August 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.

* * *

WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR AUGUST 2, 2004

1//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--BUSINESS BOOMING FOR SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE (Despite scandals over human rights abuses and war profiteering, private military contractors are expanding their presence overseas, and may even be involved in helping to draft the next U.S. defence budget... more than 150 U.S. companies have been awarded contracts worth up to 48.7 billion dollars for work in post-war Afghanistan and Iraq, according to research by the Washington-based Centre for Public Integrity. That figure represents an increase of 82 companies and more than 40 billion dollars since the centre first issued a study of contracts awarded to PMCs last fall. In a separate report released Jul. 29, the centre also found that three private companies -- Booz Allen Hamilton, Perot Systems Government Services and Miltec Systems Co -- are headhunting for analysts to work in the development of the U.S. defence budget.)

2//The News International, Pakistan--MUSLIM TROOPS MUST REPLACE COALTION FORCES IN IRAQ: SAUDI FM (Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Sunday that any Muslim and Arab forces sent to Iraq must be a replacement of coalition troops there..."These thoughts were discussed with Secretary of State Colin Powell," he said, adding that the proposal to send Muslim troops to Iraq originated from Malaysia. "The troops from Arab and Muslim nations sent to Iraq will not be similar to the current troops. They don't come as invaders or occupiers. They will go there to help the Iraqi people," Saud said. Musa, on a one-day visit to the Kingdom, was due to meet Crown Prince Abdullah later on Sunday.)

3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--PAKISTAN CAUGHT IN TERROR TIT-FOR-TAT (The Bush administration believes that it is an "interesting" idea, but Saudi Arabia's proposal to send an all-Muslim security force to Iraq is fraught with danger for any country that participates in such a force, and especially Pakistan...On Thursday, in a statement posted on an Islamic Internet site known to carry messages from militant groups, the Jamaat al-Tawhid al-Islamiya Omar el-Mukhtar Brigade - the main title means Group of Islamic Monotheism - warned of attacks against any Islamic or Arab nation that contributed troops to the Saudi-proposed Muslim force...A top Pakistani security official told Asia Times Online that the administration of President General Pervez Musharraf was taking the threat extremely seriously, so much so that almost all official functions have been canceled and the country's leaders are lying low... Another official in Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau said that the Pakistani consul in Saudi Arabia was constantly sending alarming reports on the security situation in that country, predicting a highly volatile situation in the days ahead. The intelligence reports warn that there is a major problem within the Saudi security apparatus, as well as among clerics who are fiercely anti-US. They support the Iraqi insurgency and oppose the House of Saud for supporting the US-led "war on terror".)

4//The Jordan Times, Jordan--HUNDREDS QUEUE UP FOR DREAM PAY (Thirty-three-year-old Kareem Sajid, an Iraqi labourer, feels his days of poverty are over, at least for the next few weeks. Sajid is one of some 2,000 Iraqis working on a landfill project on the southwestern outskirts of Baghdad, bankrolled by a small part of the $18.4 billion Iraq reconstruction package approved by the United States last year. Every Saturday, these Iraqis queue up in the scorching sun to get their weekly dream pay of $40 for building what is reported to be one of the largest landfills in the country..."I am very happy as this is the best day when we get paid," said Sajid. "It is the highest pay a labourer can get in Baghdad. I am sure my family can now relax for the next two weeks.")

5//The Independent, UK--FOREIGN OFFICE INVESTIGATES CLAIMS OF ABUSE OF BRITONS AT CAMP DELTA) Allegations that US soldiers assaulted and abused British detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are being investigated by Foreign Office ministers, The Independent on Sunday can reveal...In early July, British diplomats made further formal complaints about the ill-treatment of two Britons, Feroz Abbasi and Moazzam Begg, who are in solitary confinement in a special secure unit at the base and thought to be suffering from mental illnesses. These moves will add to the growing strain between London and Washington over the controversial detention camp after it emerged that Tony Blair has "unequivocally" demanded that Mr Begg, Mr Abbasi and two other Britons, Richard Belmar and Martin Mubanga, are released. The Prime Minister and the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, say they believe that US plans to try Mr Begg and Mr Abbasi before military tribunals are illegal and breach basic rights to a fair trial.)

