Pakistan's tribal areas to get parliamentary reps

By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan lifted a ban on political activities in its tribal regions on Friday, granting the areas close to Afghan border parliamentary representation for the first time in the hopes it would reduce the grip of the Taliban there.

Pakistan's seven semiautonomous agencies have never been politically and administratively integrated into the rest of the country — a vacuum that observers say has allowed lawlessness and an al-Qaida- and Taliban-led militancy to thrive there.

"This breaks the monopoly of clerics to play politics from the pulpit of the mosque to the exclusion of major secular political parties," said Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardari "It empowers the locals and weakens the extremists."

Since the days of British colonial rule, the region's 4 million people have been ruled by government-appointed agents in concert with tribal leaders. They are subject to tribal laws that allow for detention without trial and communal punishment among other unpopular measures.

Babar said Friday's announcement did not reduce the powers of the political agent or modify the laws, but would mean that political parties could campaign there and represent the region in the national parliament after the next elections in 2013.

Since 2001, the border region has become a haven for militants behind surging violence in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Visiting Western officials have called on Islamabad to integrate it with the rest of the nuclear-armed country as a means of reducing militancy there.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rehman Malik appealed to the militants to surrender to the government, urging them to "say goodbye to terrorism and start a new life" in televised comments to the media.

The call could be a sign the government is seeking to exploit any potential weaknesses in the militant movement since Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was reportedly killed in a CIA missile strike on Aug. 5. U.S. and Pakistani officials believe he is dead, though his followers contend he is still alive.

Pakistani officials have called on the militants to surrender before, but with little success. The level of behind-the-scenes contact between the two sides is unknown.

U.S. and Western officials have said reaching out to moderate Taliban will likely be a major part of any solution to the raging insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan, but have been concentrating on urging Pakistan to fight the extremists, not talk with them.

Pakistan launched an operation against militants close to the border in the Swat Valley earlier this year after they violated the terms of a peace deal. It claims to have killed more than 1,200 extremists there and brought the region under government control.

Separately, three bombs killed one man and wounded another 18 people Friday in the impoverished but oil-rich province of Baluchistan, where Baluch nationalist groups have been fighting a separate low-level insurgency for decades.

One bomb, rigged to a motorcycle, exploded in a busy market in the industrial town of Hub, about 355 miles (570 kilometers) south of the provincial capital, Quetta, killing one man and wounded 15, said police officer Abdul Hameed Lasi.

Another police official, Abdul Qadoos, said another two bombs ripped through a street in the town of Mach, 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Quetta, wounding three.

Lead poisoning sickens 600 kids in China

BEIJING – More than 600 children have been sickened with lead poisoning in a northern Chinese province where authorities shut a smelter earlier this week thought to have caused the contamination, state media reported.

More than 80 percent of the 731 children living in the two villages near the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. in Shaanxi province have tested positive for lead poisoning, nearly double the number reported earlier this week, the official Xinhua News Agency reported late Thursday.

It said lead levels in children were as high as 506 milligrams per liter of liter of blood — more than 10 times the level considered safe by China.

Families who lived near the factory began bringing in sick children to hospitals and clinics in July and blamed the smelting factory for contaminating nearby soil, air and the area's water supply, the report said.

Local officials say they plan to relocate all 581 households living with 500 meters (1,600 feet) of the factory within the next two years, the report said.

Families had originally been slated for relocation even before the plant opened in 2006, but local officials blamed the delay on "readjustments in the overall planning," the report said.

Of the sickened children, 166 will be hospitalized and the remainder will receive at-home treatment to remove the lead from their bodies, according to Xinhua.

A spokesman for the local government, surnamed Wang, confirmed the new numbers and said the case was under investigation but refused to comment on whether sicknesses are linked to environmental pollution caused by the smelting company. He refused to give his full name as us common among Chinese officials.

Factory accidents and chemical leaks are common in China and are often blamed on lax enforcement of environmental regulations and safety rules and poor worker training.

Lead poisoning can damage the nervous and reproductive system, cause high blood pressure, anemia, memory loss, and, in extreme cases, cause victims to fall into comas and die.

China's waterways, especially its major rivers, are dangerously polluted chemicals after decades of rapid economic growth and poor enforcement of pollution controls.

Livni: Israelis desperate to leave country

Attila Somfalvi, YNet News

Opposition chairman says hundreds of thousands of Israelis searching or ways to move abroad in light of grim political situation in country, government's lack of vision

August 12, 2009

The Israeli public has lost all hope in light of the political situation in the country, opposition leader Tzipi Livni said Wednesday evening.

"I see the despair of many Israelis. Hundreds of thousands see what is happening and arrange for a foreign passport, send their children to study abroad and even buy a house overseas," Livni told hundreds of Kadima MKs and activists at a gathering in Tirat Hacarmel.

"I know many of you have come ere tonight because they care, not only about Kadima as a party, but also about the State of Israel. I know you too share what a great part of the Israeli public feels – desperation," she said.

"Only four months have passed since the establishment of the government. In other places this is usually a period of hope, prosperity, and vision. Instead, since the day this government took office, with its dozens of ministers and deputy ministers, the public has realized that its sole objective was political survival."

Kadima's chairwoman strongly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his "lack of vision and lack of clear path."

Livni lauded the faction members for the hard work they have been putting in at the Knesset. "Gentlemen, every one of Kadima's members and activists should be proud of the party. There is no other faction like it in the Knesset, and hasn't been one in many years," she stated.

'Made in Israel' Really Made in Jordan Sweatshop

New Report Reveals Israeli-run Clothing Factory in Jordan

By Ben Kaminsky

August 13, 2009

When they arrived at the factory their employers confiscated their passports to stop them running away. Ten crowd into a small room, sleeping on bunks full of bed bugs, with no showers. Water is available only a couple of hours each night. There's no heating, even in the freezing winter, and after breakfast—pita bread with tea—they have to work 13-hour days. Holidays aren’t part of the schedule.

Such is the description of the Musa Garments factory, operated in Jordan by Israelis, given in the U.S.-based NGO National Labor Committee’s (NLC) recent report. The factory produces clothes for Israeli fashion chains.

The employees, mostly foreign workers from Bangladesh and India, sew "Made in Israel" tags on at the end.

After a thorough investigation in Jordan in 2005-2006, the NLC found workers in slave-like conditions, and documented cases of beatings and rape.

The situation improved after the report, and the NLC established connections in the country. Since then, they have received daily phone calls from workers who complain about their employment conditions. One such tip-off led them to know about Musa Garments.

NLC representatives met with repatriated Bangladeshi workers who used to work at the factory, and say they were deported for going on strike in protest to their poor working conditions. NLC talked with each of them separately to verify the story, and also checked the claims against workers still in the factory in Jordan. Testimonies were unanimous.

Factories Migrating East

Charles Kernaghan, director of the National Labor Committee, told the Epoch Times in a phone interview that there's a pressure on factories around the world to "produce more for less."

"We've seen real acceleration of this 'race to the bottom,'" he said. He says that about two million manufacturing jobs have been lost in the U.S. since December 2007, when the recession began. This gives companies the excuse to move off shore, he says. "Those jobs are never coming back."

NLC also works on many cases in China. "China is just sucking down this global economy in terms of wages and benefits, and worker rights", says Kernaghan. He argues that Chinese factories force long hours and little pay, and that even car engineers earn only 96 cents per hour.

"There are six million Bengals who are guest workers around the world. It invites abuse because the workers are defenceless." As strangers in foreign lands, they don't know the local laws, don't speak the language, and are in debt because they had to pay a fortune to get smuggled abroad.

Threats and Intimidation

The workers in Musa factory asked for their passports to be returned, or to at least get a photocopy, but it didn't help. Similarly, when the men asked for a bubbler [a drinking fountain] to be installed on the factory floor, a supervisor told them that if they kept talking like that he would cut off their reproductive organs.

Until December 2008, they worked 12.5 to 13.5 hours a day, seven days a week, and were not paid the overtime premium legally due. After the recession they were required to speed up production. Sewers who had a target of 30 pieces an hour now had to do 40. When one worker said the production goal was unrealistic, a supervisor slapped her.

After striking, some workers were arrested and deported. Now supervisors also make threats of imprisonment.

Kobi Hayat, owner of the Pashut fashion chain, whose clothes are produced at Musa Garments, told the Epoch Times that they don't know where their products are made, and that they work through a subcontractor.

They asked to meet with the subcontractor, they said, in order to get a clear explanation and ask him to work through other factories.

The owners of Musa Garments, who had previously been questioned by Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, responded by saying that the NLC’s report was untrue, and that the workers lied. They did not elaborate

After Iraq, Blackwater Haunts Afghans

August 13, 2009

CAIRO — After gaining notoriety for killing many Iraqi civilians, the US private security company Blackwater, which now calls itself Xe Services, is running amok in Afghanistan.

"The Americans must answer for my son's death," Mirza Mohammed Dost, an Afghan elderly, told the Los Angeles Times, standing at the foot of his child’s grave, near a headstone that reads, "Raheb Dost, martyred by Americans."

His 24-year-old son and another civilian, 22-year Romal, who was on his way home from work, were killed in May by four Blackwater gunmen on a busy Kabul street.

The contractors opened fire after one of their vehicles tipped over in a traffic accident.

The killing revealed that US security contractors, whose heavily-armed convoys are a common sight on Kabul's traffic-clogged streets, were running amok.

"They have caused some serious difficulties for the people," said Fazlullah Mujadedi, a member of a parliamentary commission looking into security companies.

A June report by the US Commission on Wartime Contracting in Afghanistan and Iraq cites serious deficiencies among private security companies in Afghanistan in terms of training, performance and effective use-of-force rules.

