Two U.S. congressmen visit Gaza

Two U.S. congressmen arrived in the Gaza Strip Thursday, marking the highest-level visit by U.S. officials to the territory since Islamic Hamas movement seized control of the enclave nearly two years ago.

The Democratic representatives, Brian Baird and Keith Ellison, arrived in the Hamas-controlled territory through Erez crossing in northern Gaza Strip and started touring areas hit by Israel during its major offensive in December and January.

The officials have no plans to meet members of Hamas administration since the U.S. classifies it as a terrorist movement. They will meet UN officials and Palestinian activists of nongovernmental organizations in addition to victims of the Israeli military operation.

The delegation's armored jeeps headed to east of Jabalia refugee camp where many houses were demolished during the Israeli incursion.

At least 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the onslaught and the UN figures say that 14,000 houses were destroyed.

Commentary: Kinetic illusions

By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE, UPI Editor at Large

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- While President Obama signed orders to deploy 17,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, including 8,000 Marines, his thinking on the Afghan war has changed significantly. It's no longer the gung-ho view of a surge-type operation routing al-Qaida's terrorists. The reinforcements also fall shy of the 30,000 troops requested by Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, which would have doubled current U.S. force levels in a country of 35 million the size of France. Juggling troop requirements between two wars leaves one theater short-changed. "Even with these additional forces," warned McKiernan, "I have to tell you that 2009 is going to be a tough year."

Al-Qaida is in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, those seven tribal agencies under Pakistani sovereignty on the Afghan border, not in Afghanistan. But the more the United States keeps bombing al-Qaida's safe havens in FATA by remote-controlled, unmanned Predators, the more civilians get killed, and the more the Taliban's politico-religious fanatics boost their stock in Pakistan proper.

Obama faced his first foreign hurdle on open-ended North Atlantic Treaty Organization commitments in Afghanistan when he made his first foreign visit to Canada today. The Canadian Parliament had already voted to pull out its 2,800 troops by 2011, and both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon made clear only another vote in a hostile Parliament could change that.

The only other two nations authorized to fight in Afghanistan -- Britain and the Netherlands -- are also under parliamentary pressure to wrap up their kinetic contributions by the end of 2011. CENTCOM commander Gen. David H. Petraeus believes the Brits will stick it out with the United States as long as it takes. Prime Minister Gordon Brown's entourage does not share Petraeus' confidence.

Obama is also asking the other NATO allies with kinetically impaired troops, whose parliaments voted to keep them out of harm's way, to contribute more soldiers. France, Germany and Spain have declined. Italy, under conservative leader Silvio Berlusconi, has agreed to boost its Afghan contingent from 2,300 troops to 2,800. They are based near Herat, close to the Iranian border, and will be allowed to open fire against the Taliban only if the Group of Eight summit next July, on the island of La Maddalena, between Corsica and Sardinia, agrees. Not exactly an Italian call to action.

Obama's main Afghan concern now is to avoid going into negotiations with "moderate" Taliban elements from a position of weakness. In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. prior to his one-day visit to Ottawa, Obama indicated a shift in his Afghan strategy when he made clear diplomacy will now play a bigger role in U.S. efforts in Afghanistan. "I am absolutely convinced," the president explained, "that you cannot solve the problem of Afghanistan, the Taliban, the spread of extremism in that region, solely through military means. ... We're going to have to use diplomacy. We're going to have to use development."

An immediate worry is the ability to defend Kabul, the Afghan capital, with NATO troops who are not authorized to fight. The first 3,000 U.S. reinforcements will be deployed around the city to thwart the Taliban's plans to stage a Tet-type offensive, which was when Viet Cong guerrillas infiltrated major Vietnamese cities in 1968. Even though defeated, the Viet Cong scored a major psychological victory that demoralized America's home front.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai keeps complaining about U.S. troops he says are turning the population against them by breaking into homes looking for Taliban guns and ammo, and killing any civilian who resists. "They will get plenty of flowers and gratitude when we send them safely back home," Karzai opined sarcastically.