* * *

1//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy July 30, 2004
http://www.ips.org/index.htm

BUSINESS BOOMING FOR SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE
Katherine Stapp

NEW YORK, Jul 30 (IPS) - Despite scandals over human rights abuses and war profiteering, private military contractors are expanding their presence overseas, and may even be involved in helping to draft the next U.S. defence budget.

Currently more than 20,000 privately contracted employees are at work in Iraq, feeding U.S. troops, providing security, and rebuilding the occupied nation's shattered infrastructure.

Although private military contractors, known as PMCs, were implicated in the torture scandal at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, and are the target of congressional probes into over-billing, more than 150 U.S. companies have been awarded contracts worth up to 48.7 billion dollars for work in post-war Afghanistan and Iraq, according to research by the Washington-based Centre for Public Integrity.

That figure represents an increase of 82 companies and more than 40 billion dollars since the centre first issued a study of contracts awarded to PMCs last fall. In a separate report released Jul. 29, the centre also found that three private companies -- Booz Allen Hamilton, Perot Systems Government Services and Miltec Systems Co -- are headhunting for analysts to work in the development of the U.S. defence budget.

"The trend is rising and has been driven by many factors: the drive to privatise state services, the vast disparity between the pay PMCs get and those employed by the state -- PMCs earn perhaps five times as much -- leading to a real shortage within the armed forces of the U.S. and U.K," says William Bowles, a journalist who has written extensively on PMCs.

"It's (also) a method of hiding the real level of casualties," he added in an interview. Some high-profile killings in Iraq have involved contractors, like Paul Johnson, the Lockheed Martin engineer beheaded by Islamic militants in June, and the four employees of Blackwater Security who were killed and dragged through the streets by a mob in Fallujah.

Lesser known are the more than 100 other contractors, including about 40 employees of controversial giant Halliburton, who have also lost their lives in Iraq since fighting officially ended more than one year ago.

Casualty numbers from the war itself are hard to come by, but Robert Fisk and Patrick Cockburn reported in South Africa's 'The Star' Apr. 16 that "at least 80 foreign mercenaries -- security guards recruited from the United States, Europe and South Africa and working for American companies -- have been killed in the past eight days in Iraq".

Independent experts say one of the main problems with PMCs is the lack of transparency in the bidding for their contracts, combined with scant oversight of how they spend the money.

(MORE)

2//The News International, Pakistan Monday August 02, 2004-- Jamadi-us-Sani 15, 1425 A.H.
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/aug2004-daily/02-08-2004/main/main3.htm

MUSLIM TROOPS MUST REPLACE COALTION FORCES IN IRAQ: SAUDI FM

RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Sunday that any Muslim and Arab forces sent to Iraq must be a replacement of coalition troops there.

Saud, speaking at a press conference in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, said Iraq must request such a force "with the full and clear support of the Iraqi people." He said this force would operate under the umbrella of the United Nations and "will replace the coalition troops currently in Iraq, and not be in addition to it."

His comments came after he met Arab League Secretary-General Amr Musa to discuss a Saudi proposal to send Arab and Muslim troops to Iraq. Saud said the Kingdom had contacted a number of countries interested in the situation in Iraq "and these contacts resulted in laying the framework through which sending troops to Iraq could be discussed".

"It was confirmed to us that the Iraqi government, with the full and clear support of the Iraqi people, must request" sending troops, he said. "The Kingdom's wish, in the first place, is to find a way to accelerate the withdrawal of coalition troops from Iraq. I hope this issue is taken seriously," he said.

