By Ilyas Choudry

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D) from Houston Texas called our correspondent Ilyas Hasan Choudry to convey her sympathies and condolences to the Pakistani Community at the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The honorable House Of Representatives member Sheila Jackson Lee (D) is Co-Chair of the Pakistani Caucus in the Congress.

She said to honor the sacrifice of Benazir, the government and people of Pakistan should strive hard in a non-violent manner to bring unity within the nation of Pakistan and move ahead with the elections at the earliest possible time: Indefinite postponement of the elections, she said, is not what Benazir Bhutto would have been looking for. She said when recently the state of emergency was imposed in Pakistan, Benazir had called her to discuss various matters.

She said people start to give cloudy and offensive labels to each other when tragic incidents like this happen, but it is time for the Pakistani nation to come together to fight the forces of extremism.

Later at night on the first floor of her office building, Congresswoman Jackson-Lee organized a candlelight vigil, where an appreciable number of Pakistanis and constituents of the congresswoman were in attendance, including the Vice President of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarian Group, Khalid Khan.

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By Ori Lewis

JERUSALEM–President George Bush arrives in Israel on Wednesday aiming to boost efforts to achieve a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians before he leaves office in a year.

Bush will be making his first presidential visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank to try to keep up the momentum of negotiations between the parties created at a peace conference in the U.S. town of Annapolis in November.

The chances of completing a deal on establishing a Palestinian state before he leaves office in January 2009 appear slim, and no breakthroughs are expected during the three days of talks he will have with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

On Wednesday, Bush will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem and on Thursday he will focus largely on the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem and will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Olmert and Abbas agreed on Tuesday to begin peace talks on the thorniest issues despite major differences over Jewish settlement construction near Jerusalem.

They authorized negotiations on all final-status issues, from setting statehood borders to deciding the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

Neither side gave a starting date for the talks, but Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said they would begin “immediately.”

The first final-status talks in seven years were supposed to get under way soon after the Annapolis conference, but the Palestinians demanded Israel first commit itself to ceasing all settlement activity.

The final-status negotiations will be had largely in secrecy by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian PM Qurie, officials said.

In a sign of the tough going ahead, Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel-Razak al-Yahya accused Israel of hampering his efforts to keep order in the West Bank, saying it wanted chaos there as a pretext not to make headway on the political track.

Olmert, weakened by the 2006 Lebanon war, could face new calls to resign at the end of the month when a commission of inquiry issues its final report on the conflict. His coalition government is already under strain over the peace talks.

While Bush has called settlement expansion an “impediment,” doubts remain over how much pressure he will be willing to put on Israel, a key ally, to make compromises.

During a tour of the region that will include a number of Arab countries, Bush will hope to enlist support to help contain U.S. foe Iran, a goal underscored by a confrontation between U.S. and Iranian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz at the weekend.

Bush said on Tuesday Iran committed “a provocative act” in the Strait of Hormuz when (he claimed) Iranian speedboats approached three Navy ships and threatened that the ships would explode.

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Courtesy David Edwards and Muriel Kane

It was announced on Wednesday that the Justice Department has opened an official criminal investigation into the destruction of CIA torture tapes. However, rather than appointing an outside special counsel, Attorney General Mukasey has assigned an assistant US Attorney from Connecticut to handle the proceedings.

At the same time, the chairman and co-chair of the 9/11 Commission are charging in a New York Times op-ed that the CIA obstructed their own investigations in 2003-04 by not disclosing the existence of the tapes.

Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley told Keith Olbermann that as many as six criminal offenses could be involved in the 9/11 Commission charge alone, including obstruction of Congress, obstruction of justice, perjury, and conspiracy.

However, Turley emphasized that the real crime under investigation is not merely obstruction, but the actual torture documented by the tapes. “It is still, even after the last seven year, a crime to torture suspects,” Turley commented.

Turley suggested that under those circumstances, the failure to appoint a special prosecutor was a serious problem, because “the investigation will essentially be the Justice Department investigating itself. … Picking some guy in Connecticut or Cincinnati or Delaware or any other state doesn’t make any difference. His boss is Michael Mukasey. And Michael Mukasey’s boss is the president of the United States. If torture occurred, he was the guy who ordered it.”

