitol Hill.Rosen pushed not only for lobbying with Congressmen but also directly with the executive branch. His executive lobbying proved a success and Rosen was seen coming and going at the White House, State Department and Pentagon, advocating Israel's case.

Mr. Guttman also said, "While very little is being said by the sides, it is clear that Rosen and AIPAC are not parting as friends." Read more here.

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Rice calls Russia a ‘Strategic Partner’

The Daily Times of Pakistan reports that, "U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, balancing her harsh criticisms of Russia's democratic record, Wednesday [April 20, 2005] called Moscow a strategic partner and urged boosted cooperation on several fronts during talks with President Vladimir Putin." She said:

Russia is not a strategic enemy. We are not against Russia

The papers said Ms. Rice also told Moscow Echo radio "before leaving for delicate talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and later Putin in the Kremlin":

We see Russia as a strategic partner in the war on terror. We see Russia as a strategic partner in stopping the spread of weapons of mass destruction. We see Russia as a strategic partner in solving regional issues like the Balkans and the Middle East.

Here's more of the Daily Times report.

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April 19, 2005

Did Bolton Keep Iran, IAEA Reports From Powell and Rice?

Washington Post Staff Writer Dafna Linzer reports that, "John R. Bolton -- who is seeking confirmation as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations -- often blocked then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and, on one occasion, his successor, Condoleezza Rice, from receiving information vital to U.S. strategies on Iran, according to current and former officials who have worked with Bolton." If this is true, will he block crucial information about U.N. developments? If so, the Bush Administration may want to increase its spying on other U.N. delegations. Here's more.

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April 18, 2005

State Department to Stop Publishing Patterns of Global Terrorism

Has the Bush Administration decided to stop publishing Patterns of Global Terrorism, the annual report on international terrorism that the State Department has issued since 1985? Yes, reported Jonathan S. Landay of Knight Ridder Newspapers' Washington Bureau in an April 15, 2005 dispatch. But why? It's because "the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered," according to Mr. Landay. If the 2004 report is accurate, the Bush Administration is not winning the war on terrorism as it claims. Here's more.

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April 17, 2005

When Both Sides Take Hostages

Helena Cobban, in a commentary at Just World News in which she condemned the alleged taking of 200 Shias hostage in Madaen, Iraq, by Sunni Guerilla, asked:

But what, at the end of the day, is the moral difference between such hostage-taking and the practice of the US and Allawist forces up to now, of taking massive numbers of Iraqi "insurgents" as detainees and holding them-- often in undisclosed locations-- for weeks and months without trial?

Indeed, what is the difference? Read more here. Here's a link on alleged U.S. hostage taking in Iraq. Here's another.The U.S. is reportedly holding over 10,000 Iraqi prisoners. There are no clean hands in this war.

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April 16, 2005

John Bolton's Boosters

Dr. Demarche at The Daily DeMarche, which is described as "a blog by members of the State Department Republican underground conservative Foreign Service Officers serving overseas commenting on foreign policy and global reactions to America," offered a worth-reading commentary on the opposition to John R. Bolton becoming the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Dr. Demarche contends that:

Much has been written in the MSM about people opposing the nomination (my personal favorite proposes Michael Bolton, instead), and his confirmation vote has been delayed so that more negative testimony can be dredged up.

"Not surprisingly," Dr. Demarche added, "there has not been much coverage of those who support the nomination. Even less surprising is that this story has gotten almost no coverage." I found Dr. Demarche's post, headlined "Bolton Boosters, Inc.," quite informative.

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Senator Lincoln Chaffee and the Bolton Nomination

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note has an interesting analysis of the confirmation hearing of John R. Bolton, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, and President George W. Bush's choice to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He wrote in an April 16, 2005 post:

When most observers of the John Bolton jousting match were focusing on whether [Senator] Lincoln Chafee was going to support or oppose Bolton, many of his advocates and opponents did not realize that the testimony that unfolded in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as well as other disconcerting reports in the media had seriously shaken other members, particularly Republican members, of the Committee." He added: Endorsing or working against Bolton's nomination is not a partisan matter -- or should not be.

Mr. Clemons said, "there are lots of Republicans irritated by the carelessness of this nomination by President Bush. But," he added, "what has played in much of the press -- around the entire nation -- is that the U.S. Senate is about to confirm a person who demonstrates tendencies that seem "monstrous" to some. In a nation where people value fairness, civility, balance, and decency -- supporting Bolton raises other potential costs for Senators," Mr. Clemons asserted.

Mr. Bolton, who was nominated on March 7, 2005, has encountered serious opposition from some Democrats, diplomats and intelligence professionals. Here's more of Mr. Clemon's analysis

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April 11, 2005

Belle Ciao's Coverage of Baghdad Rally

On April 9, 2005, Belle Ciao published an informative article and photos on what it called a "Massive "End the Occupation" Protest in Baghdad" that "Dwarfs the "Saddam Toppled" rally." Read it here.

