'Rachel Corrie' In London: Requiem For An Idealist

The New York Times

March 31, 2006

THEATER REVIEW

By MATT WOLF

LONDON, March 30 — What happens when the dust clouds of controversy clear to reveal the hotly debated — if little seen — thing itself? One answer is being offered at the Playhouse Theater, where "My Name Is Rachel Corrie" opened on Thursday night for a commercial London run that is taking the place of the play's suspended New York engagement.

Over the next six weeks, theatergoers will discover a production that has matured through three London engagements (the first two, separated by six months, took place last year on the Royal Court's pair of stages), even if the work remains an impassioned eulogy that isn't quite the same thing as a play.

It's the nature of that passion, of course, that has stirred debate in the United States. The story is this: On March 16, 2003, Ms. Corrie, 23, was crushed to death by an Israeli Army bulldozer preparing to demolish a Palestinian home in Rafah, in southern Gaza. Quickly thereafter, she was invoked as a martyr by Yasir Arafat — and by extension, the Palestinian cause — even as she was demonized by others in the pro-Israel camp.

Ms. Corrie's affiliation with the International Solidarity Movement, an organization that has recruited Americans and Europeans to serve as human shields, turned her death into the stuff of ideological football. The recent decision by New York Theater Workshop to put its scheduled production on indefinite hold shifted the debate into the theatrical arena. (Ewan Thomson, spokesman for the Royal Court Theater, said Thursday that a New York City premiere is still planned for this year, although a theater has not yet been chosen. A regional production has been scheduled for March 2007 at the Seattle Repertory Theater.)

But how is the show itself? Funny how often that question isn't asked. So the first thing worth reasserting about "My Name Is Rachel Corrie" is its right to be seen and debated: a society that won't allow that is one fearful of its extremes and, by extension, the world.

Not that fear seems to have been part of Ms. Corrie's vocabulary on the evidence of this 90-minute solo piece, a testimonial to her that has been distilled from her writings by Katharine Viner, features editor at The Guardian newspaper here, and the actor Alan Rickman, who doubles as the play's director. When first glimpsed, Rachel Corrie, played by Megan Dodds, is seen lying on her bed, head tilted back, in her Olympia, Wash., home: a firebrand, it is made clear, from an early age.

While other fifth-graders wrote of wanting to be an astronaut or Spider-Man, she was busy writing "a five-paragraph manifesto on the million things I wanted to be, from wandering poet to first woman president." That intensity of engagement would only be amplified by time. "I'm building the world myself and putting new hats on everybody," she says, and she is seen embracing pop culture (Dairy Queen, Pat Benatar) while apparently never losing a social awareness that took her in middle school to Russia and then, in her early 20's, to the Middle East.

Such a sense of mission can, of course, cause very real pain to others: a fascinating program essay by Ms. Viner reveals that Ms. Corrie's former boyfriend, Colin Reese, committed suicide in 2004. But in keeping with its title, "My Name Is Rachel Corrie" consists of its character's musings, which we must take straight. In theatrical terms, it might demand a George Bernard Shaw (or perhaps, the New York Theater Workshop alumnus Tony Kushner) to anatomize the contradictions in the psyche of the activist, as that famous Shavian zealot, Saint Joan, discovered to her cost. Nor, perhaps inevitably, does this piece ever acquire the ironic perspective on the sorts of passions and issues (her broadside against privilege, for instance) that figure more ambiguously in some of the solo narratives of, say, Wallace Shawn.

If this play doesn't exactly sanctify its subject, it still functions as a staged requiem that can't help but be both partial and partisan. One could take issue with Rachel's comment late on that the Palestinians are for the most part "engaging in Gandhian nonviolent resistance." But it's hard not to be impressed — and also somewhat frightened — by the description of her as a 2-year-old looking across Capitol Lake in Washington State and announcing, "This is the wide world, and I'm coming to it."

Perhaps thanks to the controversy, Mr. Rickman's production has gathered power since I first saw it last April, and the material actually suits its current 750-seat West End berth better than it did a Royal Court studio space about a tenth the size. Ms. Dodds, an American whose London theater credits include Neil LaBute's "This Is How It Goes," is a decade or so older than Ms. Corrie was when she died. But the actress subtly moves from a shining-faced earnestness to something darker and more dangerous, as the fire in Ms. Corrie's belly builds into a conflagration. (One can only imagine what a young Vanessa Redgrave might have made of the role.)

Apt conduit that Ms. Dodds is, it remains fitting that a piece driven by Ms. Corrie's own language concludes with a brief film of her. There she is, age 10, arguing for the eradication of hunger by the year 2000 and to give "the poor a chance." Unexceptional sentiments? Perhaps, at least to anyone who has heard (or sung) any of a thousand comparable protest songs. But that doesn't diminish the singularity of Ms. Corrie's death or of this paean to her, which gives activism a necessary center stage without quite arriving at the realm of art.

Copyright 2006The New York Times Company

A Just Peace or No Peace

The Guardian

Israeli unilateralism is a recipe for conflict - as is the west's racist refusal to treat Palestinians as equals

Ismail Haniyeh

Friday March 31, 2006

Do policymakers in Washington and Europe ever feel ashamed of their scandalous double standards? Before and since the Palestinian elections in January, they have continually insisted that Hamas comply with certain demands. They want us to recognise Israel, call off our resistance, and commit ourselves to whatever deals Israel and the Palestinian leadership reached in the past.
But we have not heard a single demand of the Israeli parties that took part in this week's elections, though some advocate the complete removal of the Palestinians from their lands. Even Ehud Olmert's Kadima party, whose Likud forebears frustrated every effort by the PLO to negotiate a peace settlement, campaigned on a programme that defies UN security council resolutions. His unilateralism is a violation of international law. Nevertheless no one, not even the Quartet - whose proposals for a settlement he continues to disregard, as his predecessor Ariel Sharon did - has dared ask anything of him.

Olmert's unilateralism is a recipe for conflict. It is a plan to impose a permanent situation in which the Palestinians end up with a homeland cut into pieces made inaccessible because of massive Jewish settlements built in contravention of international law on land seized illegally from the Palestinians. No plan will ever work without a guarantee, in exchange for an end to hostilities by both sides, of a total Israeli withdrawal from all the land occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem; the release of all our prisoners; the removal of all settlers from all settlements; and recognition of the right of all refugees to return.
On this, all Palestinian factions and people agree, including the PLO, whose revival is essential so that it can resume its role in speaking for the Palestinians and presenting their case to the world.

The problem is not with any particular Palestinian group but with the denial of our basic rights by Israel. We in Hamas are for peace and want to put an end to bloodshed. We have been observing a unilateral truce for more than a year without reciprocity from the Israeli side. The message from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority to the world powers is this: talk to us no more about recognising Israel's "right to exist" or ending resistance until you obtain a commitment from the Israelis to withdraw from our land and recognise our rights.

