In this issue: 1) A Referendum on Iraq Policy 2) Excerpts: Ned Lamont's Victory Speech 3) U.S., France At Odds on Resolution For Mideast 4) End This Tragedy Now 5) Anti-U.S. Feeling Leaves Arab Reformers Isolated 6) Israel Decides to Widen Operations in Lebanon 7) Shortages: As Lebanon's Fuel Runs Out, Fears of a Doomsday Moment 8) Civilians: Thousands of Residents Are Moved From Northern Israeli Towns as Rockets Keep Falling 9) Muslim Charities Say Fear Is Damming Flow of Money 10) War Crimes Act Changes Would Reduce Threat Of Prosecution 11) Lebanon Aid Stalled, UN Slams Strikes on Civilians 12) Civilian Resistance: Call For Action & Solidarity For Lebanon 13) Fmr. Israeli Air Force Captain Reports Israeli Pilots Deliberately Missing Targets Over Concerns of Civilian Casualties 14) U.S.: No Sign Iran Will Comply With U.N 15) So What's Our Role in Iraq's Civil War? 16) Iraqi PM Attacks US Tactics in Baghdad 17) Shiites Press for a Partition of Iraq 18) Time Warner's NY1 Bars New York Senate Candidate From TV Debate 19) Is Mexico Nearing an Election Resolution? 20) Mexico: Protesters Take Over Tollbooths
Contents: 1) A Referendum on Iraq Policy Adam Nagourney New York Times August 9, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/nyregion/09assess.html The victory of Ned Lamont over Joseph Lieberman was a vivid demonstration of how the Iraq war is buffeting American politics and of the deep hostility toward President Bush among Democrats. It also suggested there are stiff anti-status-quo winds blowing across the political landscape as the fall elections approach. The outcome will undoubtedly prod other Democrats who supported the war - albeit with less gusto than Lieberman - to step farther away from the increasingly unpopular conflict.
2) Excerpts: Ned Lamont's Victory Speech New York Times August 9, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/nyregion/09transcriptlamont.html They call Connecticut the land of steady habits. Tonight we voted for a big change. Stay the course: That's not a winning strategy in Iraq. And it's not a winning strategy for America."We have a government in Washington, D.C. right now that's making a lot of bad choices. Good-paying jobs are leaving our community. But families still dream, they still dream for a land of opportunity. And with your vote here this evening, we're going to start working to make those dreams come true…We have 132,000 of our bravest troops stuck in the middle of a bloody civil war in Iraq. And I say it's high time we bring them home to the hero's welcome. [At this point, the entire crowd in the room - on the stage and off -- began chanting, "Bring Them Home!" See the video at http://www.cspan.org/ - JFP.]
3) U.S., France At Odds on Resolution For Mideast Colum Lynch and Robin Wright Washington Post Wednesday, August 9, 2006; 1:25 PM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/09/AR2006080900445.html The US and France have split over key provisions in a compromise resolution to end hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, triggering intense diplomatic scrambling. The two co-sponsors of the resolution had agreed on the need for changes after Lebanon's proposal Monday to deploy 15,000 troops in the south. France wants to incorporate ideas from Lebanon's new proposals, particularly on two issues: deploying Lebanese troops alongside a more robust version of the U.N. force now in Lebanon as a means to expedite an Israeli withdrawal, and settling the status of Shebaa Farms. But the US thinks that a strong international force still needs to be in place before an Israeli withdrawal to ensure that the Shiite militia is not able to resume control of southern Lebanon or shoot at Israeli forces as they pull out. The U.S. ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, said the basic strategic questions remains "how to have an effective security presence in the southern part of Lebanon as Israeli forces withdraw" so that Hezbollah does not "re-infiltrate" the area. Bolton said the US does not oppose including in the resolution provisions for Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon or the bolstering of the UNIFIL force in the south. The Bush administration also does not want to offer more specific language on Shebaa Farms for fear it would be seen as a reward to the Shiite movement, European officials say. French President Jacques Chirac told reporters Wednesday afternoon that there should be "an immediate cessation of hostilities," followed by an agreement on the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, the return of Israeli soldiers and Lebanese prisoners to their respective countries, and a resolution of the Shebaa Farms dispute. France thinks that Prime Minister Fouad Siniora needs to have Lebanon's concerns taken into account to be able to persuade Hezbollah to cooperate and eventually disarm, French officials say. If Lebanon's proposals are not incorporated in some significant way, France fears the fragile Beirut government will break apart and throw Lebanon into political chaos, making a resolution far more difficult. Chirac said France favored a proposal by the Lebanese government to station 15,000 troops in the southern part of the country where Israeli and Hezbollah forces have been clashing "because it should allow the Lebanese government to exert its sovereignty over its entire territory." In a special Security Council session Tuesday, a high-level Arab League delegation appealed for a resolution that includes an immediate halt to Israel's offensive against Hezbollah and its withdrawal from southern Lebanon, warning that Israel's continued presence threatens to trigger a civil war.
