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Gitmo closure not easy says Bush

Friday, August 10th, 2007

Reluctance by other countries to take custody of terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay is delaying Washington’s ability to shut the widely criticised prison camp, US President George W Bush said last night.”I did say it should be a goal of the nation to shut down Guantanamo. I also made it clear that part of the delay was the reluctance of some nations to take back some of the people being held there,” Bush said.

“This is a fairly steep order. A lot of people don’t want killers in their midst, and a lot of these people are killers. The sooner that tribunals could start for inmates of the camp the better it is. It’s not as easy a subject as some may think on the surface,” he said.

The US officials did not specify which countries were reluctant to accept prisoners but in the past the US has transferred detainees to countries including Britain,Australia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Pakistan and others.

Washington has faced fierce criticism for the detention without charge of suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban members at the Guantanamo prison.

While members of the Bush administration have repeatedly said they would like to close the facility, they also say it is needed in the US-declared war on terrorism.

The US holds 355 detainees at Guantanamo, which was set up to handle prisoners captured after the September 11 attacks in 2001. Of those, the Pentagon says 80 are eligible for release or transfer to another country.

Britain asked the US on Tuesday to release five detainees from Guantanamo who were legal residents of Britain before their detention, although not British nationals.

Pentagon spokesman said the US government was still reviewing the request and no decision had been made.

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Bush turns up heat on Pakistani president

Friday, August 10th, 2007

By Norma Greenaway

Americans expect “swift action” to take out al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan if solid intelligence emerges about their whereabouts, U.S. President George W. Bush said Thursday, but he stopped short of saying the U.S. would do the job if the Pakistan government did not.

Bush told a White House news conference that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has to prove to Americans he is serious about cracking down on Islamic extremists within his borders. A recent U.S. intelligence report said the al-Qaida terrorist organization and the Taliban are using tribal lands along the Afghan border to regroup for battle against forces from Canada, Britain, the U.S. and other NATO countries fighting in Afghanistan.

“I recognize Pakistan is a sovereign nation,” Bush told reporters, “and that’s important for Americans to recognize that. But it’s also important for Americans to understand that he (Musharraf) shares the same concern about radicals and extremists as I do and as the American people do.”

The U.S. president also said he pressed his Pakistani ally to hold a “free and fair election.” The advice came amid reports, subsequently denied in Islamabad, that Musharraf, who assumed power in a bloodless coup in 1999, was contemplating imposing emergency rule because of deteriorating security conditions in the country.

Questions about the stability of Pakistan and Musharraf’s reliability as an ally surfaced when Senator Barack Obama, a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008, said he would unilaterally order U.S. troops into Pakistan if Musharraf refused to take out terrorists.

A vacation-bound Bush also used the news conference to vigourously reassert his case for staying in Iraq, despite mounting criticism of his strategy from inside and outside his own Republican party.

He met reporters just hours before flying to Maine to spend a few days with his parents at their seaside compound in Kennebunkport. There, he and his wife, Laura, plan a private lunch Saturday with new French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Cecilia, on Saturday. Bush then flies to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, to relax and to prepare for a meeting later this month with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon in the Quebec resort village of Montebello.

On Iraq, Bush pleaded for patience, and appeared to be bracing Americans for a mix of good and bad news when Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, goes before Congress next month to give a thorough report on the impact of a controversial surge in American troop levels in Iraq announced seven months ago.

The president said the challenges in Iraq are huge after decades of tyranny, but the “young democracy” is taking steps towards forming a functioning government.

Bush insisted anew the cost to the United States of leaving Iraq too soon would be unacceptable.

“The first question one has to ask on Iraq is, ‘Is it worth it?,’” Bush said. “I could not send a mother’s child into combat if I did not believe it was necessary for our short-term and long-term security to succeed in Iraq.”

Bush said the second question revolves around whether the U.S. can succeed in Iraq.

“In my mind, the answer to that is: Absolutely. Not only we must succeed; we can succeed.”

Ottawa Citizen

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Bush warns Iraq over ties with Iran

Friday, August 10th, 2007

US President George W. Bush sternly warned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki Thursday against cozying up to Iran, amid what Washington sees as unsettling signs of warming Baghdad-Tehran relations.

Bush, holding a pre-vacation press conference, said he was not surprised at pictures showing cordial meetings between Maliki and top Iranian leaders in Tehran but that he hoped the prime minister was delivering a tough message.

“You don’t want the picture to be kind of, you know, duking it out,” when on a diplomatic mission he said, putting up his fists like a boxer.

But “if the signal is that Iran is constructive, I will have to have a heart to heart with my friend, the prime minister, because I don’t believe they are constructive,” said Bush, who called Iran “a very troubling nation.”

The US president’s comments came days after he disagreed sharply with Afghan President Hamid Karzai about Iran’s influence after Karzai called Tehran a positive force in combating extremist forces in his country.

And they came as top US officials worried about the pace of political reconciliation in Iraq, amid misgivings in Washington about whether Maliki, a Shiite, truly wanted or was able to build bridges to minority Sunnis.

Iran, which the United States blames for fomenting much of the bloodshed in Iraq, earlier gave visiting Maliki its full support for restoring security but told him a pullout of US forces was the only way to end the violence.

According to the state-run IRNA news agency, Maliki thanked Iran for its “positive and constructive” work in “providing security and fighting terrorism in Iraq.”

Bush expressed skepticism and warned Iran “there will be a price to pay” if its agents are caught undermining US-led efforts in Iraq.

“There will be consequences” for any Iranians shipping weapons, including sophisticated roadside bombs, inside Iraq, said the US president, who branded Tehran “a destabilizing influence” in the Middle East.

Bush cited Iran’s support for Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah; Tehran’s suspect nuclear program; and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s anti-Israel warnings, which he said Washington “cannot live with.”

“My message to the Iranian people is, ‘You can do better than this current government. You don’t have to be isolated. You don’t have to be in a position where you can’t realize your full economic potential,’” Bush said.

Asked whether he was confident that, in past talks, Maliki shared his view about Iran, the US president replied: “Does he understand with some extremist groups there’s connections with Iran? And he does. And I’m confident.”

Maliki’s talks appeared to confirm the increasingly warm relations that have emerged between majority Shiite Iraq and overwhelmingly Shiite Iran following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated regime.

In a highly symbolic move, Maliki met the families of seven Iranian officials arrested in Iraq by US forces on accusations of being members of an elite Revolutionary Guards force on a mission to stir trouble.

Iran insists the men were diplomats and is livid that the United States has shown no sign of releasing them.

Bush, who was bound for his family’s oceanside compound in the northeastern state of Maine, also acknowledged difficulties in forging political reconciliation in Iraq — one of the key goals of the US-led crackdown.

“There is a lot of work left to be done, don’t get me wrong,” he said, noting the failure of Iraqi lawmakers to pass key legislation aimed at soothing disputes that fuel sectarian violence.

But “if one were to look hard, they could find indications that — more than indications, facts that show the government is learning how to function,” said the president.

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AT&T apologizes after cutting anti-Bush lines from Pearl Jam song

Friday, August 10th, 2007

CBC Arts

Webcaster AT&T has apologized to Pearl Jam for editing lyrics critical of President George W. Bush out of a webcast of its Lollapalooza concert Sunday.

AT&T was simulcasting the Chicago-based concert through its Blue Room entertainment website.

A delay had been built in to keep out excessive profanity or nudity.

But when Pearl Jam sang “George Bush, leave this world alone” and “George Bush, find yourself another home” to the tune of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall, the lyrics were edited out.

Pearl Jam complained about the cuts on its website, saying live broadcasts or webcasts should be ”free from arbitrary edits.”

“If a company that is controlling a webcast is cutting out bits of our performance — not based on laws, but on their own preferences and interpretations — fans have little choice but to watch the censored version,” the alternative rock group said.

AT&T spokesman Michael Coe said the monitors who cut the broadcast went too far and it was a mistake.

The telecom firm, which showed highlights from the three-day Lollapallooza festival on its Blue Room site, said it would draw up guidelines to prevent future misunderstandings.

AT&T said it was working to secure the rights to post the entire song, uncensored.

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Ritalin: The ADHD drug may affect the developing brain

Friday, August 10th, 2007

Ritalin – given to around 5 million young Americans diagnosed with ADHD (attention-deficit, hyperactive disorder) – may affect the developing brain.

Ritalin (methylphenidate) is a stimulant similar to amphetamine and cocaine, and it seems to have a paradoxical effect on ADHD children, and calms them.

But it may do so at a price, new research suggests. The new study, which monitored the effect of the drug on the brains of rats, found that it altered areas of the brain related to executive functioning, addiction and appetite, social relationships and stress.

The rats recovered the longer they were off the drug, researchers noticed.

Although there’s often no direct correlation between the effects on animals and humans, the rats did respond in a similar way when they were first given Ritalin. They lost weight, which often happens in children who first take the drug.

The fact that the rats soon regained their healthy mental capacities suggests the drug should be taken over a short period of time rather than for years as currently happens, the researchers say.

(Source: Journal of Neuroscience, 2007; 27: 7196-7207).

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UK orders new gag on armed forces

Friday, August 10th, 2007

Agencies

New rules barring military personnel from talking about their service publicly have been quietly introduced by the UK Ministry of Defense.

Soldiers, sailors and airforce personnel will not be able to blog, take part in surveys, speak in public, post on bulletin boards, play in multi-player computer games or send text messages or photographs without the permission of a superior if the information they use concerns matters of defense.

They also cannot release video, still images or audio - material which has previously led to investigations into the abuse of Iraqis. Instead, the guidelines state that “all such communication must help to maintain and, where possible, enhance the reputation of defense”.

According to the regulations, issued by the Directorate of Communication Planning, receiving money for interviews, conferences and books which draw on official defense experience has now been banned.

The MoD document covers “all public speaking, writing or other communications, including via the internet and other sharing technologies, on issues arising from an individual’s official business or experience, whether on-duty, off-duty or in spare time”.

The rules have provoked consternation among the ranks, with human rights lawyers saying that they could be in contravention of Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, which allows for freedom of expression. The rules apply not only to full-time forces but to members of the Territorial Army and cadets whilst on duty, as well as MoD civil servants.

Service personnel are currently bound by Queen’s Regulations, which mean they must seek permission before speaking to the press but are free to blog and take part in online debates. However, many have spoken out anonymously on issues such as poor kit, housing and the treatment of wounded service personnel evacuated from combat zones.

Criticism of the RAF in Afghanistan and the state of the ageing vehicles being used there have all appeared in the press.

The MoD’s director general of media communications, Simon McDowell, denied that the guidelines were a form of censorship or gagging.

“We are trying to give straightforward, clear guidance that is up to date. The existing regulations were confusing and didn’t include things like accepting payment. It applies to communicating about defense matters, not personal things.

“Particular things can impact on operational security; information which somebody can get a hold of. Even a little photograph sent from Afghanistan on a mobile phone could endanger people’s lives and break operational security.”

MBA/HAR

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