Little will change for the Palestinians under Olmert's plan. Our land will still be occupied and our people enslaved and oppressed by the occupying power. So we will remain committed to our struggle to get back our lands and our freedom. Peaceful means will do if the world is willing to engage in a constructive and fair process in which we and the Israelis are treated as equals. We are sick and tired of the west's racist approach to the conflict, in which the Palestinians are regarded as inferior. Though we are the victims, we offer our hands in peace, but only a peace that is based on justice. However, if the Israelis continue to attack and kill our people and destroy their homes, impose sanctions, collectively punish us, and imprison men and women for exercising the right to self-defence, we have every right to respond with all available means.

Hamas has been freely elected. Our people have given us their confidence and we pledge to defend their rights and do our best to run their affairs through good governance. If we are boycotted in spite of this democratic choice - as we have been by the US and some of its allies - we will persist, and our friends have pledged to fill the gap. We have confidence in the peoples of the world, record numbers of whom identify with our struggle. This is a good time for peace-making - if the world wants peace.

· Ismail Haniyeh is the new Palestinian prime minister and a Hamas leader. Email: ihaniyyeh@hotmail.com

"Big Steve" And Abu Ghraib

Salon.com

March 31, 2006

Salon has uncovered more allegations against a civilian interrogator accused of abuse at the prison. Why has he never been prosecuted?

By Mark Benjamin and Michael Scherer

Mar. 31, 2006 The man known as "Big Steve" did not attend the court-martial this month of Sgt. Michael J. Smith, an Army dog handler at Abu Ghraib. But no one could miss his looming presence in the courtroom. According to both the prosecution and defense, "Big Steve" was deeply involved in the abuse committed by Smith, who was convicted March 21 for using his dog to terrify prisoners.

"Big Steve," whose real name is Steven Anthony Stefanowicz, worked as an interrogator for military intelligence at Abu Ghraib. But he was no ordinary soldier. Stefanowicz was one of dozens of civilian employees from Virginia contractor CACI International hired by the Pentagon to work at the prison.

According to a military policeman who testified at the court-martial, Stefanowicz directed the abuse in one of the most infamous incidents captured on camera at Abu Ghraib: A prisoner in an orange jumpsuit being menaced with an unmuzzled dog.

"I was told by his interrogator, Big Steve, that he was al-Qaida," testified Pvt. Ivan Frederick II. "He said, 'Any chance you get, put the dogs on.'"

According to Frederick, Stefanowicz would periodically instruct the military police when to pause from using the animals. "He would come down in between and we would pull the dogs off and he would go in and talk to him," said Frederick, who was sentenced in October 2004 to eight years in prison for his own role in the abuses.

Defense counsel Capt. Jason Duncan referred directly to a photo of Smith using his black Belgian shepherd, Marco, to terrify the prisoner, whose name is Ashraf Abdullah al-Juhayshi. He asked Frederick: "And Steve was then telling him to do that?" Frederick replied: "Yes, sir."

The role of Stefanowicz and other civilian contractors accused of abuse remains one of the murkiest aspects of Abu Ghraib. Stefanowicz was first identified as a perpetrator of abuse nearly two years ago by two high-profile Army investigations, known as the Taguba and Fay reports -- but he has never been charged with a crime.

Now, more allegations about his role have emerged, including testimony from Smith's court-martial and in Army investigative materials obtained by Salon. In addition to the use of dogs to terrify prisoners, those allegations include the use of sexual humiliation and stress positions, and denying prisoners medical care. At Fort Meade, Stefanowicz was not on trial, nor was he called to the witness stand. But throughout the proceedings he was a reminder of key unanswered questions about Abu Ghraib -- including why no one beyond a small group of enlisted soldiers has been prosecuted.

Stefanowicz was a near-constant presence in the military intelligence wing of the prison, someone whom military police said they knew by his gruff manner and towering stature. Soldiers who worked there described Stefanowicz -- a former Navy reserve intelligence specialist at the Defense Intelligence Agency -- as a human giant, standing roughly 6-foot-5, well over 240 pounds, with a full beard and an intimidating manner. At least three soldiers, an officer and another civilian contractor have said that he orchestrated or engaged in abuse.

In an interview with Army investigators on April 6 and 7, 2005, Cpl. Charles Graner accused Stefanowicz of leading abuse. Graner, who is serving 10 years in prison for crimes he committed at Abu Ghraib, was granted immunity from further prosecution in exchange for his cooperation.

Graner had worked as a prison guard in Pennsylvania, and recalled arriving at Abu Ghraib in October 2003. "When we had come to the block I had come in with a correctional officer's mindset of care, custody and control," Graner said in the interview, a transcript of which was obtained by Salon. "I'm going to do the least amount of work possible and get paid for it, because that's what corrections officers do. And that lasted for about a day, and then I met Big Steve."

Graner told Army investigators that he followed Stefanowicz's orders because Stefanowicz worked with military intelligence, which was in charge of prisoners. Graner said Stefanowicz gave instructions about "harassing, keeping off balance, yelling, screaming" and stripping prisoners naked. Under Stefanowicz's direction, according to Graner, prisoners could be put on sleep plans: 20 hours awake, four hours of rest. They could be put in stress positions. They could be sexually humiliated.

Graner described the treatment of a prisoner, nicknamed "Taxi Driver" by U.S. soldiers, which he claimed had been ordered by Stefanowicz in late October. The prisoner, whose name has not been made public and is being withheld by Salon to protect his identity as a victim, later gave an account of his abuse. It included tactics Graner said Stefanowicz had ordered. "He put red woman's underwear over my head," the prisoner told Army investigators, describing his treatment by a military policeman. "And then he tied me to the window that is in the cell with my hands behind my back until I lost consciousness."

Stefanowicz and other contractors arrived at Abu Ghraib in the fall of 2003 as it became an intelligence hub in the battle against a burgeoning and deadly insurgency. With an urgent need for more personnel, the Army hired CACI interrogators, as well as civilian translators from San Diego-based Titan Corp. The demands of the war forced the Army to expand the use of contractors to an unprecedented degree, with civilian employees providing a number of services previously handled by soldiers -- including some of the most sensitive operations such as intelligence gathering.

A copy of an Army e-mail obtained by Salon lists the names of 39 CACI employees who worked at the prison from Oct. 1, 2003, through Dec. 31, 2003, as well as 63 employees of Titan or a Titan subcontractor who worked there. Of that group, the Fay report from August 2004 identified three CACI employees, including Stefanowicz, as candidates for prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Fay report also identified two Titan employees who should be considered for potential prosecution.

The Justice Department declined to comment on Stefanowicz, or explain its inaction to date. "There are prisoner abuse allegations that remain open that were referred to the special prosecution team in the Eastern District of Virginia," a spokesman said.

"It is clear that the Department of Justice has more than enough evidence to indict 'Big Steve' and several other corporate torturers," said Susan Burke, an attorney with Burke Pyle LLC who is suing CACI International on behalf of several detainees in a civil case that names Stefanowicz as a defendant.

Stefanowicz's attorney, Henry E. Hockeimer, said that his client has done nothing wrong. "Common sense would say that if they had something that was significant, he actually would have been charged by now," Hockeimer told Salon. Hockeimer maintains that the actions of his client, who no longer works for CACI, were "appropriate and authorized."