After reading up on Afghan briefing papers, Obama concluded Defense Secretary Robert Gates was only partly correct when he said "there needs to be a three- to five-year plan for re-establishing control in certain areas, providing security for the population, going after al-Qaida, preventing the establishment of terrorism, better performance in terms of delivery of services to the people." This tends to co-mingle the Taliban and al-Qaida. For Obama, they are two separate entities, and the split should be encouraged.

When they take place, negotiations will be with the Taliban, not with al-Qaida. As for the $32 billion in U.S. economic aid to rebuild the country, there are still major cities with only two hours of electricity per day. But there are still powerful elements, both civilian and military, adamantly opposed to negotiations. They say we should be prepared to stick it out another 10 years if necessary. But are the American people willing to go along? And doesn't the current financial and economic upheaval put a bit of a crimp on grandiloquent expressions of open-ended bravura? The next big debate will be about Taliban "reconcilables."

Obama said to plan push for nuclear disarmament

By SHAUN WATERMAN, UPI Homeland and National Security Editor

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The Obama administration is planning a series of "game changing" moves on the issue of global nuclear disarmament, members of an international commission said at the weekend.

"I think it's fair to say that we are pushing at a reasonably open door on all these issues," Gareth Evans of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament told reporters Sunday after meetings in Washington with senior U.S. officials, in which he outlined five priority issues the new administration should address to reduce the nuclear threat.

But some observers suggested the commission needs to broaden its focus.

"Everything we heard … was extremely encouraging, and it's extremely important in global terms, because in this, as in frankly so many other areas, U.S. leadership is absolutely critical and … has been somewhat missing over the last eight years," said Evans, former foreign minister of Australia and co-chair of the commission -- an international body established by the Australian and Japanese governments to lead a global debate on cutting nuclear arsenals and to work to ensure the success of the next round of talks on the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in 2010.

Evans and the commission's other co-chair, former Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, met with U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, national security adviser Gen. James Jones, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and the chairmen of several key congressional committees, including Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"I got a very, very positive impression of serious commitment from President Obama to really do some game-changing things in this area," Evans added in an interview with The Australian newspaper.

The White House National Security Council spokesman's office declined to respond directly to Evans' comments, but a senior administration official told UPI that the issues the commission had raised were "important issues, priority issues. They're under review and we look forward to engaging (with them) early and in depth."

The five issues that the commissioners called on the United States to make "particular priorities in terms of new action or renewed action," as Evans put it, were:

-- Getting the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty ratified, "if that can possibly be managed. We understand the political difficulties";

-- "Revitalizing the negotiations on a fissile material cutoff treaty," an international agreement to ban the production of new fissile material for nuclear weapons;

-- Successfully concluding a deal with Russia on the "continuation or replacement or extension" of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, "involving further deep reductions in strategic weapons";

-- Starting "serious, wide-ranging strategic dialogues" with both Russia and China on other issues, especially the controversial U.S. ballistic missile defense program; and

-- "Visible changes in U.S. nuclear doctrine" to rule out the first use of nuclear weapons.

Evans called these "very, very important steps … in changing the psychological landscape internationally and reinvigorating the momentum for both disarmament and non-proliferation."

Henry Sokolski, the executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, told UPI the commission was "pushing very hard on issues where national governments are already focused like a laser beam. They should be putting a spotlight on things that national governments are not paying so much attention to. … That is where they can add value."

As an example, Sokolski cited the spread of nuclear power and "the question of how there can be a growth in the number of states with large nuclear reactors without a growth in the numbers of nuclear (weapons) ready states."

"They have done great work in lifting the carpet on the growing nuclear capabilities of Pakistan, India and China and the threats that poses," he continued. "We need to see more detail as to what might be done to counter those threats."

The commission, he concluded, was "still a work in progress."

Israeli troops wound man planting bomb

JERUSALEM, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Israeli troops near a Gaza border crossing reported they wounded a Palestinian man as he allegedly tried to plant a bomb along the border fence Thursday.

The suspect was treated at a hospital for his injuries then taken into custody for questioning, Ynetnews.com reported.

Palestinian sources in Gaza also reported hearing gunfire in the northeastern part of the strip where Israeli troops were operating, Ynetnews.com said.

