The surprise release of leading Malaysian opposition figure

The surprise release of leading Malaysian opposition figure
Anwar Ibrahim from jail two weeks ago led to intense speculation
about whether he would become active in politics again. The world
got its answer yesterday, when Malaysias highest court denied
Anwars petition to have a corruption case against him reopened,
thus virtually guaranteeing he will not play a leadership role of
any kind.

The decision to let Anwars corruption conviction stand
delivers the final blow to his political ambitions and
neutralizes a possible rival for power. The outcome is far too
tidy and convenient for Abdullah's government, as well as being
legally questionable.

In releasing him from jail, the court overturned a sodomy
conviction that Anwar has always insisted was based on trumped up
charges. That it chose not to reopen the related corruption
conviction makes little sense. In essence, he stands convicted of
trying to cover up a crime he did not commit.

The corruption case should have been reopened. That it was not
leaves the world with the unnecessary impression that the
judiciary is not as independent as it should be. The only
alternative, a royal pardon, is not politically feasible for Mr
Anwar because seeking one would be considered an admission of
guilt.

It is a shame, then, that the latest ruling against Anwar
means reforms will stop well short of opening up Malaysias
political scene.
more

-- South China Morning Post, Hong Kong

The factors that led
to prison abuse

Two recently concluded inquiries into the abuse of prisoners
by U.S. military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad
dealt only briefly with what might have been the most shocking
policy failure: the neglect of U.S. officials to plan for
anything but the most rosy scenario in the wake of Baghdad's
capture.

The relevance of all this to the Abu Ghraib prison problem is
that in October 2003, the facility held 7,000 prisoners and had a
guard force of only 90 people, many of whom could not speak the
languages of the detainees.

The abuses at Abu Ghraib shocked many Americans. What should
be more shocking was the fact that so many top officials
apparently believed the "cakewalk" theory. The first false
assumption was that almost all Iraqis would be so pleased to be
"liberated" that occupation would present no major problems. The
second was that the remnants of the old regime would simply fade
into the woodwork and not resist. The third was a failure to
anticipate that occupied Iraq would become a magnet for every
jihadist in the region with an itch to kill Americans and other
infidels.

Bush administration hawks apparently so believed their own
spin that they had no plan B or plan C. U.S. military personnel
in Iraq are paying for this failure still, often with their
lives. -- The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colorado

S. Korea's alleged nuclear
weapons developments

Following the revelation that the Korea Atomic Energy Research
(KAER) conducted experiments to enrich uranium four years ago,
some foreign press agencies have raised suspicions that Korea
attempted to develop nuclear weapons.

Many countries possess the technology to concentrate
radioactive isotope material using lasers. The KAER also did the
experiment to separate materials for medical purposes, but found
out it was uneconomical and suspended the experiment.

The research team said that just before dismantling the
equipment ... it experimented out of an investigative mind to see
whether it was possible to enrich uranium using lasers.

It requires 15 kg of uranium to build nuclear weapons, but the
amount of enriched uranium produced in the KAER's experiment was
only 0.2 kg.

Moreover, Korea voluntarily reported the experiment. At the
time of the experiment, the facilities of the KAER were not on
the list of the inspection of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) and the KAER was not obliged to report its
activity.

In addition, the U.S. State Department spokesman said ...
"Korea is cooperating fully and proactively in order to
demonstrate that the activity has been eliminated and it is no
longer cause for concern." The most worrying thing is that using
the issue as an excuse, North Korea may refuse to hold six-way
talks to resolve its nuclear issue.

The government should try to resolve suspicion raised by the
international community as soon as possible by clearly explaining
the issue in detail to the IAEA inspection team.

-- Chosun Ilbo, Seoul

U.S. presidential race

A bullish George Bush has given the Republican convention in
New York the message that delegates wanted to hear. Now the big
test will be whether he will find it equally easy to convince the
U.S. that he is the man who can keep America safe.

His objective is to re-establish his credentials with a public
which still harbours doubts about the basis for the war on Iraq.
But above all, Mr. Bush's strategy is to sound decisive and
forceful in order to undermine his challenger, Senator John
Kerry.

After a succession of attacks on the credibility of his claims
about his war record, the Democrat candidate is suddenly looking
vulnerable. A number of vitriolic diatribes were directed at Mr.
Kerry at the Republican convention, and some have struck home.

Above all, Americans want a strong leader who can defend their
country, and protect their troops overseas. The debate about
whether the invasion of Iraq was justified is being eclipsed by
the more pressing challenge of how best to get the troops home.

With the conventions over, both parties now launch out on the
final 60-day phase of the hustings. As the candidates tour from
state to state, a bitter and intense struggle can be anticipated.

