October 6, 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 OCTOBER 6, 2004

1/The Jordan Times, Jordan--BUMPY ROAD AHEAD TO PEACEFUL SAMARRA (The US military campaign in Samarra is being hailed as a model for taking back rebel enclaves in Iraq, but the hard work of winning over a hostile or ambivalent population is just beginning..."Based on the fact they have no police force in Samarra, there will be coalition forces here for quite awhile," US Lieutenant Colonel Eric Schacht said as he surveyed the path ahead...In the military's view, success hinges on US forces staying in Samarra until they are confident the general population supports the US-backed city power structure. [Colonel] Dragon, like his fellow commanders across the country, bets millions of dollars in reconstruction funds can win the vaunted hearts and minds of the country's angry Sunni Muslim population, still embittered by the downfall of Saddam Hussein, whose patronage benefitted them.)

2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--UNCLE SAM'S MAN ("Much of the political pressure and threats reported here may in fact merely be part of efforts by factions to create malleable factional voting blocs, which the factions can then deliver for Karzai on election day - for a price," said Sifton. The worry, therefore, is not that the election will descend into violence, but that Karzai will enjoy a "hollow victory in which he is forced to appoint an unrepresentative cabinet, similar to the current one - a body stocked with warlords".)

3//The Independent, UK--AFGHANISTAN HITS FEVER PITCH AS WARLORDS TURN 'DEMOCRAT' (The received wisdom is that President Hamid Karzai is almost certain to win re-election. He may, but in a country where there are no opinion polls, and as many voters live in remote places where nobody has been to ask them their voting intentions, the truth is that nobody really knows. This is supposed to be a crowning moment on Afghanistan's path from failed state to burgeoning democracy. And if many Afghans are disappointed with the progress their country has made so far, they remain immensely enthusiastic about the election.)

4//The Daily Star, Lebanon--IRAN ADDS TO CONCERNS BY INCREASING MISSILE RANGE (Iran gave cause for fresh international alarm Tuesday, as a top regime official announced the Islamic Republic had boosted the range of its ballistic missiles and hard-line MPs backed a move to defy the UN's nuclear watchdog. "Today, we have the power to send our missiles up to 2,000 kilometers," former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA...Previous figures had put the missile's range at between 1,300 and 1,700 kilometers, already bringing arch-enemy Israel and U.S. bases in the region well within range.)

5//The Telegraph, UK--SPAIN SNUBS US AS FRANCE JOINS THE BIG PARADE (The Spanish government snubbed the United States yesterday by cancelling an annual invitation to US troops to join the celebrations of Spain's national holiday parade and instead invited French soldiers to Madrid. The Spanish defence minister, Jose Bono, told the COPE radio station there would be no Americans in this year's "fiesta nacional" which commemorates the day on which Christopher Columbus sighted the New World..."This is in no way an insult nor a sign of contempt towards the United States." However, the minister then added that Spain was "no longer subordinated" and "kneeling" before Washington. "With Bush, peace and liberty have not exactly triumphed," he said. Then in reference to the former prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, who was often lampooned as a puppet of President Bush, Mr Bono said the new Socialist administration wanted to "show its sovereignty".

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1//The Jordan Times, Jordan Wednesday, October 6, 2004
http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news4.htm

BUMPY ROAD AHEAD TO PEACEFUL SAMARRA

SAMARRA (AFP) - The US military campaign in Samarra is being hailed as a model for taking back rebel enclaves in Iraq, but the hard work of winning over a hostile or ambivalent population is just beginning.

"We've taken ... one small step and we will have to continue to take small steps," said Colonel Randy Dragon, commander of US forces in Samarra.

"It's not going to happen overnight," he said, commenting on coalition ambitions to convert the formerly rebel-held city into a supporter of the US-backed Iraqi government.

How soon US troops leave Samarra hinges on whether they can construct a pro-US government and police force to govern the day-to-day affairs after past US efforts to do so ended in failure. "Everyone has to feel comfortable things are improving ... that it's being held together," Dragon said a few days after his troops retook the city. The alternative is for Samarra once again to slip back into rebel hands.

Currently, three US military battalions, two 500 to 700 -strong Iraqi army and national guard battalions and a 500 -member police commando squad are patrolling Samarra, following a four-month period where US troops seldom ventured into the city and insurgents ruled by the gun. The US and Iraqi forces will soon be reinforced by 1,500 police from Salahuddin province, as the Americans begin the hard work of trying to cobble together a local police force that breaks the mold from its predessor, which was over-run by insurgents.

"Based on the fact they have no police force in Samarra, there will be coalition forces here for quite awhile," US Lieutenant Colonel Eric Schacht said as he surveyed the path ahead.

Colonel Dragon said he envisioned checkpoints for checking military-age men entering the city until next spring when his deployment finishes in Samarra.

