Just Foreign Policy News October 3, 2006 http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/newsroom/index.html
The Just Foreign Policy News Summary is now podcast daily. To subscribe, see http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/podcasts/podcast_howto.html. Summary: U.S. The New York Times has refused to publish a correction of its false reporting that Venezuelan President Chavez said that Noam Chomsky had died. The Times reported Sept. 21 that Chavez said he regretted not having met Chomsky before his death. As Just Foreign Policy noted in a letter to the Times, a report by Reuters contradicted the Times account, reporting that Chavez expressed his regrets about not having met American economist John Kenneth Galbraith. A report on the web carries footage of the press conference. The failure of the Times to print a timely and forthright correction recalls its promulgation of the myth that Iran's President Ahmedinijad called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." Despite being called to account by Persian scholars for its mistranslation of Ahmedinijad's remarks, the Times has never published a correction, although it has since seemed to acknowledge that its translation was controversial. A review of White House records has determined that CIA director Tenet did brief Condoleezza Rice and other top officials on July 10, 2001, about the looming threat from Al Qaeda, a State Department spokesman said Monday. When details of the meeting emerged last week in a book by Bob Woodward, administration officials questioned Woodward's reporting. In reporting on Secretary Rice's trip to the Middle East, the Washington Post characterizes the motivations of U.S. policymakers in terms remarkably similar to those used by Iranian officials. The purpose of holding a meeting on Iran's nuclear program, the Post reports, is "to emphasize the growing gap between moderates and militants, " suggesting that the key motivation of U.S. policymakers is to contain Iran politically and reduce the influence of its allies, and the discussion of Iran's nuclear program is chiefly a "wedge issue." Iran A top Iranian nuclear official proposed Tuesday that France create a consortium to enrich uranium in Iran, saying that could satisfy international demands for outside oversight of Tehran's nuclear program. French officials distanced themselves from the idea. The Iranian vacation island of Kish is a place where sexes mix and music flows, and where women let slip their head scarves and frolic with their husbands on the gleaming sands, the New York Times reports. Iraq Faced with unrelenting sectarian killings, Prime Minister Maliki announced a new security plan. Details were vague, and it was not clear how effective it would be in the face of recent unsuccessful attempts to quell the violence, the Times reports. Palestine The Hamas government has been unable to pay salaries or govern effectively because the US and the EU have cut off aid funds, and Israel has refused to turn over customs and other fees that it collects for the Palestinians, the Times reports. This report much more accurately describes the revenues being withheld by Israel than the recent reporting by Steven Erlanger in the Times. Egypt Some estimates of the informal sector in Egypt place its share of the economy as high as 60%, the Times reports. Afghanistan In a stunning critique of the Bush Administration's policy in Afghanistan, Senate Majority Leader Frist called for bringing Taliban supporters into the government, saying he had learned from briefings that Taliban fighters were too numerous and had too much popular support to be defeated on the battlefield. Turkey In Turkey, even after the protest has died out elsewhere, the pope's remarks about Islam remain headline news, the Times reports. The pope is scheduled to visit Turkey in November. India The New York Times is running a series about problems of access to water in India. The Times fails to mention the role of U.S. corporations in the issue, although the role of the Coca-Cola company has spurred successful efforts by student groups and labor unions to drive Coke off college campuses in the U.S. Brazil Lula faces a difficult battle for re-election in the second round of voting, the Times reports. The headline suggests that recent scandals have threatened Lula's base, although the article doesn't address this issue at all. Venezuela Robert Collier reported yesterday in the San Francisco Chronicle that Venezuela is spending billions of dollars on anti-poverty programs, in what may be the largest such effort in a developing nation, and is handing a large degree of authority over these spending programs to thousands of elected local councils. Contents: U.S. 1) New York Times Refuses to Print Correction of Misreporting on Chavez Despite repeated requests from Just Foreign Policy and other organizations, the New York Times has refused to publish a correction of its false reporting that Venezuelan President Chavez said that Noam Chomsky had died. The Times reported