Turley suggested that there is a reluctance throughout official Washington, not “just Republicans,” to pry into an underlying crime which is potentially far more serious than the burglary which was the start of Watergate. When Olberman asked if the investigation “could still lead to criminal culpability for the president,” Turley replied, “Most certainly it can. That original crime could only have been ordered by the president and it leads directly to his office.”

Turley finally expressed a concern that the Justice Department might try to “narrow this, define it in a way to avoid torture.” He explained, “Nobody in this town wants to talk about it because they know that there’s a lot of people in the country that like the idea of torturing these people. And that’s just a painful fact. But it’s also a painful fact that it’s a crime. And when the president says that we got some useful evidence, I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it’s immaterial. Just because it had good results or good motivations, it remains a crime.”

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Agence France-Presse

Islamabad – The Pakistani military reacted angrily Sunday to reports that US President George W. Bush is considering covert military operations in the country’s volatile tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

“It is not up to the US administration, it is Pakistan’s government who is responsible for this country,” chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.

“There are no overt or covert US operations inside Pakistan. Such reports are baseless and we reject them.”

The New York Times reported on its website late Saturday that under a proposal being discussed in Washington, CIA operatives based in Afghanistan would be able to call on direct military support for counter-terrorism operations in neighbouring Pakistan.

Citing unnamed senior administration officials, the newspaper said the proposal called for giving Central Intelligence Agency agents broader powers to strike targets in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s western tribal belt is seen as a safe haven for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who carry out attacks in Afghanistan, as well as the most likely hideout for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The United States now has about 50 soldiers in Pakistan, the report said.

The new plan was reportedly discussed by Vice President Richard Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and national security aides in the wake of the December 27 assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had not been consulted, the New York Times reported.

Arshad also dismissed comments from US White House hopeful Hillary Clinton that she would propose a joint US-British team to oversee the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal if she was elected president.

“We do not require anybody’s assistance. We are fully capable of doing it on our own,” he said.

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By Geoffrey Cook, MMNS

Los Angeles–Pakistan announced yesterday it would not allow the United States to search for Al Qaeda and the Taliban, who may have been involved in Ms. Bhutto’s assassination two weeks ago, on its own soil today. (Speaking of Benazir her publisher is rushing her posthumously finished book onto the shelves as soon as possible. Grizzly death can give profit in the journalistic world!)

The Islamic Republic is very jealous of its sovereignty, and the military has reacted angrily over the rumor that the Bush Administration plans a covert campaign upon its territory. Is the alliance between the U.S. and Islamabad about to crumble?

I am surprised that I am writing yet another article on the “Land of the Pure” so soon after the last one, but eight pro-Government tribal(s) were murdered in Warizstan today (7th). The comments of Balochistan’s Governor last summer in Southern California explain much of how the current crisis has developed, and why the central Government and Armed Services have reacted in the way they have under pressure.

These notes are from a speech that the Governor, Awais Ahmed Ghani, of the Pakistani Province of Balochistan, the largest State (in square mileage) of that nation, but one of the most unstable (after the troublesome Northwest Provinces) in the Islamic Republic — bordering both Iran and Afghanistan and every other Province within Pakistan – a very dangerous region of the earth where Iran supposedly attacked two American destroyers in the Straits of Hormuz this morning), and he has had to contend with a clannish uprising of his own. His speech was given in this city last August before the current emergency had developed. The Governor was invited by an organization that appears to have connections to one of the more notorious rightwing American think thanks. Therefore, I would take his comments with “a grain of salt,” and read between the lines.

Ghani’s talk was more on the so-called “War on Terror” than on Balochistan itself. I choose to revive this talk, because the Western media is concentrating on the urban elite who has similar assumptions as our own to show, instead, the thinking of the ryots in the hinterlands.

It is assumed that Pakistan is on the frontline of the Terrorist War. Yet the rebellion(s) do not fit the pattern of recent Wars for Liberation elsewhere on the earth. Thus, there has been a failure of understanding with whom we are contending. A new term for the reality on the ground has to be manufactured. Terrorism has a Global reach today, but there are two types of Terrorism — local and that which has an international reach. Each type requires a different approach, for it is important for us to respect every methodology of our opponents to successfully counter it.

