December 9, 2005

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 DECEMBER 9, 2005

1//The Independent, UK--BRITAIN ‘TRYING TO STALL £1.3BN THEFT INQUIRY THAT COULD HURT ALLAWI’S ELECTION CHANCES’ (The British government is trying to stall an investigation into the theft of more than $1.3bn (£740m) from the Iraqi Ministry of Defence, senior Iraqi officials say. The government wants to postpone the investigation to help its favoured candidate Iyad Allawi, the former prime minister, in the election on 15 December. The money disappeared during his administration. The UK's enthusiasm for Mr Allawi may have led it into promoting a cover-up of how the money was siphoned off and sent abroad. One Iraqi minister believes the investigation will be dropped when the next government is formed. The scandal is expected to explode with renewed force in the next few weeks. The Independent has learnt of secret tape recordings of a wide-ranging conversation between a Ministry of Defence official and a businessman, naming politicians and officials involved.)

2//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--U.S. HELPS SOME IRAN-BACKED TERROR (After the U.S. forces and the bombings, Iraqis are coming to fear those bands of men in masks who seem to operate with the Iraqi police. … The 'death squads' as they have come to be called are getting more active with just a week to go before the Dec. 15 election. On Tuesday this week Iraqi police said they found 20 bodies dumped at two different locations in western Iraq, according to the al-Sharqiyah television network. Eleven bodies of men wearing civilian clothes were found dumped on the main road between Baghdad and the Jordanian border. The bodies were found near al-Rutbah city, with their hands tied behind their backs. Police said that nine bodies, also of civilians, and riddled with bullets, were found on the side of a road near Fallujah on Monday. Signs are emerging that such killing is the work of death squads backed by Iran-backed Shia forces that dominate the government, and therefore the police. … "The Badr Army is conducting a campaign to destroy other political parties and their electoral advertisements," said Saleh Hassir, a doctor at a Baghdad medical centre. "We see black paint and tears on ex-prime minister Allawi's posters and those of the Sunni groups, but pictures of al-Hakim remain unaffected." … "So many of us are against Iraq being controlled by these fundamental Islamic Iranian loyalists like al-Hakim," the doctor told IPS. "Now we are seeing the suffering and ultimate dictatorship they have brought us here with the help of the Americans.")

3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--THE DAUNTING LOGISTICS OF WITHDRAWAL (Almost no consideration has been given to the question of just how fast the US can remove its forces from Iraq. But one can bet that logisticians in the Pentagon and Central Command planning cells have already been working on that question for some time. Military officers have a saying: "Amateurs talk about strategy, dilettantes talk about tactics, and professionals talk about logistics." On the plus side, the US military is experienced in moving forces out of the Persian Gulf region. In 1991 it was able to bring back from Kuwait to the US and Europe almost all of its over half million forces in a matter of months. Since then US military infrastructure has improved. Additionally, since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, US forces have undergone three rotations into Iraq (the last one taking place from March to July this year) and are preparing for a fourth. They have lots of experience in moving troops and equipment, in divisionsize formations, out of Iraq. This time, however, the US would not be using the excellent ports and airfields in Saudi Arabia that it had access to in 1991. Nor were US troops battling an organized and deadly insurgency.)

4//The Japan Times, Japan--SDF MISSION IN IRAQ EXTENDED; JUNE EXIT PLANNED (The government formally endorsed a revised plan Thursday to extend the Ground Self-Defense Force's humanitarian mission in Samawah, southern Iraq, for another year while at the same time signaling the troops' withdrawal by next summer. With Thursday's Cabinet approval to extend the GSDF's Iraq mission, the government will now map out an exit strategy. The government appears to be debating the GSDF pullout not based on the assistance Iraq needs for reconstruction but on other factors, observers said, including one who suggested the timing has more to do with the September election for the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.)

5//Islam Online, Qatar--EGYPT’S MB SAYS GAINED 12 MORE SEATS (The Muslim Brotherhood has won more 12 seats in the runoffs of Egypt's final round of parliamentary elections, consolidating its position as the major opposition group in Egypt's parliament. The group said on its Web site Thursday, December 8, that 12 of its 35 candidates won majority of votes in the runoffs of the final phase of parliamentary elections. … Mubarak's ruling party is expected to secure a clear two-thirds majority after candidates who left the NDP to run as independents rejoin the party, as has happened in previous stages of the elections. … This could be important if the government tries to change the system of presidential elections. A constitutional amendment this year opened the way for Egypt's first presidential race in September but the rules make it almost impossible for a rival to stand against the NDP candidate in 2011. … The Wednesday's polls turned into scenes reminiscent of the Palestinian Intifada with youngsters hurling stones at security forces, who opened their fire randomly killing at least eight people.)

