In this issue: 1) Lieberman and Lamont Battle to the Wire 2) Israel Considers Lebanese Troop Offer 3) After Bomb Kills Loved Ones, Life Turns Ghostly 4) NYT Editorial: Start Talking 5) Desolation: Hit on Bridge North of Tyre Isolates South of Lebanon 6) The Environment: Dry Forests in Northern Israel Are Damaged as Hezbollah's Rocket Attacks Ignite Fires 7) Israeli Soldiers Find a Tenacious Foe in Hezbollah 8) Lebanon's Proposals Change Dynamics 9) Christian support to Israel dies under hail of bombs 10) US Says Iran May Use Lebanon War to Hurt Iraq 11) Sanctions Threaten Russian Ties: Analysts 12) Soldier Who Testified on Killings Says He Feared for His Life 13) C.I.A. Contractor Goes to Trial in Abuse Case 14) Must Haves: Cellphones Top Iraqi Cool List 15) AP Blog: Suitcases Selling Well in Iraq 16) Half of U.S. Still Believes Iraq Had WMD 17) Mexico: Leftist Demands Overhaul on Top of Recount
Contents: 1) Lieberman and Lamont Battle to the Wire Patrick Healy New York Times August 8, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/nyregion/08campaign.html As Connecticut voters prepared for their highly anticipated Democratic primary today, Senator Joseph Lieberman and Ned Lamont, the two rivals for United States Senate, used sharply different tactics yesterday in a contest that appeared to be tightening. Lieberman, the three-term incumbent whose support for the Iraq war has cost him voters, held nine events over 13 hours. He also spent tens of thousands of dollars on an unconventional two-minute television ad in which he aligned himself with Democratic anger over Iraq and President Bush, an attempt to neutralize Mr. Lamont's signature antiwar message.At a news conference last night, Mr. Lamont tried to remind voters a final time of his political theme, saying he believed voters were "ready to change course," in the Senate and, implicitly, in Iraq. The Connecticut race, which has been regarded by some Democrats nationally as a referendum on the party's wartime posture, had been tilting in Lamont's favor in the last two weeks, according to public opinion polls and anecdotal evidence from voters. Yet Lieberman seem buoyed yesterday by a new poll from Quinnipiac University that showed him down by 6 points, within the poll's margin of sampling error.
2) Lebanese Offer to Send Troops to Patrol Border Is Considered by Israel Hassan M. Fattah And Steven Erlanger New York Times August 8, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/middleeast/08cnd-mideast.html Lebanon's government offered Monday to deploy 15,000 of its troops in the south if Israel entirely withdraws its forces, a largely symbolic maneuver that would answer a demand by the international community for Lebanon to secure its southern border, which is now controlled by Hezbollah. [The article does not explain why this should be considered a "largely symbolic maneuver" - JFP.] Ghazi Aridi, Lebanon's information minister, said the proposed deployment underscores the government commitment to a negotiated cease-fire."The army is ready," said Aridi. Israel's prime minister Olmert called the plan "interesting," and said he would study it. "The faster we can leave south Lebanon, the happier we will be," he said. Even so, Israeli officials are determined not to agree to a cease-fire that would allow Hezbollah to rebuild the positions it has been attacking over the last three weeks, and Olmert said his security cabinet would meet Wednesday to discuss expanding its ground campaign if no cease-fire were imminent. The longer it takes for an international force to arrive, the greater is the pressure on the government to order the army further north to push back the short-range Katyushas.
3) After Bomb Kills Loved Ones, Life Turns Ghostly Sabrina Tavernise New York Times August 8, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/middleeast/08survivor.html After a bomb hits, the remains of a life are modest. Ghazi Samra, a fisherman, is feeling the new shape of his. Last month, his wife, one of his daughters and a granddaughter were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Since then, his life has shrunk to the size of one crooked city block. He tries to sleep in an apartment that is not his own. He wears his wife's glasses, more out of a craving for closeness to her than as an aid to see. The shirt and shorts he is wearing are his brother's. He has not felt able to return to his own apartment. "I became a different person," said Mr. Samra, sitting on a battered chair in a local gathering space at the intersection of two narrow stone streets. "I can't talk with my children. I'm not wearing my own clothes."
