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| April 19, 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 19, 2004 1//The Scotsman, UK--BRITISH TROOPS 'IN IRAQ FOR TEN YEARS' (British troops may have to stay in Iraq for up to ten years to ensure security, the commanding officer of British forces in the southern Iraqi city of Basra told The Scotsman yesterday. Brigadier Nick Carter's warning came as the security situation in southern Iraq deteriorated after a day in which British troops came under sustained attack from supporters of the Shiite cleric Muqtadr al- Sadr, in the town of al-Amarah. Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, yesterday admitted that the coalition underestimated how unstable the security situation in Iraq would become after the toppling of Saddam Hussein.) 2//The Independent, UK--WHITEHALL WARNS UK FIRMS TO STOP SENDING WORKERS TO IRAQ (In an embarrassing about-face for the Government, trade officials have warned British companies to postpone all visits to Iraq for at least a month after a sudden rise in kidnappings and killings of foreign workers by insurgents. The deliberate targeting of foreigners, culminating in the murder last Wednesday of an Italian security guard, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, has put the Government's strategy of getting British firms into Iraq under severe pressure...The largest security firms are now upgrading their plans for the mass evacuation of foreign workers, if the situation worsens. The BBC and ITN have admitted they are also closely monitoring the escalating violence and could withdraw their journalists.) 3//The Daily Times, Pakistan--TALIBAN OFFENSIVE MELLOWINGIN AFGHANISTAN: US: ATTACKS WILL BE MORE INTENSE, SAYS TALIBAN (A spring offensive by Taliban and Al Qaeda guerrillas in Afghanistan's restive south is the weakest in two years, US officials say, but Taliban militants vowed on Sunday to keep up their attacks... But some analysts and provincial officials dispute the US assessment and say the Taliban are better disciplined after a meeting last year of its secretive 10-man leadership council, including supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar. "I think the Taliban are more organised," said Rahimullah Yusufzai, a journalist in western Pakistani who follows Taliban issues closely. "The Taliban now have a clear command and leadership structure. They know who is in charge." Yusufzai said American soldiers fighting in Iraq had also inflamed religious passions of Muslims, making it easier for the Taliban to recruit from Pakistan where many are believed to have found sanctuary among fellow ethnic Pashtuns after 2001.) 4//The
Turkish Daily News, Turkey--US MAY CUT AFGHAN
FORCE DESPITE AL-QAEDA HUNT (The United
States, which has increased troops numbers in Afghanistan
to hunt for Osama bin Laden and other militants,
may cut their number after the country holds elections,
the top U.S. military officer said on Friday. Gen.
Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs
of Staff, said U.S. forces in Afghanistan were
moving to uproot al-Qaeda militants and their Taliban
allies and head off violence ahead of September
elections..."We will see how events unfold.
I think generally most of the country is pretty
secure as a matter of fact," he added.) * * * 1//The
Scotsman, UK Mon 19 Apr 2004 BRITISH TROOPS 'IN IRAQ FOR TEN YEARS' Key points BRITISH troops may have to stay in Iraq for up to ten years to ensure security, the commanding officer of British forces in the southern Iraqi city of Basra told The Scotsman yesterday. Brigadier Nick Carter's warning came as the security situation in southern Iraq deteriorated after a day in which British troops came under sustained attack from supporters of the Shiite cleric Muqtadr al- Sadr, in the town of al-Amarah. Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, yesterday admitted that the coalition underestimated how unstable the security situation in Iraq would become after the toppling of Saddam Hussein. To add to Mr Blair's concerns, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the new prime minister of Spain, announced he had ordered Spanish troops to be withdrawn from Iraq as soon as possible. Spain's foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos later said the troops would be out within 15 days. Speaking before the latest attacks in Iraq, Brig Carter admitted that local forces would not be capable of maintaining security on their own after the 30 June handover of power to an Iraqi government. He said: "You will get some policemen who will identify with Sadr and some who won't. "We are in cloud-cuckooland if we think we are going to create overnight a police force that is accountable to the population. Certainly for a number of years to come, western forces are going to have to be there to support the police force." He added he was looking for a United Nations mandate to take action, on behalf of the Iraqi population, against those forces that continued to make trouble. "I have to be looking two, three, ten years out," he said. (SNIP) In a separate attack just north of Basra, a large British military convoy carrying Warrior armoured vehicles was attacked on the main Route 6 highway running up to Baghdad. British commanders are known to have been in contact with their US counterparts to urge caution in the handling of Sadr. (MORE)
