2009/11/11: CCurrents: The Plunder Of Iraq’s Oil
The awarding of development rights over the huge West Qurna oilfield in southern Iraq to Exxon-Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell last Thursday once again underscores the criminal character of the continuing US-led occupation. As the direct result of the Iraq war, major American and other transnational energy conglomerates are now gaining control over some the largest oilfields in the world.
2009/11/12: LA Times: Iran's Ahmadinejad calls for nuclear cooperation
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's conciliatory tone in a TV speech suggests that Iran could still accept a U.N.-backed uranium deal.
Iran's president on Wednesday called for international cooperation on nuclear technology in a prime-time television appearance filled with conciliatory language toward the world community, in stark contrast with the dismissive tone of other senior Iranian officials toward a United Nations-backed proposal.
Although President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not directly mention a U.S.-endorsed International Atomic Energy Agency plan in which Iran would trade the bulk of its enriched uranium for fuel to operate a Tehran medical reactor, he said Iran was confident and powerful enough to begin working with other countries and the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency to expand the country's nuclear program.
2009/11/12: WaPo: U.S. envoy resists increase in troops -- Concerns Voiced about Karzai -- Cables sent as Obama weighs deployment options
The U.S. ambassador in Kabul sent two classified cables to Washington in the past week expressing deep concerns about sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan until President Hamid Karzai's government demonstrates that it is willing to tackle the corruption and mismanagement that has fueled the Taliban's rise, senior U.S. officials said.
Karl W. Eikenberry's memos, sent as President Obama enters the final stages of his deliberations over a new Afghanistan strategy, illustrated both the difficulty of the decision and the deepening divisions within the administration's national security team. After a top-level meeting on the issue Wednesday afternoon -- Obama's eighth since early last month -- the White House issued a statement that appeared to reflect Eikenberry's concerns.
2009/11/11: AntiWar: Afghan Red Crescent Slams NATO Raid
Troops Used Explosives to Raid Aid Group's Compound, Captured Aid Workers
The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) is complaining publicly today over a Saturday raid on one of its offices in Qalat by NATO forces.
NATO reportedly used explosive charges to break into the offices, and captured two of the group’s aid workers. The two were never charged and were released within 24 hours, according to the manager of the group’s media division.
2009/11/10: ProPublica: ACLU Sues FBI for Imprisonment of New Jersey Man in Africa
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation, saying it illegally detained and mistreated an American, Amir Meshal, who was held in Kenya, Somalia and Ethopia for four months in 2007 before being released.
2009/11/11: DerSpiegel: Reluctant Partners -- Global Crisis Makes US More Dependent on China than Ever
When US President Barack Obama visits China this weekend, he will encounter a rival that sees the financial crisis as more of an opportunity than a threat. America, on the other hand, has been fundamentally weakened by the global crunch -- and is more dependent on the goodwill of the rising superpower than ever.
2009/11/12: BBC: Iran embassy man [Abdul Hasan Jaffery] shot in Pakistan
Gunmen have killed a Pakistani working at the Iranian consulate in the city of Peshawar, officials say.
Police that say Abul Hasan Jaffery, head of public affairs at the consulate, was leaving his home in Peshawar when he was attacked.
Before joining the Iranian consulate, Mr Jaffery was a well-known journalist.
2009/11/12: CanWest: SCOC warned not to make precedent-setting Khadr ruling
The Harper government is warning the Supreme Court of Canada against becoming the first court in the western world to declare that a government has a legal duty to protect its citizens detained abroad.
Federal lawyers, in written arguments filed in advance of a Friday hearing in the case of Omar Khadr, say that courts in England, Australia and South Africa have all rejected the principle that governments are obligated to intervene, diplomatically or otherwise, to help citizens in trouble with the law on foreign soil.
"Canadian courts should not be used to lobby the government to exercise its discretion in a particular way," says the Justice Department's legal brief.
The federal government is appealing a Federal Court order to seek Khadr's repatriation from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the 23-year-old terror suspect has been held for seven years on charges of murder as a war crime for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed U.S. army medic Christopher Speer in Afghanistan.
2009/11/11: Guardian(UK): Erdogan's blind faith in Muslims
The Turkish leader's support of Sudan's Omar al-Bashir while condemning Gaza 'war crimes' play to fears on the Israeli right
Despite glaring evidence to the contrary, the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, believes "it is not possible for those who belong to the Muslim faith to carry out genocide". Accordingly, he refuses to accept that Sudanese paramilitaries committed genocidal acts against the population of Darfur, or that Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, is guilty of the crimes for which he has been indicted by the International Criminal Court.
2009/11/10: DVoice: Change Wall Street Can Believe In
Wall Street is doing to America what private equity firms did to Simmons Bedding and many other productive companies. Taking control with borrowed money, stripping assets, slashing jobs and cashing out.