Zemaray Bashary, an Interior Ministry official, says many of the contractors, whose main task is to guard embassies and other premises or act as bodyguards, are "unlicensed and unregulated."

Some race past in SUVs with tinted windows, sealing off traffic lanes and forcing motorists and pedestrians to the curb.

Media reports put the number of security contractors in Afghanistan between 18,500 and 28,000.

But according to P.W. Singer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who wrote extensively on the subject, they number more than 71,000.

Accountability

"If they keep killing civilians, I'm sure some Afghans will decide to become insurgents," Shafi said.
The recent killings have infuriated Afghans and spurred demands to hold the private gunmen accountable.

"We want to confront them and ask them: Why do you think you're allowed to do such a terrible thing?" asks Friba, Raheb's aunt, while standing over his grave.

Security contractors sign contracts making them liable for prosecution for violating Afghan laws.

But the four contractors in the May shooting left for the US before Afghan authorities could file a case against them.

The Interior Ministry has since stepped up licensing of security contractors and is demanding stricter monitoring.

It wants limits on the number of contractors while lawmakers, after complaints from their constituents, have proposed legislations to reign in contractors.

Mohammed Shafi, a community leader, warns that if contractors continued to act above the law, the situation would backfire.

"Some Americans think all Afghans are terrorists or insurgents," he said.

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=56935&s2=14.

Pro-Chavez lawmakers approve education law

By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Writer

CARACAS, Venezuela – Lawmakers loyal to President Hugo Chavez gave final approval on Friday to legislation that has raised fears among government opponents of impending socialist indoctrination in schools.

The law orders schools to base curricula on what it calls "the Bolivarian Doctrine" — a reference to ideals espoused by 19th-century independence hero Simon Bolivar, such as national self-determination and Latin American unity.

Critics are quick to note that Chavez uses the term "Bolivarian" to describe his political movement, and some believe his socialist government intends to win over hearts and minds through classroom indoctrination.

"They don't use the word 'socialism,' but that's what they want to introduce in our schools," said Ray Gonzalez, a 59-year-old engineer.

The National Assembly's only dissidents walked out of the debate hours before the final vote to protest the ruling party's refusal to compromise on the bill's most contentious articles. Pro-Chavez lawmakers continued to discuss the law, approving it article by article Thursday evening until giving it final approval early Friday.

"We decided to withdraw because they did not accept our proposals or recommendations," said Juan Jose Molina, one of the single-house legislature's few dissidents.

The 167-seat assembly became entirely pro-Chavez after the opposition boycotted 2005 elections, but close to a dozen lawmakers have since broken ranks with the powerful ruling party over what they perceive as the president's increasing authoritarianism.

Supporters of the law generally scoff at claims that it's aimed at indoctrinating children and downplay concerns, saying the legislation reflects the government's efforts to ensure equal opportunities and teach social responsibility. The law, they note, requires that teaching be "open to all forms of thinking."

"It's not about imposing a single form of thinking. On the contrary, it's about respecting the diversity that has characterized this country since colonization," said Yajaira Reyes, a teacher who heads a pro-Chavez group called Educators for Emancipation.

Education Minister Hector Navarro accused Chavez opponents and the news media of orchestrating "a smear campaign" to deceive Venezuelans.

The debate over the education bill stoked tensions between Venezuela's fierce political foes, producing rival demonstrations Thursday outside the National Assembly in downtown Caracas that ended in violence.

Police in riot gear used tear gas and water cannons to break up the protests, but scuffles between adversaries continued amid the caustic white gas and ensuing commotion. More than a dozen injuries were reported.

Shortly after police scattered people outside the assembly, the Ultimas Noticias newspaper reported that a group of journalists were attacked a couple of blocks away by Chavez backers as they passed out leaflets warning against the law's emphasis on teaching "critical analysis of media content." Thirteen people were injured, said Eleazar Diaz Rangel, the newspaper's director.

"They shouted at us, saying we were 'defenders of the oligarchy' while they beat us," said Usbaldo Arrieta, one of the people attacked.

Benjamin Scharifker, dean of the Simon Bolivar University, said one student suffered a broken arm during the protests outside the assembly.

Chavez's administration condemned the violence.

The government "categorically rejects the acts of violence that occurred today in downtown Caracas," the Information Ministry said in a statement. It said authorities launched an investigation to determine who was responsible for the attacks.

Reformers call for probe of Iran supreme leader

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran – A group of former reformist lawmakers has appealed to a powerful clerical body in Iran to investigate Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's qualification to rule after the controversial postelection crackdown.

There has been no response from the Assembly of Experts whether it would agree to launch an investigation. But the call by former lawmakers late Thursday, is an unprecedented challenge to Khamenei, whose position as the top figure in Iran's clerical leadership has long been seen as unquestionable.

Pro-opposition Web sites say the former lawmakers' call came in a letter to the head of the Experts Assembly, a body of clerics that has the power to name the supreme leader and, in theory, to remove him.

In divided Lebanon, farmers' market a model of unity

by Jocelyne Zablit

BEIRUT (AFP) – On a parking lot in the heart of Beirut, Kamal Mouzawak has managed no small feat -- uniting Lebanon's ever divided religious communities around one common passion, food.

From Hussein Abu Mansour, from a Druze village in the southern Bekaa region, to Mona al-Dorr from a Shiite village near the Israeli border, to Sarkis and Lina Geryes from a Christian town in the north, all have joined to battle it out on the culinary rather than the political front.

They and several dozen other small-scale farmers and producers come twice a week with their baked specialties, preserves, vegetables, olive oil, fresh fruit juices and other products to Souk el Tayeb, Beirut's first farmers' market.

"We don't even acknowledge politics at the souk," said Mouzawak, a chef and television personality who launched Souk el Tayeb in 2004.

The 40-year-old entrepreneur who speaks passionately about his project was born into a family of farmers and his aim through the market is to perpetuate Lebanon's rich culinary tradition

"Tradition, after all, is heritage," he said. "And there is no such thing as religious cuisine in Lebanon.

"Whether Christian or Muslim, we all eat the same foods. The differences are more regional."

The farmers at Souk el Tayeb want nothing to do with the political turmoil that has shaken their country in past years, pitting the different religious communities against each other.

Their interests revolve more around who can bake the best kebbeh, a traditional dish made of minced meat and burghul (crushed wheat), or come up with the tastiest tabbouleh, a parsley-based salad, or grow the most mouth-watering vegetables and fruits.

"It's a known fact that you can unite people through dialogue and that is what we have done here through food," said farmer Abu Mansour, 54, sporting the traditional baggy black pants worn by Druze men and a grey handlebar mustache.

For Rima Masood, 42, the market has been a blessing, allowing her to send her seven-year-old daughter to private school and to plan ahead.

"It has changed my life," said the mother of three on a recent Saturday as she baked manoucheh -- a flatbread topped with a thyme mix -- over a wood-fired spherical metal dome. "My family used to grow peaches and sell them in the summer and we would borrow money to make it through the winter.

"Now I can even think of renovating my house and buy things."

Shoppers at Souk el Tayeb find an amazing variety of high-quality products ranging from organic vegetables and fruits to honey, marzipan, cheeses, laurel soap and bread. The stalls are also laden with mouneh -- traditionally preserved foods for the winter.

Mouzawak has also endeavored to revive grandma's recipes, including fassolia hammaniyeh, a bean dish from the northeast village of Hammana, thistle-based dishes from the Shouf region, and mwaraka, a baklava-like pastry, in a bid to preserve the country's culinary heritage.

The market, which caters to well-heeled Beirutis, has met with such success that Mouzawak in the last three years has taken his show on the road, organizing themed food festivals around the country.

A restaurant -- Tawlet Souk el Tayeb -- will also soon open its doors, featuring meals prepared daily by different cooks who will each bring to the table a regional specialty.

"I am most proud when I hear a farmer say that the souk has changed their life," said Mouzawak, who refused to shut down the market during the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel or through the political turmoil of recent years.

"Our basic message is 'make food not war'."

Ahmed Khodr Hussein, a Sunni farmer from the region of Akkar in northern Lebanon, couldn't agree more.

"I earn my living every Saturday and Wednesday at the souk," said the 53-year-old father of 15 who is known as Abu Rabii.

"You have more than 47 families who live off this market, united under one roof," he added. "If only the entire country was like that."

North Korea releases South Korean worker held since March

By Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea on Thursday released a South Korean worker it had held for nearly five months for allegedly insulting its leaders in a rare conciliatory gesture likely to ease tension between the rival states.

The release could also lead to restored business ties with South Korea's giant Hyundai Group and calm investors worried about troubles spinning out of control.

The worker named Yoo Seong-jin had crossed back into the South, South Korean officials said. He has yet to make a statement.

He had been held since late March at a joint factory enclave in the North Korean border city of Kaesong run by a Hyundai affiliate where South Korean firms use cheap North Korean labor and land to make goods.

Yoo's release comes after former U.S. President Bill Clinton last week visited North Korea where he met leader Kim Jong-il and won the freedom of two U.S. journalists also held since March for suspected illegal entry.

Hyundai Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun arrived in Pyongyang on Monday to seek the Yoo's release and the resumption of tourism to the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea.

Hyundai has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the resort, whose operations were suspended a year ago, and the factory enclave in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, which is the last major economic project between the two Koreas.

The North has raised tension in recent months with a nuclear test, ballistic missile tests and threats to attack its capitalist neighbor.

The two Koreas are technically still at war after their 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

PROPAGANDA VICTORIES

Analysts have been eyeing a possible meeting between reclusive leader Kim and the Hyundai chairwoman, saying it could signal the North seeks to defrost ties with the South.