4) End This Tragedy Now Israel Must Be Made to Respect International Law Fouad Siniora, Prime Minister of Lebanon Washington Post Wednesday, August 9, 2006; A17 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR2006080800990.html A military solution to Israel's savage war on Lebanon and the Lebanese people is both morally unacceptable and totally unrealistic. We in Lebanon call upon the international community and citizens everywhere to support my country's sovereignty and end this folly now. We also insist that Israel be made to respect international humanitarian law, including the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, which it has repeatedly and willfully violated. On July 25, at the international conference for Lebanon in Rome, I proposed a comprehensive seven-point plan to end the war. It got the unanimous and full backing of the Lebanese Council of Ministers. The plan, which also received the full support of the 56 member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, included an immediate, unconditional and comprehensive cease-fire and called for: 1) The release of Lebanese and Israeli prisoners and detainees through the International Committee of the Red Cross. 2) The withdrawal of the Israeli army behind the "blue line." 3) A commitment from the U.N. Security Council to place the Shebaa Farms and Kfar Shouba Hills areas under U.N. jurisdiction until border delineation and Lebanese sovereignty over them are fully settled. Further, Israel must surrender all maps of remaining land mines in southern Lebanon to the United Nations. 4) Extension of the Lebanese government's authority over its territory through its legitimate armed forces, with no weapons or authority other than that of the Lebanese state, as stipulated in the Taif accord. We have indicated that the Lebanese armed forces are ready and able to deploy in southern Lebanon, alongside the U.N. forces there, the moment Israel pulls back to the international border. 5) The supplementing of the U.N. international force operating in southern Lebanon and its enhancement in numbers, equipment, mandate and scope of operation, as needed, to undertake urgent humanitarian and relief work and guarantee stability and security in the south so that those who fled their homes can return. 6) Action by the United Nations on the necessary measures to once again put into effect the 1949 armistice agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel and to ensure adherence to its provisions, as well as to explore possible amendments to or development of those provisions as necessary. 7) The commitment of the international community to support Lebanon on all levels, including relief, reconstruction and development needs. As part of this comprehensive plan, and empowered by strong domestic political support and the unanimous backing of the cabinet, the Lebanese government decided to deploy the Lebanese armed forces in southern Lebanon as the sole domestic military force in the area, alongside U.N. forces there, the moment Israel pulls back to the international border. The resolution to this war must respect international law and U.N. resolutions, not just those selected by Israel. Lebanon calls, once again, on the United Nations to bring about an immediate cease-fire to relieve the beleaguered people of Lebanon. Only then can the root causes of this war -- Israeli occupation of Lebanese territories and its perennial threat to Lebanon's security, as well as Lebanon's struggle to regain full sovereignty over all its territory -- be addressed.
5) Anti-U.S. Feeling Leaves Arab Reformers Isolated Neil MacFarquhar New York Times August 9, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/world/middleeast/09arabs.html Moderate reformers across the Arab world say American support for Israel's battle with Hezbollah has put them on the defensive, tarring them by association and boosting Islamist parties. The very people whom the US wanted to encourage to promote democracy from Bahrain to Casablanca instead feel trapped by a policy that they now ridicule more or less as "destroying the region in order to save it." Many of those reformers who have been working for change in their own societies say American policy either strangles nascent reform movements or props up repressive governments that remain Washington's best allies in the region.
6) Israel Decides to Widen Operations in Lebanon Steven Erlanger and John O'Neil New York Times August 9, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/world/middleeast/09cnd-mideast.html Facing mounting pressure to halt Hezbollah's rocket barrages, Israel's security cabinet voted today to authorize a significant expansion of its military campaign on the ground in south Lebanon. The approved a plan to send large numbers of troops to push as far north as the Litani River, about 15 miles within Lebanon. Afterward, Eli Yishai, the minister of industry and trade, told reporters that the military's assessment was that the expanded offensive "will last 30 days." Yishai said he believed the campaign would last longer.
