Thread: Archive Latest News - Think Tank - 16/08/07 - 03/11/07

UPI Poll: Bush's Iraq support improves

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 Support among UPI-Zogby International poll respondents for U.S. President George Bush's handling of the war in Iraq is slight but improving.

While most -- 56.4 percent -- of the 6,711 U.S. residents who participated in the Zogby interactive poll still give the president a "poor" grade on his handling of the war, the overall figures showed a slight improvement for the White House.

Some 26.6 percent of those asked gave Bush either an "excellent" (6.2 percent) or "good" (20.4 percent) rating on Iraq. Another 16.5 percent rated him "fair" on Iraq for an overall negative mark of 72.9 percent.

As dismal as those figures are, the support has been trending up. The overall positive score is Bush's highest since an April poll and the negatives haven't been lower since March and showed a strengthening support -- 8 percentage points in total positives -- from Bush's Republican cohorts.

The president is also seen as better to handle the war than the U.S. Congress. Nearly half -- 47.2 percent -- answered "Bush" when asked whether he or Congress should manage the war in Iraq. Another 39.3 percent said Congress and 13.6 percent said they weren't sure.

The poll data have a margin of error of 1.2 percentage points.

UPI Poll: Bush's Iraq support improves : World

UPI Poll: Congress' Iraq rating low

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 Some 96 percent of UPI-Zogby International poll participants gave the U.S. Congress a negative grade on handling the war in Iraq.

While U.S. President George Bush's poll figures weren't great -- 56.4 percent scored him "poor" on the war in Iraq -- they glow compared to Congress'. A total of 71.9 percent of those asked rated Congress "poor" on the war and another 24.1 percent said it was "fair."

Some 2.7 percent gave Congress a "good" grade and 0.3 percent marked it "excellent."

The harshest critics came from the subset of self-described independents, 97.3 percent of whom said Congress was either "poor" (79.9 percent) or "fair" (17.4 percent) on the war while 1.6 percent said "good" and 0.3 percent said "excellent."

Participants were also asked whether they thought Congress' performance on the war had changed since the Democrats took control of both houses in January. Some 42.8 percent of respondents said Congress was doing a worse job and 35.4 percent said it was about the same as when the Republicans controlled Congress. Another 20.2 percent said Congress was doing better on Iraq under the Democrats.

The Zogby interactive poll was conducted Aug. 17-20 and had 6,711 U.S. residents taking part, giving the poll a margin of error of 1.2 percentage points.

UPI Poll: Congress' Iraq rating low : World

US to donate 30 million dollars to displaced Iraqi children

Amman - The US Assistant Secretary of State Allen Sauerbrey on Tuesday announced that her country would be contributing 30 million dollars to provide educational opportunities for Iraqi children in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.

"It gives me great pleasure to be able to announce today that the United States is contributing 30 million dollars to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Joint Appeal to provide Educational Opportunities for Iraqi Children in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt," Sauerbrey said at a press conference in the Jordanian capital Amman.

"The United States believes the response to the needs of displaced Iraqis is best addressed through a multilateral effort, coordinated by organizations capable of operating in all affected countries and attracting resources from a broad range of potential donors," she added.

Sauerbrey praised Jordan as "a model partner in this international humanitarian effort."

"I want to take this opportunity to commend the government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for its decision to permit all Iraqi children in Jordan access to Jordanian public schools with the opening just last week of the fall semester," she said.

Jordanian Education Minister Khalid Touqan said it was expected that Jordanian public schools would admit about 40,000 Iraqi children this year.

The UNHCR estimates that several hundred thousand school-age Iraqi children are among about two million Iraqi refugees now living in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.

US to donate 30 million dollars to displaced Iraqi children : Middle East World

Jordan readies 2,000 tanker trucks to ferry Iraqi crude

More than 2,000 Jordanian tanker trucks have been readied to ferry Iraqi crude oil to the Kingdom’s refinery at al-Zarqa.

Iraqi tanker trucks will be involved but will not be allowed to cross the border. They will carry the crude from Kirkuk and unload it into specially built storage tanks on the border.

