June 24, 2005

TALKS IN PARIS ABOUT AN ECONOMIC AID PACKAGE TO LEBANON AFTER THE ELECTIONS. THE INTERNATIONAL TEAM RETURNS TO LEBANON TO INVESTIGATE THE SYRIAN FULL WITHDRAWAL. SYRIA: WE WILL NOT PROVIDE THE US WITH AN EXCUSE TO ATTACK OUR COUNTRY. JORDAN TO HOST A DONOR CONFERENCE AND THE EU PREPARES FOR A CONFERENCE ON IRAQ. 52 PERCENT OF THE AMERICANS: THE WAR IN IRAQ HAS NOT CONTRIBUTED TO THE LONG-TERM SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, who was in Paris to promote a good-conduct code for businesses in developing countries, met with French President Jacques Chirac to discuss what officials called "the necessity of total execution of UN Security Council's Resolution 1559." The resolution calls for complete withdrawal of Syrian army and intelligence agents from Lebanon and for the disarmament of all militias, a thinly veiled allusion to Lebanese resistance group Hizbullah. Commenting on the recent escalation in tension between the U.S. and Syria, Annan said: "Relations between countries change year after year. They tend to enhance and evolve. What is important now is the full implementation of UN Resolution 1559." U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will keep working with Damascus to fully implement a Security Council resolution demanding the complete withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon, the world body said. Annan dispatched Terje Roed-Larsen last week for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the U.N. prepared to send back a team to verify Syria's intelligence pullout from Lebanon. "The secretary-general was encouraged by Mr. Roed-Larsen's report," said a statement by Nejib Friji, chief of the U.N. Information Centre in Beirut. "He will continue working together with President Assad, the Syrian government and other parties for the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1559," the statement said. Roed-Larsen, who briefed Annan in Paris about the meeting, is assigned to follow up Syria's implementation of the September 2004 resolution, which required Damascus to end its 29-year military presence in Lebanon. Syria pulled its 14,000 troops out in April, after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri on Feb. 14. U.N. officials and diplomats said Annan had decided to send a verification team back to Lebanon to see if Syrian intelligence agents were still operating in the country. A U.N. verification team reported on May 23 that Syria had withdrawn its soldiers but said there was no way to determine if plainclothes agents were still in Lebanon. A Syrian Foreign Ministry official source described as "baseless" statements by some U.S. officials in the American administration on Syria's intervention in Lebanon's internal affairs through alleged presence of intelligence agents. The source added in a statement that "Syria would like to reassure that these claims are baseless. Syria has completed the return of all of its forces and intelligence agencies attached to them on April 26 ... The UN also confirmed this return through its verification report on this question on May 23, so any reports or statements that contradict those official confirmations are rejected." The source said that Syria "expresses strong astonishment that the American administration gives credibility to reports or statements by persons in or outside Lebanon who have suspicious objectives ... Syria once again reasserts its full care for Lebanon's security and stability as this is part of Syria's security and stability." The United Nations is returning a team to Lebanon to check reports that Syrian intelligence officials may still be operating there in violation of a Security Council resolution, a U.N. official said. White House spokesman Scott McClellan welcomed the decision and called for the team to stay in Lebanon through elections and formation of a new Cabinet ``to better clarify reports of Syria's continued intelligence presence and to deter any further efforts to derail that democratic process that is under way.'' President Bush said he was disturbed by reports that Syrian intelligence was still operating in Lebanon. In Damascus, Syria's information minister denied U.S. claims that his country still had intelligence agents in Lebanon, calling such claims ``non-objective and untrue.'' ``All Syrian troops, of all their different divisions, have withdrawn from Lebanon,'' Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlallah told the official SANA news agency. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told members of the Security Council at their monthly lunch ``that he intends to send a verification team back to Lebanon, but at this point no date has been set,'' U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said. Syria's U.N. Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad called U.S. accusations ``a smear campaign'' and insisted all Syrian intelligence operatives have been withdrawn from the country as of April 26. A U.N. military team sent to verify the pullout reported on May 23 that all of Syria's military forces were gone but said it couldn't ``conclude with certainty that all the intelligence apparatus has been withdrawn'' because ``intelligence activities are by nature often clandestine.'' In comments clearly aimed at the Bush administration, Mekdad said in an interview with The Associated Press that ``certain circles'' want ``to kill'' the May 23 report which he said ``confirmed that Syria has fully withdrawn its troops, intelligence and assets.'' When pressed about the team's refusal to confirm the pullout of intelligence operatives because of the clandestine nature of their activities, Mekdad said: ``I think what the report said on the nature of these operations is correct.'' Mekdad said the anti-Syria campaign by the United States reflects U.S. displeasure