Category: News

The liberated Iraq:

“We had to send [the security men] phone cards so they could call us. They said: ‘Your son is being tortured – he will die if you don’t pay.’ So we paid and paid. What could I do? He is the last I have. I said I would sell myself in the streets, just bring him back to me.”

Yassir’s case is part of a growing body of evidence collected by the Guardian that shows Iraqi state security officers are systematically arresting people on trumped-up charges, torturing them and extorting bribes from their families for their release. Endemic corruption in Iraq has created a new industry in which senior security service officers buy their authority over particular neighbourhoods by bribing politicians, junior officers pay their seniors monthly stipends and everyone gets a return on their investment by extorting money from the families of detainees.

See some of my previous writing on what a gift we’ve given the Iraqis:

US Approves of Maliki’s Consolidating Dictatorial Power in Iraq

US Sending $11 Billion in Arms, Despite Maliki’s Turn Towards Dictatorship

Is this what democracy looks like?

Panetta Says Iraq Debacle ‘Worth It’

By now, I’m sure most readers of this blog are informed about Mark Perry’s blockbuster story Friday on foreignpolilcy.com that describes how Israeli Mossad agents posed as U.S. spies to recruit and use members of the Jundallah group to carry out what the State Department and others have called a campaign of terror against Iran focused in particular on the largely Sunni province of Sistan va Balochistan. If you haven’t read it, you definitely should.

This story naturally raises a host of questions, among them, why Jundallah was not put on the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list before November 20, 2010; how much control the Mossad has exercised over Jundallah and its operations; whether Mossad may be operating another “false-flag” operation with PJAK, the Iraqi Kurdistan-based Iranian branch of Turkey’s PKK. (PJAK was designated an FTO 15 days after Obama’s inauguration, reportedly as a gesture to both Ankara and Tehran, and, as Mark reminded me Friday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reportedly recommended last summer that Israel begin providing assistance to the PKK in retaliation for Ankara’s decision to downgrade relations with Tel Aviv.) And hanging over all this is the big question of why, if Washington knew of Israel’s sponsorship of one or more FTOs, particularly one as bloody-minded as Jundallah, did it not do more to discourage that relationship? Deliberately averting one’s eyes to terrorist activity is, after all, a form of complicity, particularly if you know that this terrorist activity is being done in your name.

Meanwhile, a remarkably and unusually candid discussion (for a mainstream medium) of Israel’s strategy of provocation took place yesterday with an interview by MSNBC’s Chris Matthews of former CIA officer Robert Baer and can be seen here. It runs about five minutes. Baer makes clear his view that these assassinations, about which I hope to write more later, have little to do with setting back Iran’s nuclear program in any meaningful way, but are rather designed to provoke an armed response that would increase the likelihood of a U.S. or U.S./Israeli attack.

I think that these two forms of terrorism — support for Jundallah and possibly other terrorist groups, and the assassination of scientists associated with Iran’s nuclear program — share the same goal. (Killing a handful of scientists will not stop Iran’s nuclear program, and Jundallah is essentially a ragtag group with no hope of seriously destabilizing the regime.) The primary aim of these programs, therefore, appears to be provocation. And, so long as the U.S. is seen as supportive of or at least complicit with these efforts (as Israel clearly wishes the U.S. to be seen), hard-line forces in the Iranian regime will always have a leg up in internal discussions about whether Washington can be trusted in any negotiation. That’s why it seems to me that it’s incumbent on the Obama administration, if indeed it wishes to avoid war, to make as clear as it possibly can that it has absolutely nothing to do with these covert programs. In that respect, public denials, no matter how categorical, by Clinton, Panetta, and the White House to that effect are not nearly sufficient.

In that connection, one wonders whether Obama addressed this issue in his conversation with Netanyahu on Thursday; that is, two days after the assassination in Tehran and on the eve of the publication of Perry’s article of which the White House and other agencies were no doubt aware because of the author’s last-minute efforts to get them to comment.

The two leaders also discussed recent Iran-related developments, including the international community’s efforts to hold Iran accountable for its failures to meet its international obligations. The President reiterated his unshakable commitment to Israel’s security, and the President and the Prime Minister promised to stay in touch in the coming weeks on these and other issues of mutual concern.