Also Thursday, two suspected rocket firings from Gaza toward the Negev region led to a "color red" alert, officials said, adding that where the rockets landed hasn't been determined.

Earlier, a Qassam rocket landed on the Palestinian side of the Gaza-Israel border fence, and a mortar shell fired from Gaza hit in the Sdot Negev Regional Council limits. No injuries were reported in in either attack, officials said.

Hezbollah adopts security changes after arrest of Israeli agent

Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah has reportedly made security changes after a Lebanese Shiite was arrested from south Lebanon town of Nabatieh on charges of spying for Israel, Al-Balad daily reported Thursday.

Quoting a source close to Hezbollah, the daily said that the party adopted "new security measures."

The Lebanese army announced on Feb. 16 that Marwan Faqih was arrested in south Lebanon and is in the army custody.

News reports said that Faqih is believed to have started collaborating with Israeli intelligence since he was recruited in France in 1990.

Al-Akhbar daily, close to Hezbollah, said that Faqih was assigned to collect information about Hezbollah, and owned a gas station in the area, which helped him in his task.

Security sources said that official charges have not been filed against him, however, the case is still pending before the military prosecutor.

Two Israeli agent networks have been discovered in the last two years in Lebanon, and the Lebanese army intelligence has carried out several arrests.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating 34-day war in 2006, and are on a high state of animosity.

Clinton names special NKorea envoy

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer

SEOUL, South Korea – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton named a special envoy for North Korea on Friday but warned the communist nation that ties with the United States will not improve unless it stops threatening South Korea.

Amid a disturbing rise in belligerent rhetoric from the North toward the South and signs it may be getting ready to test-fire a ballistic missile, she urged Pyongyang to halt "provocative and unhelpful" gestures and rejoin stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.

"North Korea is not going to get a different relationship with the United States while insulting and refusing dialogue with (South Korea)," Clinton told reporters at a news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan.

"We are calling on the government of North Korea to refrain from being provocative and unhelpful in a war of words that it has been engaged in because that is not very fruitful," she said.

Clinton, who also received a military briefing on the situation along the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea and discussed broader issues with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, praised Seoul for its democracy and prosperity.

She said that was "in stark contrast to the tyranny and poverty across the border to the North" and commended the "people of South Korea and your leaders for your calm, resolve and determination in the face of provocative and unhelpful statements and actions by the North."

She declined to comment on intelligence suggesting the North could soon fire a missile but noted such an act would violate U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718, which was passed after Pyongyang detonated a nuclear device in 2006.

"The North should refrain from violating this resolution and also from any and all provocative actions that could harm the six-party talks and aggravate the tensions in the region," Clinton said.

She demanded that the North follow through on promises it made to dismantle and verifiably disable its nuclear weapons program during negotiations with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States last year, saying Washington is not willing to engage with Pyongyang until it does so.

Clinton said the new U.S. special representative for North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, would work with South Korea, Japan, China and others to look at ways to get Pyongyang back to the negotiating table and deal with broader policy.

Bosworth will also deal with North Korean human rights and humanitarian issues, she said, praising him as "a capable and experienced diplomat" who will report to her and President Barack Obama.

En route to South Korea from Indonesia on Thursday on her first overseas trip as America's top diplomat, Clinton surprised reporters traveling with her when she spoke candidly about a possible succession crisis in North Korea and its impact on restarting the talks.

Those comments marked a rare, if not unprecedented, instance of a senior U.S. official publicly discussing such a diplomatically sensitive matter.

On Friday in Seoul, Clinton again acknowledged concerns over a potential power struggle to replace ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong II, but she stressed that the United States was still addressing its concerns to the existing government.

"As we look at planning and contingency planning, we're taking everything into account, but we feel there is a government in place right now and that government is being asked to re-engage with the six-party talks, to fulfill the obligations that they have agreed to," she said.

"And we expect them to do so," Clinton added, stressing that her earlier succession comments had not divulged any classified information and that similar analysis could easily be found in newspapers and online.

Kim, 67, inherited leadership from his father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, in 1994, creating the world's first communist dynasty. Last year, South Korean and U.S. officials said Kim suffered a stroke and underwent brain surgery in August.