"North Korea is hoping for a monetary link that could mean more cooperation in the Kaesong complex, restarting tourism at the Kumgang resort or stopping South Korea's anti-North movement," said Cho Myung-chul, an expert on the North's economy at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.

Hyun, one of the few South Korean executives to hold direct discussions with Kim, extended her planned visit likely in order to arrange another meeting with the North Korean leader.

Pyongyang has been angered at the policies of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak who took office last year and ended unconditional aid. He instead tied handouts to steps the North makes in reducing its security threat.

"Our government will continue with a consistent North Korean policy," a South Korean presidential Blue House official said. "Although it is a bit late, it is a good thing that Mr. Yoo is able to return to his family."

The North's propaganda machine will portray the trips by Clinton and Hyun as leaders paying tribute to Kim, analysts said.

This will help erase doubts at home about his grip on power after Kim, 67, was suspected of suffering a stroke last year. It could also help him press forward with his succession plans.

Repairing ties with Hyundai would bolster the North's state coffers, hit by U.N. sanctions for its nuclear test as well as a cut in aid from the South, which once sent handouts equal in value to about 5 percent of the North's yearly economy.

North Korea's battered economy is just two percent of the size of the South. The U.N. sanctions were aimed at halting its exports of missiles and arms, the few items it can sell abroad to earn hard currency.

North Korea, which makes tens of millions of dollars from the Kaesong factory park, used to receive a steady stream of cash from the Kumgang resort.

South Korea to renew its aid offer to North Korea

By KWANG-TAE KIM, Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea plans to renew its offer to give aid to North Korea if the impoverished communist country gives up its nuclear ambitions, the president's office said Friday, a day after the North freed a South Korean worker detained for months.

The North's move, which came a week after Pyongyang released two U.S. journalists following a visit by former President Bill Clinton, could help improve relations between the two Koreas that were further strained by the North's recent nuclear and missile tests.

Bilateral ties began deteriorating when pro-U.S., conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office early last year with a tougher stance on the North. Pyongyang responded by cutting most ties or curtailing key joint projects except for a joint industrial complex in a border town.

Lee plans to reiterate his commitment to assisting North Korea's economy, infrastructure and other fields if "North Korea abandons its nuclear" program, Lee's office said Friday.

Lee will also make a wide-range of proposals to help establish peace on the divided peninsula, his office said without elaborating. The Korean war ended in a 1953 cease-fire that has never been replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.

Lee's proposals will be announced Saturday, when he plans to deliver a speech marking the anniversary of the Korean peninsula's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.

It remains unclear if Seoul's proposed aid offer will prod North Korea to back down from its hard-line position on its nuclear program and re-engage in talks with South Korea.

In April, North Korea pulled out of the six-nation talks aimed at ending its nuclear program and later vowed not to give up its nuclear program, which Pyongyang describes as a deterrent against possible U.S. attacks. Washington has repeatedly said it has no intention of attacking the North.

Pyongyang has also called for one-on-one negotiations with Washington on its nuclear program rather than the group talks that involve the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan. The U.S. has said it is willing to hold direct talks with Pyongyang — but only on the sidelines of the six-nation discussions.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jung-eun, who visited Pyongyang on Monday to secure the release of a detained Hyundai worker, extended her stay for another day — the third time this week — and plans to return home Saturday.

It was not immediately clear whether Hyun would get a chance to hold rare talks with North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong Il. Hyun has already met with North Korea's spy chief Kim Yang Gon, according to Cho Kun-shik, president of Hyundai Asan, the group's North Korean business arm.

On Thursday, Pyongyang freed Yoo Seong-jin, a 44-year-old technician who worked at the joint industrial park in the North, where about 110 South Korean-run factories employ about 40,000 North Korean workers. Yoo was held for allegedly denouncing the North's government and attempting to persuade a North Korean worker to defect.

The North is still holding four South Korean fishermen whose boat was seized last month after straying accidentally into northern waters.

Egyptian crews overpower Somali pirates, kill 2

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press Writer

MOGADISHU, Somalia – The crew of two Egyptian fishing vessels wielding machetes and tools attacked Somali pirates who had held them hostage for four months, killing at least two of them, according to a pirate and businessman Friday.

The Egyptian crew overpowered the pirates, seizing some of their guns before sailing away from Somalia's coast, said Miraa, who was one of the pirates on board the fishing vessels.

Miraa, who gave only his nom de guerre, said the fight took place near the northern Somalia coastal town of Las Qorey. The town is off the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest waterways where Somali pirates carry out most of their attacks.

Said Jama Hussein, a businessman in the small town of Las Qorey, said fishermen told him the Egyptian ships left Thursday. He said the crew, who number up to 24, apparently took some of the pirates hostage.

Miraa said "they attacked us with machetes and other tools, seized some of our guns and then fought with us.

"I could see two dead bodies of my colleagues lying on the ship," Miraa told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I do not know the fate of the nine others."

The most prominent case of a hijacked crew fighting back pirates was in April when an American crew fought their Somali captors until their crew's captain offered himself as a hostage in a bid to save their lives.

The captain was later released after U.S. navy snipers shot his captors and captured one of them.

Somali pirates seized the two Egyptian vessels in mid-April and at the time some Egyptian officials suggested the ships may have been targeted for illegally fishing off Somalia's coast.

Somalia's coast is rich with fish including red snapper, barracuda and tuna and rampant illegal fishing triggered piracy attacks years ago with the pirates saying they were seeking to protect the livelihoods of local fishermen.

Somali pirates hold less than 10 vessels.

Algeria's Berber brings traditional singing into modern age

Algerian Shawiya singing style sounds different from anything global music pop culture has to offer.

By Stefan Franzen - BONN, Germany

Singer Houria Aïchi comes from a Berber ethnic group called the Shawiya, who live on the Aures Plateau of the Atlas Mountains in north-eastern Algeria.

"I have very strong memories of my childhood", affirms Aïchi. "The culture I grew up in was characterized by family solidarity, a strict code of honor and a vocal tradition that exists only in this particular region."

As with the Kabyle and the Tuareg Berber groups, music—or rather, singing—is the domain of the Shawiya women.

"The girls live together with the women in their own courtyard, where they quite naturally grow into the traditions. There they act, write poems, embroider, make pottery and hold performances in which they imitate men, even downright ridicule them. And, of course, they sing in the manner in which our people have always sung and which the women pass on from generation to generation."

The Shawiya singing style sounds different from anything global music pop culture has to offer. With an extreme falsetto in which tones are nasally produced, the voice sounds compressed and sharp, but all the more fascinating.

It is a style that cannot be learned, says Aïchi, who often receives requests to teach Shawiya singing. It is said that only those who hear the music in their mother's womb have a chance to develop such a voice.

What kind of songs make use of this characteristic vocalization? While the Shawiya women mock men in their songs, they also admire them. Mounted herdsmen and cavaliers play a prominent role as legacy bearers for these mountain people.

Dedicated to them are countless songs that speak of burning love and flow with vivid metaphors: a cavalier is compared to mercury and the Prophet Mohammed is a noble horseman.

"As a girl, like all the others, I was infatuated with these cavaliers, with their commanding appearance. They would come on their horses, veiled and dressed in white. For me, back then, they were semi-real, semi-mythical creatures! I was overwhelmed by very powerful emotions, and this fascination for the cavaliers is still a source of inspiration for my artistic life today."

Despite her strong traditional upbringing, Aïchi made the break with the conventional biography of a Berber woman, as did many in her generation in modern Algeria. In the 1970s she went to Paris to study psychology.

Even with her new external perspective, she remained true to her roots.

She began researching the vocal tradition of the Aures in the Musée des Hommes, a natural history museum in Paris, where she discovered wax cylinder recordings. She also researched these traditions in her homeland, where she visited women and recorded their songs. She also made excursions to other Algerian regions in order to document Sufi chants.

For her new project she is returning again to the noble cavaliers, elevating courtly poetry with its topics of cavalier, lady and horse to modern standards. She is realizing this vision together with the Strasbourg quintet, L'Hijâz 'Car.

"For a long time I have wanted to confront the Aures tradition with contemporary sounds. I have often worked with jazz musicians in my career and I knew it would work. I was fortunate in that Gregory Dargent, the director of the ensemble, could understand my emotional world and memories. This meant he was able to find arrangements that did not betray the tradition. It is really a discourse between two music worlds."

Her music, which boldly ranges from the pre-Arab world to the world of musical avant-garde, features love lyrics and a proud galloping rhythm.

Aïchi's powerful nasal voice unites with the strident male chorus and breathy flute trance. Frame drums lay down the beat. Meandering in between are improvisations on the oud (lute) and banjo, accompanied by a bass clarinet.

Her music impressively proves that cultivating tradition is not about preserving ashes but keeping the flame alive: Aïchi's project translates the heritage of the Aures horsemen into a new, powerful language and expands Berber culture with a modern variation far removed from ethno pop.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=33691.

Kazakhstan's Uighurs rally to mourn Xinjiang dead

ALMATY (Reuters) - Hundreds of Uighurs rallied in Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty on Thursday to mourn those who died in violent clashes in the neighboring Xinjiang region of China last month and to call for its independence.

Kazakhstan is home to the largest Uighur community outside China. About 500 people, many wearing the blue badges with white crescents of the Uighur independence movement, gathered at a mosque for a traditional ceremony.

In Xinjiang's worst ethnic unrest in decades, Uighurs staged protests in the regional capital Urumqi on July 5 following a clash among migrant workers at a factory in south China that had led to two Uighur deaths.

The Urumqi violence left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 wounded, mostly members of the China's ethnic Han majority, according to Chinese authorities.

