Daily Report

UK, US plan Iraq withdrawal?

UK memo says US, UK readying Iraqi withdrawal-report

LONDON, July 10 (Reuters) - A leaked document from Britain's Defence Ministry says the British and U.S. governments are planning to reduce their troop levels in Iraq by more than half by mid-2006, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported.

The memo, reportedly written by Defence Minister John Reid, said Britain would reduce its troop numbers to 3,000 from 8,500 by the middle of next year.

"We have a commitment to hand over to Iraqi control in Al Muthanna and Maysan provinces (two of the four provinces under British control in southern Iraq) in October 2005 and in the other two, Dhi Qar and Basra, in April 2006," the memo was reported to have said.

Edinburgh aftermath: police over-reach, Wolfowitz praises Geldof

Protesters are starting to leave Edinburgh, but at least four were re-arrested for violating bail conditions banning them from the city while actually trying to get out of town. Human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar told the court: "The situation with public transport out of Edinburgh [on July 7] was pandemonium after the bomb blasts in London. I find it impossible to see how people are able to leave Edinburgh if the bail restrictions say they are not allowed in Edinburgh. It seems they are getting arrested by overzealous police officers." (The Scotsman, July 9) In a proverbial case of strange bedfellows, World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz praised do-gooder rock star Bob Geldof for his campaign to pressure the G8 on African poverty. The G8 finally arrived at a deal for increased aid and debt relief for Africa. The leaders of Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania attended the summit to lobby for the debt relief program. "I thought it was extremely positive," Wolfowitz said. "If you'd told me a couple of months ago that there would be a commitment to a doubling of aid and debt cancellation, I'd have said you were dreaming." But he emphasized that the aid and debt relief programs are conditioned on economic reforms. "It's a deal for a deal," he said. (London Sunday Times, July 10)

Iraq war spills into Syria?

Syrian forces have arrested two fugitives from Jordan who are believed to be former bodyguards of Saddam Hussein and linked to the Iraq insurgency. The manhunt followed a clash between militants and Syrian forces on Qassioun Mountain overlooking Damascus July 4. Condoleezza Rice offered rare praise for the Syrian regime upon news of the arrests. The July 4 clash was but the most recent in a series of skirmishes that come as Washington is pressuring Syria to seal its border with Iraq. (Lebanon Daily Star, July 7) In another sign of the Iraq insurgents' isolation from Damascus, Syria strongly denounced on the killing of an Egyptian diplomat in Iraq as a "horrible criminal action," the official SANA news agency reported. Egypt's Ambassador-designate to Baghdad Ihab el-Sharif was kidnapped near his home in Baghdad on July 3. The group "Al-Qaeda in Iraq" announced his death July 7 in an Internet statement. (Xinhua, July 9) The US and its client regime in Iraq have previously claimed evidence that Syria is supporting the insurgents.

Basra: Shi'ite theocracy bans music

More glowing reports of freedom on the march in Iraq. This from the July 7 New York Times, reprinted the following day in the International Herald Tribune.

Shiite theocracy takes hold in Iraqi oil city
By Edward Wong The New York Times

BASRA, The loudest sounds from musicians' row these days come from explosions.

Ahmed Ali walked through a shop that had sold musical instruments before it was gutted by a bombing a week earlier, the latest in a series of mysterious attacks in this narrow alley in the past six months, he said. The men here, just a block from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, sell instruments by day and perform at weddings in the evening.

BJP exploits backlash violence in India?

Following the July 5 attack by presumed Islamic militants at the disputed Indian holy site of Ayodhya, protests have broken out throughout India. Over 2,000 were arrested in Delhi, where police used tear gas, and critics charge the protests have been particularly violent in states controlled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

New armed group attacks in southern Mexico

A previously unknown armed group, the Fatherland is First Popular Revolutionary Command (Comando Popular Revolucionario La Patria es Primero), has claimed responsibility for the July 6 assassination of former Guerrero state government secretary Ruben Robles Catalan, whose driver was also killed in the attack.

Who was behind London attacks?

As this fairly comprehensive account from The Australian makes clear, the notion that the London attacks were carried out by a heretofore unheard-of "Secret Organization of the Jihad of al-Qaeda in Europe" originates from reports on the websites of Germany's Der Spiegel and the Italian news agency ANSA that a communique claiming responsibility in that name appeared on an unnamed Islamic militant website. The quoted rhetoric is entirely plausible:

Syndicate content