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US Short of Diplomats in Iraq, Afghanistan
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Picture shows apartments and buildings in the US embassy complex in the heavily fortified Green Zone of Iraq. It is the worldÕs largest embassy.
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The US State Department is short of staff to meet the Pentagon’s need to reinforce the provincial reconstruction teams (PRT) in Iraq and Afghanistan, a senior US official said Monday.
To press his point, Eliot Cohen, counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, noted that the Defense Department employs more musicians than the State Department has diplomats, AFP reported.
According to government data, the State Department employs 12,000 people, 5,500 of whom are diplomats deployed in Washington and abroad.
“When I tell the 5,500 figure, the generals are usually shocked,“ Cohen told reporters after commenting that at the Defense Department “the appetite is unlimited“ for diplomats to join the understaffed PRTs.
The Pentagon’s workforce includes 1.3 million men and women on active duty, 1.1 million reservists in the National Guard and 669,000 civilian employees. Military bands alone count for 7,500 people.
A report earlier this month by the US House of Representatives’ Armed Services Committee found that PRTs are often unevenly staffed and led, and lack strategic guidance or oversight.
Rice has requested a budget supplement from Congress to provide for 1,200 additional PRT staff and a new civilian force to help the US military in post-war stabilization efforts.
Saddam’s Aid Trial
In another development, Tariq Aziz awaits an Iraqi court as the latest member of the Saddam’s inner circle to face trial.
Aziz, 72, the only Christian among Saddam’s mostly Sunni Muslim coterie, and five other defendants face charges in the 1992 execution of dozens of merchants accused of profiteering, AP said.
The trial, scheduled to begin Tuesday, could represent the last high-profile Saddam era figure to face prosecution for alleged atrocities.
But defenders of Aziz--who used his fluent English in countless interviews and news conferences as foreign minister and then deputy prime minister--accused the Shiite-led government of seeking revenge for Aziz’s refusal to testify against the late dictator.
Court Martial
Meanwhile, an Army sergeant killed a severely wounded and unarmed Iraqi insurgent after ordering a medic to suffocate him and then tried to cover up the crime, a military prosecutor said as the soldier’s court-martial began.
But Sgt. Leonardo Trevino’s attorney Richard V. Stevens said Monday that soldiers’ accounts of that June night last year in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, are inconsistent and contradict evidence from photos of the insurgent’s body. Stevens said the insurgent still posed a threat, even though he was wounded, AP said.
Trevino, of San Antonio, faces up to life in a military prison if convicted on premeditated murder and other charges in connection with the death.
Trevino is accused of shooting the Iraqi twice: in the abdomen, a nonfatal wound, and then in the head, fatally, after ordering an army medic to suffocate him. Trevino also is accused of lying to his superior, telling a soldier to drop a gun by the Iraqi’s body and instructing troops to say the man was armed.
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Turkey to Boost
Ties With Iraqi Kurds
Turkey expects an increase in the contacts with the Kurdish administration of northern Iraq in the coming days, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Monday. Foreign Minister Ali Babacan added such contacts could occur at various diplomatic levels and are important for fighting terrorists and for Iraq as a whole. Babacan’s remarks signalled a softening of the Turkish stance towards Iraqi Kurds. Turkish air strikes on the PKK in northern Iraq are “unfortunate“ and will do little to address Ankara’s concerns about security, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said on Monday, “HŸrriyet“ reported.
Babacan said Turkey has a policy framework of improving dialogue and relations with every group in Iraq, when a journalist asked whether there will be a special contact between Ankara and Arbil in a joint presser with his New Zealand counterpart Winston Peters.
“The policy we have been pursing about Iraq targets at further improving our dialogue and relations with all groups in the country. However, there were different points of view about the the local administration in north of Iraq and the PKK terrorist organization. Now, you can expect an increase in contacts with the local administration in north of Iraq on different levels,“ Babacan said.
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Israeli Warplanes Fly Over Beirut
The Lebanese army says Israeli warplanes have violated their airspace by flying missions over Beirut and elsewhere in the country.
