May 28, 2004

World Media Watch

by Gloria R. Lalumia

BUZZFLASH NOTE: WMW provides BuzzFlash readers foreign views and perspectives that are not usually available from the media here in the U.S. The presentation of these articles from these international publications is not an endorsement of their viewpoints.

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WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR MAY 28, 2004

1//The Guardian, UK--ANALYSIS: CATCH-22 REVISITED (The horrors of American military conduct are being documented every day. But one aspect of the leaked US report into prison abuse in Iraq has been little noticed. General Taguba, head of the investigation, painted a picture of an army which can be not only brutal, but is also riddled with incompetence. Some of the details in his dossier read dismayingly like a chapter from Catch-22, Joseph Heller's second world war black comedy about the lunatics and shysters who held men's lives in their hands at a fictional military base.)

2//The Daily Times, Pakistan--JUNIOR OFFICERS TRIED TO KILL ME: MUSHARRAF (President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday made a startling disclosure that "junior Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) officers" had made one of the attempts on his life in December 2003..."They are extremists involved in extremist religious activity or having affiliations with religious organisations. That is not allowed in the forces, so this is also punishable. The joining of any organisation by armed forces personnel, going for religious indoctrination or even religious training or accepting guerrilla training is absolutely against all military laws," he said, adding that those who were involved in the operations had been arrested and their trial would begin very soon.)

3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--IRAN: INVISIBLE HANDS GUIDE MILITARY AMBITIONS (This month the Iranian army occupied the new Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) hours after it had been officially inaugurated with pomp and due ceremony, closing runways with tanks and other military vehicles while a Russian-made MiG-29 and an aging US-made Phantom F-4 escorted an Iran Air flight to Esfahan airport in central Iran, a move that signals the winds of change may again be blowing in the Islamic Republic.)

4//The News International, Pakistan--PAKISTAN SEEKS US ASSURANCES ON BORDER INCURSIONS (Military officials from both sides met in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, where the US forces had crossed into Pakistan at least once. "The Pakistan side has asked them that they should ensure these do not occur in future," military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan told Reuters. He said the US officials gave assurances that border incursions had not been encouraged at a "higher-level". "But some violations do take place, which they accepted, at the lower level.")

5//The Manila Times, Philippines--NOW IT'S GONZALES' TURN TO LINK GRINGO (National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales on Thursday linked Sena. Gregorio Honasan to an alleged plot to destabilize the country to prevent President Arroyo from taking office, contradicting an earlier announcement of the Philip-pine National Police. Gonzales's announcement was made a day after the PNP said it had no evidence Honasan was actually involved in such plots. But the military disagreed, saying Honasan's alleged plot to grab power, dubbed Oplan Andres, was very much alive...Gonzales said anti-Arroyo groups are trying to replicate the conditions that led to the success of the 1986 EDSA revolution against the Marcos administration and the 2000 revolution against former President Estrada.)

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1//The Guardian, UK Friday May 28, 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1226638,00.html

ANALYSIS: CATCH-22 REVISITED
The world has focused on US soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners. But the leaked inquiry reveals incompetence worthy of Joseph Heller's novel

David Leigh

The world has focused on US soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners. But the leaked inquiry reveals incompetence worthy of Joseph Heller's novel

The horrors of American military conduct are being documented every day. But one aspect of the leaked US report into prison abuse in Iraq has been little noticed. General Taguba, head of the investigation, painted a picture of an army which can be not only brutal, but is also riddled with incompetence.

Some of the details in his dossier read dismayingly like a chapter from Catch-22, Joseph Heller's second world war black comedy about the lunatics and shysters who held men's lives in their hands at a fictional military base.

What is one to make, for example, of the way Captain Leo Merck is said to have behaved? Captain Merck, in charge of a military police unit, is alleged to have spent his time in Iraq taking "nude pictures of female soldiers without their knowledge".

His colleague, Captain Damaris Morales, is ticked off for failing to train his troops. One of them proved unable, it is alleged, to get out of his vehicle without accidentally letting off his M-16 rifle. Taguba drily notes: "Round went into fuel tank."

