Just Foreign Policy News, April 30, 2012
ObL anniversary riddle; drone summit highlights; Admin floats Iran deal
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I) Actions and Featured Articles
ObL anniversary riddle: what is 378?
That's the number of U.S. soldiers who have been killed in
Afghanistan since the death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, according
to icasualties.org.
Could We Stop "Signature" Drone Strikes in Yemen and Pakistan?
"Signature strikes" - drone strikes that target people based on
intelligence of "suspicious activity" without knowing who the people are
- increase the risk of killing innocent civilians, as well as the risk
of killing people who have no dispute with the United States.
http://truth-out.org/news/item/8771-could-we-stop-signature-drone-strikes-in-yemen-and-pakistan
*Take Action: Urge Obama and Congress to oppose "signature strikes" in Yemen and Pakistan
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/signature-strikes
Drone Summit: Killing and Spying by Remote Control - highlights
A final statement from the summit is here:
http://droneswatch.org/2012/04/29/drone-summit-statement/
Presentation by Chris Woods of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism:
"Border control: US reporting of civilian drone strike casualties"
http://privacysos.org/sites/all/files/TBIJWashingtonfinal.pdf
Jeremy Scahill's talk - "the real death panels" - is here:
http://privacysos.org/node/609
Gareth Porter: Understanding Iran's diplomatic strategy
Iran sees its stockpile of enriched uranium as increasing its leverage towards a diplomatic agreement with the United States.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/04/2012422833676280.html
II)
Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) U.S. officials said they might agree to let Iran continue
enriching uranium up to 5% purity if Iran agrees to unrestricted
inspections, strict oversight and numerous safeguards, the Los Angeles
Times reports. The LAT says this would be a "significant concession,"
noting likely objections from Israeli leaders and Members of Congress.
Under the NPT Iran is allowed to enrich uranium if it complies with
rules to prevent bomb making, the LAT notes. The six nations negotiating
with Iran have agreed that the principles of the treaty would guide the
discussions. The P5+1 appears to be moving toward allowing lower-level
enrichment, according to diplomats and nonproliferation experts. The LAT
notes that last month, Israeli Defense Minister Barak outlined goals
that would allow Iran to retain some low-enriched uranium for
nonmilitary purposes.
2) Iranian officials said that if the U.S. overture on allowing Iran to
continue to enrich uranium were adopted unanimously by all six nations
talking to Iran and the IAEA it would be a good start for talks, the Los
Angeles Times reports.
3) Former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert sharply criticized Netanyahu's
foreign policy at an event in New York, the New York Times reports.
Olmert said Netanyahu was unprepared to offer meaningful compromise to
Palestinians and disrespectful to the U.S. Olmert was booed when he
declared that while Israel should prepare the military ability to strike
Iran's nuclear program as a last resort, it should first push for
American-led international action against Iran. In response to the boos,
Olmert said: "As a concerned Israeli citizen who lives in the state of
Israel with his family and all of his children and grandchildren, I love
very much the courage of those who live 10,000 miles away from the
state of Israel and are ready that we will make every possible mistake
that will cost lives of Israelis."
4) Israel's former security chief has censured the country's "messianic"
political leadership for talking up the prospects of a military strike
on Iran's nuclear program, the Guardian reports. Yuval Diskin, who
retired as head of the internal intelligence agency Shin Bet last year,
said he had "no faith" in the abilities of the prime minister, Binyamin
Netanyahu, and the defense minister, Ehud Barak, to conduct a war.
5) U.S. officials and outside analysts now believe that the chances of
war in the near future have significantly decreased, the New York Times
reports.
6) White House counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan offered the most
extensive formal Administration outline to date of its use of drone
strikes against terrorism suspects, which officials had for years
refused to discuss - even as evidence of its lethal toll mounted in such
countries as Yemen and Pakistan, the Washington Post reports. But while
Brennan acknowledged that the U.S. "conducts targeted strikes against
specific al-Qaeda terrorists," he did not acknowledge that the U.S. also
that the administration has also approved the use of so-called
"signature strikes" in which the CIA and military have the authority to
fire even in cases when the identities of those who could be killed is
not known.
7) A conference of human rights groups in Washington put faces on the
civilian victims of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, the Pakistani
newspaper Dawn reports. Pakistani attorney Shahzad Akbar showed a photo
of a teenager named Saadullah, who was helping his mother in the kitchen
when a drone hit their home in Fata in 2009. He woke up in a hospital
three days later without his legs. Sanaullah, a 17-year-old
pre-engineering student, burned alive in his car during another strike
in 2010. Akbar also showed photos of the Bismillah family: mother,
father, a daughter and a son, all killed in a drone strike.