The Jordanian tanker trucks will transfer the crude from the border to the refinery.

Fifteen such storage tanks have been built but no Iraqi tanker truck has surfaced on the border yet.

Iraq has agreed to resume exporting discounted crude oil supplies to Jordan. The volume is reported to start with 10,000 barrels a day and steadily rocket to 30,000.

Under former leader Saddam Hussein, Iraq met all Jordan’s energy needs of nearly 100,000 barrels a day at preferential prices.

Iraqi tanker trucks then drove directly to al-Zarqa refinery close to Amman, the capital.

Analysts say Iraq may not be able to meet its obligation under the deal due to the upsurge in violence along the Iraqi portion of the highway.

Iraqi drivers are reported to be reluctant to drive along the highway de****e incentives.

Tanker trucks are now the main target of Qaeda and other anti-U.S. and anti-government groups.

The trucks are now increasingly being used in suicide bombing attacks. Their drivers are kidnapped and only released after their families pay hefty ransoms.

Trucks passing through rebel areas are usually heavily taxed. Drivers refusing to pay are either killed or kidnapped.

Azzaman in English

Iraq deputy PM warns on early U.S. pullout

An early pullout of American soldiers from Iraq will trigger a full-scale civil war and spark a wider conflict in the region, Iraq's deputy prime minister, Barham Salih, said.Salih said that was the message he had given a stream of U.S. lawmakers visiting Baghdad in the lead-up to pivotal testimony that President George W. Bush's top officials in Iraq will present to the U.S. Congress in around two weeks.

"A premature withdrawal of troops from Iraq will be a disaster, not only for Iraq, but for the region and the international community as a whole," Salih said in an interview with Reuters late on Monday.

"It will lead to an all-out civil war; it will lead to a regional war in my opinion because the fate of Iraq is crucial to the regional balance and to regional security."

Opposition Democrats and some senior Republicans have called for U.S. troops to start leaving Iraq.

The U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker are expected to appear before Congress in the second week of September.

Their testimony on Iraq's security and political situation could prompt a shift in Washington's Iraq. Bush is under mounting pressure to show Iraq's weak and divided Shi'ite-led government that the U.S.

Salih also said Iraq's 350,000-strong security forces were not ready to assume full security responsibilities.

Consequences of Government Collapse

Debate in Washington over the war and the failure of Iraq's government to use the breathing space provided by extra U.S. troops to foster reconciliation has become so charged that some Democrats including presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton have called for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to be replaced. Salih said such comments were unhelpful.

"Those who are demanding the replacement of Mr. Maliki need to offer an alternative, because changing the government just for the sake of it without offering a credible alternative that can turn things for the better will not be useful," he said.

Asked if the collapse of Maliki's government would plunge the country deeper into crisis, Salih said:

"In the absence of a credible alternative, a better alternative, it would be problematic, chaotic. In the context of Iraq, when you talk about problems, you are talking serious problems."

He repeatedly said there were no quick fixes to Iraq's woes.

Some key laws could be ratified by parliament by the end of the year, Salih said.

This included a draft law that will ease restrictions on former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from joining the civil service and the military. Many members are Sunni Arabs who feel persecuted by Maliki's government.

That timeline will likely prove too long for U.S. lawmakers demanding concrete progress on political benchmarks seen as vital to bridging the deep divide between warring Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.

Parliament reconvenes on Sept. 4 after a month-long recess.

The government has yet to present any of the key draft laws, including draft legislation that aims to equitably share Iraq's vast oil wealth among its different sects and ethnic groups.

Salih said "if we decided to go and present these laws, probably we will be able to get a majority on most of them", but he added that this would not be enough.

"We are in a system where there must be a much wider margin, because these laws are designed to bring about national unity. It's not just about majority rule," he said. after more than four years of war that has killed 3,700 American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis. Policy, commitment is not open-ended. However, he has pleaded for patience and cited progress in recent months after a reduction in militant attacks.

