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| April 14, 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 14, 2004 1//The Independent, UK--SUPPORT FOR BUSH 'HAS HARMED UK'S REPUTATION' (Tony Blair was urged yesterday to put some distance between Britain and the Bush administration and not to make his alliance with the US President the cornerstone of British foreign policy. Senior Labour MPs expressed concern at Mr Blair's close relationship with George Bush as he prepared to fly to Washington tomorrow for talks that will be overshadowed by the crisis in Iraq. In a sign of Mr Blair's nervousness, Downing Street confirmed that he would not receive the Congressional Medal of Honour he was awarded nearly a year ago, insisting it was not yet ready.) Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, told The Independent yesterday that Mr Blair should "recalibrate" his relations with the White House.) 2//The Jordan Times, Jordan--SECURITY FORCES MAJOR HEADACHE FOR US (The poor performance of Iraqi security forces during the current uprising against the US-led occupation raises serious questions about their ability to keep order after the upcoming handover of power to Iraqis...On the streets, Iraqi policemen complain they lack equipment - radios, flak jackets, heavy weapons - to confront the well-armed insurgents. Coalition officials and interim Iraqi government officials say the equipment issue is caused by delays in processing procurement contracts, not by lack of trust. But in some cases, tribal and religious bonds between Iraqi policemen and insurgents are stronger than loyalty to the new pro-Western security apparatus.) 3//The Daily Times, Pakistan--PAKISTAN MULLING US REQUEST FOR TROOPS TO IRAQ (The United States has asked Pakistan to send troops to protect a future United Nations mission in Iraq, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. "We have received a request by the US to provide troops for the protection of a UN mission when it is established," Masood Khan said.) 4//The Moscow Times, Russia--FAMILIES SEEK ADVICE ON DODGING DRAFT (Potential conscripts, their parents and grandparents have been storming the office of human rights group Soldiers' Mothers, trying to avoid the spring draft that began April 1...Every Wednesday and Saturday, Soldiers' Mothers hold seminars for potential conscripts and their families. "People want to know their rights and don't expect military commissions to tell them about them, or to even answer their questions," said the organization's co-chairwoman Ella Polyakova. "We consider various problems and explain the solutions to the mothers."...A major complaint voiced at the Soldiers' Mothers office was that the men who have a reason not to serve are treated by military commissions like slaves who have fled plantations.) 5//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--SPY NETWORK PUTRID, ARMY MAN TELLS PM (A high-ranking military analyst has accused the Federal Government of systematically putting foreign policy objectives ahead of intelligence, seriously undermining the work of its own spies. A saga that has wracked the military for six years has culminated in General Peter Cosgrove's senior intelligence analyst during the East Timor conflict, Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins, writing to the Prime Minster demanding a Royal Commission into the spy services. The letter says there has been a litany of intelligence failures, from the Sandline affair in Papua New Guinea to East Timor and the Bali bombings and, most recently, the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.) * * * 1//The
Independent, UK 14 April 2004 SUPPORT FOR BUSH 'HAS HARMED UK'S REPUTATION' Tony Blair was urged yesterday to put some distance between Britain and the Bush administration and not to make his alliance with the US President the cornerstone of British foreign policy. Senior Labour MPs expressed concern at Mr Blair's close relationship with George Bush as he prepared to fly to Washington tomorrow for talks that will be overshadowed by the crisis in Iraq. In a sign of Mr Blair's nervousness, Downing Street confirmed that he would not receive the Congressional Medal of Honour he was awarded nearly a year ago, insisting it was not yet ready. Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, told The Independent yesterday that Mr Blair should "recalibrate" his relations with the White House. He said: "Tony Blair's original aim as Prime Minister was that Britain can sit astride a transatlantic relationship as well as a European relationship. That, however, has become warped beyond recognition by the unilateral action in Iraq." Mr Blair suffered a further rebuff as an influential think tank said that British and US foreign policy was preventing Britain from halting human rights abuses around the world. In a report out today, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) warned that the war in Iraq and the detention of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay limited Britain's ability to influence states with poor human rights records. (MORE)
SECURITY FORCES MAJOR HEADACHE FOR US By Gerard Aziakou BAGHDAD - The poor performance of Iraqi security forces during the current uprising against the US-led occupation raises serious questions about their ability to keep order after the upcoming handover of power to Iraqis. Facing daily attacks by elusive Shiite and Sunni
Muslim rebels, the US-led coalition is scrambling
to create a new Western-style security apparatus
that can restore civil order and eventually allow
the withdrawal of some troops. To complement the police in Iraq's 18 provinces, the coalition has also established a 15,000-strong paramilitary Iraqi Civil Defence Corps (ICDC). But these key security institutions have come under fire for their ineffectiveness in handling the attacks by Sunni Muslim rebels and militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr this week. Coalition forces even suspected some police units of fraternising with the rebels and in some cases of fighting on their side. (SNIP) "We have said for months and months that the Iraqi police service is sort of at its nascent stage. We are working hard to train it, to have it gain the experience it needs," a senior US military official said this week. "These forces need a lot more training and experience, a great deal more self-confidence in order to control a mob situation like (Fallujah)," concurred Rosch Schaways, deputy to Massud Barzani, the current president of Iraq's interim Governing Council. On the streets, Iraqi policemen complain they
lack equipment - radios, flak jackets, heavy weapons
- to confront the well-armed insurgents. But in some cases, tribal and religious bonds between Iraqi policemen and insurgents are stronger than loyalty to the new pro-Western security apparatus. "If there is fighting (with the rebels), I will never fight against my tribe," one policeman, who asked not to be named, told AFP in Kut. The US defence department has confirmed reports that the commander of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division, Major General David Petraeus, who spent most of the past year in Iraq, was being sent back to oversee the overhaul and training of all Iraqi military and security forces. Petraeus was reportedly tasked with building Iraqi forces strong enough to maintain security and thereby permit the pullout of US troops, a key part of Washington's exit strategy.