2009/11/10: FP: Department of meaningless gestures
Two eminent mainstream journalists -- Tom Friedman and Joe Klein -- recently called for United States to disengage from the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, on the grounds that Palestinians were too divided to make a deal and the Israelis were not interested in one. Friedman couldn't bring himself to draw the logical conclusion -- if the United States truly going to "disengage," that also means cutting off its economic and military assistance -- but Klein did.
I have a certain sympathy for this position (and even wrote similar things myself before I wised up), but there are two problems with this specific idea. The first is that it is a meaningless prescription: There's no way to cut the aid package (or even put a hold on it, which is what Klein recommends) so long as Congress is in hock to AIPAC and the other groups in the status quo lobby
2009/11/11: P&S: Wacky War
Joint Chiefs chairman Adm. Mike Mullen finally told it like it is. "If we don't get a level of legitimacy and governance [in Afghanistan]," he confessed, "then all the troops in the world aren't going to make any difference."
We’re not going to get legitimacy and governance in Afghanistan. We’re stuck with Hamid Karzai, and he’s a moral and ethical shipwreck.
2009/11/11: BBC: Ricin 'antidote' to be produced
An anti-toxin that protects against ricin poisoning is to move into production for the first time.
It is the result of eight years of work by researchers at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory based at Porton Down in Wiltshire.
The antidote can protect against death up to 24 hours after exposure, according to Dr Jane Holley from DSTL.
Security experts say ricin - roughly 1,000 times more toxic than cyanide - could be used in a bio-terror attack.
2009/11/11: BBC: Six-year limit on DNA of innocent
The DNA of most innocent people arrested in England and Wales will no longer be held for more than six years, the Home Office has confirmed.
But police may be allowed to keep DNA from those arrested for terrorism, even if they are freed or found not guilty.
It comes after the European Court of Human Rights ruled last year that the National DNA Database was illegal.
Ministers say the package of proposed reforms will protect privacy - but also allow police to use DNA to solve crime.
2009/11/11: BBC: German courtroom killer [Alex Wiens] gets life
A man has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murdering a pregnant Egyptian woman [Marwa Sherbini] in a German courtroom.
The Dresden state court also ruled that Alexander Wiens would not be eligible for early release.
Wiens, a 28-year-old Russian-born German citizen, admitted stabbing Marwa Sherbini to death at a court hearing involving them both in July.
2009/11/11: G&M: Ottawa moves to remodel Canada's image
Immigration Minister will unveil a new citizenship guide that puts greater emphasis on military history this week
The Conservative government will redefine what it means to be Canadian this week by introducing a new guide to citizenship, a rare and significant attempt to reshape the national image.
The new document, which will be the citizenship study guide for the 250,000 immigrants who arrive in Canada each year, instantly becomes one of the country's most widely read and potentially influential pieces of writing. It will replace a document created by the Liberals in 1997 that the Conservatives criticized for its anemic presentation of Canadian history and identity.
No longer will new Canadians be told that Canada is strictly a nation of peacekeepers, for example. The new guide places a much greater emphasis on Canada's military history, from the Great War to the present day. It also tackles other issues of historical significance, from Confederation to Quebec's separatist movement, that were barely mentioned by its predecessor.
2009/11/10: BBC: Iran warning over Yemen conflict
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has warned against foreign intervention in the conflict between the Yemeni government and rebels.
Unidentified parties were adding fuel to the crisis, and attempts to help or to take military action would have negative consequences, Mr Mottaki said.
Correspondents say his comments appear to have been intended for Saudi Arabia.
Shortly afterwards, Riyadh promised it would continue air strikes until the rebels moved back from its border.
2009/11/10: BBC: Pakistanis 'united against the Taliban'
The Pakistani army operation in South Waziristan has been accompanied by a string of deadly bomb attacks on civilian and military targets across the country.
Here, ordinary Pakistanis describe the impact frequent attacks have on their lives and their hopes that the army succeeds in South Waziristan.
2009/11/10: CBC: Taylor blames U.S. for war crimes indictment
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor claimed Tuesday he was indicted for war crimes as part of a U.S. "regime change" plan to gain control of West African oil reserves, in a typically defiant performance.
2009/11/09: BBC: Lebanon finally forms government
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman has announced the formation of the 30-member national-unity cabinet - five months after a general election.
Five ministers were chosen by President Suleiman, and 15 are from PM-designate Saad Hariri's Western-backed coalition.
The remaining 10 are from the opposition, including two members of Hezbollah, which struck a deal with the governing coalition last week.
2009/11/09: SwissInfo: Hostages in Libya returned to Swiss embassy
The foreign ministry says the two Swiss businessmen abducted by the Libyan government in September have been returned to the Swiss embassy in Tripoli.
The Swiss citizens "are as well as can be expected under the circumstances", the ministry said in a statement.
The men were returned to the embassy without an explanation. It is unclear whether they will now be allowed to leave the country.
2009/11/09: BBC: Chavez steps up Colombia war talk
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has urged his armed forces to be prepared for possible war with Colombia amid growing diplomatic and border tensions.
