Summary: U.S. A majority of Americans want the US to increase diplomatic efforts over Iran's nuclear ambitions, while 70% oppose the use of U.S. troops to thwart Iran, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released Thursday. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives passed today the "Iran Freedom Support Act," tightening sanctions on Iran and US allies trading with Iran and promoting a policy of "regime change," despite the negative impact this may have on current negotiations. The measure now goes to the Senate.
Congress took major steps Wednesday toward establishing a new system for interrogating and trying terror suspects as the House approved legislation sought by President Bush and the Senate defeated efforts to alter the measure. The House voted 253 to 168, mostly on party lines, in favor of new rules governing the questioning of terror suspects and bringing them before military tribunals. Links to the roll call and the text are given below. Meanwhile, CNN ran a powerful interview with Maher Arad, the Canadian deported by the Bush Administration to Syria and tortured, the link is below.
The New York Times editoralized again in opposition to the bill and the political timing of the measure and called for a Senate filibuster. The editorial summarized the problems with the bill with respect to habeas corpus, the Geneva Conventions, judicial review, secret and coerced evidence.
Protests and civil disobedience in the US this week against the US occupation of Iraq were reported by CNN, the Baltimore Sun, and the Washington Post. CNN has nice footage of the protest in the Hart Senate office building.
As Bush prepares to receive Kazakh president Nazarbayev at a state dinner, critics say US policy towards Kazakhstan illustrates the Bush administration's willingness to sacrifice democracy when it conflicts with other goals. Meanwhile, the New York Times, reports, comedian Sasha Cohen has managed to get under the skin of Kazakh officials by mocking the imperial aura that surrounds Nazarbayev.
Iran EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he had failed to reach a deal with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator on Tehran's nuclear program, but had laid the ground for further discussions.
Laura Rozen, writing for the American Prospect, suggests that once discredited Iranian exile and Iran-contra arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar once again has an ear in Washington, this time at the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Iraq Democrats contend the White House is deliberately withholding a National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq until after the November elections. Representative Harman said sources had told her that a draft of the document had been finished. "I have heard that it's complete, and that it's grim," Harman said.
The radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr has lost control of portions of his Mahdi Army militia that are splintering off into freelance death squads and criminal gangs, the New York Times reports. The report suggests that Sadr militiamen who have grown frustrated with the Sadr's compromises due to participation in the government may fall under the control of Iran, without offering any evidence or explanation of why it would be in Iran's interest to do so.
A $75 million project to build the largest police academy in Iraq has been so grossly mismanaged that the campus now poses health risks to recruits and might need to be partially demolished, the Washington Post reports. The Baghdad Police College, hailed as crucial to U.S. efforts to prepare Iraqis to take control of the country's security, was so poorly constructed that feces and urine rained from the ceilings in student barracks.
Israel An Israeli military court Wednesday released the Palestinian deputy prime minister, citing lack of evidence. Other Palestinian lawmakers remain in jail.
Pakistan Three weeks after Pakistan's president announced a peace pact with Taliban radicals in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan, some say militant Pakistani tribal leaders, while complying with their pledge to reduce the presence of foreign fighters, intend to defy the peace pact by sending local fighters into Afghanistan, the Washington Post reports.
Turkey A Turkish court fined an elderly man $6,700 for criticizing Prime Minister Erdogan in a visitors' book at the onetime home of Ataturk.
Mexico Thousands of local residents, teachers and social activists in a movement against local authorities in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca fear a major police crackdown may be imminent, Inter Press Service reports.
Contents: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/index.html
-------- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org
Just Foreign Policy is a membership organization devoted to reforming U.S. foreign policy so that it reflects the values and interests of the majority of Americans.