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Catherine Moy
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A car bomb in Baghdad claims 51 lives.

Defense Secretary Gates says that al-Qaida is capitalizing on President Obama’s withdrawal of troops in Iraq and trying to fire up sectarian violence, according to the VOA: Amazing what happens when politicians butt into a war that was being handled nicely by generals.
Politics are poison and will ultimately cost American lives, just as they did in Vietnam.

Here’s the story from VOA:

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the recent series of highly deadly bombings in Iraq is an attempt by al-Qaida to spark sectarian violence as U.S. troops reduce their security role. 
Secretary Gates says he spoke to top U.S. commanders in Iraq about the violence just a few days ago.

“The judgment of the commanders is this is an orchestrated effort on the part of al-Qaida to try and provoke the very kind of sectarian violence that nearly tore the country apart in 2006,” said Robert Gates.

Secretary Gates says al-Qaida in Iraq announced its plan about six weeks ago. He says the al-Qaida leadership is testing new security arrangements as U.S. combat forces prepare to withdraw from Iraqi cities by June, and to end their combat role throughout Iraq by August of next year.

“They are clearly trying to take advantage of our drawdown, and particularly are drawing back away from the cities, to try and provoke a renewed round of sectarian violence,” he said.

Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gates played down the concern expressed by one senator that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki is contributing to the unrest by refusing to talk to some Sunni opposition groups.

“The latest information we have is that he is reaching out to some of the Sunni groups,” said Gates. “He does have a problem with the Baathist Party and some of the people who worked for Saddam Hussein. But he is reaching out to other Sunnis in terms of political alliances.”

In a commentary published Thursday, respected analyst Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies also blames the violence on al-Qaida, saying its leaders will take advantage of any potential weakness - whether it is the change in the role of U.S. forces or a problem in the reconciliation process. Still, he says, it is important to note that the overall level of violence has not changed recently, and is sharply down from last year. Cordesman writes that the effort to truly end violence in Iraq will last several years, and will require consistent U.S. and Iraqi efforts to build the country’s security forces, reconcile its diverse political factions and improve its economy. “In the interim,” he writes, “there will be good and bad months, but no truly peaceful months.”

At a news conference Wednesday marking his 100th day in office, President Obama noted that al-Qaida has at least so far not been successful in sparking a new round of widespread ethnic violence in Iraq.

“I think it’s important to note that, although you’ve seen some spectacular bombings in Iraq that are a legitimate cause of concern, civilian deaths, incidents of bombings, etc., remain very low relative to what was going on last year, for example,” said President Obama. “And so you haven’t seen the kinds of huge spikes that you were seeing for a time. The political system is holding and functioning in Iraq. Part of the reason why I called for a gradual withdrawal as opposed to a precipitous one was precisely because more work needs to be done on the political side to further isolate whatever remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq still exist.”

At the request of senior military commanders, President Obama agreed to a 19-month timetable for the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq, rather than the 16 months he had promised during the presidential election campaign. And he agreed that most of the U.S. combat troops could stay in Iraq until close to the end of that time period. A residual U.S. force will remain to train and support Iraqi forces until the end of 2011. 

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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President Obama is finding that closing Guantanamo Bay is much more difficult than he may have believed. Defense Secretary Gates has identified u p to 100 hardcore prisoners who can’t be freed, nor can they be tried. What a pickle, eh? Well he wouldn’t have a problem if he just kept Gitmo open.

The issue is prickly,The AFP reports.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US officials planning the closure of Guantanamo prison are weighing the cases of about 50 to 100 detainees who cannot be tried or released, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.

“The question is what do we do with the 50 to 100—probably in that ballpark—who we cannot release and cannot try,” Gates told a Senate hearing.

“I think that question is still open,” Gates said when asked about President Barack Obama’s plans to shut down the controversial “war on terror” prison.

His comments made clear that some inmates might have to be detained further even after the controversial prison at Guantanamo Bay is closed as ordered by Obama.

The US administration is closely reviewing the files of about 240 detainees held at the center to determine who could be transferred to other countries or tried in US civilian courts or special military tribunals set up under former president George W. Bush, Gates said.