(SNIP)

"These thoughts were discussed with Secretary of State Colin Powell," he said, adding that the proposal to send Muslim troops to Iraq originated from Malaysia. "The troops from Arab and Muslim nations sent to Iraq will not be similar to the current troops. They don't come as invaders or occupiers. They will go there to help the Iraqi people," Saud said. Musa, on a one-day visit to the Kingdom, was due to meet Crown Prince Abdullah later on Sunday.

(SNIP)

Meanwhile, media reports said Bangladesh will not contribute troops to a Muslim security force proposed by Saudi Arabia to help restore stability in Iraq. "We have said time and again that we will not send our troops (to Iraq) unless under the command of the United Nations," the New Age newspaper quoted an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.

He said Bangladesh cannot "consider sending troops to Iraq as the situation is so uncertain there." And, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said a Saudi proposal for an Islamic force to help combat Iraq's insurgency would be feasible only if US-led coalition forces first withdrew, state media reported on Sunday.

(SNIP)

Separately, Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem said his country has no intention of sending troops to Iraq, rejecting a Saudi initiative to set up a force of Islamic troops there. "The Algerian army has never sent forces to any country ... Algeria will not send troops to Iraq," Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem said, according to official media reports on Sunday.

3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong July 31, 2004
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FG31Df04.html

PAKISTAN CAUGHT IN TERROR TIT-FOR-TAT
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - The Bush administration believes that it is an "interesting" idea, but Saudi Arabia's proposal to send an all-Muslim security force to Iraq is fraught with danger for any country that participates in such a force, and especially Pakistan.

The Saudi proposal, made by Crown Prince Abdullah to visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell this week, envisages troop contributions from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Algeria, Morocco, Yemen and Bahrain, as well as former Soviet Union states. Iraqi officials have said they do not want nations that border Iraq to contribute, ruling out Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Turkey, Syria and Jordan.

Powell called the proposal "an interesting idea" and suggested that a Muslim force could provide security for facilities, but it was not spelled out how the force would operate or to whom it would answer.

Powell's comments were preceded by the killing in Iraq of two Pakistani contract workers at the hands of militants, sending off alarm bells in Islamabad, and followed by a graphic warning from a terrorist group that "swords will be drawn" against anyone cooperating "with the Jews and the Christians".

Pakistanis Raja Azad, an engineer, and driver Mohammed Naeem, both working in Iraq, were confirmed as killed on Wednesday by a militant group calling itself the Islamic Army.

On Thursday, in a statement posted on an Islamic Internet site known to carry messages from militant groups, the Jamaat al-Tawhid al-Islamiya Omar el-Mukhtar Brigade - the main title means Group of Islamic Monotheism - warned of attacks against any Islamic or Arab nation that contributed troops to the Saudi-proposed Muslim force.

"Our swords will be drawn in the face of anyone who cooperates with the Jews and the Christians. We will strike with an iron fist all the traitors from the Arab governments who cooperate with the Zionists secretly or openly."

Omar el-Mukhtar is the name of a Libyan nationalist who fought against the Italian occupation and who was hanged by the colonial authorities in 1931.

A top Pakistani security official told Asia Times Online that the administration of President General Pervez Musharraf was taking the threat extremely seriously, so much so that almost all official functions have been canceled and the country's leaders are lying low.

The authorities are also mindful of the case of Amjad Hafeez, a Pakistani who was abducted in Iraq. He was released, and in his debriefing in Rawalpindi he said that as a Muslim and a Pakistani he had been treated very well, but the only reason he had been freed was to convey the message to the Musharraf administration that should it even try to send troops to Iraq, militants will target Pakistani interests all over the world.

Another official in Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau said that the Pakistani consul in Saudi Arabia was constantly sending alarming reports on the security situation in that country, predicting a highly volatile situation in the days ahead. The intelligence reports warn that there is a major problem within the Saudi security apparatus, as well as among clerics who are fiercely anti-US. They support the Iraqi insurgency and oppose the House of Saud for supporting the US-led "war on terror".