7) Shortages: As Lebanon's Fuel Runs Out, Fears of a Doomsday Moment Hassan M. Fattah New York Times August 9, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/world/middleeast/09lebanon.html Dr. Nadim Cortas saw the destruction wrought by Lebanon's 15-year civil war, and the shortages of medical supplies that went with it. But, he says, he never thought he would face a situation like this: the respirators and critical medical equipment in his hospital could soon come to a halt. "This is the doomsday scenario," said Dr. Cortas, dean of the faculty of medicine at the American University of Beirut. "We have about 10 days of power left." Almost one month into the siege of Lebanon, with a land, sea and air blockade by Israel choking off the country, fuel reserves have all but dried up.
8) Civilians: Thousands of Residents Are Moved From Northern Israeli Towns as Rockets Keep Falling Richard A. Oppel Jr. New York Times August 9, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/world/middleeast/09vacate.html With the Israeli military unable to stop Hezbollah from firing hundreds of deadly Katyusha rockets into the north every day, the government is moving to temporarily relocate thousands of residents who are too poor, too sick or otherwise unable to leave on their own. Coming almost four weeks after the start of the fighting, the effort appears to be another indication that Israeli officials have concluded that, absent a cease-fire, the war will prove long and difficult, and that Hezbollah will continue to have the ability to fire its ball-bearing-laced rockets into a wide swath of northern Israel.
9) Muslim Charities Say Fear Is Damming Flow of Money Alan Cooperman Washington Post Wednesday, August 9, 2006; A03 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR2006080801246.html
Charities prefer that people send money rather than food, medicine or other goods, because in-kind donations force the charities to pay for shipping, delay the arrival of the aid, and saddle relief workers with the task of sorting and distributing items that may not be needed. The problem, according to relief groups, is that many people who are inclined to write checks for emergency aid and reconstruction in Lebanon are afraid of ending up in some government database of suspected supporters of terrorism. Arab American leaders say this is one of the unintended consequences of the U.S. government's crackdown on charities run by Muslims. Though aimed at cutting off illicit funding for terrorist groups, the crackdown has complicated legitimate humanitarian relief efforts in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank.
10) War Crimes Act Changes Would Reduce Threat Of Prosecution R. Jeffrey Smith Washington Post Wednesday, August 9, 2006; A01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR2006080801276.html The Bush administration has drafted amendments to a war crimes law that would eliminate the risk of prosecution for political appointees, CIA officers and former military personnel for humiliating or degrading war prisoners. Officials say the amendments would alter a U.S. law passed in the mid-1990s that criminalized violations of the Geneva Conventions, a set of international treaties governing military conduct in wartime. The conventions generally bar the cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment of wartime prisoners without spelling out what all those terms mean. The draft U.S. amendments to the War Crimes Act would narrow the scope of potential criminal prosecutions to 10 specific categories of illegal acts against detainees during a war, including torture, murder, rape and hostage-taking. Left off the list would be what the Geneva Conventions refer to as "outrages upon [the] personal dignity" of a prisoner and deliberately humiliating acts -- such as the forced nakedness, use of dog leashes and wearing of women's underwear seen at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq -- that fall short of torture.
11) Lebanon Aid Stalled, UN Slams Strikes on Civilians Reuters August 9, 2006 Filed at 10:48 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-mideast-lebanon-aid.html Aid agencies were unable to reach tens of thousands of people trapped by heavy fighting in southern Lebanon on Wednesday as the United Nations condemned Israeli attacks on civilian targets in the country.
12) Civilian Resistance: Call For Action & Solidarity For Lebanon August 7th, 2006 http://www.lebanonsolidarity.org/ A coalition of Arab and international NGOs, including the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) and the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), has issued a call for a campaign of civil resistance to Israel's war against Lebanon.
13) Fmr. Israeli Air Force Captain Reports Israeli Pilots Deliberately Missing Targets Over Concerns of Civilian Casualties Democracy Now Wednesday, August 9th, 2006 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/09/1422204 Former Israeli Air Force Captain Yonatan Shapira reports at least two Israeli fighter pilots have reportedly deliberately missed bombing targets in Lebanon because they were concerned they were being ordered to bomb civilians.