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April 03, 2005

Asian-African Summit Set for April 22-23, 2005

China View reports that, "Indonesia will host the Asian-African Summit on April 22-23 to commemorate the golden jubilee of historic gathering of Asian-African leaders in the West Java town of Bandung in 1955, that gave a birth to the Non-Aligned Movement and the anti-colonialism and anti-racial segregation principles. The forthcoming summit will bring the theme of "Reinvigorating the Bandung Spirit: Working toward a New Asian-African Strategic Partnership," the journal said. Read more here.

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March 25, 2005

Washington Post: 'U.N. Report Quotes Threat By Assad to Harm Hariri'

Washington Post staff writer Colum Lynch said in March 25, 2005 article that "Syrian President Bashar Assad threatened former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri with "physical harm" last summer if Hariri challenged Assad's dominance over Lebanese political life, contributing to a climate of violence that led to the Feb. 14 slayings of Hariri and 19 others, according to testimony in a report released Thursday [March 24, 2005] by a U.N. fact-finding team." Mr. Lynch also wrote:

The report, which calls for an international investigation into Hariri's death, describes an August meeting in Damascus at which Assad ordered the Lebanese billionaire to support amending Lebanon's constitution, according to testimony from "various" sources who discussed the meeting with Hariri. The amendment, approved Sept. 3, allowed Emile Lahoud, the Syrian-backed Lebanese president, to remain in office for three more years.

The alleged threat against Mr. Hariri was reported on March 22, 2005 by The New York Times.. Here is the Washington Post report.

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March 20, 2005

Peter Taylor: 'We Have Been Here Before'

Peter Taylor of The Guardian: There's never been a St Patrick's Day like it. Gerry Adams, traditionally feted in Washington as the Irish Mandela, found the door of the White House metaphorically shut in his face, while the five sisters of Robert McCartney and his partner shook the president's hand. The media, most of which had long abandoned Ireland, loved the story and its unlikely heroines." Here's more.

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March 11, 2005

Secretary of State Rice to Visit South Korea March 19-20, 2005

The Korea Times reports that "U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Seoul March 19-20 [2005] as part of an Asian trip. The central issue of her visit will be North Korea's nuclear weapons program, officials in Seoul and Washington said" March 10, 2005, according to the publication. Here's more on the visit.

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March 03, 2005

Qaddafi: Transfer Security Council Powers to U.N. General Assembly

"Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi was quoted as saying on Wednesday [March 3, 2005]that the United Nations must scrap the Security Council and give its powers to the General Assembly, if it ever hopes to become a truly democratic organization," according to the Associated Press.

The wire service noted that, "in a full-page advertisement in The Guardian newspaper, [Mr.] Qadhafi called the UN Security Council “an ugly, forceful, and horrible instrument of dictatorship _ an executioner’s whip with no appeal against its judgment, even if its judgment is unfair, biased and harmful.” I totally agree that the Security Council is an anachronistic and undemocratic institution. Here's more.

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February 26, 2005

Baradei to Issue Full Report on Iran's Nuclear Activity

Mohamed El Baradei, head of the United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is scheduled to "issue a full report" on Iran's nuclear program "when his agency's 35-nation board of governors meets in Vienna" on February 28, 2005 "to review how to proceed on Iran," according to Agence France Presse. Read more here.

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February 23, 2005

'Allawi Still Thinks He Could Run Iraq for Bush

Deep Blade Journal, a blog in the Bangor, Maine area, has an informative analysis of the political jockeying in Iraq. It's headlined "Iraq PM game not over: Allawi still thinks he could run Iraq for Bush ." I recommend it.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 05:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 22, 2005

Is the U.S. Role in the World to Spread Democracy?

Associate Press (AP) Writer Will Lester reported February 22, 2005 that President George W. Bush "is calling on European leaders to support his campaign to spread democracy abroad at a time people in many of those countries have doubts whether that should be the U.S. role in the world." His conclusion is based on AP polling. I expect the AP's results to be widely debated and challenged in the blogosphere. Here is the AP report.

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Bush, Yushchenko Meet Briefly in Brussels

Radio Free Europe (RFE) reported February 22, 2005 that "Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko met briefly with U.S. President George W. Bush on the sidelines of today's NATO summit in Brussels. The meetings come after Bush yesterday called for Ukraine to be welcomed into what he called "the Euro-Atlantic family," RFE said.

