EGYPT: Tribute to U.S. General Draws Fire
munaeem | 13 March, 2007 14:18
Cairo's decision last month to award U.S. General John Abizaid a prestigious medal of honour has angered much of the political opposition.
The government move underscored Cairo's "strategic relationship" with Washington in the face overwhelming public disapproval of U.S. policy in the region.
"Abizaid is despised by the Egyptian people -- probably by all Arabs -- for the role he played in Iraq," Refaat al-Saeed, head of the socialist Tegemmu Party told IPS.
"Honouring him in this way is like honouring (former Israeli prime ministers) Ariel Sharon or Benjamin Netanyah."
During a two-day visit to Cairo in mid-February, Abizaid -- former head of the U.S. Central Command -- was awarded Egypt's first-class medal of merit on the occasion of his retirement.
The medal was presented by defence minister Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
Poll: 58 percent want U.S. troops out of Iraq by 2008
munaeem | 13 March, 2007 14:17
Nearly six in ten Americans want to see U.S. troops leave Iraq either immediately or within a year, and more would rather have Congress running U.S. policy in the conflict than President Bush, according to a CNN poll out Tuesday. Though support for Bush's decision to dispatch additional troops to Iraq grew to 37 percent -- up from 32 percent in a mid-January poll -- a slim majority of 52 percent say Congress should block funding for the new deployment.
The CNN poll was conducted Friday through Sunday by Opinion Research Corp. Pollsters interviewed 1,027 adults for the survey, which had a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The question is , who will clear the mess , which Americans have created.
Kurds Fear a New War
munaeem | 13 March, 2007 14:12
A new threat of war is looming in this mountain range in the north of Iraq, cutting into Turkey and Iran.
All three countries have large Kurdish populations, and the governments of all three are worried about a Kurdish uprising for a separate homeland. Only in Iraq do Kurds have an autonomous region of their own.
Over the past few months Turkey and Iran have been threatening to sweep positions held by the Kurdistan Workers' Party of Turkey (PKK) off these mountains. They accuse the PKK of launching cross-border operations from Iraq's soil into Turkey and Iran.
The prospect of a conflict between PKK and Turkish troops has worried Iraqi Kurds who fear that a Turkish attack on PKK bases may lead to long-term occupation of their Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.
Turkish army chief Gen. Yasar Buyukanit accused Iraqi Kurdish political parties last month of being "the biggest supporter of the PKK at the moment.
Kurdistan regional president Massoud Barzani told the Turkish NTV channel that his forces will not simply stand by should Turkish troops enter northern Iraq.
IPS has more ...
