GWOT Media Summary Mar 3

[RAMESES the Great]

U.S. Joint Forces Command
GWOT Media Summary
Operations Iraqi Freedom/Enduring Freedom/Noble Eagle
Current as of March 3, 2008

 New Developments
 Iranian Leader, In Baghdad, Hails 'New Chapter' In Ties With Iraq. As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with Iraq's leaders on Sunday, the first visit by a Middle Eastern head of state since the U.S.-led invasion, he engaged a country in which Iran's influence is deepening but also provoking growing criticism from Iraqis. Ahmadinejad's visit is the first to Iraq by an Iranian leader since Iran's 1979 revolution, which brought to power a government in Tehran overseen by Shiite Muslim clerics. He arrived at a time when the Bush administration and many Iraqis, who since the 2003 invasion have been confronting wide-scale sectarian violence, are increasingly suspicious of Iran's intentions in their country and the wider Middle East. (Washington Post – see attached)
 U.S. Military Kills al-Qaida Leader. A U.S. military helicopter fired a guided missile to kill a wanted al-Qaida in Iraq leader from Saudi Arabia who was responsible for the bombing deaths of five American soldiers, a spokesman said Sunday. U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said Jar Allah, also known as Abu Yasir al-Saudi, and another Saudi known only as Hamdan, were both killed Wednesday in Mosul. According to the military, al-Saudi conducted numerous attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces, including a Jan. 28 bomb attack that killed the five U.S. soldiers. In that attack, insurgents blasted a U.S. patrol with a roadside bomb and showered survivors with gunfire from a mosque. The soldiers died in the explosion, the deadliest on American forces since six soldiers perished Jan. 9 in a booby-trapped house north of Baghdad. (The Guardian/AP)
 Several Taliban Killed In Afghanistan. U.S.-led coalition forces killed several Taliban fighters and detained eight others during raids in southern Afghanistan, where a Canadian soldier also died in a roadside blast, military officials said. The troops were targeting a Taliban commander in Garmser district of Helmand province Sunday, the coalition said in a statement late Sunday. Also Sunday, troops detained another four suspected militants in the Qalat district of Zabul province, the statement said. The men were accused of involvement in attacks along the main highway connecting Kabul to the country's south. A Canadian soldier was killed by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city on Sunday, said Brig. Gen. Guy Laroche, the commander of Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. (Denver Post/AP)
 Gunmen Destroy Mobile Phone Tower In Afghan South. Gunmen have destroyed two mobile telephone towers in southern Afghanistan, a police officer said on Sunday, after Taliban insurgents warned operators to shut networks at night or face attacks. The Taliban last week ordered operators to switch off their networks from 5 p.m. until 7 a.m., saying foreign troops used mobile phones to track the militants. Saturday night's attack targeted an antenna belonging to the Roshan mobile company just outside the city of Kandahar. The first raid hit a tower of Areeba, another mobile phone operator, in Kandahar hours after a Taliban ultimatum expired on Thursday. (Reuters)

 Military Coverage
 Iraq Needs Strides In Economy And Governance To Cut Attacks, A Top General Says. The former No. 2 American commander in Iraq says that, without economic and political progress, it will not be possible to reduce substantially the current level of violence there. Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said the American reinforcements and the adoption of a counterinsurgency strategy had succeeded in reducing attacks by insurgent and militant groups to the level of early 2005, or even late 2004. But the number of attacks is still high. General Odierno said that literacy programs, vocational training and provincial elections that would enfranchise the country’s minority Sunnis were needed to make additional security gains. (New York Times – see attached)