Court proceedings and other testimony tell a different story.

During the Smith court-martial, government prosecutor Maj. Matthew Miller alleged that in late 2003 Stefanowicz learned that Smith and another dog handler, Sgt. Santos A. Cardona, were harassing detainees with their dogs. As Miller portrayed it, Stefanowicz decided to "piggyback" his interrogations, or exploit the ongoing abuse to leverage more information from the terrified prisoners. Duncan, the defense counsel, portrayed things differently, alleging that Stefanowicz ordered the abuse himself. Stefanowicz "was one interrogator who believed he had approval to use dogs in the prison," Duncan told the courtroom in his opening statement.

Smith, whom Army prosecutors sought to portray as a "rogue cop," will spend 179 days behind bars and be stripped of his rank for several incidents, including the abuse of al-Juhayshi.

The Fay report supports claims that Stefanowicz directed the use of dogs on al-Juhayshi. The report found that it "is highly plausible" that Stefanowicz "used dogs without authorization and directed the abuse in this incident as well as others related to this detainee." It also said that Stefanowicz directed the use of dogs on more than one occasion. It described a separate incident in which an unidentified soldier accused Stefanowicz of yelling, "Take him back home," while military police used a dog to menace a prisoner in his underwear. The report quotes another unidentified soldier who says it was "common knowledge" that Stefanowicz directed the use of dogs on prisoners.

In his interview with Army investigators, Graner said abuse of the prisoner known as "Taxi Driver," which had begun in October 2003, continued that December. The prisoner, who had received treatment for apparent appendicitis, allegedly was still being interrogated by Stefanowicz. According to Graner, Stefanowicz ordered that the prisoner not receive his prescription pain killers. "I was, per Steve, not to give the pain medication to Taxi Driver," Graner recounted, because he "was one of the main people that they wanted to break or get information from."

Hockeimer, Stefanowicz's attorney, said the claims of a convicted abuser should not be trusted. "Whatever Graner says has zero credibility," Hockeimer said.

But others, including high-level officers, have alleged misconduct by Stefanowicz. Col. Thomas M. Pappas, a former commander of military intelligence at Abu Ghraib, testified at the Smith court-martial after agreeing to an immunity deal in exchange for his testimony. (Pappas was implicated in the abuse scandal himself, and received nonjudicial punishment by the Army in May 2005.) Pappas testified that Stefanowicz had "overstepped his bounds and I reported that to my staff and had them report that to the contracting office." Pappas did not describe Stefanowicz's misconduct in detail during the trial, other than mentioning that the CACI interrogator had inappropriately addressed Pappas by his first name.

Pappas also testified that Stefanowicz, who served in a military intelligence role but was not a uniformed soldier, posed a "different dilemma" at Abu Ghraib. "We had to raise the issue off-site" with the Army officer responsible for managing his contract, Pappas said of the problems with Stefanowicz. Pappas did not identify the Army contracting officer.

The contracting arrangement makes it more difficult to determine whom Stefanowicz reported to and what his orders were, says Deborah D. Avant, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, who has studied the rise in military contracting since the end of the Cold War. "The chain of command becomes quite problematic," she said.

Military investigators have raised similar criticisms about Abu Ghraib. The Fay report cited evidence that "contractor personnel were 'supervising' government personnel or vice versa" at the prison.

In addition, the contracting arrangement between CACI and the government was unorthodox. In its urgency to hire interrogators and translators during summer 2003, the Pentagon cut through the red tape of awarding a new contract by using an existing contract CACI had with the Department of the Interior -- an atypical arrangement that broke several contracting rules, according to an April 2005 Government Accountability Office report. "The process of procuring interrogation and other services for DOD broke down at numerous points," the GAO found.

Legal experts say Stefanowicz and other civilian contractors at Abu Ghraib cannot be held criminally liable under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which in 2003 held that only civilians hired through a contract directly with the Defense Department could be prosecuted for crimes overseas.

The contractors could potentially be prosecuted under civilian laws, though that would lead into complicated and largely untested legal territory. According to Scott L. Silliman, executive director of Duke University's Center on Law, Ethics and National Security, one option would be to use a section of the Patriot Act, which covers crimes committed by U.S. citizens at military facilities abroad. Prosecutors could also potentially use the War Crimes Act of 1996, which makes it illegal for an American to violate the Geneva Conventions.

Back in 2004 -- even before the latest allegations -- military investigators left little doubt that Stefanowicz was a perpetrator of abuse at Abu Ghraib. The Fay report found that he had directed the use of dogs on prisoners, forced a prisoner to wear women's underwear, kicked a prisoner into his cell, failed to report abuse, and lied to investigators. The Taguba report found that he instructed military police to abuse prisoners in an effort to "set the conditions" for interrogation. "He clearly knew his instructions equated to physical abuse," Taguba concluded about Stefanowicz.

It remains unclear whether any charges will be brought against him.


-- By Mark Benjamin and Michael Scherer

Pakistan Gets Women Combat Pilots

BBC News, Islamabad

March 30, 2006

By Zaffar Abbas

The Pakistani Air Force (PAF) has inducted four women as fighter pilots for the first time.

The women were part of a batch of 36 cadets who were awarded flying badges after three years of gruelling training at the PAF academy at Risalpur.

Being a fighter pilot has until now been a purely male domain. Women could join the armed forces but only for non-combat jobs like the medical corps.

Three years ago the PAF decided to allow women to train as fighter pilots.

First batch

It was a passing out parade with a difference.

Never before had any woman been part of the batch of fighter pilots being awarded flying badges.

And the difference was recognised by the vice chief of the army, Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat, who handed out the certificates of honour to the successful men and women cadets.

Expressing his delight, Gen Hayat said the air force had taken the lead to induct women in the combat units of the armed forces.

When the BBC visited the training academy nearly a year ago, the first batch of four women cadets had just moved on to fly jet-engine planes.

There were six others who were in the second batch and a few others in the aerospace unit.

'Dream come true'

Although these trailblazers were few in number, many instructors admitted their presence was already being felt.

One of the female cadets and now a fighter pilot, Saba Khan, then told the BBC that joining the air force to become a pilot was like a dream come true.

Other female cadets were equally excited.

At the passing out, one of the graduating women flying officers, Nadia Gul, received the trophy for best academic achievement along with two of her male colleagues who got trophies for best flying performance and general duties.

The air force academy is still male-dominated, and it is not clear what the real feelings of the male cadets have been to the induction of women into the fighter pilot programme. Officially, most have welcomed the move.

Even so, the fact that four women are now officially fighter pilots is a clear indication that the new policy of opening up the combat units of the Pakistani armed forces for women is here to stay.

At Goldman Sachs, Lunch Is Still Only For Wimps

Bloomberg

Mark Gilbert

March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Reading Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s annual report this week (party on, dude) made me wonder: What's life like at the world's second-largest securities firm?

Imagine my joy at finding a ``Day in the Life'' section on Goldman Sachs's Web site. The diaries are penned, allegedly, by junior staffers around the world. So, pinch of salt at the ready, let's join the young masters and mistresses of the universe.