4) Editorial: Start Talking New York Times August 8, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/opinion/08tue1.html When asked yesterday why the US isn't talking with Syria about the Lebanon crisis, President Bush replied, "Syria knows what we think." That may be. But Syria is also unlikely to even consider doing what Bush wants - rein in Hezbollah and help halt the killing in Lebanon and Israel - unless its leaders know what potential rewards as well as punishments await them. And for that, the US needs to offer a serious high-level discussion with Syria, and it needs to do it now.
5) Desolation: Hit on Bridge North of Tyre Isolates South of Lebanon Sabrina Tavernise New York Times August 8, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/middleeast/08tyre.html The one bridge into Lebanon's south that remained is now gone. The crossing point carried almost all of the traffic over the Litani River, the strategic line that separates Lebanon's north from its south. It was hit by an Israeli bomb overnight on Sunday. Traffic to the south has been cut. A single tree lying on its side from bank to bank is all that links the river's two sides, said Doctors Without Borders. "Now all the population living in the south is completely isolated," said Sergio Cecchini, a spokesman for the group, whose workers brought medical supplies across the river on Monday by walking into the water. Even before the bridge went out, conditions had become so difficult that the International Committee of the Red Cross had not gone to villages in the south in three days. In one village, a patient could not be reached by rescue workers for four days, and her leg had to be amputated. Grandmothers in hospitals here in Tyre beg ambulance drivers for rides home, afraid of being shot. On Sunday, missiles killed a man drinking coffee and a bread truck driver, and nearly hit a convoy of journalists, all in town, rescue workers said.
6) Dry Forests in Northern Israel Are Damaged as Hezbollah's Rocket Attacks Ignite Fires Dina Kraft New York Times August 8, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/middleeast/08fires.html The Hezbollah rocket fire that has kept Israelis in the north of the country in underground bomb shelters for weeks is also taking a toll on the environment there, igniting hundreds of fires in Israel's few forests, in the Galilee region. Officials estimated Monday that as much as 9,000 acres of land, including almost 3,000 acres of forest, has been damaged by fire in the nearly four weeks of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
7) Israeli Soldiers Find a Tenacious Foe in Hezbollah Jonathan Finer Washington Post Tuesday, August 8, 2006; A01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/07/AR2006080701453.html While guarding a house in southern Lebanon, Matan Tyler received an unusual order from his commander: Watch out for guys wearing Israeli uniforms. A day earlier, a nearby regiment had been approached by fighters wearing familiar olive shirts and vests with Hebrew writing, Tyler said he was told. The fighters -- Hezbollah militiamen disguised as Israelis -- opened fire on a house full of Israeli soldiers. "You really can't underestimate the Hezbollah," said Tyler, a member of the army's Nahal Brigade. "They are the masters of the field. They know the area better than us. They know where to hide and when to move. They always know where we are." The incident is one among dozens of examples of an enemy that has proven more resilient and better-equipped than Israeli military forces anticipated. After nearly four weeks of air attacks and ground combat, Israeli military officials say that they have killed only a small fraction of Hezbollah's fighters and that the group still has hundreds of launchers and thousands of rockets at its disposal.