Sept. 21 that Chavez said he regretted not having met Chomsky before his death. As Just Foreign Policy noted in a letter to the Times, a report by Reuters contradicted the Times account, reporting that Chavez expressed his regrets about not having met American economist John Kenneth Galbraith. A report on Venezuelan television now carries footage of the press conference (Spanish.) The URL is http://www.aporrea.org/medios/n84253.html. The video shows Chavez saying: [S]oy un lector asiduo de Noam Chomsky, como lo he sido de un norteamericano profesor que murió hace poco, lamentablemente no pude conocerlo, chica, yo sí traté de conocer a ese hombre, pero ya estaba un poco deteriorado, noventa años tenía, John Kenneth Galbraith." AP translated Chavez's comments as: "I am a fervent reader of Noam Chomsky like I've been of a North American professor who died a little while ago. Unfortunately, I never was able to meet him. I tried to meet this man, but he was already a little deteriorated at 90 years of age, John K. Galbraith." The refusal of the Times to print timely and forthright corrections is a source of widespread harm in U.S. press coverage, since other papers follow the Times. For example, many newspapers report routinely as a matter of known fact that Iranian President Ahmedinijad threatened to "wipe Israel off the map" even though Ahmedinijad never said these words. The New York Times is the original source of the mistranslation of Ahmedinijad's remarks from Persian. It has since backed away from this claim, acknowledging that its translation is disputed by Persian scholars such as Juan Cole, but because it did not do so in a timely and forthright way, the claim continues to appear in papers which may not be aware that the Times is the original source of the claim or that the Times has subsequently backed away from it. 2) C.I.A. Chief Warned Rice on Al Qaeda Philip Shenon & Mark Mazzetti, New York Times, October 3, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/washington/03rivals.html A review of White House records has determined that George Tenet, then director of central intelligence, did brief Condoleezza Rice and other top officials on July 10, 2001, about the looming threat from Al Qaeda, a State Department spokesman said Monday. The account by the spokesman, Sean McCormack, came hours after Rice, the secretary of state, told reporters she did not recall the specific meeting on July 10, noting that she had met repeatedly with Tenet that summer about terrorist threats. Rice, the national security adviser at the time, said it was "incomprehensible" to suggest she had ignored dire terrorist threats two months before the Sept. 11 attacks. When details of the meeting emerged last week in a new book by Bob Woodward of The Washington Post, Bush administration officials questioned Woodward's reporting. Now, after several days, both current and former Bush administration officials have confirmed parts of Woodward's account. Officials now agree that on July 10, 2001, Tenet and his counterterrorism deputy, J. Cofer Black, were so alarmed about intelligence pointing to an impending attack by Al Qaeda that they demanded an emergency meeting at the White House with Rice and her National Security Council staff. 3) Rice Meets With Saudi King on Trip to Rally Arab Allies In Wake of Lebanon War, Secretary of State Looks to Stabilize Middle East, Counter Momentum of Militant Movements Robin Wright, Washington Post, Tuesday, October 3, 2006; A06 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/02/AR2006100201291.html Secretary of State Rice held midnight talks with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Monday on the first leg of a five-day swing through the Middle East to rally Arab allies against the growing momentum of militant movements in the region. Many analysts believe the sixth Middle East war at least temporarily boosted the standing of Hezbollah as well as its patron Iran and allies such as the radical Palestinian group Hamas. To emphasize the growing gap between moderates and militants, Rice may hold talks on Iran on Friday with the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany. The subject will be what actions to take against Tehran for failing to comply with a U.N. resolution to stop uranium enrichment for an energy program that could be used to develop nuclear weapons. [What this article seems to be saying is quite striking. The purpose of holding a meeting on Friday about Iran's nuclear program is not in fact to do anything about Iran's nuclear program but "to emphasize the growing gap between moderates and militants." This suggests that the central motivation of U.S. policymakers is to contain Iran politically and reduce the influence of its allies, and the discussion of Iran's nuclear program is chiefly a "wedge issue." This view of U.S. motivations is strikingly similar to that expressed by Iranian officials. - JFP] Iran 4) Iran Asks France to Oversee Enrichment Associated Press, October 3, 2006, Filed at 10:00 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iran-Nuclear.html A top Iranian nuclear official proposed Tuesday that France create a consortium to enrich uranium in Iran, saying that could satisfy international demands for outside oversight of Tehran's nuclear program. French officials distanced themselves from the idea. Mohammad Saeedi, deputy chief of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, made the proposal in an interview with French radio in Tehran, suggesting that France's state-controlled nuclear company and one of its subsidiaries be partners in the consortium. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said he was surprised by the idea, which he called ''totally new for us.'' Mattei said any proposals should wait until negotiations are under way and emphasized that the current priority was talks between Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Solana gave a cautious response to the proposal, saying the idea of a consortium had long been discussed in his talks with Larijani. ''It's an idea that was talked about lightly, maybe now we can talk about it more seriously,'' he said. 5) Iran Island Defies Nation's Conservatism Associated Press, October 2, 2006, Filed at 4:25 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iran-Liberal-Bastion.html This coral-rimmed vacation island is a place where the sexes mix and the music flows, and where women let slip their head scarves and frolic with their husbands on the gleaming sands. Although island authorities draw the line at booze and bikinis, Kish remains a haven of freedom in the Islamic republic. Lately Kish has lost a few freedoms. It used to boast of beaches for foreign tourists where women could bathe in bikinis alongside men. Those beaches proved too racy and were shut down. Here in the Persian Gulf, 10 miles off Iran's mainland and 600 miles south of Tehran, a woman can ride a bike with her arms bared, hair uncovered and jeans rolled up to the calves. Women go bowling with men, they snorkel and race around on speedy personal watercraft and cheer dolphin acrobatics at a Sea World-style amusement park. And, although it's not really permitted, men and women frolic together on the beach. Iraq 6) Iraqi Leader Unveils New Security Plan Amid Rising Violence Richard A. Oppel Jr. & Qais Mizher, New York Times, October 3, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/world/middleeast/03iraq.html Faced with unrelenting sectarian killings and growing anger from Sunni Arab leaders, Prime Minister Maliki announced a new security plan on Monday that calls for committees of neighborhood leaders to try to defuse sectarian crises in their own areas and also for new supervision of the news media. But details of the plan were vague, and it was not clear how effective it would be in the face of recent unsuccessful attempts, through both political and military initiatives, to quell the sectarian violence and growing militia dominance that have pushed the country to the verge of civil war. [Note that the use of the cautious phrase "verge of civil war" puts the New York Times outside the maintstream of US public opinion, as recent poll data indicates 2/3 of Americans believe there is a civil war already. -JFP] News of the plan came amid brazen sectarian abductions and killings in the past two days that have enraged Sunni legislators, some of whom accused Shiite lawmakers of focusing their efforts against Sunni militants while ignoring and even empowering Shiite militiamen. The past few days have been one of the deadliest stretches for coalition forces in months, as the military reported the deaths of 10 more American and British servicemen since Saturday. At least 13 troops have been killed in the past three days. The 10 newly reported deaths included five marines killed in Anbar Province, three of them in enemy attacks, one in a vehicle accident Sunday and one in an attack Saturday. Three soldiers were killed in Baghdad on Monday by small-arms fire, and another died Sunday after his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb. Palestine 7) 2 Killed as Palestinian Factions Clash for 2nd Day Greg Myre, New York Times, October 3, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/world/middleeast/03mideast.html The Hamas government has been unable to pay salaries or govern effectively because the United States and the European Union, regarding Hamas as a terrorist group, have taken steps to cut off aid funds, and Israel has refused to turn over customs and other fees that it collects for the Palestinians. [This much more accurately describes the revenues being withheld by Israel than the recent reporting by Steven Erlanger in the Times. Note that it would not be an option for the Palestinian Authority to collect these duties itself, since the flow of goods is under the control of the Israeli government. It is not even an option for the duties not be to collected at all. The Israeli government levies the same duties on goods purchased by Palestinian residents of the occupied territories as it levies on its own citizens. By legal