[RED DEMOCRATICA] CFR.org Daily Brief, July 28, 2010

 

July 28, 2010 View this newsletter as a web page on CFR's website. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - DoD Can't Account for Iraq $2.6 Billion - House Approves Afghanistan Funding - France at War With al-Qaeda - Oil Spill Efforts Taking Hold Top of the Agenda: DoD Can't Account for Iraq $2.6 Billion As the United States voiced concerns about Iraq's failure to form a government (NYT) following the March parliamentary elections, the Department of Defense said it cannot account for how it spent $2.6 billion that belonged to the Iraqi government (WashPost), according to an audit of a $9.1 billion fund of Iraqi oil proceeds. The report, by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, accused the Defense Department of lax oversight and weak controls (AP), though not fraud. In separate news, Hans Blix, former UN chief weapons inspector, told Britain's official inquiry into the Iraq war that Britain and the U.S. should have realized "their sources were poor" when his inspectors found nothing in Iraq (Guardian). However, Blix also said he told then-prime minister Tony Blair that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein might still have illegal weapons (FT), despite his growing doubts. Analysis In this CFR interview, expert Reidar Visser says that Iraq's two leading parties will probably not form a coalition government until September, and Washington has failed to push along the political process. In this article, CFR's Rachel Schneller argues that U.S. withdrawal from Iraq is overdue. Five experts analyze the political implications of the March 2010 Iraqi elections in this transcript of a CFR meeting. Background This CFR interactive timeline details events since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. SOUTH ASIA: House Approves Afghanistan Funding The U.S. House of Representatives voted 308-114 to approve a war-funding increase of $33 million (AP) to pay for 30,000 U.S. troops for the Afghanistan surge, but the vote showed growing divisions among Democrats about the Afghan war (NYT). The United States must reorient its security-first strategy and consider immediate talks with the Taliban and other militants, says analyst Matt Waldman in this CFR interview. Regardless of what advances NATO forces make over the next six months in southern Afghanistan, it seems fair to wonder whether achievements will be sustainable, argues Ahmed Rashid (TNR). The WikiLeaks documents contain intelligence reports on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden (Telegraph), disclosing for the first time that bin Laden is thought to be personally overseeing the work of suicide bombers and Taliban roadside bombs. High-ranking Taliban commander Sirajuddin Haqqani denies Taliban links with Pakistan's spy agency (DailyBeast), which the WikiLeaks reports suggest. EUROPE: France At War with al-Qaeda French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said France is at war with al-Qaeda (CSM), following the announcement that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) killed a French aid worker the group took hostage in April. France attacked an AQIM base camp (AP) in Northern Africa yesterday. This CFR Backgrounder looks at the rise of AQIM and its growing ambitions. Turkey: On a visit to Turkey, British Prime Minister David Cameron argued that Turkey's membership in the European Union is important (CNN) for Europe's economy, security, politics, and diplomacy. While in Ankara, Cameron sparked anger in Israel after describing the Gaza Strip as a prison camp (Guardian) for its 1.5 million Palestinian residents. MIDDLE EAST: Ahmadinejad Wants Baby Boom In an effort to boost Iran's population (AP), Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched an initiative to pay families for every new child and to deposit money into each child's account until age eighteen, calling Iran's internationally acclaimed family planning program "ungodly" and a Western import. Israel: Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom (AFP) said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has created "impossible" conditions for moving to direct peace talks, including that the negotiations start where they left off in 2008, that they be based on a total Israeli withdrawal to 1967 lines, and that the settlement freeze continue. AFRICA: Darfur Security Deteriorating The head of the UN-AU Mission in Darfur said that though there has been progress in talks between the Khartoum government and opposition group the Liberation and Justice Movement, the security situation in Darfur has deteriorated (VOA). Uganda: Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi promoted a United States of Africa at the African Union summit (Reuters), saying it is the only way Africa can develop without Western interference, although many African states see the idea as impractical and one that would encroach on their sovereignty. PACIFIC RIM: Twenty-One Missing in China Landslide A landslide in southwestern China (AFP) caused by floods and torrential rains left twenty-one people missing, the latest casualties in deadly flooding that has killed at least 823 people, left 437 missing, and caused at least $22 billion in damage. China's Three Gorges Dam (BBC) has faced its second test in two weeks as floods pushed water in its reservoir to near capacity. Japan: With Japan's population expected to fall, Prime Minister Naoto Kan has outlined a goal to double the number of skilled foreign workers within a decade, loosening Japan's longstanding grip on immigration (WashPost). AMERICAS: Oil Spill Efforts Taking Hold One hundred days after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (CNN), containment efforts seem to be taking hold, with eight hundred skimmers only retrieving one barrel of oil yesterday compared with twenty-five thousand barrels a day at the height of the spill. In this CFR interview, Jack Coleman, a former federal lawyer for energy policy issues and now an industry lobbyist, criticizes the Obama administration's moratorium on most new Gulf drilling. Mexico: A reduction in crop yields caused by global warming could mean up to 6.7 million additional Mexicans will emigrate to the United States by 2080 (CSM), says a study by Princeton University researchers.

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