PUKmedia :: English - Iraq deputy PM warns on early U.S. pullout

President Talabani: All Iraqis must participate in political process

The Iraqi President Jalal Talabani Tuesday emphasized the need for all Iraqis to be involved in the political process during a meeting with a delegation of the Shiite Iraqi Fadhila Party in the capital Baghdad.

President Talabani and the visiting delegates exchanged views about the latest developments in the political process and security challenges in the country as well as taking effective measures to tackle the problems.

President Talabani outlined that the participation of all Iraqi different groups in the political process was a must, insisting that any group that believes in the political process should not be marginalised.

He reaffirmed that the performance of the government have to be improved.

The provision of the best public services for population of the Basra province and solving the problems in the city was another topic of the discussions.

PUKmedia :: English - President Talabani: All Iraqis must participate in political process

Iranian Artillery Shelling does not Serve Bilateral Ties

The Iraqi deputy PM Barham Salih announced Tuesday that Iranian artillery shelling of border areas in the Kurdistan region did not serve bilateral ties between Iraq and Iran.

The Iraqi deputy PM’s comments came during a meeting with the Iranian ambassador to Iraq, Kadhimi Qumi in Baghdad.

Mr. Salih denounced the shelling of border areas and urged the Iranians to stop the bombardment.

He also said that the security problems between the two countries should be settled through dialogue and diplomacy.

PUKmedia :: English - Iranian Artillery Shelling does not Serve Bilateral Ties

French President Sarkozy Raise Possibility Of Force Against Iran

In his first major foreign policy speech, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday that Iran could be attacked militarily if it did not live up to its international obligations to curb its nuclear program.

Addressing France’s ambassadorial corps, Sarkozy stressed that such an outcome would be a disaster. He did not say France would ever participate in military action against Iran or even tacitly support such an approach.

Yet the mere fact that he raised the specter of the use of force is likely to be perceived both by Iran as a warning of the consequences if it continues its course of action, and by the Bush administration as acceptance of its line that no option, including the use of force, can be excluded.

Sarkozy praised the current diplomatic initiative by the world’s powers, a two-pronged approach that threatens tougher United Nations-mandated sanctions if Iran does not stop enriching uranium for possible use in a nuclear weapon, but holds out the possibility of incentives if Iran complies.

That approach, he said, “is the only one that can enable us to avoid being faced with an alternative that I call catastrophic: an Iranian bomb or the bombing of Iran.”

Calling the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program “the most serious weighing on the international order today,” Sarkozy also reiterated his position that a nuclear-armed Iran was “unacceptable” for France.

Although Sarkozy’s aides said French policy had not changed, some foreign policy experts were stunned by his blunt, if brief, remarks.
“This came out of the blue,” said Francois Heisbourg, special adviser to the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris and author of a coming book on Iran’s nuclear program. “To actually say that if diplomacy fails the choice will be to accept a nuclear Iran or bomb Iran, this is a diplomatic blockbuster.”

Sarkozy’s speech, an annual ritual outlining France’s foreign policy goals, came as a new poll indicated that he had extraordinarily high approval ratings more than three months into his presidency.

According to a TNS-Sofres telephone poll of 1,000 people published Monday in Le Figaro, 71 percent say they are satisfied with Sarkozy’s performance. A number of other polls put his approval rating higher than 60 percent.

Yet his debut before his ambassadors was marred by a diplomatic imbroglio involving his foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, who was forced to apologize to Iraq Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for calling for his resignation.

Maliki had demanded the apology from Kouchner, who was quoted on Newsweek’s Web site as saying that the Iraqi government was “not functioning” and that he told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by phone, “He’s got to be replaced.”

Sarkozy made no mention of the diplomatic gaffe. Instead, he went out of his way to repeatedly praise Kouchner, an outspoken humanitarian activist and former United Nations administrator of Kosovo who left the So******t Party to join Sarkozy’s conservative government.

In a subsequent speech to the 180 visiting ambassadors, Kouchner veered from his prepared remarks to say he had apologized to Maliki on Monday morning.

