Week's News, Opinion
Troubled relations — U.S. at home and abroad
Compiled and edited, minor comment by Carolyn Bennett
U.S.-LED
WAR DEAD?
Casualty sites reporting February 20, 2011
(Accurate totals unknown)
• Anti-war dot com latest update February 19, 2011
U.S. Casualties in Iraq since March 19, 2003
[U.S. war dead since the Obama inauguration January 20, 2009: 210]
American Wounded Official Estimated
Total wounded 32,978 - over 100000
U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000
Suicides estimated: 18 a day
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
• Iraq Body Count—Documented civilian deaths from violence figures:
99,712 – 108,865
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
• ICasualties figures:
IRAQ: 4,438 U.S., 4,756 Coalition
AFGHANISTAN: 1,476 U.S., 2,334 Coalition
http://icasualties.org/oif/
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
January 19 Wisconsin
Fifty-five thousand people on Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin, continued weeklong demonstrations protesting legislation aimed at breaking unions. The state’s governor, Scott Walker, wants state workers to increase contributions to pensions to 5.8 percent of salary and double contributions to health insurance premiums to 12.6 percent. His proposal would limit collective bargaining to wage issues and cap increases to the rate of inflation.
Continuing a national movement to break unions, the governor’s proposal would end government collection of union dues and require unions to hold annual recertification votes. Wisconsin is considered the flashpoint for a U.S. struggle over efforts to roll back pay, benefits and bargaining rights of government workers.
In their protest demonstrations, opponents chanted, “Kill the bill.”
IRAQ
February 18 Basra
Around 1,000 people demonstrated in Iraq’s second largest city on Friday demanding “better service delivery from the government, jobs and improved pensions.”
Anti-government protesters have rallied in various parts of the country against corruption, poor basic services and high unemployment. Protests occurred in the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq and in the southern city of Nasiriyah and elsewhere in the country.
Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, said on Thursday that peaceful protests were the right of all Iraqis and warned that those inciting violence would be brought to justice. Injury of 47 people and 1 death among protesters in the southern city of Kut prompted Human Rights Watch to call for an “‘independent and transparent investigation.’”
February 16 Kut
Three protesters died and thirty people suffered wounds when security forces clashed with protesters in a southern Iraqi province. Among the dead was a 16-year-old boy who had taken a bullet in the chest.
Demonstrators of around 2,000 were demanding that Latif Hamad al-Tarfa, the provincial governor, resign over poor basic services such as electricity and water.
Protesters threw rocks and took over a provincial council building in Kut in Wasit province. Three government buildings including the governor’s official residence were set on fire.
AFGHANISTAN
February 20 Kabul
The International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said Sunday, according to United Press International, that they are investigating allegations that 50 (est.) civilians were killed by coalition forces in Kunar province. The ISAF said its information on the operations, which occurred at night in a remote area, was that thirty-six armed insurgents died in the incident.
Foreign forces withheld details on the reported deaths.
February 19 Jalalabad
Eighteen (est.) people (mostly civilians) died Saturday when Taliban attackers reportedly struck a branch of the Kabul Bank in Jalalabad. Robbery was not the motive. “The incident follows a pattern of recent Taliban attacks in major Afghan cities, including a police station in Kandahar, and a shopping center in Kabul. The Kabul Bank had been implicated in government corruption and almost went under last year over loans to well-connected shareholders.”
February 18 Baghlan province
Three German soldiers died Friday when a shooter opened fire on troops in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province. The shooter, apparently a member of Afghan security forces, also died in the exchange of fire. The shootings occurred shortly after a visit to the region by Germany’s defense minister.
Six hundred (est.) German troops are stationed in Baghlan, which is considered one of the most dangerous areas in Afghanistan. Five German soldiers died last year in the province. Germany deploys 4,800 troops in Afghanistan, the third largest foreign force behind the U.S. and Britain. Since the start of the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, 48 German soldiers have died.
February 12 Kandahar
Nineteen people (among them 15 police officers, one intelligence officer and 3 civilians) along with three bombers died in an attack by Taliban fighters and suicide bombers. Among the wounded were two police officers, two members of the National Intelligence Directorate, and 25 civilians.
PAKISTAN
February 15 Lahore
U.S. Senator John Kerry has apologized for killings in Pakistan. In his position as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry “delivered the apology after arriving in Pakistan on Tuesday to resolve a diplomatic row over a U.S. employee, Raymond Davis.
Davis killed two Pakistanis in the eastern city of Lahore on January 27 and afterwards claimed “self-defense.” A third Pakistani died when struck by a U.S. diplomatic vehicle that came to Davis’s assistance.
Many Pakistanis have been suspicious about Davis, who was arrested with loaded weapons and a GPS satellite-tracking device. U.S. authorities have been vague as to his role in Pakistan.
The U.S. president had earlier “urged Pakistan to free Davis, insisting that he was not ‘callous’ about the shooting that led to the U.S. employee’s arrest.”
The U.S. government pressured Pakistan’s government to free Davis, triggering a new flare-up in anti-U.S. sentiment in the South Asian nation, and put off three-way talks with Pakistan and Afghanistan that were due to be held next week.
Claiming “diplomatic immunity” for Davis, the U.S. president said without this cover “diplomats who ‘deliver tough messages to countries where we disagree with them’ will ‘start being vulnerable to prosecution locally.’”
