2006.11.19: November 19, 2006: Headlines: COS - Morocco: Journalism: COS - Pakistan: Terrorism: Newsday: James Rupert writes: President Musharraf's cooperation with U.S. in war on terror sparks anger, search for truth after recent attacks

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Pakistan: Peace Corps Pakistan : The Peace Corps in Pakistan: 2006.10.31: October 31, 2006: Headlines: COS - Morocco: Journalism: COS - Pakistan: Terrorism: Newsday: James Rupert writes: Residents linking U.S. to deadly attack in Pakistan that killed an estimated 80 people in a religious school near the Afghan border : 2006.11.19: November 19, 2006: Headlines: COS - Morocco: Journalism: COS - Pakistan: Terrorism: Newsday: James Rupert writes: President Musharraf's cooperation with U.S. in war on terror sparks anger, search for truth after recent attacks

By Admin1 (admin) (ppp-70-250-74-101.dsl.okcyok.swbell.net - 70.250.74.101) on Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 3:16 pm: Edit Post

James Rupert writes: President Musharraf's cooperation with U.S. in war on terror sparks anger, search for truth after recent attacks

James Rupert writes: President Musharraf's cooperation with U.S. in war on terror sparks anger, search for truth after recent attacks

Pakistan's government says the 80 or so who died were "terrorists." Islamic militants and local residents say they were innocent religious students, many of them children. The missile strike, and a Nov. 8 revenge attack on a Pakistani army base that killed 42 soldiers, have escalated the violence along a part of Pakistan's border with Afghanistan that had been relatively quiet. As a military leader, Musharraf is not immediately threatened by such erosion of political support. But one danger is that the violence within Pakistan is spreading. Since 2004, when the Pakistani army began fighting major ground battles against militants in the border zone, the warfare has been focused in Waziristan. "The most serious threat Musharraf faces is that any further military operation in the border areas could split the army, which is clearly unhappy at the prospect of fighting 'their own people,'" Newsline said last week. Journalist James Rupert, head of Newsday's international bureau in Islamabad, Pakistan began his career abroad as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching mechanics and welding in Morocco.

James Rupert writes: President Musharraf's cooperation with U.S. in war on terror sparks anger, search for truth after recent attacks

A 'no-win situation' in Pakistan

President's cooperation with U.S. in war on terror sparks anger, search for truth after recent attacks
This story was written by staff correspondent JAMES RUPERT in Islamabad and special correspondent PIR ZUBAIR SHAH in Chinagai.

November 19, 2006

Caption: Caption: Armed Pakistani law enforcement officials inspect corpses in Khar. Radical Islamic leaders in Pakistan called for mass protests after around 80 people died in an airstrike on a suspected Al-Qaeda-linked training camp at a religious school(AFP)

CHINAGAI, Pakistan - Delegations of grim-faced men from around northwest Pakistan arrive every day at the destroyed religious school in this village a few miles from the Afghan border. Gazing at the ruined clothes and kitchen utensils scattered amid the rubble of the Oct. 30 missile attack, they voice grief and anger.

Pakistan's government says the 80 or so who died were "terrorists." Islamic militants and local residents say they were innocent religious students, many of them children. The missile strike, and a Nov. 8 revenge attack on a Pakistani army base that killed 42 soldiers, have escalated the violence along a part of Pakistan's border with Afghanistan that had been relatively quiet.

The army says its helicopters conducted the strike, but numerous residents told of seeing or hearing one or more of the slow-flying, CIA-operated U.S. Predator surveillance drones that are known to carry Hellfire missiles to attack suspected al-Qaida targets. The missiles that roared into Chinagai that predawn were fired by the Predators, according to one Pakistani intelligence official speaking to Newsday and to others cited by Alexis Debat, a terrorism analyst at the Nixon Center, a foreign policy think tank in Washington.

The State Department and CIA have declined to comment on the reports.

Increasing strife

The angry men who come daily to Chinagai to offer condolences and discuss retaliation are one sign that the issue of U.S. air strikes on Pakistani soil - four confirmed or suspected in the past year - is raising the political price of President Pervez Musharraf's cooperation with Washington in the "global war on terror."

Pakistani officials have said they were prompted - or pressured - to cooperate in the Chinagai strike by U.S. intelligence officials who provided pictures of men in physical or military training at the madrassa.

Opinion polls don't exist in the ethnic Pashtun northwest of Pakistan, but conversations with residents suggest that people here see the deaths as American killings facilitated by Musharraf's government. "We consider this as an American attack, regardless of what the Pakistanis say," said Tahir, a student in his 20s who lives near the destroyed madrassa.