at the results of recent elections in Lebanon and is an attempt ``to deepen differences between different Lebanese forces, and to create problems for a constructive relationship between Syria and Lebanon.'' The United Nations commission established to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri became fully operational, marking the official start of its efforts to find out who was behind the murder which led ultimately to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from its smaller neighbour. The Security Council set up the UN International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC) on 7 April to probe the bomb attack which killed Mr. Hariri and 20 others after an initial UN fact-finding mission found Lebanon's own probe seriously flawed and declared Syria, with its troop presence, primarily responsible for the political tension preceding the assassination. Secretary-General Kofi Annan informed the Council in a letter of the Commission's status. Its three-month term can be extended for up to three additional months at the discretion of the Secretary-General. Commission head Detlev Mehlis arrived in Beirut on 26 May and immediately began talks with the Lebanese authorities regarding operations. He and the Government of Lebanon concluded a memorandum of understanding this week. Since his arrival, Mr. Mehlis and his team have been reviewing materials and evidence collected by other investigations and inquiries. Mr. Hariri's assassination in February led to renewed calls for the withdrawal of all Syrian troops and intelligence agents who had been in Lebanon since the early stages of the country's 1975-1990 civil war. Terje Roed-Larsen, Mr. Annan's Special Envoy for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon, disbanding all militias and extending Government control over the whole country, carried out a series of shuttle missions culminating in a Syrian troop withdrawal in April. Mr. Annan told reporters that Mr. Larsen, on his latest visit after reports that there were other elements that may have gone back to Lebanon, received assurances from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "that they are prepared to work with us to fully implement 1559, and we are going to maintain the engagement." A UN team that in May verified the Syrian withdrawal except for the intelligence apparatus, which it said was by its clandestine nature not verifiable, is now back in the region. "I hope that, at the end of the day, we will be able to give a report that will indicate what is happening or not happening," Mr. Annan said. "And it is important for all concerned that they respect resolution 1559." In a bid to defuse escalating tension between Damascus and Washington, Syria's Ambassador to the U.S. Imad Mustafa insisted that Syria had no intention of "moving its troops back to Lebanon." Mustafa added that Syria was keen to "avoid giving Washington" any excuse to "attack" his country. Mustafa said: "Syria is not that foolish to actually leave Lebanon and keep some elements there and let Washington use these elements as the pretext to harm Syria." Mustafa's latest assertion that Syria's army and intelligence agents have fully withdrawn from Lebanon comes at the same time as the UN's second verification team, charged with confirming the full withdrawal of Syrian troops and intelligence units from Lebanon, prepares to start work. A UN spokesperson said some members of the team, composed mainly of military experts, arrived in Lebanon earlier in the week with the rest scheduled to arrive next week. The team was dispatched by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan within days of the murder of anti-Syrian journalist Samir Kassir in Beirut, and just over a month after an earlier UN team expressed its satisfaction that Syria had withdrawn its troops. Unlike the first verification team, the current one will not be limited by a timetable and will remain in Lebanon until it is satisfied its mission is complete. Meanwhile the United States, France, Britain and the World Bank are considering an economic aid package for Lebanon if political and economic reforms are implemented, a French Foreign Ministry spokesman said. "Senior officials from the U.S., France, Britain and the World Bank met in Paris recently to discuss a possible request by the new Lebanese government for economic assistance," Jean-Baptiste Mattei told reporters. The spokesman, who declined to give details about the nature of the aid package, insisted that this gesture is connected to political and economic reforms in the country. "We cannot tell the Lebanese what types of reforms they should pass but the foreign governments will not hesitate to grant assistance to the Lebanese government based on the program it intends to present." There have been numerous reports about imminent assistance to Lebanon following the withdrawal of the Syrian forces from the country in April and the resignation of top Lebanese intelligence officers. U.S. and French ambassadors to Lebanon reportedly travelled to Paris last week to hold crucial talks on Lebanon with other senior officials. There were no confirmation on what the talks consist of, but informed sources said that the current political situation was at the top of the agenda. "The West wants to see radical political and economic reforms in the country in order to help Lebanon," one of the sources said. He added that the United Nations and the U.S. are pressing Lebanon to implement the remaining clauses of Security Council Resolution 1559. A new election law and full commitment to the implementation of the remaining 1989 Taif Accord are among the conditions for financial assistance. The Central News Agency claimed that the West insist that the new Cabinet that will be formed after the elections be free of suspected