He said the best way to avoid war was to prepare for it. In response, Colombia said it would seek UN help.
Venezuela blames the tension with its neighbour on closer military ties between Colombia and the US.
2009/11/09: BBC: Soldiers 'hit and kicked' Mousa
A former British soldier has admitted for the first time that he saw two of his colleagues kicking and hitting an Iraqi prisoner shortly before he died.
Garry Reader told a public inquiry how, then a private, he had tried in vain to resuscitate Baha Mousa in 2003.
He said he had not told the truth previously, but did believe Cpl Donald Payne and Pte Aaron Cooper had caused Mr Mousa's death that September.
Mr Reader said he had been afraid speaking out would damage his career.
Mr Mousa and nine other civilians were arrested at a hotel in Basra in 2003 and taken into UK military custody.
The father-of-two died the following day, having suffered 93 separate injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken nose.
2009/11/08: Guardian(UK): Deal on Kirkuk sets stage for Iraqi elections
Iraqi legislators have finally agreed on a formula to include the bitterly contested city of Kirkuk in a national election in January, ending months of political wrangling and fears that the planned US troop pullout might be delayed.
However, the agreement struck in parliament tonight deals only with how to apportion votes in the semi-autonomous northern enclave, and did not tackle a decision on Kirkuk's fate.
The electoral deal sets a framework for the poll to be held, probably on 21 January instead of the original date of 16 January.
2009/11/08: Independent(UK): Afghanistan: Time to leave
Patrick Cockburn, our award-winning reporter who has covered the region for more than 30 years, explains why it is best for the world, and Afghanistan, if our troops are brought home
2009/11/07: BBC: Pakistan's Taliban dilemma
Despite being relatively few in number, the Afghan Taliban are thriving in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as they take advantage of Islamabad's apparent ambivalence towards them...
2009/11/07: CBC: RCMP charge Rwandan [Jacques Mungwarere] with war crimes
The Mounties have arrested a 37-year-old Rwandan immigrant and charged him with war crimes related to the 1994 genocide in his home country.
Investigators on Friday picked up Jacques Mungwarere, who's been living in Windsor, Ont. He made a brief court appearance on Saturday in Ottawa, where he was remanded in custody and his case held over until Thursday.
2009/11/05: TheBullet: Combating Anti-Semitism or Shielding Israel?
[...] what the Jewish community refers to as anti-Semitism is almost always either a critique of the abhorrent and illegal policies of the State of Israel, or is a prejudice against Jews that has arisen from opposition to the policies of the only country in the world that considers itself a Jewish state. The global criticism of South Africa ended when Apartheid ended. Thus, in its final report the CPCCA could do no better than to advocate for major changes to current Israeli government policies.
2009/11/07: AntiWar: The Evil Empire
The US government is now so totally under the thumbs of organized interest groups that "our" government can no longer respond to the concerns of the American people who elect the president and the members of the House and Senate. Voters will vent their frustrations over their impotence on the president, which implies a future of one-term presidents. Soon our presidents will be as ineffective as Roman emperors in the final days of that empire.
Obama is already set on the course to a one-term presidency. He promised change, but has delivered none.
2009/11/05: DerSpiegel: Abu Omar Case -- Italian Court Delivers Damning Verdict on CIA Renditions
A court in Milan has delivered its verdict in the spectacular trial of several CIA agents involved in the 2003 kidnapping of the Islamist Abu Omar. Some 23 American agents received prison terms after being found guilty in absentia. The court's decision is a condemnation of the anti-terror policies of George W. Bush.
2009/11/07: BBC: Legal row over Gaza report intensifies
The United Nations-backed report on the Gaza war has triggered major controversy since it was released nearly two months ago.
The lengthy document - named after its main author, the respected international jurist Richard Goldstone - details what it says is evidence of war crimes committed by Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters.
It calls on the UN to trigger a process of accountability that could end up in international criminal tribunals.
But the chances of concrete UN action are slim. A resolution that endorses the report, adopted this week by the General Assembly, is non-binding.
And diplomats from all parts of the political spectrum are expecting little if anything from the Security Council - the only UN body with powers of enforcement - as all five of the permanent representatives that wield a veto oppose council involvement.
2009/11/07: BBC: Lebanon government accord reached
Lebanon's political opposition has agreed to join a unity government under Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri.
Hezbollah - a powerful Shia political and military organisation - says the opposition alliance it leads agreed to the move after talks on Friday.
The governing coalition is believed to have agreed to a number of concessions, ending the deadlock that has existed since June's parliamentary elections.
Mr Hariri is expected to formally announce the deal shortly.
The BBC's Natalia Antelava in Beirut says the concessions made by Mr Hariri are believed to give the opposition control of ministries it had been seeking.
Reports say the new arrangement will allow Mr Hariri's alliance to nominate 15 ministers, with Hezbollah taking 10 portfolios. The remaining five ministers would be picked by President Michel Suleiman.