Kouchner has a reputation for being unable to hide his true feelings. He also suggested in the same sentence that the beleaguered Iraqi prime minister was already on his way out, saying that he “may be leaving us soon”. The audience, made up of ambassadors, other invited guests and journalists, laughed.

Most of Sarkozy’s speech was devoted to plotting a new, activist course for France’s role in the world, particularly in preventing what he called a confrontation between Islam and the West by working to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and crises in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq.

Praising his predecessor, he reiterated, “France was - thanks to Jacques Chirac - is and remains hostile” to the American-led war in Iraq. “History proved France right,” he added.

Calling for a concrete deadline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, he described it as “a nation that is falling apart in a merciless civil war,” where the Sunni-Shiite divide could ignite conflict throughout the Middle East and where terrorists are setting up permanent bases to attack targets around the world.

During a headline-grabbing three-day visit to Iraq last week, Kouchner offered France’s help in stabilizing the country, including mediating among warring communities, and working with the United Nations to play a bigger role.

Although Sarkozy praised Kouchner’s mission and said in his speech that France was prepared to engage with Iraq, he did not make a specific proposal.

Sarkozy, who is often faulted for being too pro-American, proudly restated France’s friendship with the United States, where he spent a two-week vacation this summer.

In a move that is certain to be welcomed in Washington, he announced that France would send more troops to Afghanistan to train the Afghan Army, de****e his statement during the campaign that France would not remain in Afghanistan forever. The Defense Ministry confirmed that France would send 150 additional troops.

Sarkozy also harshly criticized the Bush administration for going to war against Iraq on its own and for failing to address the global warming crisis adequately.

“It is clear now, and I mean it, that the unilateral use of force leads to failure,” he said of the Iraq crisis. As for the environment, he said the United States “unfortunately is not demonstrating the ‘leadership’ capacity that it claims in other areas.”

“When you make a claim of leadership, you have to assume it in every domain,” he added.

Iran Addresses U.N. Questions

Iran has cleared up questions from the United Nations nuclear monitoring agency about its experiments with plutonium, according to a United Nations-Iran working document released by Iran on Monday.

The plutonium issue is one of several over which the United Nations Security Council has imposed sanctions to get Iran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the watchdog that is investigating American charges that Iran is covertly developing nuclear weapons.

Iran’s mission to the agency released in Vienna the five-page text of a timetable for cooperation with the nuclear watchdog that was agreed upon in closed-door talks with agency officials last week in Tehran.
The agency is scheduled to file a report on Iran this week, before a meeting of its 35-nation board of governors in September.

Intellpuke: You can read this article by New York Times correspondent Elaine Sciolino, reporting from Paris, France, and the separate Agence France Presse article on Iran's response to U.N. questions, filed from Vienna, Austria, in context here: www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/world/europe/28france.html?hp

http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=13326

Iraqi premier promises Bush 'positive developments'

Tue, 28 Aug 2007

Baghdad - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has promised US President George W Bush positive developments in Iraq in the coming days, al-Maliki's office said on Tuesday. Al-Maliki received a phone call from Bush late Monday during which they discussed the outcome of al-Maliki's recent trip to Turkey, Iran and Syria, the statement added.

Al-Maliki said there had been political progress in Iraq, and stressed the necessity for participation of all political and parliamentary blocs, especially the Iraqi National Accord Front.

Earlier this month, five Sunni ministers and the deputy prime minister from the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front announced their withdrawal from government.

Iraqi premier promises Bush 'positive developments' : Middle East World

Ahmadinejad warns of power vacuum in Iraq, says Iran can fill gap

TEHRAN, Iran: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boldly declared Tuesday that U.S. political influence in Iraq is "collapsing rapidly" and that Tehran is ready to help fill any power vacuum.

The hardline Iranian leader also defended the neighboring country's embattled Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has recently faced harsh criticism by U.S. politicians for his unsuccessful efforts to reconcile Iraq's divided Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

"The political power of the occupiers is collapsing rapidly," Ahmadinejad said at a press conference, referring to U.S. troops in Iraq. "Soon, we will see a huge power vacuum in the region. Of course, we are prepared to fill the gap, with the help of neighbors and regional friends like Saudi Arabia, and with the help of the Iraqi nation."

