Duelfer speaks on WMD; Lawmakers question Afghan surge

Duelfer speaks on Iraqi issues

The intelligence failure on the Iraqi weapons program was due in part to a miscalculation of the political and diplomatic climate, a former U.N. inspector said.

The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was advocated largely on the premise that Saddam Hussein was harboring an illicit program to develop weapons of mass destruction.

Intelligence officials and policymakers now understand that notion was false. The climate leading up to the war, however, was marred by a misunderstanding of Iraq's stance and posturing in the region.

"Mind-sets and biases were constructed both in Baghdad and in Washington where the assumption was that, frankly, Saddam would be crazy not to have weapons of mass destruction," Charles Duelfer, a U.N. weapons inspector, told the Council on Foreign Relations.

Meanwhile, officials in Washington had listened to Saddam's rhetoric saying Iran continued to threaten the region as justification for his bombastic posturing regarding his weapons program. This, Duelfer said, inevitably skewed the intelligence in such a way that it has complicated policy today.

"We are perhaps better informed (on Iran) than we were about the Iraqi WMD case and nuclear program, but there is still vast uncertainty about that, particularly with respect to intentions," he said.

Mosul new center of Iraq war

The northern Iraqi city of Mosul remains one of the last strongholds for al-Qaida due to a lack of political cohesion and external influences, officials said.

Mosul, the Ninawa provincial capital, is the third-largest city in Iraq. Despite relative calm in the rest of the country, Sunni extremist militant groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic Army in Iraq remain active in the northern city.

Iraqi Maj. Gen. Hassan Kareem Abbas in Ninawa pointed to several concerns contributing to the disparity in extremist activity in Mosul, Time magazine reports.

Abbas said rivalries between members of the ethnically diverse population in the north, along with acrimonious relations with Iraqi Kurdistan, have created a climate of tension in the region that is exploitable by extremist elements.

Meanwhile, hard-line supporters of former dictator Saddam Hussein funnel money and fighters across the Syrian border into neighboring Ninawa, contributing to instability.

U.S. military officials, for their part, noted that while the southern parts of the country witnessed a massive influx of American forces as part of the so-called surge strategy, only one U.S. battalion was active in the north.

U.S. and Iraqi forces, meanwhile, launched another round of operations in Mosul in early March to take on insurgents, but commanders on the ground acknowledged the fight has so far been difficult to win.

Iraq's Rubaie defends regional ties

As Iraq emerges from years of war, its relationships with its neighbors in the region, including Saudi Arabia and Iran, have improved, security officials said.

Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie spoke with the Iraqi political news Web site Niqash.org about regional relations and the ongoing effort against domestic terrorist groups.

Rubaie in 2006 issued stark warnings regarding Iranian meddling in Iraqi affairs. Speaking with Niqash, however, he sidestepped the issue, saying his country enjoys a strong security relationship with its Persian neighbor.

"We tell our people the truth and there is no political nicety at the expense of our people's blood," he said. "When we have evidence of Iranian interference, we will publicly announce it without any courtesy."

Meanwhile, the relationship with Saudi and Iranian intelligence agencies stoked controversy as Riyadh and Tehran are bitter foes that may seek rival objectives in Iraq. Rubaie noted that Iraqi policy dictates close ties to all countries in the region, however.

"The new Iraqi policy is built on the basis of good neighborly relations," he said.

Strategic overhaul needed for Afghanistan

The strategy for Afghanistan laid out by U.S. President Barack Obama requires a holistic and unique approach to avoid repeating past mistakes, U.S. lawmakers said.

Obama outlined a strategy for Afghanistan modeled in part on the U.S. counterinsurgency effort in Iraq, dubbed the surge, pushing for a 17,000-strong deployment of American forces.

"While the president is right to focus his energies on Afghanistan, this approach will fail to garner the security that he seeks," Reps. Mike Honda and Raul Grijalva wrote in Washington's Roll Call newspaper.

The lawmakers said the Afghan strategy requires not just military effort to reverse a growing insurgency but also a focus on national infrastructure, leadership and tribal differences to be effective.

By focusing on national infrastructure and viable economic sectors, a new strategy in Afghanistan could undermine the Taliban regime by moving the economy away from the opium trade while boosting the capability of local leaders, they said.

Meanwhile, instead of focusing on tribal groups, as the Iraq strategy did, the Afghan solution may lie in the traditional loya jirga forums as a mechanism for peace.

Afghan minorities lack support

Sikh and Hindu minorities living in Afghanistan are underrepresented in the current Parliament and ignored by the government in Kabul, leaders said.

Ravil Singh, a Sikh leader in the eastern Nangarhar province, told the U.N.'s humanitarian news agency, IRIN, that the minority community in Afghanistan is facing daunting challenges in the embattled nation.

"We have too many problems, but we get no help to solve them," he said. "A lot of our houses, shops and other properties have been seized by powerful people, commanders and warlords."

The Sikh leader noted that the minority community in Afghanistan has dwindled to the point that they are left out of the political scene for the most part.

"Apart from the two Sikh and Hindu members of Parliament in Kabul, we do not have a say in decision-making and have no representation in government," he said.

Meanwhile, efforts to raise the issue with Afghan President Hamid Karzai have proved fruitless.

"It's so disappointing that even our president does not want to hear our problems, let alone solve them," Singh said.

Karzai meets NATO officials

NATO officials and leaders with the International Security Assistance Force met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday to discuss national developments.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer met with Karzai, welcoming a decision to hold national elections Aug. 20, ISAF said in a news release.

Karzai had called for early elections in line with constitutional provisions that require a vote to be held within 60 days of his term's end on May 22. Elections officials argued for the August date, however, based in part on concerns for planning and security.

ISAF officials praised the decision during the meeting with Karzai, saying it would provide enough time to prepare national security forces for their role in the elections.

NATO leaders, meanwhile, invited Afghan government officials to travel to NATO headquarters in Brussels in order to develop a strategy to coordinate national and international security efforts.

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(dgraeber@upi.com)