Meet Amol, a vice president in Treasury. Amol says he's at his New York desk by 7:30 a.m. He must be a genius speed-reader. While I'm wading through invitations to boost my bedroom performance or help relieve deceased African dictators of their ill-gotten millions, it takes Amol just 15 minutes to sprint through his e-mails and check on the day's news.

Lunch doesn't get a look-in with Amol, who lurches from morning to midday to afternoon without pause. That pinch of salt comes in handy when Amol says he's an 11 1/2-hour-day guy; ``Usually, I make it out of the office by 7:00 p.m.''

Amol is clearly a slacker. Racing up the greasy pole ahead of him is Juan, in the New York credit risk management department. ``I'm going to run to the office this morning,'' enthuses Juan at 6:30 a.m. ``I've got a lot of stuff to do today, so let me start it right!'' Way to go, Juan!

Breakfast of Champions

Juan's next entry, though, isn't until 8:15 a.m. ``I'm famished,'' he says. After running for more than 90 minutes, I'm not surprised. Juan gives himself a half-hour to check e-mail and news while inhaling a bowl of Wheaties at his desk, ``and then my day really begins.'' Wow. A Goldmanite starting work at 8:45 a.m. Maybe Juan won't be making managing director after all.

It gets worse. Not only is Juan taking a lunch break, he's ``out to my favorite Italian place with some of my buddies. We'll go over some projects but more than likely we'll talk about sports and soccer in Europe.'' I can see Juan's shiny new red Ferrari disappearing over the horizon without him.

But wait. This is Goldman, remember? ``7:30 p.m. Dinner! While eating, I'll analyze financial modeling. 10:00 p.m. Whew! What a day, and it's about to end!'' Nice recovery, Juan! We'll make a Goldman partner of you yet!

Amy, an associate in the equity capital markets division in New York, says she gets to work between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. I would bet she's never arrived at her desk later than 7:01 a.m.

Fail to Prepare

``Unless there's an early morning meeting, I spend some time reviewing the issues my group is currently working on and getting prepared for the day ahead,'' she writes. Presumably, then, if there IS an early morning meeting, Amy has no chance to prepare for the day ahead.

Her morning ``zips by'' working with a client who is considering selling shares to the public. ``During this time, I speak with my people working on the issue.'' Crikey. So THAT's the secret of Goldman's success. Radical, eh?

Once the morning has zipped by, we get to lunch. Except lunch, as we all know, is for wimps. Unless you're Juan.

Here's Amy's take on lunch: ``One advantage of this job is the variety of challenges we face -- and the number of people across the firm whose talents we tap to deal with them.'' I'm waiting for Amy to admit she gets the office junior to schlep out to the deli and decide whether she'll be having the pastrami on rye or the Reuben.

I'm wrong. She finds time to ``slip away for a quick lunch with a friend from the London office who is in town for the week. I'm back at my desk by one-thirty.''

Beer O'Clock?

What I'm gagging to know, of course, is when does Amy get to head out to the bar? What time do Goldman guys and girls really finish work? Sadly, Amy isn't telling. ``When the day ends depends entirely on the workload,'' she writes. ``It can be short or long -- sometimes ending in the evening.'' I think Amy doesn't properly understand the words ``short'' or ``sometimes.''

If you are thinking of joining Goldman Sachs, you might want to push for the San Francisco office where Ming, an associate in the private equity team, says the day starts at 7:30 a.m. and the phone doesn't ring until 9 a.m. Even Juan can't compete with that for relaxed.

In his 485-word note, Ming manages to refer to diligence four times. There's due diligence, diligence calls, more due diligence. ``We diligence potential investment opportunities,'' he writes.

Verbal Tics

Ming's verbal tics continue with his interpretation of ``winding down.'' To me, winding down is kicking off your shoes, pouring a drink, Mariah Carey on the stereo, relaxing on a sofa or an armchair. OK, maybe not Mariah, but you get the picture. To Ming, winding down is three more hours at the office, leaving at 8:30 p.m. Just a 13-hour day, Ming?

``Our culture is difficult to describe in words, let alone a paragraph,'' Goldman says in its annual report. ``It is lived. It did not appear overnight, but is a product of our history, and has been cared for by each successive generation of our people. Its hallmarks -- excellence, teamwork and integrity -- are grounded in strong business judgment and accountability.''

It's instructive that one of the executives mentioned in the annual report is Lance LaVergne. In olden times, LaVergne's title would have been personnel director. More recently, he might have been described as the human resources chief. Today, LaVergne is Goldman Sachs's vice president of ``human capital management.'' What an odious phrase.

I think I can describe Goldman Sachs's culture in words that probably apply to the entire investment-banking industry: Sweat the assets -- all of the assets -- as hard as you can, for as long as you can. No wonder so many bankers are legging it to the hedge funds as fast as they can.


To contact the writer of this column:
Mark Gilbert in London at magilbert@bloomberg.net.

"A Billion to Gain?" ING Bank Report on Microfinance

ING Bank has just published a report on Microfinance entitled “A Billion To Gain? A on Global Financial Institutions and Microfinance” The report takes a look at the emerging role of international commercial banks in Microfinance.

http://www.wbcsd.org/web/projects/sl/ing_a_billion_to_gain.pdf

What Clash of Civilizations?

Slate.com

Why religious identity isn't destiny.

By Amartya Sen

March 29, 2006

This essay is adapted from the new book Identity and Violence, published by Norton.

That some barbed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed could generate turmoil in so many countries tells us some rather important things about the contemporary world. Among other issues, it points up the intense sensitivity of many Muslims about representation and derision of the prophet in the Western press (and the ridiculing of Muslim religious beliefs that is taken to go with it) and the evident power of determined agitators to generate the kind of anger that leads immediately to violence. But stereotyped representations of this kind do another sort of damage as well, by making huge groups of people in the world to look peculiarly narrow and unreal.

The portrayal of the prophet with a bomb in the form of a hat is obviously a figment of imagination and cannot be judged literally, and the relevance of that representation cannot be dissociated from the way the followers of the prophet may be seen. What we ought to take very seriously is the way Islamic identity, in this sort of depiction, is assumed to drown, if only implicitly, all other affiliations, priorities, and pursuits that a Muslim person may have. A person belongs to many different groups, of which a religious affiliation is only one. To see, for example, a mathematician who happens to be a Muslim by religion mainly in terms of Islamic identity would be to hide more than it reveals. Even today, when a modern mathematician at, say, MIT or Princeton invokes an "algorithm" to solve a difficult computational problem, he or she helps to commemorate the contributions of the ninth-century Muslim mathematician Al-Khwarizmi, from whose name the term algorithm is derived (the term "algebra" comes from the title of his Arabic mathematical treatise "Al Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah"). To concentrate only on Al-Khwarizmi's Islamic identity over his identity as a mathematician would be extremely misleading, and yet he clearly was also a Muslim. Similarly, to give an automatic priority to the Islamic identity of a Muslim person in order to understand his or her role in the civil society, or in the literary world, or in creative work in arts and science, can result in profound misunderstanding.