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1//The Independent, UK Published: 09 December 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article331947.ece

BRITAIN ‘TRYING TO STALL £1.3BN THEFT INQUIRY THAT COULD HURT ALLAWI’S ELECTION CHANCES’

By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad

The British government is trying to stall an investigation into the theft of more than $1.3bn (£740m) from the Iraqi Ministry of Defence, senior Iraqi officials say.

The government wants to postpone the investigation to help its favoured candidate Iyad Allawi, the former prime minister, in the election on 15 December. The money disappeared during his administration.

The UK's enthusiasm for Mr Allawi may have led it into promoting a cover-up of how the money was siphoned off and sent abroad. One Iraqi minister believes the investigation will be dropped when the next government is formed.

The scandal is expected to explode with renewed force in the next few weeks. The Independent has learnt of secret tape recordings of a wide-ranging conversation between a Ministry of Defence official and a businessman, naming politicians and officials involved.

"It is possibly one of the largest thefts in history," Ali Allawi, Iraq's Finance Minister, said. "Huge amounts of money have disappeared. In return we got nothing but scraps of metal." Most of the military purchases were made in Poland and Pakistan. They included obsolete helicopters, armoured vehicles unable to stop a bullet and grossly over-priced machine guns and bullets.

Payments were made in advance. Often the Ministry of Defence did not even have a copy of contracts under which it was paying hundreds of millions of dollars.

Ahmed Chalabi, the Deputy Prime Minister, says William Patey, the British ambassador in Baghdad, asked him not to give prominence to the scandal before the election because this might "politicise the investigation". Mr Patey denies he had asked for the investigation to be delayed.

A former senior British adviser was quoted as saying that Tony Blair was convinced Mr Allawi "is the best hope" for Iraq. He added that Mr Blair had sent a small team of operatives to give political help to Mr Allawi. In background briefings, British officials have heavily supported the former prime minister despite evidence that government corruption was rife under his administration.

Mr Allawi is a former member of the Baath party who fell out with Saddam Hussein in the 1970s. Resident in Britain for many years, he became the leader of an opposition group, the Iraqi National Accord. He has never denied a close association with British intelligence and the CIA said he was justified in taking support from any foreign intelligence service willing to help him fight Saddam.

(MORE)

2//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy Dec 8, 2005
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31336

U.S. HELPS SOME IRAN-BACKED TERROR
Dahr Jamail and Harb al-Mukhtar

BAGHDAD, Dec 8 (IPS) - After the U.S. forces and the bombings, Iraqis are coming to fear those bands of men in masks who seem to operate with the Iraqi police.

Omar Ahmed's family learnt what it can mean to run into the police, their supposed protectors.

Omar was driving with two friends in the Adhamiya district of Baghdad at night Sep. 1 when they were stopped at a police checkpoint.

"The three of them were arrested by the police even though there was nothing in the car," an eyewitness told IPS, speaking on condition of anonymity.

They did not return home for days, and the family began to search the morgues, common practice now when someone is arrested by the Iraqi police and does not return.

"Five days after they were arrested we found Omar's body in the freezer in a morgue, with holes in the side of his head and shoulders," a friend of the family told IPS.

"We don't know if the other two men are dead or alive," he said. "But we know these men were guilty of nothing other than driving their car at night. We have no security and the problem is that police are killing and disappearing the Iraqi people every day now."

The 'death squads' as they have come to be called are getting more active with just a week to go before the Dec. 15 election.

On Tuesday this week Iraqi police said they found 20 bodies dumped at two different locations in western Iraq, according to the al-Sharqiyah television network.

Eleven bodies of men wearing civilian clothes were found dumped on the main road between Baghdad and the Jordanian border. The bodies were found near al-Rutbah city, with their hands tied behind their backs.

Police said that nine bodies, also of civilians, and riddled with bullets, were found on the side of a road near Fallujah on Monday.

Signs are emerging that such killing is the work of death squads backed by Iran-backed Shia forces that dominate the government, and therefore the police.

Abdullah Omar, a 39-year-old unemployed engineer who now sells petrol and cigarettes on the black market says he survived one such Shia squad.

"I was sleeping on the roof of my house one night because it was so hot and we had no electricity as usual," Omar told IPS. "I was awakened by a loud explosion nearby, and immediately surrounded by strange men wearing night-vision goggles."