Israel/Palestine
8) All sides of the debate over divestment from companies profiting
from the Israeli occupation at the Methodist General Conference agree
that the occupation is wrong and must end, write Anna Baltzer and Sydney
Levy in Mondoweiss. Everyone agrees that the companies in question have
been uncooperative or unresponsive. The General Secretary of the
General Board of Church and Society of the UMC, Jim Winkler, who
supports divestment, stated: "As someone who has been involved in the
discussions by UM agencies and ecumenical partners with Caterpillar for
six years, I would like to share critical issues we have repeatedly
raised with the company. Regrettably, in all of these meetings,
including one last week, Caterpillar has told us it has no intention to
change any of its business practices relating to the occupied
Palestinian territories." Chief Investment Officer of the church's
General Board of Pensions and Health Benefits, David Zellner, who
opposes divestment, described efforts to ask CAT to change its behavior
as "futile."
9) Last week UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay listed Israel
among the countries that she says are restricting the activities of
human rights groups, Haaretz reports.
Bahrain
10) A Bahraini court on Monday ordered retrials for a political
activist who has been on a hunger strike for nearly three months and 20
others who were convicted by a military tribunal for their participation
in protests last year against Bahrain's ruling monarchy, the New York
Times reports. The activists were not released pending the new trials.
The retrial announcement came amid mounting concern about the health of
the hunger striker, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, the NYT says. In a report
released Sunday, Human Rights Watch said that Bahraini police officers
were still beating and torturing detainees.
Iran
11) Iran says IAEA inspectors will be allowed to visit the Parchin
military site, but it would require agreement between the two sides on
guidelines for the inspection, AP reports. Iran has rejected allegations
that it is trying to "clean up" Parchin, noting that radioactive traces
could not be "cleaned up" [in a recent Christian Science Monitor
article, former IAEA inspector Robert Kelley said the same - JFP.]
Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) U.S. signals major shift on Iran nuclear program
The Obama administration might support letting Iran continue enriching
uranium up to 5% purity if it agrees to other U.N. restrictions.
Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times, April 27, 2012, 5:28 p.m.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-nuclear-20120428,0,353079.story
Washington - In what would be a significant concession, Obama
administration officials say they could support allowing Iran to
maintain a crucial element of its disputed nuclear program if Tehran
took other major steps to curb its ability to develop a nuclear bomb.
U.S. officials said they might agree to let Iran continue enriching
uranium up to 5% purity, which is the upper end of the range for most
civilian uses, if its government agrees to the unrestricted inspections,
strict oversight and numerous safeguards that the United Nations has
long demanded.
Such a deal would face formidable obstacles. Iran has shown little
willingness to meet international demands. And a shift in the U.S.
position that Iran must halt all enrichment activities is likely to
prompt strong objections from Israeli leaders; the probable Republican
presidential nominee, Mitt Romney; and many members of Congress.
But a consensus has gradually emerged among U.S. and other officials
that Iran is unlikely to agree to a complete halt in enrichment.
Maintaining an unconditional demand that it do so could make it
impossible to reach a negotiated deal to stop the country's nuclear
program, thereby avoiding a military attack.
Iran has produced 210 pounds of 20%-enriched uranium for what it says
are peaceful purposes, according to the U.N.'s International Atomic
Energy Agency, but it has purified about 6 tons at 5% or below. Uranium
is considered weapons grade at about 90% enrichment.
The question of whether to permit even low enrichment is highly
sensitive for the U.S. government and its allies because of the risk
that Iranian scientists still might be able to gain the knowledge and
experience to someday build a bomb. But administration officials hope a
new negotiating stance, backed by punishing economic sanctions, could
help end the crisis.
[...]
At least publicly, the administration had denied suggestions that it
would consider approving any Iranian enrichment effort. But recently,
some officials had hinted they might be willing to reevaluate that
position, although with numerous caveats.
A senior administration official said that if Iran fulfills U.S. and
other world powers' demands for strict enforcement of U.N. monitoring
and safeguards, "there can be a discussion" of allowing low-level
domestic enrichment, "and maybe we can get there, potentially."
But the official, who declined to be identified because of the
sensitivity of the issue, emphasized that such discussions remained only
a small possibility because Iran has shown so little willingness to
meet international demands.
Gary Samore, the top White House official on nuclear nonproliferation,
left open the door to Iranian enrichment in recent comments, saying the
decision on which parts of Tehran's program can continue "is a matter
for negotiations."
"We recognize that Iran has the right to a peaceful nuclear energy
program, once it has addressed concerns about its nuclear activities,"
Samore told Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty on April 17.
Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which says
countries have a right to enrich uranium if they comply with rules to
prevent bomb making. The six nations negotiating with Iran have agreed
that the principles of the treaty would guide the discussions.
[...]
The so-called P5-plus-1 nations negotiating with Iran - the United
States, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany - have agreed that
Iran must halt all 20% enrichment and ship that stockpile out of the
country. Iran also must provide full disclosure of previous nuclear
work, and sign and adhere to two additional treaty protocols that
provide for more vigorous oversight, they say.
But the group now appears to be moving toward allowing lower-level
enrichment, according to diplomats and nonproliferation experts.
That position is contrary to the mood of many in Congress. Lawmakers in
both houses have begun circulating resolutions, with support from dozens
of members, that demand an end to all Iranian enrichment. One senior
Senate aide involved in the issue said any deal allowing continued
enrichment "would be dead on arrival" in Congress.
Over the last several years, Congress has led the push for increasingly
tough sanctions against Iran, and could approve even tougher measures
that would drive Tehran away from any potential deal with the U.S. and
other powers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also remains staunchly
opposed. He argues that letting any centrifuges spin in Iran will allow
scientists there to sharpen their mastery of nuclear science and edge
toward bomb-making capability.
Israeli officials have talked of attacking Iranian's nuclear facilities
before they are so advanced and hidden so deeply underground that they
are invulnerable to bombs.
But Defense Minister Ehud Barak, in an interview last month with the
Jerusalem Post, outlined goals that would allow Iran to retain some
low-enriched uranium for nonmilitary purposes. He did not call for an
end to all enrichment.
"There have been many signals lately that the red line has shifted and
they're no longer pushing for full suspension," said Michael Singh, who
served as President George W. Bush's top Iran advisor and who strongly
opposes allowing Iran to enrich any uranium.
[...]
2) Iran skeptical but open to U.S. overture on nuclear program
An Iranian Foreign Ministry official says the Obama administration's
offer to consider allowing limited uranium enrichment 'would be a good
start.'
Ramin Mostaghim, Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2012
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-nukes-20120429,0,6608880.story
Tehran - Iranian officials expressed skepticism Saturday about possible
Obama administration support for allowing the country to continue
enriching some uranium but said it could be a good start for further
negotiations on its disputed nuclear program.
Senior U.S. officials have said they might agree to let Iran enrich
uranium up to 5% purity if its government agreed to the unrestricted
inspections, strict oversight and numerous safeguards that the United
Nations has long demanded.
If the deal was offered by all six nations negotiating with Iran and the
U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, "it would be a good start,"
said one official in Iran's Foreign Ministry, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
The United States - along with China, Russia, France, Britain and
Germany - began talks with Iran on April 14 in Istanbul, Turkey; the
discussions are scheduled to resume May 23 in Baghdad.
"One thing I can tell you for sure is that Iran will never, ever close
down the Fordow nuclear site," the official said, referring to the
enrichment plant.
"But other issues such as 20% enrichment is open to negotiation. I can
say Obama's proposal is good provided it is unanimously echoed."
[...]
The Foreign Ministry official said the different behavior of
representatives of the negotiating countries - the French envoy was
rude, while the U.S. one was surprisingly polite at the Istanbul talks,
he said - indicated that they would have difficulty coming to a
consensus on this issue.
[...]
[However, as Trita Parsi has noted, if Sarkozy loses the French
presidential election as many expect, France could be less of an
obstacle to diplomacy - JFP.]
3) Former Israeli Premier Assails Netanyahu on Iran
Anne Barnard, New York Times, April 30, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/world/middleeast/olmert-ex-premier-of-israel-assails-netanyahu-on-iran.html
Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister of Israel, plunged on Sunday into
the country's growing debate over Iran policy with harsh criticism of
his successor, Benjamin Netanyahu.
As several recently retired top security officials have done, Mr. Olmert
urged Mr. Netanyahu's government not to rush into unilateral military
action against Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.
But Mr. Olmert went much further. Drawing boos from a largely American
audience in New York, he fired off a wide-ranging broadside against Mr.
Netanyahu's foreign policy, saying that the prime minister was
unprepared to offer meaningful compromise to Palestinians, disrespectful
to the United States and dismissive of the international community at a
time when Israel particularly needs foreign support to prevent Iran
from obtaining nuclear weapons.
"A nation has the right to determine what it should do to defend
itself," Mr. Olmert said at a conference held in a Manhattan hotel by
The Jerusalem Post. "But when at the same time we ask the United States
and other countries to provide us with the means to do it, no one is
entirely independent to act, irrespective of the positions and attitudes
and policies of other countries."