Han Chinese launched revenge attacks on Uighurs in Urumqi days later. About 1,000 people, mostly Uighurs, have been detained in an ensuing crackdown by security forces.

Han migration into Xinjiang, home to Muslim Uighurs who speak a Turkic language and whose culture has strong links to Central Asia, has helped fuel the conflict.

"What is our goal? We want an independent state," Kakhraman Khodzhaberdiyev, a vice president of the U.S.-based World Uyghur Congress, told the Almaty meeting.

"The current autonomy (of Xinjiang) is not real and we demand that its status be changed as a first step."

Another Uighur community leader, Abdulla Ushurov, attacked what he said were Chinese attempts to portray Uighur protests as purely criminal riots.

"You cannot say that a group of people just started crushing everything," he said.

"These are being described as criminal acts but it is a century-long fight for independence."

Police in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, also home to a significant Uighur minority, detained two Uighur leaders after a similar rally this week, saying it had not been given official permission.

The Almaty city government had permitted the Thursday meeting.

Source: Malaysian Star.
Link: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/13/worldupdates/2009-08-13T152146Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-417401-1&sec=Worldupdates.

Planet-Hunting Spacecraft Shows Its Stuff by Detecting a Known Exoplanet

Kepler's sensitivity to the orbit of a catalogued exoplanet bodes well for its ability to find Earth-like worlds

By John Matson

NASA's Kepler spacecraft, which may soon help scientists put our planet in its galactic context by showing how common Earth-like worlds are throughout the Milky Way, is off to a good start.

The space telescope, which was launched in March and began its science mission in May, will spend more than three years observing a patch of 100,000 stars near the northern constellations Cygnus and Lyra. If those stars have planetary systems aligned with Kepler's line of sight, the spacecraft's photometer should be able to detect the periodic dimming caused by the planets as they transit, or pass in front of, their stars.

Hundreds of exoplanets—planets beyond our solar system—have already been detected from the ground and from other spacecraft via transit searches and other methods. But the current exoplanet catalogue primarily reflects the low-hanging fruit—extremely large planets in tight orbits, whose visible or gravitational effects on their stars are more pronounced. Many of these planets are known as hot Jupiters.

Kepler's mission is to seek out smaller worlds more like our own, ideally in comfortable, life-enabling orbits in their respective stars' so-called habitable zone.

A paper in this week's Science, using 10 days of early data gathered by Kepler, demonstrates the spacecraft's ability to spot large planets and provides encouragement that Earth-size bodies are within its reach.

In the study, the Kepler team shows that the data clearly reveal the dimming caused by the periodic transit of HAT-P-7 b, an exoplanet nearly twice the mass of Jupiter that orbits the star HAT-P-7, about 1,000 light-years away. The exoplanet, discovered last year by ground-based observatories, orbits so close to its star that it completes a loop in just 2.2 days—making it a very hot Jupiter.

"It is so hot, in fact, that it glows, like the heating element in your oven or toaster," says Kepler deputy principal investigator David Koch of NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. In addition to the dip in starlight as HAT-P-7 b passed in front of its star, Kepler was able to detect the exoplanet's glow, which appears in the data as increased emission from the star when the planet is visible alongside of it.

Crucially, Kepler also detected a slight dip in luminosity, much less dramatic than the dimming associated with the planet passing in front of the star, when HAT-P-7 b passed behind its star—the spacecraft was seeing only the star's light, without the reflection and glow from the exoplanet.

"When the planet is orbiting the star, when it goes in front of the star, of course, you see the transit—the planet is blocking the light from the star," Koch says. "When the planet goes behind the star, the star is now blocking the light from that glowing, red planet, and that causes what's called an occultation."

Occultation is a much less pronounced phenomenon than a planetary transit, so Kepler's ability to track the occultation of a large planet indicates that it will be able to detect the transit of a smaller one.

The key observation from the new research is that the small dip in the HAT-P-7 b light curve when the planet passes behind its star "is roughly equivalent to the signal of an Earth-size planet when it passes in front of its parent star," says Paul Kalas, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, who is not part of the Kepler team.

Detecting smaller, cooler planets is a long process. The only truly Earth-like planet we know of—ours—takes more than 150 times as long as HAT-P-7 b does to circle its star, so collecting data on similar planets across multiple orbits will take years.

Even the new hot Jupiters and other close-orbiting planets that Kepler finds will take extensive follow-up observations from the ground to confirm. (As Koch points out, a star's periodic dimming can be explained by one star eclipsing another in a binary star system.) Koch says he expects the first large exoplanets discovered by Kepler to begin rolling out early next year.

In the meantime, the early evidence that Kepler will be able to detect Earths is "absolutely convincing," Kalas says. "Essentially, they are offering a window into the scientific future: Kepler will soon detect an Earth-sized planet outside of the solar system."

U.S. Should Prepare for Mars With Asteroid Flight, Panel Says

By Jeff Bliss

Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. astronauts should travel to asteroids and other “deep space” destinations in preparation for a mission to Mars rather than fly directly to the planet, members of a presidential panel said yesterday.

A flight to Mars, which has been urged by some former astronauts and spaceflight advocates, would be too costly and dangerous, panel members said during a public meeting in Washington.

“Technically, economically and in terms of the rewards it produces” deep space is “a reasonable step on the way to Mars,” Norman Augustine, chairman of the committee, told reporters after the meeting. A direct-to-Mars flight “would likely not succeed.”

The meeting was the panel’s last public one as it prepares a report with recommendations for President Barack Obama on the space program’s future that is due at the end of this month. Augustine said the committee will give White House officials a preliminary briefing on its findings tomorrow.

The committee is focused on four choices, including the deep-space option, a plan that would end U.S. participation in the International Space Station by 2016 and another that would extend U.S. station efforts to 2020. The fourth calls for prolonging the space shuttle program past the current 2010 retirement date.

Current budget and future funding estimates for NASA won’t pay for humans to explore space, said former astronaut Sally Ride, a panel member and the first American woman in space. She said that the administration’s plan to return to the moon by 2020 would require more money than is now budgeted.

Not Viable

“Exploration really doesn’t look viable under 2010 budget” projections for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, she told her colleagues in Washington after guiding them through a series of cost forecasts for options that include returning to the moon or heading to Mars.

The “most cost effective” scenario is a plan to visit asteroids and potential sites for future spacecraft fuel depots and fly over Mars, Ride said. That approach would leave surface exploration of Mars for now to the robotic rovers and orbiters that have been studying the planet.

Ride said the fly-by approach would offer a potential “off-ramp” to the Martian surface when more advanced technology is developed for a human mission.

The commission, led by former Lockheed Martin Corp. chief executive officer Norman Augustine, signaled that the “Mars first” option was likely too costly and ambitious to undertake.

Deep-Space Option

The deep-space scenario leading to human lunar return by 2030 -- a decade later than envisioned now -- would start with a trip to Lagrange points in 2023 and an asteroid by 2027. Lagrange points are where the gravitational pull of the Earth and the sun balance out and allow an object such as a satellite to maintain a stable position. One of the points is almost 1 million miles from Earth, four times farther than the moon.

Mars is about 35 million miles from Earth at its closest point.

In a presentation, Ride showed a deep-space scenario where astronauts could fly over Mars by 2034 with a budget that’s $3 billion more annually than current projections. Another option that would use shuttle technology envisions using trips to asteroids and other deep-space destinations in preparation for a return to the moon in 2030. Other deep-space options would use NASA and commercially produced rockets.

Ride, while not providing specific figures, said the option of flying directly to Mars would have “quite a bit higher” cost than the other scenarios.

Panel members said they are in general agreement that companies should be relied upon to ferry astronauts and cargo to the Earth-orbiting space station.

“We’d like to get NASA out of the business” of flying people to lower Earth orbit, Ride said.

Also, the committee said it believes the U.S. will wait until 2011 to shut down the shuttle program. The workhorse spacecraft is set to be retired at the end of next year.

Malaysia, Algeria Agree To Sign Air Treaty For Flights

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Algeria have agreed to sign an air treaty for traffic rights into each other's country following expansion of demand in the sector.

The Transport Ministry in a statement here Thursday said the agreement was reached after negotiations between civil aviation authorities of both countries concluded in Algiers today.

"The agreement covers full service and low-cost flights as traffic rights are important to support the expansion in the sector," the statement said.

The ministry added that the treaty would be signed soon.

The Malaysian delegation was headed by Transport Ministry secretary-general Datuk Zakaria Bahari and included Malaysia's Ambassador to Algeria, Dr Hasrul Sani Mujtabar.

Besides this, the statement said both countries also agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding to allow each other's airlines to operate passenger and cargo flights with third and fourth freedom rights.

Source: Bernama.
Link: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=432750.

Make room for Hamas in the peace process

Wayne White

WASHINGTON, DC - Any meaningful Israeli-Palestinian peace effort cannot exclude or ignore Hamas. If the process is to have a chance of achieving a meaningful conclusion, Hamas must be brought in, regardless of the potential drawbacks of such inclusiveness.

After so many years of disappointment, it would be preferable to risk failure than to proceed with an incomplete peace process, flawed from the outset by only partial Palestinian participation. That exclusionary approach would virtually guarantee vigorous and violent opposition from an excluded Hamas, resulting in almost certain collapse.

Western calls for democratization in the Arab world have been tainted by the West’s rejection of the 2006 Hamas electoral victory, regardless of how undesirable that outcome may have been. Yet Hamas’ victory was predictable: polling over the past 10 years has shown that the Arab public tends to be more anti-Israeli, anti-American and more Islamist than most Arab leaders, despite the recent positive bounce from the so-called “Obama factor”. As a result, it should have come as no surprise that the isolation of Hamas by Israel and the West has proven fruitless and is unlikely to cause Hamas to buckle to Western demands.

