MENA and War Watch - Items from / pertaining to Iraq , Iran, Syria and Drone Wars

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jOMOELC65VXRSxNcrBhRpTUuY1fw?docId=4e5796297090412189ffb0be716d0abf

UN investigator: US dodging questions on drones

By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press – 19 hours ago  

GENEVA (AP) — A U.N. human rights expert accused the U.S. government Wednesday of sidestepping his questions on its use of armed drones to carry out targeted killings overseas.

Christof Heyns, the U.N.'s independent investigator on extrajudicial killings, had asked the United States to lay out the legal basis and accountability procedures for the use of armed drones. He also wanted the U.S. to publish figures on the number of civilians killed in drone strikes against suspected terror leaders in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere.

After a two-day "interactive dialogue" with U.S. officials at the United Nations in Geneva, Heyns said he was still waiting for a satisfactory reply.

"I don't think we have the full answer to the legal framework, we certainly don't have the answer to the accountability issues," he told reporters on the sidelines of a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting.

U.S. officials didn't explicitly mention the use of drones in the debate, but a written submission to the council cited three speeches by U.S. administration officials that discussed counterterrorism operations.

In one of those speeches, U.S. President Barack Obama's counterterrorism chief John Brennan acknowledged in April that the U.S. uses remotely piloted aircraft to conduct targeted killings of suspected al-Qaida members "in order to prevent terrorist attacks on the United States and to save American lives."

Brennan said the attacks were a legal, ethical and wise way of conducting sensitive counterterror operations.

But the U.S. use of armed drones has provoked anger abroad, particularly in Pakistan, where human rights groups say innocent people have been among the victims of the strikes.

The American Civil Liberties Union told the U.N. rights body Wednesday that "the United States has cobbled together its own legal framework for targeted killing, with standards that are far less stringent than the law allows."

It warned that other nations might embrace the U.S.'s justification for the use of drones and also begin carrying out airstrikes on foreign territory.

"My concern is that we are dealing here with a situation that creates precedents around the world," said Heyns, the U.N. investigator.

and......

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/20/us-iraq-violence-electricity-idUSBRE85J0JL20120620

(Reuters) - Militants attacked electrical transmission towers and lines in Iraq's Diyala province on Wednesday, government and police sources said, in the latest wave of attacks that have swept the area in recent weeks.

Insurgents bombed seven pylons in Udhaim in northern Diyala - a central province that borders Iran - disrupting a line transmitting 20 megawatts from Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, a local electricity official said.

Power supplies to the town of Khalis and parts of Iraq's capital were also completely shut down, the official said.

"Electricity in these areas has been completely shut down and maintenance teams need at least a week to fix it," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

There were no casualties in the incident, police sources said.

Diyala has long been one of the most volatile areas in Iraq, where Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds live side by side in a fertile agricultural province crisscrossed by canals.

The town of Udhaim was an al Qaeda stronghold and, while the insurgents have been weakened, they still frequently carry out attacks in the area, including bombing power transmission towers.

Iraq has a chronic electricity shortage and the national power grid supplies only a few hours of power a day. Electricity supplies collapsed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, when power plants were looted or went without proper maintenance.

A suicide bomber killed at least 15 people at a Shi'ite funeral in the Diyala city of Baquba on Monday, the latest sectarian attack this month.

and....

http://news.antiwar.com/2012/06/20/israel-demands-more-iran-sanctions-says-all-options-open/

Israel Demands More Iran Sanctions, Says ‘All Options’ Open

End to Moscow Talks Means New Israeli Threats

by Jason Ditz, June 20, 2012

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With the end of the latest round of P5+1 talks with Iran yesterday in Moscow, and the promise of another round of talks in a couple of weeks in Istanbul, there is time againin the interim for Israeli officials to make threats and demand more Western sanctions.

Today the job of doing so fell to Vice Premier Shaul Mofaz, who insisted that Israel will continue to prepare “all options” against Iran, while demanding that the US “impose more several sanctions in the oil embargo and financial sectors.”

The Moscow talks were the latest in several rounds of talks, each of which has ended after a brief exchange, only to be followed by new demands from Israel, as well as new condemnations of the talks on general principle.

Iran made it clear this time around that they are open to making concessions only if they are guaranteed a supply of fuel for their medical isotope reactor. Western officials provided no details as to why this was unacceptable, only saying that the talks would continue in Istanbul.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/assad-could-be-offered-new-clemency-deal-7870084.html

Britain and the US may soon be pressured to consider clemency for President Bashar al-Assad as part of a new political transition package for Syria.

The idea may be discussed at a peace conference in Geneva tentatively planned for the end of this month, sources said last night.

A clemency offer to Mr Assad, protecting him from prosecution by the International Criminal Court, could involve him being allowed to flee Syria for another country, possibly Russia or Iran. Asked specifically if that might be part of an eventual deal, the UK source said that it was "a question you have to look at". Officials insisted, however, that David Cameron has not yet taken a view on the matter.

After meetings about Syria involving leaders of most of the main players including the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, at this week's G20 summit in Mexico, there is cautious optimism that the proposed Geneva meeting might now go ahead.

It would be attended by opposition leaders from Syria, the permanent five of the UN Security Council, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The Syrian regime would also have to be at the table. The tentative plan could still be tripped up, however, notably by a Russian proposal that Iran should also be invited. "That is a red line for us," a Downing Street source indicated.

The alternative, the source said, would be to return to the UN Security Council to try to pass a new resolution that would allow for much tougher international sanctions. Any such effort in New York would be likely to founder, however, on opposition from Russia and China.

The optimal scenario is that a Geneva meeting would set in train a process likely to take 18 to 24 months that would see a new government put in place, without Assad at the top but possibly with some current members still remaining and representatives from the opposition sides. Eventually elections in Syria would be held.

Both the British and the Americans have come away from Los Cabos marginally encouraged that Russia, for whom Assad has been an important ally, is more open than before to the notion of him eventually leaving.

While some Russian officials attempted to deny this yesterday, a source from Downing Street insisted that this was the impression given to Mr Cameron during a 50-minute meeting with Mr Putin on Tuesday.

Meanwhile in Syria, at least 20 soldiers were reported killed during fierce gun battles in the east. The fighting came as the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was preparing to evacuate people trapped in the old city of Homs, the rebel stronghold which has been intensely shelled for much of the past six months. Dozens of families have been caught in crossfire between government forces and rebels, though yesterday both sides had reportedly agreed to a temporary truce to allow aid workers access.