July 2, 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 JULY 2, 2004

1//The Independent, UK--AFGHAN POLLS DELAYED AMID INTIMIDATION (The Afghan elections scheduled for September will be delayed because of wrangling among officials and political parties. The delay, which comes against a backdrop of increased violence, is a blow for President Hamid Karzai who said on Tuesday that the polls must go ahead on time and pleaded for more Nato troops to maintain security. The deadline for setting a polling date in September is today and Farook Wardak, of the country's election management body said no decision on setting a date would be taken. Under Afghan law, polling day must be set at least 90 days in advance. "Much more consultation is required," Mr Wardak said "I'm hopeful that next week we'll have a decision.")

2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--US LEAVES IRAQ RUNNING ON EMPTY (A barrage of binding decrees passed during the United States occupation of Iraq, combined with a lack of resources, heavy debt and the continuing presence of a massive US force, provide clear evidence that the recent handover of authority to Iraqis does not equal real control over the economy...Meanwhile, a recent report by the Open Society Institute's (OSI) program to monitor Iraq's reconstruction said that the US-controlled CPA was engaged in a last-minute spending spree, committing billions of dollars to "ill-conceived projects just before it dissolves", in an apparent attempt to pre-impose those deals on any future Iraqi government. The US-controlled Program Review Board, the body in charge of managing Iraq's finances, approved the expenditure of nearly US$2 billion in Iraqi funds for reconstruction projects in just a single meeting. "With so much money available for cash give-aways, and so little planning on how the process will work, it will be all but impossible to avoid corruption and waste," said Svetlana Tsalik, director of the Iraq Revenue Watch at the OSI, which is chaired by leading US financier George Soros.)

3//Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK--SECURITY FOR SALE (Baghdad's streets are full of police checkpoints, established to stop rampant crime as well as the spate of car bombings that has terrorised the city in recent weeks. But in just one day last week, IWPR found two checkpoints where police were willing to overlook a suspicious vehicle for the price of a small bribe...Such behaviour is mild compared with that of some other police officers.)

4//Gulf News Online, United Arab Emirates--AMNESTY WEAKENS TERROR CELLS - EXPERT (A leading criminologist predicted that terrorist cells in the Kingdom are badly weakened by the Royal amnesty that gave those who are on the police list to give themselves up to security officials within 30 days and enjoy the right to return to normal life. Sultan Al Angary, deputy director general of the Riyadh-based Crime Combating Research Centre, said: "Terrorists cell in the Kingdom are disintegrating. They are hard-hit by the Royal amnesty that promised members of the terrorist groups safe return to normal peaceful life provided that they give themselves up before the end of the deadline." He predicted more surrenders in the coming days and weeks for the simple reason that the terrorists are beginning to realise there is no chance of escaping the long arm of the law.)

5//The Scotsman, UK--MPs FEAR CUTTING TROOPS WILL ENDANGER UK (Moves to cut the size of Britain's armed forces were yesterday condemned by a committee of MPs as "potentially dangerous". A critical report by the cross-party Commons defence committee said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was in danger of over-emphasising the gains of technology and stressed that in many situations there was "no substitute" for troops on the ground. The MPs warned that MoD plans to cut the numbers of tanks, warships and aircraft could leave Britain vulnerable to terrorist attack...Earlier this year Britain's most senior soldier gave a warning that the armed forces were overstretched, saying it could be five years before they could mount another Iraq-scale operation. The claim by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir Michael Walker, was even gloomier than the opinion of Admiral Sir Michael (now Lord) Boyce, who believed they could be ready for such work by the end of next year.)

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1//The Independent, UK 02 July 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=537265

AFGHAN POLLS DELAYED AMID INTIMIDATION
By Sam Ingleby

The Afghan elections scheduled for September will be delayed because of wrangling among officials and political parties. The delay, which comes against a backdrop of increased violence, is a blow for President Hamid Karzai who said on Tuesday that the polls must go ahead on time and pleaded for more Nato troops to maintain security.

The deadline for setting a polling date in September is today and Farook Wardak, of the country's election management body said no decision on setting a date would be taken. Under Afghan law, polling day must be set at least 90 days in advance. "Much more consultation is required," Mr Wardak said "I'm hopeful that next week we'll have a decision."

Mr Karzai has pledged repeatedly to hold the elections in September, despite mounting violence against election workers and concern that warlords will use intimidation to cement their power. Nato agreed this week to increase its forces from 6,500 to 10,000 to bolster security during the elections but Mr Karzai asked for troops to be sent immediately. He said: "I welcome very much your decision to send us security forces to help us with the elections. But ... we need security forces today to provide a secure environment for elections for the Afghan people and beyond."

Presidential and parliamentary elections were already delayed from June - and October is seen as the last chance to hold a vote before snow closes high passes in the Hindu Kush until the spring of 2005.

