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| April 2, 2004 |
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World Media Watch by Gloria R. Lalumia BUZZFLASH NOTE: WMW provides BuzzFlash readers foreign views and perspectives that are not usually available from the media here in the U.S. The presentation of these articles from these international publications is not an endorsement of their viewpoints. * * * WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR APRIL 2, 2004 1//Inter Press Service, Italy--ANALYSIS: FALLUJAH
PUNCTURES WASHINGTON'S OPTIMISM (... Iraq suddenly,
if gruesomely, recaptured the headlines with Wednesday's
horrific killings of four private U.S. security
contractors, whose fiery and grisly end at the
hands of an angry mob in the chronically rebellious
city of Fallujah was caught on videotape...The
pattern of these attacks suggested to T.X. Hammes,
a senior military fellow at the Institute for National
Security Studies who just returned from a two-month
assignment in Iraq, that occupation forces face
a real insurgency that will not be defeated in
the short term. ''They plan to beat us'', he wrote,
adding that the opposition now consists of disparate
groups who are loosely allied ''to drive the U.S.-led
coalition out of Iraq''. The ''quality'' of the
mob's violence in the attack on the four security
workers -- all former members of U.S. Special Operations
Forces -- also struck Juan Cole, an Iraq specialist
at the University of Michigan, as both remarkable
and ominous.) 5//The Moscow Times, Russia--FEW LINING UP FOR ALTERNATIVE SERVICE (As the spring draft kicked off Thursday, only several hundred young men will exercise their new right to chose alternative service -- the result, activists said, of tough rules forcing conscripts who refuse to carry arms to serve away from home and a lack of good assignments...The Defense Ministry and other federal agencies with troops plan to draft a total of 166,050 conscripts this spring -- or about one in every 10 draft-age men who haven't served, conscription chief Colonel General Vasily Smirnov told reporters Wednesday.) * * * 1//Inter
Press Service April 1, 2004 FALLUJAH PUNCTURES WASHINGTON'S OPTIMISM WASHINGTON, Apr 1 (IPS) - April Fools' Day is traditionally one of good-natured mischief, but not this year. Indeed, U.S. President George W. Bush's trademark smirk, which normally fits the day's spirit almost to a T, was nowhere to be seen Thursday. The reason was clear enough: Iraq suddenly, if gruesomely, recaptured the headlines with Wednesday's horrific killings of four private U.S. security contractors, whose fiery and grisly end at the hands of an angry mob in the chronically rebellious city of Fallujah was caught on videotape. (SNIP) While few expect a similar reaction now, the fiery re-emergence of Iraq in the public consciousness -- after a relatively calm month when it was pushed to the back pages -- makes it clear that the Bush administration's optimistic depictions of the situation there might be as misleading as its pre-war claims about Baghdad's weapons of mass destructions (WMD) and ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist group of Osama bin Laden. (SNIP) Attacks against foreign civilians are also on the rise. Twelve were killed in March, the highest toll to date. Among the victims were four missionary workers and several other security guards, including a Canadian and Briton, who were gunned down last Sunday in Mosul, also to the cheers of a crowd of onlookers. As noted by veteran 'New York Times' correspondent John Burns on Thursday, both the Fallujah murders and the latest roadside killings should prompt military and occupation officials to re-think their conclusions in early February that foreign and local Islamist terrorists had replaced loyalists of former President Saddam Hussein in the ''Sunni Triangle'' of north-central Iraq as their principal enemy in the country and that they had ''turned the corner'' in putting down the insurgency of the Ba'ath Party supporters. ''This reminds me so much of Vietnam, it's scary'', Lawrence Korb, a senior Pentagon official under President Ronald Reagan (1981-89), told the 'Washington Post' Thursday. ''Every time in Vietnam that we kept saying there was light at the end of the tunnel, then something horrible would happen''. The pattern of these attacks suggested to T.X. Hammes, a senior military fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies who just returned from a two-month assignment in Iraq, that occupation forces face a real insurgency that will not be defeated in the short term. ''They plan to beat us'', he wrote, adding that the opposition now consists of disparate groups who are loosely allied ''to drive the U.S.-led coalition out of Iraq''. The ''quality'' of the mob's violence in the attack on the four security workers -- all former members of U.S. Special Operations Forces -- also struck Juan Cole, an Iraq specialist at the University of Michigan, as both remarkable and ominous. ''The degree of hatred for the new order among ordinary people is bad news'', he wrote in his daily ''blog'' (Internet journal). ''It helps explain why so few of the Sunni Arab guerrillas have been caught, since the locals hide and help them". ''It also seems a little unlikely that further U.S. military action can do anything practical to put down this insurgency; most actions it could take would simply inflame the public against them all the more'' Cole added. (SNIP) At the same time, the growing insecurity, particularly in the Sunni Triangle, is raising serious questions about how economic development and the investments that it is supposed to promote can proceed. (MORE)
BAGHDAD EXPO POSTPONED AS SECURITY CONCERNS GROW (MenaReport)--In a major blow to US occupation efforts, the American backed Destination Baghdad Expo for companies involved in the reconstruction of Iraq was postponed on Thursday due to security concerns. The event was scheduled to open on April 5, 2004. Sponsored by the Iraqi American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the event's cancellation came a day after the murder of four US contractors city of Falluja. Five US Marines died the same day in a roadside bombing near Habbaniya in the Fallujah area, the US military reported. (SNIP) The event, to be held at the Baghdad International Fair grounds, is meant to provide opportunities for Iraqi companies to directly interface with foreign firms as opposed to going through middle-man agents. However, many companies are weary of attending since the site of the event was a targeted by rockets last month.