The army said in a statement that 12 Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace before noon Monday, four flew over the Mediterranean off the coastal city of Byblos in the north and headed toward the eastern province of Hermel, AP said.
It added that eight other Israeli warplanes flew over the southern town of Rmeish, then headed north to Beirut, the Chouf mountains, southeast of the capital, and Hermel before flying back to the occupied territories. The Israeli over flights lasted about an hour, the statement said.
There was no immediate statement from the Israeli army which usually does not comment on its flights in Lebanon.
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Barak Responsible for Gaza Family Murder
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is personally responsible for the deaths of a Palestinian mother and her four children in Monday’s Israeli strike in Gaza, said Israeli politician and leader of the Arab Nationalist Party in Israel, Ahmed Tibi.
“What happened in Gaza is a war crime,“ Tibi told Israel Radio on Tuesday morning, according to the Israeli daily “Jerusalem Post“.
“[Palestinian President Mahmud] Abbas isn’t responsible; the Palestinians are not responsible for these deaths.“
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Mourners gather around the bodies of four Palestinian children and their mother from Abu Maateq family during their funeral in Gaza on April 28, 2008.
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“Whoever fires a shell from an aircraft into a civilian area of Gaza is responsible for these terrible deaths and Ehud Barak is personally responsible for this terrible killing,“ he said.
“It seems that recently Barak’s hands are contaminated with blood more than any other person in our region,“ Tibi added.
Meanwhile, Barak on Tuesday said it is not the right time for a ceasefire with Hamas.
Israel is “in a confrontation“ with the Palestinian resistance movement, and not in a situation to talk about calm, Barak was quoted as saying during a tour to the security barrier. He earlier vowed to continue raids against the Gaza Strip despite civilian deaths from Israeli attacks.
Barak declared on Monday that Israeli military forces “are acting and will continue to act against Hamas, within the Gaza Strip.“
Jordan-Egypt Discuss Truce
In other news, Jordan’s King Abdullah II held talks Monday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the Middle East peace process on the eve of inter-Palestinian talks hosted by Cairo on a truce proposal with Israel.
State-run MENA news agency said the Jordanian monarch and Mubarak met for one hour at Sharm el-Sheikh airport and discussed “efforts aimed at advancing the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.“
The talks also focused on moves “to unify Palestinian ranks and reach a truce between Israelis and Palestinians aimed at lifting the blockade“ imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip, AFP said.
Palestinian factions begin on Tuesday two days of talks with Egypt’s security chief Omar Suleiman aimed at unifying positions over a truce proposal made by Hamas.
The Islamist group said last week it was ready to accept a phased ceasefire that would start in Gaza and extend to the West Bank after six months.
Israel has rejected the truce and stepped up strikes on Gaza, instead.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas gave his unconditional support to Egypt’s mediation efforts with Israel, following talks in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday with Mubarak.
He earlier criticized US President George Bush for failing to fulfill its promises concerning the advancement of peace in the Middle East.
Israel has tightened restrictions on movement in and out of Gaza since Hamas took over control of the territory in June 2007.
King Abdullah II also briefed Mubarak on talks he had last week in Washington with US President George W. Bush, during which he urged him to set “clear grounds and fixed time-frames“ for stalled Middle East peace talks.
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Blair to Face MPs
Tony Blair will face members of the British parliament next month for the first time since resigning as prime minister 10 months ago to field questions about the Middle East.
Blair, who left Downing Street last June, now is the envoy for the Middle East Quartet--the European Union, Russia, the United
Nations and the United States--in which capacity he will address MPs on May 8, AFP reported.
He announced on Monday he has a list of West Bank problems for the Israeli regime.
On leaving office, Blair pledged he would not cause his successor Gordon Brown problems by meddling in domestic politics, but observers will be scrutinizing every word for any possible hints about his opinions.
News of his upcoming day in parliament came as opinion polls pointed to a kicking for Brown’s governing Labour Party in local elections in England and Wales on Thursday.
