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by Sharon Grimes, W A M M
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Foreign Troops in Iraq Dwindling
The number of coalition troops in Iraq, which once stood at 50,000, will decrease to 7,000 by mid-2008. Britain will cut its forces from 5,000 to 2,500 by spring 2008. The Czech Republic plans a gradual withdrawal of its 100 troops. Cuts to El Salvador’s 300 personnel are expected. Georgia’s 2,000 troops will be cut to 300 by summer 2008. Poland, with 900 noncombat troops, will make a decision after the U.S. elections. South Korea, with 1,200, is assessing whether to extend its commitment. The White House says it will cut U.S. troops from 168,000 to 130,000 by summer. (StarTribune, 10/10/07)
Peace Prize
The Nobel Prize for Peace was awarded jointly to Al Gore and the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.” The IPCC, a network of scientists, has issued detailed reports explaining global warming every six years since 1990. Gore says he will donate his share of the $1.5 million award to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan nonprofit he founded to help change public opinion about the urgency of solving the climate crisis. (multiple sources)
Guns-for-hire in Iraq Held Accountable
Demands for accountability by private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan are growing. Recent actions include the following:
The Congressional Oversight Committee held a special hearing into the powers of private security firms.
The United Nations is urging the United States to ensure that American private contractors who commit offenses in Iraq are prosecuted.
The House of Representatives passed legislation Oct. 4 that would put all private government contractors in Iraq under U.S. criminal statutes. For now, the rules would apply only to Blackwater USA because initial recommendations cover just Baghdad, where Blackwater operates. Rules could be expanded to cover DynCorp and Triple Canopy, which work elsewhere in Iraq.
A Pentagon report said coordination between security contractors and the military is lacking.
Three separate investigations into Blackwater’s security arrangements are under way: a joint U.S.-Iraqi commission, an FBI-led investigation into the Sept. 16 shooting incident, and a review of contractors’ arrangements to determine if appropriate rules exist and are being followed.
The State Department said it will monitor operations more closely by putting its own diplomatic security agents in all Blackwater convoys, mounting video cameras in Blackwater vehicles, and recording all radio transmissions “to ensure an ‘objective’ record of any future incident of contractor use of force.”
In Afghanistan, authorities shut down two private Afghani-security firms and said more than ten others (including Western firms), some “suspected of murder and robbery,” would soon be closed. (washingtonpost.com, 10/6/07)
The Center for Constitutional Rights is suing Blackwater on behalf of an injured survivor and the families of three men killed in the September 16 shooting incident in Baghdad. (Jurist, 10/11/07)
Changes at Guantánamo Prison
The release of prisoners from Guantánamo Bay is a mixed bag. On September 30, the Defense Department announced that it had released eight more prisoners in what some say appears to be an attempt to “thin the population” at the prison. About 330 prisoners remain at Guantánamo; about 445 have left. According to Human Rights Watch, about 50 prisoners could face torture or worse if sent back to their own countries. In a recently unsealed court ruling, Federal Judge Gladys Kessler blocked the Pentagon from releasing a prisoner, Mohammed Abdul Rahman, back to Tunisia because he would allegedly face torture there. Rahman’s attorney says this is the first time the courts have “given a detainee any substantive right, in this case it is the right not to be tortured by the Tunisian government.” (StarTribune, 10/1 and 10/10/07)
Lt. Gen. Sanchez Speaks Out
Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the former top American commander in Iraq, became the most senior retired general to criticize the Bush administration’s Iraq war strategy. He said the administration had a “catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan” and denounced the surge as a “desperate” move that won’t achieve long-term stability. “National leadership continues to believe that victory can be achieved by military power alone. . . . The best we can do with this flawed approach is stave off defeat.” He said the American people must hold the administration, Congress, and the entire interagency, especially the State Department, responsible for the “catastrophic failure.” (The New York Times, 10/12/07)
Courage in Burma
Hundreds of Buddhist monks were joined by other citizens of Myanmar in marches to protest the country’s military government. They marched past Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s Rangoon home, where she has been held in detention for twelve of the last eighteen years. This is the largest protest in nearly two decades in the push for a democratic government and is linked to growing economic problems. The protests began August 19 after the government raised fuel prices. In Mandalay, 10,000 people, including 4,000 monks, marched on September 22. Unfortunately, after days of peaceful protest, the army cracked down, arresting and beating many of the protesters. (Washington Times, 9/23/07) |
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© 2007 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete November 2007 Index - click here
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