News – Bloody November’s End (1/2)

It hasn’t been a good week for people overseas. The amount of regular bloodshed through the month has been, quite frankly, disheartening.

Iraq

This weekend, Iraq has been a crux of violence, it seems. Hardly surprising. 54 attackers killed in a firefight, some wearing the uniform of Saddam’s Fedayeen militia. There was also a large ambush on a convoy, but it was repelled with few casualties and eight dead on the attacking side. Other attacks killed seven Spanish intelligence agents, two South Korean contractors, two Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver, a Colombian contractor and two U.S. soldiers. A smart tactic, going after the US’ allies.

Despite the noted deaths, South Korean and Japanese officials are firm in sending assistance in the form of manpower to Iraq.

Interestingly, residents of Samarra say that the death toll(54) was lower and most of them were armed civilians, not Fedayeen. As one resident is quoted, when the US troops opened fire on militants attacking their convoy, some civilians picked up guns and fired at the US troops.

Ali al-Tikriti, Saddam’s nephew, criticizes the US for its disastrous occupation and the threat of civil war. Personally, I see open war against US forces as more likely than civil war, but I could be wrong.

Varied opinions on Bush’s shadow visit to the troops in Iraq. Speculation and comment, always a good place for intriguing ideas.

A former Iraqi general dies during interrogation. The official report is he fell ill during interrogation and passed away. This reminds me of an annoying episode of Threat Matrix, during which the same basic thing happened. Only it was because the interrogator was withholding treatment for an illness from a detainee. She went to trial and was acquitted of his death, though I doubt we’ll even see a trial for this one.

Israel/Palestine

Ahmed Qureia says he wont’ meet with Ariel Sharon as long as the Israeli security barrier is being built. He’s also pressing US officials to back his position. I hope they do.

In further shows of inconsistency, Sharon has gone back on another promise to Bush to dismantle settlements, saying some will remain for security reasons. In a further show of his political schizophrenia, he’s “once again said he was prepared to make painful concessions for peace. But he threatened to impose a solution on the Palestinians if they did not meet his demands.”

Israeli forces kill three and arrest thirty in a militant sweep. They bitch about Palestine not doing enough for security. The Palestinians bitch back about such moves threatening peace moves. Haven’t we heard this song and dance before? I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of hearing it. Not to mention that this happened just before Palestinian factions, including militant leaders were to meet for a chat in Cairo about a new cease-fire.

The Geneva Initiative goes forward, despite some minor set backs. Some Palestinians think it gives too much to Israel. Not really true. The accord, while an achievement, has its own cons. Some rather heavy and worrying.

The best part of the above article, I believe, is this summary: Israel’s worst achievement in the current conflict is the almost complete devastation of the Palestinian Authority. Yasser Arafat was sidelined and his security apparatus considerably weakened. With no credible, authoritative interlocutor in sight, Israel was left without a main point of contact. Meanwhile, in Lebanon, Israel can direct its grievances to Damascus. The result: near anarchy in the Palestinian territories, where fragmented cells of terrorist groups call the shots and can easily wreck any delicate ceasefire agreement. Thus, both populations are trapped in a vicious, frustrating circle. The Palestinians are led by an inept regime and are living under a merciless Israeli occupation that, in turn, is corrupting and undermining its own core values and ethics.

I don’t think it has been said better yet. It’s a situation hat must be fixed.

Israeli academics have promised to boycott of their own university heads if the country’s universities bring back controversial psychometric testing that favors middle-class Jewish students. It’s good to see academics standing against moves that could be considered motivated by racial bias. The tests had subjects such as Jewish history and Hebrew literature, obviously not subjects that most Arab students would be well versed in. Arabs studying medicine rose sixfold when the tests were canned. The University heads have tried to play it off as not involving Arab students, but the writing is on the wall and even they can’t come up with excuses for the rise in Arab students after the tests were canned.

Commentary on the general haze of when criticism of Israel is and isn’t anti-Semitism. Basically, if your talk against Israel includes typical refrains of anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists, you have some soul searching to do. Keep watch on your own thoughts and words.

Iran

Iran is launching sanction trips into Iraq for Shia pilgrims in a bid to stop smuggling of travelers across its borders. Hopefully the official trips will keep the honest pilgrims from making use of smugglers.

Afghanistan

A provincial reconstruction team has been sent to the western province of Herat, thought to be one of the country’s most table. Their task is to stimulating economic development and restoring civic services. Both good things.

Amnesty International is criticizing the US for not going public with the details of any investigation into the deaths in custody of two Afghans. “Although an investigation by the army’s criminal investigation division was announced, no reports on progress or conclusions have been made public,” William Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in a report. “The failure to account for the prisoners’ deaths indicates a chilling disregard for the value of human life,”

Perhaps. Or it could be another manifestation of the Bush shadow policy.