corrupt politicians, adding that the ministerial statement should include a commitment to implement Resolution 1559. On the other hand President Bush held up Turkey's democracy as an important example for other Middle East nations during an Oval Office meeting with the country's prime minister in which both leaders declared a strong relationship after differences over Iraq. "We're happy that we were able to confirm that our strategic relationship will move and take place in the future as it has been done in the past," said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Bush thanked Erdogan for Turkey's support in building democracy in Afghanistan and working with the Palestinians to build an independent state. He said they have "an important strategic relationship." White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the two leaders also talked about how to address Turkish Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers Party, holed up in northern Iraq. But Erdogan didn't seem satisfied with Bush's position. Turkish officials have long blamed the United States for inaction against the rebels, whom Turkey blames for more than 30,000 deaths in Turkey. McClellan said the United States considers the rebel group to be a terrorist organization. He said the U.S. is committed to getting rid of them along with other terrorists, but that is one of a number of challenges that needs to be resolved in Iraq. Erdogan told reporters after leaving the White House that although Bush seemed to share his concerns about the threat of the group, he would like more help from the United States to crack down on the rebels. "We are exchanging information," Erdogan said. "However, we don't think it is sufficient. We want (the cooperation) to be taken further. However, they seem to be focused on getting the Iraqi administration there settled. "God willing, we will get the support of the coalition forces and of the Iraqi forces for this struggle." Erdogan said they are getting help from Syria, which is sharing intelligence and handing over rebels.But Erdogan said it's critical to maintain a dialogue with Syria, its neighbor to the south. "We don't want to push Syria away, we talked about steps we can take to bring them to our line," he said. Turkey's relations with the United States showed strain since Ankara refused to allow U.S. troops in the country for the Iraq war. Erdogan's trip to Washington has been seen as a fence-mending visit and both leaders said he also encouraged U.S. investment in Turkey. Bush said the visit was extensive and that they focused on "foreign policy and shared interests between our countries." "Turkey's democracy is an important example for the people in the broader Middle East, and I want to thank you for your leadership," Bush said to Erdogan in front of the cameras. Meanwhile Preparations for a June 22 international conference on Iraq in Brussels are going well, according to the Luxembourg presidency of the European Union. More than countries and international organizations have been invited to the meeting and most have said they want to take part at ministerial level, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told reporters. Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan is expected to attend the event, along with an Iraqi delegation of 10 ministers. The conference aims to show the international community`s support for the new Iraqi government before constitutional elections in December. Asselborn, along with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, visited Baghdad last week. "We wanted to send a clear signal a few days before the international conference: the European Union is ready to forge ahead in its relations with Iraq, in all areas," said Asselborn. In Amman the Jordanian Foreign Ministry announced that the country will host a donor conference on Iraq reconstruction in Amman in coming July. The ministry said in a statement that there has been an initial agreement on holding the ministerial conference to help the war-torn country realize security and stability. The statement, however, noted that the agenda and the exact date for convening the conference will be decided by donors during their meeting in Brussels due on June 20. Jordan's Foreign Minister Farouk Qasrawi will lead a delegation to the Brussels conference, which will probe means of backing the political process in Iraq, according to the statement. During their previous meetings in Tokyo and Madrid, the donor countries had offered financial assistance to help the reconstruction of Iraq. On the other hand Jean Asselborn, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg and current President of the Council of the European Union and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, travelled to Baghdad on 9 June 2005, for a meeting of the European Union Troika with Iraq. Alongside Minister Asselborn, the Secretary General of the Council and High Representative for the CFSP, Javier Solana, External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also took part in the talks. The European delegation met with President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Transitional Assembly President Hajem al Hassani and with representatives of Sunni parties. The discussions focused mainly on preparations for a forthcoming international conference on Iraq, and the process of political transition in Iraq, particularly the drafting of a new Constitution for the country. Jean Asselborn made the following statement at the end of the meetings in Baghdad: "Our presence in Baghdad today, together with the international conference that will take place in Brussels on 22 June and bring together some 80 delegations, is testimony to the EU's support for the people of Iraq. The European Union gives its full backing to Iraq in its