2009/11/07: CanWest: No plans beyond Afghan pullout: general -- But military's orders could change by 2011, Natynczyk says
The Canadian military has no plans for troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond the summer of 2011 despite recent suggestions that soldiers could take part in training or support roles, says the Canadian Forces' top officer.
Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk said he has not made any recommendations to the government about a new role for the Canadian military and, until told otherwise, he is strictly following the parliamentary motion that outlines a troop pullout by July 1, 2011.
2009/11/07: ChronicleHerald: Crunching numbers -- Analysis of stimulus spending shows huge gap between Tory, opposition ridings
The first in-depth independent analysis of federal stimulus spending shows that Conservative ridings received millions more than ridings represented by opposition MPs, although the amount of the difference depends on how you crunch the numbers.
The investigation -- a two-week project by The Chronicle Herald, the Ottawa Citizen and journalism students from Ottawa’s Algonquin College -- found that across the country, Conservative ridings received $4.7 billion, more than half of the $8.5 billion announced under the federal government’s Building Canada infrastructure program. Most of the money went to paving, water, sewer and transit programs.
The analysis found that the federal government has announced, on average, $32.8 million in infrastructure spending in each Conservative riding, $9.2 million more than in opposition ridings. The figures add weight to opposition claims that the government is steering money to areas where it can be of most help politically.
2009/11/05: UN: General Assembly backs findings of UN report into Gaza conflict
The General Assembly today endorsed the report of the United Nations investigation which found that both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants were guilty of serious human rights violations during the conflict in the Gaza Strip at the start of the year.
After two days of debate in the Assembly, at UN Headquarters in New York, 114 Member States voted in favour of a resolution endorsing the report’s findings and its recommendations for further action. Eighteen States voted against the resolution and another 44 countries abstained.
The probe, led by Justice Richard Goldstone, a former war crimes prosecutor at the UN war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, found that both sides committed serious war crimes and breaches of humanitarian law, possibly amounting to crimes against humanity, during the conflict in December 2008 and January 2009.
2009/11/05: ACLU: Senate Votes Against Barring Funding For Federal Court Prosecutions Of 9/11 Cases
The Senate voted to table, thus defeating, an amendment, S.A.2669, to the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act today which would have prohibited the use of Justice Department funds for the prosecution of detainees charged in connection with the September 11 attacks in Article III courts, the federal courts that have been used for nearly 200 international terrorism trials and convictions since 9/11. The amendment, introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), would have forced the government to use the fatally flawed Guantánamo military commissions for detainees’ trials.
2009/11/04: SwissInfo: Swiss suspend treaty with Libya -- Libya's Gaddafi gives nothing away
Switzerland's row with Libya took a new turn on Wednesday when the government announced that it was suspending a treaty aimed at normalising relations with Tripoli.
Libya's "systematic refusal" to cooperate with Switzerland in the case of two Swiss businessmen who have been prevented from leaving the country for more than a year prompted the decision, a government statement said.
The government said that the two men had been "abducted in violation of international law", and it is not known where they are currently being held. "The Libyan authorities are refusing all visiting rights," the statement added.
It also said that the government would continue its "restrictive visa policy" towards Libyan nationals wishing to come to Switzerland.
The dispute stems from the 2008 arrest of a son of Moammar Gaddafi, Hannibal, and his pregnant wife who had come to Switzerland for the birth of their child. Geneva police briefly took the couple into custody on accusations they had abused their domestic staff while staying at a luxury hotel in the city
2009/11/05: NYT: IAEA Found Nothing Serious At Iran Site: ElBaradei
U.N. inspectors found "nothing to be worried about" in a first look at a previously secret uranium enrichment site in Iran last month, the International Atomic Energy chief said in remarks published Thursday.
Mohamed ElBaradei also told the New York Times that he was examining possible compromises to unblock a draft nuclear cooperation deal between Iran and three major powers that has foundered over Iranian objections.
The nuclear site, which Iran revealed in September three years after diplomats said Western spies first detected it, added to Western fears of covert Iranian efforts to develop atom bombs. Iran says it is enriching uranium only for electricity.
ElBaradei was quoted in a New York Times interview as saying his inspectors' initial findings at the fortified site beneath a desert mountain near the Shi'ite holy city of Qom were "nothing to be worried about."
"The idea was to use it as a bunker under the mountain to protect things," ElBaradei, alluding to Tehran's references to the site as a fallback for its nuclear program in case its larger Natanz enrichment plant were bombed by a foe like Israel.
"It's a hole in a mountain," he said.
2009/11/05: Reuters: Obama's good war goes bad:Bernd Debusmann
In the protracted Washington debate over the war in Afghanistan, the most concise analysis so far has come from America's top soldier: "If we don't get a level of legitimacy and governance (there), then all the troops in the world aren't going to make any difference."
2009/11/06: BBC: Thailand's shadowy southern insurgency
So far the wars of the 21st Century have revolved around insurgencies with nameless, faceless and often fearless fighters bombing, shooting and beheading with little care for their own lives.