Blair’s name was in the headlines Sunday after Michael Levy, a close aide, said the former prime minister believed Brown could not beat opposition Conservative leader David Cameron in a general election.
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News Diary
LONDON - Elections for the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
TIBET - Riot-torn Tibet will be reopened to foreign tourists after a six-week closure, a move expected to revive the hard-hit tourism industry in the impoverished but scenic mountain area.
CHINA - According to a new government directive, Chinese companies will require the labels to show how much protein, fat, carbohydrate and sodium is in a food, and may also show the cholesterol, sugar and vitamin content. Companies will not be allowed to say their products are high in calcium, iron or low in fat unless they meet certain strict criteria.
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Jailed for Murder
Two Israeli border guards were sentenced to up to six and a half years in jail for the murder of a Palestinian teenager in the West Bank town of Hebron, court sources said.
Israel, Egypt FMs to Meet
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is scheduled to meet her Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Aboul Gheit in London on Friday in a bid to restore ties, “Haaretz“ wrote on Tuesday.
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Arabs Mull Reopening Baghdad Missions
Arab countries have no reservations about restoring diplomatic ties with Baghdad, an Arab League (AL) official said on Tuesday.
Arabs are keen to normalize ties with Iraq, which is a pivotal state in the Arab world, Hisham Youssef, head of the AL chief’s office was quoted on Tuesday by the Egyptian MENA news agency as saying.
However, he said there are circumstantial reasons which prevent some Arab countries from reopening their embassies in Iraq at the current stage.
Saudi Arabia and Egypt have expressed readiness to reopen their embassies in Baghdad but some preparations are still needed, the AL official noted.
On April 20, AL Secretary General Amr Moussa said he would soon appoint a high-level official to head the pan-Arab bloc’s mission in Iraq.
Arab countries hesitated to reopen embassies in Baghdad due to “security not political reasons,“ he added.
After a blast at the Jordanian embassy in Iraq in August 2003, which killed at least 17 people, many Arab diplomats chose to stay away from Baghdad.
In July 2005, Egypt pulled diplomats out of Iraq after its top envoy to Iraq Ihab Al-Sherif was kidnapped and then killed in Baghdad.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit promised earlier to send a team to assess security situation in Iraq as a preliminary step towards sending back its ambassador to Baghdad.
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US Rights Violations
By Ehsan Bakhshandeh
Many reports have been published about human rights violations by the US-led forces in Iraq.
On March 12, China accused the United States of human rights hypocrisy, as it branded the US invasion of Iraq the “greatest humanitarian disaster“ of the modern world.
This time, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) announced in a letter to the United Nations Security Council that the US has violated international humanitarian rules of prisoners in Iraq.
According to the HRW, incarcerating people without any charge and for long periods is a human rights violation which is currently taking place in Iraq by American forces.
Let’s not forget the Abu Ghraib prison case. Four years have passed and the United States has not yet allowed international observers and human rights activists visit the “prison of torture“.
Joe Stork, deputy director of HWR’s Middle East division, has called on the US government to allow visit to the Abu Ghraib prison.
Unofficial reports indicate that Iraqi prisoners in US custody are in harsh and poor conditions. Moreover, Iraqi prisoners are under torture. The environmental conditions of prisons are also in violation of international standards. This is while innocent Iraqis are kept in US prisons without committing any proven crime. Most prisoners are only “suspects“, awaiting trial, if any.
Such conditions are described by the human rights organizations as contradictory to the international humanitarian laws.
Based on international rules, the United States as an occupier of Iraq is not basically entitled to set up any prison or torture people in the occupied country.
So far many human rights entities and non-governmental organizations have protested at the human rights violations in US prisons in Iraq and other countries.
In Iran, the Society for Supporting Victims of Bush’s Policies, an NGO, has launched a campaign to bring US President George Bush to trial for committing war crimes and against humanity. A list of Bush’s war crimes and crimes against humanity has been provided in the website of the NGO.