Mr Karzai has argued that blocking the formation of parliament would betray Afghans' hopes, some three years after the ousting of the Taliban regime and more than two decades after the nation was plunged into a series of ruinous wars.

(SNIP)

International officials have been warning for months that security is inadequate to hold the election. The United Nations, which holds half the seats on the election body, has warned that warlords and faction leaders - some in government - must disarm their private armies to keep the vote credible. "There is a debate," a UN spokesman said. "Of course, if the debate goes on, that will have an impact on the election date."

The latest delay follows several weeks of attacks on election workers and ordinary voters. Two female election voters and more than a dozen Afghans who had registered were killed last week.

Analysts doubt whether the vote itself can be any better protected, even though thousands of foreign troops and newly trained Afghan security forces are to shield polling stations.

(MORE)

2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong July 2, 2004
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FG02Ak01.html

US LEAVES IRAQ RUNNING ON EMPTY
By Emad Mekay

WASHINGTON - A barrage of binding decrees passed during the United States occupation of Iraq, combined with a lack of resources, heavy debt and the continuing presence of a massive US force, provide clear evidence that the recent handover of authority to Iraqis does not equal real control over the economy.

Just before former US administrator L Paul Bremer left Iraq on June 28, he said that one of his biggest achievements was to transform Iraq into a market-based economy, citing lower tax rates and import duties, and more liberal foreign investment laws.

In May 2003, Bremer declared Iraq "open for business" and for the past 14 months the now defunct Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) promoted major changes to the country's regulatory and legal frameworks, entered into long-term contracts and appointed oversight committees with multi-year terms. As a result, the country's economy looks set on a path that Iraqis will find hard - if not impossible - to alter.

A report by the Institute of Policy Studies estimated that Bremer had passed nearly 100 orders that, among other things, give US corporations "virtual free rein over the Iraqi economy while largely excluding Iraqis from a reconstruction effort which has failed to provide for their basic needs".

Iraqis have had little input into those changes imposed by the authority, the report said. Most of the benefits of the reconstruction contracts signed under the occupation also went to US companies that appear to have secured future maintenance and reconstruction contracts in massive, capital-intensive infrastructure projects.

Meanwhile, a recent report by the Open Society Institute's (OSI) program to monitor Iraq's reconstruction said that the US-controlled CPA was engaged in a last-minute spending spree, committing billions of dollars to "ill-conceived projects just before it dissolves", in an apparent attempt to pre-impose those deals on any future Iraqi government. The US-controlled Program Review Board, the body in charge of managing Iraq's finances, approved the expenditure of nearly US$2 billion in Iraqi funds for reconstruction projects in just a single meeting.

"With so much money available for cash give-aways, and so little planning on how the process will work, it will be all but impossible to avoid corruption and waste," said Svetlana Tsalik, director of the Iraq Revenue Watch at the OSI, which is chaired by leading US financier George Soros. She also said as a direct result of this last-minute spending, the new government is left with far less money to spend than the CPA, including the $20 billion collected for the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), authorized by the United Nations Security Council last May to safeguard Iraq's oil revenues and other money, already earmarked by the CPA for government salaries and reconstruction costs.

(SNIP)

Juan Cole, an Iraq expert at the University of Michigan, sees limited sovereignty for the Iraqis from another perspective. He says the new US ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte, will maintain control over some $18.3 billion in US aid to Iraq.

"The caretaker government is hedged around by American power," Cole wrote on his online blog Wednesday. "Negroponte will control $18 billion in US aid to Iraq. [US Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld will go on controlling the US and coalition military. There isn't much space left for real Iraqi sovereignty in all that."

3//Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK ICR No. 71, 29-Jun-04
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/irq/irq_71_6_eng.txt

SECURITY FOR SALE
Baghdad is full of checkpoints, but police officers will look the other way for the right price.

By Dhiya Rasan in Baghdad
Dhiya Rasan is an IWPR trainee in Baghdad.

(SNIP)

Baghdad's streets are full of police checkpoints, established to stop rampant crime as well as the spate of car bombings that has terrorised the city in recent weeks.

But in just one day last week, IWPR found two checkpoints where police were willing to overlook a suspicious vehicle for the price of a small bribe.

Later that day, in the south Baghdad suburb of Dura, IWPR's reporter was stopped on a dark, unlit street in a vehicle full of boxes.

The reporter said the boxes contained children's clothes. The policeman asked to see one, and the reporter pulled a small dress from under his seat - not from one of the boxes.

"I will have my daughter try it out," said the policeman, taking the dress. "There is no need to inspect you."

Such behaviour is mild compared with that of some other police officers.

Two officers from Baghdad's al-Sahaab police station were recently executed by fellow policemen, who discovered the pair had been stealing cars and murdering the drivers.

"The killers were arrested while trying to escape in one of the stolen cars," said inspector Murad Hassan al-Juburi.

"There are many policemen accused of murder, theft, and freeing criminals in most Baghdad police stations," conceded Juburi.