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Talks Between Indonesia, Aceh Resistance Movement at Delicate Stage

Helsingin Sanomat of Finland reported February 22, 2005 that "talks aimed at ending three decades of hostilities in Indonesia's Aceh Province continued in Vantaa" on February 21, 2005. "The talks are being led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, the paper said, noting that Mr. Ahtisaari "did not want to comment on progress in the talks, which he said were in a "delicate phase". The paper added:

Discussions are focusing on an arrangement under which Aceh would remain a part of Indonesia, with a certain degree of autonomy. Negotiators representing the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) went through the difficult agenda on Monday.

Helsingin Sanoma said the focus for February 22, 2005 "is to be on a more detailed analysis of the various points." Here's more.

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Bush: 'A state of Scattered Territories Will Not Work'

Roland Watson and Rory Watson of The Times Online reported February 22, 2005 that "President Bush gave a stern warning to Israel yesterday as he set the bruised transatlantic alliance a series of grand goals for the 21st century. Mr Bush used the keynote address of his European visit to lay out tough terms for Israel before peace could be established in the Middle East," they wrote, adding:

He said that Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, must stop all settlement activity in the West Bank. And he went further than ever before in insisting that an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank had to be large-scale rather than piecemeal

. "Referring to the resulting Palestinian state," The Times added, "Mr Bush said: “A state of scattered territories will not work.” The line produced one of the biggest rounds of applause, which was polite if hardly enthusiastic, from the audience of 300 European dignitaries in Brussels." Here's more.

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February 21, 2005

Was the Hariri Hit a Brilliant Achievement or Fatal Blunder?

Nelson Ascher at EuroPundits, in commenting on the speculation surrounding the February 14, 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, said what he’d "really like to know, and have not been seeing very much addressed anywhere, is more about what kind of power struggle may be taking place in Damascus," the Syrian capital.

Has, for instance, some Syrian faction perpetrated the attack in order to embarrass another Syrian faction? Is the answer to be found in divisions not inside Lebanon, but Syria? A good informative analysis of Syria’s internal problems and quarrels would come in handily.

But how independent is Syria itself? If there’s a country interested in upping the ante in the region right now and, perhaps, diverting attention from itself to Syria, that is Iran. My impression is that, nowadays, Baby Doc Assad is nothing but the ayatollahs’ poodle.

What makes things even stranger in this case is that the murdered politician was, ostensibly at least, a close friend of Jacques Chirac’s. One can, and should, say many things about the guy, but he doesn’t look like the kind of person who takes slights lightly. One could expect now a Bush-Chirac anti-Syrian and maybe anti-Iranian alliance: or could one? If, as far as we can know, there’s a spark that could ignite some Franco-American collaboration, this would be it.

"After all," he said, "the last time France and the U.S. worked really close together was precisely in Lebanon over twenty years ago and, even then, they were targeted by the same people: it wasn’t only American marines who died in suicide-bombings, French soldiers were also killed. And also French diplomats and journalists. The killers were almost certainly obeying orders from Hafez Assad."

Mr. Ascher, who was born in Brazil but now lives in Europe, also asked: "How much do we know about both countries’ joint efforts in Lebanon during the early 80s? What was left of them? Will this murder bring both of them closer together? Was Hariri’s killing a brilliant achievement, a kind of test or a miscalculation, a fatal blunder?" Great questions. If only we could get answers.Here is more of his interesting analysis of the assassination.

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EU Referendum's Analysis of President Bush's Brussels Speech

EU Referendum says there was "was, unsurprisingly, very little that was unexpected in President Bush’s speech this evening [in Brussels]. He talked much about the need to fight for freedom and democracy, in the Middle East and in Eastern Europe. He criticized Russia as strongly as he could." Here's more.

Here are more view from Bloggers
Bush Presses Europe to Back Middle East Democracy--By Life, Liberty and Property
The Irony of his Words--By Crashpoint-Politics
Spreading Liberty--By Dr. Sanity
The President In Europe--By Penraker
Reality Shift--The Watchers

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Follow-up: Is Bush's European Trip Important to Top U.S. Bloggers?

After reading and linking to The Periscope's February 21, 2005 post that said there is "a dismal lack of coverage of [President] Bush's trip to Europe at top American blogs Instapundit and Hugh Hewitt and Daily Kos and Atrios, I e-mailed each blogger and asked if he planned to give much attention to the trip? I immediately received a response from Daily Kos and Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, the founder of Daily Kos. I'm still waiting to hear from the others.

The e-mail from Daily Kos said: "Probably not. Has anything happened on that trip worthy of mention?" An e-mail from Mr. Moulitsas asked:"Oh, and what the heck is "The Periscope"?

Meanwhile, Instapundit has posted links and commented on Mr. Bush's trip.

NOTE: The Daily Kos and the Moulitsas quotes were incorrectly attributed. They have been corrected.

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Is Bush's European Trip Important to Top U.S. Bloggers?