political, economic, social reconstruction efforts in the framework of the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1546. Apart from offering financial assistance to Iraq, we also provide support for the political and constitutional process as well as the training of judges, police and prison officers in the framework of an integrated EU Rule of Law mission. Our talks today centred on preparations for the Brussels conference, which will allow Iraqis to present their vision and priorities in the fields of politics, economics and rule of law for the transition period leading up to elections towards the end of the year. The continued active involvement of the Iraqi Transitional Government is very important to us. The constitutional process will also feature very prominently at the conference in Brussels. Like our Iraqi interlocutors, we stressed the importance of an inclusive constitutional process, based on national dialogue and nation-wide consensus. We therefore welcome that Iraq will send a substantial delegation at the Brussels Conference, which includes representatives from different institutions and backgrounds. All Iraqis need to have a voice in determining the future of their country. The next few weeks and months will be particularly important in this respect in ensuring the drafting of a new constitution on the basis on a nationwide consensus and within the deadlines foreseen in the Transitional Administrative Law. I would also like to reiterate that the EU will continue to support the efforts of the Iraqi government to build a secure, stable, unified, prosperous and democratic Iraq that upholds human rights and cooperates constructively with its neighbours and with the international community." Meantime the leader of one of the two main Kurdish parties in Iraq, Massoud Barzani, has been sworn in as the new regional president of Iraqi Kurdistan. Several government ministers were present for the event at the autonomous region's parliament in Irbil, following Mr Barzani's election. Kurds have been celebrating in towns and villages across northern Iraq. Kurdistan television has been showing images of dancing, music and cars adorned with the Kurdistan flag. "I promise to safeguard the accomplishments of Kurdistan and to carry out my duties faithfully," Mr Barzani told MPs. "I will do my best to strengthen national unity and brotherhood between Kurds and Arabs ... The national unity of Kurdistan is a national unity for Iraq." The ceremony was attended by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is also a Kurd, and Mr Barzani's former rival for control of the region. The northern sector of the country which has effectively been governed by Mr Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and Mr Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan since the 1991 Gulf War. The inauguration marks the final step in an agreement between the two leaders late last year - for one to push for a top post in Baghdad and the other to govern the Kurds. Meanwhile violence in Kirkuk coincided with the swearing in on Tuesday of former Kurdish rebel leader Massoud Barzani as the first president of the Kurdistan region. A US marine was killed near the flashpoint city of Fallujah, bringing to 17 the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq over the past week, amid calls in the United States for a timetable for a troop withdrawal. On the other hand video footage of Saddam Hussein being questioned about mass executions ordered after he survived an assassination attempt in 1982 has been released by the court trying him for crimes against humanity. The Iraqi Special Tribunal released footage of the former dictator being questioned about the massacre in Dujail, 80km north of Baghdad, after an attempt on his life as he drove through the village in 1982. Residents of the mainly Shia village say more than 350 people were killed in reprisal attacks by troops and helicopters. Led by Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother, the regime's forces razed Dujail's date groves and took hundreds away for torture and execution. The video footage shows Saddam stroking his beard and gazing intently at the investigating judges -- the men who could one day sentence him to death. The video, the first since Saddam's initial court appearance last July, shows the former president in a dark jacket and open-neck shirt, looking drawn and tired. There are heavy bags under his eyes and he clasps his hands and squeezes his fingers, clutching them together when apparently trying to make a point. His hair is unkempt and his beard more flecked with grey than a year ago. The hearing is thought to have taken place last Sunday. He is being questioned by judges including Raed al-Juhi, the head of the tribunal. "Answer the question, answer the question," Judge al-Juhi could be seen telling Saddam in the silent video. Four other senior Baathists were shown being questioned about the massacres of Kurds during the Anfal campaign in 1988 and the crushing of a 1991 uprising. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari indicated last week that Saddam would go on trial before elections scheduled for December. But Saddam remains in the hands of US jailers and the trial's timing will be decided not by Dr Jaafari's Government, but by the tribunal, which is assisted by a team of senior US officials. Prosecutors are thought to believe it will be easier to prove direct responsibility for the Dujail massacre than some of the other, wider-ranging cases involving a lengthy chain of command, such as the 1988 Anfal campaign to massacre Kurds and the suppression of the 1991 uprising. Defence lawyers have said they intend to cast doubt on one high-profile case, the 1988 gassing of 5000 Kurds in Halabja, by claiming that Iranian aircraft may have dropped the gas. Five others are said to be involved in the Dujail case, including al-Tikriti and former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan, who may testify against Saddam. Saddam and 11 of his most senior henchmen are to be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. All 12 appeared before the tribunal last July, and others including Ali Hassan al-Majid -- known as Chemical Ali -- appeared before an investigative judge for the second stage of the trial process earlier this year. The tribunal said the session was for "investigative procedures" only, and that no decision had yet been taken to charge him. A Western official in Baghdad said the release of the video was to show Iraqis that "things are happening". Saddam's lawyers have called on the Arab world to champion the prisoner they dub The Father of all Holy Warriors. Two key elements of the defence will be that, as president of Iraq, he was immune from prosecution under Article 40 of the Iraqi constitution, and that the tribunal, set up by the US-led occupying power, is illegal under Articles 3 and 4 of the Geneva Convention. Meantime three Iraqis and a Dutch man of Iraqi origin are being held in the Netherlands as part of an investigation into attacks against U.S. military vehicles in Iraq, the Dutch prosecutor's office said. In a statement, it said the 32-year-old Dutch man was arrested at his home in the central town of Amersfoort and figured in an October 2003 video showing insurgents planning an attack on a U.S. convoy near the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Fallujah in Iraq. The three Iraqis also arrested in the May 2 swoop were ages 20 to 35. All four men are due to appear in court at a first procedural hearing by early August. A spokesman for the prosecutor's office said the Dutch national and one of the Iraqis was suspected of plotting to murder and the other two of burglary, making threats and illegal possession of weapons. Police found videos, photographic films, weapons, ammunition and computer records containing amateur footage of suicide attacks, the statement said. In Washington for the first time since the war in Iraq began, more than half of the American public believes the fight there has not made the United States safer, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. While the focus in Washington has shifted from the Iraq conflict to Social Security and other domestic matters, the survey found that Americans continue to rank Iraq second only to the economy in importance -- and that many are losing patience with the enterprise. Nearly three-quarters of Americans say the number of casualties in Iraq is unacceptable, while two-thirds say the U.S. military there is bogged down and nearly six in 10 say the war was not worth fighting -- in all three cases matching or exceeding the highest levels of pessimism yet recorded. More than four in 10 believe the U.S. presence in Iraq is becoming analogous to the experience in Vietnam. Perhaps most ominous for President Bush, 52 percent said war in Iraq has not contributed to the long-term security of the United States, while 47 percent said it has. It was the first time a majority of Americans disagreed with the central notion Bush has offered to build support for war: that the fight there will make Americans safer from terrorists at home. In late 2003, 62 percent thought the Iraq war aided U.S. security, and three months ago 52 percent thought so. Overall, more than half -- 52 percent -- disapprove of how Bush is handling his job, the highest of his presidency. A somewhat larger majority -- 56 percent -- disapproved of Republicans in Congress, and an identical proportion disapproved of Democrats. There were signs, however, that Bush and Republicans in Congress were receiving more of the blame for the recent standoffs over such issues as Bush's judicial nominees and Social Security. Six in 10 respondents said Bush and GOP leaders are not making good progress on the nation's problems; of those, 67 percent blamed the president and Republicans while 13 percent blamed congressional Democrats. For the first time, a majority, 55 percent, also said Bush has done more to divide the country than to unite it. The surge in violence in Iraq since the new government took control -- 80 U.S. troops and more than 700 Iraqis died in May alone amid a rash of bombings -- has been accompanied by rising gloom about the overall fight against terrorists. By 50 percent to 49 percent, Americans approved of the way Bush is handling the campaign against terrorism, down from 56 percent approval in April, equaling the lowest rating he has earned on the issue that has consistently been his core strength with the public. The dissipating support for the Iraq war is of potential military concern, because, as Marine Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis wrote in a note to his troops as he led them back into Iraq in February 2004, "our friendly strategic center of gravity is the will of the American people." Some authorities on war and public opinion said the figures indicate that pessimism about the war in Iraq has reached a dangerous level. "It appears that Americans are coming to the realization that the war in Iraq is not being won and may well prove unwinnable," said retired Army Col. Andrew J. Bacevich, a professor at Boston University. "That conclusion bleeds over into a conviction that it may not have been necessary in the first place." "You hear a lot about Saddam but nothing about Osama bin Laden. I don't think he [Bush] does enough to deal with the problems of terrorism. . . . He's done a lot of talking, but we haven't seen real changes," said another poll respondent, Kathy Goyette, 54, a San Diego nurse. "People are getting through airport security with things that are unbelievable. . . . I don't think he learned from 9/11."