President Barack Obama is well-positioned to depart from past policy toward Hamas. With Washington in the lead, the international community, including Israel, could enter into a limited truce, or hudna, with Hamas, according it no permanent legitimacy, only a role in the peace process for the duration of useful engagement. This would include a temporary end to Gaza’s isolation from outside aid and trade – excluding military aid – as a further incentive to cooperate as fully as possible.

Security would again be critical to the success of any quest for a settlement. Unfortunately, some elements in both the current right-wing Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas would doubtless welcome failure on the security front as a convenient means of killing or stalling the process. There must, therefore, be a robust American effort to assess the motives and behaviour of both sides.

Some violations are to be expected from the Palestinian side, as history has shown in almost every attempt to negotiate peace in this conflict. Nonetheless, if intelligence indicates these incidents are relatively isolated and the acts of rogue elements, the posture of Hamas proper should weigh heavily in any response, so long as the majority in Hamas is acting in good faith. Compliance cannot be viewed one-dimensionally: intelligence must sort out the sources of violence as well as the attitude toward violence within Hamas’ leadership and its rank and file. In the end, one would hope that with the bulk of Hamas inside the tent and presumably cooperating on security, the violence associated with most determined efforts aimed at peace would be more limited this time around.

Similarly, Israel’s response to any violence must be monitored. Harsh or provocative responses to isolated incidents, or responses that target civilians or Hamas elements unassociated with violence, should be judged harmful to the process as well.


This approach would not be an easy one, especially with respect to monitoring Hamas. American intelligence could never be sufficiently comprehensive and detailed to draw firm conclusions in every single incident. As a result, trends and long-term intentions must play into this calculus, not merely analysis of what happens on an incident by incident basis. The cooperation of both sides in fleshing out the intelligence picture would be important, and the quality of that cooperation considered when assessing the sincerity of Hamas.

Nonetheless, a peace process accepting Hamas as a partner to the Palestinian effort would be a real challenge for the United States, the West and Israel. Whether Israelis – especially this Israeli government – could accept a more flexible approach toward security is also uncertain.


We must bear in mind that regardless of what Hamas says or tells interlocutors now, it is only amid the pressure of actual talks that the international community would be able to determine the movement’s, and the Palestinians’, ultimate bottom line, something absolutely vital to a truly meaningful peace process.

A look at the war-dead in Afghanistan. Occupation Soldiers, the Resistance, the Civilians and the Future

By Les Blough. Axis of Logic.

August 11, 2009

The LAT article that follows, 5 U.S. troops killed as Afghan violence swells - serves as an example of how the Pentagon and the media reports deaths of occupying troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's a typical, mundane capitalist media report that deliberately ignores the real story of the suffering and death yielded by the 9 year "war on terror".

Media methods of reporting military casualties

The corporate media continues to report deaths of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq with numbers of 1 or 2 here and 3 or 4 there - in drips and drabs. It's just another cheap and dirty way of hiding the truth from the public. One has to go digging to find the total numbers killed and wounded and even then, it appears that they are under-reported.

Rarely counted are the actual numbers of wounded and the resulting lifetime of suffering that follows. The cut-off period for reporting a soldier dying as a result of injuries is about 2-3 weeks. It's difficult to know if non-combat-related deaths are counted in the total numbers of dead soldiers, but it appears that they are not. These are deaths by "friendly fire", suicide, accidents, homicide, illness and "reckless negligence of command". Usually, non-combat-related deaths are simply reported as "under investigation" by the Pentagon and the truth about their cause of death is difficult to know, even for family members.

The Truth is difficult to find, but it is there

While the truth is difficult to find, what is obvious is that the death toll among both, Afghans and U.S. soldiers continues to grow, almost exponentially, under the escalation of the war under the Obama regime. Like Iraq Body Count, Pentagon-friendly iCasualties.com reports 12 U.S. solders were reported killed in Afghanistan in 2001. 294 occupying soldiers were killed in 2008, 155 of them U.S. Already, in the first 7 months and 1 week in 2009, 251 were killed, 143 of them, U.S. In July alone, the bloodiest month in 9 years, 76 occupying have been killed. In the first week of August, 2009, 17 occupying soldiers have been reported killed, 11 of them U.S., 4 British, 2 Canadian, 1 French and 1 - country not yet reported.

In nine years, the 3 countries with the largest numbers of soldiers killed in Afghanistan are: United States: 773; the U.K.: 195; Canada: 128. The numbers of dead from rest of the so-called "coalition forces" are in the single and double-digits, ranging from 1 to 33.

Afghan Resistance Soldiers Killed

CBS/AP reported on July 29,

"Nearly 3,800 insurgents were killed in 2008, based on figures collected by The Associated Press. Some of those numbers came from U.S. military statements; others came from Afghan authorities. So far in 2009, more than 2,310 insurgents have been killed, according to the AP count."

These spurious numbers come from unreliable sources. They are reported by the invading army and their cooperative corporate media to give the impression that they are winning the war. Like the deaths of occupying soldiers, they've been reported in bits and pieces when the number of "kills" they were able to claim in a particular battle, created the illusion of winning. They used the same practice in Vietnam with their daily body counts. Who is it that defines "insurgent" or "militant" and how? Often those killed have been described as "suspected militants" and just as often, alongside their "suspected militants" lay scores of dead Afghan civilians.

On July 23, 2009 the LAT reported, that the U.S. has decided to stop reporting the numbers of the Afghan Resistance they are killing. Here are the reasons they give for their change in policy.

"Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan -- Military officials in Afghanistan have ordered a halt to the practice of releasing the number of militants killed in fighting with American-led forces as part of an overall strategy shift and an effort to portray to the Afghan people a different U.S. approach to the war.

"Under the new order, issued by Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, the military will not release specifics on how many insurgents are killed in fighting and will instead provide estimates. The change is part of a strategy to make the Afghan people feel safer, and it comes as U.S. commanders are instituting measures to avoid civilian casualties.

"We send the wrong message if all we talk about is the number of insurgents killed. It doesn't demonstrate anything about whether we have made progress," said Smith, who arrived six weeks ago to overhaul U.S. and NATO communications efforts. "We want to shift the mind-set ... "We have to show we are here to protect the people."

Instead of reporting the numbers of Afghan Resistance killed, the occupation forces speak in general terms about their success. On July 12, 2009, Canadian General Jonathan Vance said in a much reported news conference that "the Taliban-led insurgency is in 'disarray'." The statement belies the fact that the Taliban control 72% of Afghanistan and have the U.S. puppet-president, Karzai holed up and surrounded in Kabul. Some "disarray"! We'll never know the true count of Afghanis who have been killed in their heroic struggle against the invaders - just as we'll never know the real number of Afghan civilians who have been slaughtered in this Goddamned war.

Civilian Body Counts Don't Count

I don't often use the words "always" and "never", but will do so this time. The corporate media always downplays the wounded, dead and misery of Afghans under the brutal U.S.-led war in both countries; instead, they tap the emotions for the "heroic", dead U.S. soldiers with headlines and photos. The lives of their foreign victims count for little to nothing. Moreover, when Afghan and Iraqi civilian casualties are reported, the western media typically blames it on "sectarian violence", "roadside bombs" and "suicide bombers" - pointing to the Resistance as the cause, but rarely caused directly by the U.S. military except when it's impossible to ignore. There is no realistic count for the numbers of Afghans or Iraqis wounded and killed over the 9 year period because, as Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the invasion of Iraq once said, "We don't do body counts."

After the Vietnam war, the butchers learned that the body counts they bragged and lied about then, only worked against their agenda. Their short-sighted lies to give the appearance that they were winning in Vietnam came back to destroy their "mission" under the scourge of the victorious Vietnamese and when public opinion, at long last, turned against the war. Their lies now haunt them and us with at least a million people slaughtered in Vietnam.

Where the numbers are headed

We conclude with words about the occupying soldiers killed. It is obvious that these are the only numbers that matter to the U.S. and the pottage of governments they've been able hustle. Nor would these numbers matter were it not for the bad PR their dead soldiers bring against them. Where are we headed? Incredibly, on August 8, the head of the British army warned that England could be in Afghanistan for another 40 years. In January the then defence secretary, Des Browne, warned that British troops could be fighting in Afghanistan for decades. This directly contradicts Obama's nonsense and double-talk about having an "exit strategy". Time supports him with this telling, Nixonian pretzel logic: "Americans don't want a long war in Afghanistan. But the only way to avoid one may be to convince Afghans that the U.S. isn't going anywhere."

58,268 names are carved into the granite wall at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington. One day we will see a "War on Terror Memorial" constructed and the number of names to be inscribed on that wall is yet unknown. With currently under-reported numbers of U.S. soldiers dead in the "war on terror" at over 5,000, how many will be killed in the coming decades? How many from England, Canada, France and other "coalition" countries? Perhaps the invaders will be bankrupted with a collapse of their capitalist system and forced to abandon their bloody project. But for now, the answer depends on the strength of the Afghan Resistance, the Iraqi Resistance, The Palestinian Resistance - and the will and courage of people like us, who say that we are opposed to war.

- Les Blough, Editor

Coalition Military Fatalities in Afghanistan By Year

Year US Other Total
2009 143 108 251
2008 155 139 294
2007 117 115 232
2006 98 93 191
2005 99 32 131
2004 52 7 59
2003 48 9 57
2002 49 20 69
2001 12 0 12
Total 773 523 1296

Another Soldier Refuses Afghanistan Deployment

Dahr Jamail

Wednesday 12 August 2009 - t r u t h o u t

Sgt. Travis Bishop, who served 14 months in Baghdad with the 3rd Signal Brigade, faces a court-martial this Friday for refusing to deploy to Afghanistan.

