>> BREMER AND SISTANI...

Call Me Ali
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/current
Juan Coleprofessor of modern Middle East and South Asian History at the University of Michigan and author, Sacred Space And Holy War: The Politics, Culture and History of Shi'ite Islam (I.B. Tauris, 2002)
explains the rise and vision of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani


BREMER AND QUIL...
Kirkuk report (6:00)
http://www.theworld.org/latesteditions/20040130.shtml
The Northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk is a site of turmoil involving the city's three main ethnic groups. The battle for political control is on hold, but the scramble to control Kirkuk's re-emerging economy is well under way. The World's Quil Lawrence has the story.

BREMER AND THE HAJ...
Iraq passport report (6:00)
http://www.theworld.org/latesteditions/20040129.shtml
From overwhelming bureaucracy to disarray at the passport office, getting a passport in Iraq these days isn't easy. The World's Quil Lawrence reports from Baghdad.

>> HUMAN RIGHTS THEY SAID...

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/current
William Schulz
William Schulz argues that since 9/11, human rights violations carried out in the name of the war on terror have become all too common in the United States. His new book is Tainted Legacy: 9/11 and the Ruin of Human Rights. Schulz is the executive director of Amnesty International USA.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INTERVIEW...
Listen to World Update
Updated daily at 10:00 GMT
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/world_update.shtml

U.S. Officials Still Holding Juveniles in Guantanamo Prison for Terror Suspects

By Ian James Associated Press Writer
Published: Jan 30, 2004
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - The United States is still holding juveniles at its prison for terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay despite this week's release of the three youngest detainees, officials said Friday.
Human Rights Watch said the United States is violating an international treaty that obligates it to rehabilitate child soldiers.
On Thursday the United States freed three boys, believed to be between 13 and 15. The International Committee of the Red Cross said Friday it helped reunite them with their families in Afghanistan.
Two of the boys were captured during raids on Taliban camps and were imprisoned at Guantanamo in January 2002, while the third was captured trying to obtain weapons for the Taliban and taken to Guantanamo in February 2003, military officials said in November. However, officials said Thursday that all three arrived in February 2003. It wasn't immediately possibly to clarify the discrepancy.
Military officials said the boys were kept apart from adult detainees, and were given lessons, including in English, and allowed to play soccer and to watch videos.
But other juveniles aged 16 and 17 are being held among the approximately 650 other detainees from about 40 countries whose exercise periods are limited and whose only diversion are books.
"There is still a small group of juveniles under 18 at Guantanamo," said Amanda Williamson of the ICRC's office in Washington, D.C. The Department of Defense has confirmed that an unspecified number of 16- and 17-year-olds are still in detention, and Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch said the Pentagon had said there are "a handful."
"Guantanamo is not really an appropriate place to detain juveniles because they're taken so far from their culture and are unable to benefit from the support of their families," said Williamson. His ICRC organization is the only independent group allowed to visit the detainees.
Pressure has been mounting on U.S. officials to release the juveniles or transfer them to another facility. Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who is in charge of the detention mission, recommended in August that the three youngest boys be sent home, saying they "were kidnapped into terrorism (by) despicable people who are using juveniles as a part of this scourge of terrorism."
The United States turned its naval base on Cuba's eastern tip into a prison during the war in Afghanistan, when soldiers arrested hundreds of suspected al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Military officials said the boys had provided viable intelligence but had no further value and were no longer a threat to the United States.
Human Rights Watch asked when the other juveniles would be freed.
Becker said that the United States was violating the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Children, which it ratified in December 2002. The treaty establishes 18 as the minimum age for participation in armed conflict and obligates governments to demobilize and rehabilitate former child soldiers, Becker said.
AP-ES-01-30-04 2204EST
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>> IF ONLY WATCH...

UN votes on tough terror measures

By Susannah Price
BBC correspondent, United Nations
The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to name and shame countries that fail to report on their efforts to fight global terrorism.
It passed by 15-0 a resolution aimed at strengthening sanctions against al-Qaeda, Taleban and related groups.
Last year, a UN committee said stronger measures might be needed to compel UN member states to help fight terrorism.
It is hoped a threat of being publicly named will encourage governments to enforce sanctions against such groups.
More than half of the UN's member states have not submitted reports on what they are doing to limit the activities of these groups through freezing assets, a travel ban, or arms embargoes.
This latest resolution means the UN's al-Qaeda monitoring committee will be able to circulate a list of countries that do not submit a report by the end of March.
They will also publicise the reason behind the failure, whether it is a question of resources or political will.
The chairman of the monitoring committee and sponsor of the resolution, Ambassador Heraldo Munoz of Chile, said this would send a strong signal.
The new resolution calls on governments to look out for al-Qaeda or associated groups, trying to channel funds through different means, such as the informal banking system.
But it does not include any real new sanctions.
American diplomats said they wanted to improve the implementation of measures in the original resolution before taking any further steps.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/3446769.stm
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Published: 2004/01/31 02:13:12 GMT

Ex-French PM guilty of corruption


A court has found former French Prime Minister Alain Juppe guilty of involvement in a party funding scam in Paris in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Juppe, one of President Jacques Chirac's closest allies, immediately appealed against the conviction.
The court gave him an 18-month suspended sentence and barred him from political office for up to 10 years.
However, he will be able to continue as mayor of Bordeaux, and as head of the governing UMP party during the appeal.
It's a hammer blow for Jacques Chirac, who thus loses his closest adviser and his designated successor, for whom he had real affection
Anita Hauser, political commentator
The prosecution argued that Juppe allowed party employees to be put on the city payroll and to be paid for by private companies when he was deputy mayor of Paris.
Mr Chirac was then the city's mayor.
Juppe denied the charges, saying that he put an end to all irregularities as soon as he found out about them.
He said this month he would quit politics if found guilty.
Earthquake
He had widely been expected to run as the centre-right's candidate in the 2007 presidential election if Jacques Chirac does not seek a third term.
JUPPE'S CAREER
1976: Hired as speech writer to Mr Chirac
1983-1995: Deputy Mayor of Paris
1986-1988: Deputy Finance Minister
1993-1995: Foreign Minister
1995-1997: Prime Minister
2002-present: Head of the governing UMP
"You can imagine the political earthquake this is going to cause," said Anita Hauser, political commentator for the private LCI television channel.
"It's a hammer blow for Jacques Chirac, who thus loses his closest adviser and his designated successor, for whom he had real affection," she said.
Juppe was prime minister between 1995 and 1997, when he lost an election amid industrial unrest caused by his attempts to push through social and economic reforms.
'Unjust'
He made no comment after the verdict was announced and left the courtroom by a back door.
The court wanted to throw Mr Juppe out of politics
Juppe defence lawyer Francis Szpiner
But his lawyer, Francis Szpiner, said the verdict was "questionable and unjust" and said he would file an appeal.
"The court wanted to throw Mr Juppe out of politics," he said.
Correspondents say Juppe's departure from the political scene would create an awkward vacuum at the top of the UMP party, which could result in a power struggle.
BBC Paris correspondent Caroline Wyatt says the sentence itself could also raise fresh questions about Mr Chirac's own role in the party-funding affair, even though as French president he has immunity from prosecution.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/3444239.stm
Published: 2004/01/30 14:32:53 GMT
? BBC MMIV