June 18, 2004

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.

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WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR JUNE 18, 2004

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--US GETS COSY WITH TALIBAN'S POINT MAN (In the search for a single unifying force in chaotic Afghanistan, such as "moderate" Taliban, to bring political stability before November's US presidential elections, focus has once again fallen on the firebrand Pakistani cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who during the Taliban regime was used to build bridges with the rest of the world…The significance of these events emerged in comments Rehman made to a local journalist. "The British authorities are working on behalf of the United States. This indirect process has been chosen to avoid any ill-effects ahead of the forthcoming presidential elections in America ... Britain is holding indirect talks with the Taliban militia to seek an honorable American exit from Afghanistan." By implication, Rehman will mediate in this process.)

2//The Daily Star, Lebanon--IRAQI OFFICERS GRADUATE AMID CARNAGE (A fresh batch of Iraqi officers graduated from an 11-week training course in Jordan Thursday as a suicide bomber killed 35 people at the gates of the New Iraqi Army recruiting station in Baghdad…"The critical circumstances witnessed by Iraq nowadays require your sincere and hard efforts," Brigadier General Ahmad al-Farajat said in a speech to the 843 graduates, without mentioning the early morning attack…Thursday's graduates were the second batch of Iraqi officers to undergo the 11-week course at the King Abdullah I Infantry School in Zarqa, just north of Amman, since the program got under way earlier this year. The course is part of US-led plans to create, by Sept. 30, a 35,000-strong force, including some 1,400 officers, led by Washington-trained Iraqi generals. The force is mainly funded by the United States. A first group of 548 officers graduated in March.)

3//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--KOIZUMI USHERS IN ACTIVE FOREIGN POLICY (The commitment made by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the international community that the country's Self Defense Forces (SDF) would join a planned multinational force in Iraq, has far-reaching implications globally. According to analysts, Japan can now be expected to play a more active role in foreign policy…''The Japanese are now realising that financial contributions are not enough and Japan must be more active in a political and military sense,'' he said. Added Shiratori: ''The consensus though is that rather than following the United States, the best way of doing this is supporting the United Nations efforts for peace.'' )

4//Tempo Interactive, Indonesia--TNI NAVY CHIEF: US PRESENCE IN MALACCA STRAITS NOT NEEDED (Indonesian Military (TNI) Navy chief, Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh, has stated that the establishment of a US-military base would not be required in the efforts to secure Malacca Straits…Moreover, he said, Indonesia is still a sovereign country and its people have their dignity. "Tell all those people who want to send their help to us that I only need to share intelligence information and training facilities with them," Sondakh stated.)

5//The Guardian, UK--BIOMETRICS - GREAT HOPE FOR WORLD SECURITY OR TRIUMPH FOR BIG BROTHER? (British police will almost certainly be given access in the near future to US intelligence databases containing DNA samples, fingerprints and digital images of thousands of foreign nationals seized around the world by the US as terror suspects…Canada, he told the conference in Morgantown, West Virginia, had already been given direct electronic access to such FBI databases… The main UK police computer storing fingerprints, called Nafis, is also due to be replaced soon by a system codenamed Ident1. Two US firms, Lockheed Martin and Northrup Gruman, are bidding for the contract that is likely to be decided this autumn…Last night, civil liberties campaigners voiced concerns about governments sharing biometric data through international databases. "There is now a total obsession with this technology as a way of combatting anything and everything and it's a fallacy," said Barry Hugill of Liberty. "Once you begin to compile massive databases it's a matter of common sense that you are going to get the most horrendous mix-ups, with the wrong people being accused and the wrong information being shared around the world.")

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1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong June 18, 2004
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/FF18Ag02.html

US GETS COSY WITH TALIBAN'S POINT MAN
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - In the search for a single unifying force in chaotic Afghanistan, such as "moderate" Taliban, to bring political stability before November's US presidential elections, focus has once again fallen on the firebrand Pakistani cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who during the Taliban regime was used to build bridges with the rest of the world.

Rehman, 52, heads the Jamiat Ulema-i-Ulema-i-Islam (Rehman group - JUI), one of the most influential organizations in Pakistan working for what is described as a "pure Islamic state".