Events will be watched not just in the U.S. but further
afield. Even though America does not have as direct an influence
on the peace process as it had in the Clinton days, the outcome
could have a bearing on Northern Ireland.
-- Belfast Telegraph, Northern Ireland

Los Angeles Times, on 1,000 troops perishing in Iraq:

Six U.S. soldiers were killed, two Italian aid workers were
kidnapped and warplanes bombed a Sunni enclave in Fallouja, a
city mostly off-limits to coalition troops. It was just another
day in the war Tuesday, except for the numbers. By this morning,
Iraq time, the Associated Press count of casualties stated that
1,000 U.S. troops had been killed in Iraq, aside from more than
100 other coalition soldiers and thousands of Iraqi
noncombatants. And many thousands more have been wounded.

It is an obvious point at which to ask: To what end are U.S.
personnel continuing to die? What is it that commanders should
tell their troops as they head into lethal streets?

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that
violence was increasing because insurgents viewed peaceful
balloting, set for January, and a democratic constitution as
enemies. That conclusion is debatable, perhaps even a smoke
screen. What's not in doubt is insurgents' view of U.S. troops as
the enemy. It's a belief that unites adherents of the Sunni brand
of Islam, who have forced coalition troops out of much or all of
the cities of Fallouja, Ramadi and Samarra, and the Shiite
Muslims who fought the Americans in the sacred city of Najaf. ...

The U.S. will not win a war of attrition. Such wars do not
favor occupying armies. Enclaves off-limits to soldiers give
insurgents staging areas. ...

Invading nations have an obligation to try to repair the
damage they cause, but armies also need a clearly defined
mission. How much are U.S. troops supposed to rebuild? Are they
still meant to install democracy? Or will the U.S. settle for any
kind of political stability, even if repressive clerics rule the
country? ...

Soldiers and Marines deserve to know, as they head out to face
snipers and roadside bombs, what they're meant to accomplish for
that price.
---

Daily Telegraph, London, on Vladimir Putin and terrorism in
Russia:

Vladimir Putin's refusal to negotiate with Chechen
separatists ... will find a broad echo among Russians. Hatred of
the Chechens was strong enough before last week. Beslan will have
intensified it and thereby further legitimized Mr. Putin's
refusal to compromise.

However, on solving the Chechen problem, Mr. Putin seems to
have run out of options. He has tried the military one in the
shape of a second war, which gave the Kremlin control of the
plain, but left the population largely disaffected. He has
embarked on the political one through Chechenisation, but that
was probably given the coup de grace in May by the assassination
of Akhmad Kadyrov, the Kremlin's protege. By treating all
separatists as beyond the pale, the president has boxed himself
into a corner in which political legitimacy is spuriously claimed
through rigged elections.

Given the deep-seated corruption of the Russian security
forces and bureaucracy, this is unlikely to be the last incident
of its kind.

With each new terrorist attack, Mr. Putin's reputation as the
strongman who can sort out Chechnya will suffer. At the moment,
he is riding on a wave of sympathy for the dead and grieving in
North Ossetia. But questions are being asked about his handling
of the siege, both within Russia and abroad, notably from the
Dutch presidency of the European Union and Jean-Pierre Raffarin,
the French prime minister. Having propelled Mr. Putin to power,
Chechnya has become a wasting asset.
---

Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, Egypt, on Ibrahim al-Douri:

The U.S.-backed interim Iraqi government hoped the capture of
Saddam Hussein's second-in- command would be a feather in its
cap. But the Iraqi government ended up with egg all over its
face, calling into question their cohesion and credibility. First
they said they'd apprehended Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri. Then they
said they hadn't. The announcement was paradoxically made by
senior officials in the Iraqi government. ...

(Al-Douri's) detention would not have been more timely. It
would have boosted the morale of the U.S. and Iraqi forces,
proving that they are moving towards re-establishing security in
post-Saddam Iraq. Washington has long blamed al-Douri for
orchestrating attacks against its troops. His arrest, therefore,
would have deprived the anti-U.S. insurgents of a major
mastermind. The problem is that early announcements that al-Douri
was in Iraqi hands after a battle in Tikrit have been withdrawn.
It may turn out to have been an illusion by the U.S. satraps in
Baghdad. ...

The U.S. command in Iraq and the embattled government of Ayad
Allawi were hoping for a propaganda coup from netting al-Douri,
distracting attention away from the quasi-endemic anarchy in the
country. His detention would have sealed the fate of the Saddam
regime once and for all. Furthermore, it would take the lid off
the atrocities perpetrated under the toppled dictator. It would
certainly raise more voices to bring Saddam and his lieutenants
to justice. But until, or if, al-Douri is arrested (or Sunday's
first report is verified), the confusion surrounding his capture
continues to demonstrate the new government's ineffectiveness and
wishful thinking.
---

GetAP 1.00 -- SEP 10, 2004 00:27:44