Al Qaeda or the Taleban: What's the Real Story?

With Benazir Bhutto out of the picture, there is speculation as to who could be responsible.

According to Reuters:

Pakistan has "intelligence intercepts" indicating that al Qaeda was behind the killing of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.

Former prime minister Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack as she left an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi on Thursday, plunging nuclear-armed Pakistan into one of the most serious crises in its 60-year history.

"We have intelligence intercepts indicating that al Qaeda leader Baitullah Mehsud is behind her assassination," ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema told a news conference.

On the other hand, according to CNN:

U.S. officials suspect a Taliban leader from Afghanistan may be behind the plot to assassinate former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a senior official said Friday.

The official identified Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud as a leading suspect, saying there's "good information that leads us to believe he is the guy responsible."

What is clear is that both governments are using this unfortunate event to remind us that the War on Terrorism is necessary. What they don't tell us is what is more troubling. What was the role of the Musharraf government in protecting Bhutto? What was the role of the US? Both had a vested interest in her protection given the recent state of emergency in Pakistan called by Musharraf.

State Department Employees Up in Arms Over Possible Draft to Staff Iraq Embassy

Condoleezza Rice has her hand's full with foreign service officers who are not exactly thrilled to know that they may be stationed in Iraq.

From CNN State Department officials should serve where they are needed -- even in war-torn Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says that "people need to serve where they are needed."

Rice was responding to foreign service officers' objections to the possibility of "directed assignments" in Iraq. The issue has caused an uproar in the State Department, resulting in a contentious town hall-style meeting Wednesday.

The new directives would be needed if enough qualified foreign service officers don't step forward to fill open positions at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

If the State Department enforces directed assignments, it will be the first time since the Vietnam War era.

One official called the order to serve in Iraq "a potential death sentence" during the town meeting.
The State Department already has begun notifying about 200 people considered prime candidates. Those chosen will be given 10 days to respond, according to last week's announcement. Unless they have a valid medical reason to refuse, those who decline could face dismissal, it said.

US Government: Swinging Both Ways

The US and Great Britain, democracy-promoters in principle, do not practice it and support some fairly vile characters (some of whom they later track down spider holes and, in theory, bring to justice). In Pakistan, Gen. Musharraf is surviving an economy that is erratic to say the least and being pushed to share power with deposed PM Benazir Bhutto, a deal which the US and Britain brokered.

Musharraf, whose legality to be President is being challenged in Pakistan's high court, and whose victory cannot be officially validated until they decide, has been cagey about whether he would step down. Asked whether he would stand down if the court ruled him ineligible, Gen Musharraf said: “Let the decision come and then we will decide.”

Meanwhile in the Sudan, the US continues to dance supporting the government's intelligence efforts (and renditioning of presumed enemies) while challenging their peace efforts between north and south and despite the massacre in Darfur. The CIA operation center in Sudan is said to be the biggest spy operation center in the region.

And this is the way of the struggles between the need for intelligence and a desire to put on a face that suggests friendly relations, even with those who we fundamentally disagree. We are in a rock and a hard place, the bigger question is how did we get here.

Haleh Esfandiari, Iranis Arrested by US a Prisoner Exchange?

Is it coincidental that 8 Iranis held by our military in Iraq and US scholar Haleh Esfandiari were released yesterday? Iran and the US continue to rattle sabers in Cold War fashion.


From the BBC

A leading Iranian-American academic who was jailed for three months in Iran on spying charges has left the country.

Haleh Esfandiari's husband, Shaul Bakhash, told the Fars news agency that she had flown to Austria, and would later return to the US.

Ms Esfandiari works for a research institute in Washington.

Three other Iranian-Americans are being detained in Iran - academics Ali Shakeri and Kian Tajbaksh, and journalist Parnaz Azima.

The detentions came amid ongoing tension between the US and Iran.

Analysts say the Iranian authorities are highly suspicious of attempts by the Bush administration to promote democratic change in Iran.

Ms Esfandiari, 67, heads the Middle East programme at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Also from the BBC

The US military has admitted to what it called a "regrettable incident" after it arrested a group of eight Iranians in Baghdad.

The Iranians were held at a checkpoint and detained overnight. They were freed after the Iraqi government intervened.

Iran says the men were in the city at the invitation of Iraq's government, and that the US action was unjustified.

An aide to the top US commander in Iraq later said the US accepted that the Iranians were on official business.

Dr Saadi Othman, adviser to Gen David Petraeus, told BBC News that the incident had "nothing to do" with US President George W Bush's speech on Tuesday, in which he strongly criticised Iran for its alleged interference in Iraq.

US Ignore Brits Rendition concerns

Apparently the British didn't help the US to send political detainees to "cooperative" nations and was peeved at its former colonists, but not so much as not to cooperate in intelligence gathering.

The BBC Reports

British concerns did not appear to "materially" affect US actions in its "war on terror", the UK's intelligence and security committee has said.

The committee, which reports to the prime minister, was probing possible UK involvement in rendition flights.

It said America's "lack of regard" for UK concerns had "serious implications" for future intelligence relations.

In response, the UK government said the countries' intelligence relationship was "close" and "must continue".

Is It All About the Benjamins in Closing Down North Korea's Reactor?

CNN reports "Pyongyang and Washington have agreed on a three-week timeframe for shutting down the North's plutonium-producing reactor, a top U.S. nuclear envoy said Saturday after returning from a rare visit to the reclusive state.

Christopher Hill -- the chief U.S. negotiator at international talks on North Korea's nuclear programs -- said they were looking at a three-week timeframe for shutting down the Yongbyon reactor, when asked by reporters on his arrival at Tokyo's Haneda Airport."

At the root of negotiations have been frozen North Korean assets that were slow to transfer from a bank in Macau to one in Russia and UN energy aid funds for closing down the reactor.

"North Korea had made the money's release a main condition for its disarmament, and used the financial dispute as a reason to stay away from six-party nuclear talks -- involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S. -- for more than a year, during which it conducted its first nuclear test explosion, in October.

North Korea is to ultimately get aid worth 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil and other political concessions when it disables the reactor."

Saber Rattling?

From the BBC

Russia in defence warning to US

The speech is Mr Putin's last before he steps down next year

Russia may stop implementing a key defence treaty because of concerns over US plans for a missile shield in Europe, President Vladimir Putin said.

Mr Putin made the threat during his annual address to parliament - which he said would be his last as president.

He also hit out at an influx of foreign money which he said was being used to meddle in Russia's internal affairs.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed Russian concerns over the missile shield as "ludicrous".

But BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says Mr Putin's speech marks a significant upping of diplomatic stakes.

The Russian president accused Nato countries of failing to respect the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE), which limits military deployments across the continent.

The treaty was adapted in 1999 after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, but Nato states have not yet ratified the new version, linking it to the withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgia and Moldova.

Mr Putin accused Nato states of exploiting the situation to increase their military presence near Russia.

He said that the Russian moratorium would continue "until all countries of the world have ratified and started to strictly implement it".

If there was no progress at upcoming talks between Nato and Russia, Russia would "look at the possibility of ceasing our commitments under the CFE treaty", he said.