Bishop is the second soldier from Fort Hood in as may weeks to be tried by the military for his stand against an occupation he believes is "illegal." He insists that it would be unethical for him to deploy to support an occupation he opposes on both moral and legal grounds and he has filed for conscientious objector (CO) status.

Spc. Victor Agosto was court-martialed last week for his refusal to deploy to Afghanistan. Agosto's lawyer, James Branum, who is also Bishop's lawyer, is the legal adviser to the GI Rights Hotline of Oklahoma and co-chair of the Military Law Task Force. Branum told Truthout during a phone interview on July 10 that, contrary to mainstream opinion that believes Afghanistan to be a "justified" war, the invasion and ongoing occupation are actually in violation of the US Constitution and international law.

"Victor is approaching this from the standpoint of law and ethics," Branum explained, "It's his own personal ethics and principles of the Nuremberg Principles, that the war in Afghanistan does not meet the criteria for lawful war under the UN Charter, which says that member nations who joined the UN, as did the US, should give up war forever, aside from two exceptions: that the war is in self-defense and that the use of force was authorized by the UN Security Council. The nation of Afghanistan did not attack the United States. The Taliban may have, but the nation and people of Afghanistan did not. And under US law, the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, any treaty enacted by the US is now the 'supreme law of the land.' So when the United States signed the UN Charter, we made that our law as well."

Bishop told Truthout he was inspired by Agosto's stand and had chosen to follow Specialist Agosto's example of refusal. Both his time in Iraq, the illegality of the occupation and a moral awakening led to his decision to refuse to deploy.

"I started to see a big difference between our reality there and what was in the news," Bishop explained to Truthout about his experience in Iraq, but went on to add that morality and religion played a role as well.

When he received orders to deploy to Afghanistan, Bishop said, "I started reading my Bible to get right with my creator before going. Through my reading I realized all this goes against what Jesus taught and what all true Christians should believe. I had a religious transformation, and realized that all war is wrong."

Bishop received his orders to deploy to Afghanistan in February, but at the time "didn't know there was a support network or a way out at all. I thought GI resistance was something archaic from Vietnam."

As his deployment date approached, he met with other soldiers at a GI resistance cafe, "Under the Hood", in Killeen, Texas.

"They told me not only do I have a choice, but I have a support network backing me up," Bishop explained, "I told them my thinking, and they said that I sounded like a CO. They put me in touch with (James) Branum and when I learned from him what a CO was, I knew I couldn't go."

Bishop went absent without leave (AWOL) for one week the day his unit deployed, "because I didn't have time to prepare to file for CO status. So while AWOL I prepared a statement and filled out my application for CO (status). Then I went back (to Fort Hood) with Branum and turned myself in. I never planned on staying AWOL. They gave me a barracks room and assigned me to a platoon and told me to show up to work the next day. That was it. They started the CO process, but they also started the Uniform Code of Military Justice process, and that's where it gets shifty."

Shortly thereafter, the military charged him with two counts of missing movement and disobeying a direct order.

Bishop, Agosto, and other resisters are not alone. In November 2007, the Pentagon revealed that between 2003 and 2007 there had been an 80 percent increase in overall desertion rates in the Army (desertion refers to soldiers who go AWOL and never intend to return to service), and Army AWOL rates from 2003 to 2006 were the highest since 1980. Between 2000 and 2006, more than 40,000 troops from all branches of the military deserted, more than half from the Army. Army desertion rates jumped by 42 percent from 2006 to 2007 alone.

Bishop informed Truthout that morale is low among his peers in the military, whether they are pro-war or opposed to the occupations.

"Hard Corps folks, as soon as they hear about my sentence being capped at a year, they are changing their minds already," he said, "There's a lot of soldiers that go just because they feel they have to go. They are driven by money and legal obligation, not patriotism. They go because they don't want to lose their job and get in trouble. A lot of the people I talk to that are in, they feel as I do, but they say things like 'I only have four more months, so I'll ride it out and hope not to get stop-lossed.'"

Spc. Michael Kern, an active duty veteran of the occupation of Iraq (where he served from March 2007 to March 2008), is also based at Fort Hood. He is currently getting treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Kern turned against both occupations, as he told Truthout, "Once I realized it wasn't a war and was an occupation, and once I realized I was a terrorist to people in Iraq. It wasn't a hard decision. My whole unit feels as I do, but are afraid to speak out because they don't know there is support for those of us who speak out against the war."

Kern, like Bishop, says that troop morale is very low.

"I'd say it's at an all-time low - mostly because of Afghanistan now. Nobody knows why we are at either place, and I believe the troops need to know why they are there, or we should pull out, and this is a unanimous feeling, even for folks who are pro-war."

Kern feels that the decisions of Agosto and Bishop to refuse to deploy to Afghanistan is worthy of admiration and support.

"I admire these guys," he told Truthout, "They are truly amazing. I wish I would have done that, but when I deployed I didn't know what I was getting into, or my options. I look up to these guys. They are standing up for what they believe in, and that's the greatest thing any of us can do, and they are doing it despite what the Army is doing to them."

Kern suggests that soldiers "do your research before you willingly follow orders, because this is an unjust war, and according to Army regulations, you are entitled to question an illegal order, such as deploying to an illegal war not sanctioned by the UN. And that there is a large community of support for those who are standing up. And it's all over the world, not just the US, wherever you are, there are people who feel the same way you do."

In England, Lance Cpl. Joe Glenton, from the Royal Logistics Corps, has become the first British soldier to speak out publicly against the war in Afghanistan.

Glenton delivered a letter to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 30 July stating why he is refusing to return to Afghanistan.

Glenton wrote: "The war in Afghanistan is not reducing the terrorist risk, far from improving Afghan lives it is bringing death and devastation to their country. Britain has no business there. I do not believe that our cause in Afghanistan is just or right. I implore you, Sir, to bring our soldiers home."

Glenton, like Agosto, and soon for Bishop, began his court-martial proceedings on 3 August.

US commanders recently announced that US and NATO troop deaths from Afghan bombings spiked six-fold in July, compared to the same month last year. In July, resistance fighters detonated the highest number of bombs against occupation forces in the eight-year occupation, according to figures released Tuesday. More US troops were killed in July in Afghanistan than any other month of the entire occupation, and violence continues.

Meanwhile, Anthony Cordesman, a senior adviser to the US military commander in charge of NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, told The Times of London that an additional 45,000 US troops are needed in Afghanistan.

Bishop hopes his refusal to deploy will inspire soldiers to search their consciences.

"My hope is that people who feel like me, that they don't have a voice and are having doubts, I hope that this shows them that not only can you talk to someone about this, but that you actually have a choice," he said.

"Choice is the first thing they take away from you in the military," Bishop added, "You're taught that you don't have a choice. That's not true. And not wanting to kill someone or get killed does not make you a coward. I hope my actions show this to more people."

Pentagon to Obama: Send more troops or lose war in Afghanistan

By James Cogan

3 August 2009

The stage has been set for the Obama administration to announce another major escalation of the war in Afghanistan, amid warnings that the Taliban insurgency has to be stemmed over the next 12 to 18 months to avoid the risk of a humiliating US defeat.

General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, is continuing to use the American media to condition public opinion to accept the dispatch of more troops and the allocation of more money to bolster the occupation. The commander was due to present a review of the war to the White House this week but it has been delayed until after the August 20 Afghan presidential election.

In a weekend interview with the Wall Street Journal, extracts of which were published on Monday under the dire headline "Taliban Now Winning," McChrystal declared the conflict was at a "critical and decisive moment." The Taliban, he said, was "a very aggressive enemy right now" and the occupation forces had effectively 12 months to stop their "momentum" and "initiative."

While McChrystal did not spell out his plan, unnamed officials who have taken part in the review provided details to the Wall Street Journal of what is likely to be proposed. These include:

* Funding to nearly double the size of the Afghan government army from 135,000 to 240,000, and the police from 82,000 to 160,000.

* The long-term deployment of up to 10,000 additional US troops to function as trainers and overseers for the expansion of the Afghan security forces. Most analysts agree that the process would take at least five years to complete.

* The short-term deployment of between two and eight additional combat

brigades—amounting to anywhere between 10,000 and 60,000 troops and support and logistics personnel—to enable coordinated offensives against Taliban strongholds. The Wall Street Journal highlighted concerns in the military that insurgents had largely escaped during the current US operation in Helmand Province due to the lack of troops.

Another leak this week to McClatchy Newspapers indicated that McChrystal also intends to ask for a major increase in US government employees in various advisory functions. The civilian contingent in Afghanistan was predicted to grow from 560 in late 2008 to 1,000 by the end of this year and up to 1,350 by mid-2010. Essentially, their role will be to run entire departments of the puppet government in Kabul.

McChrystal’s views are believed to be strongly backed by the head of Central Command, General David Petraeus, who was responsible for the US surge in Iraq.

The thinking in US ruling circles was spelt out this week by Anthony Cordesman, senior foreign policy analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Cordesman was invited by McChrystal to assist in the preparation of his review and had recently returned from Afghanistan. On August 10, he published his conclusions in a column in the British-based Times, headlined "More Troops, Fewer Caveats—Let’s Get Serious."

Cordesman condemned the Bush administration for failing to take the Taliban insurgency seriously until 2007 and criticised NATO states for failing to provide enough troops and for placing limits on their use. Washington and NATO, he declared, had allowed "the enemy to take the initiative for more than half-a-decade."