 Homeland Security
 Deal Close On Wiretap Law, A Top Democrat Tells CNN. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee hinted Sunday that a battle over an expired eavesdropping law might be moving toward a conclusion that gave phone companies the retroactive legal protections long sought by President Bush. Representative Silvestre Reyes, Democrat of Texas, said in an interview on CNN that the committee had been talking to the companies “because if we’re going to give them blanket immunity, we want to know and understand what it is we’re giving immunity for.” Mr. Reyes did not specify what provisions a House bill might contain. But his use of the words “blanket immunity” suggested that he might be moving toward a Senate bill, backed by Mr. Bush, that would protect phone companies that assisted in a federal program of wiretapping without warrants after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. (New York Times – see attached)
 Suburban Utah Home Searched For Ricin. FBI agents wearing protective suits searched Sunday for the deadly poison ricin at a suburban home where a man possibly sickened by the deadly poison had once lived. Authorities believed they had found all of the ricin in several vials recovered Thursday from a Las Vegas motel where Roger Von Bergendorff had been staying, but they wanted to also check the home in Riverton, outside Salt Lake City. "We are taking all the precautions necessary to ensure public safety," FBI agent Timothy Fuhrman said at a news conference Sunday. Fuhrman announced Sunday night that the search of the home and three storage units had concluded, but would not say whether the agents found anything related to the ricin scare in Las Vegas. Fuhrman did say after the daylong search that all of the Utah locations were safe. (FOX News/AP)
 UN: 'Credible' Diego Garcia Allegations. The U.N. torture investigator said Sunday he has received "credible" allegations that the U.S. detained terror suspects on the British island Diego Garcia -- claims that contradict statements by the British and U.S. governments. Multiple people, including detainees, told Manfred Nowak "quite a long time ago" that terror suspects were sent to the remote Indian Ocean outpost, a British territory with a U.S. military base. The suspects were there between 2002 and 2003, said Nowak, one of the U.N.'s unpaid, independent human rights experts. (Newsday/AP)

 World Developments
 Suicide Bomber Kills At Least 42 In Pakistan Province. A suicide bomber killed at least 42 people Sunday at a meeting called by tribal elders to deal with rising Taliban militancy in Pakistan's volatile northwest, authorities said. Dozens of others were wounded in the blast, the third in three days in North-West Frontier Province, a rugged and lawless region where Pakistani security forces are waging an increasingly deadly fight against armed Taliban and Al Qaeda supporters. The series of attacks, in which more than 80 have been killed, underscore the grave security and political challenges facing the country as the opposition parties that won last month's elections grapple with the task of forming a new government. (Los Angeles Times – see attached)
 Hugo Chavez Moves His Tanks To Border As Regional War Looms. President Hugo Chávez Sunday placed Venezuela on a war footing, sending thousands of troops and tanks to the border with Colombia after its neighbor killed a top rebel leader inside Ecuadorean territory. He also placed the Venezuelan Air Force on standby for action. “We do not want war”, said Mr. Chávez, before adding that the slaying of rebel commander Raúl Reyes and Colombia’s incursion into Ecuadorean territory could not go unanswered. “I am putting Venezuela on alert and we will support Ecuador in any situation,” Mr. Chávez said. Mr. Reyes, one of the Marxist Farc guerrillas’ most senior commanders, was killed on Saturday along with 16 other militants in a camp one mile inside Ecuadorean territory. (London Times – see attached)
 Abbas Halts Talks Amid Israeli Attacks. At least 70 Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded in the Gaza Strip over the weekend, as Israel continued its biggest offensive in years against Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the territory. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in gun battles with Palestinian militants on Saturday, confirming Israeli concerns over the risk of launching a full-scale ground offensive or invasion. Hamas and other militant groups also kept up the intense bombardment of nearby Israeli towns with rockets and mortars. Responding to mounting public pressure, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, suspended peace talks with Israel. The move is a blow to the U.S.-sponsored effort to reach a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians by the end of the year, though Israeli officials voiced hope the break-down would be only temporary. (London Financial Times – see attached)
 North Korea Warns Over U.S. Drills. North Korea threatened to bolster its nuclear deterrent Monday in response to U.S.-South Korean war games, striking a discordant note after a week of cultural diplomacy that raised hopes of warmer ties between Washington and Pyongyang. "We will explore necessary countermeasures, including further strengthening all deterrents," the North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The North, which successfully tested a nuclear bomb in 2006, commonly uses the word "deterrent" to refer to its nuclear weapons program. While the North's military had previously condemned the war games, which began Sunday and involve tens of thousands of South Korean and American troops, the Foreign Ministry comment represents the highest form of official communication from Pyongyang's reclusive government. (CNN/AP)

