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CIA Largely in the Dark on Interrogation Tactics washingtonindependent

Bush Issues Signing Statement On Defense Act, Waiving Ban On Permanent Bases In Iraq thinkprogress.org

Bomb takes death toll of journalists in Iraq war to 126

By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad


Iraq confirmed its reputation as the most dangerous country in the world for journalists this week when a roadside bomb killed an Iraqi television cameraman, Alaa Abdul-Karim al-Fartoosi, the first journalist to be killed in Iraq this year and the 126th since the start of the war.

Mr Fartoosi, 29, worked for al-Furat, the television station of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, one of the main Shia Islamic parties. He had left Baghdad at about 5pm on Tuesday for Samarra to cover the second anniversary of an attack on the Shia shrine in the city that provoked widespread killings.

Other workers at the television station told Mr Fartoosi to wait until the following day, but he said "the road was safe". The bomb which killed him near the town of Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, also injured another correspondent, Fatma al-Hassani, in the leg and injured the cameraman's assistant, Haider Jawad. The explosion almost certainly was not meant for the journalists but for a passing military or police vehicle.

The great majority of the journalists killed – 104 out of the total – were Iraqi. Thirteen were European and two were American. In addition, 49 media support workers have also been killed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York.

Iraqi journalists have died in almost every circumstance and at many hands. Sometimes there were direct attacks on buildings in which the media worked, such as the suicide bomber who drove a refuse lorry packed with explosives into the entrance of Baghdad TV's offices on 5 April 2007, killing the deputy director Thaer Ahmad Jaber.

Other journalists have been killed because of the stories they were reporting or the political line of the publication, radio or TV for which they worked. Iraqi workers for foreign media companies are particularly at risk. Alaa Uldeen Aziz and Saif Laith Yousuf, a cameraman and a soundman working for ABC News, were ambushed and killed by gunmen in two cars.

Often journalists have been killed for the same reasons that tens of thousands of Iraqis die, but their deaths receive a little more notice. For instance, Khaled Fayyad Obaid al Hamdani was shot dead by a US military patrol when he was driving to work, according to the Nahrain television station for which he worked. He was driving fast to avoid kidnappers but the US soldiers evidently suspected him of being a suicide bomber and shot him. A US military spokesman said he had no record of the shooting.

Many journalists have also been killed because they were Sunni or Shia caught in the wrong area or at the wrong checkpoint. Many were tortured before they died. Others appear to have been abducted for ransom and killed when it was not forthcoming. The salary for a cameraman working for an Iraqi TV station is around $300 (£150) a month while a more senior director would get up to $1,200.

Iraqi journalists these days do much of the reporting for Western media organisations, because of the danger to any foreigner appearing in public.

Some foreign media have become prisoners of their own Western security companies and are mainly confined to their offices. This has kept casualties among Western journalists down but means that much of the war is unreported.

Independent

Afghan reports offer bleak assessments



A suicide car bomb targeted an army vehicle in Kabul on Thursday
Exactly two years ago, the Afghan government and its many international backers met in London to plot a plan for the future, but the progress reports do not make for pretty reading.

The relief agency, Oxfam International, has sent an open letter to the leaders of supporting nations calling for "a major change in direction in order to reduce suffering and avert humanitarian disaster."

The influential US-based Afghanistan Study Group has meanwhile warned that the progress made in the six years since the end of the Taleban regime "is under serious threat from resurgent violence, weakening international resolve, and a growing lack of confidence on the part of the Afghan people".

And the US think-tank, the Atlantic Council of the United States, starts its report with the words: "Make no mistake, Nato is not winning in Afghanistan."

Efforts undermined

By way of example, the day began in Kabul with a suicide bomb attack on an Afghan National Army bus and the discovery that four kidnapped security contractors working on a road building project had been beheaded by the Taleban.

The bomber blew himself up before reaching his target, but civilians were killed and injured in another blast in the capital just a couple of weeks after the attack on the five-star Serena Hotel that has affected the work of many aid workers.