NINTH MAN ARRESTED OVER 'BOMB PLOT' AS BLAIR BACKS
ID CARDS A ninth man was arrested in connection with a suspected al-Qa'ida bomb plot in the UK, and the father of the alleged ringleader was detained in Saudi Arabia yesterday. The developments came as Tony Blair indicated that identity cards were more likely to be introduced in Britain as a result of the Madrid bombings and the arrests of terrorist suspects in and around London. (SNIP) Meanwhile, in his monthly press conference at Downing Street, the Prime Minister hinted that new anti-terrorism laws would be needed to counter a raised threat of attack. He told reporters: "I think the whole issue of identity cards, which a few years ago were not on anyone's agenda, are very much on the political agenda here. Probably more quickly even than we anticipated. I think we will need to readjust our terrorism laws still further." Practicalities were the only thing standing in the way of the introduction of the cards, Mr Blair said, although the issue has split the Cabinet and is strongly contested by civil liberty groups. The Prime Minister claimed that the Government had won over those who opposed the controversial move for civil liberties reasons. "I think there is no longer a civil liberties objection to that in the vast majority of quarters. There is a series of logistical questions, of practical questions that need to be resolved. But, in my judgement, now logistics is the only time-delay in it. Otherwise I think it needs to move forward." Barry Hugill, spokesman for Liberty, said: "It is colossal arrogance on Tony Blair's part to say there are no civil liberty objections to ID cards; there are. There are so many objections. "The complex one is that the Government has singularly failed to show in what way an ID card will help combat crime, terrorism, or [illegal] immigration. There is no reason for us to believe that terrorists will not have ID cards, or manage to obtain forged ones." David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, is known to favour compulsory ID cards but other cabinet colleagues have deep reservations. Last Sunday, Patricia Hewitt, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, said compulsory ID cards were "many, many years away". (MORE)
PAKISTAN WANTS MORE TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN Foreign Minister Kasuri, speaking after Islamabad signed up to an initiative with Afghanistan's other neighbours to combat drugs trafficking, said 19,000 foreign troops were "just not enough" to return the country to stability. "Warlords have to be knocked out and they can only be dealt with if you take on the drugs trade," he told Reuters in an interview during an Afghan donors' meeting in Berlin. "This is a major challenge, not just to the Afghan government, which is of course trying to do its best, but also to the United States and the ISAF forces in Afghanistan." A US-led force of 13,500 soldiers, known as Operation Enduring Freedom, is hunting down Taliban militia and al Qaeda guerrillas mostly in the south and east of the country along the mountainous border with Pakistan. NATO commands the 6,500-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a peacekeeping operation based in Kabul and the relatively stable northern town of Kunduz. Mr Kasuri said Pakistan, by contrast, had stationed 70,000 soldiers on its western border where leaders of Al Qaeda are believed to be hiding. (MORE)
FEW LINING UP FOR ALTERNATIVE SERVICE As the spring draft kicked off Thursday, only several hundred young men will exercise their new right to chose alternative service -- the result, activists said, of tough rules forcing conscripts who refuse to carry arms to serve away from home and a lack of good assignments. (SNIP) Despite "an enormous choice" of jobs in 300 occupations, only "several hundred young men have applied for alternative civil service," Pochinok said. This suggests, he said, that "some are greeting the novelty with caution." (SNIP) The Defense Ministry and other federal agencies with troops plan to draft a total of 166,050 conscripts this spring -- or about one in every 10 draft-age men who haven't served, conscription chief Colonel General Vasily Smirnov told reporters Wednesday. Sergei Krivenko, one of the country's leading experts on alternative service, praised Pochinok's efforts in compiling the list but said it was devoid of socially significant jobs that would allow conscripts to take pride in their work. These jobs include caring for patients in hospitals and teaching schoolchildren, he said. (SNIP) The military took pains to make sure that alternative service ended up less attractive than military service, fearing that it would not be able to fill its ranks. The 1993 Constitution gives draft-age men 18 to 27 years old the right to seek alternative service if they can prove their pacifist beliefs. Under the alternative service law, a young man must prove his pacifist views to a special draft committee, which can turn him down if it finds his argument unconvincing. A draftee seeking alternative service is required to serve 21 months if he has completed higher education and 3 1/2 years if he hasn't. Regular conscripts -- most of whom don't have higher education -- serve 24 months. | ||||||
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