Since leaving office in 2008, Mr. Olmert has often urged caution
concerning Iran. His remarks on Sunday were noteworthy for their place
and time - before an audience of some of Mr. Netanyahu's strongest
American supporters, and only a few days after Israel's top military
officer suggested that the threat posed by Iran was less urgent than Mr.
Netanyahu has said, and the former head of Israel's internal security
service said the prime minister had "messianic feelings."
Illustrating how visceral the debate has become, and how entwined it is
with politics in both Israel and the United States, some in the crowd
peppered Mr. Olmert with shouts of "Naïve!" and "Neville Chamberlain!"
and booed loudly when he called for a less confrontational stance toward
President Obama, whose political opponents Mr. Netanyahu has openly
courted.
"You have to respect him," Mr. Olmert said of Mr. Obama. "He is the
president of the most powerful nation on earth, and happens to be a
friend of Israel." When boos rang through the conference room in
response, he joked, "I can see that this hall is full of Democrats."
Mr. Olmert was booed again when he declared that while Israel should
prepare the military ability to strike Iran's nuclear program as a last
resort, it should first push for American-led international action
against Iran, including sanctions and possible joint military action.
This time, he responded caustically. "As a concerned Israeli citizen who
lives in the state of Israel with his family and all of his children
and grandchildren," he said, "I love very much the courage of those who
live 10,000 miles away from the state of Israel and are ready that we
will make every possible mistake that will cost lives of Israelis."
[...]
In an interview after his appearance at the conference, Mr. Olmert said
he was expressing legitimate concerns shared by most people in the
Israeli security establishment, "present and past," including many who
have not spoken publicly.
[...]
4) Ex-Israeli spy boss attacks Netanyahu and Barak over Iran
PM and defence chief not fit to lead Israel and are misleading the public over Iran, warns former Shin Bet boss Yuval Diskin
Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian, 28 April 2012 07.58 EDT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/28/israeli-spy-chief-warns-netanyahu-barak
Jerusalem - Israel's former security chief has censured the country's
"messianic" political leadership for talking up the prospects of a
military strike on Iran's nuclear programme.
In unusually candid comments set to ratchet up tensions over Iran at the
top of Israel's political establishment, Yuval Diskin, who retired as
head of the internal intelligence agency Shin Bet last year, said he had
"no faith" in the abilities of the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu,
and the defence minister, Ehud Barak, to conduct a war.
The pair, who are the foremost advocates of military action against
Iran's nuclear programme, were "not fit to hold the steering wheel of
power", Diskin told a meeting on Friday night.
"My major problem is that I have no faith in the current leadership,
which must lead us in an event on the scale of war with Iran or a
regional war," he said. "I don't believe in either the prime minister or
the defence minister. I don't believe in a leadership that makes
decisions based on messianic feelings. Believe me, I have observed them
from up close ... They are not people who I, on a personal level, trust
to lead Israel to an event on that scale and carry it off.
"They are misleading the public on the Iran issue. They tell the public
that if Israel acts, Iran won't have a nuclear bomb. This is misleading.
Actually, many experts say that an Israeli attack would accelerate the
Iranian nuclear race."
[...]
Diskin's remarks followed a furore over comments made on Wednesday by
Israel's serving military chief, Benny Gantz, which starkly contrasted
with Netanyahu's rhetoric on Iran. Gantz said he did not believe the
Iranian leadership was prepared to "go the extra mile" to acquire
nuclear weapons because it was "composed of very rational people" who
understood the consequences.
In what was seen as a veiled rebuke to the prime minister, Gantz added:
"Decisions can and must be made carefully, out of historic
responsibility but without hysteria."
[...]
Diskin's comments also put him in agreement with the former head of the
Mossad, Meir Dagan, who has said that attacking Iran was "the stupidest
thing I have ever heard" and that the Iranian regime was rational.
5) Experts Believe Iran Conflict Is Less Likely
James Risen, New York Times, April 30, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/world/middleeast/chances-of-iran-strike-receding-us-officials-say.html
Washington - After a winter of alarm over the possibility that a
military conflict over the Iranian nuclear program might be imminent,
American officials and outside analysts now believe that the chances of
war in the near future have significantly decreased.
They cite a series of factors that, for now, argue against a conflict.
The threat of tighter economic sanctions has prompted the Iranians to
try more flexible tactics in their dealings with the United States and
other powers, while the revival of direct negotiations has tempered the
most inflammatory talk on all sides.
A growing divide in Israel between political leaders and military and
intelligence officials over the wisdom of attacking Iran has begun to
surface. And the White House appears determined to prevent any
confrontation that could disrupt world oil markets in an election year.
"I do think the temperature has cooled," an Obama administration
official said this week.
[...]