More: http://www.slate.com/id/2138731/nav/tap1/

This Can Be Vote For Peace

Guardian

March 30, 2006

The rise of Hamas is in fact an opportunity for Israel's new government to work with Arab states

Amos Oz

Israeli voters have delivered a moderate centre-left coalition, headed by Ehud Olmert. This signifies a major change in Israeli society, perhaps even a shift in the Israeli psyche. Last August, when Ariel Sharon evacuated settlers from Gaza, he did so against the majority in his own party and despite violent resistance. The dovish left provided the political leverage for Sharon's historic move.
In Tuesday's vote, most Israelis - for the first time since the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 - indicated their readiness to give up 90% of the occupied territories, including sections of Jerusalem. Their readiness - not their happiness. What they held for years to be unthinkable, even suicidal, for Israel, they have now sadly endorsed.

The reasons are probably not the left's ethical preachings, but several harsh slaps of reality: violent uprisings in the occupied territories; a sense of international isolation; and the realisation that the demographic balance might change in favour of the Palestinians. There may be an even deeper reason: Israelis have gradually changed their priorities, from territorial appetites to materialistic-hedonistic appetites, from militancy to pragmatism, from selfish nationalism to interdependence.

Why, then, did this campaign seem so low-key, even melancholy? And why the poor turnout? Perhaps because none of the parties could offer simple answers to Israel's most pressing problems: the lack of peace and the proliferation of poverty. Until 20 to 30 years ago, Israel was one of the most egalitarian societies in the democratic world; now it has one of the widest gaps between rich and poor. Israelis know it will be closed only by a long and painful process of amendment. The same renunciation of hopes for a swift solution applies to the issues of war and peace; Olmert's party speaks not of peace but of a unilateral disengagement. For those of us who still believe in peace, this is a saddening second best, if not a last resort.

The rise of Hamas, unwilling to recognise Israel's right to exist, brought upon the Israeli peace movement a crisis. We in the peace movement maintained that the end of occupation had to be the beginning of peace, but what the Olmert government seems to hold out is not "land for peace" but "land for time" - as Hamas ambitions clearly go beyond reclaiming Gaza and the West Bank. Hence the sadness among moderate Israelis.

Is there anything the new centre-left Israeli government can do for peace, as long as Hamas does not want any peace with Israel? It can "take the issue upstairs" - talk to the bully's parents, as it were. In our case, the bully's family is the Arab League, which in 2000 adopted a peace plan. This envisages Israel's withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967 and a solution for the refugees of 1948 in return for a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and all Arab League states. Obviously, the peace camp in Israel does not expect the new government simply to sign up to this. But why wouldn't it open negotiations with an Arab League delegation (in effect Egypt and Saudi Arabia) along the plan's general lines? Let us not forget that almost every Arab government is as concerned by the rise of Hamas - as threatened by it - as Israel.

It is not unthinkable that a deal between the pragmatic Israeli and Arab governments can be reached - and then brought before the Palestinians for a referendum. Considering the fact that no more than 41% of the Palestinian voters actually endorsed Hamas, and that most still tell surveys they are ready for a two-state solution, there is a good chance that an agreement could be adopted by a Palestinian majority.

Instead of Israeli disengagement - bound to leave many issues open and bleeding - we can work with Egypt and Saudi Arabia for a lasting peace.

· Amos Oz is an Israeli novelist and a founder of the Peace Now movement

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

Iraqi, Kashmiri Shia Muslims Linked By Relief Work

Reuters

March 30, 2006

By Zeeshan Haider

For a small Kashmiri community of Shia Muslims, October's earthquake has brought them closer to another tragedy -- the conflict in Iraq.

Living on the banks of the Jhelum river, just a few miles inside Pakistani-held territory, the people of Kutcha Syedan have an ayatollah from Iraq to thank for the tents that have sheltered them through the Himalayan winter.

The canvas sides bear the message "Donated by Ayatollah Sistani."

Iraq's top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has never visited Kashmir, but his name goes before him.

"He is our Ayatollah. He is our leader and it is his duty to look after his people, and he is doing that," said Zahoor Naqvi, a young jobless man, now active in relief work following the October 8 earthquake that killed 73,000 people and made more than 3 million homeless.

Iranian-born, but based in Iraq's holy city of Najaf, Sistani has the largest number of followers among all Shi'ite ayatollahs.

About 80 Shia families live at Kutcha Syedan, some 30 miles east of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir. It is one of three tent villages established in Kashmir by groups working in Sistani's name.

They are also financing the reconstruction of several mosques in the area.

Sistani patronizes several leading Shia charities and provides financial support for most of the Shia religious schools or madrasas and mosques around the world.

In the camp, young boys and girls with dirty faces sat on mats reciting multiplication tables while older children had lessons inside the tents donated by Sistani's charities.

"Ours were the first schools opened in this area after the earthquake," Naqvi said.

Shia are a minority in Kashmir, as they are in the rest of Pakistan. Sunni Muslims form the vast majority of Pakistan's 160 million people, while Shia make up only about 15 percent.

Since the late 1980s, Pakistani sectarian militant groups have killed thousands with bombs and in drive-by shootings, similar to the violence Iraq is suffering now on an even bigger scale.

"APOLITICAL"

Last year, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf ordered a new crackdown on sectarian militant groups, along with preachers and publications that spread hate.

So when Shia in Pakistani Kashmir protested over the February destruction of the Golden Mosque in Samarra by suspected Sunni militants linked to al Qaeda in Iraq, it was noteworthy that they were joined by the student arm of a major Sunni Muslim political party, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan.

"This was a heinous crime. It is unbearable for Shi'ites. This was done to provoke us, to stir sectarian war. But both Shi'ites and Sunnis reacted wisely and did not fall prey to this conspiracy," said Shi'ite cleric Ahmed Ali Saeedi.

So far, the ongoing carnage in Iraq has not spilled into Pakistan's own sectarian divide, and followers of Sistani say their spiritual leader would not support such a move.

Unlike the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sistani eschews political office for clerics. Nor does he seek political influence outside Iraq, according to his followers.

"Ayatollah Sistani is an apolitical person," Sheikh Mohsin Ali Najafi, a senior representative of Sistani in Pakistan, told Reuters.

Still, no Iraqi has wielded as much political clout as Sistani since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in April 2003.

"The Ayatollah is in control of politics in Iraq, but he never took part in active politics. So what politics will he do in Pakistan or Kashmir if he is not doing that in Iraq?," asks Najafi.

Kashmir, arguably, already suffers from a surfeit of religion in its politics.

Although the Islamist parties have never achieved significant representation in Kashmir, their support for jihadi militant groups fighting Indian rule on the other side of the disputed de facto border gives them greater influence.

Some Pakistani militants forged links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda and share a similar world view to followers of the Sunni Wahhabi ideology that sprang out of Saudi Arabia. A few also counted Shia among their enemies.

Although the Islamist parties and jihadi linked groups have been at the forefront of relief work in Kashmir, sectarian divisions appear to have been put aside.