Signatories of the Afghanistan Compact (31 January 2006)
Donors pledged $10.5bn in aid at the London conference in 2006

Afghanistan Compact

The "Afghanistan Compact" came out of the London Conference in the spring of 2006, agreeing on the principles of promoting development, security, governance, the rule of law and human rights in the country.

And while there has been progress on many fronts, the assessment of the three think-tanks and organisations is bleak.

Oxfam said many of the compact's targets had not been hit, and efforts had been undermined by increasing insecurity.

"The international community could be a great deal more effective, but too much aid is unco-ordinated or ineffectively delivered," said Oxfam's policy advisor in Afghanistan, Matt Waldman.

"They need to improve their coherence in terms of aid, efficiency too - much of aid is wasted on very expensive consultants or on contractors who make quite significant profits."

Call for change

There is a feeling among diplomats in Kabul that the international community is lacking in direction - hence their disappointment that President Hamid Karzai rejected the UK's Paddy Ashdown as a new super-envoy.

A United Nations representative who could co-ordinate and take the civilian effort forward is seen as the key to improving coherence, but it will be some months now before the position is filled.

The rejection of Lord Ashdown by the Afghan president at the 11th hour is indicative of the precarious relations between the international community and the charismatic leader.

Oxfam's criticisms and call for change are echoed by the two US bodies.

The Afghanistan Study Group, headed by the former US ambassador to the UN, Thomas Pickering, and Gen James Jones, the former Nato Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, says "too few military forces and insufficient economic aid" are to blame.

"Afghanistan is at a crossroads," their report says. "It's time to revitalise and re-double our efforts towards stabilising Afghanistan and re-think our economic and military strategies."

The recommendations are for a special envoy for Afghanistan within the US government to co-ordinate all US policies, and for Congress to "decouple Iraq and Afghanistan" and formulate a new unified five-year strategy.

And the Atlantic Council of the United States says its report is intended "to sound the alarm... that urgent changes are now required to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a failing or failed state".
BBC

Soldier Suicides at Record Level washingtonpost

One of Bin Laden's top six aides is killed in suspected US strike


· Abu al-Libi dies in attack on Pakistan compound
· Leader of Afghan militants targeted Cheney last year

Ian Black and Martin Hodgson



A senior al-Qaida figure in Afghanistan, described by Western officials as one of Osama bin Laden's top six lieutenants, has been killed, it was reported yesterday.

Abu Laith al-Libi was "martyred along with a group of his brothers on the territory of Islamic Pakistan" according to a statement on Ikhlaas.org, a website that often posts communiques from Islamists in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Libi's death may be linked to what is suspected to be a US missile strike in Pakistan's North Waziristan region earlier this week, in which 12 people - several Arabs and central Asians, as well as local Taliban members - are believed to have died. Locals told reporters that they heard US Predator drones flying in the area shortly before the explosion at a compound, and a Pakistani daily newspaper, The News, reported that the attack was targeted at Libi and another senior figure, Obaidah al Masri.

Pakistani officials said they had "no information" indicating that Libi was dead, but the Associated Press quoted a "knowledgeable western official" confirming the death: "It appears that Al-Libi has met his demise."

The killing of such a major al-Qaida figure inside Pakistan has the potential to embarrass President Pervez Musharraf, who repeatedly said he would not sanction US military action against al-Qaida members operating in his country.

Libi is said to have been behind a bombing that killed 23 people at the US base at Bagram last February, during a visit by the vice-president, Dick Cheney.

A US state department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said yesterday: "We have a good dialogue on counter-terrorism with President Musharraf. Pakistan is a sovereign country. We respect the sovereignty of Pakistan."

Libi, whose nom de guerre suggests he was a Libyan national, was among the 12 men most wanted by the Americans, with a bounty of $200,000 on his head.

