THE US, THE UN AND IRAQ VI

Last Updated: Thursday, 15 January, 2004, 11:36 GMT
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Iraqis protest against poll plans
There was a lot of chanting and singing
Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been demonstrating in the southern city of Basra for direct elections to form a new government to run the country.

The peaceful protest outside a mosque was organised by local clerics.

The top Shia cleric Ayatollah Sistani has called for the new administration to be elected not selected.

Correspondents say the Shia objections are complicating US plans to hand over power to an appointed government by the middle of this year.

Demonstrators waving banners poured into the area around Basra's main mosque and chanted "No, no to America, yes, yes to [Grand Ayatollah Ali] Sistani."

The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra in Basra said she did not hear a single shot fired - testament, she says, to the power of the Shia clerics, who had called for a peaceful protest.

Armed members of the Shias' own private militia were in evidence, but the British armed forces who control the southern zone of Iraq kept a low profile.

The dispute has arisen over a 15 November agreement signed between the top US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, and the Iraqi Governing Council, which outlines the process of the handover of power.

The document sets a 30 June 2004 deadline for the transition of power.

Annan meeting

It says the new governing assembly should be selected by regional caucuses made up of "notables". But Ayatollah Sistani has demanded direct elections to the assembly.



Profile: Ayatollah Ali Sistani
Political temperature rises
Mr Bremer argues that Iraq's war-torn infrastructure does not yet allow general elections.

Also in dispute is the role that the United Nations should play in Iraq, and whether the status of US forces in Iraq should be subject to approval by any transitional authority.

The Coalition Provisional Authority is set to meet the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 19 January.

Commentators say it is hoping Mr Annan will use the opportunity to send a clear message to Ayatollah Sistani that democratic elections will not be possible before the end of June.

hobitbob wrote:

That would be the "Europe from Arles to Zdlinsk in three days" tour?

Formerly.

Old Europe is in the Global Travel Warnings from the State Department (exception: East Frisia, due to Rumsfeld's relatives there). :wink:

Green Cheese Walter? The moon is made of green cheese. You're on the wrong thread!

Bushing the Limits
Tom Rayner, launching our new Opinion page, explains why Bush's re-election campaign will sideline the War on Terror to appeal to Middle America
Tom Rayner

In an article for 'Tribune' in 1946, George Orwell wrote "to see what is in front of your nose requires a constant struggle". He was referring to the way that many people are able to simultaneously hold two totally contradictory ideas in their heads, which fundamentally cancel each other out, and still make what they believe to be a logical opinion from a mixture of the two. The example that he gave was that of the newly formed United Nations. If it were to be successful it had to override big states as well as small ones. It must also have the authority to inspect and limit armaments and wield the threat of an armed force more powerful than any other.

However, it was as commonly recognised as it is today that major states such as USA, Britain and France would never consider allowing their own actions to be rigorously inspected by an intruding independent body. It seemed ridiculous to Orwell that although people knew that the specifications for a successful UN were unattainable, many well-informed people embraced the ideas that the organisation would be a success.

Seeing contradictions is a major problem in today's situation. The smooth link that the Bush administration established between Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein is purely fictitious. As a secular leader, Hussein would have seen Al-Quaeda as a threat to his hegemony and was extremely unlikely to fund or indeed harbour Islamic fundamentalists. In fact, the discontent among young Iraqis that has come about as a result of the chaos caused by the conflict has, ironically, made Iraq into an ideal recruitment base for Al-Quaeda. Despite this blindingly obvious fact, the capture of Saddam Hussein has been heralded by the American media as a triumph in the 'War on Terror' and a sign of their eventual victory - slogans such as 'Saddam today, Osama tomorrow' show how people have taken the bait laid by the Bush Administration.

While the existence of 'weapons of mass destruction' is still being debated, new papers released from the British Government archives reveal American plans to use force to acquire Middle Eastern oil fields thirty years ago. The intelligence reports from 1973 show that America was planning to seize oil assets in the region six years before Saddam Hussein even came to power, in response to the oil embargo following the 'October War' between Israel, Egypt and Syria. This evidence alone shows that securing oil supplies by force in the Middle East was a definite principle of US policy before the WMD allegations were dreamt up. Following Hussein's capture, however, George W. Bush was pleased to announce that "America is now a safer place!". Even to the most ignorant Bush sympathiser, this must seem outrageous. Troops continue to die almost every day in Iraq; America has consistently been on its highest state of alert; F16 fighter jets are escorting commercial Airlines; armed Air Marshals are being forced on to international flights entering the US and Osama Bin Laden has just made it very clear that he is alive and well and even apologising in advance to the people of America and Europe for the death and destruction that the next major attack is going to cause - if ever there was a time for an American to feel unsafe I'd say it was now!