 Public Opinion
 American Majority Regrets Invasion Of Iraq. Adults in the United States remain upset at their government’s decision to launch the coalition effort, according to a poll by CBS News. 58% of respondents think the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq while 38% said that taking military action there was the right thing to do. In addition, 54% said things are going badly for the U.S. in its efforts to bring stability and order to Iraq with 24% of those saying things are going very badly. 37% said things are going somewhat well while only 6% said things are going very well. (Angus Reid Global Monitor)

* AP = Associated Press UPI = United Press International KR = Knight Ridder

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Iranian Leader, In Baghdad, Hails 'New Chapter' In Ties With Iraq
Washington Post
March 3, 2008

As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with Iraq's leaders on Sunday, the first visit by a Middle Eastern head of state since the U.S.-led invasion, he engaged a country in which Iran's influence is deepening but also provoking growing criticism from Iraqis. Ahmadinejad's visit is the first to Iraq by an Iranian leader since Iran's 1979 revolution, which brought to power a government in Tehran overseen by Shiite Muslim clerics. He arrived at a time when the Bush administration and many Iraqis, who since the 2003 invasion have been confronting wide-scale sectarian violence, are increasingly suspicious of Iran's intentions in their country and the wider Middle East. Declaring his visit "a new chapter" in Iran's relations with Iraq, the Iranian leader signaled that his country now rivals the United States, the chief financial and military backer of Iraq's government, in terms of influence.

Standing next to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a fellow Shiite, Ahmadinejad rejected American assertions, repeated as recently as Saturday by President Bush, that Iran was fueling violence inside Iraq. "We tell Mr. Bush that accusing others will increase the problems of America in the region and will not solve them," Ahmadinejad told reporters inside the Green Zone, the fortified heart of the Iraqi government and the U.S. diplomatic mission here. "The Americans have to understand the facts of the region. Iraqi people do not like America." Iraq and Iran fought a brutal eight-year-war in the 1980s during which the U.S. government sided with the Iraqi forces of Saddam Hussein. But after the April 2003 fall of Hussein's government, Iran became one of the first nations to recognize the new U.S.-installed administration.

At the start of his two-day visit Sunday, Ahmadinejad sought to illustrate his nation's rising power in Iraq and the region. He announced a $1 billion low-interest loan to help reconstruct Iraq, and he was welcomed with a red-carpet ceremony, a marching band and much fanfare. His visit also brought Maliki's government a greater measure of diplomatic legitimacy, a shoulder-to-shoulder display of strength between the only two Shiite-run nations in a region dominated by U.S.-backed Sunni Arab rulers who view them with suspicion. The divisions over Iran mirror Iraq's own political and sectarian divides. The sectarian tensions were visible in parts of Iraq in the days leading up to Ahmadinejad's visit and as he embraced its leaders Sunday. Protests erupted last week in Sunni strongholds such as Diyala province and on Sunday in Fallujah, as well as in some Shiite and mixed areas.

On Sunday, a crowd of 250 Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders protested in the northern city of Kirkuk, clutching banners that read: "No to the Iranian interference in Iraq" and "We demand the Iranian regime stop its support to the militias and sabotage teams." Many Iraqis, particularly among the minority Sunni population that ran the country under Hussein, view Iran as meddling for strategic gains, using Iraq as an arena to undermine the proclaimed U.S. political project to bring more democratic governance to the Middle East. Many Iraqis also believe Iran's reach extends into Iraqi ministries and security forces. "We reject the Iranian interference in all its shapes and forms," said Falah Hadi al-Saadoun, a Sunni tribal leader in Baqubah, the capital of Diyala province.