During the 1980s, he fought Soviet troops in Afghanistan, and was jailed by Saudi Arabian officials for two years. He was also believed to have plotted an unsuccessful coup against the Libyan leader, Muammar Gadafy in the mid-1990s.

Intelligence officials believe that Libi was based in Waziristan until late 2003 when he moved back into Afghanistan to take charge of al-Qaida operations.

Reports of his death came on an otherwise bleak day for the Afghan government and its allies. In another alarming sign of the resilience of opposition to Nato's mission, a Taliban suicide bomber assassinated the deputy governor of the southern province of Helmand, where British troops are fighting the militants. Pir Muhammad was attending noon prayers at the mosque in Lashkar Gah when the bomber struck, killing five other people and injuring 18.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which came amid increasingly loud warnings by US officials and other experts that the six-year mission to stabilise Afghanistan is facing a severe crisis.

Earlier, a suicide car bomber killed a civilian and wounded four others in an attack on an Afghan army bus in Kabul.

Most of the 6,000 British troops serving with Nato are based in Helmand. Canada, which has 2,500 troops in Kandahar, is threatening to withdraw them unless the alliance sends additional forces.

The violence came against a background of mounting alarm about the Afghan situation. Oxfam yesterday sent an open letter to the leaders of countries contributing troops and aid calling for "a major change in direction to reduce suffering and avert humanitarian disaster".

The reconstruction effort has suffered underfunding, turf battles between agencies, corruption and Taliban violence.

On Wednesday the US-based Afghanistan Study Group warned that progress made since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 "is under serious threat from resurgent violence, weakening international resolve, and a growing lack of confidence on the part of the Afghan people".

Most wanted

Osama bin Laden The Saudi Islamist chief is the world's most wanted man, with a $25m bounty on his head. Believed to be hiding in Pakistan

Ayman al-Zawahiri Egyptian surgeon, often regarded as the ideological force behind al-Qaida

Mustafa Abu al-Yazid Trusted Egyptian adviser to bin Laden. Identified by the September 11 Commission as al-Qaida's chief financial manager

Atiyah Abd al-Rahman Libyan jihadist who engineered a partnership between al-Qaida and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat

Saif al-Adel One of several al-Qaida leaders believed to be under house arrest in Iran

Adam Gadahn US convert to Islam known as "Azzam the American"
guardian

43 killed as female suicide bomber strikes


At least 43 people were killed when a female suicide bomber blew herself up at the main pet market in central Baghdad today.

Seventy-eight people were wounded in the deadliest bombing to strike the capital since 30,000 more American forces flooded into central Iraq last spring.

About 20 minutes later a second bomb tore through another bird market in a predominantly Shiite area in south-eastern Baghdad. That blast killed at least eight people and wounded 14, police said.

The attacks happened shortly before the weekly Islamic call to prayer resounded across the capital and were the latest in a series of violent incidents that have been chipping away at Iraqi confidence in the permanence of recent security gains.

The first blast happened at about 10.20am when the woman detonated explosives hidden under her traditional black robe at the central al-Ghazl market. The pet bazaar had recently re-emerged as a popular shopping venue as Baghdad security improved and a Friday ban on driving was lifted.

Firefighters scooped up debris scattered among pools of blood, clothing and pigeon carcasses.

Police initially said the bomb was hidden in a box of birds but later determined it was a suicide attack after finding the woman's head, an officer said.

Female suicide bombers have recently emerged as a deadly weapon and are widely believed to be the work of al Qaida in Iraq.

Many teenage boys were among the 43 people killed and 78 wounded, according to police and hospital officials. It was the deadliest explosion in the capital since an April 18 car bombing killed 116 and wounded 145 in central Baghdad.

A bomb hidden in a box of small birds also exploded at the al-Ghazl market in late November, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens. The US military blamed the November attack on Iranian-backed Shiite militants, saying they had hoped al Qaida in Iraq would be held responsible for the attack so Iraqis would turn to them for protection.