Jamat-ud-Dawa, a charity said to be funded by Saudi money and linked to Lashkhar-e-Taiba, one of the most feared Sunni Muslim militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, said it did not discriminate when it came to providing relief to quake victims.

"It is obsolete thinking," said Haji Javed-ul-Hassan, head of Jamat-ud-Dawa's relief operations in Muzaffarabad.

"We have provided relief to anyone irrespective of whether he is Shia, Sunni or Christian."

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Malaysia To Send Expedition Into Rainforests To Find Bigfoot

Bloomberg

March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia's Johor state government is mounting a scientific expedition next month to track down a gap-toothed Bigfoot, or ape man, in the 248 million-year-old rainforests near Singapore.

The hunt was sparked by reports last year of three strange creatures spotted walking beside a river by workers in Johor, which revived tales of Bigfoot sightings in the jungle among the indigenous people who live in the forests. Discussions on the Internet including the Web site of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization fueled the hype.

``Myths do not leave footprints,'' said Vincent Chow, a member of the Malaysian Nature Society, who has measured and photographed large footprints at the sites of reported Bigfoot encounters in Malaysia.

Tales of Bigfoot from the Sasquatch in the U.S. to the Himalayan Yeti haven't yielded concrete proof of the creature's existence. In the U.S. and elsewhere, no Bigfoot body has ever been found, and many of the footprints and sightings reported over the years have turned out to be hoaxes, the National Geographic said in 2003. Still, the search for the creature in Johor may boost tourism to the state's national parks.

``It has created a lot of excitement,'' said Freddie Long, the chairman of Johor's Tourism and Environment Committee. There is ``great potential'' for tourism.

Finding evidence of Bigfoot in Malaysia will be challenging, given the size of the rainforests in the country, Chow said. The Endau Rompin national park, where the Johor government plans to focus its search, is the size of neighboring Singapore, he said.
Needle in Haystack

It will be like ``looking for a needle in a haystack,'' Chow said. ``If you want to do this kind of research, it must be long term.''

Others expressed doubts Bigfoot exists in the Johor jungle.

``I don't know what to believe, whether it's the government hyping it up so that they'll get more tourism in that area,'' said June Rubis, a 29-year-old researcher for the Wildlife Conservation Society Malaysia, who has worked on primate projects for about five years. ``It just seems so incredulous.''

WWF-Malaysia, the World Wide Fund for Nature's Malaysian chapter, declined to comment on the Bigfoot search, saying it's focusing on its conservation projects.

That won't stop the state government from trying. Next month, it will send an expedition consisting of scientists, zoologists and animal nutritionists from local universities to search different areas of the national park, Long said, without providing more details.

Expedition

That's after a ``preliminary expedition'' by a team of national park rangers, forestry officials and Orang Asli, or indigenous people, into the state's forest reserves in March, Long said. A report is being compiled, he added.

The hunt follows the discovery of at least 35 previously undocumented species, including frogs, butterflies and plants, in the mountains of Indonesia's Papua province. The discoveries were made during an expedition by a team of U.S., Indonesian and Australian scientists who in December visited the remote Foja Mountains in Papua, the Washington D.C.-based environmental group Conservation International said on its Web site in February.

The government is counting on local accounts of sightings of a Bigfoot-like creature. The Orang Asli of Johor say the lush Endau valley in which they live was once inhabited by a tribe of hairy giants called ``Serjarang Gigi,'' or People with Widely Spaced Teeth.

Orangutan

Modern Malaysian villagers have reported seeing a tall ape- like creature they call the Mawas, an Indonesian name for the orangutan, which is indigenous to Borneo but not the Malay peninsular, Chow said.

Based on eyewitness accounts collected by Chow, a 58-year- old horticulturalist, the Malaysian Bigfoot is six to 12-feet tall and the shorter ones have reddish brown fur while the taller ones are almost black.

``They have an upturned nose, the eyebrow ridge is very high and protruding. There seems to be some depression on the top of the head meaning their cranial cavity is probably rather small,'' Chow said. ``It walks like a very sad old man, and it has piercing red eyes.''

Johor Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman said in February he believed Bigfoot was roaming the jungles of his state because the indigenous people who have reported Bigfoot encounters wouldn't make up stories.

The possibility of an undiscovered ape species is ``really cool and exciting, but whether it's in Johor, I don't know, I'm not too sure,'' Rubis said. ``Based on what we have right now, I can't say for sure there is Bigfoot.''

To contact the reporter on this story:
Stephanie Phang in Kuala Lumpur at at sphang@bloomberg.net.

Rare Shakespeare Folio To Be Sold

BBC

March 30, 2006

A rare book of Shakespeare's plays, considered to be one of the most important in British literature, is to be auctioned at Sotheby's in London.

The complete first folio of the playwright's work had a print run of approximately 750 in 1623.

However, only a third of these survive and most of them are incomplete.

The book is being sold by Dr Williams's Theological Library in London, which hopes the proceeds - expected to be more than £3m - will secure its future.

No collected edition of Shakespeare's plays was published during his lifetime.

Extensive annotations

In 1623, seven years after his death, some of his friends put together a folio comprising 36 plays.

It was the first time that 18 of them - including Twelfth Night and Macbeth - had been printed.

It is likely that they survive only because they were included in the book and would otherwise have been lost.

This edition is bound in brown leather and is full of annotations, marking interesting parts of the text.

Its 17th Century readers did not make notes beside passages now considered to be Shakespeare's most famous - Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech, for instance.

Instead, they highlighted other sections such as those from Midsummer Night's Dream and Coriolanus.

One reader even corrected an error in the text in the second part of Henry VI, changing by hand three times the name Elinor to Margaret.

'Safeguard' library's future

The director of Dr Williams's Theological Library, Dr David Wykes, said: "The library has been proud to own this remarkable copy of Shakespeare's first folio.

"Its sale will secure the finances of the library and safeguard our important historical collections of manuscripts and printed books for future generations."

The book will be displayed at Sotheby's offices in London, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Beijing and Hong Kong in April and May, ahead of the auction on 13 July.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/4860066.stm

Published: 2006/03/30 09:34:09 GMT

© BBC MMVI

Nepal: Civilians At Risk As Conflict Resumes

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

World Must Curb Abuses by Army, Maoists

(New York, March 28, 2006) – Increased international pressure is necessary to protect civilians caught in the armed conflict between Maoist rebels and government forces in Nepal and prevent the conflict from spiraling out of control, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

Human Rights Watch urged key international actors, such as India, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, China, and the United Nations to step up efforts to pressure both sides to observe the laws of war and international human rights standards. While many in the international community have been focused on political developments between King Gyanendra, political parties and the Maoists, too little attention has been focused on the conflict and its attendant human rights abuses.

The 17-page report, “Nepal’s Civil War: The Conflict Resumes” released today, summarizes the findings of Human Rights Watch’s recent three-week research effort in Nepal. The trip – Human Rights Watch’s fifth in the last two years – assessed the situation in Nepal after January 2, when Maoist forces ended their four-month long unilateral ceasefire, which the government had rejected.