The JUI is the driving force in the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a coalition of six religious parties that holds 60 seats in parliament. In a controversial move, Rehman in late May was chosen by the Speaker as official opposition leader. Although a largely ceremonial post with limited authority, his appointment became a bone of contention between the MMA and other opposition parties, such as the Pakistan People's Party of former premier Benazir Bhutto.

But while these parties were crying foul because their candidate had not been chosen, a broader significance of Rehman's nomination emerged: he was selected soon after returning from a little-publicized and unscheduled visit to England. Earlier, in March, in Pakistan, Rehman had met with visiting British Foreign Minister Jack Straw.

The significance of these events emerged in comments Rehman made to a local journalist. "The British authorities are working on behalf of the United States. This indirect process has been chosen to avoid any ill-effects ahead of the forthcoming presidential elections in America ... Britain is holding indirect talks with the Taliban militia to seek an honorable American exit from Afghanistan."

By implication, Rehman will mediate in this process.

(MORE)

2//The Daily Star, Lebanon Friday, June 18, 2004
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=5393

IRAQI OFFICERS GRADUATE AMID CARNAGE
Iraqi officers graduate amid carnage
Health civil servants trained in Beirut

By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Compiled by Daily Star staff

A fresh batch of Iraqi officers graduated from an 11-week training course in Jordan Thursday as a suicide bomber killed 35 people at the gates of the New Iraqi Army recruiting station in Baghdad.

"The critical circumstances witnessed by Iraq nowadays require your sincere and hard efforts," Brigadier General Ahmad al-Farajat said in a speech to the 843 graduates, without mentioning the early morning attack.

(SNIP)

Thursday's graduates were the second batch of Iraqi officers to undergo the 11-week course at the King Abdullah I Infantry School in Zarqa, just north of Amman, since the program got under way earlier this year.

The course is part of US-led plans to create, by Sept. 30, a 35,000-strong force, including some 1,400 officers, led by Washington-trained Iraqi generals. The force is mainly funded by the United States.

A first group of 548 officers graduated in March.

The course in Jordan included classes in basic military training, special command and special staff courses.

The officers also received training in security organization, the army's role in internal security, democracy, peacekeeping operations, military law and terrorism, Farajat said in his speech.

In Beirut, The World Bank Institute (WBI) concluded on Thursday a two-week training course for Iraqi public health officials and other civil servants, the Washington-based organization announced in a press release.

The 11-day extensive training course was delivered jointly by the WBI, the training arm of the World Bank Group, and the American University of Beirut (AUB), WBI's regional partner for capacity building in the health sector.

The course, entitled Health Sector Reform and Sustainable Financing, was attended by 29 Iraqis. They included Iraq's Minister of Health, Ala'dine Alwan, his predecessor, Khudair Abbas, and directors general from various governorates in Iraq.

(MORE)

3//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy June 17, 2004
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=24242

KOIZUMI USHERS IN ACTIVE FOREIGN POLICY
Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Jun 17 (IPS) - The commitment made by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the international community that the country's Self Defense Forces (SDF) would join a planned multinational force in Iraq, has far-reaching implications globally.

According to analysts, Japan can now be expected to play a more active role in foreign policy.

''Japan has preferred to maintain a low profile in global politics following its disastrous defeat in World War ll. But now Koizumi is ushering in dramatic changes that spells uncertain times,'' Rei Shiratori, head of the Institute of Political Studies in Japan, told IPS.

Koizumi last week said Japanese troops would join a United Nations-led multinational force in Iraq as long as their role is limited to humanitarian missions. He made the commitment at the end of the annual two-day gathering of leaders from the Group of Eight countries in the U.S. state of Georgia.

The United States failed to win a commitment from France, Germany and other G-8 members during the meeting for troops to serve in the international force in Iraq after the U.N. Security Council endorsed U.S. and British plans to hand power to an Iraqi government on Jun. 30.

Shiratori said the Iraq crisis has forced Japan to reconsider its traditional post-war diplomacy that leaned heavily on monetary contributions to support the country's global responsibilities.

''The Japanese are now realising that financial contributions are not enough and Japan must be more active in a political and military sense,'' he said.

Added Shiratori: ''The consensus though is that rather than following the United States, the best way of doing this is supporting the United Nations efforts for peace.''