14) U.S.: No Sign Iran Will Comply With U.N. Associated Press August 9, 2006 Filed at 12:13 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-US-Iran.html With deadlines approaching, the State Department on Tuesday said it has seen no indications that Iran plans to comply with U.N. demands that it suspend enrichment of uranium. Defiance could trigger efforts by the US and European allies to impose economic or political sanctions on Iran in the Security Council. The U.N. Security Council on July 31 passed a resolution giving Iran until Aug. 31 to suspend enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions. Iran has promised a response by Aug. 22, although it vowed last Sunday to expand uranium enrichment ''where required.''
15) So What's Our Role in Iraq's Civil War? Harold Meyerson Washington Post Wednesday, August 9, 2006; A17 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/08/AR2006080800941.html Of all the signs that the American people are fed up with the war in Iraq, the one that the administration should fear most was put forth last week by a longtime supporter of both the president and the war, Virginia Republican John Warner. Warner suggested that the president might need a new congressional resolution authorizing our presence in Iraq, since the conflict there has become a civil war. Now, that would be one challenging resolution to write. Once you've come up with "Whereas the conflict in Iraq is now a civil war between Shiites and Sunnis," what is it, exactly, that we are therefore supposed to resolve? In an Iraqi civil war, what is the mission of U.S. forces?
16) Iraqi PM Attacks US Tactics in Baghdad Michael Howard Guardian / UK Wednesday, August 9, 2006 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0809-05.htm Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, has angrily charged American forces with undermining national reconciliation after a US-led raid in the eastern Baghdad stronghold of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr reportedly caused the death of three people, including a woman and a child. In a statement on government television late on Monday night, Maliki said he was "very angered and pained" by the latest operation, which involved air and ground forces in the volatile Sadr City area early in the morning. "Reconciliation cannot go hand in hand with operations that violate the rights of citizens this way," Maliki said.
17) Shiites Press for a Partition of Iraq Creating federal regions would curb the violence, backers say. Others see it as a grab at oil wealth. Borzou Daragahi Los Angeles Times August 9, 2006 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-partition9aug09,1,922496.story Faced with incessant sectarian bloodshed, Iraqis for the first time have begun openly discussing whether the only way to stop the violence is to remake the country they have just built. Leaders of Iraq's powerful Shiite Muslim political bloc have begun aggressively promoting a radical plan to partition the country as a way of separating the warring sects. Some Iraqis are even talking about dividing the capital, with the Tigris River as a kind of Berlin Wall.
18) Time Warner's NY1 Bars New York Senate Candidate From TV Debate Democracy Now Wednesday, August 9th, 2006 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/09/1421259 Time Warner news station NY1 has refused to set up a debate between Senator Hillary Clinton and Democratic challenger Jonathan Tasini because Tasini hasn't spent enough money on the race. The channel requires that candidates poll at least 5% and have spent or raised $500,000. Tasini is polling at 13% but his campaign has only raised $150,000.
19) Is Mexico Nearing an Election Resolution? With Deadline Approaching, Runner-up Remains Defiant John M. Ackerman Professor, Institute for Legal Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico Washington Post online discussion Wednesday, August 9, 2006; 12:00 PM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/08/08/DI2006080800873.html The partial recount the Tribunal called for on Saturday is indeed very bad news for Lopez Obrador. Although the Tribunal could theoretically still call for a full recount later and this would be entirely legal, the arguments which the justices offered on Saturday would make this extremely difficult. This is highly problematic because if serious irregularities are discovered in the partial recount there will be increased social demands for a full recount. But, in this case, pretty much the only option the justices have left for themselves is to "anull" or simply not declare the election valid and call for new elections.
20) Mexico: Protesters Take Over Tollbooths James C. Mckinley Jr. New York Times August 9, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/09/world/americas/09briefs-004.html Supporters of the leftist presidential candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, left, temporarily seized tollbooths on the major highways into Mexico City, giving thousands of motorists free passage to the sprawling capital while stepping up their protests against what they see as fraud in last month's presidential election. A leader of their Party of the Democratic Revolution, Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, vowed to extend the protests that have tied the capital in knots to other parts of the country and to blockade federal offices. Both acts were signs that the movement led by Mr. López Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor, was becoming increasingly radical. Mr. López Obrador has said that he is no longer fighting for just a recount of the election, which officials say he narrowly lost, but to change Mexico's institutions and end oppression, an effort he calls "a purification of public life."
-------- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org