74% of US Voters Hold Iraq an Important Issue;
Security Agreement in Doubt;
Syria Closes US Embassy for a Day
Three quarters of American voters say that the Iraq War is a very important or extremely important issue for them. I talk around the country on Iraq and I also find widespread concern about and interest in the subject. A smart television news program that gave renewed attention to Iraq instead of ignoring it would likely be rewarded with a ratings spike.
It is dawning on the Bush administration that it will not likely get a security agreement with the Iraqi government by January 1. In the absence of such an agreement or an extension of the UN Security Council mandate, US troop actions in Iraq could be considered war crimes in international law.
Syria temporarily closed down the US embassy in Damascus ahead of a large demonstration that the government feared might turn violent. Syria has also announced that it will reduce its troop presence on the border with Iraq. That is, Damascus is reducing its policing of the fundamentalist vigilantes who infiltrate Iraq from Syria, as a protest against the US attack on a Syrian village that left 8 dead. Washington officials have said that they had moved against an important smuggler of the fundamentalist vigilantes into Iraq.
An Iraqi opposition parliamentarian has alleged that the Iraqi government maintains 420 secret detention centers where large numbers of prisoners are held with no legal protections.
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Sadr Movement says that 20,000 of its members are being kept in prison with no due process.
McClatchy reports political violence in Iraq on Thursday.
' Baghdad
- A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in Fudhailiyah neighborhood (east Baghdad). Five people were injured including two policemen.
- A roadside bomb targeted an American patrol in Tobchi (Al-Salam) neighborhood (northwest Baghdad) .One civilian was killed and five others were wounded. No US casualties reported, police said. The U.S. military said that one person suffered minor injuries and no one was killed.
- Police found one dead body in Ur neighborhood (east Baghdad) today.
Diyala
- Gunmen opened fire on Sahwa members in Swghaa village near Buhriz (3 miles south of Baquba). Three Sahwa members were wounded.
Salahuddin
- A car bomb targeted a police patrol in Abu Ajeel village (3 miles east of Tikrit). One policeman was injured. '
Labels: Iraq
posted by Juan Cole @ 10/31/2008 12:48:00 AM
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7 Comments:
In the absence of such an agreement or an extension of the UN Security Council mandate, US troop actions in Iraq could be considered war crimes in international law.
The US invasion in itself was already a war crime in international law. Nothing was justifying it. So I don't think that the absence of a SOFA or of a proloungation of the UN mandate would change anything in the US attitude.
The correct answer to this situation would be to withdraw. But I doubt that any elected US president would try that.
May be that the actual Iraqi government hopes to get a better agreement with Obama and is playing on time in order to have it...
But the Iraqi street is against any extension of the US presence.. so let us see what will come out of it.
ref : “A smart television news program that gave renewed attention to Iraq instead of ignoring it would likely be rewarded with a ratings spike.”
It is interesting that you should say this, Professor, as Madame and I were having this discussion just the other day. American entrepreneurs have always been adept at recognizing opportunity, and many of us Over Here were recently reminded ~ during the scary financial "melt down" of the last few weeks (everything's been fixed, now, folks :) when the American TeeVee broke with its pattern of showing us nothing more than "news people" talking to other "news people", rather than "reporting the news" ~ and showed us international news-feeds so that we could monitor all the global goings-on melting-down, Over There.
There is an opportunity for "news" all over again, as Americans have for some time now been channeled, literally into seeking "confirmation of views", rather than "news". It seems likely that CNN (which is two channels Over Here) will set one up as RedStation and the other as BlueStation: Take that FOX, we can have our cake and eat it, too! Indeed there is money to be made in "Just the facts, Ma'am" and some clever young guy or gal may flip a satellite switch or two and by doing so, the news will be their fortune ;-)
UPI puts the US embassy/Syria as closed... but NOT just for the day:
DAMASCUS, Syria, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- The United States closed its embassy in Damascus, Syria, amid rising tensions and an increased security risk, officials said Friday.
The move was the latest step in the fallout over a U.S. air attack in northern Syria last Sunday in which eight Syrians died. U.S. military officials said the fight took place as soldiers looked for smugglers of fighter planes into Iraq.
DEBKAfile reported that military sources said the Syrian government has warned that if there are more U.S. raids Syria will break off security cooperation not only with the United States but also with Iraq on their common border. In Full Here
..and furthermore, the White House is apparently snubbing General Petraeus' plans for talks.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus is at odds with the Bush administration over his desire to meet with Syrian officials, sources said.
ABC News reported Thursday that Petraeus proposed visiting Syria to meet in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad shortly after taking over as the top U.S. commander for the Middle East.
The network reported that the general's plan was shot down by officials at the White House, State Department and the Pentagon. In Full Here
So, is that gonna be three fronts, four, or five... Aw heck, for simplicity's sake lets just call it what it's becoming at a sure and steady pace... REGIONAL War
Mr Cole what do you make of the report on PBS news hour that our slippery State Department has inserted fine print to the SOFA giving it's PSC's, Blackwater etc, continued full immunity under Iraqi law?
The torturing of detainees, Use of WMD in Fallujah, mass punishment enforced on Fallujah, the initial invasion... the list of war crimes is endless.
What gives me no consolation on the eve of the Democrats big victory is that NONE of them have spoken out about this.
We need to realize that Obama is a "good" president only in context of what kind of president McCain would have been. Obama has had no problems with all of this stuff to date.
"The correct answer to this situation would be to withdraw. But I doubt that any elected US president would try that."
You are correct on both counts, Christiane. And anyone who believes that Obama intends to end the occupation of Iraq has not been listening to him much beyond the pretty sound bytes.
Obama has made it clear on a number of occasions that his intention is to reconfigure the occupation to have a smaller footprint. Of course, he does not say that explicitly. He refers to it as leaving a "residual force", and he has described specific missions for that "residual force", and some of those missions include combat. He has also stated his intention to have forces ready "over the horizon" to strike inside Iraq "if there is the need". That means air strikes, which are extremely destructive and indiscriminate, and which disproportionately affect civilians.
As long as there are U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq and as long as the U.S. will maintain that citadel (laughably called an embassy) that Bush built in Baghdad, there will still be an occupation.
Nevertheless, Obama must win, because the alternative is to horrible to contemplate.
In complement to my former comment, I've read several times that in the absence of a SOFA, the US soldiers would be "confined in their bases". That is completely wrong IMO, in the absence of a SOFA, the US troops would have to get out. This assessment is only another way to say that the US can stay in Iraq and to prolounge their occupation (because if they stay, they would have "the right" to defend themselves, to defend their supplies convoys etc..
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