14

Jun

Troops let down by High Command in Iraq

As published in The London File 

By Melanie Gouby 

As the troops leave Iraq, some commentators are looking to the military High Command in London for answers to what they see as the failure of the British mission. 

“I do not understand why not one US or British general has resigned over the war so far”, says Bob Shepherd, author of The Circuit and a former SAS soldier. 

“The generals did a very bad job. They played political games and did not make decisions with the reality on the ground or their troops in mind”. 

Photograph: John Scone/Flickr

Richard North, author of Ministry of Defeat: The British War in Iraq 2003-2009, shares a similar sense of anger: “I would have liked them shot by the firing squad. They sent soldiers into the field with inadequate equipment and allowed them to be killed”. 

Both Bob Shepherd and Richard North agree that the British military had tarnished its reputation as a result of its miss-handling of the counter-insurgency in Basra, and that similar mistakes are being repeated in Helmand, the region of Afghanistan where British troops are currently deployed. 

“This is absolutely no disrespect to the soldiers and junior officers who had to fight for their own lives. This is due to the politicians and the generals. It will take decades before the British troops are seen again as among the best in the world”, said Bob Shepherd. 

But speaking at a memorial service held in Basra for the British personnel who died in Iraq, John Hutton, the defence secretary said: “I think when the history is written of this campaign, they will say of the British military ‘we did a superb job’.” 

According to Richard North, the cost of the war and the number of soldiers’ death could have been significantly lower had the High Command adapted its strategy and technology to the type of insurgency they faced. 

“To fight an insurgency, the army needed to re-equip and restructure, but prior to 9/11 and the engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan, the army was already undergoing restructuring. They had planned a major re-equipment program in order to conform to new standards in conventional warfare. The decision not to devote time and energy to modify the plan was politically driven by Blair and the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon”, said Richard North. 

Similar mistakes have undermined the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, critics say. Primarily, a lack of flexibility from those who make the decisions reduced the ability of British troops to adapt their strategy to the reality on the ground. While Americans learned from their mistakes, the British High Command seemed incapable of admitting error, leaving no room to learn from past failures. 

Another mistake was to hurry the transition from securing the ground to rebuilding the country. As the troops do not have control of the region, the infrastructure put in place by the Provincial Reconstruction Team is used by the Taliban to their advantage after the troops have left. 

Although President Obama re-focused the NATO strategy on eradicating the Taliban, it is, according to Bob Shepherd who has been visiting Afghanistan regularly, too late to avoid a civil war. 

“We should simply pull out, because the troops are merely fighting for their survival now. If we stay we will need to have the stomach for going into a long fight. The Taliban have nothing to lose. They don’t have the window of opportunity we have as they cannot leave Iraq, and therefore they will fight, and are fighting to death”, he explains. 

Bob Shepherd believes Afghanistan is on the brink of civil war and that Britain’s continuing military commitment could see its troops fighting the Taliban for decades to come and could require as much as four times the same amount of men.

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11

Jun

Patasse Reveals Presidency Bid

As published on the Institute for War and Peace Reporting website

By Melanie Gouby

The former head of state of the Central African Republic, CAR, Ange-Felix Patasse, has told IWPR he will take part in presidential elections there next year, but analysts warn such a move runs the risk of tipping the fragile country into another crisis.

Patasse, who was president from 1993 to 2003, has been in exile in Togo since being ousted by current president Francois Bozize in a bloody overthrow in which tens of thousands of civilians were killed. The International Criminal Court, ICC, has linked him to war crimes committed in the run-up to the coup.

But the former head-of-state has not lost hope that he could come back to power. “I am still one of the most important actors of the republic. I will be [a] candidate at the next presidential elections,” he told IWPR from his home in Togo.

Officials in the capital, Bangui, have said that he is free to return to contest the 2010 poll – he has already undergone some degree of political rehabilitation, receiving an amnesty from the government – but his electoral prospects do not look good.

He has been disowned by his own party and commentators say he has lost his ability to mobilise the masses – despite retaining the loyalty of his tribe, one of the largest in the country.

Moreover, there are concerns that his return could create instability. Analysts say it might provoke victims of the blood-letting that led to the 2003 coup, who believe he should be prosecuted by the ICC; and spark a new potentially violent confrontation with Bozize.

The ICC has been investigating violence against civilians committed during Patasse’s power struggle with Bozize from 2002-2003.

So far, only Congolese militia leader Jean-Pierre Bemba has been indicted by the court, and is currently in custody.

Prosecutors say Bemba’s Mouvement de Liberation du Congo, MLC, fighters committed crimes against civilians while ostensibly aiding Patasse against Bozize’s rebels.

CAR citizens IWPR recently spoke to (http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=352305&apc_state=heniacr200905) accuse Patasse of allowing Bemba’s troops to enter the country, where they sought to combat Bozize’s attempts to seize power.