8) Lebanon's Proposals Change Dynamics Arab Delegation to Meet With Security Council as Bush Urges Swift Action Michael A. Fletcher and Robin Wright Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, August 8, 2006; A15 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/05/AR2006080500533.html U.S. diplomatic efforts to end the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah stalled Monday amid growing divisions over terms to end the conflict. Lebanon won Arab League support for major revisions to expedite a cease-fire and withdrawal of Israeli forces. An Arab League delegation is scheduled to meet today with the U.N. Security Council to press for amendments to the proposal, prompting officials to postpone a vote on the resolution until later in the week. In a dramatic move, Lebanon's government, including cabinet ministers belonging to Hezbollah, voted unanimously on Monday to deploy 15,000 troops in the south along the border with Israel. It also proposed two major amendments to accompany the deployment. One change calls for Israel, upon cessation of hostilities, to hand over the territory it holds to U.N. troops already deployed in the south and then pull out. Within 72 hours, the U.N. force would transfer control to the Lebanese army. Lebanon also proposed that Shebaa Farms, a disputed territory where Hezbollah and Israel have waged their most intense confrontation for six years, be handed over to U.N. custody until the border between Lebanon and Syria can be determined. Hezbollah has justified keeping a private army to regain control of Shebaa Farms, which abuts Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
9) Christian support to Israel dies under hail of bombs The Telegraph Group Limited 08/06/2006 08:24 PM http://archive.gulfnews.com/region/Lebanon/10057969.html For the first 24 days of Israel's campaign against Hezbollah, Lebanese Christians in the Beirut area believed they were protected from the mayhem gripping other parts of the country. But a 15-minute air raid shortly after dawn yesterday on the attractive port of Jounieh destroyed the complacency of the Christians and served to turn them against the Israelis. The capital of Lebanon's Christian heartland is unused to such violence. Even during the 15 years of the 1975-1990 civil war, when Christian and Muslim militias sowed destruction across the country, Jounieh survived unscathed a party zone of nightclubs and beach resorts 10 miles from Beirut. The Israelis' target was not the Christians of Jounieh but its bridges, two in the town and two a little to the north. The intent was to sever the last artery connecting Beirut to the outside world, and in that the Israelis succeeded. But the strikes also destroyed whatever support Israel still enjoyed among Lebanon's Christians.
10) US Says Iran May Use Lebanon War to Hurt Iraq Reuters August 8, 2006 Filed at 8:35 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iraq-usa-iran.html The U.S. ambassador to Iraq accused Iran on Tuesday of having forces in Iraq and said Tehran could use the war between Hizbollah militants and Israel in Lebanon to try and further destabilize the country. "The region is very much interconnected. What happened in Lebanon affects things here,'' Zalmay Khalilzad said. "Iran ... has some forces here. There is the possibility that they might encourage those forces to create increased instability here.'' The US has repeatedly accused Iran of fomenting violence and instability by sending weapons and fighters into Iraq, a charge Tehran denied. It also accuses Iran, as well as Syria, of backing Shi'ite Hizbollah in its fight against Israel. The Islamic Republic, which has dramatically improved ties with its fellow Shi'ites leading the Baghdad government, says it wants a stable Iraq.
11) Sanctions Threaten Russian Ties: Analysts Reuters August 7, 2006 Filed at 4:10 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-russia-usa-sanctions.html U.S. sanctions against two leading Russian arms exporters mark a new low in already chilly ties between Moscow and Washington and could hurt business deals worth billions of dollars. The US announced sanctions on Friday on seven firms from Russia, India, North Korea and Cuba for selling restricted items to Iran. The sanctions were imposed on Russian state export agency Rosoboronexport, headed by a close friend of President Putin, and state-owned warplane maker Sukhoi. "This is going to be very serious because this threatens President Putin and some of his very closest people,'' Pavel Felgenhauer, a Moscow-based defense analyst, said. "The official reaction from the Kremlin, especially when it sinks in about how serious this is, will be severe. I think there will be countermeasures.'' The Kremlin has so far made no comment. The foreign ministry has called the sanctions an "illegitimate attempt'' to make foreign companies work by American rules. Moscow's press reacted sharply, the daily Izvestia daily calling the U.S. move "practically a declaration of economic war against Russia.'' Kommersant's frontpage headline said "The Strategic Partnership between the U.S. and Russia has Ended.'' Rosoboronexport chief Sergei Chemezov played down Washington's decision, saying his company would not be hurt by the sanctions, which affect only purchases by U.S. government agencies, not those by private companies. "Rosoboronexport has no contracts with the United States,'' Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. "The sanctions are a purely political action.'' Analysts said the sanctions could hurt the chances of U.S. companies bidding for business in Russia.
12) Soldier Who Testified on Killings Says He Feared for His Life Paul von Zielbauer New York Times August 8, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/middleeast/08iraq.html An American Army private who was close to four soldiers charged with raping a 14-year-old girl and then killing her and her family in March described at a hearing on Monday how he became the whistleblower in the case and how, once he spoke to military investigators, he feared for his life. Justin Watt, who was in the same platoon as the four soldiers and another former soldier accused of the crimes, said he came forward after piecing together an account from soldiers he suspected were involved in the March 12 episode. He felt obligated to say something, he said, out of a sense of loyalty to the friends who had fought in Iraq and died.