In a television appearance on Wednesday, Senator John Kerry, the
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, "I have
confidence that there is a way forward."
Senior Iranian leaders have sought to portray the Istanbul round of
negotiations as successful, which might be a sign, American officials
and outside analysts said, that the Iranian government is preparing the
public for a deal with the West that could be portrayed as a win for
Iran.
"I see that we are at the beginning of the end of what I call the
'manufactured Iran file,' " the Iranian foreign minister, Ali Akbar
Salehi, said after the talks. "At the Baghdad meeting, I see more
progress," he predicted.
IRNA, the Iranian state-controlled news service, reported last week that
a leading Iranian cleric, Ayatollah Kazem Seddiqi, had made positive
statements about the negotiations. The news service said that the
cleric, in his Friday sermon to thousands of worshipers in Tehran, said
that if the United States and other nations negotiating with Iran show
"logical behavior in nuclear talks, the outcome will be good for all."
[...]
The latest comments came from Yuval Diskin, the former chief of Shin
Bet, Israel's domestic security service, who on Friday said Mr.
Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak should not be trusted to
determine policy on Iran. He said the judgments of both men have been
clouded by "messianic feelings." Mr. Diskin, who was chief of Shin Bet
until last year, said an attack against Iran might cause it to speed up
its nuclear program.
Just days before, Israel's army chief of staff suggested in an interview
with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the Iranian nuclear threat was
not quite as imminent as Mr. Netanyahu has portrayed it. In his
comments, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz suggested that he agreed with the
intelligence assessments of the United States that Iran has not yet
decided whether to build a nuclear bomb.
Iran "is going step by step to the place where it will be able to decide
whether to manufacture a nuclear bomb. It hasn't yet decided whether to
go the extra mile," General Gantz told Haaretz. He suggested that the
crisis may not come to a head this year. But he said, "Clearly, the more
the Iranians progress, the worse the situation is."
Last month, Meir Dagan, the former chief of the Israeli spy agency
Mossad, said he did not advocate a pre-emptive Israeli strike against
Iran's nuclear program anytime soon. In an interview with CBS's "60
Minutes," Mr. Dagan said the Iranian government was "a very rational
one," and that Iranian officials were "considering all the implications
of their actions."
[...]
6) Brennan speech is first Obama acknowledgement of use of armed drones
Greg Miller, Washington Post, Monday, April 30, 2:21 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/brennan-speech-is-first-obama-acknowledgement-of-use-of-armed-drones/2012/04/30/gIQAq7B4rT_story.html
The Obama administration formally acknowledged for the first time Monday
its use of drone strikes against terrorism suspects, lifting but not
removing the shroud of secrecy that surrounds the nation's expanding use
of targeted killing operations overseas.
Saying that President Obama had instructed aides to be more open about
the controversial issue, White House counter-terrorism adviser John
Brennan offered the most extensive outline to date of a clandestine
program that officials had for years refused to discuss - even as
evidence of its lethal toll mounted in such countries as Yemen and
Pakistan.
"So let me say it as simply as I can," Brennan said in a speech at the
Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. "Yes, in full accordance with
the law - and in order to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States
and to save American lives -- the United States government conducts
targeted strikes against specific al-Qaeda terrorists, sometimes using
remotely piloted aircraft, often referred to publicly as drones."
The White House's decision to acknowledge the use of drones, and the
civilian casualties that have occurred during the strikes, comes on the
anniversary of the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, at a time
when the administration is moving to make its national security
accomplishments a more central issue in the presidential campaign.
Critics of the drone program described Brennan's speech as a critical
step in opening a wider debate on a program that the White House had
previously only referred to in glancing terms, including when Obama
mentioned "these strikes" in an online chat with voters earlier this
year.
Brennan's speech "is an important statement, said Jameel Jaffer, deputy
legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, which has sued the
government for greater disclosure about the use of drones. "First
because it includes an unambiguous acknowledgment of the targeted
killing program and second because it includes the administration's
clearest explanation thus far of the program's purported legal basis."
Still, Brennan's speech was also noteworthy for how much was withheld.
Brennan talked extensively about "targeted strikes against specific
al-Qaeda terrorists," but did not acknowledge that the administration
has also approved the use of so-called "signature strikes" in which the
CIA and military have the authority to fire even in cases when the
identities of those who could be killed is not known.
Brennan did not provide details on the criteria by which targets are
selected, the language of Justice Department legal opinions on the
matter, and the numbers of strikes and casualties. Nor did he offer a
comprehensive list of the locations where armed drone patrols occur.
Instead, Brennan offered a broad outline and defense of a program that
he described as critical to disrupting terrorist attacks and saving
American lives, likening it to the use of a scalpel to remove cancerous
tissue from a patient.