(MORE)

4//The Jordan Times, Jordan Monday, August 2, 2004
http://www.jordantimes.com/mon/news/news6.htm

HUNDREDS QUEUE UP FOR DREAM PAY
By Jay Deshmukh
Agence France-Presse

BAGHDAD - Thirty-three-year-old Kareem Sajid, an Iraqi labourer, feels his days of poverty are over, at least for the next few weeks.

Sajid is one of some 2,000 Iraqis working on a landfill project on the southwestern outskirts of Baghdad, bankrolled by a small part of the $18.4 billion Iraq reconstruction package approved by the United States last year.

Every Saturday, these Iraqis queue up in the scorching sun to get their weekly dream pay of $40 for building what is reported to be one of the largest landfills in the country.

Surrounded by a dozen Humvee military vehicles, the young and old, dressed in red, white and black turbans, with scarves to shield their faces from the rising dust, mingle happily with US soldiers outside a makeshift tent where the wages are paid.

"I am very happy as this is the best day when we get paid," said Sajid.

"It is the highest pay a labourer can get in Baghdad. I am sure my family can now relax for the next two weeks."

Sajid is paid a daily wage of 10,000 Iraqi dinars for six days a week to work from 7:00am to 2:00pm.

"Believe me, this is a dream pay for someone like me who was virtually jobless until this project started in June," he said, collecting his 60,000 dinars for a six-day working week.

(SNIP)

The landfill project aims to build a large and desperately-needed waste treatment plant and sewage facility for the entire city of Baghdad.

Estimated to cost $22 million, the landfill will be able to handle 2,230 cubic metres of waste per day and serve the needs of two million residents.

"The facility will start receiving rubble from this fall," said Sergeant First Class Leo Harvel, one of the US officers working on the project.

Harvel said it had been a tough battle to convince the Iraqis about the project initially, as they viewed Americans with suspicion.

"When we came here, they were not warm to us," he said.

"But with the start of the project and so many people getting jobs, they are now more open and treat us like friends as they have realised it is for their good that the project is being built."

Observers say mass unemployment and appalling poverty fuels the deadly violence in Iraq and on Friday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell promised while on a visit to Baghdad to speed up US-financed reconstruction efforts.

US soldiers come under daily attacks from insurgents fighting against their presence in Iraq.

A private think tank said recently that 66 per cent of Iraqis would feel safer if US forces left Iraq.

But for these 2,000 Iraqis, it is a different world.

(MORE)

5//The Independent, UK 01 August 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=546803

FOREIGN OFFICE INVESTIGATES CLAIMS OF ABUSE OF BRITONS AT CAMP DELTA
By Severin Carrell

Allegations that US soldiers assaulted and abused British detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are being investigated by Foreign Office ministers, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

The Foreign Office has written to the Pentagon after the five Britons who were released from Camp Delta in March after more than two years in detention alleged they were kicked, punched and stood on by guards, interrogated at gunpoint, and taunted by naked female soldiers.

Tarek Dergoul, an ex-detainee from east London whose left forearm and a toe were amputated by US forces in Afghanistan, told The Independent on Sunday that his head was forcibly shaved and that he was "beaten up and sprayed with Mace, and lacked medication".

Ministers have asked the US authorities to locate videos which the ex-detainees say were filmed when they were being assaulted by the so-called Immediate Reaction Force - a feared unit of riot control guards allegedly used as a "punishment squad".

In early July, British diplomats made further formal complaints about the ill-treatment of two Britons, Feroz Abbasi and Moazzam Begg, who are in solitary confinement in a special secure unit at the base and thought to be suffering from mental illnesses.

These moves will add to the growing strain between London and Washington over the controversial detention camp after it emerged that Tony Blair has "unequivocally" demanded that Mr Begg, Mr Abbasi and two other Britons, Richard Belmar and Martin Mubanga, are released.
The Prime Minister and the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, say they believe that US plans to try Mr Begg and Mr Abbasi before military tribunals are illegal and breach basic rights to a fair trial.

(MORE)