Bush's re-election campaign is likely to lead attention away from the realities of the 'War on Terror' and the conflict in Iraq, which are potentially a very problematic electoral backdrop, in favour of invoking what The Observer called a 'soft-focus' campaign. Like Reagan's approach in 1984, it is likely that the Bush campaign orchestrated by Karl Rove will portray Bush in a dreamy, upbeat, 'father of the nation' type of way, separating him from the truth of the political fray. In many ways this is playing to his particular audience - not the American people in general, but Bush's strong hold known as 'middle-America'. This group have fallen for Bush's image of high Christian morality and the impression of the 'Holy Crusade' based on the principles of 'democracy' and 'freedom' that his more sinister policies hide beneath. They prefer to hear patriotic rhetoric where the 'good guys' beat the 'bad guys' than real politics. They are willingly won over by images of Bush delivering a fake Thanksgiving turkey to the troops in Iraq and seeing Saddam Hussein searched for lice. They do not care that in reality the troops ate steamed meal rations and the sumptuous turkey that Bush displayed was for the consumption of the viewing television public and not the soldiers. They do not care that while television pictures beamed the unshaven face of Hussein all over the world on December 13th, President Dubya was quietly signing away their rights to privacy, inviting the FBI to look at the records of any individual without judicial warrant in an extension of the notorious Patriot Act. For the President and his cronies, it was "a good day to bury bad news".

If the Democrats are to be successful in this year's elections, they must make significant attempts to show people in America a glimpse of reality, to help them see the truth despite its ugliness. This will be an arduous task because, in many ways, 'middle-America' does not want to see the reality. They are content with accepting Bush's veil of liberty so long as their 'rosy' view of the 'good old USA' is left untouched. However, Howard Dean, the leading Democratic candidate for the presidential elections has criticised the current tendency of those Democratic representatives in Congress and the Senate who are co-opting Bush's agenda and providing no opposition and no alternative.

If the Democrats can be a united party that help people understand, without contradiction, what is in front of their noses and see what America really looks like under this administration, they should have every chance of securing a victory. There is no doubt that the US elections are going to shape the future for all of us. The path the world takes is in the hands of the American people at the ballot box later this year. I do hope they realise what Orwell did, and struggle to see what is blatantly in front of their nation's nose.

A top Iraqi Shia cleric has written to the US president and UK prime minister questioning their sincerity over the transfer of power to the Iraqis.
In his letter, Hojat Al-Islam Ali Abdulhakim Alsafi said the political transition plan had more to do with US elections than Iraqi interests.

He warned of the consequences of ignoring Iraqi demands.

Western Citizens Among Iran Rebels Held in Iraq
Thu January 15, 2004

By Louise Knowles
LONDON (Reuters) - A group of British parliamentarians said Thursday there were "scores" of British, European and U.S. citizens among Iranian rebels detained in Iraq that could face extradition to Iran.

The Iraqi Governing Council last month ordered the expulsion of the members of the People's Mujahideen rebel group interned by U.S. forces in Iraq where they had been armed and trained by the government of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"There is no doubt whatsoever that if that were to happen, we would be condemning those hundreds in Iraq to immediate torture and death," Member of Parliament Win Griffiths of Britain's ruling Labor Party told a news conference.

But a spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in London said repentant rebels would be allowed to return to their families but their leaders would face trial on terrorist charges.

"A great number of them repent of their past. If they come to Iran, there would be no problem," spokesman Mohammad Eskandari told Reuters.

"The others must face trial and be punished. You know, they have shed much innocent blood. They have killed at least 3,000 Iranians. They have killed even Americans in the past. They are a terrorist group."

Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, chairman of the British Committee for Iran Freedom, which organized Thursday's news conference, put the figure of Britons, other Europeans and U.S. citizens among Mujahideen detainees in Iraq at "scores."

Lord Corbett said 220 Members of Parliament and 85 members of the House of Lords had signed a statement condemning the Iraqi council's decision to expel Mujahideen members.

"The Iraqi Governing Council have to ask themselves 'do they want a fresh start in Iraq and the region or do they want blood on their hands from day one?"' said another British Labor MP, Steve McCabe.

Canada has said 20 of its citizens were among those held and pressed Washington not to deport them to Iran. But Britain's Foreign Office said it was not aware of any UK citizens being detained in the camp north of Baghdad.

The People's Mujahideen helped overthrow the U.S.-backed shah during Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, but then fell out with the dominant party of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and then fought alongside Iraqi troops in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

The People's Mujahideen is listed by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist organization.

The group has attracted some disaffected Iranian exiles, but its attempts to stir up revolt against the Islamic Republic have fallen on deaf ears inside Iran, where it has little or no support.

:: Friday, January 16, 2004 ::

More on the Family Laws issue.
Al-Sabah has today on its front page a statement by Jalal Talabani, Kurdish Governing Council member, saying that Decision No. 173 by the Iraqi Governing Council cannot be passed because illegitimate. Yesterday Al-Sabah said that the decision was signed by all IGC members except one. Could be Talabni who has not signed the decision while the women on the IGC thought it was OK?

Inside, in its legal section, Judge Zakia Ismaeel Haqi has a column titled [Remarks on GC's decision No. 137], here are the highlights of what she has written, it is a bit long if you are not interested in reading all of this go down to the bold bit:

There is no doubt that the Islamic Sharia was and still is one of the main sources of law in Iraq……………..the patience of the Iraqi family was rewarded with the announcement of the Personal Affairs Law number 159 in 1959 and its 12 amendments. This law took a lot from Sharia laws and the fiqh of various Islamic factions, for example the husband was not able anymore to divorce his wife by simply announcing the divorce to her three times [that's a bit complicated to explain, the wife in sharia is considered divorced if her husband tells her "you are divorced" three times] causing the family to collapse.

……

The Iraqi family and specially the Iraqi woman was hoping that our brothers in the Governing Council, many of them who have struggled for 3 decades against the fallen regime, we hoped that they understand our need for more amendments to the above mentioned law and the deletion of some of the hurtful amendments added by the previous regime. We needed corrections to that law which will ensure more protection to the family but we were shocked by the announcement of decision no. 137 in what was an almost unanimous vote with only one voice opposing it.
A decision like that affects the Iraqi family profoundly and will have dangerous consequences I will not be able to list of them here in detail but maybe the main effect it will have is the following: this decision will abolish the current Personal Affairs Law [family law] which is followed by Muslim or non Muslim families, Social Protection Law, Minors Protection Law, Inheritance Law and all amendments to the 1959 law concerning non Muslim citizens Christians, Jews and Mandeans. Now that this law has been abolished who protects the rights of non Muslims?

I have a lot of respect to my brothers in the IGC specially some of them are colleagues in studying the law and I have joined others of them in the revolution of the Kurdish people in 1974. I am very disappointed that many of them have put their signature down on a decision which has not been properly legally formulated and has too many linguistic mistakes and I wonder how such a draft could pass thru the legal committee in the GC.
[she counts a couple of the more important legal and linguistic flaws]

……………….
……………….

Finally I am very saddened to see the fate of the Iraqi family and specifically the Iraqi woman amidst this storm. Some do not allow her to leave the house, others do not allow her to travel without a chaperone and another crushes her humanity by beating her thinking that he is practicing his lawful right according to the sharia. The Iraqi family refuses to go back to the dark ages and the 4th Hijra century now that we are in the 15th Hijra century. The Iraqi woman needs your understanding and support so that she can explore her full potential in causing positive changes in the economical, social and political structure in her country. And I hope you will not forget that women today are 65% of the Iraqi population.
I am fully convinced that a decision like this does not represent the Iraqi public opinion and our people look forward for more participation of women in the society.

Because even this administration doesn't understand?

A top Iraqi Shia cleric has written to the US president and UK prime minister questioning their sincerity over the transfer of power to the Iraqis.
In his letter, Hojat Al-Islam Ali Abdulhakim Alsafi said the political transition plan had more to do with US elections than Iraqi interests.

He warned of the consequences of ignoring Iraqi demands

And never forget the golden rule, 95% of all statistics are made up on the spot, just like this.

UNICEF pledges to demobilize 5,000 child soldiers in Afghanistan

15 January - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN mission to Afghanistan have set a target of demobilizing 5,000 child soldiers this year as part of their joint campaign to reintegrate war-affected youngsters in the country.

The demobilization scheme began last month in the northeast, where local committees that will help in the process formed in the Badakhshan, Baghlan, Bamiyan, Kunduz and Takhar provinces.

At a press briefing in Kabul today, a spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said demobilization and reintegration committees would be set up in the country's eastern provinces by the end of this month.

The spokesman said that in Kunduz province 90 per cent of the child soldiers have already been identified and registered for the programme.

The campaign by UNICEF and UNAMA - with the support of several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) - is designed to help up to 10,000 children affected by armed conflict in Afghanistan. It is focused in the north, northeast, central and eastern regions of the country and includes not only child soldiers, but street children, returnees and those children who are working or who are out of school.

In a separate development, UNICEF officials said next week's opening of a salt iodation plant in Sheberghan, in Afghanistan's north, should reduce the incidence of iodine deficiency disorders in the region. These disorders include still births, goitre, cretinism and severe hearing problems.

Meanwhile, the cantonment of heavy weapons began today in Kabul. The process of cantonment, or effective disarmament, was enshrined in the 2001 UN-brokered Bonn agreement, which paved the way for Afghanistan's political transition.

Bush, Bremer to Meet on Salvaging Iraq Handover


Friday, January 16, 2004 8:07 a.m. ET

By Andrew Marshall

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. administrator Paul Bremer holds talks at the White House on Friday on objections by Iraq's most powerful Muslim cleric to Washington's plans for handing back sovereignty to Iraqis without first holding elections.

In Tokyo, a team of Japanese soldiers set off for Kuwait on their way to Iraq, where they will be the advance scouting team for a larger force due to deploy in the next month -- Japan's riskiest and most controversial deployment since World War II.

Bremer's talks in Washington are expected to focus on possible changes to U.S. plans for the handover of power in Iraq. They occur three days before he travels to New York with members of Iraq's U.S.-backed Governing Council to meet U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and ask the United Nations to take a role in the transition.

Iraq's most revered Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has refused to support the U.S. plan for regional caucuses to select a transitional assembly which will pick an interim government to take sovereignty by the end of June.

Sistani says the current road map will not produce a legitimate authority acceptable to most Iraqis, and predicts rising political tension and violence if credible, transparent polls are not held soon.

Tens of thousands of Sistani's supporters marched through the southern city of Basra to chants of "No to America" on Thursday. An aide to Sistani told Reuters in Kuwait if the cleric formally rejected the plan, Iraqis would not support it.

"If (Sistani) issues a fatwa (edict) all the Iraqi people will go out in protest marches and demonstrations against the coalition forces," Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Mohri said.

Washington says Iraq is not ready for elections. Iraq's Governing Council has warned that if a sovereign government has to be elected, this could delay the handover of power. Pressure from Iraq's Kurds for control over a wider swathe of northern Iraq has also complicated Washington's plans.

"BACK-PEDALLING"

Washington, which went to war in Iraq without the backing of most of the Security Council, long resisted a wider U.N. role in postwar Iraq. But it is now trying to persuade the United Nations to return to Iraq to oversee the political transition in the hope that this will persuade Iraqis to back the plan.

Annan pulled international staff out of Iraq last year after two suicide bomb attacks on the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, and has said they will only return if given a role commensurate with the risks they will face.

In another sign Washington wants to mend divisions with countries that opposed the war in Iraq, U.S. officials said the Bush administration was leaning toward reversing policy and allowing French firms to bid for prime contracts from $18.6 billion worth of U.S.-funded reconstruction projects for Iraq.

Washington was also considering allowing all countries to bid on the next round of contracts, one official said, a move that would abandon Bush's previous stand that only nations whose troops risked their lives in Iraq could apply.

"I've heard people back-pedalling all over the government on this," one official said.

Speaking to reporters in Paris, Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin suggested a possible softening of the French position on military involvement in Iraq.

Asked if France would consider sending troops, he did not rule it out but said: "We shall have the opportunity to look in detail at this when a government has been formed in Iraq."

Among the most pressing tasks facing the U.S.-led administration in forming a government in Iraq is the need to win over Sistani.

Bremer has said he respects Sistani but there is not enough time to hold elections before a handover of sovereignty due to a lack of electoral registers and polling laws.

U.S. officials say they are reviewing the plan to hold 18 regional caucuses to ensure the transitional assembly is chosen in a fair and transparent way.

DEATH TOLL NEARS 500

A Sistani edict could turn many Shi'ites against Washington at a time when U.S.-led forces are battling guerrillas in the minority Sunni Muslim areas north and west of Baghdad, heartland of support for now captive former dictator Saddam Hussein.

Since the start of the war in March that ousted Saddam, 343 U.S. soldiers have been killed in action in Iraq, 228 of them in guerrilla attacks since Bush said major combat ended in May. Including non-combat deaths, the U.S. toll stands at 496 -- nearing the psychologically important 500 mark.

The Japanese army team that left Tokyo on Friday is expected to arrive in southern Iraq within the next week to prepare for the arrival of a larger force.

The dispatch marks a historic shift away from Japan's purely defensive postwar security policy and poses a huge political risk for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whose government could be rocked if, as many expect, casualties occur.

A U.S. military plane carrying Georgian Defense Minister David Tevzadze came under fire while landing in Baghdad on Thursday, Tevzadze said. There were no casualties. (Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Washington, Niko Mchedlishvili in Tblisi and Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo)

Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited.