Just Foreign Policy News September 18, 2006 Summary: U.S. President Bush's push for legislation that narrowly defines U.S. obligations under the Geneva Conventions would allow the CIA to continue using highly controversial interrogation techniques, the Washington Post reports. One source said the techniques include prolonged sleep deprivation and forced standing or other stress positions. Another source said they match the techniques used by the agency in the past, except that the CIA no longer seeks to use "waterboarding," which is meant to simulate drowning.
The White House and Senate Republicans who revolted against the president's proposal on CIA interrogations said Sunday a compromise was possible, Reuters reports. Newsweek magazine, in its September 25 issue, said the CIA has sought to use techniques that include induced hypothermia, long periods of forced standing, sleep deprivation, "belly slap," and sound and light manipulation. Iran Time magazine reports on U.S. plans for a military attack on Iran. A "Prepare to Deploy" order to several ships and a review of long-standing U.S. plans to blockade two Iranian oil ports sent a buzz through the Navy. No one is talking about a ground invasion, Time says. Too many troops are tied down elsewhere, and besides, it isn't necessary. If the U.S. goal is simply to stunt Iran's nuclear program, it can be done better and more safely by air. An attack limited to Iran's nuclear facilities would nonetheless require a massive campaign, Time concludes. Some officials said they're concerned that the offices of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney may be receiving a stream of questionable information that originates with Iranian exiles, McClatchy Newspapers reports. Officials said the Pentagon's Iranian directorate has been headed by Abram Shulsky. Shulsky was head of the Office of Special Plans, whose role in allegedly manipulating Iraq intelligence is under investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general. European efforts to get Iran and the US to negotiate are at an advanced yet sensitive stage, reports Dafna Linzer for the Washington Post. Iraq Doctors say traumatic brain injuries are the signature wound of the Iraq war. About 1,000 patients have been treated for the symptoms, AP reports. Some fear there may be thousands more who are suffering undiagnosed. Before they could participate in the US reconstruction of Iraq, applicants had to pass a political loyalty test to the Bush Administration, writes Rajiv Chandrasekaran in the Washington Post in an excerpt from "Imperial Life in the Emerald City," Many who were chosen lacked vital skills and experience. The U.S. military has created a global network of overseas prisons, keeping 14,000 detainees beyond the reach of established law, AP reports. Many former detainees say they were interrogated around the clock, then released without apology, compensation or any word on why they were taken. Shiite militiamen and criminals entrenched throughout Iraq's police and internal security forces are blocking efforts by Iraqi leaders and the American military to root them out, the New York Times reports. The U.S. has imprisoned an AP photographer in Iraq for five months, never filing charges or permitting a public hearing, AP reports. He says he was targeted because his photos from Ramadi and Fallujah were deemed unwelcome. Israel The Israeli government established a committee Sunday to investigate the political and military leadership's handling of the recent war in Lebanon. Protesters demanded that the investigation be carried out by a state commission with greater powers and independence. Palestine A Palestinian official said internal Palestinian talks were in a state of crisis. He said Hamas needed to accept previous agreements between the Palestinians and the Israelis, or a new government would not win international acceptance. Hamas said that its position had not changed, and that it still refused to recognize Israel. Over the past six years, more than 70,000 people have applied without success to immigrate to the West Bank or Gaza to join relatives, according an Israeli human rights group, the New York Times reports. Palestinians say Israel is pursuing a systematic policy of limiting the population in the Palestinian areas, even if it means separating family members. Afghanistan After NATO's leaders demanded reinforcements for their mission in Afghanistan, only one member offered more troops, the Washington Post reports. NATO's forces are suffering the highest casualty rates of the five-year-long conflict. Pope's Comments on Islam Pope Benedict XVI said yesterday he is "deeply sorry" about the reaction to a speech in which he quoted a 14th-century emperor as saying that the prophet Muhammad brought "only evil and inhuman" things to the world. The statement was the third attempt by Vatican officials to cool the reaction to his speech. In this issue: U.S. 1) Behind the Debate, Controversial CIA Techniques 2) White House: deal possible on CIA interrogations 3) Torture and the Content of our Character Iran 4) What War With Iran Would Look Like 5) In a Replay of Iraq, A Battle is Brewing Over Intelligence on Iran 6) Europeans Trying to Grease Wheels for U.S. Talks With Iran Iraq 7) Iraq war's signature wound: brain injury 8) Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq 9) U.S. War Prisons Legal Vacuum for 14, 000 10) Iraq Stumbling in Bid to Purge Its Rogue Police 11) U.S. Jails Journalist in Iraq Israel 12) Israel Forms Committee to Investigate Lebanon War Palestine 13) Israeli Visa Policy Traps Thousands of Palestinians in a Legal Quandary Afghanistan 14) NATO Faces Growing Hurdle As Call for Troops Falls Short Pope's Comments on Islam 15) Pope 'Sorry' About Reaction to Islam Remark Contents: U.S. 1) Behind the Debate, Controversial CIA Techniques Interrogation Options Seen as Vital R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post, Saturday, September 16, 2006; A03 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/15/AR2006091501252.html President Bush's push for legislation that narrowly defines U.S. obligations under the Geneva Conventions is motivated by conviction that the CIA must continue using highly controversial interrogation techniques, according to current and former officials. These methods include some that cause extreme discomfort and have been repudiated by other federal agencies. The legitimacy of these coercive techniques is the subtext of the dispute between the administration and opponents on Capitol Hill, including lawmakers who have said they find some of the CIA's past interrogation methods abhorrent. Bush's proposal requires interrogations in the CIA prison system to comply with rules written by Congress last year. The administration has concluded this would allow the CIA to keep using virtually all the interrogation methods it has employed for the past five years, officials said. A memo to the CIA from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel named interrogation methods the department believed to be sanctioned by last year's broadly written congressional requirement. One source said the techniques include prolonged sleep deprivation and forced standing or other stress positions. Another source said they match the techniques used by the agency in the past, except that the CIA no longer seeks to use a "waterboarding," which is meant to simulate drowning. A retired intelligence professional said the predominant view at the agency is that McCain - who made clear in congressional debate last year that he disapproved of what the CIA was doing - was surprised to learn later that the Detainee Treatment Act did not put a stop to it. 2) White House: deal possible on CIA interrogations Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters, Sunday, September 17, 2006; 5:57 PM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/17/AR2006091700294.html The White House and Senate Republicans who revolted against the president's proposal on tough CIA interrogations of terrorism suspects said on Sunday a compromise was possible to heal a party rift over treatment of prisoners. Media reports have said "water boarding," which simulates drowning, and sleep deprivation have been employed by the CIA. Newsweek magazine, in its September 25 issue, said the CIA has sought to use techniques that include induced hypothermia, long periods of forced standing, sleep deprivation, "belly slap," and sound and light manipulation. Administration officials have agreed to drop water boarding from a list of approved CIA techniques, Newsweek said. That method was prohibited in the new Army Field Manual. 3) Torture and the Content of our Character Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith, The Nation, September 15, 2006 http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061002/brecher At stake in this standoff between the President and the Senate are legal and moral issues central to the Constitution and the character of the American people: the right to a fair trial, the use of torture, the accountability of high government officials for war crimes. It also tests the powers of Congress and the Supreme Court to rein in an errant executive. Iran 4) What War With Iran Would Look Like Michael Duffy, Time Magazine, Sunday, Sep. 17, 2006 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1535316,00.html The first message was routine enough: a "Prepare to Deploy" order sent through naval communications channels to a submarine, an Aegis-class cruiser, two minesweepers and two mine hunters. The orders didn't actually command the ships out of port; they just said to be ready to move by Oct. 1. But inside the Navy those messages generated more buzz than usual last week when a second request, from the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), asked for fresh eyes on long-standing U.S. plans to blockade two Iranian oil ports on the Persian Gulf. What's going on? The two orders offered tantalizing clues. There are only a few places in the world where minesweepers top the list of U.S. naval requirements. And every sailor, petroleum engineer and hedge-fund manager knows the name of the most important: the Strait of Hormuz, the 20-mile-wide bottleneck in the Persian Gulf through which roughly 40% of the world's oil needs to pass each day. Coupled with the CNO's request for a blockade review, a deployment of minesweepers to the west coast of Iran would seem to suggest that a much discussed prospect has become real: that the U.S. may be preparing for war with Iran. No one is talking about a ground invasion of Iran. Too many U.S. troops are tied down elsewhere to make it possible, and besides, it isn't necessary. If the U.S. goal is simply to stunt Iran's nuclear program, it can be done better and more safely by air. An attack limited to Iran's nuclear facilities would nonetheless require a massive campaign. Experts say that Iran has between 18 and 30 nuclear-related facilities. The sites are dispersed around the country--some in the open, some cloaked in the guise of conventional factories, some buried deep underground. A Pentagon official says that among the known sites there are 1,500 different "aim points," which means the campaign could well require the involvement of almost every type of aircraft in the U.S. arsenal: Stealth bombers and fighters, B-1s and B-2s, as well as F-15s and F-16s operating from land and F-18s from aircraft carriers. 5) In a Replay of Iraq, A Battle is Brewing Over Intelligence on Iran Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott, McClatchy Newspapers, September 17, 2006 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0917-02.htm U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials say Bush political appointees and hard-liners on Capitol Hill have tried to portray Iran's nuclear program as more advanced than it is and to exaggerate Tehran's role in Hezbollah's attack on Israel in mid-July. Several former U.S. defense officials who maintain close ties to the Pentagon say they've been told that plans for airstrikes are being updated. The leader of a Persian Gulf country who visited Washington recently came away without receiving assurances he sought that the military option was off the table, said a person with direct knowledge of the meetings. Some officials at the CIA, DIA and the State Department said they're concerned that the offices of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney may be receiving a stream of questionable information that originates with Iranian exiles, including a discredited arms dealer, Manucher Ghorbanifar, who played a role in the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal. Officials at all three agencies said they suspect that the dubious information may include claims that Iran directed Hezbollah to kidnap two Israeli soldiers in July; that Iran's nuclear program is moving faster than generally believed; and that the Iranian people are eager to join foreign efforts to overthrow their rulers. The officials said there is no reliable intelligence to support any of those assertions and some that contradicts all three. Officials say they have fought to tone down administration public statements and internal briefing papers about Iran's complicity in the attack on Israel. "They're just basically saying all kinds of wacky stuff," said the first counter-terrorism official. "Now Iran is responsible for everything Hezbollah does." Adding to the unease, Rumsfeld's office earlier this year set up a new Iranian directorate, reported to be under the leadership of neoconservatives who played a role in planning the Iraq war. Current and former officials said the Pentagon's Iranian directorate has been headed by Abram Shulsky. Shulsky was the head of the Office of Special Plans, whose role in allegedly manipulating Iraq intelligence is under investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general. Some officials fear the offic is being used to funnel intelligence from Ghorbanifar, the arms dealer, and the Iranian exile group Mujahedeen Khalq. Bill Murray, a retired CIA station chief, called the office's establishment "a big bell ringer." "That is outright manipulation of information to suggest a predetermined policy," Murray said. 6) Europeans Trying to Grease Wheels for U.S. Talks With Iran Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, Monday, September 18, 2006; A14 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/17/AR2006091700681.html European efforts to get Iran and the US around the same negotiating table are at an advanced yet sensitive stage, with a small number of remaining differences to be tackled this week when world leaders gather at the UN, according to several officials involved. Bush plans to make Iran a centerpiece of his speech Tuesday before the U.N. General Assembly. While many of his allies share suspicions of a secret Iranian effort, they have also been wary of supporting a U.S. president who has invaded two countries in the past five years and who has said that "all options are on the table" for Iran. The EU's Javier Solana will meet with Iran's nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, later this week. Officials said he is waiting for Larijani to deliver a firm commitment from his government to halt its uranium enrichment program. Larijani has suggested a temporary suspension, but it is unclear whether he can get Iran's various political factions to agree to that approach. If a deal is reached, U.S. diplomats will join group talks with European powers, Russia, China and Iran to discuss Tehran's energy needs and the future of its nuclear program. Several administration officials expressed skepticism, however, that Larijani would be able to