North Korean officials have steadfastly denied Kim is ill but state-run media made no mention of Kim's public appearances for weeks last fall, feeding fears that his sudden death without naming a successor could leave a power vacuum and spark an internal struggle.

Kim's father had cultivated a powerful cult of personality that encompassed him and his son, and recent dispatches in North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency have stressed the importance of bloodline and inheritance in what is seen as references to the succession plan.

Kim Jong Il is believed to have at least three sons: Kim Jong Nam, in his late 30s; Kim Jong Chul, in his late 20s; and Kim Jong Un, a son in his mid-20s by another companion.

The eldest is believed to have been the favorite to succeed his father until he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport in 2001, reportedly to visit Tokyo Disneyland.

Last month, the South Korean news agency Yonhap said the youngest, Kim Jong Un, was named Kim's heir apparent.

And, on Thursday, citing unidentified sources in Beijing, Yonhap said Kim Jong Un had registered his candidacy for March 8 parliamentary elections in a sign the son is poised to become the country's next leader.

Fueling speculation of possible power struggle, the North's state-run news agency reported last week that Kim Jong II had replaced his defense minister and chief of the military's general staff.

Sufi Clerics in Somalia Support Unity Government

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
18 February 2009

Sufi clerics in Somalia have declared their support for the new unity government led by a moderate Islamist. The declaration is raising the possibility of a wider sectarian war between adherents of the Sufi order and the powerful al-Shabab group in Somalia.

Sufi clerics, meeting this week in the Somali capital Mogadishu, say they fully support the newly-elected president of Somalia, moderate Islamist Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, and the efforts he is making to bring peace to the long-suffering country.

The clerics spoke Wednesday through a group of adherents of the Sufi order, who recently took up arms against al-Shabab in Somalia. The spokesman for Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama'a, Sheik Abduqadir Mohamed Soomow, says the international community should be thanked for sponsoring last year's peace talks in Djibouti. The talks paved the way for the Ethiopian troop withdrawal from Somalia in January and allowed Sheik Sharif's Islamist-led opposition group to join the government.

The cleric says Sufi scholars are calling on all Somalis to support the national unity government, which they hope will rule according to Islamic law and gain the support of the international community.

Sufism, a mystic form of Islam, has centuries old roots in Somalia but is considered heretical by conservative factions of Islam, especially Salafism and Wahhabism. Since the fall of Somalia's last functioning government in 1991, Salafism and Wahhabism, taught in many Saudi-run mosques and religious schools in Mogadishu and elsewhere, have gained a following among many young Somalis.

These Somalis make up the bulk of the al-Shabab, a militant group ideologically aligned with al-Qaida and vehemently opposed to Sheik Sharif's new western-backed government. Al-Shabab once functioned as the military wing of the Islamic Courts Union, an Islamist movement led by Sheik Sharif before he and other leaders were ousted from power by Ethiopia in late 2006.

Al-Shabab grew powerful as an anti-Ethiopian insurgent group and took control of many parts of central and southern Somalia. In recent weeks, Sheik Sharif has reached out to the group, urging the leaders to reject extremism and to participate in rebuilding the country.

Somalia observer for the International Crisis Group, Rashid Abdi, says although al-Shabab gained many recruits as an anti-Ethiopian insurgent group, many Somalis are now rejecting its militant brand of Islam in favor of Sheik Sharif's call for reconciliation.

"It is undeniable that there is a great deal of opposition building against al-Shabab, especially from the traditional Muslim groups in Somalia," said Abdi. "There is a mobilization of various groupings of orthodox Sunni Muslims all over Somalia to form a broad front against al-Shabab."

Recently, Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama'a scored military victories over al-Shabab in the central Somali Galgadud region, prompting fears that a wider conflict could erupt between the two groups. Abdi says if Sheik Sharif fails to bring al-Shabab to the negotiating table, a war may have to be fought to determine which version of Islam Somalis will embrace.

"If these attempts at reconciliation collapse, then the prospect of a sectarian war happening in Somalia is real and that is definitely something to worry about," he said.

Sheik Sharif has never spoken out against the Salafist-Wahhabist branches of Islam. But he is believed to be sympathetic to Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama'a and its cause.