Afghanistan and Pakistan show how difficult and expensive these insurgencies are to counter and how disruptive and divisive they can be even with ill-defined, non-specific objectives.
Thailand seems about as far from the Taliban as you can get, yet just a short distance from its golden tourist beaches and paradise islands, an insurgency has been raging for five years.
Someone is killed on average every day in the provinces on the country's southern border with Malaysia, where a shadowy group of Islamist extremists are stirring up a deepening sectarian divide.
In just five years 3,800 people have been killed and more than 6,000 injured.
2009/11/06: BBC: Key Pakistan Taliban town 'falls'
Pakistani forces have captured the strategically important town of Ladha from the Taliban in ongoing clashes in South Waziristan, officials say.
According to the military, 28 militants and five soldiers have been killed in battles over the past 24 hours.
[...] There has been no independent verification of the military's latest reported gains as journalists are not allowed into the area except on occasional trips organised by the military.
2009/11/06: CBC: Gunmen target Pakistani army officer
Gunmen on a motorcycle wounded a senior army officer and soldier in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Friday, the third such attack in about two weeks as militants retaliate against a new military offensive along the Afghan border.
2009/11/06: CanWest: New copyright law [ACTA] could cut families off Net for year
Canadian officials in secret talks; Internet service providers would police illegal downloading of copy-protected material
Canadian officials are taking part in negotiations for a top-secret copyright treaty that could see families barred from the Internet for a year if someone in the household is suspected of illegal downloads.
Under the worldwide rules of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), Internet service providers such as Bell and Rogers in Canada would be required to become copyright police and filter out pirated material from their networks, hand over the identities of customers believed to be infringing copyrights and restrict the use of identity-blocking software.
ACTA would employ a three-strikes policy. People believed to be regularly downloading copyright-protected material, such as movie and music files, could have their Internet connection severed for up to 12 months and forced to pay a fine.
2009/11/05: CanWest: Afghanistan ‘drawdown’ begins -- Canada’s top general issues order to start planning pullout of military units
Canada's top soldier has issued instructions for his officers to start making their plans to pullout of Afghanistan.
Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk's direction to units for a "drawdown" of forces in Afghanistan lays the groundwork for what will be a lengthy process of transporting tonnes of equipment and supplies back home.
Canada's military mission in Kandahar is scheduled to end in the summer of 2011.
"It's a directive that people start the planning," Natynczyk said in an interview with the Citizen Thursday night. "Based on the (Parliamentary) mandate we have to make the preparations right now in terms of the plans with our allies (and) all of the logistics because we have so much stuff there, you can only imagine. It's going to be more than a year process to haul it all out."
Natynczyk said he issued his directive in August. He expects the contracts to hire companies to move the supplies and equipment back to Canada to be put in place in early 2010.
2009/11/06: CanWest: An appalling betrayal
What a bitter spectacle: MPs from all parties, except the Bloc Québécois, caving to a decades-long campaign by disgruntled gun owners, to U.S.-inspired attack advertising in targeted ridings and to self-interest to issue a death warrant to the long-gun registry.
The symbolism could hardly be more poignant -- well, yes, it could be. Our parliamentarians missed the 20th anniversary of the Montreal massacre, which inspired the creation of the registry, by a month.
2009/11/06: BBC: Zelaya unhappy with deal delays
Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has accused the interim government of failing to stick to a deal to end the political crisis.
His comments come hours ahead of a deadline for the implementation of the agreement, signed last week.
2009/11/04: OpenDem: India’s 21st-century war
In an age of climate change and deepening inequality, the spreading Naxalite insurgency in India - not al-Qaida - may show the world its future.
2009/11/04: OpenDem: International law is key
The Palestinians’ right of return challenges not only international law itself, but more so the political will of UN member states to act in the face of blatant racism and forced dispossession. A reply to Ahmed Badawi’s "Palestine: seize the initiative".
2009/11/04: OpenDem: Israel’s "new history" and the Palestinians
A rethinking by Israeli historians enlarges understanding of the bitter events of 1948, including the Palestinian "nakba" (catastrophe). It thus creates a foundation for addressing their consequences in the present, says Avi Shlaim.
2009/11/03: Wired:DR: U.S. Needs Hit Squads, ‘Manhunting Agency’: Spec Ops Report
[...] A recent report from the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations University argues that the CIA didn’t go far enough (.pdf). Instead, it suggests the American government should set up something like a "National Manhunting Agency" to go after jihadists, drug dealers, pirates and other enemies of the state.
2009/11/02: FP: Hollow Victory
According to the Republicans, the United States is once again at the crossroads of losing another critical war because of feckless Democrats. Only this time it's Afghanistan.
2009/11/04: ABC(US): Convicted CIA Spy Says "We Broke the Law"
Sabrina deSousa Says U.S. "Betrayed" Her and Others Found Guilty in Kidnapping of Muslim Cleric in Italy
One of the 23 Americans convicted today by an Italian court says the United States "broke the law" in the CIA kidnapping of a Muslim cleric Abu Omar in Milan in 2003.