Iraq's Shiite majority and the Kurdish minority, both brutally suppressed under Hussein, are also divided internally over Iran's rising influence. But to Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, the welcome accorded Ahmadinejad was an Iraqi expression of gratitude toward an Iranian government that also opposed Hussein. Talabani and his fellow Kurds once fought alongside Iranian troops against Hussein, who used poison gas against the Kurdish population of northern Iraq. Top Shiite leaders such as Abdul Aziz al-Hakim spent years in exile in Tehran. "By this historical visit of our brother Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, we have first renewed the feelings of mutual struggle and jihad, which goes back a long time ago against the dictatorship," Talabani told reporters. "A visit to Iraq without the dictator is a truly happy one," said Ahmadinejad, dressed in his trademark gray suit with white shirt and no tie.

The pomp and ceremony, in public and on television, sharply contrasted with the surprise visits to Iraq by President Bush and former British prime minister Tony Blair. Iraq and Iran are expected to sign as many as 10 economic agreements before Ahmadinejad leaves on Monday, including ones involving electricity and oil projects. Among the items to be discussed is the status of the Shatt al Arab, a waterway where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet and which divides Iran and Iraq. "The Iranian role in Iraq, this role is seen by the majority of the people as being a positive one," said Abbas Bayati, a Shiite legislator close to Maliki. Senior Iraqi politicians said they would also use the visit as an opportunity to address concerns. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, said the Iraqi government has repeatedly complained to Tehran of Iran's alleged support and training of armed groups inside Iraq.

That message would be conveyed again to Ahmadinejad, he said. But he added that Iran in recent months has helped rein in militias, especially the Mahdi Army of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Sadr's movement has long denied any ties to Iran. "We hope to engage, not to frighten them about our long-term relationship with the United States," Zebari said. "We will reassure them that Iraq will not be a launching pad for the United States to make attacks on Iran." In interviews last week, U.S. military officials accused Iran of fueling violence inside Iraq, including targeting U.S. forces with rockets and roadside bombs. Citing accounts from Iraqis in U.S. military custody, U.S. officials said Iranian operatives were training Iraqis as fighters and as trainers themselves, in camps inside Iran. The officials said U.S. forces had detained as many as a dozen Iraqis who trained in those camps last September through November. "The intent has not changed -- populating Iraq with highly trained militants," said a senior U.S. military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. "Iran does not want to see coalition forces in this relationship with Iraq on a positive footing. Its greatest goal would be to embarrass the West."

In Iran, a closer relationship with Iraq is seen as an economic opportunity and a chance for Iran to wield greater regional influence through its Kurdish and Shiite allies in Iraq, according to interviews with Iranian officials and analysts. But a backlash could also result inside Iran from the government's assistance to Iraq. Many Iranians want compensation for attacks on civilians committed by Hussein's government during the 1980s. Iran's billion-dollar loan could cause tension. "Iranian people will not be happy with that," said Davoud Hermidas Bavand, an international law professor at Allameh Tabatabi University in Tehran. "Still, it's the policy of the current Iranian government to build stronger relations between the two countries on an economic basis. A loan could be useful for that."

Nowhere is Iran's growing influence more visible than in the southern city of Najaf, where as many as 2,000 Iranian pilgrims arrive daily to pray at the Imam Ali shrine, one of the world's holiest Shiite shrines. "All the economy in Najaf -- the grocer, the butcher, the cloth sellers, everything in Najaf, even the juice stores and the restaurants to the pushcart vendors -- they all rely on the Iranian pilgrims," said Qassim al-Shibly, 30, owner of a jewelry store. Ahmed Duaibel, spokesman for the Najaf Governorate, said Iranian government grants have paid for reconstructing sections of the Imam Ali shrine. Iranian funds have provided the city with garbage trucks and built an eye and kidney hospital, a medical clinic, a telecommunications center and a power station. "There are also lots of projects which will be accomplished and there are lots of agreements with Iranian companies," Duaibel said.