Pakistan should be prevented from becoming another Afghanistan, and it is in our (their) interest to promote stability in Kabul! Global Terrorism does not require a “Base” [Qaida?]. Terror has dispersed everywhere. There is no frontier! “Osama bin Ladan is no more than an inspiration” at the moment! The President of Pakistan has recently stated that we are not “…particularly looking…for bin Ladan as there is no proof that he is here.”

Advances in our intelligence gathering will lead to success against the adversary rather than military might. Along the Durand Line, the tribal rebellion is localized. Yet, “We are losing [their] hearts and minds” there.

Ghani tends to put all of Islamabad’s pressing problems upon Afghanistan because, as he claims, it possesses a “failed” government. Therefore, for him, that nation has to change its attitude and establish a firm strategy to operate cohesively.

The Governor has questionably bragged that Quetta has decreased its Opium production to zero [sic!] while the worldwide narco-mafia has joined up with the Afghanistani militants. The narcotic traffic is the principal destabilizing force over the Hindu Kush. Narco-Warlords have even infiltrated the Afghani central and peripheral governments!

On the military side, NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) has completely waged its campaign against the Taliban amiss. At this point, “They would have to slaughter half the population of the country to win their War!” The European and North American soldiers across our (their) borders have a subverting consequence on Pakistani society.

The historical conflicts above Pakistan of the past thirty years have to be reversed in the Mountains. In 1975 there was the Communist Coup overthrowing a liberal monarchy that glued the various Afghan ethnic groups into one realm. After 1979, the “mighty” Soviet Army blitzkrieged through the topography of the hills to solidify their fellow ideologies in their small imperium as a satellite State to Moscow, and revived the old Great Game aiming to go through Pakistan to the Sea. These change of events scattered their ethnic elites across the Planet, and then, “The religious scholars took their places” up there. The traditional elites have recently come back to reunite the various tribal societies. “All Afghanistan’s groups are obliged [to form] political cohesion,” again. The continuing conflict in Afghanistan will not halt until all the traditional established ethnic groups can make peace amongst themselves.

Curiously, during the Russo-Afghani War of the 1980’s “their support mainly came through the Khyber Pass…and the Muhajadeen were fighting for their Peshawar allies’ freedom,” as well, for, if the Soviets pacified Kandahar et al., Karachi would have been the next target.

The struggle against the Muscovites has lead to the terror of our times (and I might especially mention the recent murder of Benezar Bhutto and the New York massacre of September 11th 200l, for, after the “Holy Warriors did our dirty work against the Soviets, we abandoned Afghanistan to a five-way civil war, and the rest is history! This is the root of the War on Terror!) His Excellency claimed much of it has landed upon his Province that lies in a precarious position between Afghanistan, Iran (who, also, have a Baloch dominated Province across their boundary — not to mention the proximity to the rugged Northwest Provinces within the Islamic Republic of Pakistan itself).

Awais Ahmed, mimicking his President Musharaff, “Pakistan is a responsible global member,” (the word Global and the concept of Globalism seem to dominate Ahmed’s concept of the world and his style of governance,) but its “Extremism [within] is serious” business. “It is going to be a long term effort” to suppress it. “We must stop the violence,” but he feels what all the countries in the region have to do is simply stop the narco-crisis over the Afghan geography. (This is no more than naivety, and reflects back to the post-1989 mistakes. What Kabul needs is Development; jobs and hope for its young people that can largely be achieved through a modern progressive education that must be attained through an evolved yet traditional Islam.)

Mr. Ghani admits, “Pakistan needs a successful Afghanistan.” We require a stable, friendly environment around us for our own development. We want a political solution with our neighbor across the Durand Line. “We need to get back on the political highway” with them again, but we must not let our military options down, for they must be there if our diplomacy fails!

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By Mohamed Abdellah, Reuters

CAIRO–Arab governments approved on Sunday an Arab plan to end the constitutional crisis in Lebanon and diplomatic sources said it had support from both Syria on one side and the Lebanese parliamentary majority on the other.

