Mid-East Meets Midwest

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In the last 50 years, numerous presidents have called on Israel to stop its expansion activities.  Israel has consequently ignored this request.  To date, the Obama administration has been significantly more vocal that its predecessors about this demand.

This change has not gone unnoticed by Israel’s Arab neighbors.  But the Tehran Times took another look at the issue of Israeli settlements Tuesday, criticizing the role of individual Americans and organizations funding  this activity.

The Times reports:

This support is currently undermining the United States efforts to restart the peace negotiations. In addition to its diplomatic efforts to stop the settlements, the Obama administration must also stop the flow of American financial support for the settlement activities.

The American individuals and organizations that support the settlement activities must ask themselves: is what they are doing good for their fellow Americans? The Obama administration has correctly recognized that continuation of the Arab-Israeli conflict is harmful to the U.S. interests in the Middle East and indirectly contributes to terrorism.

Those Americans who support the settlement activities under current circumstances are indirectly contributing to the promotion of terrorism against the United States and should think about the consequences of their behavior for the safety and security of their country.

If Hamas says you’re extreme, you know you’ve got a problem. Hamas bombs Gazan Jund Ansar Allah. http://bit.ly/UTtm2

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton renewed her calls for Iran to release all US citizens it is detaining immediately in a statement Saturday.

In this statement Clinton pointed to five cases: the three American hikers who crossed into Iran from Iraq in late July; a US-Iranian scholar; and a private detective and former FBI agent who went missing in Iran in 2007.

She said, Washington “is deeply concerned about the welfare of our American citizens who have been detained or are missing in Iran.” continuing with, “We once again urge Iran’s leadership to quickly resolve all outstanding American citizen cases.” Read more…

Three Iraqi cattle herders were killed today after wandering into the middle of a U.S.-Iraqi mortar training exercise north of Baghdad.

U.S. troops were conducting a live-fire training exercise with Iraqi forces near Taji, a city about 12 miles north of Baghdad, when the three men walked onto the artillery range, a military spokesman said. An 11-year-old boy was also injured in the incident.  He was evacuated to a U.S. military hospital where he is in stable condition.

The incident comes as the U.S. military shifts its primary role in Iraq from combat to training Iraqi security forces with exercises like these.

Guantánamo may be moving to Standish, Michigan.
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The Associated Press reports: Obama administration officials are touring a maximum-security prison 145 miles northwest of Detroit today. The Standish Maxium Correctional Facility is being considered as a potential destination for terror suspects currently held in Guantánamo Bay.

Despite “not in my backyard” resistance, Obama still plans to close Gitmo by early 2010.

The Standish facility is currently on the chopping block because of Michigan state budget cuts, despite the fact that it is Arenac County’s largest employer in a region with a crippling 17.3 percent unemployment rate. States like Pennsylvania and California are already in talks with Michigan officials about paying to ship some of their inmates in Standish.

Michigan’s governor, Jennifer Granholm, said she’d rather accept those prisoners from other states than Gitmo detainees, and the local pressure to save the prison is mounting.

White House officials are also eyeing the military penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas as an alternative location for Gitmo detainees.

Iraqi Ministry of health names US troops largest group of swine flu carriers in Iraq; 67 soldiers diagnosed to date. AP: http://bit.ly/zxbrK

11 Fatah officials from Gaza resign from party executive board in protest of under-representation during Monday’s vote. http://bit.ly/n1DMj

The Pentagon said it was “very nervous” about ethnic tensions in Iraq between Arabs and Kurds despite the progress stemming from initial talks between their leaders. A top U.S. commander warned fighting over land and oil could still turn violent.

While the sectarian violence that created massive rifts in Iraq has died down, the battle between northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region and its Arab-led government in Baghdad is being seen as one of the greatest threats to the country’s fragile stability by politicians and military leaders in Washington.

These tensions have not gone unnoticed by al Qaeda insurgents.  According to U.S. defense officials, they have sought to exploit the tensions to retain a strong hold even as their influence wanes in other region’s in Iraq.  These officials point to a string of deadly bombings as evidence that the group was capable of reconstituting its “combat power.”

Reuters reports:

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said Washington was “heartened” last week when Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met the Kurdish region’s president, Masoud Barzani, after more than a year of deadlock.

“But we are very nervous, continue to be, about the overall Arab-Kurd tensions,” Morrell told a news conference.

U.S. troops, preparing to withdraw from Iraq by 2012, have intervened many times to defuse the row, and Washington has pushed for a settlement before its forces go home.