In this issue:
Contents: 1) Rewriting the Geneva Conventions Editorial, New York Times August 14, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/14/opinion/14mon1.html When creating the camp at Guantánamo for prisoners from Afghanistan, Bush said he would be "adhering to the spirit of the Geneva Convention" in handling the detainees. But Bush did not intend to follow the Geneva Conventions and still doesn't, despite a Supreme Court ruling that the prisoners merit those protections. He wants Congress to make the US the first country to repudiate the language of the Geneva Conventions. This would allow interrogators to continue abusive practices banned by the conventions and make sure they cannot be held accountable. The administration objects to Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions that prohibits "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment." This standard has been followed for more than a half-century by almost 190 countries, including the US. The War Crimes Act of 1996 makes it a felony to violate the Geneva Conventions. The Bush administration authorized techniques that clearly break the rules, like prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures and long periods in stress positions. The rational response to the court's decision would be to ban those practices and bring America in line with the civilized world. The vast majority of Guantánamo inmates are not terrorists. Many do not appear guilty of anything, not even fighting US troops in Afghanistan. The administration's real aim is to keep on using abusive interrogation techniques at the secret prisons run by the CIA. It wants to make interrogators, and those who give their orders, immune from prosecution. The administration wants to ban the use of the Geneva Conventions as the basis for a legal case in American courts. This would block the route a prisoner used in the case on which the Supreme Court ruled in June. The Geneva Conventions protect Americans. If this country changes the rules, it's changing the rules for Americans taken prisoner abroad.
2) Israel Begins Pullout Amid Fragile Truce Associated Press August 15, 2006 Filed at 11:13 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Lebanon-Israel.html Israel began slowly pulling out forces from southern Lebanon on the first full day of a tense cease-fire that already has been tested by skirmishes and rocket fire. Israeli and Hezbollah forces avoided any escalation, raising hopes that the U.N.-imposed pact could stick, as governments rushed to assemble international troops to deploy in southern Lebanon and firm up the peace. As Lebanese refugees streamed home, Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets over southern Lebanon, warning residents to stay out of the area until Lebanese and international troops are deployed. Lebanon's Defense Minister Murr said the Lebanese force of 15,000 soldiers could be on the north side of the Litani River by the end of the week. Israeli army officials said they plan to begin handing over some captured positions on Wednesday and hope to complete the withdrawal from Lebanon by next week. Israel's military officials said 13 Hezbollah prisoners and the bodies of dozens of guerrillas could be offered in exchange for two captive soldiers. Italy's foreign minister said Tuesday his country could send up to 3,000 troops. France, Malaysia, Turkey and Indonesia also have offered to contribute. The peacekeeping force must provide security for a huge reconstruction effort across southern Lebanon. Israel said it would continue its blockade of Lebanese ports but was no longer threatening to shoot any car that moved on roads south of the Litani. Relief agencies worried about how to move supplies across southern Lebanon over bombed roads and others clogged with traffic. Sweden plans to host an international donors' conference Aug. 31 to help fund the rebuilding.
3) The UK Terror plot: what's really going on? Craig Murray, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan August 14, 2006 http://www.craigmurray.co.uk/archives/2006/08/the_uk_terror_p.html None of the alleged terrorists had made a bomb. None had bought a plane ticket. Many did not even have passports. In the absence of bombs and airline tickets, and in many cases passports, it could be pretty difficult to convince a jury beyond reasonable doubt that individuals intended to go through with suicide bombings, whatever rash stuff they may have bragged. Many of those arrested had been under surveillance for over a year. Nothing from that surveillance had indicated the need for early arrests. We have Bush and Blair discussing the possible arrests over the weekend. Both in desperate domestic political trouble, they longed for "Another 9/11". The timing is deeply political. This is more propaganda than plot. Of the over one thousand British Muslims arrested under anti-terrorist legislation, only twelve per cent are ever charged with anything. That is simply harrassment of Muslims on an appalling scale. Of those charged, 80% are acquitted. Most of the very few - just over two per cent of arrests - who are convicted, are not convicted of anything to do terrorism, but of some minor offence the Police happened upon while trawling through the wreck of the lives they had shattered. Be sceptical. Be very, very sceptical.