Drones enable unprecedented "surgical precision," Brennan said, "the
ability, with laser-like focus, to eliminate the cancerous tumor called
an al-Qaeda terrorist while limiting damage to the tissue around it -
that makes this counterterrorism tool so essential."
Early in his remarks, Brennan was interrupted by a protester who shouted
the names of U.S. citizens who have been killed in drone strikes in
Yemen. Brennan was forced to pause for several minutes while woman was
removed from the venue at the Woodrow Wilson Center.
Brennan also signaled that further disclosures are forthcoming, saying
that more files from the trove of material that was recovered from bin
Laden's compound in Pakistan last year will be released online this week
by an organization affiliated with the U.S. military academy at West
Point.
7) Peace conference puts face to drone victims
Anwar Iqbal, Dawn, April 30, 2012
http://dawn.com/2012/04/30/peace-conference-puts-face-to-drone-victims-fm/
Washington: Drone victims are not just figures on a piece of paper, they
are real people and that's why it is important to see what happens on
the ground when a missile hits a target, argues Pakistani attorney
Shahzad Akbar. "We have to see what exactly is happening on the ground,
what is happening to the people," he told a Washington conference on
drones.
"We apologise to the people of Pakistan for the strikes that have killed
so many civilians," said Nancy Maneiar, a peace activist associated
with the US-based, anti-war Code Pink Group. "The CIA needs to be held
accountable for their strikes."
"Those who order a drone strike act at once "as prosecutors, judges,
jury and executioners," said journalist Jeremy Scahill who recently
travelled to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen to observe the consequences
of the drone war. "This is lawless activity that the US is indulging in
around the world," he said.
[...]
They were among two dozen peace activists, lawyers, journalists and
retired military officials attending a two-day conference, which began
in Washington on Saturday.
International peace groups had to lobby hard for Akbar to attend the
conference as the US government delayed his visa application for 14
months because he has sued the CIA over drone strikes in Pakistan.
Akbar told an audience of about 300 people from across the United States
that it was important to put faces on the drone victims; otherwise
people will not understand their plight.
"They feel this imminent threat of being attacked from the sky. And they
feel helpless because they have no other place to relocate. Many have
no skills, no education, so they cannot relocate to other parts of
Pakistan," he said. Advocate Akbar showed a photo of a teenager named
Saadullah, who was helping his mother in the kitchen when a drone hit
their home in Fata in 2009. He woke up in a hospital three days later
without his legs.
Sanaullah, a 17-year-old pre-engineering student, burned alive in his
car during another strike in 2010. Akbar also showed photos of the
Bismillah family: mother, father, a daughter and a son, all killed in a
drone strike.
Other speakers noted that US drone strikes in Pakistan had also killed
168 children. They quoted from recent surveys suggesting the number of
ordinary people killed could be 40 per cent higher than previously
reported.
US officials, however, have rejected such studies as "exaggerated", and
said the "the claims of extensive non-combatant casualties are
uncorroborated".
The "Drone Summit: Killing and Spying by Remote Control," organised by
American human rights groups, noted that there had been a lethal rise in
the number of drone strikes under the Obama administration.
President Obama argues that drone strikes are focused effort at people
who are on a list of active terrorists and have not caused a huge number
of civilian casualties.
Supporters of drone warfare say the drone technology is an accurate and
less expensive weapon that minimises risks to US troops and protects
America by killing terrorists.
Clive Stafford Smith, founder and director of Reprieve, an organisation
that helped secure the release of 65 prisoners from notorious Guantanamo
Bay, also highlighted this point. "We can kill people without any risk
to ourselves and that's why the politicians like it," said Smith while
addressing the drone conference.
Other panelists noted that US drones had the potential to be equipped
with heat sensors, Geographic Positioning Systems, licence-plate
readers, extremely high resolution cameras, infrared cameras, and
facial-recognition software. Coordinated swarms easily could track
people's daily movement from home to the office to a political rally to
the grocery store.
Israel/Palestine
8) The push for divestment continues as the Methodist General Conference enters its second week
Anna Baltzer and Sydney Levy, Mondoweiss, April 30, 2012
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/04/the-push-for-divestment-continues-as-the-methodist-general-conference-enters-its-second-week.html
At this moment, the United Methodist Church (UMC) is holding its General
Conference in Tampa, Florida. About one thousand delegates are
considering whether to divest from companies that profit from the
Israeli occupation. We are talking about companies with a solid track
record of human rights violations: Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, and
Hewlett-Packard. Caterpillar produces the bulldozers that have been
responsible for the demolition of innumerable Palestinian homes and the
uprooting of full orchards. Motorola Solutions produces equipment used
to maintain surveillance systems around Israeli settlements,
checkpoints, and military camps in the West Bank. Hewlett-Packard
provides on-going support and maintenance to a biometric ID system
installed in Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank which deprive
Palestinians of the freedom of movement in their own land and allows the
Israeli military occupation to grant or deny special privileges to the
civilians under its control.