WHITEHALL WARNS UK FIRMS TO STOP SENDING WORKERS
TO IRAQ British businesses hoping to win lucrative deals in Iraq have been told to scrap their plans to travel there because of the escalating violence against Westerners. In an embarrassing about-face for the Government, trade officials have warned British companies to postpone all visits to Iraq for at least a month after a sudden rise in kidnappings and killings of foreign workers by insurgents. The deliberate targeting of foreigners, culminating in the murder last Wednesday of an Italian security guard, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, has put the Government's strategy of getting British firms into Iraq under severe pressure. The families of three other abducted Italians issued an emotional plea on the Arabic station al-Jazeera asking for the men to be released. In Baghdad, meanwhile, two Japanese hostages were set free, less than a day after another Arabic television station broadcast footage of a kidnapped US serviceman being paraded in front of cameras. The largest security firms are now upgrading their plans for the mass evacuation of foreign workers, if the situation worsens. The BBC and ITN have admitted they are also closely monitoring the escalating violence and could withdraw their journalists. The new warnings come three weeks after the Trade minister, Mike O'Brien, hosted an investment conference for companies keen to bid for a share of the £10bn-worth of reconstruction contracts being handed out to non-US firms in Iraq. One security expert said the Pentagon had made it clear to British bidders that "if you aren't in Iraq, you aren't going to get any work". But, after the Foreign Office strengthened its advice against going to Iraq last Wednesday, Whitehall officials and diplomats in Baghdad began quietly calling British firms to suggest they postpone travelling there. The move is a serious setback to attempts to prove the country is being rebuilt, in the run-up to the handover of power on 30 June. Projects to restore water and electricity, repair bridges and hospitals will be further delayed. (SNIP)
TALIBAN OFFENSIVE MELLOWINGIN AFGHANISTAN: US: ATTACKS WILL BE MORE INTENSE, SAYS TALIBAN KABUL: A spring offensive by Taliban and Al Qaeda guerrillas in Afghanistan's restive south is the weakest in two years, US officials say, but Taliban militants vowed on Sunday to keep up their attacks. More than two years after US-led forces overthrew the hardline Taliban regime, attacks by remnants of the group are an almost daily occurrence in the south and east, making the rugged region effectively off-limits to foreign aid workers. "Our attacks will further intensify," said Hamid Agha, a Taliban spokesman, by satellite telephone from his hideout in southern Afghanistan. "We have done a lot of preparations and planning during the winter. Enemy losses are increasing, while ours are minimal." But US officials say operations by US special forces and the fledgling Afghan National Army in the area have reduced the Taliban to hit-and-run attacks rather than their military-style offensives of the past, and this was inflicting less damage. (SNIP) The United States recently expanded its force in Afghanistan to 15,500 troops from about 11,000 a few months ago. Many are concentrated in the south and east near the Pakistan border in a hunt for militants including Osama Bin Laden. But some analysts and provincial officials dispute the US assessment and say the Taliban are better disciplined after a meeting last year of its secretive 10-man leadership council, including supreme leader Mulla Mohammad Omar. "I think the Taliban are more organised," said Rahimullah Yusufzai, a journalist in western Pakistani who follows Taliban issues closely. "The Taliban now have a clear command and leadership structure. They know who is in charge." Yusufzai said American soldiers fighting in Iraq had also inflamed religious passions of Muslims, making it easier for the Taliban to recruit from Pakistan where many are believed to have found sanctuary among fellow ethnic Pashtuns after 2001. (MORE)
US MAY CUT AFGHAN FORCE DESPITE AL-QAEDA HUNT KABUL - Reuters --The United States, which has increased troops numbers in Afghanistan to hunt for Osama bin Laden and other militants, may cut their number after the country holds elections, the top U.S. military officer said on Friday. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces in Afghanistan were moving to uproot al-Qaeda militants and their Taliban allies and head off violence ahead of September elections. "We've ramped up our presence here a little bit anticipating and trying to ensure that we have no more violence as we head towards elections," Myers said, after arriving in Kabul from Iraq for a first-hand look at military operations. "So we're a little stronger, a little beefier than we have been. That does ebb and flow," he told reporters traveling with him. "It's quite likely we could go back down to lower numbers. "We will see how events unfold. I think generally most of the country is pretty secure as a matter of fact," he added. A U.S. military official in Kabul said 2,000 U.S. Marines arriving in Afghanistan would be sent to Kandahar province in the south and Tirin Kot in the central Uruzgan province, about 350 km (220 miles) southwest of Kabul. Both are areas where the ousted Taliban militia has been active. The latest arrivals will take the total U.S. force in Afghanistan to 15,500 from about 11,000 a few months ago. (SNIP) Myers added that increased troop strength in Iraq, where fighting in recent weeks has been the bloodiest since Saddam Hussein was ousted a year ago, would not reduce the availability of U.S. forces for operations in Afghanistan. Lt.-Gen. David Barno, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, praised Pakistan's efforts to crack down on Islamic militants on its side of the border in part of what he calls a "hammer and anvil" strategy to stop them crossing the frontier. (MORE)
FOREIGN POLICY: U.S. FIRST OR RUSSIA FIRST LESNIYE DALI, Moscow Region -- Russia's loyal cooperation with the West and Western interests makes it the naive wife to the West's unfettered husband, or so goes the colorful analogy proposed Saturday during a characteristically dry discussion of foreign policy priorities. It sparked lively debate among the more than 100 members of the political and business elite gathered at the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy annual weekend retreat. Not everyone agreed, though many acknowledged the psychological difficulty for Moscow in feeling it has clung to a relationship that it values more than Europe and the United States. (SNIP) Among the chirping birds and wooded walks of Lesniye Dali, a resort west of Moscow owned by the presidential administration, retired ambassadors and company executives mixed with professors, media commentators and lawmakers. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also attended some of the sessions. Speakers -- whose remarks were barred from attribution under rules laid down by council chairman Sergei Karaganov -- said that with the entire international community in a state of flux with an unprecedented war on terrorism and the crisis in Iraq, the role Russia should play in the world remains murky. Although Russia lacks a long-term vision and policy goals, so do most countries, one prominent member observed. "I don't think any country truly knows what role they should be playing," he said, giving a view echoed many times. Yet few disputed that Russia's future lies in integration with -- not isolation from -- the West. Alongside that, one pro-Western speaker noted, there will be stiff competition between the United States and Russia for influence in the former Soviet space, where the United States has parlayed its military presence in countries like Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Ukraine into economic ties. Meanwhile, for Moscow, cooperation and free-trade zones with the CIS have rarely been more than a lukewarm priority. Russia should assert its position in the CIS, since it has too few allies to carelessly allow relations with the states in its backyard to deteriorate -- not least because those nations are a key export market for Russian goods, several attendees said. (SNIP) Some participants questioned why Russia should compromise its interests -- for example, possibly abandoning a lucrative contract to build a nuclear power station in Iran that Washington suspects of harboring a nuclear weapons program -- when the West "would never do the same for us." "It's like a woman in a civil union who says, 'I'm married,' while the man thinks, 'I'm not married.' America is free to act as it wishes, and we think we're married," one participant said. "We're playing the role of the naive wife." "The policy we need is not 'America first,' but 'Russia first,'" he said, switching to English -- the lingua franca of contemporary diplomacy -- to pronounce the two phrases. (MORE) | ||||||
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