"And we are paying for the mistakes right now, whoever authorized and approved this," said former CIA officer Sabrina deSousa in an interview to be broadcast tonight on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson.
DeSousa says the U.S. "abandoned and betrayed" her and the others who were put on trial for the kidnapping. She was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison.
2009/11/05: AntiWar: So Much for Europe
NATO ministers were hot to trot for Gen. Stan McChrystal’s Afghanistan escalation scheme, but Europe isn’t likely to send any more troops to the fray.
2009/11/05: BBC: Iraq in third overseas oil deal
Iraq has struck a deal with a consortium led by US oil giant Exxon Mobil, and including Royal Dutch Shell, to develop the West Qurna 1 oil field.
This is the second major deal the country's oil ministry has agreed with overseas oil firms this week.
The latest deal, which needs cabinet approval, is designed to boost oil production at the Qurna oil field from 280,000 to 2.1 million barrels a day.
Earlier this week, Iraq struck a similar deal with Italian firm ENI.
2009/11/04: BBC: Troubled state of Afghan police
The five British soldiers who were killed by a "rogue" Afghan policeman were mentoring the local police. Gordon Brown has described police training as an "essential element" of the strategy in Afghanistan. But what state is the Afghan force in and what are the challenges faced by Nato personnel?
2009/11/05: BBC: Colombia's ELN rebels show new vigour
With precise intelligence, apparently impeccable timing and serious firepower, rebels from Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) were able to spring one of their top leaders from prison last month.
The 7 October rescue freed Carlos Marin Guarin, who also goes by the name of Gustavo Anibal Giraldo, but is better known by his alias of "Pablo" or "Pablito".
2009/11/05: BBC: Saudi jets 'attack Yemen rebels'
The Saudi air force has attacked rebels in northern Yemen following Wednesday's killing of a Saudi security officer in a border area, reports have said.
Saudi F-15 and Tornado jets targeted strongholds of the Houthi rebels on the Yemeni side of border, spokesmen for the group and Arab media said.
2009/11/04: CBC: Military lawyer mum on Afghan torture claims
A House of Commons committee investigating what the federal government may have known about possible prisoner torture in Afghan jails ran into a brick wall Wednesday, with the military's top lawyer refusing to answer questions.
Brig.-Gen. Ken Watkins, the military judge advocate general, claimed solicitor-client privilege about whether he had seen warnings from a diplomat in Kandahar and whether he had received direction from the Prime Minister's Office.
"Obviously, the coverup continues," said Liberal defence critic Ujjal Dosanjh.
2009/11/05: CBC: Ousted Honduran leader questions U.S. stance
Ousted president Manuel Zelaya is asking the Obama administration why, after pressing for his reinstatement, it now says it will recognize upcoming Honduran elections even if he isn't returned to power first.
In a letter sent to the U.S. State Department on Wednesday, Zelaya asked Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton "to clarify to the Honduran people if the position condemning the coup d'état has been changed or modified."
2009/11/05: CBC: Abu Mazen threatens to quit Palestinian elections: aides
Aides say Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told political allies he won't run in January elections, citing frustration with an impasse in peace talks with Israel.
Two aides said Abbas is going to deliver a speech to that effect later on Thursday.
It would not be the first time Abbas has threatened not to run, and according to aides who spoke on condition of anonymity, Abbas received calls earlier Thursday from Israel's president and defence minister, the president of Egypt and the king of Jordan, all asking him to reconsider.
2009/11/05: CBC: RCMP defend Taser use on girl, 16 -- Force used was 'justified, and necessary' to subdue teenager
A Selkirk, Man., RCMP officer denies any wrongdoing in the case of a teenage girl who says she was injured with a Taser while in police custody two years ago.
The incident, and a resulting lawsuit by the girl against the RCMP, the City of Selkirk, the province and the federal justice minister, have raised concerns about the use of Tasers by police on minors.
In a statement of defence obtained by CBC News on Wednesday, Const. Roger Gavel asks Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench to throw out the lawsuit, saying the use of the stun gun on the girl was legitimate.
"The actions of the RCMP members -- were justified, and necessary, in the circumstances," the documents said.
Gavel's defence -- written by a lawyer from the federal Department of Justice -- was filed on Oct. 14.
The girl, who was 16 when taken to the Selkirk RCMP detachment on Nov. 3, 2007, is seeking an unspecified amount of financial damages for physical and emotional trauma.
2009/11/05: BBC: New row over Colombia-US accord
Colombian opposition groups have reacted angrily after details of a controversial military deal with the US were made public.
Under the 10-year deal, the US military will not only have access to military bases, but also be able to use major international civilian airports.
US personnel and defence contractors will also enjoy diplomatic immunity.
President Alvaro Uribe says the agreement will help rid Colombia of drugs gangs and left-wing rebel groups.