Among Iraq's leadership, reaction to Ahmadinejad's visit was mixed, differing by sect. "The Kurds should look at the broader picture. You have 53 Islamic countries in the world. Only Iran is led by Shiites. All the others are Arab Sunnis," said Mahmoud Othman, an influential independent Kurdish politician. "I hope we get closer together. We help their ambitions and they help our ambitions." Adnan al-Dulaimi, the head of the Iraqi Accordance Front, the largest Sunni bloc in parliament, said the best evidence of Iran's growing influence in Iraq is that U.S. officials have engaged in talks with Iran in order to stabilize Iraq. "This is like a kind of international confession that Iran has an enormous influence and role inside Iraq," Dulaimi said. Shiite leaders said they hoped Iraq's other neighbors will forge closer ties with the Iraqi government. "The visit of the President Ahmadinejad is a good step," said Falah Hassan Shanshal, a Sadr legislator. "We really need to start a new page, especially with the neighboring countries. We need those countries not to interfere with our internal affairs."

Iraq Needs Strides In Economy And Governance To Cut Attacks, A Top General Says
New York Times
March 3, 2008

The former No. 2 American commander in Iraq says that, without economic and political progress, it will not be possible to reduce substantially the current level of violence there. Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said the American reinforcements and the adoption of a counterinsurgency strategy had succeeded in reducing attacks by insurgent and militant groups to the level of early 2005, or even late 2004. But the number of attacks is still high. General Odierno said that literacy programs, vocational training and provincial elections that would enfranchise the country’s minority Sunnis were needed to make additional security gains. “In order to have another significant decline, it is going to take economic progress, governance progress, and I think that’s the next step,” he said. The general outlined his views in an interview on Wednesday at his Fort Hood headquarters and in a meeting with the editorial board of The New York Times earlier last month.

In mid-February, General Odierno, who is chief of the Army’s III Corps, completed a 15-month tour as the day-to-day commander of military operations in Iraq. He has been nominated to serve as the Army’s next vice chief of staff. Surveying the military situation, he said the expanded American military presence and improvement in security had encouraged more Sunni volunteers to align themselves with the United States and had established a climate in which Iraqis had begun to tackle a long-deferred political and legislative agenda. About half of the attacks carried out by militants are by Shiite groups, he said. The rest are primarily orchestrated by Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Sunni insurgent group that is largely made up of Iraqis but that American intelligence says is foreign led.

The general said that Iran continues to train and finance Shiite extremists in Iraq and that Iran’s goal is to ensure that the Iraqi state remains too weak to challenge Iran’s increasing power. “What we have seen is a steady state, in terms of some of the Shia extremist activities that still occur that are supported by both training and funding by Iran,” he said. “I think Iran’s interests are a weak government of Iraq.” In an effort to elude detection, he said, the Iranians have sought to provide support in less apparent ways, like training a select number of Shiite militants in Iran who in turn train comrades in Iraq. “They are bringing the leaders over to train them so they can do training back in Iraq,” he said. General Odierno said the Iraqi Army planned to expand by 40 battalions this year but faced equipment shortages. “They are still lagging in being equipped properly to do this on their own,” he said. “That will take a year or so to get that improved.”

However, he stressed that a variety of economic and political steps were needed. One big problem, he said, is the large pool of young men who are not literate enough to be accepted into the Iraqi Army and police forces. Vocational schools and literacy programs are needed to provide an alternative to “being hired hands” for insurgent groups, he said. General Odierno said the American military was supporting vocational programs along with the United States Agency for International Development. It was uncertain whether the Iraqi government would organize sustained and widespread job training. In the political sphere, General Odierno said holding provincial elections would reduce violence over the long run by enfranchising Sunnis who had boycotted earlier elections. The Iraqi Parliament passed a measure last month calling for provincial elections by October, but it was vetoed by the Presidency Council. The United States is still pushing for the measure to be adopted and put into effect.