But members of Hezbollah, the Shi’ite group at the heart of the Lebanese opposition, gave a more cautious response to the plan, which says a national unity government should be formed in such a way that no one party can impose or block any decision.

Lebanon has not had a president since November 23, initially because of disagreements over who should hold the post, more recently over the details of a new national unity cabinet.

The plan, approved by Arab foreign ministers meeting at the Arab League in Cairo, endorses the choice of army chief General Michel Suleiman as the next president of Lebanon and says that he should be the arbiter in any contested decisions.

The leader of the Lebanese parliamentary majority, Saad al-Hariri, welcomed the plan. “The declaration by the Arab foreign ministers presents the Lebanese with a new chance to elect a consensus president and fill the presidency,” he said.

“All Lebanese should … treat the results of the Cairo meeting as an achievement… We still bet on opening a new page, and commit to the Arab roadmap towards electing General Michel Suleiman as president,” he added in a statement.

But Hezbollah member of parliament Hussein Haj-Hassan told the Hezbollah television station al-Manar the opposition wanted clarifications on some aspects of the next government.

Mohammad Raad, the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, said the movement would wait to see what follows the Arab ministerial meeting. “We don’t want to be pessimistic or block the route to any productive decision, especially in a complicated matter like the Lebanese issue,” he added.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told reporters a solution in Lebanon was up the Lebanese. “I hope that our Lebanese brothers will think hard before reacting while they wait for the secretary general of the Arab League to arrive to hear from him the Arab point of view,” he added.

But Arab diplomatic sources said Syria, the main foreign power behind the Lebanese opposition, had agreed to the plan, even if it does not overtly give the opposition veto power.

In return the draft does not attack Syria and it enhances the role of General Suleiman, who is widely seen as sympathetic to Syrian interests in Lebanon.

Lebanese officials said Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa will visit Beirut this week to push through a deal.

The wrangling over the Lebanese presidency has been seen as part of a proxy conflict between Syria and Iran on one side and the United States and its Arab and European friends on the other.

All the main parties have accepted Suleiman as the compromise candidate for the presidency but his election could not go ahead until they agreed other details of a complete package, including the structure of the next government.

The Lebanese parliament is set to try for a 12th time to confirm Suleiman as president on January 12 but until the Arab ministers came up with their plan it looked unlikely to succeed.

The plan says the election of Suleiman as president should take place immediately, along with immediate agreement to form a national unity government “such that the composition does not allow any decision to be imposed or blocked by any one party.” “The President of the Republic should have the final say (in case of disagreement),” it adds.

After the election of the president and the formation of a government, work should start on drafting a new law governing parliamentary elections, it says.

Moualem said the United States was obstructing consensus in Lebanon, both through words and deeds. He did not elaborate.

(Writing by Jonathan Wright, additional reporting by Nadim Ladki in Beirut, editing by Sami Aboudi)

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The Pentagon releases footage it claims was filmed from the USS Hopper showing Iranian boats heading towards the vessel, and claimed audiotape of radio communications.

For those of you who have plans to vote Republican for whatever reason and were thinking of McCain as a good spoiler because you don’t like Romney, Huckabee, and Giuliani, get a load of this:

This makes Ron Paul look more attractive–fifth place with 10% in Iowa is just behind the front-runners in the race, after all.

Courtesy Mohammed Omer, Washington Report

A PLUME OF smoke, its scent redolent of roasted apples, wafts out the paneless window into the autumn air. A rhythmic bubbling can be heard as 47-year-old Abu Khaled inhales from the ornate hookah set beside him. As he exhales deeply, his heavy eyes watch the latest snakelike plume follow its predecessor. Once a man of action, today he simply sits, sentenced by political maneuvering to a sedentary existence and lamenting the life he until recently led.

Prior to June of this year, Abu Khaled worked as a security officer at Gaza’s border crossings. Walkie-talkie in hand, he bustled between the operations room, gates and terminals, shouting orders, checking identifications and maintaining order. Today he idles his day away channel surfing his TV and keeping up with current events on the Internet. He would rather work, yet today civil servants in Gaza receive wages from the U.S.-backed Palestinian government in Ramallah on one condition: that they not work.

