BAGHDAD — President Barack Obama flew into Iraq on a surprise visit to see U.S. troops Tuesday, meeting about 1,500 carefully selected U.S. service members at a base located at one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces.

U.S. President Barack Obama greets troops at Camp Victory in Baghdad, April 7, 2009. REUTERS/Jim Young

Although he did not support the war in Iraq and has announced plans for an accelerated pullout from Iraq, the president has gone to great lengths to show that he supports the troops. With the backdrop of a giant American flag hung from the marble balconies, Obama told U.S. troops they had accomplished something extraordinary.
“You have given Iraq the opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country,” he said in the brief visit after a trip to Turkey.

“It is time for us to transition to the Iraqis,” he told the troops. “It is time for them to take responsibility for their country,” he said, adding that the next 18 months would be crucial.

The base, which is the headquarters of the U.S. ground operations in Iraq, was named Camp Victory – a word President Obama does not use in relation to the Iraq war. Close to Baghdad’s International Airport, it is technically outside the city, which means that U.S. troops can remain there after the pullout from Iraqi cities this June mandated in the Standard of Forces agreement with Iraq.

-Christian Science Monitor News Service

Guantanamo attorneys face possible prison time for letter to Obama

Attorneys Clive Stafford Smith and Ahmad Ghappour could face six months in a U.S. prison because of a letter they sent to President Barack Obama explaining their client’s allegations of torture by U.S. agents. Smith and Ghappour represent Binyam Mohamed, the British resident recently released after seven years in U.S. custody, where he claims he was repeatedly tortured, first in a secret CIA prison and later at Guantanamo Bay.

Binyam Mohamed

Officials from the Department of Defense who monitor and censor communication between Guantanamo prisoners and their lawyers filed a complaint against Mohamed’s lawyers for “unprofessional conduct” and for revealing classified evidence to the President.
The memo the lawyers sent to Obama was completely redacted except for the title. It had urged the President to release evidence of Mohamed’s alleged torture into the public domain. Clive Stafford Smith and Ahmad Ghappour have been summoned before a D.C. court on May 11th.

UN Security Council fails to reach agreement on North Korea rocket launch

An emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council Sunday failed to agree to a joint statement regarding North Korea’s rocket launch over the weekend.

A Taepodong-2 rocket is launched from the North Korean rocket launch facility in Musudan Ri April 5, 2009 in this picture released by the North’s official news agency KCNA on April 8, 2009. REUTERS/KCNA

The U.S., Japan, South Korea and the European Union accused the North Korean regime of breaching U.N. resolutions that ban the country from carrying out ballistic missile activity and called for a strong and unified response.
China and Russia, however, urged a more cautious response.

Speaking in the Czech Republic Sunday, President Obama said North Korea had “broken the rules” and called for new United Nations sanctions.

The long-range rocket flew over Japan, and North Korean officials hailed the test as a success.

-Democracy Now

Algeria heads to the polls

Voting was under way Thursday in Algeria in presidential elections predicted to hand another five-year term to incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Algerian incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika smiles as he casts his ballot in Algiers April 9 2009. Algerians began voting on Thursday in an election Bouteflika needs to win convincingly to show he can re-connect with disillusioned voters and snuff out a lingering Islamist insurgency. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Traditional opposition groups are boycotting Thursday’s poll – calling it a charade.
Voter turnout is expected to be low and is being seen as a referendum on Bouteflika’s policies.

Elected in 1999 and 2004, Bouteflika had the constitution changed in November last year to allow him to run for a third term.

Bouteflika faces five low-profile opponents, including one woman and two nationalists. Most Islamist leaders are banned from politics.

Iraqi protesters call for U.S. exit

Thousands of people loyal to an Iraqi Shi’a leader have gathered in Baghdad to protest against the U.S.’ continued presence in the country, six years to the day after the capital fell to American troops.

Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr rallied on Thursday in Firdous Square, where the statue of then-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was pulled down on April 9, 2003.

The demonstrators waved banners and carried pictures of al-Sadr, calling for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

The rally, which went ahead despite heavy rain, comes amid U.S. preparations to pull its combat troops out of Iraq by the end of June.

Iraqi police kept watch over the protest but did not enter the main square. Iraqi and American armored cars were on standby a short distance away. 

–AlJazeera

U.S. Muslims call on Iran to release journalist

WASHINGTON — A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization this week called on the government of Iran to release American journalist Roxana Saberi.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) delivered a letter calling for Saberi’s release to the Iranian Interests Section, located in the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, D.C. Saberi was detained in January and has reportedly been charged with espionage.

In the letter, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad wrote in part:

“In the spirit of shared faith and international peace and stability, and with the desire to increase constructive interactions between our two nations, we respectfully request that Iran release Roxana Saberi and allow her to return to her family in the United States.

“America and Iran now have an opportunity to re-engage in a non-confrontational manner. This new approach is much more likely to achieve the desired result of dialogue based on mutual interests and mutual respect than past policies of hostility and mistrust.

“We recognize the serious nature of the issues that seem to hinder an improved relationship between our two nations. We ask Iran to take this opportunity to make a gesture of reconciliation that will help create an atmosphere in which those issues may be addressed in a positive manner.

“The American Muslim community again offers its support for any initiatives that may help build bridges of understanding and decrease the potential for international conflict or instability.”

In pictures

Aftershocks hit Italy hard

A man walks beside the rubble of his collapsed house three days after an earthquake struck the Italian village of Onna April 9, 2009. A series of aftershocks disrupted rescuers on Thursday as they picked through rubble in a search for survivors of Monday’s earthquake in central Italy that killed 278 people and left thousands homeless. REUTERS/Giampiero Sposito Somali pirates wreak havoc Suspected Somali pirates stand in a Mombasa, Kenya police station April 8. Somali pirates hijacked a U.S.-flagged, Danish-owned container ship on Wednesday with 20 American crew on board in a major escalation in attacks off the lawless Horn of Africa nation, officials said. REUTERS