Charles Recknagel is standards editor for RFE/RL.
Kofi Annan (file photo) UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was illegal because it violated the UN Charter. The remarks revive one of the most heated debates surrounding last year's war. That is, whether the U.S. administration had the right to mobilize a small group of countries to topple Saddam Hussein when much of the international community supported continued arms inspections.
Much of the news from Iraq focuses on insurgent attacks on U.S. forces and Iraqi authorities, including the police. But amid the daily violence, many ordinary Iraqis are trying to build a new society that is freer than anything Iraqis have known in decades. Among these people are Iraq's judges, who are responsible for dispensing justice and enforcing the rule of law. Fifty Iraqi judges are currently in Prague for an internationally funded seminar on the work of judges in a democratic society. The seminar, run by the Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, allows the judges to exchange ideas with legal experts from the United States and Europe as they consider such questions as judicial ethics, relations with other branches of government, and the problems and challenges of judicial independence. The judges return to Iraq after the seminar ends tomorrow. But amid their busy schedule, two of them took time out to talk to the international media.
Turkey has warned the United States it could halt cooperation in Iraq after a U.S. offensive last week against insurgents in the northern town of Tal Afar reportedly resulted in the deaths of scores of ethnic Turkoman civilians. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told Turkish television that "if things continue in this way, we told [the United States] very clearly that Turkey's cooperation on matters concerning Iraq will come to an end." As RFE/RL reports, the warning from Ankara yesterday underlines the importance Turkey gives to the fate of Iraq's minority Turkoman population.
Prague, 8 September 2004 (RFE/RL) -- The following factbox highlights major events in the war on terrorism from September 2003 to September 2004 that have been linked to Al-Qaeda or Al-Qaeda-inspired groups.
Top U.S. officials say any operations to retake Al-Fallujah and other towns largely under rebel control in the Sunni Triangle will have to await the training of Iraqi government forces, so they can assume a major role. The statements come amid increasing clashes between U.S. forces and insurgents around Fallujah that highlight concerns that the town is a haven for terrorists and bomb-makers targeting American forces and Iraqi civilians.
The fear of terrorism has become a defining feature of life in many countries. Much of this fear stems from the 11 September attacks in the United States, which occurred three years ago this week. Shocked by the killing of some 3,000 people in a single day, governments around the world have formed a coalition to root out Al-Qaeda-linked or -inspired terrorist groups. In the third part of a four-part series on 9/11 and the war on terrorism, RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel looks at the progress this coalition is making against terrorist groups and what still needs to be done to win the struggle.
This week, in a special series, RFE/RL is marking the third anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States -- attacks that claimed the lives of some 3,000 people from 80 countries. The attacks demonstrated that no country is safe from the threat of international terrorism. In the second part of a four-part series on 9/11, RFE/RL looks at how the struggle against Al-Qaeda and Al Qaeda-inspired groups is becoming increasingly global in scope. As RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel reports, both the governments and the terrorist groups are building alliances against each other, with growing success.
Iraqi and U.S. forces guarding a checkpoint (file photo) Joint U.S. and Iraqi forces have arrested 500 suspected insurgents in a major raid in the majority Sunni town of Al-Latifiyah, south of Baghdad. The raid -- the first undertaken in the Sunni triangle by the new Iraqi interim government -- highlights the increasingly frontline role of Iraqi forces in security operations.
Iran has reiterated that it will retaliate if Israel carries out a preemptive strike against its nuclear program. The escalating war of words comes as a top U.S. arms-control official has charged that Tehran may have nuclear weapons within three years if left unchecked. RFE/RL looks at recent developments in the continuing crisis over Iran's nuclear program.
Iraq's fractious National Conference has come to an end after organizers announced late yesterday that it had accomplished its job. That job was to choose 81 people to fill the majority of seats on a new advisory council to oversee the interim government. But the way the conference concluded is far from satisfying all those who took part. The reason? The council members were selected, not elected in a vote among the 1,300 delegates, as initially planned. Some critics say that process assures the advisory council will mostly be a reflection of the government itself, with little room for independent voices.
As most attention on Iraq remains focused upon Al-Najaf, significant political events are taking place in Baghdad, where some 1,300 delegates from across the country are meeting to form a "people's" council that will advise the interim government. But the conference itself is turning into a vociferous political convention of a kind unimaginable in the Saddam era.
The Iraqi prime minister is facing his biggest test yet 11 August 2004 -- As fighting rages in Al-Najaf, Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has assumed a tough posture. He has ruled out negotiations with radical Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia even as he invites al-Sadr himself to participate in elections in January.
Prague, 6 August 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Fifty-nine years ago today, the world saw for the first time how destructive nuclear weapons can be. The demonstration came at 8:15 a.m. local time in the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The bombing, and that of Nagasaki three days later, marked the final, cataclysmic end of the long struggle of the allied powers against Germany and Japan. And it helped launch a peace movement that today -- as every year on this date -- drew thousands of people to Hiroshima to pledge to work toward nuclear disarmament.
Prague, 2 August 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Iraqi bombers have hit five Christian churches in the country, killing at least 11 people. Iraqi officials say the well-coordinated attacks, timed to coincide with evening services on Sunday night, aim at further dividing Iraqis along community lines.
When there is news of kidnappings in Iraq, it usually focuses on militants taking hostages and threatening to kill them unless foreign governments or businesses pull out of the country. But there are many other kinds of kidnappings as well, including the one that ordinary Iraqis fear most: the abduction of their family members for ransom.
Islamabad today denounced the killing by Iraqi militants of two Pakistani nationals abducted last week. The deaths of the Pakistanis suggests the lengths to which the hostage takers are willing to go as they seek to use kidnappings to pressure foreign governments to change their policies on Iraq. Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera has broadcast videotape that purports to show yet another foreign hostage -- a Somali truck driver who is also being threatened with execution.
Prime Minister Allawi rejected the idea of neighboring countries' troops in Iraq As U.S. forces continue to take casualties daily in Iraq, many world leaders say the attacks underline the need to more broadly internationalize the U.S.-led force securing the country. But how real are the prospects for doing so? India and Pakistan -- two states Washington once hoped to involve -- both repeated this week that they have no immediate plans to contribute forces, and the new Iraqi government has ruled out roles for neighboring Arab Muslim states for fear they might interfere in Iraq's domestic affairs. RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel looks at the hopes of creating a broader multinational security force and where they go from here.
The government of Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi decreed tough new security measures today. The new security law permits imposing curfews and conducting surprise searches in an effort to crack down on insurgents.
Al-Sadr fighters (file photo) The family of U.S. soldier Wassef Ali Hassoun -- kidnapped in Iraq -- are publicly appealing to his captors to safely release him. The appeal comes as U.S. forces battle what appears to be an increasingly well-organized insurgency in the country. The insurgents make frequent use of kidnappings and suicide bombings, as well as guerrilla attacks.
Allawi (left) and Bremer at the 28 June handover of authority in Baghdad Former top U.S. administrator in Iraq L. Paul Bremer says trying Saddam Hussein could have a mixed effect on the insurgency in Iraq. He says it could cause some groups of Saddam loyalists to admit defeat. But he warns that other groups may become further enraged and try harder to disrupt Iraq's reconstruction.
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