He also labeled the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai as "corrupt, grossly overcentralised, lacking in capacity and virtually absent in large parts of Afghanistan." He blasted international reconstruction and aid in Afghanistan as "a dysfunctional, wasteful mess that is crippled by bureaucratic divisions."

The result, Cordesman declared, was that "the Taliban have gone from a defeated group of exiles to a force that has threatened to defeat NATO and the Afghan government." The insurgency had increased the number of districts under its control from 30 in 2003 to 160 by the end of 2008, and its attacks on occupation forces had soared by 60 percent between October 2008 and April 2009. Seventy-five US and NATO troops were killed in July, the highest number of the entire war, and hundreds more were wounded. So far in August, another 27 soldiers have lost their lives.

Cordesman’s proposed remedy was the dispatch of "three to nine additional combat brigades" on top of the 21,000 troops already ordered by Obama this year, the doubling of the Afghan army and police, a purge of corrupt elements from the Afghan government, an overhaul of the "divided, grossly inefficient and corrupt international aid effort" and greater action against the Pakistani border tribes that are aiding the Afghan insurgency.

The US and NATO governments, he also insisted, "will need to be more honest with their peoples" and make clear that the war in Afghanistan would require "a long-term commitment." There is common agreement among pro-war analysts like Cordesman that while the next 12 months will be crucial militarily in pushing back the Taliban, it will take five to 10 years to completely stabilize Afghanistan as a pliant US client state.

As well as thousands of casualties, the financial cost of the war will be enormous. Since 2001, Afghanistan has already cost the US Treasury some $223 billion. Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution told the Washington Post this month that the cost of military operations alone would more than likely balloon to $100 billion over the coming year. Bing West, a former assistant defense secretary, conservatively estimated that, in addition, "Afghan forces will need $4 billion a year for another decade, with a like sum for development."

Despite the crisis confronting the US budget, a further escalation of the war is likely to pass through Congress with little difficulty. In May, 17 Democratic and Republican senators on the Armed Services Committee signed a joint letter to Obama calling for the doubling of the Afghan Army—which would necessarily involve the dispatch of more US trainers.

This week, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called on the Democratic majority in both houses of Congress to join with the Republicans in responding favorably to a request for more war funding. "Let’s not 'Rumsfeld’ Afghanistan," he declared, referring to Bush administration Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who notoriously insisted that the Iraq occupation could be carried out with less than half the troops recommended by senior generals.

Graham appealed to the Democrats: "Let’s not do this thing on the cheap. Let’s have enough combat power and engagement across the board to make sure we’re successful. Quite frankly, we’ve got a lot of ground to make up."

The most significant response to the steady leaking of McChrystal’s plans has been that of the Obama administration. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones have stated on a number of occasions that the president has "not ruled out" sending more troops.

The very fact that Obama has made no attempt to silence speculation over plans for additional troops is a strong indication that a decision has already been made. Obama was propelled into office by decisive sections of the US ruling elite precisely to focus on the war in Afghanistan and shore up the geo-political interests of American imperialism in the resource-rich Central Asian region—regardless of how much it costs in blood and dollars.

Ramadan Joy Denied Gaza Entry

By Shaimaa Mustafa

August 12, 2009

GAZA CITY — Ihab Al-Ashqar, a 14-year-old Gazan, smiles bitterly while explaining why he does not feel the joy that always accompanies the arrival of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"All the crosses are sealed. They [Israel] are killing us very slowly," he told IslamOnline.net.

Like most of the 1.6 million people of Gaza, Ashqar is missing the joy that Ramadan brings to Muslims every year.

This year, the dawn-to-dusk fasting month comes to a Gaza battered by a barbaric Israeli war and reeling under a stifling Israeli siege.

"Our hearts and our homes are full of grief and sorrow," says Huda Al–Astal dolefully.

"Our life stands idle. We can barely breathe."

Israel has been isolating the coastal enclave and its civilian population from the world since Hamas was voted to power in 2006, shutting down all crossings.

Israel blocks humanitarian aid including harmless goods such as cheeses, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap and toilet papers.

Om-Basel fears that even the joy of breaking the fast with her family will be swallowed by darkness as Israel continues to block the delivery of fuel.

"We are denied even the light," fumes the Gazan mother.

"Our life has become unbearable."

In Ramadan, adult Muslims, save the sick and those traveling, abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex between dawn and sunset.

Muslims dedicate their time during the holy fasting month to become closer to Allah through prayer, self-restraint and good deeds.

Austerity

Across impoverished Gaza, people are readying themselves for the most austere Ramadan in years.

"In the run-up to Ramadan people used to swamp the markets to shop for the holy month," Mohammed Farag, a merchant, told IOL.

"But this year, we have very few goods to sell, and people have no money to buy."

Abu Mohamed Al-Shawwa walks down the market hunting for anything he can afford to buy for his family with the little money he has.

"The prices are sky-rocketing," says the desperate father.

"Even the few stuff I managed to bring for my family last year will not be available on our Ramadan table this year."

Unemployment stands at more than 60 percent in Gaza and the World Bank estimates that two-thirds of the population lives under the poverty line.

More than a million people in Gaza survive on UN food handouts.

Nihad Al-Helw, a mother of eight whose husband remains without a job, says they will be lucky to have any food for iftar.

"I only hope to get my children one type of food to eat."

Her child We`am knows that meat, fish and fruits are off the menu.

But what is more painful to her is that she would not get the colorful Ramadan lantern her father used to buy her.

"Not even the lantern," she says in a sobbing voice.

"This will be the saddest Ramadan ever."

Who Controls the 13 Districts now?

Afghan Resistance Statement
Who Controls the 13 Districts now?
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Sha'aban 20, 1430 A.H, August 12, 2009

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

At least one or two weeks before the launching of operations in Helmand, the invaders had started on a propaganda, repeating their lies to media that only 13 district were under the control of the opposition (the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan); the remaining Afghanistan was under their control. Therefore, to re-capture the 13 districts from the hands of the opposition, they had to launch the military operations under the name of Khanjar Sword in Helmand province.

Then the world was witness to this hard fact that the military operations failed to achieve the target announced by the invaders; news of their failure is ringing all over the world. They not only could not re-capture the 13 districts but lost 3 more districts during the operations. Even more areas went out of their control. They faced tremendous casualties and losses, which have no precedence in the whole year.

Now after that which happened, it is surprising that the invaders still have the face to speak of more operations and what is the force, tactic and reason that they want to build on to materialize their objective. Lastly, with the realities on ground, how they claim to continue the current war for some more years.

The fact is that the invaders themselves witnessed the weaknesses of their scared, startled and terrified forces in Helmand and experienced historical defeats. Stories of their panic and cowardice were published in the mainstream media of the West but still in the field of propaganda, they are claiming that their forces will remain in Afghanistan for forty years if need be.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, in response to these assertions of the British military authorities, says that with the spirit of your soldiers and the capability of your technology that you showed in Helmand last month, with the help of Allah (Swat), your forces will be trying to find the way of escape from our country within one year let alone remaining here for forty years. For the fourth time in a row, you will have to accept the bitter result of defeat in Afghanistan, Inshallaah (if God willing).

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Israel Warns Of Travel To Its Neighbors

TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Israel has warned its nationals not to travel to Arab
neighbors.

The National Security Council has warned of imminent insurgency threats
in Egypt and Jordan. The council, part of the prime minister's office, urged
Israelis to postpone trips to Amman and Cairo as well as other Arab
countries, such as Morocco.

Several wildfires scorch Calif. as thousands flee

By BROOKE DONALD, Associated Press Writer

DAVENPORT, Calif. – Thousands of firefighters battled wildfires across California on Thursday, including a growing blaze that forced about 2,400 people to evacuate their homes in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The Lockheed Fire, which started around 7 p.m. Wednesday, had scorched about 2,800 acres, or 4.4 square miles, in Santa Cruz County, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The blaze, about 10 miles north of the coastal city of Santa Cruz, threatened more than 1,000 homes and other buildings and was not contained by late afternoon.

Authorities issued a mandatory evacuation order Thursday for the entire community of Bonny Doon, which has about 2,000 residents and several wineries, said CalFire spokeswoman Julie Hutchinson.

Everyone also has been ordered to leave the nearby community of Swanton, where about 400 people live.

"It's a significant fire that is burning in a rural, inaccessible, steep terrain with vegetation that has been stressed by the drought," Hutchinson said. "It's like having firewood in your fireplace that's dry and ready to burn."

The blaze is about three miles from the site of last year's Martin Fire, which burned 520 acres and destroyed 11 buildings in the Bonny Doon area in June 2008.

There have been no reports of injuries or property damage related to the fire, whose cause is under investigation, said CalFire spokesman Daniel Berlant.

Law enforcement officers went door to door Thursday as residents watered down their homes, aiming sprinklers and hoses at the rooftops. They loaded bicycles, pets, computers and other valuables into their cars and trucks.

Many had to evacuate last year when flames threatened the area.

Nancy Macallister said she was disappointed about the mandatory evacuation but said it's reasonable.

"The fire's big, the fire's hot, there's some rough terrain and the afternoon winds should be coming this direction, so it makes sense. They're trying to keep people safe," she said.

A shelter for evacuees was set up in Santa Cruz, where Linda Lemaster arrived early Thursday after leaving her house on Last Chance Road near Swanton.

When she got a recorded call to evacuate, she grabbed some of her son's paintings, photos, bedding and some food, she said. Her boyfriend stayed behind to take care of the cats and property.

As she drove away, she saw thick smoke and flames.

"I thought of volcano lava the way it was moving in through the trees," said Lemaster, 60. "If it had kept going like that, it would have headed right to my house."

Rachel Beauregard, co-owner of Beauregard Vineyards in Bonny Doon, said the winery is just getting ready for the harvest.