About 60 detainees have been cleared of wrongdoing and the previous administration had planned to charge about 80 of the detainees.

The administration was asking Congress for about 50 million dollars to help cover the costs of possible further detention for some of the inmates, who officials say might be held at military prisons on US soil.

Separately, the Justice Department was requesting 30 million dollars to help pay for the effort to review the detainees’ cases, Gates told the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Lawmakers warned Gates at the hearing that local governments across the country had already expressed opposition to having any detainees transferred to prisons in their communities.

“I fully expect to have 535 pieces of legislation before this is over saying ‘not in my district, not in my state,’” Gates said, referring to the total number of representatives and senators in Congress.

“And we’ll just have to deal with that when the time comes.”

One of Obama’s first acts after taking office on January 20 was to order the closure of the prison at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba within a year.

The detention camp set up in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks was condemned at home and abroad for holding terror suspects without charges indefinitely.

US officials were also considering allowing some of the 17 Chinese ethnic Uighurs held at Guantanamo to settle in the United States, to help encourage allies to accept some of the detainees, Gates confirmed.

“What I have heard people talking about is our taking some of the Uighurs, probably not all,” he said.

“Because it’s difficult for the State Department to make the argument to other countries they should take these people that we have deemed in this case not to be dangerous, if we won’t take any of them ourselves,” he said.

Most of the 17 Uighurs held at the prison at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba were cleared more than four years ago of being “enemy combatants.”

The Defense Department and the State Department have tried unsuccessfully for several years to arrange the transfer of the Uighurs to a third country, saying they face the risk of persecution if they return to China.

The US administration has said it “cannot imagine” sending the inmates back to China.

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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Pakistan is making an effor to shut down the Taliban, which has moved dangerously toward Pakistan’s capital.

The NY Times has the story:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Heavy fighting raged for a third day in Pakistan’s northwest province as civilians flooded from the area and the Pakistani military reported some gains in pushing back Taliban insurgents.

The Pakistani military secured mountain passes to the west and south of the district, Buner, 60 miles from the capital, according to its spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, who spoke at a news briefing at the military headquarters in Rawalpindi. Helicopter gunships also rocketed Taliban positions in the north of Buner, where the militants had apparently fortified positions in areas adjoining their stronghold in the Swat Valley.

While government forces consolidated control of Buner’s main town, Daggar, General Abbas said it could still take another week for the operation to clear the whole district of militants, as the military was proceeding slowly to defuse booby traps and avoid civilian casualties.

The militants continued to unleash attacks, hitting a checkpost belonging to government paramilitary forces from the Frontier Corps in northern Buner, and seizing several police stations across the region, including two in the upper reaches of Swat.

Suicide car bombers also tried to hit government troops in the south of Buner but were destroyed before they could reach their targets, General Abbas said. Some 50 members of the police and paramilitary forces were still being held hostage by the Taliban in Buner.

Still, the government and the military repeated their support for the peace agreement forged in February with militants, under which the government agreed to install Shariah Islamic courts throughout seven districts in the Malakand region, including Swat and Buner.

“The army has faced extreme criticism in the last two to three months, but we think that the peace agreement is a good agreement,” General Abbas said. “If peace can be brought in the region without further destruction, then it will be a victory for all. But the other side is violating from Day 1. We have kept informing the government of the violations.”

Maulana Sufi Muhammad, who helped negotiate the accord for the militants, said the government had violated the peace agreement and warned that continuing the military operations would further inflame the militants and increase the spread of the Taliban.

“The government has violated the peace deal by starting military operations and sending troops to the area,” he told a meeting of elders in the district of Dir, where the Taliban have also been active. He called on the government to re-establish peace and said that if that failed, he would make the same demands for Shariah law from a future government

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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Top military brass are bracing for the release of photographs showing “alleged abuse” of prisoners. I say alleged, because a lot of the photos will be taken out of context to smear our military and their succesful efforts to protect America.
One other thing to ponder as your read this story: Our military is fighting two wars against rabid anti-American jihadists. Should President Obama have given up the pictures to the ACLU without a fierce fight to protect America’s intelligence?? The military has other things to do.

