US Gets Cosy with Taliban's Point Man-ATimes/New World Media Watch

[Gloria]

Full excerpts, links up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
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WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR JUNE 18, 2004

1//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--US GETS COSY WITH TALIBAN’S POINT MAN (In the search for a single unifying force in chaotic Afghanistan, such as "moderate" Taliban, to bring political stability before November's US presidential elections, focus has once again fallen on the firebrand Pakistani cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who during the Taliban regime was used to build bridges with the rest of the world…The significance of these events emerged in comments Rehman made to a local journalist. "The British authorities are working on behalf of the United States. This indirect process has been chosen to avoid any ill-effects ahead of the forthcoming presidential elections in America ... Britain is holding indirect talks with the Taliban militia to seek an honorable American exit from Afghanistan." By implication, Rehman will mediate in this process.)


2//The Daily Star, Lebanon--IRAQI OFFICERS GRADUATE AMID CARNAGE (A fresh batch of Iraqi officers graduated from an 11-week training course in Jordan Thursday as a suicide bomber killed 35 people at the gates of the New Iraqi Army recruiting station in Baghdad…"The critical circumstances witnessed by Iraq nowadays require your sincere and hard efforts," Brigadier General Ahmad al-Farajat said in a speech to the 843 graduates, without mentioning the early morning attack…Thursday's graduates were the second batch of Iraqi officers to undergo the 11-week course at the King Abdullah I Infantry School in Zarqa, just north of Amman, since the program got under way earlier this year. The course is part of US-led plans to create, by Sept. 30, a 35,000-strong force, including some 1,400 officers, led by Washington-trained Iraqi generals. The force is mainly funded by the United States. A first group of 548 officers graduated in March.)



3//Inter Press Service News Agency, Italy--KOIZUMI USHERS IN ACTIVE FOREIGN POLICY (The commitment made by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the international community that the country's Self Defense Forces (SDF) would join a planned multinational force in Iraq, has far-reaching implications globally. According to analysts, Japan can now be expected to play a more active role in foreign policy…''The Japanese are now realising that financial contributions are not enough and Japan must be more active in a political and military sense,'' he said. Added Shiratori: ''The consensus though is that rather than following the United States, the best way of doing this is supporting the United Nations efforts for peace.'' )

4//Tempo Interactive, Indonesia--TNI NAVY CHIEF: US PRESENCE IN MALACCA STRAITS NOT NEEDED (Indonesian Military (TNI) Navy chief, Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh, has stated that the establishment of a US-military base would not be required in the efforts to secure Malacca Straits…Moreover, he said, Indonesia is still a sovereign country and its people have their dignity. "Tell all those people who want to send their help to us that I only need to share intelligence information and training facilities with them,” Sondakh stated.)

5//The Guardian, UK--BIOMETRICS – GREAT HOPE FOR WORLD SECURITY OR TRIUMPH FOR BIG BROTHER? (British police will almost certainly be given access in the near future to US intelligence databases containing DNA samples, fingerprints and digital images of thousands of foreign nationals seized around the world by the US as terror suspects…Canada, he told the conference in Morgantown, West Virginia, had already been given direct electronic access to such FBI databases… The main UK police computer storing fingerprints, called Nafis, is also due to be replaced soon by a system codenamed Ident1. Two US firms, Lockheed Martin and Northrup Gruman, are bidding for the contract that is likely to be decided this autumn…Last night, civil liberties campaigners voiced concerns about governments sharing biometric data through international databases. "There is now a total obsession with this technology as a way of combatting anything and everything and it's a fallacy," said Barry Hugill of Liberty. "Once you begin to compile massive databases it's a matter of common sense that you are going to get the most horrendous mix-ups, with the wrong people being accused and the wrong information being shared around the world.")