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Basra, an "unmitigated disaster at every level"

British liaison team was sent to the Iraqi army headquarters during the battle. "They were greeted by a group of Iraqi generals sitting around a large desk, shouting into their mobiles without a map in sight. Chaos ruled."

Battle to retake Basra was 'complete disaster'
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent Telegraph
Last Updated: 11:02pm BST 19/04/2008

The British-trained Iraqi Army's attempt to retake Basra from militiamen was an "unmitigated disaster at every level", British commanders have disclosed.

Senior sources have said that the mission was undermined by incompetent officers and untrained troops who were sent into battle with inadequate supplies of food, water and ammunition.

They said the failure had delayed the British withdrawal by "many months".

Their comments came as the Iraqi army, this time directly supported by American and British forces, began a second operation in Basra in an attempt to find insurgent weapons caches.

The push, which was met with fierce resistance, took place in the Hayania district of the city, where there were clashes two weeks ago.

In the first operation, it is understood that one Iraqi brigade became a "busted flush" after 1,200 of its soldiers deserted.

At one stage during the battle, stories were circulating at the British headquarters that Iraqi troops were demanding food and water from coalition forces at gunpoint. "It was an unmitigated disaster at every level," an officer said.

Gen Mohan Furayji, the Iraqi commander who was in charge of troops during the operation, was described by a senior British staff officer as a "dangerous lunatic" who "ignored" advice.

The British officer, who is based at the coalition headquarters at Basra Air Station, said that the decision to allow Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq, to run the operation had been a "disaster which felt as though an amateur was in charge".

More than 15,000 Iraqi troops were ordered to seize control of the city last month following an uprising by the Mehdi Army, the powerful militia group which is largely trained and financed by Iran.

President George W Bush described the battle for Basra as a "defining moment" for Iraq, while British officials at the time praised the professionalism of the Iraqi army.

However, the operation ended in a stalemate, with the Iraqi government agreeing to a ceasefire.

Criticism of Britain's involvement in Basra resurfaced last week during Gordon Brown's visit to America.

The New York Times reported, incorrectly, that British troops were refusing to help the Iraqi army, which the newspaper said was "deeply embarrassing for Britain".

In a devastating critique of the Iraqi military, British commanders have disclosed that "chaos ruled" the operation to retake Basra.

One officer said the Iraqi army's 14th Division had only 26 per cent of the equipment necessary to take part in combat operations.

He said: "There were literally thousands of troops arriving in Basra from all over Iraq. But they had no idea why they were there or what they were supposed to do. It was madness and to cap it all they had insufficient supplies of food, water and ammunition.

"One of the newly formed brigades was ordered into battle and suffered around 1,200 desertions within the first couple of hours - it was painful to watch.

"They had to be pulled out because they were a busted flush. The Iraqi police were next to useless. There were supposed to be 1,300 ready to deploy into the city, but they refused to do so. The situation deteriorated to the extent where we [the British Army] were forced to stage a major resupply operation in order to stave off disaster.

"The net effect of all of this is that the British Army will be forced to remain here for many months longer."

The Sunday Telegraph has also learnt that British commanders had devised a plan for Gen Mohan. The plan came with the caveat that it should not be started until mid-July because Iraqi troops were not ready. But the officer said that the Iraqi general had ignored the advice.

He said that a British liaison team was sent to the Iraqi army headquarters during the battle. "They were greeted by a group of Iraqi generals sitting around a large desk, shouting into their mobiles without a map in sight. Chaos ruled."

Basra was handed back to Iraqi control last year after the Army withdrew from its last military base in the city.

The Ministry of Defence had hoped to reduce the number of troops serving in southern Iraq to about 2,000 this spring, but that plan has been shelved and British troops are once again patrolling the city's streets.

Shovrim Shtika, Breaking the Silence. Truth or Propoganda?