ICC prosecutors have stressed that investigations are continuing in CAR, and human rights groups expect more arrest warrants will follow.

During Bemba’s confirmation of charges hearing at the ICC, the prosecution said that Patasse entered into a common plan with Bemba, intending that crimes be committed.

“Patasse publicly called on Bemba to help and Bemba agreed. The single mandate was to protect Patasse’s presidency and attack civilians thought to be allied to rebels,” said senior prosecutor lawyer Petra Kneur.

Many of the CAR citizens IWPR spoke to in the aforementioned IWPR story said they wanted Patasse to face justice in The Hague. But prosecutors say that they lack the evidence to issue an arrest warrant against him.

“Patasse was, no doubt, a very important actor in the CAR situation in 2002-2003 and he was the one who invited the MLC troops to the CAR. But this is not enough,” said ICC deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, in a recent interview with IWPR.

“The fact there is no arrest warrant for Patasse is because we don’t have the evidence. We are driven by the evidence and the evidence alone.”

Although the country has been in chaos since the 2002-2003 fighting, recent efforts to bring stability to CAR have seen Patasse somewhat rehabilitated.

He even participated in inclusive political talks last December in the capital of Bangui. The talks brought together rebels, politicians and the government in an attempt to find a path towards stability for the country.

“After the talks in December, Patasse has been amnestied, like everyone else. Therefore he can enjoy all his civic and political rights today,” said Bruno Hyancinthe Gbiegba who works for the CAR coalition for the ICC, CICC – a network of NGOs and human rights organisations which work as a watchdog for the court.

“It is up to him to come to Bangui and be [a] candidate in the next elections.”

However, the amnesty granted by CAR does not cover grave war crimes or crimes against humanity, and therefore would have no bearing on any ICC case against the former president, or indeed anyone else accused of orchestrating atrocities in the country.

“[Patasse] can run for president even if it means international justice will have to do its work afterwards,” said security minister General Jules-Bernard Ouande.

Human rights groups are calling for the ICC to carry on investigating the events of 2002-2003 and the roles of the different leaders, including Patasse.

Despite the arrest of Bemba, there are still other groups and individuals that must be investigated and tried, said Godfrey Byaruha, CAR expert at Amnesty International.

“Patasse was the president and had power over the CAR armed forces, which were implicated in the violation of human rights. Therefore, there is a great possibility that he is guilty or grave crimes or at least guilty of not trying to stop these crimes,” he said.

Patasse was prevented from participating in the 2005 presidential elections in 2005, which saw Bozize elected, two years after he seized power in a coup.

According to the former president, however, Bozize is still not a legitimate leader and has no support from the population.

The invalidation of Patasse’s candidature in 2005 was due to a court ruling which found that his birth certificate was illegible.

“You understand how Bozize and his supporters manipulated the electoral laws in 2005. He was afraid of me because of my popularity,” Patasse told IWPR.

Speaking to IWPR, Patasse said repeatedly that he was “aware of nothing” when it was put to him that CAR citizens blame him for inviting Bemba’s men into the country, and for not stopping the atrocities they allegedly committed.

Patasse says he didn’t know about Bemba’s trial at the ICC and when asked whether it would have been possible to halt violence against civilians between 2002-2003, he would only say, “We are not in 2002-2003, we are in 2009.”

When pressed on the latter question, he said, “Ask the question to the current president. I repeat, these issues do not concern me.

“Complaints brought by Bozize to the ICC are illegal. It is not up to Bozize the rebel to complain, it is up to me who was representing the legal government at the time.”

In the run-up to the 2010 election, nobody will be able to stop Patasse from campaigning since the local amnesty granted him the right to run for the presidency.

However, people’s opinions of him in the CAR do not seem to match his aspirations.

“Coming from Patasse, a declaration that he will be running in the next election is a provocation towards the Central African people,” said Vincent Mambachaka, a civil society leader.

“His victims are here. They have not received any compensation. There is an investigation by the ICC about the crimes committed six years ago,” said Abakar Nyakanda, human rights high commissioner in CAR.

“I am of those who think he should not come back. It would be an insult for all his victims and it would be incomprehensible for the international community [to allow this].”

Patasse’s support seems to have withered indeed. Even his old party, the Mouvement de Libération du Peuple Centrafricain, MLPC, has disowned him.

“He is an active member of the MLPC, but he is suspended from the leadership. He cannot be our candidate,” said Martin Ziguele, president of the MLPC.

The former president is still supported by an unofficial branch of the MLPC led by Luc Apollinaire Dondon-Konamembaye, who was president of the national assembly under Patasse.

He is also likely to benefit from support among his own tribe, the Gbaya, one of the largest ethnic groups in the CAR, making up 34 per cent of the population.