Ahmadinejad did not elaborate how Iran would fill an eventual power gap in Iraq, but his remarks reflected what may be perceived as Iran's eagerness to have an increasing influence on its neighbor's political scene.

His mentioning a Saudi role may have sought to allay regional fears that Ahmadinejad would want to dominate in Iraq. Even though Riyadh and Tehran have not cooperated in the past, it "doesn't mean it can't happen," Ahmadinejad said.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Tuesday that the United States wants to see Iran play a more positive role in Iraq but that Ahmadinejad's remarks reflected "just more of the same Iranian rhetoric that claims to hold down support and friendship for the people of Iraq, while actions, unfortunately, take them in the opposite direction."

In defending al-Maliki, Ahmadinejad accused the United States of interfering in Iraq's internal affairs and said any U.S. effort to topple al-Maliki's government will fail.

Key U.S. Democrats including Sen. Hillary Clinton have called for al-Maliki to be replaced because his Shiite-dominated government has been unable to forge national unity.

U.S. President George W. Bush and the U.S. ambassador in Iraq both have given blunt assessments of the political stagnation in Baghdad, and Bush has said it would be up to the Iraqi people to decide if their government deserved to be replaced.

"They rudely say (the Iraqi) prime minister and the constitution must change," Ahmadinejad said of U.S. critics. "Who are you? Who has given you the right" to ask for such a change, he added, addressing American critics of al-Maliki.

For his part, al-Maliki has shrugged off the gloomy assessments, saying he would "pay no attention" to American critics and if necessary "find friends elsewhere."

Ousting al-Maliki, a longtime Shiite political activist, would require a majority vote in the 275-member Iraqi parliament. And as long as the Kurdish parties and the main Shiite bloc stand beside al-Maliki, his opponents lack the votes for that.

During al-Maliki's visit here earlier this month, Iranian leaders said that only a U.S. pullout would bring peace to Iraq.

"Occupation is the root of all problems in Iraq," Ahmadinejad said Tuesday. "It has become clear that occupiers are not able to resolve regional issues."

Even as Ahmadinejad spoke, fighting between Shiite factions in southern Iraq raised new fears that a British troops pullout and waning U.S. influence in the south could lead to chaos there that Iran may exploit.
Ahmadinejad also called on the Bush administration to provide an answer as to why have 600,000 Iraqis been killed so far. "Who will answer for this? What was achieved?"

Ahmadinejad dismissed the possibility of any U.S. military action against Tehran, saying Washington has no plan and is not in a position to take such action.

U.S. has accused Tehran of being behind attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq — a claim al-Maliki's government has only partially backed, saying Iran could have a role in the attacks. Iran has denied the charges.

On another issue of contention, the U.S. and its allies fear Tehran is using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to produce atomic weapons. Iran denies the charge, saying its program is solely geared toward generating electricity.

Ahmadinejad again Tuesday rejected any possibility of Iran suspending its controversial uranium enrichment program, saying it was "out of the question" and that the nation has achieved full proficiency in the nuclear fuel cycle.

"Today, Iran is a nuclear Iran," Ahmadinejad said, while vowing Iran was committed to a "peaceful (nuclear) path."

His comments followed an announcement Monday by the U.N. nuclear watchdog which said Tehran has offering some cooperation in the agency's probe of an alleged secret uranium processing project linked by U.S. intelligence to a nuclear arms program.

The U.S. criticized the deal with the watchdog, saying it won't save Iran from a third set of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to halt enrichment.

Ahmadinejad said the U.S. president was a "wicked, selfish and arrogant" leader who has abused the U.N. Security Council in a push to stop Iran's nuclear program.

"You saw that your coercion ... was futile," Ahmdinejad said, addressing his U.S. counterpart. "You sold out your prestige and stood against a cultured nation ... I recommend that you don't repeat this ugly behavior."

Ahmadinejad warns of power vacuum in Iraq, says Iran can fill gap - International Herald Tribune