Southwest Asia News Digest
Head of Joint Chiefs Grilled on Chalabi
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, was in for some unpleasant questioning about Iraq, when he appeared before the House Armed Services Committee, on May 21. In response to a question from ranking Democrat Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, Myers said that, as far as he knew, the May 20 raid on Iraqi National Congress (INC) chief, Ahmed Chalabi, was done at the initiative of the Iraqi Interior Ministry and it was Iraqi police, themselves, who carried out the raid, with U.S. forces only providing a secure outer cordon, and that the evidence seized from Chalabi's house is in the hands of an Iraqi court. " This is Iraqis doing what Iraqis should do," he said.
Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn), also interested in the raid on Chalabi, prefaced his question by remarking that while he had full confidence in the military leaders, "it's your civilian bosses I'm increasingly worried about."
Cooper wanted to know what had changed since last January, when Chalabi sat next to First Lady Laura Bush at President Bush's State of the Union speech, to suddenly become the subject of a police raid. Aside from claiming that Chalabi's INC had provided some intelligence that had saved the lives of American troops from Iraq, Myers had no answer for Cooper.
Cooper also noted that there are allegations that Chalabi may be an Iranian agent, and that he is someone who may have been misleading the U.S. for years. (For more on this story, see this week's InDepth.)
Sistani Calls on Militias, U.S. Military To Leave Holy Cities
A statement issued on May 18, from Iraq's Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, was a clear order to Moqtada al-Sadr to de-escalate his confrontation with U.S. occupation forces in two holy cities in Iraq. Al-Sadr, whose Shi'ite militias have been fighting U.S. forces in Najaf, Karbala, and other cities, had called on Shi'ites to converge on the two holy cities, to join their resistance.
Al-Sistani refers to this indirectly by ordering people not to join Al-Sadr, and to demonstrate in their own cities. The statement said: "The office of Ayatollah Sistani calls on citizens in all of the cities and governorates not to head to holy Najaf due to the dangerous circumstances that the holy city is passing through." It said that peaceful demonstrations could be held at mosques in city centers to "protest the violation of the sanctity of the two holy cities" and "the houses of the grand ayatollahs." This last reference is to the fact that al-Sistani's house was reportedly fired upon. The statement continues: "It's permissible ... to demand the withdrawal of all military vestiges from the two cities and allow the police and tribal forces to perform their role in preserving security and order."
The intervention of al-Sistani comes at a point where the armed conflict inside the two holiest cities, Najaf and Karbala, threatens to violate the sanctity of the Shi'ite shrines located there. If this were to occur, al-Sistani would have no choice but to support armed resistance, and the war would enter a new phase, engaging regional powers as well. This is what he intends to prevent.
The position of al-Sistani, the highest Shi'ite authority in Iraq, has been passive resistance. His policy is to force the U.S. to end the occupation, through a process coherent with international law. Thus, he has accepted the transfer plan for June 30, in fact, though he has specified that any interim government will have limited powers, and only a democratically elected government can effectively rule.
The Iranians have also been doing their part, to try to de-escalate the conflict with al-Sadr's militias. Ayatollah Haeri, the mentor of al-Sadr, left his residence in the Iranian theological center in Qom, to return to Iraq, in order to set up an office in Najaf, to exert influence over al-Sadr. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi reiterated throughout his European tour, that the U.S. should desist from attacking al-Sadr, and give up their crazy insistence to "arrest or kill" him. Kharrazi said, they should leave the situation in the hands of the religious authorities, who could deal with it. Instead, the U.S. has escalated the armed conflict, thus creating the critical situation now, in which both cities could blow up.
MPs Ordered To Strip and Shackle Prisoners For Interrogation
There are 6,000 classified pages of the report by U.S. Army Gen. Antonio Taguba, which broke open the torture scandal in Iraq, and one of these sections, the transcribed statement of Col. Thomas Pappas, head of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, is reported in the May 18 New York Times.
The Times reports that after meeting with Guantanamo Bay prison commander Gen. Geoffrey Miller, Pappas made certain changes, including finding a group of "dedicated MP's to handle the prisoners being interrogated," and giving orders to prepare prisoners for interrogation by stripping them naked and shackling them. Pappas refused to be interviewed, but his statement provides an abundance of details, according to the Times, including his discussions with Miller, who was sent to Iraq on orders/request of Undersecretary of Defense Stephen Cambone, and his assistant, Christian fundamentalist fanatic Gen. William Boykin, and admissions that he did not have an adequate monitoring system to find out what guards were doing to prisoners.
200,000 Protest in Beirut vs. U.S. Attack on Iraq Holy Shrines
On Friday, May 21, the Lebanese Hezbollah, a Shi'ite Muslim organization, held a 200,000-person demonstration in Beirut, against the U.S. military threat against the holy Shi'ite shrines in Najaf and Karbala, in Iraq. Wearing white shrouds the crowds chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."
The demonstration was called by the Shi'ite Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a "symbolic demonstration to tell America that we are ready for martyrdom to defend the holy places." Nasrallah said, "We will not abandon our religious duty. Today's march is a step on the road to defending the holy duty we will do without hesitation, regardless of the sacrifices and the calculations. Let the Americans understand that those who wore shrouds today, including clerics, men, women, and children, did not come to show off."
Meanwhile, 5,000 Shi'ites demonstrated in Bahrain where clashes occurred with police, who fired shotguns and tear gas into the crowd. As a result, the King of Bahrain, fired the Interior Minister for overreacting to the demo. There were also major demonstrations in Tehran.
UN: Israeli House Demolitions Violate International Law
The United Nations Undersecretary for Political Affairs, in a briefing to the UN Security Council on May 20, declared that the Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes was a violation of international law. He said that since September 2000, over 18,000 people in the Gaza Strip, have been made homeless by the demolitions, Ha'aretz reported May 22. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine refugees, has only managed to rehouse 1,000 people, because replacing the homes would cost over $3 million. He also said that, in the last month alone, 128 Palestinians were killed and 19 Israelis. Between May 19-21, over 40 Palestinians were killed.
Peace Block Mobilizes vs. IDF 'War Crimes'; Attacks in Gaza Continue
Press reports that the Israeli military operations in Gaza are untrue, reported Ha'aretz on May 22. Even the Israeli military says that "Operation Rainbow is far from over," and therefore, the killing, in which at least 41 Palestinians have died at the hands of the IDF, is not over, said the newspaper. Meanwhile the Peace block in Israel has been holding demonstrations everyday and will continue until the operation is stopped.
"None of us can sit at home at a time like this. None of us can say, 'we did not know!,'" the Peace block declared May 22.
On Thursday, May 20, some 500 Israelis demonstrated against the attacks in Gaza, for the second consecutive day, in front of the Israeli Defense Ministry. Organized by Peace Now, the Refuseniks, and the Yahad Party, as well as its youth movement and other organizations, attended.
Yahad chairman Yossi Beilen addressed the rally, calling for an immediate withdrawal from Gaza.
The police were extremely harsh against the demonstrators. David Zonshein, leader of Courage to Refuse was arrested, as were others, many of whom were minors. Yanatan Shapiro, one of the signers of the letter by Israeli pilots who refuse to fly missions to bomb Palestinians, said the police threatened to kill him.
On Friday, May 21 another demonstration took place at one of the crossings between Gaza and Israel, in which 700 people participated. The demonstration was sponsored by Gush Shalom, Israeli committee Against House Demolitions, HaKampus Lo Shotek, Yesh Gvul, The Refusnik Pilots, The Refusnik's Parents Forum, Women Coalition for Just Peace, and Ta'ayush Arab Jewish Partnership. The protesters plan to have a non-stop presence at the "Gate to Rafah," also known as the Sufa checkpoint.
These demonstrations could be a lot larger if the Labor Party fully mobilized, but it seems obvious that its chairman Shimon Peres, and other right-wing types are holding back because they refuse to pursue a policy of overthrowing the government of Ariel Sharon. In fact Israeli TV reports that Peres held secret meetings with Sharon crony, Uri Shani, to discuss on what conditions the Labor Party would join his government.
Military Chiefs Endorse Fallujah Model
On May 21, Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee questioned Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the strategy being carried out by Gen. James Conway in Fallujah, i.e., turning over security in that city to an Iraqi-led brigade. The committee wanted to know whether the strategy was working, and whether it could be a model for elsewhere in Iraq. Rep. John Kline (R-Minn) noted that there has been some commentaryby hardline pro-war forces, especially those aligned with Dick Cheney's neo-conservativesthat has called the withdrawal of the Marines from Fallujah, "a defeat."
"My personal view, Myers answered, "is, this is the right way to do it. Like I said, there are risks with this approach. But we have our goals in Fallujah, and so far the people of Fallujah seem to be responding. General Conway is responding with lots of reconstruction projects for that area, which is something that had not been consistently applied." Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Michael Hagee reported that, from a discussion he had with Conway just coming to the hearing, "I can tell you that over the past couple of weeks, it's been very quiet in Fallujah. Not only is the Fallujah Brigade doing relatively well, but most importantly, the people in Fallujah are supporting that particular brigade." He later added, in response to Kline, that "If that's a defeat, we need more defeats like that."
|