4) Iranian Leader Opens Up Ahmadinejad Speaks Candidly With Mike Wallace About Israel, Nukes, Bush CBS News Aug. 13, 2006 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/09/60minutes/main1879867.shtml When Mike Wallace interviewed Iran's President Ahmadinejad in Tehran last week, it became apparent that he sees the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah as part of a larger battle between the U.S. and a militant Islam for control of the Middle East. He told Wallace the Security Council is doing America's bidding by trying to prevent Iran from developing nuclear energy. "But if Mr. Bush thinks that he can stop our progress, I have to say that he will be unable to do that," Ahmadinejad said. "Basically we are not looking for — working for the bomb," the president said. "I don't know why [the US is] opposed to Iranian progress," the president said. Asked if he really believed that the United States is against Iranian progress and development, Ahmadinejad said, "That is true. That is what I am saying." "You know that's not so," Wallace replied. "Before the revolution, the German, French, American government and the Canadian government had signed contracts with us to produce nuclear fuel inside Iran. But immediately after the establishment of the Islamic Republic, their opposition started," Ahmadinejad said. "Right now, they are opposed to our nuclear technology. Now why is that?"
5) Iran and Syria applaud 'victory' Syria and Iran have praised Hezbollah for what both describe as the group's defeat of Israel in Lebanon. BBC News 2006/08/15 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4794363.stm Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad hailed the "glorious battle". Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Hezbollah had thwarted US plans to dominate the Middle East. Mr Assad, said Israel had been defeated and Hezbollah had "hoisted the banner of victory", following the month-long conflict. He added that peace in the Middle East was not possible with the Bush administration in power in Washington. "This is an administration that adopts the principle of pre-emptive war that is absolutely contradictory to the principle of peace," he said. "Consequently, we don't expect peace soon or in the foreseeable future." The defiant speech is the clearest sign of how US opponents in the Middle East have been emboldened by the outcome of the conflict, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Damascus.
6) Bush Defends U.S. Handling of Lebanese Conflict, Asserting That Hezbollah Is the Loser Jim Rutenberg New York Times August 15, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15prexy.html President Bush on Monday defended his handling of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, declaring that Hezbollah had been the loser in the monthlong fight and warning Syria and Iran against resupplying the Lebanese militia.Bush and his advisers sought to portray the cease-fire deal that was established under a UN Security Council resolution as an affirmation of American foreign policy. Bush spoke on a day of intense competition to shape world opinion on the conflict. Hezbollah said it had won an "historic victory" by fending off a regional superpower; Israel and the United States said Hezbollah was the loser because the resolution calls for ending its control of southern Lebanon. A senior official acknowledged the possibility that Hezbollah would build public support in southern Lebanon by flooding the area with rebuilding money, as it has vowed to do.
7) News Analysis: Testing How Long the Truce Can Last Steven Erlanger New York Times August 15, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15assess.html For the moment, Hezbollah is bathed in a heroic light, not just in Lebanon but throughout the Muslim world. Lebanon's prime minister, Fouad Siniora, appears unable or unwilling to force the issue of Hezbollah's disarmament. Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said in a television speech that his fighters would accept the cease-fire. Yet he insisted that Hezbollah would continue to fight so long as Israeli troops remained on Lebanese soil.
8) US 'knew of Israel bombing plan' BBC News 2006/08/14 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4792961.stm Israel and the United States were in close contact about Israel's war on Hezbollah long before it began, a US investigative journalist has claimed. "Israel had devised a plan for attacking Hezbollah, and shared it with Bush administration officials, well before" 12 July, Seymour Hersh wrote. Israeli officials visited Washington to secure US support for its plans before Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on 12 July, the ostensible cause of the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon.
9) US Sending 300 Newly Returned Troops Back to Iraq Will Dunham Reuters Tuesday, August 15, 2006 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0815-03.htm About 300 U.S. soldiers who just weeks ago returned home to Alaska after a year in Iraq are being ordered back to try to help bolster security in Baghdad. The soldiers are part of the 3,900-strong 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Wainwright in Alaska. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on July 27 ordered the unit to remain in Iraq for up to four months past its scheduled departure. That order provoked anger and disappointment among some of the soldiers' families in Alaska. It also made clear that any significant reduction in the 135,000-strong U.S. force in Iraq was unlikely in the immediate future.
10) Military Recruiting Violations Rise: GAO Reuters August 14, 2006 Filed at 2:44 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-arms-usa-recruiting.html Allegations of wrongdoing by U.S. military recruiters jumped by 50 percent from 2004 to 2005, and criminal violations such as sexual harassment and falsifying documents more than doubled, a congressional agency said Monday. The Government Accountability Office said the full extent of violations by military recruiters is unknown because the Defense Department does not have an oversight system. While the GAO said available information likely underestimated the problem, it showed that allegations of recruiter wrongdoing increased to 6,600 cases in fiscal year 2005 from 4,400 a year earlier. Substantiated cases rose to almost 630 cases from 400, and criminal violations jumped to 70 from about 30, it said. The military's 20,000 recruiters have been under pressure to meet recruiting goals while a fairly strong economy has sustained a competitive job market and the death toll in the Iraq war has been rising. "Determined to find ways to succeed in a challenging recruiting environment, some recruiters reportedly have resorted to overly aggressive tactics, such as coercion and harassment,'' the GAO report said.