secure that commitment. Iranian officials are seeking assurances of their own. They have said it would be hard for them to sit down with a U.S. administration that is seen as threatening the Iranian leadership. Two Bush administration officials and several European negotiators said the security issue has been a major sticking point for Iran but that efforts to resolve it are serious. Officials noted that Bush refrained last week from characterizing Iran as a "grave threat," as he did last month. To avoid a standoff over whether the US or Iran will make the next move toward talks, diplomats said it is possible that European foreign ministers will meet with Larijani during the week in New York, effectively kicking off negotiations, followed by an Iranian suspension of its nuclear program and then U.S. participation. Other E.U. members have strongly supported talks, rather than punitive measures, noting that Iran's technical progress on its nuclear program has been marginal, while its position as a major oil exporter gives Tehran significant leverage to batter their economies. Iraq 7) Iraq war's signature wound: brain injury Jordan Robertson, Associated Press, Friday, September 15, 2006 http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Iraq_War_Brain_Injuries.html Doctors say traumatic brain injuries are the signature wound of the Iraq war, a byproduct of improved armor that allows troops to survive once-deadly attacks but does not fully protect against roadside explosives and suicide bombers. About 1,000 patients have been treated for the symptoms, which include slowed thinking, severe memory loss and problems with coordination and impulse control. Some doctors fear there may be thousands more active duty and discharged troops who are suffering undiagnosed. 8) Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq Early U.S. Missteps in the Green Zone Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, Sunday, September 17, 2006; A01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600193.html [From "Imperial Life in the Emerald City," by Rajiv Chandrasekaran] The opportunity to participate in the effort to reconstruct Iraq attracted all manner of Americans. But before they could go to Baghdad, they had to get past Jim O'Beirne's office in the Pentagon. To pass muster with O'Beirne, applicants didn't need to be experts in the Middle East or in post-conflict reconstruction. What seemed most important was loyalty to the Bush administration. O'Beirne's staff posed blunt questions to some candidates about domestic politics: Did you vote for Bush? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought jobs said they were even asked their views on Roe v. Wade. Many chosen by O'Beirne's office lacked vital skills and experience. One who had never worked in finance was sent to reopen Baghdad's stock exchange. Two were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting. The decision to send the loyal and the willing instead of the best and the brightest is now regarded by many as one of the Bush administration's gravest errors. Many of those selected because of their political fidelity spent their time trying to impose a conservative agenda on the postwar occupation, which sidetracked more important reconstruction efforts and squandered goodwill among the Iraqi people. 9) U.S. War Prisons Legal Vacuum for 14, 000 Associated Press, Filed at 7:16 a.m. ET, September 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-In-American-Hands.html Since the first shackled Afghan shuffled off to Guantanamo, the U.S. military has created a global network of overseas prisons, its islands of high security keeping 14,000 detainees beyond the reach of established law. Captured on battlefields, pulled from beds at midnight, grabbed off streets as suspected insurgents, tens of thousands now have passed through U.S. detention, the vast majority in Iraq. Many say they were caught up in U.S. military sweeps, often interrogated around the clock, then released months or years later without apology, compensation or any word on why they were taken. Seventy to 90 percent of the Iraq detentions in 2003 were ''mistakes,'' U.S. officers once told the international Red Cross. 10) Iraq Stumbling in Bid to Purge Its Rogue Police Edward Wong & Paul von Zielbauer, New York Times, September 17, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/world/middleeast/17ministry.html Shiite militiamen and criminals entrenched throughout Iraq's police and internal security forces are blocking efforts by Iraqi leaders and the American military to root them out, a step critical to winning the trust of skeptical Sunni Arabs and quelling the sectarian conflict, Iraqi and Western officials say. The new interior minister, Jawad al-Bolani, who oversees the police, lacks the political support to purge many of the worst offenders, including senior managers who tolerated or encouraged the infiltration of Shiite militias into the police under the previous government. 