U.S. v. UNITED NATIONS and
PALESTINE
February 19
The United States on Friday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have condemned Israeli settlements as ‘illegal’ and called for an immediate halt to all settlement building.
All 14 other Security Council members voted in favor of the resolution. The veto by the U.S. president “is certain to anger Arab countries and Palestinian supporters around the world.”
Since 2000, one or more of the five permanent members (Peoples Republic of China, France, the Russian Federation, United Kingdom, and United States), of the UN Security Council have vetoed fourteen Security Council Resolutions. Ten of those vetoes were United States vetoes, nine of which related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Arab MIDDLE EAST
Uprisings, “America’s Horse” February 7
“‘America’s horse’ is the Arab leader who is backed by the United States and given license to rule however he deems appropriate, as long as he doesn’t threaten Israel’s security or other American interests in the region. In return, [the Arab leader] is allowed to abuse human rights and deny his people economic and political rights. With America’s sanction, and under the banner of fighting Islamic fundamentalism, [the leader] can crush any opposition that arises.…
“[Now] a wave of popular uprisings in the Middle East is sending a clear message to those in power — and those who aspire to be in power — in the Arab world. Together with the release of several sets of leaked secret documents, they are making it clear that one should never bet on America’s horse.”
Leadership discredited — “…The United States and Western countries must reconsider their approach toward the regimes of the Middle East. It will no longer suffice for America’s horse to use the banner of moderation and Western values, and the need to fight Islamists, to crush all opposition. After all, everyone in the Arab world knows that this is not how America chooses its own leaders and treats its own political opposition.
“…The U.S. needs to think long and hard about its interests in the region, through the prism of the wants and needs of the Arab masses— not by gambling and hedging bets on this or that American horse. …The lesson to be learned is that America’s horse can’t win the race. …”
“Mad as hell” MIDDLE EAST
February 6
“Whether Islamist or secularist, any government of ‘of the people’ will turn against the neoliberal economic policies that have enriched regional elites while forcing half or more of the population to live below the $2 per day poverty line. …
They will no longer turn a blind eye, or even support, Israel’s occupation and siege across the Occupied Palestinian territories.
“They will most likely shirk from spending a huge percentage of their national income on a bloated military and weapons systems that serve to enrich western defense companies and prop up autocratic governments, rather than bringing stability and peace to their countries — and the region as a whole.…
“[I]f the revolutions of 2011 succeed, they will force the creation of a very different regional and world system than the one that has dominated the global political economy for decades, especially since the fall of communism. This system could bring the peace and relative equality that has so long been missing globally — but it will do so in good measure by further eroding the position of the United States and other ‘developed’ or ‘mature’ economies. If Obama, Sarkozy, Merkel and their colleagues do not figure out a way to live with this scenario, while supporting the political and human rights of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa, they will wind up with an adversary far more cunning and powerful than al-Qaeda could ever hope to be. More than 300 million newly empowered Arabs who are mad as hell and are not going to take it any more.”
Sources and notes
“Ideologies clash in Wisconsin — Competing protests draw thousands in flashpoint US state over bid to roll back pay and union rights of government staff,” February 20, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/02/20112201564409366.html
“Fresh protests hit Iraqi cities — Reports of deaths as thousands turn out to demand better service delivery and jobs from government,” February 18, 2011,
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/2011218104510878522.html
“Iraqis attack government offices — Three people killed in clashes with security forces as protesters break into public offices and set buildings on fire,” February 16, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/2011216114058147154.html
“Possible Afghan civilian deaths probed,” February 20, 2011, http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/02/20/Possible-Afghan-civilian-deaths-probed/UPI-65521298223603/
Also: “Kabul blast kills, wounds several,” January 12, 2011,http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/01/12/Kabul-blast-kills-wounds-several/UPI-97371294834707/
“Taliban kill 18 in Afghan bank attack,” February 19, 2011, http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/02/19/Taliban-kill-18-in-Afghan-bank- attack/UPI-11131298141051/
“Three German soldiers killed in Afghanistan,” February 18, 2011, http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14851662,00.html
Also: “Roadside bombs kill at least 17 civilians,” January 17, 2011, http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/01/17/Roadside-bombs-killat-least-17-civilians/UPI-86861295185467/
“19 dead in Kandahar police station attack,” February 12, 2011, http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/02/12/19-dead-in-Kandahar-police-station-
attack/UPI-31391297535553/
“Pakistan receives Kerry apology — Senator says US ‘deeply sorry’ while Obama urges release of ‘diplomat’ who fatally shot two Pakistanis," February 15, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/02/201121519284986246.html
“U.S. vetoes UN draft on settlements — Washington blocks resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories as an obstacle to peace,” February 19, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201
1218201653970232.html
“U.S. doubling down on Middle East horses — People in Palestine will trust US stewardship once again if Obama applies consistent political standards to PA leaders,”
(Fadi Elsalameen), last modified February 7, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/20112710311546108.html
This article originally appeared in Haaretz. Fadi Elsalameen is a fellow with the New America Foundation’s American Strategy Program. He is also director general of the Palestine Note and Diwan Palestine, internet newspapers in English and Arabic.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
“The shaping of a New World Order — If the revolutions of 2011 succeed, they will force the creation of a very different regional and world system,”(Mark LeVine) last modified February 6, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/20112611181593381.html
Mark LeVine is a professor of history at University of California-Irvine and senior visiting researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University in Sweden. The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
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