agreement, the revenues collected from Palestinians are supposed to be turned over to the Palestinian Authority. It is this agreement that the Israeli government has violated since the election of Hamas, with the acquiescence of the Bush Administration and the European Union. -JFP] Egypt 8) A Hand on the Ladle, and an Eye Out for the Law Michael Slackman, New York Times, October 3, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/world/africa/03cairo.html Salem sells ful, the fava bean stew that is a staple of Egyptian cuisine, as a cheap, hearty breakfast for just 20 cents. But he is an unlicensed street vendor, one of the many hundreds of thousands of Egyptians who make their living in Egypt's informal sector: selling, delivering, cooking, cleaning, serving, ferrying, shoeshining, anything that will provide income. Rashad Abdou, professor of economics at Cairo University, estimated the informal sector might account for as much as 60 percent of Egypt's economy. "As long as I keep a low profile, they don't bother me," Salem said. The police have forced him to move many times and have even confiscated his cart. But it is hard to keep a really low profile when the food is good and the prices are cheap. Afghanistan 9) Frist: Taliban Should Be in Afghan Gov't Associated Press, October 2, 2006, Filed at 9:18 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Afghanistan-Frist.html Senate Majority Leader Frist said Monday that the Afghan war against Taliban guerrillas can never be won militarily and urged support for efforts to bring ''people who call themselves Taliban'' and their allies into the government. The Tennessee Republican said he learned from briefings that Taliban fighters were too numerous and had too much popular support to be defeated on the battlefield. ''You need to bring them into a more transparent type of government,'' Frist said during a visit to a base in the southern Taliban stronghold of Qalat. ''And if that's accomplished, we'll be successful.'' Afghanistan is suffering its heaviest insurgent attacks since a U.S.-led military force toppled the Taliban in 2001. According to an AP count, based on reports from U.S., NATO and Afghan officials, at least 2,800 people have been killed nationwide so far this year. The count, which includes militants and civilians, is about 1,300 more than the toll for all of 2005. 10) After Afghan Battle, a Harder Fight for Peace Carlotta Gall, New York Times, October 3, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/world/asia/03afghan.html NATO forces scored one of their biggest victories here in ferocious fighting in September, flushing out an area of southern Afghanistan that had been swarming with Taliban insurgents. But almost immediately a new and more difficult battle began - for support of the local people. Villagers trickling back to their homes broke into an argument over who was to blame for the heavy destruction, NATO or the Taliban. "My house was bombarded and my grape store destroyed," said a farmer from the upper part of Pashmul. "The coalition forces are cruel, without reason. There were no Taliban in our house. Why did they bombard the house?" Another man countered: "Why did you let the Taliban come to your village?" Most villagers here said they opposed the Taliban but had been powerless to stop the groups of armed men who moved into the area over recent months. Turkey 11) A Coming Papal Visit Focuses Anger Among the Turks Ian Fisher, New York Times, October 3, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/world/europe/03turkey.html Benedict XVI is coming to this overwhelmingly Muslim country in late November primarily to meet the Orthodox patriarch, who lives in Istanbul. Benedict was far from loved here even before his speech in Germany two weeks ago quoting a medieval commentator who called aspects of Islam "evil and inhuman." But his visit, and the book, play on one of Turkey's deepest fears: that the secular and unified Turkish state could begin to dissolve if the Orthodox patriarchate tries to become a sort of Vatican, a state within a state. In Turkey, even after the protest has died out elsewhere, the pope's remarks remain headline news. The pope apparently did not grasp fully that his words would hit Turkey even harder than those other Muslim countries where the reaction was violent. The anger in this nation that uncomfortably bridges West and East - with a strong recent tug from Islam - is far from over, and not just among the religious. His words, secularists, government officials and religious figures agree, hit spots already bruised. And so his visit is likely to be a flash point for a broad array of issues, from relations between Muslims and Christians, and Turkey's aspirations to join the EU, to the tense and difficult local question of the nation's minorities, including the fewer than 5,000 Greek Orthodox Christians, who complain that Turkey has yet to grant them full rights. India 12) Often Parched, India Struggles to Tap the Monsoon Somini Sengupta, New York Times, October 1, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/world/asia/01india.html Every year, India is crippled by floods in some areas, even as it is parched in blighted corners elsewhere. India's average annual rainfall rate hovers at an abundant 46 inches, as much as Ireland's. Yet water scarcity threatens farms and cities. With the population hitting 1.1 billion, the water available to each Indian is roughly the amount available to the average Sudanese. India's rains tend to come in short, furious bursts, meaning that much of that water escapes as untapped potential, washing into the sea and wreaking havoc on the fragile villages and flourishing cities that stand in its way. India is likely to become even more vulnerable, environmentalists warn. Global climate change threatens to make weather patterns even more erratic. Steadily shrinking Himalayan glaciers will inexorably melt and rush down the flood plains. [This is the 2nd of a 3 part series the Times is doing on water problems in India. So far the Times has not mentioned the contribution of U.S. corporations to the problem. See http://www.indiaresource.org/ on the role of Coca-Cola. -JFP] Brazil 13) In Brazil Balloting, Leader Finds His Base May Turn to Sand Larry Rohter, New York Times, October 3, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/world/americas/03brazil.html Until the very end, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil was predicting victory in the first round in his campaign for re-election. He was wrong, and now faces what promises to be the most dangerous campaign of his long career. Lula, a former factory worker and labor leader who has been beleaguered by one scandal after another for nearly two years, polled 48.65 percent of the vote in the presidential election on Sunday, short of the majority he needed to avoid a runoff on Oct. 29. Lula's campaign advisers say they want to focus on the economy, which is stable, if growing slowly; inflation, which has been contained; the minimum wage, which has risen, and social welfare programs like the Family Allowance. [It's not clear what the headline writer had in mind - nowhere in the article is the claim addressed that Lula faces a serious threat to his core base of support among poor workers. - JFP] Venezuela 14) Venezuela's Oil Wealth Funds Gusher of Anti-Poverty Projects Robert Collier, San Francisco Chronicle, Monday, October 2, 2006 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/02/MNGHQLGL9R1.DTL Chavez is spending billions of dollars on anti-poverty programs, in what experts say may amount to the largest such effort in a developing nation. And in a gamble that turns part of his own government's power structure on its head, he is handing a large degree of authority over these spending programs to thousands of elected local councils. The issues in these neighborhoods are very old fights -- water, land, decent housing," said Andres Antillano, a professor of social psychology and criminology at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas who has been an adviser to many neighborhood groups. "For many years, the only relationship with the state was the police. They came here and put everyone against the wall," Antillano said. "Chavez has chosen to gamble on legitimizing these issues. The communal councils are a very serious attempt at grassroots organizing." The government initially budgeted $857 million for social spending in 2006. But as oil money floods in, officials keep increasing the amount. It now stands at $7 billion, although many experts view that figure as a guesstimate of money being spent on the fly. Public works projects are everywhere, ranging from subway lines in Caracas and Valencia to bridges over the Orinoco River. New medical clinics -- mostly staffed by Cuban doctors provided under Chavez's oil aid program to Fidel Castro -- are within reach of almost everyone in this nation of 25 million people. Illiteracy, formerly at 10 percent of the population, has been completely eliminated, and infant mortality has been cut from 21 deaths per 1,000 births to 16 per 1,000. Another initiative that could change the lives of millions of poor Venezuelans is a new program aimed at increasing land ownership.Venezuela is the most urbanized nation in Latin America, with about 86 percent of its people living in cities, but about one-third of those urban dwellers have no title to their land. In legal terms they are squatters, and thus cannot access many government programs. Over the past year, 57 cooperatives of land surveyors have been formed to scour Caracas' hillside slums, measuring the sprawling neighborhoods that previously were merely blank spaces on official maps. Ivan Martinez, director of the Urban Land Committee titling office for Caracas, said that more than 200,000 titles had been given out, involving about 1 million people. "People now can get basic services," he said. "We can hook them up to water, electricity. We can help rebuild their houses. It's a huge change." -------- 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.