A few weeks after Hamas came to power in January 2006 elections, Israel and Washington imposed an international boycott on the new, democratically elected government. Eighteen months later, having failed to topple Hamas, U.S.- and Israeli-funded and trained Fatah militia attempted a coup. While Fatah gained control of the West Bank, Gaza remained under the control of Hamas.

The American and Israeli governments began funneling cash and support to Fatah, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, and declared the elected Hamas government illegitimate. Declaring Gaza a “hostile entity,” Israel proceeded to increase its pressure. Tactics have included sealing Gaza’s borders, Israeli military incursions and regular bombings, the cutting off of water and electricity, bank closures, and cutting off aid.

Ramallah’s latest anti-Hamas tactic is to pay government employees not to work, while providing them a small stipend to compensate for 18 months of unpaid wages. Those who continue to work at hospitals, schools, police stations and other public institutions have their wages withheld.

The result of this strategy was quickly apparent. Commerce skidded to a halt, inflation soared, and the most basic necessities of life virtually disappeared from this 23-mile strip of land, home to 1.5 million people, of whom 68 percent are under the age of 18. An atmosphere of fear enveloped Gaza.

“Why should I work?” asked Abu Khaled in a hushed voice, looking around to ensure no one could hear him. “I support our leader, President Abbas. If I work under Hamas, my salary will be cut off by the Ramallah-based government.”

Abu Khaled, who declined to reveal his full name, personifies the anxiety shared by most Fatah loyalists in Gaza. By not working, the idle security guard could get in trouble with Hamas. On the other hand, he at least receives compensation. Officials estimate that 55,000 Gazans currently are being paid not to work. Some do it out of loyalty to Fatah, others out of fear or necessity.

A Life-or-Death Decision

Healthcare providers face a unique dilemma. Their choice whether or not to work can literally be a matter of life or death.

At Al Nasser Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, 30-year-old staff nurse Hamam Nasman remained on duty, assisting in operations. The Ministry of Health in Gaza falls under the control of Hamas.

“Ramallah’s government deprived me of my salary,” he explained in frustration. “How can I sit at home and just leave children to die? This is a crime!”

In enforcing the salary rules laid down by the U.S. and Israel, the Fatah government in Ramallah has created a severe crisis for public employees in Gaza, forcing them to choose between feeding their own families and serving or saving the lives of others.

“This is my human duty,” Nurse Nasman insisted. “I took an oath to treat patients, not to be a tool used for political purposes.”

Speaking on behalf of Hamas, Palestinian Legislative Councilman Dr. Salah Al Bardawil summarized the purpose of the latest directive from Ramallah.

“The objective in cutting off employee salaries is political,” he stated. “It is designed to cause a failure of democracy in Gaza—the same democracy which is not honored by the American or Israeli administrations.”

Though strapped for cash, the Hamas government manages to sporadically pay approximately 10,000 public sector workers as funds become available. According to Dr. Al Bardawil, however, 33,000 civil employees currently work without pay, and that number is increasing. Gaps in services are filled by Hamas supporters who volunteer by stepping into critical positions in the various municipal agencies, schools and hospitals.

But not all gaps can be filled in Gaza, where today only emergency humanitarian aid is occasionally allowed to enter.

The worsening shortage of necessities resulting from this latest tightening of the screws on Gaza increasingly is pitting friends and families against one another. Abu Khaled knows this pain only too well. Trepidation coupled with discretion has prevented him from spending time with a friend in the Hamas security force.

“I’m afraid that if Fatah agents see me hosting him, the Ramallah-based government will assume I am not loyal and cut off my salary,” he explained nervously.

Even those in positions of authority feel pressured to comply. Abu Waled, a Fatah loyalist and supervisor at the local police station, admitted that he now spends his days like a retiree, visiting friends and sitting at home.

“I’m not going to risk losing my salary by going to work,” he said sharply. “Let Hamas manage Gaza by themselves.”

Mohammed Omer, winner of New America Media’s Best Youth Voice award, reports from the Gaza Strip.

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