While it focuses on the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iran, today’s piece in the Wall Street Journal is suggestive, particularly the last paragraph:

Some American intelligence officials complain that Israel represents a blind spot in U.S. intelligence, which devotes little resources to Israel. Some officials have long argued that, given the potential for Israel to drag the U.S. into potentially explosive situations, the U.S. should devote more resources to divining Israel’s true intentions.

Read the update at LobeLog.com.

McClatchy reports that Afghans aren’t surprised by the video of U.S. Marines urinating on dead Afghans:

In Afghanistan, while no major protests were reported the day after the video surfaced online — purporting to show four Marines standing in a semicircle and urinating on dead Afghans — one resident said he wasn’t surprised.

“I know a lot of horrible things happen in the south and nobody but the locals know about it,” said Jamal Karimi, 32, referring to southern Afghanistan, where American forces have maintained a large troop presence.

“Such things happen all the time, and people talk about it but media hardly report them,” said Karimi, a shopkeeper from the southern city of Kandahar.

I said as much when this video first broke out. See here and here for my previous discussions on it.

The Economist editorializes about the situation in Somalia and surprisingly implies an optimistic future.

Somalia may now have its best chance of peace and security since 1991. If the government can consolidate its hold on Mogadishu, it will be a big step forward. The capital’s port is busy, its markets bustling. More suicide-bombings and assassinations will occur; a respected local journalist was killed last month. But this year most residents will, with luck, seek to remake their livelihoods rather than worry about fending off jihad.

I think they may need to worry about fending off more than jihad. As the Economist piece itself points out, the United States is behind these military initiatives in Somalia, has “intelligence agents and special forces on the ground,” and “drones in the sky.” The U.S. is running CIA blacksites as prisons and supporting thuggish militias to fight al-Shabaab, all while conducting covert kill/capture raids with Joint Special Operations Command forces. The U.S.-supported regimes of Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, and others are joining the fight against the Somali militants as Predator and Reaper drones unleash airstrikes launched from bases in Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Seychelles.

The new strategy in Africa indicates a shift into the shadows, for this is the war nobody knows about. It is characterized by military aid to and reliance on brutish, undemocratic regimes, proxy militias, and targeted special operations. All of this is done without the consent of Congress and for the most part in secret. This is not cause for optimism. Optimism for the strategy appears irreconcilable with recent history, given that the U.S.-sponsored invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia in 2006 helped give rise to the militant group al-Shabaab – now ironically justifying current interventions.

The Washington Post recently reported that the Obama administration has a “concern that a broader campaign could turn al-Shabab from a regional menace into an adversary determined to carry out attacks on U.S. soil.” If what we’re already seeing isn’t “a broader campaign,” I wouldn’t want to see what is. But the point here is that even the administration recognizes that al-Shabab is merely “a regional menace” that does not pose a direct threat to the United States. It is also explicitly acknowledged that unleashing a drone war against the group, or instigating a regional war from all sides on Somalia, is likely to promote them into an international terrorist group “determined to carry out attacks on U.S. soil.”

This parallels a Congressional report issued at the very beginning of December which said “Boko Haram has quickly evolved and poses an emerging threat to US interests and the U.S. homeland,” and justifies entrenching military and security interests with the Nigerian government. Patrick Meehan, the chairman of the U.S. Congressional committee that drew up the report, said “While I recognize there is little evidence at this moment to suggest Boko Haram is planning attacks against the [US] homeland, lack of evidence does not mean it cannot happen.” Genius. As best I can tell, Boko Haram wasn’t on the radar until Africa became Washington’s new pet project in the “war on terror.”

So, should we expect “peace and security” in Somalia and East Africa, as the Economist suggests? The U.S. is funding and arming African tyrannies in this (again, largely secret) fight, which doesn’t exactly evoke pictures of peace and security. Those tyrannies are engaged in a ground war, along with U.S. forces, in Somalia, contributing to the ongoing civilian strife in the country. The drone war, especially if it is expanded, is likely to kill civilians and to strengthen Shabab militants, according to American officials. Reports do talk about a weakened al Shabab as things stand, but all this doesn’t strike me as the proper ingredients for peace and security.