There has been considerable debate in the United States as to whether the withdrawal of American forces would galvanize the Iraqi government into action or undermine its tentative efforts at political reconciliation by encouraging Iraqis to cling to militias for protection. General Odierno, along with Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, are among those in the latter camp. The general said that many Iraqis concluded last year that American forces might be leaving soon as a result of Congressional opposition to the war, and that those anxieties peaked when Gen. David H. Petraeus prepared to testify to American lawmakers in September. General Odierno said at the time Sunni and Shiite Iraqis were “separating themselves and trying to solidify their power bases so they could survive.” He added: “If they realize we are going to stay there, it strengthens them, in my mind, to be more unified, frankly. That’s what I believe.”

A related debate is over the wisdom of establishing a rigid schedule for shrinking the American military presence. Senator Barack Obama has said that if he is elected president he will withdraw all combat brigades within 16 months of taking office; Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has said she will reduce brigades at the rate of one to two per month. Most military officers say they need more flexibility in adjusting force levels. General Odierno was careful not to join the political debate, while offering a nuanced view. “To set a timeline makes it more difficult if you don’t do an assessment,” he said. “You’ve got to constantly assess where we are at. And if we are making progress and everybody is moving forward, then you need to do an assessment: is it necessary to have a hard timeline? It might be better off not to have one. And I just want people to have an open mind as we move forward. That’s all.”

Deal Close On Wiretap Law, A Top Democrat Tells CNN
New York Times
March 3, 2008

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee hinted Sunday that a battle over an expired eavesdropping law might be moving toward a conclusion that gave phone companies the retroactive legal protections long sought by President Bush. The chairman, Representative Silvestre Reyes, Democrat of Texas, said in an interview on CNN that the committee had been talking to the companies “because if we’re going to give them blanket immunity, we want to know and understand what it is we’re giving immunity for.” Mr. Reyes did not specify what provisions a House bill might contain. But his use of the words “blanket immunity” suggested that he might be moving toward a Senate bill, backed by Mr. Bush, that would protect phone companies that assisted in a federal program of wiretapping without warrants after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “I have an open mind about that,” Mr. Reyes said. “We’re very close,” he added. “Probably within the next week, we’ll be able to move hopefully to bring it to a vote.”

The eavesdropping law, which expired Feb. 16, made it easier for the government to initiate wiretaps without court approval. Mr. Bush has said its expiration creates a national security risk, while Democrats say the government can continue current wiretaps and start new ones through other legal means. The main point of the dispute over renewing the legislation concerns whether to immunize phone companies from at least 40 lawsuits that allege their actions after 9/11 violated privacy laws. “They’re getting sued for billions of dollars and it’s not fair,” Mr. Bush said on Feb. 25. “And it will create doubt amongst private-sector folks who need to help protect us.” Mr. Bush has also said that allowing the lawsuits to proceed could disclose government secrets and damage national security. The Senate passed a bill on Feb. 11 that protected phone companies from the lawsuits. Democratic leaders in the House offered to extend temporarily the other provisions of the eavesdropping law, the Protect America Act, while the immunity issues were debated. But Congressional Republicans, backed by the White House, rejected the offer, and the law expired.

Over the last two weeks, Democratic aides in the House and Senate have discussed potential compromises. One would allow the lawsuits to proceed, but have the federal government replace the phone companies as the defendant. Another would let a special court review the companies’ actions outside public view. In his CNN comments, which were taped Friday, Mr. Reyes made no reference to such compromise measures. In describing his “open mind,” he said he had been talking to representatives of the phone companies and reviewing administration documents about the companies’ actions. Efforts to reach Mr. Reyes on Sunday so he could expand on his remarks were unsuccessful. Speaking on the same show, “Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer,” Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 2 House Republican, said he was “not quite that optimistic yet” that an agreement would soon be reached. A White House spokesman, Gordon D. Johndroe, declined to say whether Mr. Reyes’s comments signaled a coming agreement. “We certainly hope the House Democratic leaders will bring the measure to the floor as soon as possible,” he said.