The commanders were at each other's throats. General Janis Karpinski was barely on speaking terms with Colonel Thomas Pappas from military intelligence, who had ousted her from control of the Abu Ghraib cells. "There was clear friction and lack of effective communication," says Taguba. "No clear delineation of responsibility between commands, little coordination at the command level."

He found General Karpinski "extremely emotional" and was disturbed, he said, that she seemed unwilling to accept that any problems were caused by poor leadership. She claimed she visited the prison regularly but did not do so, and saw very little of her individual soldiers. Battalion commander Jerry Phillabaum was "extremely ineffective". His unit had to be run day-to-day by the major below him, as "numerous witnesses confirm", but he was allowed to continue nominally in charge.

The general's two staff officers, Major Hinzman and and Major Green, were "essentially dysfunctional". Despite complaints from demoralised colleagues, they stayed in post. The legal officer, judge advocate Lt Col James O'Hare, "appears to lack initiative and was unwilling to accept responsibility for any of his actions".

It was, perhaps, unsurprising that armed solders wandered round the prison in civilian clothes; that logbooks were filled with "unprofessional entries and flippant comments"; that they "wrote poems and other sayings on their helmets"; that old friendships replaced the military chain of command; and that saluting of officers was "sporadic".

(MORE)

2//The Daily Times, Pakistan Friday, May 28, 2004
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_28-5-2004_pg1_1

JUNIOR OFFICERS TRIED TO KILL ME: MUSHARRAF
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday made a startling disclosure that "junior Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) officers" had made one of the attempts on his life in December 2003.

At a TV talk show, President Musharraf said, "Well there are some junior-level people in uniform, but they are very small. These personnel of the armed forces will be tried in a military court and it will be an open trial."

Referring to the two attempts on his life, the president said some more people in the armed forces were under watch and might be picked up if their involvement in the attack was proved. "No senior officers were involved in the assassination bid. We have investigated everything and know exactly who is involved. We know the entire picture of both the actions and exact names. We know their faces, their identities and their families. We know everything," he added.

On December 14, 2003, a bridge in Rawalpindi was blown up soon after the president's motorcade had passed over it and in another attempt in the same area on December 25, 2003, two suicide attacks were made on him when two explosive-laden vehicles tried to ram his car. More than 50 people were killed in the second attempt. He said the explosives used in the attack were taken from the tribal areas to Multan and then brought to Islamabad. He said the government knew exactly how the two attacks on him were planned and executed. "Those who are directly involved are under arrest and we are watching those who are indirectly involved. They will be picked up, if they have a direct connection," he said.

The president said the mastermind behind these attacks had also been identified. "He is a Pakistani and is at large. He thought of the idea and then planned it. We will get him," he said.

(SNIP)

To a question whether it was an "in-house" job involving someone associated with the state apparatus, he said, "Well there are some people in uniform." He agreed that these people were directly linked to the first assassination attempt on him but denied that they were also involved in the second attempt.

President Musharraf categorically ruled out any involvement of senior military officers. "No, not at all. Two-hundred percent sure, because we have unearthed everything. Those who are directly involved are under arrest and we are watching those who are indirectly involved," the president said, confirming that these people were extremists.

"They are extremists involved in extremist religious activity or having affiliations with religious organisations. That is not allowed in the forces, so this is also punishable. The joining of any organisation by armed forces personnel, going for religious indoctrination or even religious training or accepting guerrilla training is absolutely against all military laws," he said, adding that those who were involved in the operations had been arrested and their trial would begin very soon.

(MORE)

3//The News International, Pakistan Friday May 28, 2004 -- Rabi-us-Sani 08, 1425 A.H.
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/may2004-daily/28-05-2004/main/main5.htm

PAKISTAN SEEKS US ASSURANCES ON BORDER INCURSIONS

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has urged the US forces hunting al-Qaeda and the Taliban fighters in Afghanistan to avoid any further trespassing into its territory after at least one incursion, a military spokesman said on Thursday.

Military officials from both sides met in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, where the US forces had crossed into Pakistan at least once. "The Pakistan side has asked them that they should ensure these do not occur in future," military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan told Reuters. He said the US officials gave assurances that border incursions had not been encouraged at a "higher-level". "But some violations do take place, which they accepted, at the lower level."