At the Dura police station, however, the police chief insisted that no such corruption was possible. "My office is the best in Baghdad," said chief Colonel Ahmed Abd al-Razzaq. "We provide security for the public. No one makes claims about us relating to bribery or other issues."

While he admits to having some "weak personalities" on his force, the police chief insists that "we control them".

But one police officer told an IWPR reporter that he would help a prisoner escape from the cells for the right price.

"I'm not afraid, as everyone takes bribes and lets the suspects out of jail," said the officer. "I am ready to help any suspect flee from the station for 500,000 dinars [350 dollars]."

4//Gulf News Online, United Arab Emirates Thursday, July 1, 2004
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/Region2.asp?ArticleID=125097

AMNESTY WEAKENS TERROR CELLS - EXPERT
By Rashar Awkasho, Correspondent

Riyadh: A leading criminologist predicted that terrorist cells in the Kingdom are badly weakened by the Royal amnesty that gave those who are on the police list to give themselves up to security officials within 30 days and enjoy the right to return to normal life.

Sultan Al Angary, deputy director general of the Riyadh-based Crime Combating Research Centre, said: "Terrorists cell in the Kingdom are disintegrating. They are hard-hit by the Royal amnesty that promised members of the terrorist groups safe return to normal peaceful life provided that they give themselves up before the end of the deadline."

He predicted more surrenders in the coming days and weeks for the simple reason that the terrorists are beginning to realise there is no chance of escaping the long arm of the law. "As things stand now the terrorists are left with no choice. They have either to surrender to security forces or face the prospect of being tracked down. No one is prepared to show sympathy to them", he noted.

(SNIP)

He said despite the upper hand gained by the security forces in the fight against terror it is still too early to predict that the war against terrorists in the Kingdom will soon be over.

Al Angary, however, expressed satisfaction with the performance of the Saudi security forces adding that during the recent struggle Saudi policemen have accumulated a great deal of experience.

Commenting on the decision by some of those who were on the police wanted list to give themselves up Dr Saleh Al Zahrani, a member of the Shoura Council's security committee, disclosed that the royal amnesty covers most of the militants. It is believed that acts of murder were committed only by a small group of the militants. "There is every reason to believe that many of those did not commit acts of murder will take advantage of the amnesty offer", he stated.

He said the amnesty offer must be accompanied by a campaign aimed at educating the militants who are surrendering to security officials that nothing can be achieved by perpetrating acts of murder and destruction.

5//The Scotsman, UK Fri 2 July 2004
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=755682004

MPs FEAR CUTTING TROOPS WILL ENDANGER UK
Gethin Chamberlain, Defence Correspondent

Moves to cut the size of Britain's armed forces were yesterday condemned by a committee of MPs as "potentially dangerous".

A critical report by the cross-party Commons defence committee said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was in danger of over-emphasising the gains of technology and stressed that in many situations there was "no substitute" for troops on the ground.

The MPs warned that MoD plans to cut the numbers of tanks, warships and aircraft could leave Britain vulnerable to terrorist attack.

A government white paper last year spelled out the intention to move from heavy forces to a lighter, more mobile military, although much of the new equipment is still only in the planning stages. The white paper also made clear that the government favoured far greater emphasis in future on hi-tech weaponry. There have been repeated warnings that the changes could involve cuts in the number of troops, planes and ships, although MoD chiefs were today meeting to discuss which regiments face the axe.

But the committee warned that despite the winding down of operations in Northern Ireland, the experience of Iraq had shown that there was still a need for troops on the ground.

"As the post-conflict stage in Iraq has shown, a great deal more is required to achieve the objectives of an effects-based operation, than advanced military technologies in the hands of numerically small forces," it said. "A policy of reducing or restructuring existing forces in advance of acquiring new capabilities is potentially dangerous."

And there was explicit criticism of the MoD's readiness to deal with a threat to the UK.

"Despite the events of 11 September, 2001, the MoD and Home Office have been reluctant to consider novel ways in which the armed forces can support homeland security," it said.

(SNIP)

Troops 'already overstretched'

Earlier this year Britain's most senior soldier gave a warning that the armed forces were overstretched, saying it could be five years before they could mount another Iraq-scale operation.

The claim by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Sir Michael Walker, was even gloomier than the opinion of Admiral Sir Michael (now Lord) Boyce, who believed they could be ready for such work by the end of next year.

It underlined the strains on forces by the relentless pace of overseas operations over recent years, highlighted again by the Commons defence committee.

British troops are currently operating in five theatres: the Balkans, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Northern Ireland and Iraq. On top of that they had to provide emergency cover for striking fire crews in the run-up to the Iraq war, and help deal with the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

For the troops involved, such a high operational turnover is hugely disruptive to the normal pattern of training and recuperation built into the cycle of military life.

It means prolonged periods away from their families and insufficient time to catch up on essential training.