Since then, Maoist attacks and clashes with security forces have engulfed the country, affecting nearly every one of Nepal’s 75 provinces. Civilian casualties, which decreased significantly during the ceasefire, have quickly escalated.

“Renewed fighting has brought renewed abuses,” said Sam Zarifi, research director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division. “The failure of both sides to ensure the safety of civilians has left too many Nepalis living in fear that the conflict is going to burst through their doors.”

Human Rights Watch’s investigation found significant grounds for concern about the impact of the resumed conflict on civilians, chief among them:

violations of the laws of war by both parties, including indiscriminate aerial bombardment by the army of civilian areas, and use by the Maoists of houses, schools, and public spaces without first moving the population to safety;

the increased risk to civilians due to proliferation of government-sponsored and -armed vigilante groups who abuse the local population, and the Maoists’ abduction and murder of alleged vigilante group members and their supporters;

the Maoists’ continued recruitment of children for military purposes, often by force; and

the security forces’ continued abuses, including the widespread use of torture, and their near total impunity from prosecution for human rights abuses, such as in hundreds of outstanding cases of “disappearances.”

As one Nepali villager told Human Rights Watch a day after his village was caught in the middle of attacks and reprisals by vigilantes and Maoists: “What is the king doing to protect us? The Maoists and the vigilantes leave us no peace. I think I have to leave with my whole family for India if things continue this way.”

Human Rights Watch found that in some cases, international pressure had helped promote greater respect for human rights by both government forces and rebels. Both the Maoists and the security forces have taken appropriate action during some clashes to minimize the harm to civilians. The Nepali army seems to have taken steps to reduce the practice of extrajudicial executions and “disappearances” of suspected Maoists and now turns many detainees over to police custody within a month. Security forces also allowed the Nepal Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, established in 2005, access to military barracks and other places of detention. The Maoists decreased attacks on activists from different political parties after they agreed to a joint program of political change in November.

“One encouraging sign we found is that pressure from Nepali civil society and the international community has led the army to curb some of its worst abuses, such as ‘disappearances’ and extrajudicial killings,” said Zarifi. “This shows that the army can employ effective command and control over its forces. It also means that those in the international community who advise and arm the Nepali forces can do a lot more to help protect an already beleaguered population.”

Human Rights Watch commended India, the U.S., and the U.K. for continuing to deny the transfer of weapons and ammunition to the government and called on other countries, such as China, Pakistan, and Israel, to join the arms embargo. Nepal’s neighbors, in particular India, should also do more to stop the flow of arms to the Maoists.

Human Rights Watch will issue more detailed reports on its findings on the subjects of violations of the laws of war, including the use of child soldiers and vigilantes, in the coming weeks.

Report:http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/03/28/nepal13078.htm

Afghan Convert 'Leaves For Italy'

BBC News

March 29, 2006

An Afghan man who escaped a possible death sentence for becoming a Christian has left for Italy where he has been granted asylum, Italian officials say. Abdul Rahman is expected to arrive in Italy within hours.

"He is expected in Italy tonight. He is certainly not here," an Italian embassy official in Kabul told the BBC.

Afghan MPs had earlier demanded Mr Rahman stay in the country. He was freed from jail on Monday after being deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.

Mr Rahman, who had been charged with rejecting Islam, had been held at a secret location since his release from Kabul's high security Pul-e-Charki prison.

Italy's cabinet met on Wednesday and approved Mr Rahman's asylum request.

"The decision has been taken. The matter has been resolved," Welfare Minister Roberto Maroni told reporters after the meeting.

Applications for political asylum in Italy normally take months to process, but Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and several colleagues had said previously they favoured a quick decision in Mr Rahman's favour, says the BBC's David Willey in Rome.

More:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4856748.stm

Looking To Wealthy Women To Fund A Business

CNNMoney.com

Savvy female entrepreneurs know that angel investing isn't just for men anymore. But while women angels may be more likely to bet on other women, they're not pushovers.

By Elaine Pofeldt, FSB senior editor

March 27, 2006: 3:00 PM EST

NEW YORK (FORTUNE Small Business Magazine) - Angel investing has long been a boys club. Women today make up only 7.5% of the country's 225,000 angels -- individual investors who take equity stakes in startups -- according to professor Jeffrey Sohl, director of the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire.

The good news, says Sohl, is that women angels -- who control a significant chunk of the $22 billion invested by angels each year -- are more likely to bet on other women. And the ranks of female angels are likely to grow.

Women angels across the country are increasingly launching investment groups to educate wealthy women on the fine points of dealmaking. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City (kauffman.org) offers seminars called the Power of Angel Investing to help such women link up with entrepreneurs.

Just because female angels tend to look kindly on members of their own sex doesn't mean they're pushovers.

Like men, they look for well-crafted business plans in fast-growth industries such as health care and software, for seasoned management teams, and for the chance to pool money with other angels to buy a 5% to 40% ownership stake that the group can cash out in two to five years.

And in exchange for the $10,000 or more that individual angels typically invest, some want to help shape the companies.

For capital seekers who pass muster, the payoff can be big. Shoba Purushothaman, 43, launched the NewsMarket in New York City, which provides stock video footage to news outlets such as CNN, with $100,000 from a woman angel in 2000.

That led to investments from about 20 angels and ultimately $20 million in venture capital for her firm, which now has $5 million in annual sales.

Rupert Murdoch F.O.B (and Hillary)

New York Magazine

March 28, 2006

Joins Bill’s Big-Shot Club. (Davos, Shmavos.)

By Greg Sargent

The incongruous Murdoch-Clinton romance, which has been hot for the past year or so, shows no sign of cooling down. Now, a source says, Rupert is greatly expanding his involvement with Bill’s big Clinton Global Initiative’s annual powwow this September, shortly before Hillary’s up for reelection. But then Murdoch’s Post has been as kind to her as it was relentless toward the ex-president. Murdoch’s involvement will be announced March 31 at the Time Warner Center (home to Fox News enemy CNN!), along with that of French president Jacques Chirac (a member of the Axis of Weasel, according to the Post), Virgin billionaire Richard Branson, and Gordon Brown, the heir apparent to Tony Blair in the U.K. All of which has some Clintonites boasting that CGI has become hotter than Davos as a desirable destination for global-power do-gooders. “People have been beating down the door to attend this conference!” swears an invitee. “It seems to have more energy than any other one in the world.” Clinton spokesman Jay Carson sought to tamp down any rivalry. “We see ourselves working in concert with the many successful global forums.”

Crowds Gather For Solar Eclipse

Guardian

March 29, 2006

The first total eclipse in years today plunged Ghana into daytime darkness, in an eagerly awaited solar show that will sweep northeast from Brazil to Mongolia.

As the heavens and earth moved into rare alignment, all that could be seen of the sun were the rays of its corona - the usually invisible extended atmosphere of the sun that glowed as a dull yellow ring, barely illuminating the west African nation.

Automatic street lamps switched on as the light faded, and authorities sounded emergency whistles in celebration. Schoolchildren and others across the capital, Accra, burst into applause. Many in Ghana, a deeply religious country of Christians and Muslims, said the phenomenon bolstered their faith.