In the military's view, success hinges on US forces staying in Samarra until they are confident the general population supports the US-backed city power structure.

Dragon, like his fellow commanders across the country, bets millions of dollars in reconstruction funds can win the vaunted hearts and minds of the country's angry Sunni Muslim population, still embittered by the downfall of Saddam Hussein, whose patronage benefitted them.

(SNIP)

Whatever soothing words are offered by the Americans, Samarra is still dominated by the fears of its Sunni Muslim community, deeply worried about its place of influence in Iraq that ended with the US invasion.

(MORE)

2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Oct 6, 2004
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/FJ06Ag03.html

UNCLE SAM'S MAN
By Ashish Kumar Sen

WASHINGTON - As Afghans prepare for their first presidential elections on October 9, President Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun, is being challenged by over a dozen factional leaders, but most Afghans and international officials expect him to win.

Those who represent tribal blocs are likely just creating political capital for themselves to barter for positions in a future Karzai cabinet, said John Sifton, an Afghanistan researcher with Human Rights Watch.

"Much of the political pressure and threats reported here may in fact merely be part of efforts by factions to create malleable factional voting blocs, which the factions can then deliver for Karzai on election day - for a price," said Sifton. The worry, therefore, is not that the election will descend into violence, but that Karzai will enjoy a "hollow victory in which he is forced to appoint an unrepresentative cabinet, similar to the current one - a body stocked with warlords".

Undoubtedly, Karzai's opponents' success will hinge on the size of their clans. Yunus Qanooni, a prominent Tajik in the Northern Alliance - which helped US forces overthrow the Taliban in 2001 - has the backing of Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim, who was dropped by Karzai as his running mate.

Another key contender, Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Uzbek, in July stepped down as military advisor to Karzai.

Dr Masooda Jalal, a Tajik pediatrician-turned-politician, is Karzai's lone female challenger. "The people of Afghanistan are fed up with constant wars and want a fresh start," Jalal said in a phone interview from her home in Kabul. What sets her apart from her opponents, she said, is that "I don't have blood on my hands, I haven't destroyed any cities." She is confident that "if the process were democratic and free from the interference of warlords and their money, I could say that I would triumph in the election".

With US forces mired in the insurgency in Iraq, analysts say President George W Bush is eager to portray a foreign policy success before he goes up for re-election on November 2. With the harsh winter and the Islamic holy month of Ramadan drawing close, October was the obvious time to hold an election in Afghanistan.

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has predicted that the Taliban "and other insurgents will continue to disrupt the process, perhaps even by attempting a large-scale attack on election day itself". He lauded Karzai's efforts to rein in the warlords, saying the Afghan leader had shown "political courage and determination".

"It may well be that these factional leaders are starting to accept that their future lies within the framework of the Afghan constitution," Armitage told the House International Relations Committee.

Some members of the panel were skeptical. "Did you fail to give the president a briefing that the Taliban is still in existence and still very much active in Afghanistan?" asked New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez.

(MORE)

3//The Independent, UK 06 October 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=569197

AFGHANISTAN HITS FEVER PITCH AS WARLORDS TURN 'DEMOCRAT'
From the thriving centre of Kabul to remote mountain villages, Afghans go to the polls on Saturday still under the shadow of the old regimes.

Report by Justin Huggler

Samir Khan is a disappointed man. Three years ago he was one of the Northern Alliance soldiers who marched down the dusty road to Kabul as the Taliban fled, and was welcomed with wild scenes of jubilation that were watched the world over. Al-Qa'ida and its Taliban allies were in retreat, and Afghanistan was the centre of global attention.

This weekend, the world will look at Afghanistan again, as the country votes in its first democratic election. Facing his own election, President George Bush is holding Afghanistan up as a success story for his administration. But Mr Khan is deeply disillusioned with what has followed that heady day in 2001. "We expected so much more," he says sadly. "The new government brought us peace and security. But they have not done anything to help the people."

On Saturday, they will go to the polls across Afghanistan. From the impenetrable fastness of the Panjshir Valley with its wolf-like Tajik fighters, to the desert of Kandahar with its opium-crazed gunmen; from the leafy avenues of Kabul with its urban sophisticates, to mountain villages so remote that, so they say, the people have not even heard the Russians were defeated and forced out of Afghanistan.

(SNIP)

The received wisdom is that President Hamid Karzai is almost certain to win re-election. He may, but in a country where there are no opinion polls, and as many voters live in remote places where nobody has been to ask them their voting intentions, the truth is that nobody really knows.

This is supposed to be a crowning moment on Afghanistan's path from failed state to burgeoning democracy. And if many Afghans are disappointed with the progress their country has made so far, they remain immensely enthusiastic about the election.

At a rally in Kabul yesterday for the Panjshiri candidate, Younis Qanooni, his supporters waving giant banners over their heads and almost managing to make it look like a US party convention, filled the stadium where the Taliban once held their public executions. They scaled the floodlight stands to get a better view, climbing 20ft in the air to hang perilously from the iron supports. Mr Karzai staged his own rally in his first venture out of the capital since a recent assassination attempt. Under heavy security he told a crowd in the town of Ghazni, south-west of Kabul: "Afghans should be proud of their new freedom."

But the question is where this election leaves Afghanistan, and whether the country has really moved on. If there is excitement over the poll, there is also a growing sense of disillusionment among Afghans. Most say the American-led invasion has at least brought them peace and security. But there is a growing insurgency, particularly in the Pashtun-dominated south, where humanitarian workers were murdered, which has left large areas out of bounds to the aid community. It is not as bad as Iraq, but the aid workers are jittery, and many have left town for the elections, amid widespread rumours that the Taliban plan attacks.

Alongside the candidates' banners have been rival posters from the warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, warning Afghan voters to keep away from polling stations, and everything connected with the election.

There are fears that the security situation is not good enough to hold elections. The Taliban and their sympathisers control some districts, and although voting is planned in them, the reality is that it can happen only with their consent. "The problem is, it's elections at any cost," says Nick Downie, who advises NGOs on security.

Much about the new Afghanistan can be deceptive. The war-weary wreckage of central Kabul has been transformed. New buildings are going up everywhere, the centre of town is filled with smart new restaurants frequented by flush-looking Afghans in Western clothes. The road north is lined with shops and busy fuel stations. But turn off for Panjshir and you are plunged back into the old Afghanistan. The smooth road disappears and you are on a pitted dirt-track where ancient trucks drive clouds of choking dust into your face.

In Mr Khan's town, Gulbahar, there is no electricity, no water and 80 per cent unemployment. The nearest medical help is an emergency clinic set up by foreign aid workers, half an hour away. This is a country whose economy is still in dire shape. Outside the main cities, people are still desperately poor. Even in Kabul, there are large districts without electricity or water.

(MORE)

4//The Daily Star, Lebanon Wednesday, October 6, 2004
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=9016

IRAN ADDS TO CONCERNS BY INCREASING MISSILE RANGE
Former president says Tehran has boosted scope of its ballistic weapons

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

TEHRAN: Iran gave cause for fresh international alarm Tuesday, as a top regime official announced the Islamic Republic had boosted the range of its ballistic missiles and hard-line MPs backed a move to defy the UN's nuclear watchdog.

"Today, we have the power to send our missiles up to 2,000 kilometers," former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.

He further cautioned that "experts know that once a country has made such a step, all further steps are accessible," while boasting that "if we had not limited our progress, we would have been even more advanced."

On Aug. 11, Iran tested an upgraded version of its Shahab-3 missile, which experts believe is based on a North Korean design.

Previous figures had put the missile's range at between 1,300 and 1,700 kilometers, already bringing arch-enemy Israel and U.S. bases in the region well within range.

Last month Iran showed off its array of ballistic missiles draped in banners vowing to "crush America" and "wipe Israel off the map."

While the country has announced it has upgraded the Shahab-3, it has denied it is working on a Shahab-4 - a device that would involve a two-stage propulsion system and possibly bring many European capitals within range.

Steady progress made by Iran's ballistic missile program is a cause of concern for Israel as well as European countries and the United States, which are already alarmed over the country's suspect nuclear activities.

(MORE)

5//The Telegraph, UK (Filed: 06/10/2004)
http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessioni...

SPAIN SNUBS US AS FRANCE JOINS THE BIG PARADE
By Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid

The Spanish government snubbed the United States yesterday by cancelling an annual invitation to US troops to join the celebrations of Spain's national holiday parade and instead invited French soldiers to Madrid.

The Spanish defence minister, Jose Bono, told the COPE radio station there would be no Americans in this year's "fiesta nacional" which commemorates the day on which Christopher Columbus sighted the New World.

The national day "is not the national holiday of the United States, and no one is under any obligation to see the flag of another country in the parade, though it is a friend and an ally for sure," said Mr Bono. "This is in no way an insult nor a sign of contempt towards the United States."

However, the minister then added that Spain was "no longer subordinated" and "kneeling" before Washington. "With Bush, peace and liberty have not exactly triumphed," he said. Then in reference to the former prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, who was often lampooned as a puppet of President Bush, Mr Bono said the new Socialist administration wanted to "show its sovereignty".

Relations between Washington and Madrid have been tense since the Spanish Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero won elections in March and infuriated Washington by withdrawing troops from Iraq.

American troops have taken part in the Oct 12 military parade every year since 2001, when the government invited them out of respect for the victims of the Sept 11 attacks.

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