PAKISTAN MULLING US REQUEST FOR TROOPS TO IRAQ ISLAMABAD: The United States has asked Pakistan to send troops to protect a future United Nations mission in Iraq, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. "We have received a request by the US to provide troops for the protection of a UN mission when it is established," Masood Khan said. "This proposal is being examined. This request is distinct from the previous request and it has been made to several other countries also," Khan said. He said Pakistan would consider the request seriously after the transfer of power to the Iraqi people. The spokesman said that the government's stance on the issue was very clear that it would grant the request if it was in Pakistan's interests. -Agencies
FAMILIES SEEK ADVICE ON DODGING DRAFT ST. PETERSBURG -- Potential conscripts, their parents and grandparents have been storming the office of human rights group Soldiers' Mothers, trying to avoid the spring draft that began April 1. "The office is packed tighter than a tin of sardines," said Zoya Kulakova, a member of the nongovernmental organization. "There isn't enough room to sit down, let alone to breathe. Up to 250 people and more are attending our human rights classes." Every Wednesday and Saturday, Soldiers' Mothers hold seminars for potential conscripts and their families. "People want to know their rights and don't expect military commissions to tell them about them, or to even answer their questions," said the organization's co-chairwoman Ella Polyakova. "We consider various problems and explain the solutions to the mothers." Every male over the age of 18 is required to complete two years' military service before reaching 27. This requirement can be postponed in favor of higher education. Fathers, prospective fathers and family breadwinners are exempt. Visitors to a recent Soldier's Mothers human rights class sounded frightened and desperate. Interrupting one another, they tried to tell their stories as if their sons were doomed and that enlisting the NGO's support was the only way to save them. "My son has a severe gastric ulcer," one alarmed mother said. "Can they still take him?" A major complaint voiced at the Soldiers' Mothers office was that the men who have a reason not to serve are treated by military commissions like slaves who have fled plantations. (MORE)
SPY NETWORK PUTRID, ARMY MAN TELLS PM A high-ranking military analyst has accused the Federal Government of systematically putting foreign policy objectives ahead of intelligence, seriously undermining the work of its own spies. A saga that has wracked the military for six years has culminated in General Peter Cosgrove's senior intelligence analyst during the East Timor conflict, Lieutenant-Colonel Lance Collins, writing to the Prime Minster demanding a Royal Commission into the spy services. The letter says there has been a litany of intelligence failures, from the Sandline affair in Papua New Guinea to East Timor and the Bali bombings and, most recently, the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. "I strongly urge you, Prime Minister, to appoint an impartial and wide-ranging Royal Commission into intelligence," the letter says. "To do otherwise would merely cultivate an artificial scab over the putrefaction beneath". The Herald has seen the letter, sent last month, and has been told of an alleged campaign to ostracise Lieutenant-Colonel Collins after he complained that the Defence Intelligence Organisation was run by a "pro-Jakarta lobby". Colonel Collins penned damning assessments as far back as July 1998, saying the Indonesian military was funding and supporting militia in East Timor. The intelligence never got through and a member of Defence's strategic and international policy division told him his reporting did not reflect the "fundamental drivers" behind the foreign policy relationship between Indonesia and Australia. At the time, Australia recognised Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor, a unique position in the world. It is understood senior officials in Defence attempted, unsuccessfully, to prevent Colonel Collins acting as General Cosgrove's senior intelligence adviser in the East Timor operation, a post he took up in mid-1999. But a campaign of retribution began soon after his return, allegedly involving the head of the Defence Intelligence Organisation, Frank Lewincamp. (SNIP) The Herald can reveal the DIO shut down an intelligence-sharing network at the height of the East Timor operation and ordered, in early 2000, that no more intelligence be gathered from West Timor, where atrocities against East Timorese refugees occurred. (MORE) | ||||||
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