The UMC holds shares in these three companies valued at $35 million. The
church acknowledges that divestment from these companies has no
financial implications, meaning that divestment can be achieved without
causing any financial loses to the church.
The delegates will cast their vote sometime this week (the exact timing
has not been set yet.) To the extent that we will be able to tweet from
the convention floor, we will do so under hashtag #churchdivest. The
group leading the effort, United Methodist Kairos Response, can be
followed at @UMKairosResp. While it is impossible at this moment to
predict the result of the vote, we can already start taking stock of
what has become clear at the convention this past week. Here are five of
them:
NUMBER ONE: Everyone agrees the occupation is wrong and must end.
Whether you are for or against divestment, the consensus in the church
is that the Israeli occupation is wrong and must end. In fact, the
church has taken a position against Palestinian home demolitions as
early as 1988, among dozens of resolutions condemning Israel's
discriminatory policies for more than forty years. The petition to
divest from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions, and Hewlett-Packard does
not seek a new policy. Rather, it seeks to align the church's
investments with its long-held resolutions and values. The United
Methodist Book of Discipline discourages investment in companies "that
directly or indirectly support the violation of human rights."
NUMBER TWO: Everyone agrees that the companies in question have been uncooperative or unresponsive.
The General Secretary of the General Board of Church and Society of the UMC, Jim Winkler, recently stated:
"As someone who has been involved in the discussions by UM agencies and
ecumenical partners with Caterpillar for six years, I would like to
share critical issues we have repeatedly raised with the company.
Regrettably, in all of these meetings, including one last week,
Caterpillar has told us it has no intention to change any of its
business practices relating to the occupied Palestinian territories."
Chief Investment Officer of the church's General Board of Pensions and
Health Benefits, David Zellner, testified in committee last week and
described efforts to ask CAT to change its behavior as "futile."
NUMBER THREE: There is disagreement about what to do next.
Zellner opposes divestment. He prefers an alternate approach, namely
that the church ask corporations to sign onto a set of principles of
ethical business conduct and then consider divestment only for companies
that refuse to sign these principles. Since the principles are
unenforceable, nothing would stop the companies from signing on the
dotted line in order to avoid divestment while doing nothing to change
their behavior.
Mr. Winkler supports divestment. He said it best when he said: "this is
first and foremost a moral issue, yet sadly Caterpillar offers only
misleading interpretations of the law and irrelevant arguments as a
basis for continuing their sales. The question before delegates is
whether our church should profit from the sales of equipment which are
clearly used in ways that violate human rights."
[...]
The church agrees that the occupation is wrong and that the complicit
target companies have shown no signs of change. Thus, ultimately, this
vote is not about the occupation but about whether to listen to
Palestinian voices, the voices of the oppressed, who are calling for
divestment. Will delegates assert that they know better than the
Palestinians themselves what is needed for Palestinian freedom?
Regardless, the conversations in the corridors, in committee, and on the
plenary floor are sure to leave their mark on hundreds of delegates now
forced to face their very own financial connections to the oppression
of the Palestinian people.
9) Israel joins UN list of states limiting human rights organizations
UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay lists Israel along with
countries such as Belarus, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Ethiopia and Venezuela.
Barak Ravid, Haaretz, 00:48 30.04.12
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-joins-un-list-of-states-limiting-human-rights-organizations-1.427184
A senior UN official in Geneva last week listed Israel among the
countries that she says are restricting the activities of human rights
groups.
The statement, issued on Wednesday by UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi
Pillay, lists Israel along with countries such as Belarus, Zimbabwe,
Egypt, Ethiopia and Venezuela.
Israel was named due to the bill approved by the Ministerial Committee
on Legislation six months ago to restrict funding by foreign governments
to nonprofit organizations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported
the bill throughout most of its formulation. However, he ordered it
frozen after Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said such a law would be
struck down by the High Court of Justice.
Although the law never reached the Knesset, Pillay said in her
statement: "In Israel, the recently adopted Foreign Funding Law could
have a major impact on human rights organizations, subjecting them to
rigorous reporting requirements, forcing them to declare foreign
financial support in all public communications, and threatening heavy
penalties for non-compliance."
[...]
