Farmers in southern Iraq have started to grow opium poppies in their fields for the first time, sparking fears that Iraq might become a serious drugs producer along the lines of Afghanistan.
Rice farmers along the Euphrates, to the west of the city of Diwaniya, south of Baghdad, have stopped cultivating rice, for which the area is famous, and are instead planting poppies, Iraqi sources familiar with the area have told The Independent.
Technorati Tags: Middle East, Iraq
The Bush administration is developing plans to “internationalise” the Iraq crisis, including an expanded role for the United Nations, as a way of reducing overall US responsibility for Iraq’s future and limiting domestic political fallout from the war as the 2008 election season approaches.
The move comes amid rising concern in Washington that President George Bush’s controversial Baghdad security surge, led by the US commander, General David Petraeus, is not working and that Iran is winning the clandestine battle for control of Iraq.
“Petraeus is brilliant. But he is the captain of a sinking ship,” said a former senior administration official who questioned whether Iraq’s divided political leadership could prevent a descent into chaos. “Iraq’s government is a mobile phone number that doesn’t answer. Iraq probably can’t be fixed.”
Although sectarian killings have fallen in Baghdad since the surge began in February, the level of violence across the country remains broadly unchanged. But the White House is fiercely resisting calls from Democrats and some Republicans to scrap the operation and set a timetable for a troop withdrawal.
The former official, who is familiar with administration thinking, predicted Mr Bush would instead ask Congress to agree a six-month extension of the surge after Gen Petraeus presented his “progress report” in early September.
Technorati Tags: Middle East, Iraq, US, Bush Administration, Baghdad security surge, FUBAR
The U.S. wants to lodge a formal complaint against the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency over suggestions that Iran be allowed to keep some elements of its uranium enrichment program, diplomats said Tuesday.
They said this was because of fears that such a concession could undermine U.N. Security Council attempts to pressure Tehran to fully scrap enrichment. The diplomats, who demanded anonymity because of the delicate nature of the issue, spoke to The Associated Press before the release of a report from IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei that could act as a trigger for a third set of Security Council sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear defiance. Their comments on the issue revealed a hardening of positions on how to deal with Iran’s determination to expand its enrichment program, a potential pathway to nuclear arms.
If that sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because it is. The US tried to weaken the credibility of the IAEA when they were pimping for war in Iraq. Last time, they even tapped elBaradei’s phone in an attempt to remove him from a position where he could be an obstacle to their push for war. Of course, he turned out to have been right and the Nobel committee acknowledged the fact.
Technorati Tags: Middle East, Iran, Iraq, US, IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei
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