11) Rosy Assessments on Iraq 'Not Related to Reality,' Some Say Tom Lasseter McClatchy Newspapers Tuesday, August 15, 2006 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0815-02.htm As security conditions continue to deteriorate in Iraq, many Iraqi politicians are challenging the optimistic forecasts of governments in Baghdad and Washington, with some worrying that the rosy views are preventing the creation of effective strategies against the escalating violence. Their worst fear, one that some American soldiers share, is that top officials don't really understand what's happening. Those concerns seem to be supported by statistics that show Iraq's violence has increased steadily during the past three years."The American policy has failed both in terms of politics and security, but the big problem is that they will not confess or admit that," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish member of parliament. Shiite Muslim parliament member Jalaladin al Saghir had a similar view. "All the American policies have failed because the American analysis of the situation is wrong; it is not related to reality," Saghir said. Some U.S. soldiers in Iraq reluctantly agree. "As an intelligence officer ... I have had the chance to move around Baghdad … and see the city and violence from the ground," wrote one American military officer in Iraq. "the greatest problem that we deal with is that our leadership has no real comprehension of the ground truth…When I have briefed General Officers…Many have been surprised at what I have to say, but I suspect that in the end nothing will or has changed."
12) Fragile Cease-Fire Allows Thousands to Return Home John Kifner New York Times August 15, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15mideast.html Tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of Lebanese clogged roads to the south on Monday night as a tense, fragile cease-fire began between Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas. As the cease-fire dawned on Monday morning, Israeli airplanes blanketed Beirut with leaflets showing a cartoon of a black-turbaned cleric, presumably Sheik Nasrallah, poised over a sandcastle, saying that Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian masters had brought the Lebanese people to "the edge of the abyss" with only "destruction, displacement and death." The leaflet warned that Israel could return "with all necessary might." But the psychological warfare appeared to have little effect on the refugees packing up their belongings and heading south, expressing their hatred for Israel — and, to a striking degree in this normally Western-leaning nation — for America, which is seen as the Israelis' unquestioning backer. "Bush did this," said Majid Kubaisy, standing in the broken glass and rubble of his sportswear shop in a largely Shiite area of southern Beirut. Residents returned to a desolate landscape of ruined apartment buildings cascading dust and the smell of explosives. Like many of the people who were finding their way back to their old neighborhoods, Mr. Kubaisy blamed the United States as much as Israel for the destruction, saying the conflict had only redoubled his allegiance to Hezbollah.
13) Beirut: Returning Home to Ruins: Shock Is Mixed With Outrage Robert F. Worth New York Times August 15, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15beirut.html Four hours after the cease-fire with Israel started Monday morning, Dr. Abdel Munaim Mansour stood staring in disbelief at the mountainous hash of rubble that was once the apartment building where his family lived. "We will kill every American for this!" Dr. Mansour shouted, his voice cracking with rage. "Every Shiite Muslim will kill Americans! We will grind them under our shoes!" Dr. Mansour and his wife, who work at a nearby hospital, stumbled on through their old neighborhood in a state of shock, seeming almost not to recognize the charred and shredded landscape around them. They had returned, after weeks of exile in the relative safety of the mountains, to the capital's southern Shiite district, which has been largely deserted during a month of heavy Israeli bombardment. Around the couple, thousands of others streamed back on Monday into the ruined streets, where smoke and the smell of rotting flesh rose from the rubble. Some cursed America and Israel and swore revenge; others simply wept. Most said that before they returned, they had no idea of the scale of the destruction in this area, which includes many Hezbollah offices.
14) Hezbollah Fighters Limp Out Into the Light, Yet Manage a Bit of a Swagger Sabrina Tavernise New York Times August 15, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15hezbollah.html When the thunder of the bombs stopped in this southern Lebanese town on Monday morning, the fighters emerged from shrapnel-spattered buildings, moving with the confidence of men who felt they had won. Sometimes they bragged. "It was a small group, but we defeated America and Israel, both of them," said a man who identified himself as Abu Haidar. But it was the Shiites returning to their homes who made clear that this war had taken the hearts of the Shiite majority in this part of the country, at least for now. "Do you know why we're happy?" asked Hassan Suhed. "We're born anew." Ahmed Abdullah, a 31-year-old shop owner, waved a cellphone toward his apartment, now missing part of a wall. "You see all of this?" he said, smiling. "We don't care." A man who identified himself as Abu Hassan said his house, his parents' house, and his brother's house had all been destroyed. "We're ready to give up a lot more houses to preserve our dignity," he said.
