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Summary: U.S./Top News Advocates of meaningful troop withdrawal from Iraq - a position supported by the majority of the public - continue to be marginalized in the media debate over Iraq, writes Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting in a news advisory. According to the 2006 exit polls, 55 percent of voters prefer that the U.S. withdraw some or all of its troops from Iraq, while a recent Pew poll found 56% favored a timetable for withdrawal. FAIR noted a Washington Post editorial that called Murtha's redeployment proposal "an extreme step that most congressional Democrats oppose," although half of the Democratic caucus have co-sponsored the Murtha resolution.
Robert Gates was unanimously approved by a Senate committee yesterday to become President Bush's new defense secretary, after a confirmation hearing in which he bluntly stated that the US is not winning the war in Iraq.
U.S. troops should begin withdrawing from combat and Washington should launch a diplomatic and political push to halt a "grave and deteriorating" crisis in Iraq, the Iraq Study Group said Wednesday. The report called for the US to engage with Iran and Syria in an effort to stabilize the country.
Rep. Silvestre Reyes, incoming chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said he wants to see an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops as part of a stepped up effort to "dismantle the militias," Newsweek reports online. The Texas Democrat voted against the October 2002 authorization that enabled the US invasion, but now opposes a timetable for withdrawal.
Top Democrats in Congress are ignoring calls from within their caucus to eliminate funding for troops in Iraq, a strategy some say is necessary to end U.S. involvement in the war, the Washington Times reports. "There is only one way in which the US will withdraw from Iraq prior to the end of President Bush's term," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich. "Congress must vote to cut off funds." Democratic leaders flatly rejected the idea, insisting they will move to "change the course" of the war but will continue to appropriate money to support the troops fighting in Iraq.
House Democrats sent a signal to President Bush Tuesday they will attach conditions he is likely to find unpalatable to his anticipated request early next year for another $100 billion or more to pay for the war in Iraq, AP reports. Democratic leaders said they will seek to enforce greater transparency for the billions of dollars in contracts that the Pentagon pays private firms to perform numerous functions in Iraq. Some anti-war voices in the House said they want to use the supplemental spending bill to force Bush to bring home the 140,000 troops in Iraq.
More than 73,000 soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and with problems such as drug abuse and depression, the Miami Herald reports. Internet blogs written by soldiers or their wives tell of suicide attempts, harmed careers, and broken marriages.
With Americans leaning consistently in favor of disengagement from Iraq, President Bush has warned that a precipitate withdrawal would create a terrorism superstate in the Middle East, the Los Angeles Times reports. But to many U.S. lawmakers, regional experts and Middle East leaders, the chief risk is a Lebanese-style civil war that could result in the deaths of thousands more Iraqis and expand the conflict by drawing in neighboring states.
The lead-up to the invasion of Iraq has become notorious in the annals of American journalism, Norman Solomon writes for Common Dreams. But it's happening again, as the New York Times and other major media beat the drum for the idea that the war must go on.
In the new Senate Chris Dodd will play a greater role in shaping U.S. policy towards Latin America, writes Andres Oppenheimer in the Miami Herald. Dodd called for engagement with "center-left" presidents in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua.
Iran David Ignatius, writing in the Washington Post, says Iran has set "a tough condition" for help in stabilizing Iraq: a US timetable for withdrawing its troops. Of course, this "tough condition" is supported by a majority of Americans and Iraqis.
Iran's top national security official urged Arab leaders to expel the U.S. military from the region and join Iran in a regional security alliance, AP reports. Ali Larijani told Arab business leaders and political analysts that Washington is indifferent to their interests and will cast them aside when they are no longer useful.
Iraq Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Tuesday that he would send envoys to neighboring countries to plan a conference on Iraq, the New York Times reports. Juan Cole notes on his blog that this reversal of position follows the Arab League's endorsement of the proposal.
Syria US engagement with Syria on Iraq would benefit hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees now in Syria, writes Kenneth Bacon of Refugees International in the Washington Post. Syria's resources are stretched thin, and without international help, it may not be able to accept vulnerable Iraqis much longer. Working with Syria through the UN to help Iraqi refugees could provide a humanitarian first step for greater engagement.
North Korea The US has offered a detailed package of economic and energy assistance in exchange for North Korea's giving up nuclear weapons and technology, the New York Times reports.
Venezuela Latin America's leftward swing, cemented by Hugo Chavez's landslide re-election in Venezuela, Rafael Correa's triumph in Ecuador and Daniel Ortega's return in Nicaragua, doesn't necessarily reflect a yearning for Cuban-style communism, AP reports. Instead, it's all about delivering life's basics - food, shelter, health care - to people excluded from the benefits of the free market that Washington has championed in the region for more than two decades.
Contents: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/blog/ - Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org