The eight people killed at the bird market in New Baghdad
Independent

43 killed as female suicide bomber strikes


At least 43 people were killed when a female suicide bomber blew herself up at the main pet market in central Baghdad today.

Seventy-eight people were wounded in the deadliest bombing to strike the capital since 30,000 more American forces flooded into central Iraq last spring.

About 20 minutes later a second bomb tore through another bird market in a predominantly Shiite area in south-eastern Baghdad. That blast killed at least eight people and wounded 14, police said.

The attacks happened shortly before the weekly Islamic call to prayer resounded across the capital and were the latest in a series of violent incidents that have been chipping away at Iraqi confidence in the permanence of recent security gains.

The first blast happened at about 10.20am when the woman detonated explosives hidden under her traditional black robe at the central al-Ghazl market. The pet bazaar had recently re-emerged as a popular shopping venue as Baghdad security improved and a Friday ban on driving was lifted.

Firefighters scooped up debris scattered among pools of blood, clothing and pigeon carcasses.

Police initially said the bomb was hidden in a box of birds but later determined it was a suicide attack after finding the woman's head, an officer said.

Female suicide bombers have recently emerged as a deadly weapon and are widely believed to be the work of al Qaida in Iraq.

Many teenage boys were among the 43 people killed and 78 wounded, according to police and hospital officials. It was the deadliest explosion in the capital since an April 18 car bombing killed 116 and wounded 145 in central Baghdad.

A bomb hidden in a box of small birds also exploded at the al-Ghazl market in late November, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens. The US military blamed the November attack on Iranian-backed Shiite militants, saying they had hoped al Qaida in Iraq would be held responsible for the attack so Iraqis would turn to them for protection.

The eight people killed at the bird market in New Baghdad
Independent

Cross-Border Chases From Iraq O.K., Document Says NYT

U.S. Says It Accidentally Killed 9 Iraqi Civilians NYT

'Britain planned secret camp in Afghanistan to retrain Taliban soldiers to fight for Nato' Mail

UK-US talks on Afghan war support

The meeting with Ms Rice comes at a crucial moment
The US secretary of state is to meet the prime minister in London to bolster support for the Afghanistan war.

Condoleezza Rice will meet Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband to discuss Nato tensions over countries' provision of fighting troops.

They will also look for ways to repair relations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has rejected much of the international strategy for his country.

The talks are likely to consider how to maintain public support for the war.

'Disarray'

According to BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins, the talks are taking place at a critical moment.

The US and UK "have to galvanise international action", he said.

"Above all, London and Washington fear a draining away of public consent at home for a war which is meant to deny space for those promoting global terrorism.

"Public consent could be hard to maintain unless that war is seen to be far more decisive."


President Karzai and his fragile Afghan government disagree sharply with Washington and London over the way forward

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins
Our correspondent also said that Nato was "in disarray as countries taking the heaviest casualties criticise other member states unwilling to send troops or risk them in combat".

France and Germany are among the nations which have been criticised for failing to send forces to parts of Afghanistan which have seen the most intense fighting.

International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander at the weekend called for "appropriate burden sharing" of troops from the 38 Nato countries represented in Afghanistan.

Our correspondent said: "To make matters worse, President Karzai and his fragile Afghan government disagree sharply with Washington and London over the way forward and who should help drive [the war]."

He added that the UK and US agreed on the vital need to rescue Afghanistan from collapse, to prevent violent extremists regaining ground, and to destroy the basis of Europe's heroin trade.

Michael Williams, head of the transatlantic security programme at the Royal United Services Institute, said there was no willingness to change among most of the allies.

"It is a poorly defined mission in Afghanistan, it is difficult to execute with a common strategy. That is the root of the problem.

"What this meeting is going to do is look at this and how to convince the allies to participate more. But it is too far down the line, I don't think anyone is going to change how they are engaged."
BBC

'Al-Qaeda trains kids to kill' Sun