13) C.I.A. Contractor Goes to Trial in Abuse Case Associated Press August 8, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/us/08abuse.html A C.I.A. contractor broke both the agency's rules and the law when he used a two-foot-long metal flashlight to beat an Afghan man who later died, a prosecutor said Monday at the federal trial of the first American civilian charged with mistreating a detainee in Iraq or Afghanistan. Lawyers for the defendant, David Passaro, a onetime Special Forces medic, said he had been a frustrated but concerned interrogator who never hit the man and who checked daily on his condition.
14) Must Haves: Cellphones Top Iraqi Cool List Damien Cave New York Times August 8, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/middleeast/08cellphone.htm The cool kids in Iraq all want an Apache, the cellphone they've named after an American military helicopter. Next on the scale of hipness comes a Humvee, followed by the Afendi, a Turkish word for dapper, and a sturdy, rounded Nokia known as the Allawi, a reference to the stocky former prime minister, Ayad Allawi. Even more telling are the text messages and images that Iraqis share over their phones. One of the most popular messages making the rounds appears onscreen with the image of a skeleton. "Your call cannot be completed," it says, "because the subscriber has been bombed or kidnapped."
15) AP Blog: Suitcases Selling Well in Iraq Robert H. Reid Associated Press Tuesday, August 8, 2006; 8:57 AM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR2006080800356.html The only store open last weekend at a shopping district in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood was the one selling suitcases. And business was brisk. It seems like every Iraqi in what passes for the middle class either knows someone who has left or is planning to leave. Better-off Iraqis head for Jordan, Syria or the United Arab Emirates, or send their families there. Those without enough money head for areas within Iraq where their religious sect is in the majority. With sectarian death squads lurking, there's safety in numbers. Those who stay put in places where they are in the minority are not necessarily the bravest: they just don't have enough money to leave. Moving isn't that simple. Rents have skyrocketed in Baghdad neighborhoods that are deemed safe, a relative term here in Iraq. Many of those who flee the capital altogether end up living with relatives since chances of finding another job in provincial cities are not good.
16) Half of U.S. Still Believes Iraq Had WMD Charles J. Hanley Associated Press August 7, 2006 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0807-05.htm Do you believe in Iraqi "WMD"? Did Saddam Hussein's government have weapons of mass destruction in 2003? Half of America apparently still thinks so, a new poll finds, and experts see a raft of reasons why: a drumbeat of voices from talk radio to die-hard bloggers to the Oval Office, a surprise headline here or there, a rallying around a partisan flag, and a growing need for people, in their own minds, to justify the war in Iraq. People tend to become "independent of reality" in these circumstances, says opinion analyst Steven Kull. The reality in this case is that after a 16-month, $900-million-plus investigation, the U.S. weapons hunters known as the Iraq Survey Group declared that Iraq had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs in 1991 under U.N. oversight. That finding in 2004 reaffirmed the work of U.N. inspectors who in 2002-03 found no trace of banned arsenals in Iraq. Despite this, a Harris Poll released July 21 found that a full 50 percent of U.S. respondents, up from 36 percent last year, said they believe Iraq did have the forbidden arms when U.S. troops invaded in March 2003, an attack whose stated purpose was elimination of supposed WMD.
17) Mexico: Leftist Demands Overhaul on Top of Recount James C. Mckinley Jr. New York Times August 8, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/world/americas/08briefs-004.html Andrés Manuel López Obrador took his anti-government oratory to a new level last night, saying he and his followers were not just seeking a recount in last month's election, but also wanting to transform the country's democratic institutions. López Obrador harangued a crowd in front of a courthouse where an electoral tribunal denied his request on Saturday for a full recount, opting instead to order another tally of ballots in about 9 percent of polling places. "We are going to change this reality of injustice and oppression that has done so much damage to the country," he yelled to thousands of his followers.
-------- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org
Just Foreign Policy is a membership organization devoted to reforming U.S. foreign policy so that it reflects the values and interests of the majority of Americans.