But leading opposition senator Gustavo Petro, of the left-wing PDA party, said the deal amounted to a virtual US occupation of Colombia.
The accord was signed last Friday but full details were only made public on Tuesday.
They reveal that the US military will have access to seven Colombian army, navy and air force bases and also be able to use civilian airports under conditions that have still not been made clear.
2009/11/04: CCurrents: Noam Chomsky: No Change In US 'Mafia Principle'
As civilised people across the world breathed a sigh of relief to see the back of former US president George W. Bush, top American intellectual Noam Chomsky warned against assuming or expecting significant changes in the basis of Washington's foreign policy under President Barack Obama.
During two lectures organised by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, Chomsky cited numerous examples of the driving doctrines behind US foreign policy since the end of World War II.
"As Obama came into office, Condoleezza Rice predicted that he would follow the policies of Bush's second term, and that is pretty much what happened, apart from a different rhetorical style," said Chomsky.
2009/11/02: C4SS: Who Benefits From the US Trade Embargo of Cuba?
In theory, government exists to protect those whom it "serves" -- to defend their rights at home, and to guard against invasion by the armies of other governments which (once again, in theory) would violate those rights rather than merely becoming the new monopoly provider for their defense.
In practice, however, government policy tends toward the opposite. At home, the defense of -- or even minimal respect for -- rights is routinely sacrificed on the altar of "defense" against foreign enemies; abroad, governments work together to coordinate in support of each others’ rights violations.
[...] Case in point: The US trade embargo on Cuba. For going on 50 years now, the rights and welfare of both Cubans and Americans have taken second place to the alleged desire of the US government to topple Fidel Castro’s communist regime.
I say "alleged," because the real purpose of the embargo from the US standpoint certainly isn’t to "protect" the US from Cuba, which hasn’t represented a significant military threat since the Soviet Union blinked first in the "missile crisis" of the early 1960s. Nor is it to bring down Castro, whose regime has benefited immensely from it. Rather, its real purpose is to pump anti-Castro Cuban-Americans in Florida -- held in sway by an "anti-Castro dissident industry" whose principals are far more interested in amassing wealth and influence in the US than in actually liberating Cuba -- and subsidy-seeking sugar producers (who don’t want to have to compete with Cuban sugar imports) for campaign money and November votes.
2009/11/04: BBC: CIA agents guilty of Italy kidnap [of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr]
An Italian judge has convicted 23 Americans - all but one of them CIA agents - and two Italian secret agents for the 2003 kidnap of a Muslim cleric.
The agents were accused of abducting Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar, from Milan and sending him to Egypt, where he was allegedly tortured.
The trial, which began in June 2007, is the first involving the CIA's so-called "extraordinary rendition" programme.
2009/11/04: BBC: Israelis 'seize Iran arms ship'
Israel's navy has intercepted a ship carrying hundreds of tonnes of Iranian weapons intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Israeli military has said.
2009/11/04: CBC: CIA agents convicted in Italian rendition trial
An Italian court has convicted 23 Americans of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric off the streets of Milan and sending him to Egypt for interrogation in the first trial involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program.
Three other Americans were acquitted because they had diplomatic immunity, Judge Oscar Magi told a Milan courtroom Wednesday.
The accused -- all but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents -- were tried in absentia and are considered fugitives.
Twenty-two of the convicted Americans were immediately sentenced to five years in jail at the end of the nearly three-year trial.
The other convicted American, Milan CIA station chief Robert Seldon Lady, was given the stiffest sentence, eight years in prison.
2009/11/04: CanWest: Mountie sues CBC for libel
The Mountie who repeatedly deployed his Taser on Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport two years ago has filed a libel lawsuit against the CBC.
Constable Kwesi Millington claims that CBC's coverage of the incident since Nov. 4, 2007, has caused him to suffer "serious embarrassment and distress" and has subjected him to "public ridicule."
Const. Millington claims CBC's coverage has "seriously injured" his reputation, causing him to seek punitive and aggravated damages against the broadcaster.
The former Richmond Mountie deployed his Taser on the Polish immigrant five times -- the last two in "push stun mode" --on Oct. 14, 2007.
2009/11/04: G&M: Battle of the book: Rick Hillier and how we got into Afghanistan
Rick Hillier became popular across Canada as the straight-talking defender of the military he recently led. Now he's written A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War, a book that is predictable in many ways but leaves the interesting questions of his time as Canada's top soldier unanswered.
[...] The general spoke up publicly for the Forces more than any of his predecessors. For this, he earned their gratitude and that of many Canadians. That the military's budget is now soaring relates, in part, to his public-relations efforts and to the re-equipment decisions of two governments, starting with that of Paul Martin.
Here is where the tale -- or, rather, non-tale -- of the Hillier book gets interesting. Eugene Lang, chief of staff to Bill Graham, Mr. Martin's defence minister, co-authored a book with the University of Toronto's Janice Gross Stein that reported in considerable detail how the general had argued for and planned Canada's entry into Afghanistan. Mr. Hillier's book suggests he took a secondary role in those decisions.