Last month, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman instructed the Israeli
mission to the United Nations in Geneva to cut ties with the UN Human
Rights Commission after member countries in the Human Rights Council
voted to establish an international commission of inquiry on the West
Bank settlements. A senior source in the Foreign Ministry said Israel's
inclusion in Pillay's statement was a direct outcome of Lieberman's
move. "This was a mistake and now we see the results," the source said.
Bahrain
10) Bahrain Court Orders Retrial for Jailed Activists
Kareem Fahim, New York Times, April 30, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/world/middleeast/bahrain-court-orders-retrial-for-jailed-activists.html
Cairo - A Bahraini court on Monday ordered retrials for a political
activist who has been on a hunger strike for nearly three months and 20
others who were convicted by a military tribunal for their participation
in protests last year against Bahrain's ruling monarchy.
The activists, including some with life sentences, were not released
pending the new trials. The official Bahraini news agency said the court
that would hear the appeal would reconsider "the proceedings from the
beginning."
Bahrain, a close American ally, promised broad reforms after its harsh
crackdown on months of protests last year, protests that focused
attention on the ruling Sunni minority's stranglehold on political life,
torture of dissidents and dominance of the country's Shiite majority.
Up to 70 people have been killed since the protests broke out in
February 2011.
Despite the promises of reform and some improvements, human rights
advocates say the monarchy has resisted fundamental change, failing to
hold senior officials to account or to release activists imprisoned on
politically motivated charges. In some cases, the authorities have
simply adjusted, rather than ended, their abusive tactics, advocates
say, and unrest has continued.
In a report released Sunday, Human Rights Watch said that Bahraini
police officers were still beating and torturing detainees, months after
the kingdom recruited high-profile police officials from London and
Miami to reform the security services. The group said it had interviewed
14 males who said they were arrested and beaten for participating in
protests.
The group said the authorities had begun installing video cameras in
police stations to discourage abuse, so police officers were taking
protesters elsewhere to beat them, including a youth hostel and a police
equestrian school. The report also found that protesters had used rocks
and gasoline bombs to confront the police.
The retrial announcement came amid mounting concern about the health of
the hunger striker, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, one of those sentenced to life
in prison. Mr. Khawaja's family said that in recent days, the
authorities had tied Mr. Khawaja to his bed, drugged him and started
force-feeding him.
His wife, Khadija al-Mousawi, said in an online news conference Monday
that the government was "buying time" in announcing the new trials. "For
me, it's not good news," she said. "It's the same system, the same
people, different clothes, different buildings." She added, "For my
husband, this is assassinating him in a very slow and painful way."
Iran
11) Iran: Talks with UN nuclear agency set for May 13-14 in Vienna, AP, April 29, 2012
Associated Press, April 28
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iran-talks-with-un-nuclear-agency-set-for-may-13-14-in-vienna/2012/04/28/gIQANv07mT_story.html
Tehran, Iran - A new round of talks between Tehran and the U.N.'s
nuclear agency will be held in Vienna on May 13-14, Iran's state TV
reported Saturday in a signal of possible progress after separate
negotiations resumed with world powers over the country's controversial
nuclear program.
The technical talks in Vienna with the International Atomic Energy
Agency come in addition to negotiations with the six world powers -
U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany - set for May 23 in
Baghdad.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's chief delegate to the IAEA, said the talks
will focus on resolving "questions" about Tehran's alleged attempt to
develop nuclear weapons.
Iran and the IAEA have been at loggerheads over the agency's inspections
of Iranian military sites. IAEA inspectors have demanded access to a
military complex where the agency suspects secret atomic work has been
carried out. Iran says inspectors will be allowed to visit the Parchin
military site as a goodwill gesture, but it would require agreement
between the two sides on guidelines for the inspection.
IAEA officials have said satellite photos of Parchin show an apparent
clean-up under way, adding they fear protracted talks on a framework for
the visit could be a delaying tactic.
Iran has rejected such allegations as misleading, saying any alleged
radioactive traces could not be cleaned up. [Former IAEA inspector
Robert Kelley has said the same thing, that any past experiments
involving uranium at Parchin would be easily detected by the IAEA,
regardless of efforts to "clean up" - JFP.]
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For
Indian readers, a more interesting addition to my library this week is a
thought provoking book by Ruchir Sharma, head of Emerging Market
Equities and Global Macro at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. In
this book titled Breakout Nations, the author, who is
based in New York, affirms that “the astonishingly rapid growth over the
last decade of the world’s celebrated emerging markets is coming to an
end. The era of easy money and easy growth is over. China, in
particular, will soon slow, but its place will not necessarily be taken
by Brazil, Russia or India, all of which have weaknesses and
difficulties often overlooked in the inflated expectations and emerging
markets mania of the past decade.”