The latest attack "has pushed the Musharraf government into a no-win situation," declared Newsline, a prominent Pakistani monthly news magazine.

Two missile strikes last November destroyed village homes in Waziristan, a Pashtun tribal region near the center of the long Pakistani-Afghan border. Pakistan's army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, denied that missiles had been used, saying an al-Qaida team had slipped up while making bombs and blown up both homes. After a Pakistani journalist published photos of U.S. Hellfire missile fragments from one of the attacks, he was kidnapped, held somewhere for six months and then killed.

In January, U.S. missiles killed at least 13 residents in Damadola, a village near Chinagai where intelligence officials said U.S. authorities hoped to kill al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri. The Damadola and Chinagai attacks both sparked several days of public protest and broad condemnation of Musharraf for his continued alliance with Washington.

Compromised military?

As a military leader, Musharraf is not immediately threatened by such erosion of political support. But one danger is that the violence within Pakistan is spreading. Since 2004, when the Pakistani army began fighting major ground battles against militants in the border zone, the warfare has been focused in Waziristan.

Here, about 150 miles to the north, another Pashtun tribal district, Bajaur, has been a militant Islamic stronghold for generations. But the Pakistani army has deployed no significant ground forces here. Rather, it was preparing to sign a peace deal with the Bajaur militants similar to those that have ended fighting - and left the local Taliban in power - in Waziristan.

The Nov. 8 suicide bombing stunned the army and cost it its highest death toll in a single incident since its war on Islamic militants began.

"The most serious threat Musharraf faces is that any further military operation in the border areas could split the army, which is clearly unhappy at the prospect of fighting 'their own people,'" Newsline said last week. Similar vague talk of rising unhappiness within the army has come from serving and retired officers, but divisions within the army, which effectively is Pakistan's ruling party, are almost impossible to assess from the outside.

Pakistan said its helicopters conducted the attack at Chinagai. But residents of this village and others nearby say the helicopters were not heard before the attack and arrived only 15 to 25 minutes after the missiles flattened the school.

The government's account has been undermined by its broad efforts to block all independent reporting of the attack. Troops at checkpoints have turned back journalists trying to reach Chinagai. (A Newsday reporter visited only by leaving behind all cameras and recorders and keeping a low profile.)

Soldiers blocked a team of lawyers from the provincial bar association and "told us they had 'orders from above' not to allow" observers to reach Chinagai, said Karim Mehsud, a member of the group. "Only when a big crowd gathered and became very agitated, and the soldiers saw that they would be attacked, they had to let us go."

After journalists discovered three survivors of the attack - ages 14, 16 and 20 - said Ashraf Ali, a BBC producer who interviewed them, authorities moved them from their hospital to a secret location.

The New York-based monitoring group Human Rights Watch has called on Pakistan to allow an independent investigation of the attack and identification of the dead.

"The onus is on the Pakistani government to provide a credible account of the legitimacy of the attack resulting in the deaths of so many," said Ali Dayan Hasan, a researcher for the group.




Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: November, 2006; COS - Morocco; Journalism; COS - Pakistan; Terrorism





When this story was posted in November 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:


Contact PCOLBulletin BoardRegisterSearch PCOLWhat's New?

Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
Ron Tschetter in Morocco and Jordan Date: November 18 2006 No: 1038 Ron Tschetter in Morocco and Jordan
On his first official trip since being confirmed as Peace Corps Director, Ron Tschetter (shown at left with PCV Tia Tucker) is on a ten day trip to Morocco and Jordan. Traveling with his wife (Both are RPCVs.), Tschetter met with volunteers in Morocco working in environment, youth development, health, and small business development. He began his trip to Jordan by meeting with His Majesty King Abdullah II and Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and discussed expanding the program there in the near future.

Top Stories and Breaking News PCOL Magazine Peace Corps Library RPCV Directory Sign Up

November 12, 2006: This Month's Top Stories Date: November 12 2006 No: 1030 November 12, 2006: This Month's Top Stories
Michael O'Hanlon writes: The New Congress and Iraq 9 Nov
Amanda Host named new PC Press Director 12 Nov
Shays will reach across the aisle for answers in Iraq 8 Nov
Petri loses chance to become committee chairman 8 Nov
Doyle gets a mandate to improve education 8 Nov
Eunice Shriver spends election night with Schwarzenegger 8 Nov
Donna Shalala writes: Eliminating gender bias in universities 7 Nov
Robert Paul upheld peace amid Afghan war 6 Nov
Carol Bellamy receives humanitarian award 6 Nov
Joseph Opala studies Black Seminoles 6 Nov
David C. Liner named PC Chief of Staff 3 Nov
PCV Matthew Costa remembered 2 Nov
Ethiopian-American community rallied for Garamendi 2 Nov
Christopher Poulos named Teacher of the Year 1 Nov
Peace Corps Writers and the Lost Generation 1 Nov
James Rupert writes: A deadly attack in Pakistan 31 Oct
Hill meets secretly with North Korea to restart talks 31 Oct
Jimmy Carter remembers mother in Peace Corps 30 Oct
Leigh Emery travels world for science 27 Oct
IFAW breaks ground for new headquarters 25 Oct
RPCVs Podcast Around the Globe 23 Oct