Since the end of the first Gulf War, Japan has slowly and discreetly sought more active participation in international peacekeeping efforts.

(SNIP)

Professor Yoko Iwama., at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, pointed out that Japan's push for a more active foreign policy also stems from changing U.S. policy - where Washington expects support from its close allies for future military operations beyond its borders after the tragic events of Sep. 11, 2001.

''The end of the Cold War has seen a slow shift in the strategic Japan-U.S. security pact,'' Iwama told IPS.

''Now with U.S. President George Bush's anti-terrorism policy, Japan is expected not only to provide bases for U.S. troops as before but to go beyond that by participating with the United States overseas,'' he said.

''The future now depends on Japan's skilled decision making,'' stressed Iwama.

(MORE)

4//Tempo Interactive, Indonesia Friday, 18 June, 2004 | 07:19 WIB
http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2004/06/18/brk,20040618-03,uk.html

TNI NAVY CHIEF: US PRESENCE IN MALACCA STRAITS NOT NEEDED
Yandhrie Arvian

Jakarta--Indonesian Military (TNI) Navy chief, Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh, has stated that the establishment of a US-military base would not be required in the efforts to secure Malacca Straits.

"We need no support from other countries aside than those nearby the Straits to secure the Malacca Straits," said Sondakh at the Tanjung Priok Military Maritime Cross Command harbor in Tanjung Priok, Jakarta, on Thursday (17/06).

(SNIP)

Moreover, he said, Indonesia is still a sovereign country and its people have their dignity.

"Tell all those people who want to send their help to us that I only need to share intelligence information and training facilities with them," Sondakh stated.

Sondakh said that he rejected the US's intention to help securing the Malacca Straits as Indonesia has already been involved in an organization, called West Pacific Nation Symposium, which members, consisting of 26 countries, which conducted joint-military training in Singapore sometime ago.

(MORE)

5//The Guardian, UK Friday, June 18, 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/story/0,12976,1241862,00.html

BIOMETRICS - GREAT HOPE FOR WORLD SECURITY OR TRIUMPH FOR BIG BROTHER?
British police ready to link up to databases of US intelligence

Owen Bowcott in Morgantown, West Virginia

British police will almost certainly be given access in the near future to US intelligence databases containing DNA samples, fingerprints and digital images of thousands of foreign nationals seized around the world by the US as terror suspects.

As the war on terror increasingly comes to rely on biometric technology - the use of physical characteristics unique to individuals such as iris pattern, DNA and fingerprints to verify identify - western police and intelligence agencies are drawing up plans for sophisticated biometric databases which would allow them to share sensitive information.

"The only way to trace a terrorist is through biometrics," Mike Kirkpatrick, assistant director of the FBI's criminal justice services division, told a conference for European firms selling biometric security measures yesterday. "[Traditional] passports are pretty damn meaningless."

The FBI, which has more than 75m fingerprints on its criminal and civil computer records, is adding biometric details from suspects detained in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

(SNIP)

Canada, he told the conference in Morgantown, West Virginia, had already been given direct electronic access to such FBI databases. "We are having discussions with the UK, through Pito [the Police Information Technology Organisation], about whether they should have [direct] access to our systems ... I would hope mutual exchanges [of information online] will happen in the next few years. It's in everyone's interest that we have a good sharing mechanism."

Already, the first practical results of coordinated database programmes and reinforced border controls are coming on stream. They all rely heavily on biometric components. In Britain, the passport agency has begun trials to examine what type of biometric details the next generation of travel documents will contain.

(SNIP)

The main UK police computer storing fingerprints, called Nafis, is also due to be replaced soon by a system codenamed Ident1. Two US firms, Lockheed Martin and Northrup Gruman, are bidding for the contract that is likely to be decided this autumn. The new system will record finger and palm prints and also provide a platform for other biometric measures.

Last night, civil liberties campaigners voiced concerns about governments sharing biometric data through international databases. "There is now a total obsession with this technology as a way of combatting anything and everything and it's a fallacy," said Barry Hugill of Liberty. "Once you begin to compile massive databases it's a matter of common sense that you are going to get the most horrendous mix-ups, with the wrong people being accused and the wrong information being shared around the world."

(MORE)