Meanwhile, US-led coalition troops in Afghanistan gave assurances that they would avoid incursions into Pakistani territory in future, the Pakistani military said. The statement came after a meeting, attended by representatives from the Pakistan military's General Headquarters and the coalition's Bagram headquarters, it said.

(MORE)

4//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong May 28, 2004
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE28Ak05.html

IRAN: INVISIBLE HANDS GUIDE MILITARY AMBITIONS
By Safa Haeri

PARIS - This month the Iranian army occupied the new Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) hours after it had been officially inaugurated with pomp and due ceremony, closing runways with tanks and other military vehicles while a Russian-made MiG-29 and an aging US-made Phantom F-4 escorted an Iran Air flight to Esfahan airport in central Iran, a move that signals the winds of change may again be blowing in the Islamic Republic.

In a sibylline communique, the armed forces justified the unprecedented operation under unspecified "security problems". But as outcry and outrage mounted, particularly in the reformist camp of the leadership, claiming that the operation was tantamount to a coup in a banana republic, the army explained that having some services of the newly built - but not completed - airport handled by foreigners was against the security of the nation, referring to the contract awarded by the Iranian authorities to a Turkish-Austrian consortium for the handling of baggage, catering of the planes and restaurants, cafes, shops and other services in all of the airport's terminals. (According to some press reports, Turkey angrily protested to the Islamic Republic over the expulsion of some 80 Turkish employees of the IKIA.)

Unable to explain the operation fully, the military informed the public that it had acted upon a decision made earlier by the Supreme Council on National Security (SCNS) urging the responsible authorities to review the security issues and handling of the services at the IKIA.

Before going further, it should be brought to light that Iran is perhaps the only country in the world that has two separate armies, both with their own land, air and naval forces. The regular army is made up of conscripts who are dedicated and limited to the defense of the nation. The Army Guardian of the Islamic Revolution, or the Revolutionary Guard, is better paid and equipped with more modern armaments than the regular army, and is in charge of the interior security, fighting insurgencies, counter-revolutionaries and doing other "dirty jobs".

Though each of the above-mentioned forces has its own chain of command and joint chiefs of staff, all of the armed forces, including the police and the gendarmerie, are under the supreme command of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, and his deputy, the secretive Major-General Hasan Firoozabadi, as well as a Supreme Joint Chiefs of Staff made up of officers of both the regular army and the Revolutionary Guard.

It is interesting to note that in this peculiar case, while the Supreme Joint Chiefs of Staff issued the statements about the airport operation, the Revolutionary Guard carried it out, raising several questions, some of them carrying strategic consequences for the future of the Iranian theocracy and, above all, the possibility of seeing the militaries playing a more important role in the governance of the country, thereby militarizing the regime.

(MORE)

5//The Manila Times, Philippines Friday, May 28, 2004
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/may/...

NOW IT'S GONZALES' TURN TO LINK GRINGO
By Karl Kaufman, Reporter and Jude Torres, Correspondent

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales on Thursday linked Sena. Gregorio Honasan to an alleged plot to destabilize the country to prevent President Arroyo from taking office, contradicting an earlier announcement of the Philip-pine National Police.

Gonzales's announcement was made a day after the PNP said it had no evidence Honasan was actually involved in such plots. But the military disagreed, saying Honasan's alleged plot to grab power, dubbed Oplan Andres, was very much alive.

At his office at the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency in Quezon City Gonzales told The Manila Times that Honasan had been seen meeting with certain civilians and military officers in Davao City before and after the May 10 election.

Honasan is facing charges before the Department of Justice for allegedly masterminding last year's failed mutiny of some 300 military junior officers and enlisted men in Makati City.

Gonzales said anti-Arroyo groups are trying to replicate the conditions that led to the success of the 1986 EDSA revolution against the Marcos administration and the 2000 revolution against former President Estrada.

(SNIP)

Gonzales said the opposition does not have enough money to pay soldiers and the people to launch mass actions against the Arroyo administration.

" Nobody's bankrolling [their plot] and they can't prove that there was really a conspiracy to rig the election. That's why they are having a hard time establishing the foundation of their destabilization plan," he said.

As the military and the police continue to contradict each other, Malacañang announced it would not prevent the two from disclosing confidential intelligence on the alleged destabilization plots.

(MORE)