15) 'Blame war' looms for Israel leaders Jonathan Marcus BBC News 2006/08/15 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4792261.stm A new war is about to erupt on Israel's home front; indeed the first skirmishes have already begun. It will be a war of recriminations and blame, but it will also be a struggle to determine the true lessons of the fighting in Lebanon. It is a struggle from which few of Israel's political or military leaders may emerge unbruised. And it is a struggle that will determine the fate not just of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, but also of his plan to withdraw Israeli settlers from significant parts of the occupied West Bank.
16) Skeptical of Deal, Israelis Step Tentatively From Bunkers Greg Myre August 15, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/world/middleeast/15israel.html With a cease-fire bringing calm to this rocket-riddled town, residents began emerging from bomb shelters on Monday. Traffic lights were turned on. A few cafes opened. And Freddy Misika was in his bright orange Lotto kiosk on the main street, promising winning tickets for all, just as he had done throughout the fighting.
17) Letter From Beirut: Three Guerrillas Walk Into a Bar Nora Boustany Washington Post Tuesday, August 15, 2006; C01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/14/AR2006081401195.html Barely a week into a war that sent the hopes of many Lebanese tumbling down with their bridges, buildings and roads, stunned civilians trapped in the crossfire started trading self-deprecating gags about their situation. As one joke has it, residents fleeing the Shiite suburbs of Beirut were flashing the victory sign -- to indicate that only two buildings were still left standing. It was followed by excited speculation that real estate values in the poor neighborhood of Ain al-Rummaneh had shot up by 50 percent. It now has a sea view. Another story has Haifa Wehbe, the curvaceous bombshell of Lebanese music videos, dispatched by the Hezbollah leadership to Israel to conduct negotiations. She returns pregnant. Confronted about her condition, Wehbe insisted she was only trying to help: "I thought I would get you another small hostage." The elderly women of the Christian neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh regard Nasrallah as their new idol and sex symbol, goes one line, because he has taken them back 40 years. Another joke extols Nasrallah, saying he is now worthy of a statue since he managed to put the entire Shiite Muslim community, with its high rate of illiteracy, in schools. The most popular joke involves stumblebum folk hero Abul Abed. He threatens Israeli Prime Minister Olmert that he has collected thousands of followers of the Abul Abed Movement who are ready with shoulder-mounted rockets like the Mujahedeen of Afghanistan. Olmert replies: "You will be no match for the 2 million Israeli soldiers massed along the border, ready to attack." "Two million?" asks Abul Abed. "In that case I am going to have to surrender. We simply do not have enough room to keep 2 million hostages."
18) Democrats See Security as Key Issue for Fall Carl Hulse New York Times August 15, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/washington/15dems.html After being outmaneuvered in the politics of national security in the last two elections, Democrats say they are determined not to cede the issue this year and are working to cast President Bush as having diminished the nation's safety. "They are not Swift boating us on security," said Representative Nancy Pelosi of California. Seeking to counter White House efforts to turn the reported terrorist plot in Britain to Republican advantage, Democrats are using the arrests of the suspects to try to show Americans how the war in Iraq has fueled Islamic radicalism and distracted Bush and the Republican Congress from shoring up security at home. They say they intend to drive that message home as the nation observes the coming anniversaries of Hurricane Katrina and the Sept. 11 attacks. A video Monday on the Web site of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee showed footage of Osama bin Laden, referred to an increase in terror attacks, highlighted illegal immigration and pointed out the nuclear aspirations of Iran and North Korea. "Feel safer?" it concludes. "Vote for change."
19) Tighter Security Is Jeopardizing Orchestra Tours Daniel J. Wakin New York Times August 15, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/arts/music/15tour.html Strict regulations imposed last week forced the New York-based Orchestra of St. Luke's to cancel a long-awaited tour of Britain over the weekend and sent other ensembles with imminent trips, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra, scrambling to cope with the new rules. All travelers in Britain had to adapt to the ban on carry-on items, which was relaxed yesterday to allow one small carry-on. But not all travelers ply their trade with highly personal artifacts made of centuries-old wood, horsehair and precious metals that many musicians are loath to put in the hold. The violin virtuoso and conductor Pinchas Zukerman said security officials had even asked him to remove the strings of his 1742 Guarneri del Gèsu.
20) Mexico poll protests turn violent Mexican riot police fired tear gas and used clubs to break up a protest by supporters of left-wing presidential challenger Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4793271.stm Leftist lawmakers were among at least 30 people injured in the scuffles outside Congress in Mexico City. Lopez Obrador's supporters have been camped out in protest at the 2 July election they say was stolen by conservative rival Felipe Calderon. This is the first time the authorities have used force on the protesters. Lopez Obrador later told his supporters that the events showed the authorities are "taking off their masks and putting aside their talk of supposed legality and respect".
-------- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org