Story
Baghdad: Life During Wartime
[Photo: A man cleans up glass and blood after a suicide attack]
Two and a half years into the occupation, war still rages on in Baghdad, Iraq. Two of the deadliest attacks in the last month occurred at the Palestine Hotel and the Hamra Hotel. Although Westerners frequent these hotels, the casualties were almost exclusively Iraqis living and working in the area. Yet just a few hours after the attacks, citizens were back on the streets, as if nothing had happened.
Doubts growing over Afghan strategy
Despite the election of Pres. Hamid Karzai last year and a new parliament due to convene in January 2006, attacks have claimed at least 1,400 lives in the past year, the highest toll since 2001. Since the spring, evidence has been mounting of a renewed drive by Osama bin Laden’s network, particularly in eastern
Iraq air strike scheme questioned
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration is considering a plan to put U.S. airpower at the disposal of Iraqi commanders in order to reduce the number of troops on the ground, an option that is causing consternation among U.S. Air Force commanders, the UK Guardian reports. Military officials warn it could lead to increased civilian casualties and the use of bombing to settle old scores.
According to an article in the New Yorker magazine by Seymour Hersh, the possibility of using airpower as a substitute for troops on the ground causes unease in the military mainly because officials suspect that Iraqis will eventually be responsible for target selection.
U.S. held detainees in Kosovo
PARIS – The Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, Alvaro Gil-Robles, has told France’s Le Monde newspaper that the U.S. military ran a Guantanamo Bay-type detention center in Kosovo, and that he was “shocked” by the conditions he witnessed there in 2002. However, he has no proof that the center, located within the
The Council of Europe, which guarantees human rights in its 46 member states, has launched an investigation into the alleged secret prisons. Dick Marty, who is leading the probe, has already concluded that Romania, which rights groups have labeled a likely site for a secret center, has not hosted a large jail, but didn’t exclude the possibility of small facilities with one or two detainees being kept temporarily for interrogation.
China considers touch of green
According to chinaview.com, when the ideas were outlined by taxation chief Xie Xuren, scholars like Li Xiangju of Xi’an Communications University were enthusiastic. “Things like disposable chopsticks and plastic bags cause a big waste on natural resources and pose environmental hazards,” he said.