In Malaysia, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has called for an international tribunal to try Bush and former prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain and John Howard of Australia with war crimes over the war in Iraq
China released a report in March, accusing the US of deliberately ignoring serious human rights problems.
As the world’s most publicized organization which claims to be seeking peace and security across the world, the United Nations is expected to act seriously against human rights violations in Iraq.
The United Nations has only warned of human rights violations in Iraq and expressed concern at the increasing number of people held on terrorist-related charges.
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Pakistan-Taliban Talks Halted
A Taliban commander halted peace talks with the government of Pakistan over its refusal to pull troops from a troubled tribal area, but a ceasefire remains intact, his spokesman said Monday.
Warlord Baitullah Mehsud, accused by the government of orchestrating the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, made the decision after meeting tribal elders acting as mediators.
“The government refused to pull out its forces from the tribal areas which forced Mehsud to call off the talks,“ Maulvi Omar, the spokesman for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban (Taliban Movement), told AFP.
Mehsud declared a unilateral truce last week with security forces in the lawless tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, after officials said the government had drafted a peace agreement with Islamic militants.
The deal included the withdrawal of government soldiers from some border areas, as well as the exchange of captives on both sides and a pledge not to launch attacks.
“Taliban remain firm in the ceasefire but Mehsud warned that if the government launched any action his fighters would retaliate,“ Omar said.
Omar also quoted the rebel commander as telling tribal elders on Monday that there were “elements who do not want peace in this country,“ adding that the negotiating team were “disappointed.“
Pakistan’s new government defeated the backers of President Pervez Musharraf in elections in February and has pledged to completely overhaul the key US ally’s pursuit of the “war on terror“.
The peace talks were aimed at making permanent a five-week lull in a wave of suicide attacks that has killed more than 1,000 people in Pakistan since the start of 2007.
23 More Killed in Afghan Violence
Afghan and foreign troops called in air strikes as they battled militants in a series of clashes that left at least 23 insurgents dead and 20 others wounded, officials said Tuesday.
The clashes happened in eastern and southern Afghanistan, where Taliban and other militant groups are waging an insurgency against government and foreign forces, AP reported.
The joint forces clashed with militants in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province on Monday, leaving six Taliban fighters dead and eight others wounded, said Zia Wali, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
There were no casualties among the Afghan and foreign forces, Wali said.
In southwestern Nimroz province, US-led coalition and Afghan troops killed several militants Monday during a clash in Khash Rod district, a coalition statement said Tuesday.
The troops were targeting a militant involved in the movement of weapons and fighters in the area, it said. They detained 14 other suspected militants during the raid.
In other violence, US and Afghan troops fought off coordinated insurgent attacks in eastern Afghanistan and called in air strikes that left a dozen militants dead and a dozen more wounded, the US military said in a statement.
As many as 40 insurgents attacked five military outposts Sunday in the Korangal Valley of eastern Kunar province using small-arms fire, rockets and mortars, the statement said. No US or Afghan soldiers were hurt.
15 Killed
An attack involving a suicide bombing in eastern Afghanistan Tuesday killed 15 Afghans and wounded 25 more, the NATO-led military force told AFP.
“Fifteen local nationals have been killed and 25 wounded,“ International Security Assistance Force spokesman Major Martin O’Donnell told AFP of the attack in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
Karzai Was Warned
Afghanistan’s intelligence chief said Tuesday President Hamid Karzai was warned of a weekend assassination plot against him, while admitting failings by security services.
Amrullah Saleh told the Afghan parliament that the plot to kill Karzai was hatched last month and the gunmen had rented the hotel room they opened fire from 45 days before the attack.
Karzai and other dignitaries escaped unharmed from Sunday’s assault during a ceremony in Kabul marking Afghanistan’s victory over the Soviet occupation of the country in the 1980s. Three other people, including a lawmaker, died.
“We had technical information ... that this work would happen,“ Saleh said.
An Afghan intelligence official has said about 100 people were ounded up for questioning after the attack. Some of those questioned have since been freed.
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