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Summary: U.S./Top News Gen. Casey, America's top general in Iraq, said he was considering sending more troops to help quell violence raging in Baghdad, the New York Times reports. Casey and US Ambassador Khalilzad laid out a timetable for progress they said has been agreed to by the government of Prime Minister Maliki
The White House said Monday President Bush was no longer using the phrase "stay the course" when speaking about the Iraq war.
Prosecutors in Italy are seeking the indictment of Italy's top spy on charges connected to the abduction of a militant Egyptian cleric in Milan by US intelligence agents in 2003. The expected indictment of the spy is the first in which government officials have been charged with cooperating with Washington to violate the laws of their own government, the New York Times reports.
For the first time since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, active- duty members of the military are asking Members of Congress to end the U.S. occupation and bring American soldiers home. Sixty-five active-duty members have sent Appeals for Redress to Members of Congress. Under the Military Whistle-Blower Protection Act, active-duty military, National Guard and Reservists can file and send a protected communication to a Member of Congress regarding any subject without reprisal.
The Bush administration said Monday there are no plans for dramatic shifts in policy or for ultimatums to Baghdad to force progress. Meanwhile, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told AP that "We're on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working."
Several governments have tried to rebut criticism of how they handle detainees by claiming they are only following the U.S. example, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture said Monday, AP reports.
The AFL-CIO is filing a protest with the International Labor Organization of a federal decision redefining which workers are supervisors exempt from legal protection to join unions, AP reports. "This will demonstrate how far outside the mainstream of accepted international law the U.S. is moving," said Craig Becker, legal counsel to the AFL-CIO.
No matter what President Bush says, the question is not whether America can win in Iraq, writes the New York Times in an editorial. The only question is whether the US can extricate itself without leaving behind an unending civil war.
Iran Iran has taken another step in its ability to enrich uranium, the head of the U.N. atomic energy agency confirmed yesterday, the Washington Post reports. Mohamed ElBaradei said Iranian technicians had pieced together a second cascade of 164 centrifuges and are days away from using the cascade to enrich uranium. Meanwhile, the Bush administration and European allies failed to reach agreement on sanctions against Tehran's nuclear program. U.S. intelligence officials think Tehran is at least four years away from gaining the technical capability to produce enough nuclear material for a single weapon.
Iran's president has come out against a bill that would require Americans to be fingerprinted on arrival in Iran. President Ahmadinejad said he had asked Iranian legislators to set aside a bill that would require immigration officials to take fingerprints of all U.S. passport holders. "We do not have a problem with American people. We oppose only the U.S. government's bullying and arrogance," Ahmadinejad said.
Iraq A leader of an armed Iraqi group has denied the existence of any dialogue with the current Iraqi Government or US Ambassador Khalilzad. Abu-Umar told Asharq Al-Awsat "resistance factions" have rejected the national reconciliation initiative proposed by Prime Minister Maliki because it does not include a timetable for U.S. withdrawal and its proposed amnesty does not include Baathists and resistance fighters who have killed American soldiers, while it protects militias linked to the government.
The New York Times reports on an Iraqi satirical news show it compares to Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show." The newscast recently reported that Iraq's Ministry of Water and Sewage had decided to change its name to the Ministry of Sewage because it had given up on the water part.
Israel Prime Minister Olmert reached a deal Monday to broaden his coalition by adding a far-right party that seeks to annex parts of the West Bank and get rid of Israel's Arab population, the New York Times reports. [The Times uses the gentler word "reduce" to describe this party's views -JFP]
A secret, two year investigation by the defense establishment shows there has been rampant illegal construction in dozens of settlements and in many cases involving privately owned Palestinian properties, Haaretz reports. Sources maintained the report is not being made public in order to avoid a crisis with the U.S. government, since the report documents that written promises to the U.S. about restricting the growth of settlements in the West Bank were not kept.
Nicaragua The Organization of American States observer mission in Nicaragua said Sunday it regretted U.S. intervention in Nicaragua's presidential election campaign. "The future of Nicaragua's political institutions should depend only on the decision of the people of this nation," the OAS mission said. [It seems that the U.S. press is ignoring this story. -JFP]
Ecuador Juan Forero, writing in the Washington Post, reports on Dole Food's closing of flower-exporting farms in Ecuador, suggesting the lack of a so-called "free-trade" deal with the United States as a reason for doing so, although this reason was not given by company officials. Forero correctly notes that claims by critics that U.S. - promoted economic policies have not benefited the region are buttressed by the fact that economic growth in Latin America stagnated from the early 1990s until 2003.
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-------- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org
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