"We're really nervous right now," said Beauregard, who had to evacuate Thursday. "Even if the vines don't get burned, there's the smoke taint aspect. A big fire could hurt us either way."

Farther down the coast, more than 1,600 firefighters were trying to control a wildfire in northern Santa Barbara County that has grown to 56 square miles. More than 170 homes and ranches have been evacuated since the La Brea Fire started Saturday. It was about 10 percent contained Thursday morning.

A temporary emergency shelter was set up at a high school in New Cuyama, and there was a shelter for larger animals like horses and cattle in Santa Maria.

In far northern California, two separate wildfires forced the evacuation of more than 30 homes.

In Trinity County, about 25 homes were evacuated as gusty winds fed the Coffin Fire, which has burned about 1.9 square miles near Lewiston, CalFire spokeswoman Mickie Jakez said. The mountain community 30 miles west of Redding is home to 1,300 people.

A 60-year-old woman — Brenda Eitzen of Los Molinos — was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of sparking the fire when she threw out a lit cigarette, Jakez said.

The blaze was 40 percent contained Thursday, and firefighters hoped for complete containment Friday if winds cooperate.

Farther east, a fire covering 26 square miles forced the evacuation of 10 homes about 10 miles northwest of Burney, wich is located 200 miles north of Sacramento. The Shu Fire was 70 percent contained Thursday morning.

Firefighters have nearly contained three other lightning-caused fires in Shasta and Lassen counties.

Gates: 'A few years' of combat in Afghanistan

By LARA JAKES and ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon presented a grim portrait of the Afghanistan war Thursday, offering no assurances about how long Americans will be fighting there or how many U.S. combat troops it will take to win.

Defeating the Taliban and al-Qaida will take "a few years," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, with success on a larger scale in the desperately poor country a much longer proposition. He acknowledged that the Taliban has a firm hold on parts of the country President Barack Obama has called vital to U.S. security.

Congress wants answers to what lawmakers described as basic questions to soothe a war-weary American public.

"In the intelligence business, we always used to categorize information in two ways, secrets and mysteries," Gates, a former CIA director, told a Pentagon news conference.

He added: "Mysteries were those where there were too many variables to predict. And I think that how long U.S. forces will be in Afghanistan is in that area."

With 62,000 U.S. troops already in the country, and another 6,000 headed there by the end of the year, Gates suggested there is little appetite in Washington to add many more.

He said his top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is free to ask for whatever he needs, but Gates said when the general submits a revised war plan in the coming weeks it will not contain a request to expand the U.S. fighting force.

McChrystal is expected to identify shortfalls that could be filled by U.S. forces, but a formal request would come only later. The White House has made no secret of its skepticism about further troop additions in Afghanistan, and Gates said Thursday he still was worried that too many American forces could turn Afghans against those trying to help them.

Obama has made Afghanistan one of his top foreign policy priorities. But his administration is grappling with refocusing on Afghanistan, which the U.S. invaded in October 2001 to hunt for Osama bin Laden, while disentangling 130,000 American troops from Iraq.

In a report released earlier this week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee warned the Obama administration that unanswered questions about lingering U.S. involvement in Afghanistan could frustrate the public.

"The administration has raised the stakes by transforming the Afghan war from a limited intervention into a more ambitious and potentially risky counterinsurgency," the Senate report concluded. "These core questions about commitment and sacrifice can be answered only through a rigorous and informed national debate."

Committee Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., cited "risks and rewards associated with our increasing commitment to the war in Afghanistan."

As the fight moves toward its ninth year this fall, Gates said allied forces must show this year that they are turning the tide.

"It's just not possible to predict specific periods of time when you're in a conflict like this, where ... the enemy has a vote and where there are so many variables," Gates said.

Appearing alongside Gates, the nation's second-highest ranking military officer agreed there is no date certain for an exit.

Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Marine Gen. James Cartwright said he is looking for evidence of U.S. and NATO troops increasingly turning security missions over to Afghan forces as a sign of when Americans might ramp down their presence.

"When you start to see that attitude change, then you start to have a sense that things are going to move in a direction that would be towards the end of the violence side of this equation," Cartwright said.

The Senate report also noted the wide-ranging timeline for U.S. troops in the fight cited by unidentified military leaders, policy-makers and outside experts around Washington: anywhere from two years to over a decade.

"None of the civilian officials or military officers interviewed in Afghanistan and elsewhere expected substantial progress in the short term. They talked in terms of years two, five and 10," the report noted.

The varying timelines, in part, may reflect politics.

Capitol Hill has grown wary of approving annual war chests after years of ever-increasing costs for Iraq. Obama has asked Congress for $68 billion next year to fund defense spending in Afghanistan. The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, recently asked for another $2.5 billion in nonmilitary spending, The Washington Post reported this week.

Military officials believe the Afghanistan mission can only succeed if troops are there far longer — anywhere from five years to 12 years.

Cartwright suggested that some changes will be needed "pretty soon."

"The IED fight is pretty lethal," Cartwright said, referring to improvised explosive devices left on roadsides which are now the cause of the majority of U.S. and NATO deaths.

Last month 49 coalition troops died in bomb attacks, a more than six-fold increase from the eight killed in roadside and suicide bomb attacks in July 2008, according to U.S. figures.

Observers see pattern of fraud before Afghan vote

By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer

KABUL – Voting observers expect fraud during next week's Afghan presidential election and warn that cheating will most likely take place at polling stations in remote or dangerous areas where independent monitors won't be able to be present.

A suspiciously high number of women — far more than men — have been registered to vote in culturally conservative provinces where President Hamid Karzai expects to do well, a leading election monitor said this week. An adviser to the top U.S. commander said the black market for voter registration cards is flourishing and that she could have personally bought 1,000.

Monitors said they would tolerate a limited amount of fraud in the Aug. 20 balloting.

"If the level of corruption or violation is under 10 percent, it will be acceptable for me," said Jandad Spinghar, the executive director of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, the country's top independent election monitoring group.

"My personal feeling is we cannot expect that our election will be according to the standard that you have in the United States or Germany or France, but at least we should have a voting process according to the level of a country in the Third World."

But serious questions over the fairness of the election raise the possibility that losing candidates and their supporters will not accept the results. That could lead to a period of political turmoil in a country where the central government is struggling to exert control in many regions.

Taliban militants have vowed to disrupt the election and warned Afghans to stay away from the polls. With one week to go before the ballot, Karzai declared that Afghan government forces would observe an election day cease-fire and called on militants not to "create problems for people who vote."

Among the questionable election figures is the number of Afghans the country's election commission says have registered: more than 17 million. The campaign of former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah — Karzai's top challenger — alleges that there are more registered than eligible voters.

The CIA estimates the population of Afghanistan at 33.6 million, and says that half the population is under age 18. No one can be sure, however, because the country hasn't conducted a census since 1979.

The number of women who were registered over the last year in Paktia, Khost and Logar provinces is also raising eyebrows, said Spinghar. Afghan males there registered multiple women from their families — as many as 10 or 15 in some cases — and claimed that because of cultural sensitivities the women could not register in person, he said. It's not clear those women exist.

The dominant ethnic group in all three conservative provinces is the Pashtun tribe. Karzai, the leading candidate in a crowded field of three dozen contenders hoping to win a five-year term, is a Pashtun.

Figures from Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission show that 72,958 women registered in Khost compared with 38,500 men; 87,600 women registered in Paktia compared with 50,250 men; and 36,849 women registered in Logar but 14,342 men.

"The number of women is so high compared with the men," Spinghar said. "We cannot expect so many women to have registered."

The figures are far different in other areas. In Herat, a more liberal province where women move about more freely, 55,483 women registered compared with 104,946 men, commission figures show. In Kunduz, another northern, more liberal province, 45,572 women registered compared with 109,650 men.

The European Union Election Observation Mission, which will send out 120 monitors, said it's concerned that male heads of household may try to vote for all the females in their families — a practice forbidden by election rules.

"It's something that we're looking at in the south and the southeast of the country," the mission's deputy chief, Dimitra Ioannou, said Thursday. "We are concerned about this because the number of registered voters in that region is quite high."

Spinghar said his monitors also reported multiple cases of underage Afghans registering and receiving voting cards.

The top U.N. official in the country, Kai Eide, said last weekend that fraud prevention measures are much better than they were in 2004, when Afghanistan held its first direct presidential election. As in the previous election, each voter will be required to dip his or her finger in indelible ink, a measure intended to prevent people from voting multiple times.

In 2004, however, there were complaints that some election staff used regular ink — which was easy to wash off. Other allegations included ballot-box stuffing and voter intimidation.

Eide said he does not expect a completely fair election.

"Will there be irregularities? Yes, I fear there will," he said. "But I hope with the measures that have been undertaken we will be able to keep it to a level that will not affect the credibility of the elections."

Spinghar said enforcement of the one-vote ink rule will depend on the impartiality of the election staff.

"We have enough observers, but in places where there are no observers or the IEC (Independent Election Commission) is not able to control the impartiality of their staff, we cannot guarantee a good vote," he said.

A former journalist who has lived in Afghanistan since 2001 and is now an adviser to U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said she personally bought 10 voter registration cards on the black market.

"I could have bought a thousand if I had wanted to. And I could take those or somebody could take those into a polling place, you know, one of the more remote ones, and just fill out ballots in the names of those people whose cards you have," Sarah Chayes said on MSNBC last month.

Spinghar hopes to have 8,000 election observers in the field, but he said he can't guarantee all will go out because of weak security. Thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan security forces are working to secure remote voting sites. Election officials have said militant violence in the south will prevent some 700 of the country's 7,000 polling centers from opening.