Breaking ranks with U.S. Jewish 'establishment' on the occupation

By Paul Katz Haaretz.com

A few weeks ago, I learned that I am anti-Israel, which certainly came as a surprise to me. The cause of the accusation was an exhibit exploring the effect of military service in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on ordinary Israelis.

I have always considered myself strongly Zionist and have devoted much of my time at Harvard to advocating for policies to bring the only Jewish, democratic state in the world closer to its most inspiring ideals. Yet, in the wake of the decision by the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA) to host to an exhibit by Israel's own "Shovrim Shtika" ("Breaking the Silence"), I found PJA - and by implication, myself - the target of denunciation.

To quote a recent open letter by the president of the Zionist Organization of America, Morton Klein, by facilitating the exhibition, we are guilty of "inciting hatred of Israel" and "playing into the hands of Israel's enemies."

The strangest aspect of much of the criticism PJA has received has been its source - individuals outside of the campus community who have not seen the exhibit themselves.

Of course, Shovrim Shtika's exhibit, which includes some 60 photos and several videos, was explained and contextualized by two former Israel Defense Forces soldiers with combat experience in the West Bank, was not uncontroversial on campus.

Although it was not sponsored by Harvard Hillel, the exhibit was housed in Hillel's building, a decision which made some members of the campus Jewish community uncomfortable.

Many students disagreed with what they saw as the exhibit's negative characterization of the occupation. Others expressed their concern at the exhibit's lack of context, which they felt would leave students uninformed about the conflict with an unduly negative view of Israel's commitment to human rights.

Nonetheless, at Harvard these reasonable criticisms were expressed respectfully and intelligently, and PJA's desire to promote a more just Jewish state was never questioned. Only in the broader national and international press did we morph into self-hating Jews seeking to undermine Israel.

The most virulent criticism of the exhibit came from Klein himself, who was quoted in Jewish Week as saying that, "Harvard Hillel should be ashamed of itself and should immediately rescind giving legitimacy to a program that only promotes hatred against Israel and Jews."

His criticism was echoed in a recent column by Isi Leibler in The Jerusalem Post, in which Leibler argued that Hillel's "post-modern" commitment to pluralism and free expression led it to allow "a ferociously anti-Israeli exhibition on Hillel premises."

Leibler went on to express his outrage that Klein was the only major voice within the American Jewish community to publicly condemn the exhibit. This silence, he claims, is evidence of "the extent to which post-modernism has penetrated the Jewish agenda and blurred distinctions between good and bad."

This criticism stems from the belief - one which PJA strongly contests - that the only appropriate role for American Jews to play in their support of Israel is neatly bounded by one word: Hasbara, or, the promotion of Israel's image abroad.

We believe that a real commitment to Israel should be characterized not only by educating others about the strength of Israel's ideals, but advocating for change when those ideals are being obscured by destructive policy decisions as well.

Now is a time when an end to the occupation of Judea and Samaria is widely seen as a distant prospect. The failure of unilateral withdrawal from Gaza has bred a frustration in the American Jewish community that translates into a pessimistic refusal to look beyond the status quo: continued occupation and the strategic expansion of settlement blocks in the West Bank.

Yet American Jews must understand that the status quo is not a costless alternative to the difficult and risky prospect of negotiated withdrawal. Shovrim Shtika's exhibit is about measuring its cost in real, human terms.

A constructive approach to the current conflict demands an honest Jewish dialogue about the nature of occupation and its costs, instead of the image-centered marketing campaigns that have become the bread and butter of the Israel programming of many of America's major Jewish organizations, including the ZOA.

This sort of dynamic conversation is just what Shovrim Shtikva has been promoting at Harvard and in the Boston community at large.

More than most places, Harvard is a forum for open debate and intellectual engagement. Far from alienating Jewish students from supporting Israel - as Klein fears Shovrim Shtika has already done - the exhibit has proven to the Harvard community that it is possible to both support a just and secure Jewish state and criticize policies plainly destructive to that end.