Suicide Bomber Kills At Least 42 In Pakistan Province
Los Angeles Times
March 2, 2008

A suicide bomber killed at least 42 people Sunday at a meeting called by tribal elders to deal with rising Taliban militancy in Pakistan's volatile northwest, authorities said. Dozens of others were wounded in the blast, the third in three days in North-West Frontier Province, a rugged and lawless region where Pakistani security forces are waging an increasingly deadly fight against armed Taliban and Al Qaeda supporters. The series of attacks, in which more than 80 have been killed, underscore the grave security and political challenges facing the country as the opposition parties that won last month's elections grapple with the task of forming a new government. Hundreds of leaders representing five local tribes had assembled Sunday morning on an open plain in the town of Darra Adamkhel, about 20 miles south of the city of Peshawar, to plot a strategy to combat militants in their area. Witnesses said that the gathering, known as a jirga, finished at about 11 a.m., with about 200 men staying behind to work out the details of a plan to establish a volunteer militia. About half an hour later, a suicide attacker blew himself up in their midst, authorities said.

Television footage showed shoes, caps and blood scattered around the site of the blast. Local hospitals were overwhelmed with casualties, which officials said by evening included at least 42 dead and 53 injured. Local residents identified the bomber as a teenager from Darra Adamkhel, a town known as a hotbed of illegal gun manufacturing. The bombing was the second major attack within days that managed to kill more than three dozen people at once. On Friday, a suicide bomber struck at a high school in the scenic Swat Valley where mourners had gathered for the funeral service of a high-ranking police officer. At least 40 people died in that attack, which came despite claims by the government to have pacified the insurgency in the valley. On Saturday, two people died in a bombing in Bajur, also in the troubled northwest, in Pakistan's tribal belt. The attacks show an increasing willingness by militants to target civilians. Previously, they had directed most of their attacks against Pakistani police and military personnel.

The insurgency has proven one of the most intractable problems facing President Pervez Musharraf, whom the United States considers a crucial ally in the fight against Islamic extremism. Different approaches, ranging from open confrontation with militants to attempted peace deals, have failed to stem the rising tide of attacks, which have struck parts of the country outside the northwest, including the capital, Islamabad. While most Pakistanis abhor the violence gripping their nation, many are critical of the harsh military crackdown on the tribal areas, which they see as Musharraf doing the bidding of U.S. officials. Musharraf's political allies were decisively defeated in parliamentary elections Feb. 18, and the main opposition parties have announced their intention to work together to form a government. They have also expressed dissatisfaction with Musharraf's approach to quelling the insurgency and hinted at intentions of changing course, but they have not yet spelled out how they would do so. Musharraf has blamed Islamic militants for the assassination in December of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the Pakistan People's Party. Having won the most seats in parliament in last month's election, the party is expected to name a new prime minister in coming days.

Hugo Chavez Moves His Tanks To Border As Regional War Looms
London Times
March 3, 2008

President Hugo Chávez Sunday placed Venezuela on a war footing, sending thousands of troops and tanks to the border with Colombia after its neighbor killed a top rebel leader inside Ecuadorean territory. “Mr. Defense Minister, move me 10 battalions to the border with Colombia immediately - tank battalions,” Mr. Chávez boomed on his weekly television program, Aló Presidente. He also placed the Venezuelan Air Force on standby for action. “We do not want war”, said Mr. Chávez, before adding that the slaying of rebel commander Raúl Reyes and Colombia’s incursion into Ecuadorean territory could not go unanswered. “I am putting Venezuela on alert and we will support Ecuador in any situation,” Mr. Chávez said. Mr. Reyes, one of the Marxist Farc guerrillas’ most senior commanders, was killed on Saturday along with 16 other militants in a camp one mile inside Ecuadorean territory.

Mr. Chávez lambasted the action, calling it “a cowardly murder, coldly calculated”. He paid tribute to Reyes, hailing him as “a true revolutionary” and recalling that he had met him in Brazil in 1995. Mr. Chávez also blasted his Colombian counterpart, Álvaro Uribe, calling him a criminal and a puppet of the U.S. Government. “Dracula’s fangs are covered in blood,” he said of the conservative Colombian president, who has made fighting the drug-financed rebels a top priority. Colombia has received billions of dollars in U.S. military aid to fight Farc, which is regarded by the U.S. and European Union as a terrorist organization. Colombia has explained that its troops killed the rebels after being engaged in a firefight. “Colombia has not violated any sovereignty, only acted in accordance with the principal of legitimate defense,” the government said in a statement. However, Ecuador - ruled by a close ally of Chávez -- has not accepted that explanation and closed its embassy in Bogotá. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa called the incursion “scandalous” and lodged an official protest with Bogotá.