The Periscope notes that there is "a dismal lack of coverage of [President] Bush's trip to Europe at top American blogs Instapundit and Hugh Hewitt and Daily Kos and Atrios. The Diplomatic Times Review thinks The Periscope is doing a great job covering Mr. Bush's European trip. This is where I visit for special coverage.

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February 19, 2005

Link to U.S. Mission to EU Web Page

If you want to hear President George W. Bush's speech during the February 22, 2005 U.S.-European Union Summit in Brussels, visit the website of the U.S. Mission to the EU for instructions.

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India Daily Sees a Strange Australian Link to Hariri Assassination

Was Syria really involved in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri?" asks India Daily in a though-provoking, February 19, 2005 article headlined "A strange Australian connection to Lebanese assassination – was Syria really involved?"

The article, written by a "staff reporter", says "The answer to this question took a strange bizarre turn as Lebanese authorities found some strange Australian connections." The paper added:

According to media reports, Lebanese authorities are searching for 12 Australian men in conjunction with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Lebanese Justice Minister Adnan Addoum said the suspects have Australian passports and that six of them took a flight to Australia shortly after the Feb. 14 explosion that killed al-Hariri and 16 others. Police found traces of explosives on the plane.

The publication said "two Australians tried to leave Lebanon after the incident and missed their flights. Interpol agreed to interrogate the suspects."

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February 14, 2005

Mainichi Daily News Interview Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski

Chiyako Sato, a correspondent in Mainichi Daily News of Japan's Washington Bureau, recently Interviewed Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981 about President George W. Bush's January 20, 2005, State of the Union address and it's implications. Asked if the influence of the Neocons would decline during Mr. Bush's second term, Mr. Brzezinski said:

You want everything kind of black and white and the world doesn't work that way. You know, he will go up, this will go down and when -- that will be your next question. But at least, there is now a group of people who have a different way of looking at the world, more pragmatic, tough minded, but able to recognize nuances and complexities and with experience in dealing with our allies. If we have no difficulties in foreign policy of course policy won't change if it's continuously successful. You know if Iraq is a wonderful success, if having a bigger war with Iran is going to be a great success, which I think is doubtful, then of course we will continue but if it becomes to be more difficult that new team will begin to influence events.

Here is a link to the interview.

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February 08, 2005

Reiss and Gallucci Respond to Selig Harrison

Mitchell B. Reiss and Robert L. Gallucci, writing in the March/April 2005 issue of Foreign Affairs, said

As individuals who have negotiated with North Korea and are well versed in the development of Pyongyang's nuclear programs through our service in the Clinton and Bush administrations, we feel compelled to comment on Selig Harrison's "Did North Korea Cheat?" (January/February 2005) in order to clarify a number of the misstatements and misunderstandings in Harrison's article.

"The most serious of his allegations," they contend, "are that the Bush administration has politicized the question of North Korea's uranium-enrichment program; that U.S. allies and partners in the six-party talks do not share Washington's assessment of that program; and that the enrichment program is somehow not central to resolving the nuclear challenge Pyongyang poses to its neighbors and the world." Read more here.

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February 07, 2005

Asahi.Com on 'Relations With Russia'

Asahi.Com contends in a February 8, 2005 opinion piece that, "2005 offers ideal chance to resolve outstanding issues" between Russia and Japan. Chief among those issues is Japan's "continuing drive for the return of the four islands [of the Kurile Island archipelago], which Tokyo claims are unlawfully occupied by Russia," Asahi said, adding:

Moscow, on the other hand, shows no sign of agreeing to return all the four islands , even though it repeatedly has expressed its intention to settle the territorial issue by handing over jurisdiction of Habomai and Shikotan on the basis of the 1956 Japan-Soviet Joint Declaration.

Read Asahi's opinion piece headlined "Relations with Russia."

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February 04, 2005

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld's Resignation Offers

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who has been under persistent attack in recent weeks from some of the neo-conservatives that advocated and got an invasion of Iraq, disclosed February 3, 2005 that he had offered President George W. Bush his resignation twice during the embarassing Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in 2004, according to The Associated Press and other publications. "He said he wanted the decision on his future to be placed in Bush's hands," Robert Burn's, the AP's military writer, noted in a February 3, 2005 dispatch.

Question: Why does Mr. Rumsfeld need Mr. Bush to tell him to resign? I think he was looking for assurance from his boss that he could stay on despite creating a situation that caused Mr.Bush considerable embarassment. Mr. Bush has said, among the many reasons he has given for invading and occupying Iraq, that the U.S. had liberated Iraqis from torture and human rights abuses.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 04:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 03, 2005

Masud Barzani: Kurdistan's Independence is Inevitable

Masud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said February 2, 2005, that "when the right time comes" the independence of Kurdistan "will become a reality. Self-determination is the natural right of our people, and they have the right to express their desires," he added. Read more here.

Posted by Munir Umrani at 04:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack