In this issue: 1) Marines May Have Excised Evidence on 24 Iraqi Deaths 2) 7 Killed as Full-Scale Sectarian Fighting Rages in Baghdad 3) U.S. tries to counter Hezbollah rebuilding efforts in s. Lebanon 4) With a cease-fire in place between Israel and Hezbollah, it's in neither party's interest to resume the fight. 5) Op-Ed Contributor: Start Talking to Hezbollah 6) The Cease-Fire: Lebanese Army Sets Up in Hezbollah's Territory 7) Diplomacy: U.N. Aide Says Peace Force Can Be in Lebanon in 10 Days 8) C.I.A. Contractor Guilty in Beating of Afghan 9) The Environment: U.N. Pledges $64 Million for Cleanup of Oil Spill Off Lebanon 10) The Aftermath: With Guns Silent, Wartime Unity Unravels in Israel Amid Fierce Criticism of War Effort 11) U.S. Predicts Fast Action at U.N. if Sanctions on Iran Are Needed 12) Ruling for the Law 13) Zogby Poll: U.S. Should Be Neutral in Lebanon War 14) Preliminary "Lessons" of the Israeli-Hezbollah War 15) More Propaganda Than Plot - Former British Ambassador on Alleged UK Terror Plot 16) France Declines to Contribute Major Force for U.N. Mission 17) Kiss Controversy Claims Israeli Official 18) Mexico Left Gives Up on Vote Court
Contents: 1) Marines May Have Excised Evidence on 24 Iraqi Deaths David S. Cloud New York Times August 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/world/middleeast/18haditha.html Marines May Have Excised Evidence on 24 Iraqi Deaths A high-level military investigation into the killings of 24 Iraqis in Haditha last November has uncovered instances in which American marines involved in the episode appear to have destroyed or withheld evidence. The investigation found that an official company logbook of the unit involved had been tampered with and that an incriminating video taken by an aerial drone the day of the killings was not given to investigators. Those findings, contained in a report that was completed last month but not made public, go beyond what has been previously reported about the case. It has been known that marines who carried out the killings made misleading statements to investigators and that senior officers were criticized for not being more aggressive in investigating the case, in which most or all of the Iraqis who were killed were civilians. But this is the first time details about possible concealment or destruction of evidence have been disclosed.
2) 7 Killed as Full-Scale Sectarian Fighting Rages in Baghdad Damien Cave New York Times August 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/world/middleeast/18iraq.html A car bombing in the Sadr City district of Baghdad killed at least seven people and wounded more than 20 on Thursday morning, the authorities said. The blast was the latest of several recent attacks in the district, a densely populated area controlled by the Mahdi Army, a Shiite militia loyal to the cleric Moktada al-Sadr. It signaled that full-scale sectarian fighting was continuing in the capital despite the extra American troops deployed there.
3) U.S. tries to counter Hezbollah rebuilding efforts in s. Lebanon Reuters 18/08/2006 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/751920.html Concerned that Hezbollah has an early advantage in rebuilding shattered south Lebanon, the Bush administration is trying to speed up aid and encouraging Arab states to step in quickly, US officials said. The White House is "cracking the whip" on rebuilding efforts so Iranian-backed Hezbollah is not seen taking the lead and winning any more support among the local population
4) With a cease-fire in place between Israel and Hezbollah, it's in neither party's interest to resume the fight. Robert Padavick Yahoo News Aug 17 http://hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/blogs8692 With a cease-fire taking hold after over a month of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, parties loyal to both sides are claiming victory. For former senior CIA official Milt Bearden, the winners and losers are clear. "Where it counts, Hezbollah is clearly the winner," Bearden says. "For Israel ... not winning is losing. And for an irregular force like Hezbollah, not losing is winning." Bearden stresses that with fighting over it is in neither Hezbollah's nor Israel's interest to restart it. "The very concept of destroying Hezbollah or dismantling it is based on a faulty belief that it is somehow external to the fiber of Lebanon. It is not," he says. "There's nobody tough enough to disarm Hezbollah, or willing to do it if they are tough enough." There are reports in the Israeli press that Defense Minister Amir Peretz this week hinted at renewed dialogue with Lebanon, the Palestinians, and even Syria. Bearden, a staunch advocate for dialogue, even sees the possibility for Israeli dialogue with Iran. Those on the more "realist side" in Israeli politics, Bearden says, "are going to start saying, 'We need to talk with Iran; we need to talk with Syria.' But also, I can guarantee you, sooner or later they're going to want to talk with Hezbollah and Hamas."
5) Op-Ed: Start Talking to Hezbollah Lakhdar Brahimi, former special adviser to the UN Secretary General http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/opinion/18brahimi.html August 18, 2006 Op-Ed What a waste that it took more than 30 days to adopt a UN Security Council resolution for a cease-fire in Lebanon. Thirty days during which nothing positive was achieved and a great deal of pain, suffering and damage was inflicted on innocent people. Yet all the diplomatic clout of the US was used to prevent a cease-fire, while more military hardware was rushed to the Israeli Army. It was argued that the war had to continue so that the root causes of the conflict could be addressed, but no one explained how destroying Lebanon would achieve that. And what are these root causes? It is unbelievable that recent events are so regularly traced back only to the abduction of three Israeli soldiers. Few speak of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, or of its Lebanese prisoners, some of whom have been held for more than 20 years. And there is hardly any mention of military occupation and the injustice that has come with it.
6) The Cease-Fire: Lebanese Army Sets Up in Hezbollah's Territory Sabrina Tavernise And John Kifner New York Times August 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/world/middleeast/18mideast.html Lebanese government soldiers began crossing the Litani River at dawn Thursday. The Lebanese Army's move into the separate southern fief that Hezbollah ran for nearly two decades was the potential beginning of a diplomatic way out of the bitter monthlong battle with Israel, whose vaunted army bogged down against a smaller force of skilled and entrenched guerrillas. But while Israel and the US have said that the Lebanese Army is supposed to disarm Hezbollah under the terms of a UN Security Council resolution, the reality on the ground is a kind of murky backroom deal in which Hezbollah takes its weapons off the street and the army will not look too hard for them, if at all. "Well, it's not like they will be breaking into houses, searching every store, looking into every ravine," said an adviser to Prime Minister Siniora. "It's not a search-and-seizure operation." But if the deployment was largely for show, it was one that the combatants seemed willing to accept as a face-saving way out of the bloody impasse.
7) U.N. Aide Says Peace Force Can Be in Lebanon in 10 Days Warren Hoge New York Times August 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/world/middleeast/18nations.html France on Thursday made a disappointing offer of support for the UN force in Lebanon, but by the end of the day a top UN official said the organization was on track to meet its goal of having 5,500 foreign troops on the ground there in 10 days. "I would say the show is on the road, we're in business," Mark Malloch Brown, the deputy secretary general, said after he emerged from a meeting of 49 countries that had expressed interest in contributing to the peacekeeping force. He said he had been encouraged by the responses at the meeting and expected that once the documents covering the rules of engagement had been studied in capitals over the weekend, there would be firm commitments of needed troops.
8) C.I.A. Contractor Guilty in Beating of Afghan Scott Shane New York Times August 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/washington/18detain.html A C.I.A. contractor accused of severely beating an Afghan prisoner who died the next day was convicted Thursday of felony assault. The former contractor, David Passaro, a onetime Special Forces medic who went to work for the CIA in Afghanistan in 2003, is the only civilian ever charged as a result of accusations of prisoner abuse there, in Iraq and in the broader campaign against terrorism. He faces a maximum of 11.5 years in prison. The trial drew close attention from human rights advocates. Using a flashlight and his fists, witnesses said, Mr. Passaro repeatedly hit Abdul Wali, a 28-year-old farmer suspected of firing rockets at American troops. Mr. Wali was in such pain, they said, that he pleaded to be shot, and he died the day after a second day of abuse by Mr. Passaro.
9) U.N. Pledges $64 Million for Cleanup of Oil Spill Off Lebanon Anthee Carassava New York Times August 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/world/middleeast/18spill.html The UN Environment Program on Thursday pledged $64 million to help clean up and contain a major oil spill caused by the conflict in Lebanon. The 87-mile-long slick, described by experts as the worst environmental disaster in Lebanese history, stained Lebanon's shores after Israeli warplanes bombed an oil storage depot at Jiyeh, about 19 miles south of Beirut, on July 13 and 15. The continuing hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah barred marine experts from inspecting the most severely affected areas. But the cease-fire that took effect on Monday cleared the way for the start of an international effort to clean up and contain the spill, said UN, European and maritime officials.
10) With Guns Silent, Wartime Unity Unravels in Israel Amid Fierce Criticism of War Effort Greg Myre New York Times August 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/world/middleeast/18israel.html In a country where raucous debate is the norm, Israelis set aside differences during war. They even have an expression for it: "Quiet. We're shooting." But the guns have gone silent, the debate has resumed and the wartime unity has shattered. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and the military's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, are all facing fierce, even vitriolic criticism in a country accustomed to swift and decisive battlefield triumphs against Arab enemies. "Because everyone served in the army, every Israeli thinks he's a generalissimo," said Shlomo Avineri, political science professor at Hebrew University. "The achievements were less than expected, and the price was too high." He added: "From the beginning we should have set more modest goals. A lot of this agonizing is self-inflicted." A sizable number of Israelis have challenged the claims of their leaders that Israel won the war against Hezbollah. "It's not a victory at all," said Ziona Dotan, who returned to her rocket-damaged apartment in the hard-hit northern town of Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday. "It's going backwards. They keep getting more weapons. I don't see what we got out of this. Many people were killed, and what was it all for?" An Israeli poll released Thursday found 28 percent of the respondents believed Israel won, 24 percent believed Hezbollah won, and 36 percent thought neither side came out on top.
11) U.S. Predicts Fast Action at U.N. if Sanctions on Iran Are Needed Thom Shanker New York Times August 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/world/middleeast/18iran.html A senior Bush administration official said Thursday that he anticipated that the UN would move rapidly in September to impose sanctions on Iran if it refused to halt uranium enrichment. Nicholas Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, said the punishment "will be well deserved" if Iran failed to act by a looming deadline set by the Security Council. The Council voted last month to give Iran until Aug. 31 to accept a package of EU-led incentives for suspending uranium enrichment or suffer economic sanctions. "I think we would want to move very quickly in the first part of September toward a debate in the Security Council about sanctions," he said. Burns emphasized that the US already had agreements from Russia, China and other Security Council members to move to economic sanctions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter if Iran failed to comply. The resolution passed by the Security Council on July 31 demands that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment and reprocessing work by the end of August or face the possibility of sanctions. It noted the need for "further decisions," however, before any punishments for noncompliance could be pursued. Some diplomats have suggested that Russia and China may not in the end vote to approve sanctions and may even exercise their veto power in the Security Council. Burns said Iran's role in creating, financing and arming Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon in their fight against Israel "will reinforce the effort to hold Iran accountable should they not provide the clear answer needed" on the nuclear issue. "The will of a lot of countries has been strengthened by watching the Iranian government trying to destabilize both Lebanon and Israel over the last 30 to 40 days," he said. Iran has said it set a deadline of next Tuesday to respond to the offer of economic incentives from six major powers in exchange for ending its uranium enrichment program. But Burns dismissed the Tuesday deadline as a "mythical date."
12) Ruling for the Law Editorial New York Times August 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/opinion/18fri1.html Ever since President Bush was forced to admit that he was spying on Americans' telephone calls and e-mail without warrants, his lawyers have fought to keep challenges to the program out of the courts. Yesterday, that plan failed. A federal judge in Detroit declared the eavesdropping program to be illegal and unconstitutional. She also offered a scathing condemnation of what lies behind the wiretapping, Bush's attempt to expand his powers to the point that he can place himself beyond the reach of Congress, judges or the Constitution. "There are no hereditary kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution," wrote Judge Anna Diggs Taylor of the United States District Court in Detroit.
13) Zogby Poll: U.S. Should Be Neutral in Lebanon War Americans split over whether Israel used excessive force during the recent fighting August 17, 2006 http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1159 A majority of Americans thinks the U.S. should not ally itself with either Israel or Lebanon in the current conflict that spans the borders of those countries, a new Zogby International telephone poll shows. While 52% said the U.S. should remain neutral, 34% said it should back Israel in its fight against Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. Among Republicans, 51% said Israel should get the backing of the U.S., while just 22% of Democrats agreed. Instead, most Democrats (62%) said the U.S. should remain neutral. Americans were split as to whether current U.S. policy is as fair with the government in Lebanon as it is with Israel. 35% agreed the U.S. was equally fair to both nations, while 37% said the U.S. favored Israel.
14) Preliminary "Lessons" of the Israeli-Hezbollah War http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/060817_isr_hez_lessons.pdf One key lesson is a familiar one: limited wars tend to have far more limited results and uncertain consequences than their planners realize at the time that they initiate and conduct them. It is difficult to know how many goals Israel achieved by the fighting to date or can keep in the future, but both Israel and Hezbollah face major uncertainties in claiming any form of meaningful victory.
15) More Propaganda Than Plot - Former British Ambassador on Alleged UK Terror Plot Democracy Now Friday, August 18th, 2006 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/18/1352248 Questions have been raised over whether British authorities were pressured by the US to make the arrests last week in the alleged terror plot to blow up transatlantic airliners. We speak with former British ambassador Craig Murray who says, "The one thing of which I am certain is that the timing is deeply political. This is more propaganda than plot."
16) France Declines to Contribute Major Force for U.N. Mission Colum Lynch Washington Post Friday, August 18, 2006; A16 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/17/AR2006081700813.html France on Thursday rebuffed pleas by U.N. officials to make a major contribution to a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, setting back efforts to deploy an international military force to help police a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. French President Jacques Chirac said Thursday that France would contribute only 200 additional troops to the U.N. operation in southern Lebanon, which the Security Council wants to expand from 2,000 troops to 15,000. Chirac said that a force of about 1,700 French troops and crew members on warships off the coast would provide logistical support. Senior U.N. peacekeeping officials said they had hoped France would send thousands of troops, forming the backbone of a large and robust mission that would spur other countries to join. The French decision on troop levels sent U.N. officials scrambling during a meeting here to find countries willing to fill the void.
17) Kiss Controversy Claims Israeli Official Ramit Plushnick-Masti Associated Press Friday, August 18, 2006; 11:33 AM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081800380.html Israel's justice minister, a key ally of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, announced Friday that he will resign, clearing the way for him to stand trial on accusations he forcibly kissed an 18-year-old female soldier. Haim Ramon's announcement came a day after Israel's attorney general announced plans to indict him, the latest blow to a government politically weakened by the 34-day war against Lebanese guerrillas. Ramon is suspected of forcibly kissing the soldier during a farewell party at a government office. The incident allegedly took place July 12, the day the war erupted. The indecent assault charge against Ramon carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison, justice officials said.
18) Mexico Left Gives Up on Vote Court Reuters August 17, 2006 Filed at 7:25 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mexico-election.html Mexico's leftist opposition party has given up hope of the electoral court handing it a victory in a disputed presidential vote and plans to step up protests to make life tough for the country's next leader. After weeks of legal battles, street marches and rain-sodden blockades that have brought the center of Mexico City to a standstill, the left-wing party whose candidate narrowly lost July 2 elections said it was prepared for the worst. The Party of the Democratic Revolution says the election was stolen from their candidate and wants every vote recounted, but expects Mexico's top electoral court to confirm conservative Felipe Calderon's slim victory. "We are not naive,'' party spokesman Gerardo Fernandez said on Thursday. "The court is preparing the conditions to impose the candidate of the right.''
-------- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org