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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dayuhan who wrote (110928)	8/11/2003 12:44:08 AM
From: Sam	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Sen. Says Assumptions Causing Iraq Flap By WILLIAM C. MANN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Flawed assumptions by President Bush (news - web sites)'s advisers about postwar Iraq (news - web sites) are contributing to Iraqis' resentment of the U.S. occupation and undermining its legitimacy, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Sunday. Even the war itself has yet to be won, said Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind. "Having said that," Lugar said, "I reiterate we're there now. Whether they made a good choice or not in terms of tactics is irrelevant." Friday was the 100th day since Bush declared an end to major combat. In his radio address Saturday, he said the administration was "keeping our word to the Iraqi people by helping them to make their country an example of democracy and prosperity throughout the region." But Lugar and former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia, once chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites), looked back at the Iraq war in less rosy terms. "Clearly this is a war that still has to be won. By that, I mean, militarily, we have to finally find the rest of the malefactors. We have to try to make sure other forces don't intrude -- that is, terrorists in the country. You've going to need the lights on in Baghdad," Lugar said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "In other words, we really have to get conditions in the country such that the Iraqis know what we are doing, we communicate that to them, while we fight off those who are trying to disrupt the whole business." Lugar recently wrote a newspaper opinion piece that said the administration's postwar planning was so poor that Americans are contending in Iraq "with ethnic and religious rivalries; a long-repressed people; a war-damaged infrastructure already decayed from years of neglect and corruption; a lack of Iraqi democratic experience; and a host of extreme clerics, looters, gangsters and warlords-in-waiting." Asked Sunday how the planning was lacking, Lugar replied: "I think a thorough misunderstanding of how complex the politics of Iraq are and continue to be; an inability to understand the decapitation theory -- that is, getting rid of the top types while the workers continue -- wasn't going to work," he said. "In other words, the basic assumptions, whoever was making them, at State, at NSC, at Defense, simply were inadequate to begin with." NSC is the National Security Council. He said the facts in Iraq show "that if we are theorists before the fact, we better all talk about it a great deal more." His committee's consultations with administration officials, Lugar said, "showed that the administration really was not prepared on those grounds." A major step the administration needs to take, Lugar said, is to come up with a five-year budget for the reconstruction of Iraq to include sources of the money. "It could come from other countries," he said. "We must be vigorous in trying to get that and a U.N. resolution to give us more legitimacy" as the lead occupying power. "It is regrettable that some countries still believe that this is our mission entirely. And the U.N. legitimacy and the reaching-out to these other countries is of the essence, not only in the short term but in the intermediate term," Lugar said. Nunn agreed that a new resolution is singularly important, but no matter what, "We have got to see it through now. Whether you were for the war or against the war, America has a huge stake there now, and our allies have to understand it's in their best interest to really help us." story.news.yahoo.com.

To: Dayuhan who wrote (110928)	8/11/2003 9:23:28 AM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I believe you posted some articles, or thoughts, about Aceh. It certainly isn't in the news much- I found another one: Hundreds Of Civilians Killed In First 60 Days Of Aceh War Civilians are the victims in Aceh By Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia Correspondent KUALA LUMPUR, August 11 (IslamOnline.net) - Almost 300 civilians were killed in the first two months of the Indonesian military's campaign to crush separatist rebels in Aceh, a rights group in the province said Monday, August 11, while the war does not seem to be ending there yet. The Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA), which was at the center of a huge conflict with the regime of former President Abdurrahman Wahid said in a statement that 235 civilians were killed in the first month after the offensive was launched on May 19 and another 60 in the second month, reported the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. The military's latest figures released on Sunday show a total of 653 rebels killed since May 19 but do not list civilian casualties. However, several local journalists and human rights movements disputed the figures published by the military, saying the majority of those killed were civilians and not Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels, since the rebels are hiding deep in the forests. Members of the GAM too said many of those killed are civilians and that very few of its members were killed or arrested by the military. The GAM also contests the military’s statement that more than 1,400 rebels have been arrested or surrendered during the same period. The military says that it only lost a total of 55 men in the battle since it started in May this year. On Wednesday, August 6, a U.S. journalist freed from jail in Aceh has said civilians are bearing the brunt of the Indonesian military operation in Aceh and are being killed in greater numbers than separatist rebels. William Nessen was convicted of immigration offences and deported from Indonesia Monday, August 4, after 40 days in jail in Indonesia 's Aceh province for reporting on the separatist war in Aceh. "The ones that they (the military) are capturing and killing are not the fighters," Nessen told the BBC from Bangkok en route back to the U.S. Indonesian army soldiers were also being picked off in large numbers during the fighting, he added. "I saw a lot of losses among the Indonesian military, not that many guerrillas being killed. "I saw still a great optimism and determination among the guerillas, and the people in the villages that one day they would have their own country" he said. SIRA, which seeks an independence referendum in the province, did not say who it believes killed most of the civilians, probably for fear of being targeted by the Military. It is well known that the SIRA works closely with the GAM on several issues in the province and that the GAM gave its total support to the SIRA for seeking a referendum for Independence in Aceh during the time of Abdurrahman Wahid. "The ones that they (the military) are capturing and killing are not the fighters," Nessen One million people had rallied in favor of the call by the SIRA for the independence forum, which lead to the arrest of the head of the SIRA, Muhammad Nazar for five years for sedition. "For the TNI (armed forces), the fall of civilian casualties is deemed an unavoidable consequence of a war, no matter how large the civilian casualties," the SIRA said. SIRA said the civilian death toll was calculated based on various reliable field sources but added that it faced difficulties in checking the figure itself. "Therefore, with the support and assistance of all, we are really hoping for a special report of the UN or from an independent international institution for further investigation," SIRA said. Meanwhile, civilians arrested by the military and police during the process of the current offensive in Aceh are still waiting justice, the Jakarta Post reported on Monday. Only a few out of the nearly 200 war captives held in Lhokseumawe prison have had their cases processed and will shortly face trail. Many others in the prison have still not even been questioned by the police or military police. Maj. M. Zabur Nawawi, commander of Military Police Task Force A, which is responsible war captives detained in Lhokseumawe, Bireuen, Langsa, Sigli and Takengon, explained that all captives had to be interrogated by military police officers before being sent to the police for the further processing of their cases. "We will turn them over to the police for further investigation only if we find prima facie evidence of their involvement in the separatist movement," Zabur said. As Indonesia has never ratified the 1920 Geneva Convention, the Aceh martial law administration uses a 1999 government regulation in handling war prisoners. This regulation gives the power to the military police to detain war captives for 20 days, which can be extended for another 20 days. Zabur explained that only 68 out of 412 detainees in the five prisons under his supervision had had their cases fully processed by police investigators. Zabur also explained that 255 out of 412 detainees were arrested during the military operation, while the remaining 157 had surrendered to the military or the police.