Such a position not only expresses our faith in Israel's capacity to fulfill its democratic vision, but also reflects the fact that we at Harvard understand our community. Our willingness to criticize Israeli policy in the name of the state's Jewish and democratic ideals represents a much more effective response to those at Harvard who attack Israel's legitimacy than Klein's blunt and anti-intellectual attempts to stifle dissent in the name of hasbara.

In fact, the potential of Shovrim Shtika to positively influence "our enemy's" thinking was poignantly illustrated to me by a Muslim friend's reaction to the exhibit.

"When I lived in the West Bank, I despised the Israeli soldiers," she explained on the Harvard International Review's online blog. But her tour of the photographs and videos, and her conversation with her guide, a former soldier, changed her perspective.

"They helped me understand so much why the IDF does what they do in the territories," she wrote. The exhibit, her blog entry explains, helped her to see Israeli soldiers not as impersonal objects of hatred but as human beings pushed into a pattern of behavior by the tactical demands of a dehumanizing policy.

This sort of "re-humanization," possible only when we acknowledge rather than ignore the true nature of occupation, is the first step toward understanding and coexistence.

Paul Katz, an undergraduate student at Harvard, is Co-Chair of the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance.

This week in Mexico

State Department issues travel alert for Mexico border region
New Mexico Business Weekly - NMBW Staff

The U.S. State Department has issued a travel alert for northern Mexico citing increased violence in cities such as Tijuana, Juarez and Chihuahua City.
The missive urges U.S. citizens to be alert when visiting the border region, although it also notes that Mexican citizens are "overwhelmingly the victims of these crimes."
The violent criminal activity is being fueled by a war between criminal organizations struggling for control of the narcotics trade along the border, said the State Department. Attacks are aimed primarily at members of these organizations, Mexican police forces, criminal justice officials and journalists.
However, foreign visitors and residents also have been victims of kidnappings and homicides in the border region. Dozens of U.S. citizens were kidnapped and/or murdered in Tijuana in 2007. Public shoot-outs have occurred during daylight hours near shopping areas, according to the alert. There is no evidence, however, that U.S. citizens are being targeted because of their nationality.
Gov. Bill Richardson recently sent a letter to President George W. Bush urging him to extend Operation Jump Start, the National Guard deployment along the U.S.-Mexico border. It is scheduled to end on June 15. There are 284 National Guard troops deployed along the New Mexico border. They are to withdraw in conjunction with the addition of 6,000 new Border Patrol agents, but those agents are not yet in the field and Richardson said he fears that will leave the New Mexico border vulnerable, particularly in light of increased violence in Chihuahua.
The State Department alert supersedes another dated October 24, 2007. This latest alert expires on October 15, 2008.

Tijuana doctors protest violence
Fri Apr 18, 7:22 PM ET
TIJUANA, Mexico - Doctors in the Mexican border city of Tijuana have walked off their jobs for 12 hours to protest a wave of kidnappings against colleagues.
About 300 doctors still wearing their white medical robes are holding a demonstration outside state government offices on Friday.
Tijuana doctors association president Jose Patino says at least one doctor is kidnapped each week for ransom in the border city across from San Diego.
Pediatrician Daniel Trujillo says the walkout and protest are to pressure authorities to do more to stem the kidnappings.

Mexico agents detain border police chief
By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer Fri Apr 18, 4:13 PM ET
Mexico's military performed checks on all city police weapons in the border town of Reynosa on Friday after federal officials detained the police chief for questioning about possible links to drug traffickers.
Reynosa Police Chief Juan Jose Muniz Salinas was whisked off to Mexico City by federal authorities late Thursday for questioning on "evidence that links him to organized crime and fomenting drug trafficking," the federal attorney general's office said in a statement.
City officials said soldiers were conducting a routine check of city police weapons in Reynosa, which is near the Texas city of McAllen. Such inspections have been carried out in the past to determine if any of the weapons are unregistered or linked to crimes.
But Miguel Angel Garcia Ahedo, the city council secretary, said in a news release that the detention had not affected city operations.
"The city is calm, and we are operating normally with police patrols in all parts of the city, in coordination state and federal authorities," he said.
Federal prosecutors have less than four days to either charge Muniz Salinas, release him or ask a judge to place him under house arrest without formal charges.
Last month, soldiers arrested nine police officers from Ciudad Juarez, across the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas, for allegedly carrying drugs in their patrol cars.
The Gulf cartel is based in Tamaulipas state, where Reynosa is located.

From the LATimes, On the border with Michael Chertoff

This month, making use of the powers given to him by Congress, Chertoff announced that his department would bypass federal laws to speed construction of 370 miles of fence, angering environmentalists and border groups.

From the Dallas Morning News, Environmental Groups Challenge Border Plan

DALLAS -- The U.S. Supreme Court may get a chance to join the fractious debate over building fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.

A legal challenge by two environmental groups seeking to limit enhanced Department of Homeland Security powers to suspend more than 30 laws to build the fence is gathering support in Congress.

Mexican helicopter crash kills 11 soldiers

Sat Apr 19, 2008 1:45am IST
By Miguel Garcia Tinoco
URUAPAN, Mexico (Reuters) - A Mexican army helicopter crashed during anti-narcotics operations in western Mexico on Friday, killing 11 soldiers, local authorities said.
The helicopter went down at around midday in a rural area in Michoacan state, a major front in the government's army-led war against drug cartels, Michoacan's state attorney general's office said, without giving the cause of the crash.
"There are 11 men dead, including a colonel, and one soldier was injured. We do not yet know the cause," a spokesman said.
The helicopter wreckage lay on the ground in several chunks, surrounded by dozens of police. A child at the scene told Reuters he saw it plummet out of the sky and hit a tree.
President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of troops to Michoacan and other hot spots further north along the U.S.-Mexico border to combat violent drug cartels who are fighting over smuggling routes.
Some 900 people have been killed in drug violence this year, and 2,500 were murdered in 2007, including soldiers.
Drug gangs have become increasingly brazen, engaging in open air gunbattles with troops and federal police. The powerful Gulf Cartel this week openly advertised for army troops to desert the army and join its squad of Zeta hit men.

Mugabe's Chinese Death Ship Sails On.

Shall we name it the "Olympic Spirit"?

Actually it is an AP photo of the "The An Yue Jiang" anchored outside Durban harbor, South Africa, on April 17, 2008. It is a symbol of the worst in human beings. The arms and munitions in this Chinese ship are going to kill the Rhodesians who are trying to escape the tyranny of the criminal Robert Mugabe. Did I say Rhodesians? I forgot. The West sanctioned the terrible and white Ian Smith and changed Rhodesia to the wonderful Zimbabwe.

To accomplish the overthrow of Ian Smith, the left ruined the economy of Rhodesia, which at the time was a huge agricultural exporter. The West banned such exports as Rhodesian tobacco.

That was before the Chinese were to make their grand entrance to the world scene. 

Zimbabwe went on to become more corrupt than anyone thought possible under the black criminal Robert Mugabe. The unfortunate starving Zimbabweans (there's a mouthful), who are still alive, thought they got Robber Mugabe out  by voting him out of office, but not so fast. Other intervening things have happened to the world.

The West opened up China and gave them a free pass to export into all free economies, ostensibly to have them become a team player in the world economy and politics. The same was true of the hideous and pretentiously named "Olympic Movement".

The Chinese, concerned about their image and the "Olympic movement", are cleansing dissent in China. I guess they thought a few more yuan would come in handy to help defray the expenses . Sail on Olympic Spirit. On to Zimbabwe.

_________________

The Chinese ship carrying a consignment of 77 tonnes of weaponry for Zimbabwe left South African waters yesterday after a court blocked the onward overland shipment of the cargo.

South African dockers had refused to unload the arsenal of small arms, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

But the Durban high court in any case ruled that the shipment could not be dispatched north across the border into Zimbabwe.

Several hours later, the An Yue Jiang weighed anchor and left Durban harbour, reportedly headed for Mozambique.

The court ruling followed an application brought with the support of the South African Litigation Centre under legislation prohibiting the supply of arms to "governments that systematically violate, or oppress ... human rights and fundamental freedoms".

The director of the centre, Nicole Fritz, said: "It is hard to imagine clearer circumstances in which South African authorities were obliged to refuse to grant any conveyance permit."

Helen Zille, the leader of South Africa's opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, warned that the shipment could result in carnage of "genocidal proportions".

Pointing out that a consignment of Chinese machetes had prefaced the genocide in Rwanda, she said: "The mind boggles when one considers the damage that could be done with the consignment of arms sitting in Durban harbour."

The Congress of South African Trade Unions said the vessel "must return to China with the arms on board, as South Africa cannot be seen to be facilitating the flow of weapons into Zimbabwe at a time where there is a political dispute and a volatile situation"

A Tough Planet. Eagles and Mountain Goats

This is Blakean.
This is an illustration that we have been born into a chaos of the sea.
But, being humans, we must rise up, and swim to shore, as fast as our little limbs will carry us, lest we remain animals. We have that good sense within us. Let us use it.

This is a wonderful illustration of exactly what we want to get away from. So we can get a place for everyone, and sit around, and talk about it.

- Bobal

Here's a Question for You

The Yearning For Zion sect, 10,000-strong, dominates the towns of Colorado City in Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. The YFZ sect split from the mainstream Mormon church more than a century ago. Members believe a man must marry at least three wives in order to ascend to heaven. Women are meanwhile taught that their path to heaven depends on being subservient to their husband.

If two people of the same sex can be married, why can't polygamists?

Meet Putin's new wife-to-be, Czarina Alina Kabaeva

Alina Kabaeva, 24, the rhythmic gymnast

Putin dumps wife
Staff Reporter Times co,za:Apr 18, 2008

A recent issue of Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper claims that Russia’s outgoing 57-year-old President Vladimir Putin is to marry a girl 30 years his junior.

The newspaper wrote that Putin secretly divorced his wife, Lyudmila Putin, in February . La Repubblica said that Putin would remarry on June 15 .

His new bride? Alina Kabaeva, 24, the rhythmic gymnast who won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics and numerous European awards, the newspaper said.

Kabaeva’s press secretary denied the rumours.

According to the newspaper, “Russians consider Kabaeva to be sexier than Sharapova and Kournikova.” After the Olympic Games in Athens Kabaeva gave up sport and decided to try her hand at cinema.

According to the newspaper, “Putin divorced his wife in a St. Petersburg registry office.” The only disclaimer was voiced by Kabaeva’s press secretary, but it sounded so unconvincing as if it had been motivated by fear to unlock some mystery, since Putin still remains the most powerful personality in Russia.

The newspaper concluded that Putin’s plan concerning Kabaeva had been implemented long ago: Kabaeva became deputy head of the State Duma Committee on Youth Affairs and chaired the supervisory board of the National Media Group - Russia’s new media-holding owned by Yury Kovalchuk, who is a close friend of Putin’s. she was elected to the Duma - the Russian parliament - in elections in December 2007 as one of ’Putin’s babes’, four former athletes turned topless models who become deputies.

It was not incidental that Russia’s state-run TV channels and newspapers highlighted the story of Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni – their story is similar.

Russian, Italian and French blogs have been inundated with comments on the allegedly forthcoming wedding of Putin and Kabaeva, Moskovsky Correspondent newspaper wrote with reference to a Moscow-based company that specializes in organizing solemn events. A tender for organizing this wedding has been reportedly announced. The wedding is due on June 15.

 

Check her out eating the sashimi.