Omar says he was thrown to the ground by the men, handcuffed and blindfolded. "They started to beat me using the end of their guns," he said. "Then they searched my house, took my gun which I told them I had, then they took me away."

His 32-year-old wife Sumia, a teacher, was also handcuffed and taken away.

(SNIP)

Abdullah and Sumia were later taken home, and warned that if security forces were attacked in their neighbourhood, they would be detained again.

Omar said the men who detained him and his wife were members of the Shia Badr Army, a militia affiliated with Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

Tensions in Baghdad run high, as people who live in areas not controlled by the Badr Army face daily threats of being kidnapped or killed by members of the militia.

"The Badr Army is conducting a campaign to destroy other political parties and their electoral advertisements," said Saleh Hassir, a doctor at a Baghdad medical centre. "We see black paint and tears on ex-prime minister Allawi's posters and those of the Sunni groups, but pictures of al-Hakim remain unaffected."

The doctor says the Americans have helped bring in new Iran-backed terror.

"So many of us are against Iraq being controlled by these fundamental Islamic Iranian loyalists like al-Hakim," the doctor told IPS. "Now we are seeing the suffering and ultimate dictatorship they have brought us here with the help of the Americans."

3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Dec 9, 2005
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GL09Ak01.html

THE DAUNTING LOGISTICS OF WITHDRAWAL
By David Isenberg
(David Isenberg, a senior analyst with the Washington-based British American Security Information Council (BASIC), has a wide background in arms control and national security issues.)

Almost no consideration has been given to the question of just how fast the US can remove its forces from Iraq. But one can bet that logisticians in the Pentagon and Central Command planning cells have already been working on that question for some time.

Military officers have a saying: "Amateurs talk about strategy, dilettantes talk about tactics, and professionals talk about logistics."

On the plus side, the US military is experienced in moving forces out of the Persian Gulf region. In 1991 it was able to bring back from Kuwait to the US and Europe almost all of its over half million forces in a matter of months. Since then US military infrastructure has improved.

Additionally, since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, US forces have undergone three rotations into Iraq (the last one taking place from March to July this year) and are preparing for a fourth. They have lots of experience in moving troops and equipment, in divisionsize formations, out of Iraq.

This time, however, the US would not be using the excellent ports and airfields in Saudi Arabia that it had access to in 1991. Nor were US troops battling an organized and deadly insurgency.

Bear in mind that the number of troops in the Iraqi theater includes those in adjoining and nearby countries. According to the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO), "The US occupation forces in the Iraqi theater has required about 16 to 18 combat brigades, or 160,000 to 180,000 personnel." From the viewpoint of being able to sustain US forces in Iraq, a withdrawal can't come soon enough. According to the CBO, the US military can sustain 67,000 to 106,000 personnel in Iraq over the long term.

Another difference is that to a far greater degree than was the case in 1991, the US military has outsourced its logistics functions to the private sector. Companies like Halliburton and its Kellog, Brown and Root subsidiary will have to coordinate with the military to an unprecedented degree, through the Logistics Civilian Augmentation Program (LOGCAP), which Halliburton was re-awarded in 2001.

US forces will also have to assist allied military forces in redeploying their forces.

Just getting troops to an embarkation point will be challenging. An article earlier this year in Army Logistician noted, "During Operation Iraqi Freedom II, thousands of vehicles traveled over the dangerous roads of Iraq daily to transport supplies to more than 20,000 soldiers at 28 forward operating bases (FOBs). These FOBs were geographically dispersed over an area of 146,000 square kilometers in the 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) area of operations (AO)."

(SNIP)

The minutiae of logistical dos and don'ts can range from the major, such as mobilizing the required air and sea lift to the minor. For example, all vehicles have to be washed off before being transported. And one can't just run one's M1A1 battle tank through the local car wash.

According to John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org in Alexandria, Virginia, "All equipment has to be washed off first. Then it would have to go through Kuwait, which has only a finite amount of wash rack capacity."

Pike thinks that "10% of force structure can be withdrawn a month. One variable is whether equipment is being swapped or just withdrawn."

Another consideration is what to do with all the military bases that the US has built in Iraq. According to GlobalSecurity's web site, during the occupation the US has built at least 261 camps, forward operating bases and other facilities in Iraq. While many of them have no doubt been abandoned or destroyed as troops have shifted their locations or redeployed, it is still a huge number.

According to Pike, "Many US bases are already being turned over to the Iraqi government. Some of the ones the US is getting rid of have community encroachment issues." This means the surrounding community is too close from a force protection viewpoint.

"The big problem," says Pike "is that we have created an Iraqi security force with too much tooth and not enough tail. Currently, they depend on US forces for their logistical support. The US needs to put into place an organization that has sufficient honesty to keep Iraqi forces from being stolen blind."

(SNIP)

Since a US withdrawal is still based, at least in part, on the ability of the ISF to operate on its own, any delays in equipping them will delay US forces from leaving.

4//The Japan Times, Japan Friday, December 9, 2005
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20051209a2.htm

SDF MISSION IN IRAQ EXTENDED; JUNE EXIT PLANNED
By Kanako Takahara, Staff Writer

The government formally endorsed a revised plan Thursday to extend the Ground Self-Defense Force's humanitarian mission in Samawah, southern Iraq, for another year while at the same time signaling the troops' withdrawal by next summer.

With Thursday's Cabinet approval to extend the GSDF's Iraq mission, the government will now map out an exit strategy.

The government appears to be debating the GSDF pullout not based on the assistance Iraq needs for reconstruction but on other factors, observers said, including one who suggested the timing has more to do with the September election for the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

The revised Self-Defense Forces dispatch plan says the government will make its decision after considering the progress of reconstruction, the development of Iraq's political process and the security situation.

As earlier reported, the plan also states the government will assess the "activity conditions and changes in the composition (of other multilateral forces), including the British and Australian forces in Al-Muthanna Province," where the GSDF troops are based.

The observers have said Japan's withdrawal strongly depends on the timing of the British and Australian force pullout and the domestic political situation.

Koizumi repeated Thursday that Japan will make an "appropriate judgment" by closely cooperating with Britain and Australia, and considering the security situation in the area.
Australia has indicated to Japan that it will withdraw its forces from the region in May, government sources said.

But Japan had already made the decision to pull out.

(MORE)

5//Islam Online, Qatar Last Update: Thu., Dec. 8, 2005- Dhul-Qi`dah 6 - 21:30 GMT
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2005-12/08/article01.shtml

EGYPT’S MB SAYS GAINED 12 MORE SEATS
By Hamdy Al-Husseini, Ahmed Fathy IOL Staff

CAIRO, December 8, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The Muslim Brotherhood has won more 12 seats in the runoffs of Egypt's final round of parliamentary elections, consolidating its position as the major opposition group in Egypt's parliament.

The group said on its Web site Thursday, December 8, that 12 of its 35 candidates won majority of votes in the runoffs of the final phase of parliamentary elections.

Three MB candidates in Sharkiya, three in Dakahliya, three in Sohag, two in Kafr El-Sheikh and one in Damietta won in the Wednesday's runoff polls, it added.

The officially banned but largely tolerated group maintained that 20 of 35 candidates contesting seats had lost, accusing President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of "stealing their victories".

The latest unofficial results brought the MB's total number of seats in the next parliament to at least 88 out of a total of 454, more than five times their tally of 17 in the 2000 elections.

Two results are still to be counted and three races have been postponed for legal disputes.

Official results from the final day of voting are expected later Thursday or Friday.

The final round of Egypt's month-long parliamentary polls was marred by widespread voter obstruction as well as violent clashes that resulted in the deaths of eight people.

Biggest Losers

Some 30 NDP candidates also won majority of votes in the runoff polls, raising its seats in the new parliament to 240 seats. Other 55 independents also won in the Wednesday's vote.

Secular opposition parties have also been the biggest losers in the race, securing only a handful of seats.

(SNIP)

Mubarak's ruling party is expected to secure a clear two-thirds majority after candidates who left the NDP to run as independents rejoin the party, as has happened in previous stages of the elections.

The party needs a two-thirds majority to retain control of any amendments to the constitution in a parliamentary vote, Reuters said.

This could be important if the government tries to change the system of presidential elections.

A constitutional amendment this year opened the way for Egypt's first presidential race in September but the rules make it almost impossible for a rival to stand against the NDP candidate in 2011.

But critics say the NDP may be happy to keep such restrictions in place to ensure a constitutionally legitimate succession by Mubarak's 41-year-old son Gamal, a senior official of the ruling party. The NDP denies any such intentions.

The Wednesday's polls turned into scenes reminiscent of the Palestinian Intifada with youngsters hurling stones at security forces, who opened their fire randomly killing at least eight people.

(MORE)