“Central Africans don’t vote based on ideology or a programme. They vote on ethnicity. Patasse’s tribe should therefore vote massively for him,” said Prosper Yaka Maïde, journalist at the Central African news agency.

In the past, Patasse enjoyed the Gbaya’s support, as well as that of the Kaba and of the Kare, the ethnic groups of his mother.

Nevertheless, it will be very difficult for the 72-year-old politician to mobilise support as he did at the beginning of the Nineties, when he was the charismatic leader of the MLPC.

“Patasse, I think, is still in a sort of dream, of his past, of his power. Those who knew him, my generation, are not the ones who will vote. There is a new generation and they are starting to forget about him,” said Mambachaka.

Cut off from his country, Patasse may have misinterpreted the interest he aroused when he came back in December last year, said Maide.

When the former president returned to CAR for inclusive talks, people flocked to see his arrival in the capital.

But according to Maide, they were merely interested to see a famous political figure.

“If Michael Jackson comes to Bangui, people will go and see him, whether they like him or not, just out of curiosity. [Patasse is] making a lot of noise for nothing,” he said.

Nevertheless, some say the mere participation of Patasse in the poll and his return to the CAR could lead to a new crisis in the country.

The long-running feud between Bozize and Patasse, which appeared to be resolved with their joint participation in the December talks, could re-emerge in a competitive electoral campaign, say observers.

Pierre Debato, president of the Media Observatory in Bangui, is concerned.

“It is dangerous for CAR because…Bozize and co – they are going to collide with each other again. They all have issues with one another and this will give rise to new tensions,” he said.

“In the past 20 years, it has always been the same problems over and over again, because rancour remains.”

1081 days ago Short URL Comments

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10

Jun

ID cards around Europe

As published in The London File

By Melanie Gouby

The introduction of identity cards is one of the issues at the centre of the surveillance debate in Britain.

The Government has not been transparent enough about what information it intends to store on them and how the information will be used.

According to No2ID , a serious danger is that government agencies and even private businesses will have access to the information held on the national identity register linked to identity cards. Once they have the information, they can use it however they like.

But while many British people consider ID cards an infringement on civil liberties, as they are designed to hold information such as finger prints and immigration status, ID cards are commonly accepted in many other EU countries.

The difference is though that on the continent, identity cards are more like library cards- they just say who you are, where you live, how tall you are.

They are a convenience and in fact, many Europeans are happier with them, than without them.

In Spain, ID cards are used everywhere – from administrative offices to night clubs – and are the only official document that can be used to prove one’s identity.

Since driving licence or other documents are not allowed, ID cards are compulsory from the age of 14.

They are considered a normal part of life and are especially popular among teenagers, who consider them a sign of becoming a “grownup”.

In Italy, ID cards are not compulsory.

Authorities recommend carrying one at all time, but in practice, little use is made of them. Italians often prefer using their passport, driving license, or even their hunting license!

In Germany, obtaining an identity card is compulsory when turning 16. “Everyone is excited when they get their first ID Card.

We are proud of it and show it to everybody! Like, yeah! I am a German citizen and this is my name on this personal card,” says Thomas Hauk, a German student in London.

“It also allows you to prove that you are old enough to buy beer and cigarettes and to go to clubs.

ID cards are also a very important piece of identity in the immigrant culture.

In German rap videos, young Germans that apparently have a foreign background show their ID cards to the camera. It’s like:” Look at me! I am as German as you are!”

In Poland, every citizen over 18 must have an identity card. “I have mixed feelings about it”, says Tom Joseph, a Polish student in Warsaw.

“Generally I think its a great idea, it makes travelling easier. But I always hated other people knowing where I am and where I go”.

In Belgium, ID cards are also compulsory from the age of 15, but are issued already to 12- year-olds.

Other documents can be used to prove one’s identity in daily life.

“I lost it once and felt kind of naked.

Nobody sees it as an incursion on your freedom. I am rather concerned with CCTVs, which I think, are worse than ID cards”, says Geraldine Courreau, City banker from Belgium.

In France, ID cards are not compulsory if one already possesses a passport, but many people own one for convenience. Small in size, they fit in a wallet and allow travelling to other European countries without a passport.

“It is extremely useful to have one, because if I lose either my passport or my identity card, I still have another ID, and I can even travel to the rest of the EU with it”, says Coralie Laporte, a French waitress in Notting Hill.

“Nobody sees it as an invasion of your privacy because, frankly, there’s no difference with a passport”, she adds.

So what’s all the fuss about in Britain?

With a quarter of world’s CCTV cameras being scattered throughout the UK, Britain seems to have hit the security trend hard.

“Anything the U.S. does, we do”, says, Nick Hay from the campaign group No2ID . “The ID cards in UK will be far worse than in the rest of Europe in terms of privacy”.

The ensuing loss of privacy is set to be much greater in Britain than in most other European countries. And for once, British citizens won’t be able to blame it on the European Union.

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