The Colombian president has long complained that Venezuela and Ecuador have allowed Farc guerrillas to take refuge in their territory. “The terrorists, among them Raúl Reyes, were used to killing in Colombia and invading the neighboring countries to hide,” the Colombian Government said. “Many times Colombia has suffered these situations, which we are obliged to avoid to defend our citizens.” Mr. Chávez had been acting as a mediator in Colombia’s hostage crisis, attempting to secure the release of 40-odd high-profile hostages in return for the freedom of hundreds of jailed rebels. But the effort collapsed in a wave of recriminations when Mr. Uribe accused the Venezuelan government of backing Farc in its four-decade long bid to overthrow the Colombian Government.

Sunday, Mr. Chávez made no secret of his desire to see the Marxist rebels defeat the Colombian government. “Some day Colombia will be freed from the hand of the (U.S.) empire,” he said. “We have to liberate Colombia.” Mr. Chávez has regularly used diplomatic spats with other countries such as Colombia, Mexico and Spain to fire-up his supporters and sideline opponents. In December, the Venezuelan president suffered his first poll defeat in nine years when voters rejected his attempt to rewrite the country’s constitution. The reform would have granted Mr. Chávez virtually unchecked power, theoretically allowing him to govern the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter for life. Mr. Chavez has said he wishes to rule until 2050, when he would be 96 years old.

Abbas Halts Talks Amid Israeli Attacks
London Financial Times
March 2, 2008

At least 70 Palestinians were killed and hundreds wounded in the Gaza Strip over the weekend, as Israel continued its biggest offensive in years against Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the territory. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in gun battles with Palestinian militants on Saturday, confirming Israeli concerns over the risk of launching a full-scale ground offensive or invasion. Hamas and other militant groups also kept up the intense bombardment of nearby Israeli towns with rockets and mortars. The bloody escalation spread on Sunday to Palestinian cities in the West Bank, as thousands protested against the attacks on Gaza and repeatedly clashed with Israeli forces. A 14-year-old boy was shot dead in the West Bank city of Hebron, after demonstrators hurled stones at Israeli troops. Shops and offices, including the Palestinian Stock Exchange, were closed on Sunday in a show of mourning and to protest against the attacks.

Responding to mounting public pressure, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, suspended peace talks with Israel. The move is a blow to the U.S.-sponsored effort to reach a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians by the end of the year, though Israeli officials voiced hope the break-down would be only temporary. Ahmed Qureia, the chief Palestinian negotiator, denounced Israel’s attacks as “a massacre of civilians, women and children, a collective killing”, adding that “what the Israelis are doing doesn’t lend the peace process any credibility”. The Israeli incursions are aimed primarily at stopping Hamas and other militant groups from firing rockets on Israeli towns close to the strip. The barrage had been largely confined to the small town of Sderot until last week but has been extended to Ashkelon, a city of 110,000 that lacks the shelters and reinforcements to withstand rocket attacks.

The targeting of Ashkelon has reinforced Israeli perceptions that it has to deal decisively with the threat posed by Hamas, regarded as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US and most European countries, but seen by many Palestinians as a resistance movement. But Israel faces mounting international pressure over its attacks on Gaza and, in particular, the high rate of civilian casualties. Several children were among the victims of the weekend fighting, including a 21-month-old girl. Both the European Union and the United Nations criticized what they said was Israel’s use of “disproportionate” and “excessive” force, drawing an immediate rebuke from Ehud Olmert, Israel’s prime minister: “Israel is defending its residents . . .and with all due respect, nothing will prevent it from protecting them – and no one has the right to preach to us over actions that are in self defense.”