Politicians made the decisions, he says, an assertion that is correct in practice but that surely plays down his role in urging not just participation, but in the dangerous province of Kandahar.
2009/11/03: FTimes: Gold hits record high [US$1,086.10/tr.oz.] on India purchase
Gold prices on Tuesday surged to an all-time high after India’s central bank bought 200 tonnes of the precious metal, swapping dollars for bullion as the country’s finance minister warned the economies of the US and Europe had "collapsed".
India’s decision to exchange $6.7bn for gold equivalent to 8 per cent of world annual mine production sent the strongest signal yet that Asian countries were moving away from the US currency.
2009/11/02: Yahoo:AFP: US Supreme Court refuses to hear Guantanamo case
The US Supreme Court refused Monday to consider the case of a Yemeni detainee held at Guantanamo Bay despite a lower court order for his release.
Without giving an explanation, the Supreme Court said it would not take up the case of Yasin Muhammed Basardh, who was ruled innocent of terrorism charges by a US court some six months ago but remains incarcerated at Guantanamo.
2009/11/03: CBC: Fund me or axe me, Parliamentary Budget Officer says -- At odds with Finance Department
Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page says he will recommend the government shut down his operation of monitoring Ottawa's financial performance if he does not get more resources to do the job.
Page told the House of Commons finance committee he still has not been told whether his annual budget will increase to $2.8 million, which he says he needs to do his work. His office had a budget of $1.8 million in the past fiscal year.
He said several of his staff members are on loan from other departments, and if he doesn't receive a critical mass of qualified personnel he will recommend closing the office.
Page's appearance before the committee Tuesday came a day after his office released its latest assessment of the Finance Department's fiscal and economic estimates. His department projected that deficits will accumulate to a total of $167.4 billion over the current 2009-10 fiscal year and the following four years, and it predicted the annual budget shortfall would still be $19 billion in 2013-14, even after an expected economic recovery.
This was at odds with the government's forecast that Ottawa will be within $5.2 billion of a balanced budget in 2013-14.
2009/11/03: BBC: Argentine ex-leader [Reynaldo Bignone] goes on trial
The trial has begun of Argentina's last military ruler, Reynaldo Bignone, and five other retired generals.
The men are charged in connection with the alleged kidnapping, torture and disappearance of 56 opponents of the military government in the late 1970s.
2009/11/02: BBC: The shadow behind US-Israeli war games
"We're here for some very specific reasons, some specific threats that the Israelis are interested in, that we're interested in. And that's as far as I want to go down that road."
Com Carl Meuser of the US Navy destroyer Higgins was interrupted at this point by an anxious public affairs officer.
The scenario neither wanted to discuss with the circle of visiting journalists aboard his ship was this:
Israel bombs Iranian nuclear facilities - and Iran hits back.
2009/11/02: BBC: Iran urged over enrichment plan
Iran has come under more international pressure to respond to a proposal it send uranium abroad for enrichment.
The head of the [IAEA] UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, said the draft deal offered last month was a "fleeting opportunity" to avoid confrontation.
Iran has raised "technical and economic considerations" with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and has missed deadlines to respond.
Britain, France and Russia have also called on Iran to promptly respond.
Under the plan brokered by the IAEA and agreed by Russia, the US and France, most of Iran's enriched uranium would be sent abroad to be turned into fuel rods for research use.
This is seen as a way for Iran to get the fuel it needs, while giving guarantees to the West that it will not be used for nuclear weapons.
2009/11/01: OSun: Senate fix at standstill
Just as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 27 new Senate appointees begin demonstrating they can reverse Liberal actions, the minister in charge of reform says Senate elections are no longer a pressing issue.
2009/11/01: BBC: Israeli settler [Yaakov Teitel] held over attacks
Israeli police have arrested a Jewish settler who they say has confessed to a string of high-profile hate attacks.
These allegedly include the killing of two Palestinians 12 years ago, and the bombing last year of the home of the Israeli academic, Zeev Sternhell.
Yaakov Teitel, a 37-year-old American immigrant who lives in the West Bank, was detained last month after handing out leaflets condemning homosexuals.
Police said they believed Mr Teitel had acted alone during the hate campaign.
2009/11/01: BBC: Britain 'faces world role choice'
Britain still has a taste for being a world power - and a determination to be a key influence on the United States, a senior defence analyst has told the BBC.
But it faces a choice on how to play out that role, says Michael Codner, head of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute.
"It's really a matter of what the British people feel they are as a nation and what they really want to do," said Mr Codner.
"If they want to be an ordinary European power - and that would be a perfectly sensible option, to be a bit more like Germany or Italy," Britain could spend less on defence.
2009/11/01: BBC: Government to set up bank chains
Three new High Street banking chains are to be created by the government by 2015 as part of a major overhaul.
They will be set up by breaking up Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Northern Rock, the banks it partially or wholly controls after bail-outs.