Here’s the story from Breitbart.com:

The US Defense Department said Tuesday it is weighing how best to manage the imminent release of photos showing (alleged) abuse of detainees amid concern about an international backlash.

The Pentagon announced last week it had agreed to release hundreds of photos from US-run prisons in Iraq and elsewhere in response to a long-running lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The photos were used as evidence in criminal investigations of US soldiers accused of abusing detainees in the “war on terror” during president George W. Bush’s administration.

“There is an extensive effort underway in this building, and in Central Command, and in Iraq and Afghanistan ... to determine the best way in which to share these photos with the public,” Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.

He said the photos, which date from 2001 to 2006, would not show a systematic pattern of abuse and that such cases were the exception.

“I think it needs to be put in perspective that these, ultimately, represent a very small percentage, a minute percentage of the overall interactions that our forces have had with detainees,” Morrell said.

“It does not in any way excuse the behavior that’s depicted in these photos. Some of it is appalling.

“But I don’t think it speaks to an overall manner of our forces dealing with Iraqis in detention settings.”

The ACLU says the photos refute the former Bush administration’s claim that torture and abuse occurred as a result of a few “bad apples” and was widespread.

Morrell said the commander of US forces in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, was so concerned about how the photos will be perceived in the Middle East that he devoted a large portion of a soon-to-be-released interview with an Arabic language television channel to the subject.
“He’s very concerned about making sure the people of Iraq and throughout the region understand the context here and that this is history, and that it no longer goes on, and that it did not reflect an overall standard of behavior for our forces in Iraq or Afghanistan,” Morrell said.

Photos showing . . . prisoners at Abu Ghraib caused global outrage and were exploited by Al-Qaeda and associated groups to recruit and rally anti-US sentiment.

The case dates back to a Freedom of Information request in 2003.

After a federal appeals court ruled against the government last year, Obama administration officials chose to release the photos instead of taking the case to the Supreme Court.

The Bush administration had refused to release the images to the public, arguing that the disclosure would fuel outrage and violate US obligations toward detainees under the Geneva Conventions.

Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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A chief of the Taliban says the terrorists will increase attacks on the government and troops (that’s U.S.). The warning comes as President Obama steps up troops levels in Afghanistan, , according to the Washington Post.

KABUL (Reuters) - A senior leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban warned Wednesday the movement will launch a new large-scale operation against the Afghan government, diplomatic missions, foreign troops and anyone supporting them.

Despite the increasing number of Western forces, the Taliban, ousted in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, have made a comeback in recent years and carried-out a series of stunning attacks in several major cities, including Kabul.

Posted on a Taliban website, (www.alemarah1.org) a message quoting the deputy leader of the movement, Mullah Brother Akhund, said the “Nasrat” (victory), will begin Thursday and include ambushes, bombs and suicide bomb attacks.

“The targets of these operations will be the military units of the invading forces, diplomatic centers, mobile convoys, high-ranking officials of the puppet administration, members of parliament and personnel of the so-called defense, interior and national security ministries,” the message said.

Through the offensive, the Taliban will seek to further tighten the encirclement of the enemy in the provinces and attack their supply routes, it added.

The message urged Afghan security forces to desert and join the militants and ordered private firms as well as individuals to stop working for the foreign troops.

U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban government after it refused to hand over al Qaeda leaders wanted by Washington for the September 11 2001 attacks on the United States.

The Taliban have made advances in recent years not only in Afghanistan, but also in neighboring Pakistan where they have some bases in the lawless tribal border region.

To fight the growing insurgency, the new administration in Washington has pledged to send an extra 21,000 troops this year to Afghanistan, where the level of foreign forces stand at more than 70,000.

The additional U.S. troops will be deployed mainly to the south east of the country.

The Taliban and al Qaeda leaders are still at large and thought to be in hiding in the tribal region on the Afghan-Pakistan border near to Pakistan’s lawless northern tribal areas.