CINA

본문

eKanthipur wrote this yesterday, 6.1..

Maoists promise biggest ever mass meet Friday

Claiming that the government is engaged in its own roadmap rather than with the ongoing peace process, Maoist rebels on Thursday warned the government to be sincere towards the talks.
Speaking at a press conference organized on the eve of Friday’s mass gathering, expected to be the largest one since the rebels declared a ceasefire and announced to join the peace process, head of the rebel negotiating team and Maoist Spokesman, Krishna Bahadur Mahara today said that the government, by sticking to its “old agendas” is reluctant to resolve the political crisis.

“The government by going against the spirit of the 12-point understanding is attempting to move ahead alone after the reinstatement of the old House of Representatives,” said Mahara, “This House doesn’t represent the aspirations of the pro-democracy movement.”

He also accused the army of spreading misinformation about Maoist extortions and abductions.

“The anti-democratic forces are engaged in spreading rumours accusing us of forcing people to pay donations,” he said. "We have totally stopped asking for donations after reaching the 25-point Code of Conduct with the government," he added.

Mahara also said that the Maoists in the next round of talks with the government would take up the political agenda.

“We hold that a broad national political conference should be organized and the present government, Constitution and House of Representatives, be dissolved to form an interim government and constitution,” the head of the Maoists’ negotiating team said.

The Maoists also expressed their unease over the deployment of the Nepal Army in the capital in the last few days.

“The government has to stop this before the second round of talks begins,” Mahara said, adding, “It’s against the Code of Conduct reached recently.”

The Maoists have said their Friday mass meeting will be the largest one ever.

The rebels have been organizing similar programmes outside the capital for the last few weeks after the government reciprocated their three-month-long truce and entered the peace process.

“I cannot say as to how many people will attend the gathering but appeal to all the people to participate in it,” said Mahara.

Dozens of vehicles ferrying in Maoist cadres from various parts of the country have already entered the valley.

Traffic management
The government has restricted traffic flow around the programme venue to maintain security.

In a public notice today, the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Office said vehicles in and around the Khulla Manch, where the Maoists are set to hold the gathering, have been prohibited for the programme period.

Parking for those who will be attending the programme has been arranged at the playground in front of Sahid Gate, in the compound of National Trading Limited and vacant areas of Bhrikuti Mandap, the statement said.

Meanwhile, talking to eKantipur over the phone, the Maoists' Central Incharge, Ananta said that they are taking out rallies from six separate parts of the capital.

"Rallies will be taken out from Chabahil, Naya Baneshwor, Balkhu, Lagankhel, Balaju and Gongabu before converging into a gathering at Khulla Manch at 12:30 p.m.," Ananta said.

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=75384 

본문

The Guardian, GB, published yesterday following..

Analysis: Haditha Echoes Earlier Stains

Some words are synonymous with military disgrace. Abu Ghraib. My Lai. And now, perhaps Haditha - the Iraqi town where two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians allegedly were murdered by U.S. Marines.

Still under investigation, the episode could firm rising American opposition to the U.S. presence in Iraq, just as the 1968 My Lai killings helped turn the tide of public opinion against the Vietnam War.

President Bush promised Wednesday that, if an investigation turns up evidence of wrongdoing, ``those who violated the law, if they did, will be punished.''

The case just added to the administration's many Iraq woes. Just when things seem like they can't get any worse, they do.

``When something like Haditha happens, it gives the impression that Americans can't be trusted to provide security, which is the most important thing to Iraqis on a day-to-day level,'' said Anthony Cordesman, an Iraq expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

``It tends to confirm all of the worst interpretations of the United States, and not simply in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan and in the region,'' Cordesman said.

The disclosure of the allegedly unprovoked killings of civilians in the Iraqi town comes with the war looming large in this year's congressional elections, and with the administration still struggling to explain the American treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Haditha is an insurgent stronghold 150 mUnited States and from officials of the new Iraqi government.

``Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood,'' said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., even though the case is still under investigation and no charges have been filed.

Military investigators have evidence that points toward unprovoked murders by Marines, a senior defense official said last week.

Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commander of Multinational Corps Iraq, on Thursday ordered American commanders to conduct core values training with all troops on moral and ethical standards on the battlefield.

``This is just a reminder - for troops in Iraq or throughout our military - that there are high standards expected of them and that there are strong rules of engagement,'' Bush said Thursday.

Many analysts have compared the Haditha incident to the March 16, 1968, My Lai massacre, although the Vietnam killings were on a far larger scale. Then, hundreds of unarmed civilians were shot to death by a U.S. unit led by former Army Lt. William Calley Jr. The village was thought to be a Viet Cong stronghold.

The Vietnamese government set the death toll at more than 500. Calley was convicted in a 1971 court-martial and sentenced to life imprisonment, but President Nixon reduced his sentence and he served three years of house arrest.

Michael O'Hanlon, a foreign policy analyst at the Brookings Institution, compared Haditha to My Lai ``on a smaller scale.''

``My Lai symbolized the wanton reckless use of force that was associated with B-52 bombings, and the use of napalm, and the screaming children with their clothes burned off their skin by American incendiaries,'' O'Hanlon said.

And, while U.S. use of force in Iraq is on a far lower order of magnitude, ``these sort of things do reverberate,'' he said. ``And, yes, Iraqis do pay attention to the media, and they watch TV. Their overall impression of the U.S. is not very favorable, and this will make it a little worse.''

First reported by Time magazine, the Marines allegedly went on a killing spree after one of the men driving a Humvee was killed by a roadside bomb. ``If the allegations turn out to be valid, then of course there will be charges,'' vowed Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Army Brig. Gen. Carter Ham acknowledged the allegations could further tarnish the U.S. image. ``Allegations such as this, regardless of how they are borne out by the facts, can have an effect on the ability of U.S. forces to continue to operate,'' Ham, a former commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, told reporters Wednesday.

In the 1950 No Gun Ri killings, American soldiers from the 7th U.S. Cavalry Regiment killed dozens of South Korean refugees over a three-day period, although the number slain varies according to the witnesses. U.S. soldiers' estimates ranged from under 100 to ``hundreds'' dead; Korean survivors say about 400, mostly women and children, were killed at the village 100 miles southeast of Seoul.

The No Gun Ri killings were documented in a Pulitzer Prize-winning story by The Associated Press in 1999, which prompted a 16-month Pentagon inquiry. The Pentagon concluded that the No Gun Ri shootings were ``an unfortunate tragedy'' but ``not a deliberate killing.''

The Haditha killings, if confirmed, show vividly that ``war is very dangerous and dehumanizing,'' said Stephen Wayne a Georgetown University political science professor. ``It can take good people, like these Marines, and it can turn them into something that goes against the human rights and the liberty and all the things we're fighting for.''