11) U.S. Jails Journalist in Iraq Associated Press, Monday, September 18, 2006; A11 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/17/AR2006091700480.html The U.S. military in Iraq has imprisoned an AP photographer for five months, accusing him of being a security threat but never filing charges or permitting a public hearing. Bilal Hussein was being held for "imperative reasons of security" according to military officials. His attorney said Hussein has proclaimed his innocence and believes he has been unfairly targeted because his photos from Ramadi and Fallujah were deemed unwelcome by the U.S. military. Israel 12) Israel Forms Committee to Investigate Lebanon War Greg Myre, New York Times, September 18, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/world/middleeast/18mideast.html The Israeli government established a committee Sunday to investigate the political and military leadership's handling of the recent war in Lebanon. Many Israelis say the military campaign in Lebanon was poorly planned and executed, and that leaders should be held accountable. Israel could not halt the rocket fire into northern Israel by the Hezbollah, and has not achieved the return of two soldiers Hezbollah captured in the raid on July 12 that ignited the conflict. Dozens of protesters demanded that the investigation be carried out by a state commission. Such a commission would have greater power and be seen as more independent because it would be appointed by a Supreme Court judge instead of by the government it was investigating. On Sunday, Palestinian president Abbas, left on a trip that will take him to the UN for the opening of the General Assembly. His absence puts on hold talks about a national unity government for the Palestinians. Abbas had wanted an agreement before he left so he could appeal to Western leaders to restore the financial assistance that was cut after Hamas came to power. Abbas's Fatah movement and Hamas say they remain committed to the unity government, but they have traded sharp words in recent days. Yasser Abed Rabbo, who is part of Abbas's delegation, said the internal Palestinian talks were in a state of crisis. He said Hamas needed to accept previous agreements between the Palestinians and the Israelis, or a new government would not win international acceptance. Hamas said that its position had not changed, and that it still refused to recognize Israel. Western countries have demanded the Palestinian Authority government recognize Israel as one condition for restoring aid. Palestine 13) Israeli Visa Policy Traps Thousands of Palestinians in a Legal Quandary http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/18/world/middleeast/18palestinians.html Over the past six years, more than 70,000 people have applied without success to immigrate to the West Bank or Gaza to join relatives, according to B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group. Many who worked around the ban with tourist visas now have no legal way to remain. Palestinians say Israel is pursuing a systematic policy of limiting the population in the Palestinian areas, even if it means separating family members. "Most every Palestinian knows someone with this kind of problem," said Sarit Michaeli, a spokeswoman for B'Tselem. In her view, the Israeli policy has several purposes: to apply political pressure on the Palestinians, to create a bargaining chip that could be used in future negotiations and to be a tool in a battle of demographics. The largest single category of people affected by the Israeli policy is Jordanian women of Palestinian descent who have married Palestinian men and want to move to the West Bank to live with their husbands, Michaeli said. Afghanistan 14) NATO Faces Growing Hurdle As Call for Troops Falls Short Alliance Casualties Hit 5-Year High in Volatile Afghanistan Molly Moore & John Ward Anderson, Washington Post, September 18, 2006; A10 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/17/AR2006091700570.html More than a week after NATO's top leaders publicly demanded reinforcements for their embattled mission in southern Afghanistan, only one member of the alliance has offered more troops, raising questions about NATO's largest military operation ever outside of Europe and the goal of expanding its global reach. The plea for more soldiers and equipment to fight resurgent Taliban insurgents comes as NATO's forces are suffering the highest casualty rates of the five-year-long conflict in Afghanistan, and as European governments are feeling stretched by the demands for troops there and in Iraq, Lebanon, the Balkans and in several African countries. Pope's Comments on Islam 15) Pope 'Sorry' About Reaction to Islam Remark Alan Cooperman, Washington Post, Monday, September 18, 2006; A01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/17/AR2006091700178.html Pope Benedict XVI said yesterday he is "deeply sorry" about the reaction in some countries to a recent speech in which he quoted a 14th-century emperor as saying that the prophet Muhammad brought "only evil and inhuman" things to the world. The pope said the quotation does not reflect his personal views, and that his speech last Tuesday was intended to invite inter-religious dialogue "with great mutual respect." Benedict's statement was the third attempt by Vatican officials in as many days to cool the reaction to his speech, which escalated from diplomatic protests to violence over the weekend. -------- 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.