Election 2006: Results of RPCV Races Date: November 8 2006 No: 1024 Election 2006: Results of RPCV Races
Chris Shays claims victory in closely watched race
Jim Walsh wins re-election to Congress in close race
Tom Petri unopposed for re-election to Congress
Sam Farr wins re-election to Congress
Mike Honda wins re-election to Congress
Jim Doyle wins re-election to Wisconsin Governorship
Kinky Friedman loses in long shot bid for Texas Governor
John Garamendi elected Lt. Governor of California

October 22, 2006: This Month's Top Stories Date: October 22 2006 No: 1005 October 22, 2006: This Month's Top Stories
The crisis over North Korea's nuclear bomb test 14 Oct
Hill faced strong opposition for denuclearization agreement 8 Oct
John Coyne writes: The first Peace Corps book 20 Oct
Thomas Tighe moderates discussion with President Clinton 17 Oct
PC announces Community College degree program 18 Oct
Donna Shalala expresses dismay over football brawl 16 Oct
Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley defends Lebanon policy 16 Oct
Jan Guifarro elected Chair of NPCA Board 15 Oct
Carl Pope writes: From the pump to the polls 13 Oct
Ambassador Gaddi Vasquez Says Africa a Priority 12 Oct
Chris Dodd opposes Bush terrorism bill 10 Oct
Isaac Edvalson is founder of Africa's Tomorrow 9 Oct
The Man who turned down Shriver 8 Oct
Mae Jemison tells girls to reach for the stars 6 Oct
Loren Finnell receives Shriver Award 4 Oct
Matt Sesow paints onstage during opera 2 Oct
Film examines anti-malaria drug lariam 29 Sep
Blackwill dismisses Musharraf's claims 27 Sep
Ron Tschetter sworn in as 17th Peace Corps Director 26 Sep
Rape Victim Student Gets $1 Million From City College 26 Sep
Ricardo Chavira narrates Public Service Announcements 25 Sep

The Peace Corps Library Date: July 11 2006 No: 923 The Peace Corps Library
The Peace Corps Library is now available online with over 40,000 index entries in 500 categories. Looking for a Returned Volunteer? Check our RPCV Directory or leave a message on our Bulletin Board. New: Sign up to receive our free Monthly Magazine by email, research the History of the Peace Corps, or sign up for a daily news summary of Peace Corps stories. FAQ: Visit our FAQ for more information about PCOL.

Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps Date: September 23 2006 No: 996 Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps
Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments.

He served with honor Date: September 12 2006 No: 983 He served with honor
One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor.

Meet Ron Tschetter - Our Next Director Date: September 6 2006 No: 978 Meet Ron Tschetter - Our Next Director
Read our story about Ron Tschetter's confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that was carried on C-Span. It was very different from the Vasquez hearings in 2001, very cut and dried with low attendance by the public. Among the highlights, Tschetter intends to make recruitment of baby boomers a priority, there are 20 countries under consideration for future programs, Senator Dodd intends to re-introduce his third goal Peace Corps legislation this session, Tschetter is a great admirer of Senator Coleman's quest for accountability, Dodd thinks management at PC may not put volunteers first, Dodd wants Tschetter to look into problems in medical selection, and Tschetter is not a blogger and knows little about the internet or guidelines for volunteer blogs. Read our recap of the hearings as well as Senator Coleman's statement and Tschetter's statement.

Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance Date: August 19 2006 No: 964 Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance
The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process.

The Peace Corps is "fashionable" again Date: July 31 2006 No: 947 The Peace Corps is "fashionable" again
The LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace.

PCOL readership increases 100% Date: April 3 2006 No: 853 PCOL readership increases 100%
Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.

History of the Peace Corps Date: March 18 2006 No: 834 History of the Peace Corps
PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.


Read the stories and leave your comments.






Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Newsday

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Morocco; Journalism; COS - Pakistan; Terrorism

PCOL35252
15


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: