| ARMS
TRADE RESOURCE CENTER
CURRENT
UPDATES: June 21, 2004
Dear Friends,
Summer is here and we are busy as ever. Bill is in Washington, preparing to participate in a press conference on the "Incomplete Transition in Iraq: An assessment of the June 30th transition and its aftermath." His statement should be on our website by Wednesday morning.
Lesley Heffel, our new intern, is working on our Weapons at War 2004 report and trying to get our office files organized. She'll be a senior at Eugene Lang in the fall and brings lots of energy and experience to our work. She has already dug in and contributes two pieces to this email update.
In this update:
I. PROJECT TRANSITION? Resources for Understanding the June 30 Hand-Over
II. WIN WITHOUT WAR? Troops Home Now
III. ARMS ARE FOR HUGGING: Notes on New Arms Trade Resources
I. PROJECT TRANSITION?
By Lesley Heffel, ATRC Intern
As June 30th, a day of almost mythical significance, draws closer and closer, the situation on the ground in Iraq appears to grow ever more dire. Brownouts and blackouts remind the Iraqi people of the lack of basic public services, while frequent suicide attacks point out the deficient security and heightened unrest in cities all over Iraq. Though the Bush administration is deftly washing its hands of the volatile mess in Iraq, it suggests the international community steps up and commits more troops and support in the last few days of the occupation. Despite the seemingly grim situation, Foreign Policy in Focus and the International Crisis Group released reports that offer practical, responsible suggestions to ease the transition of power to a stable governmental structure in Iraq.
In accordance with a recent United Nations Security Council resolution, "full sovereignty" of Iraq will transition to an Iraqi interim government on June 30th. The resolution outlines the transition of power that will take place over the next few months, culminating in national elections for a full-term government by January 2005 and the ratification of a permanent constitution by December 2005.
In a show of unprecedented forethought, the resolution contains the provision that the mostly-American Multinational Force (MNF) will remain in Iraq only with the consent of the interim government, which maintains the right to order the troops to withdraw at any time. The occupying army's role will now be one of partnership and cooperation with the Iraqi government. In a similarly hopeful regulation, the MNF will leave Iraq when the elected government takes office, unless the UN specifically extends their mandate. Foreign Policy in Focus' "The Resolutionary Road to a Transition in Iraq" discusses the many complications associated with the MNF's presence in Iraq and with its relationship to the new interim government. The report warns that it is a mistake to call Iraq a sovereign state if it does not control its own military.
The International Crisis Group's (ICG) report, "On a Knife Edge," offers excellent critique and recommendations on the transition of power in Iraq. Mostly concerned with establishing a stable governmental structure, the recommendations are based on the principles of creating a system of checks on power, establishing the political voice of Iraqis, disseminating honest and accurate information about the realities of Iraq's sovereignty and developing legitimacy in the eyes of both the Iraqi people and the international community. ICG impels the UN to ensure that every individual appointed to power in the interim authority is qualified for the position and was hired in the best interests of a stable Iraqi government. Similarly, it is essential that there are an independently generated council of national leaders and a UN representative to serve as advisors to the interim government.
International Crisis Group, Iraq's Transition: On a Knife's Edge, April 27, 2004.
Foreign Policy in Focus, The Resolutionary Road to a Transition in Iraq, May 26, 2004.
Beyond Torture: U.S. Violations of Occupation Law in Iraq, a new report from Center for Economic and Social Rights which documents ten categories of war crimes and rights violations regularly committed by U.S. forces.
II. WIN WITHOUT WAR? TROOPS HOME NOW
By Lesley Heffel, ATRC Intern
While the world tries to decide the best course of action regarding the transition of power in Iraq, the Win Without War Coalition released a statement outlining exactly what must happen. They demand the U.S. government "end the military and economic occupation of Iraq and to withdraw our troops by a date certain." American military presence in Iraq is, at best, unwelcome and illegitimate. Not only does it foster hostility, it wastes lives, money and international support.
The Coalition's statement also demands the U.S. finances humanitarian and economic relief, holds senior level officials involved with the abuse of the Iraqi prisoners accountable for their actions, and ensures genuine sovereignty of the interim government on June 30th. The costs of waging this war are far too high – there are simply too many American and Iraqi casualties for such a "dubious cause."
Win Without War Coalition, "End the U.S. Military Occupation of Iraq," March 27, 2004.
III. ARMS ARE FOR HUGGING: Notes on New Arms Trade Resources
By Frida Berrigan, Senior Research Associate
A. SMALL ARMS AND TERRORISM
In a new report, "Small Arms, Terrorism and the OAS Firearms Convention," the Federation of American Scientists calls attention to the United States' failure to ratify the OAS Firearms Convention during six long years of bloody violence in Latin America, in which the plentitude of small arms is helping drug smugglers and possible terrorists. According to the report, full U.S. participation could make the OAS Firearms Convention a model for the regional governmental networks needed to fight terrorism now and in the future.
FAS calls on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to take up the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacture of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Related Items better known as the OAS Firearms Convention so the Senate can ratify it in the current Congressional session.
The Convention was negotiated in 1997, and has languished in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee since 1998. The OAS Firearms Convention is the most advanced regional arrangement of its kind. Its 33 signatories - 22 of which have ratified the Convention - include all but two nations of the Western Hemisphere.
The FAS report details how in Latin America, terrorist organizations exploit weak controls to acquire vast quantities of weapons and recounts an alarming case in January 2001 in which a West African arms dealer with ties to al Qaeda and other terrorists attempted to acquire - through a Central American arms broker - thousands of weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles, from Nicaragua's government arsenals.
While the deal fell through, several months later the same Central American broker duped the Nicaraguan government into providing him with 3,000 AK- 47 assault rifles and 2.5 million rounds of ammunition, which he promptly shipped to Colombian terrorists.
The report argues ratification would send a clear signal that the United States is serious about depriving terrorists and drug traders of the weapons they need and use. Ratification will also advance human rights and development; worldwide small arms and light weapons kill at least 500,000 people a year, according to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey. Finally it would bolster our record as an international team player - a boost our nation needs in the wake of U.S. rejection of several popular international agreements.
The FAS summary and full report are at www.fas.org/asmp
B. STRENGTHEN, DON'T RELAX, ARMS EXPORT CONTROLS
In a sharply worded May 2004 report, the House International Relations Committee criticized an administration plan to relax controls on the sale of "low sensitivity" military items to Britain and Australia. The Committee said that this plan would play into the hands of terrorists seeking to acquire vital American technology.
The letter prefacing the report could not have been clearer: "We are persuaded that this is a moment in our nation's history to strengthen, not relax, export controls over all weapons technology - not only weapons of mass destruction (the ultimate weapons which terrorists seek), but also conventional weapons and munitions, which our enemies are already using against our civilians and U.S. servicemen and women."
The House report said some of the supposedly "low sensitivity" items affected by the waivers were highly lethal, including shoulder-fired Stinger missiles, bombs and military explosives.
Australia and the UK account for about 20 percent of the American weapons technology licensed for export in a given year. And if granted the waivers, they will join Canada as the only three countries exempt from the licensing requirements.
But Canada's track record has been less than stellar, says the House report. During the late 1990's, the State Department concluded that Iran, Libya, Sudan and China set up front companies in Canada with the sole purpose of acquiring American weapons technology. They sought to exploit Canada's liberal regulatory environment to obtain equipment, from Kiowa helicopters to armored personnel carriers to infrared cameras and detectors.
At least one American military contractor used its Canadian subsidiary to circumvent sanctions against United States sales to Pakistan, the report said.
Read the House report online at www.house.gov/international_relations/108/92549.pdf
C. CONTROL ARMS
Every minute someone is killed by armed violence. The uncontrolled proliferation and misuse of arms takes a massive human toll. Amnesty International, Oxfam and IANSA have joined forces in a campaign to establish strict controls and vigilant monitoring and to expose the role of governments in facilitating human rights abuses through the trade in arms. www.amnestyusa.org, this joint effort showcases an important report called Shattered Lives: The Case for Tough International Arms Control.
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