"I've never experienced this and we all need to pray to God and worship him. I believe it's a wonderful work of God," said Solomon Pomenya, a 52-year old doctor. "This tells me that God is a true engineer."

From Ghana to Libya to Syria to Turkey and beyond, schools closed to watch the eclipse.

The last such total solar eclipse, in November 2003, was best viewed from Antarctica. But Wednesday's eclipse blocks the sun in highly populated areas, including West Africa, where governments have scrambled to educate people about the dangers of looking directly at the sun without proper eye protection.

Health authorities warned spectators not to stare at the eclipse and one expert in Lebanon advised that the safest way to see it was to stay at home and watch live coverage on television.

Crowds were anticipated in prime viewing points, among them Accra in Ghana, and in Turkey and India.

Nasa said Turkey would be the best spot to view the eclipse, and tens of thousands of tourists gathered along the Turkish Mediterranean coast.

Astronomers from Nasa and the Royal Institute of Astronomy were to view the phenomenon from an ancient Roman amphitheatre in Turkey. The moon began blocking out the sun in the morning in Brazil before the path of greatest blockage migrated to Africa, then on to Turkey and up into Mongolia, where it will fade out with the sunset. Even in Senegal, far from the eclipse's centre, the sun dimmed as a partial eclipse darkened skies in the capital, Dakar.

Total eclipses are rare because they require the tilted orbits of the sun, moon and earth to line up exactly so that the moon obscures the sun completely. The next total eclipse will occur in 2008.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

U.S Agrees to Release Abu Ghraib Photos

Salon.com

Citing Salon's publication, government abandons its fight to keep images of abuse secret.

By Mark Benjamin and Michael Scherer

Mar. 29, 2006 The Bush administration agreed Tuesday to release dozens of disputed photographs and videos of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib, two weeks after Salon published an official Army criminal archive that included many, if not all, of the same images.

The government's decision ends a nearly two-year legal battle with civil liberties advocates over whether the publication of the material would harm national security.

In a filing to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, government lawyers cited Salon's recent publication of the disputed images as the reason for dropping their legal fight. (A judge still has to accept the government's proposal to drop the case.)

A Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday that the military would now review Salon's Web site to see if there were any images or videos that were part of the court case that were not published. "Under the terms of the agreement, within seven days, we will identify the images recently published on a media website that were of issue in this appeal," said the spokesman, Lt. Col. John Skinner. "If any images at issue were not published on the website we will release those images with portions redacted."

The American Civil Liberties Union and other civil liberties groups had filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain 74 photographs and three videos of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib. The material had been given to Army investigators by military police Spc. Joseph Darby on Jan. 13, 2004, an event that launched the Army's criminal investigation into what occurred at the prison.

This month, Salon published 279 photos and 19 videos from the Army's subsequent investigation of abuse at Abu Ghraib, along with a chronological account of abuse based largely on Army materials. Salon obtained the images, video and previously unreleased investigation documents in February from a military source who spent time at the prison and who is familiar with the Army probe.

"The government's attempts to shield evidence of its own misconduct from public scrutiny ultimately proved to be futile," declared Amrit Singh, an attorney with the ACLU, in a press release issued after the Pentagon dropped its challenge.

In a legal filing last summer, Gen. Richard Myers, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, argued that the disclosure of these images would "endanger the lives and physical safety" of U.S. military personnel, aid in the recruitment efforts of insurgent forces, weaken the democratic governments of Iraq and Afghanistan, and "increase the likelihood of violence against United States interests."

On Tuesday, Skinner, the Pentagon spokesman, repeated these concerns, but he acknowledged that he knew of no specific incidents that had resulted from the Salon publication of the material. "We've seen people exploit images like this before," Skinner said.

In September of 2005, federal District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein rejected the government's national security concerns, saying terrorists "do not need pretexts for their barbarism." He stayed his ruling pending an appeal in the 2nd Circuit, which has now been abandoned.

In an interview Tuesday, Singh said that the ACLU believed the government was still withholding a significant body of images and documents concerning the U.S. government's role in abusing detainees around the world. "The Darby photos are just a piece of the litigation that is ongoing," she said.

The ACLU is also seeking two additional documents: a directive signed by President Bush granting the CIA the authority to set up detention facilities outside the United States and outlining interrogation methods that may be used against detainees; and a Justice Department memorandum specifying interrogation methods that the CIA may use against top al-Qaida members. (The CIA does not even admit that the documents exist.) The government continues to oppose these requests.


-- By Mark Benjamin and Michael Scherer

Say Yes To Manmohan Singh

The News

Opinion

March 29, 2006

M B Naqvi

The writer is a veteran journalist and freelance columnist.

The Pakistan government has cautiously welcomed the purported offer by the Indian PM Manmohan Singh of a treaty of peace, security and friendship while inaugurating another bus service between India and Pakistan, though it has reiterated its ancient Kashmir-first stance: unless the old dispute over Kashmir is resolved, further advances in other fields are not realistic. Basically, there is no change: India offers step by step improvement in bilateral ties; Pakistan subordinates everything to Kashmir.

It is time to rethink almost everything. Why? because the two countries have lost nearly six decades thus quarrelling over Kashmir. Meanwhile new issues have actually eclipsed Kashmir in importance. Pakistan's continued insistence on Kashmir to be solved first, means nothing will change. India offers only Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) and a talkathon on Kashmir. Even the CBMs in place may wither on the vine. Some more CBMs are all to be hoped for. Do we want another 60 years to be wasted in the same fashion as hitherto?

Which new issues have arisen? It is the qualitative change in the bilateral balance of power. There is the cumulative effect of the still accelerating arms race. The Bomb has come. It is pointless to blame who began it. The fact is that both are nuclear powers; both are still making more atomic weapons. Why else would they go on testing missiles if not to adapt them to newer shaped weapons? Implications of this need being understood.

War now is out of the question -- unless either party takes leave of its senses. The lessons of 2002 have to be learnt: India, in the end, did not invade Pakistan, although it wanted to. Pakistan has no earthly reason, Kashmir or anything else, for which it should start a war. At stake is the survival of the country. Surviving a nuclear war with India is not possible. Nothing is worth a nuclear war. Maintaining peace is now mandatory.

That alters the perspective. Pakistan cannot now wrest Kashmir or force solutions of its choice. Military approach is simply not feasible. A new approach is unavoidable. Fighting India legalistically in the UN is now wholly fruitless. Foreign power's mediation is again totally out; foreigners now want Pakistanis to stop being a nuisance. Similarly Pakistan's refusal to accord India with MFN status or observing trade or cultural contacts serves only to isolate and hurt Pakistan. Friendship with America will not now yield support over Kashmir.

The strength of the Indian army, plus its nukes, has posed new problems. Does the present deadlock with India serve any Pakistani purpose? The answer is none at all. Other peaceful means of persuading India to be more forthcoming have to be found: it means offering it something that will be of real utility to India for which reason it will like to accommodate Pakistan to whatever extent may be useful to it.

What of Kashmir then? Do Pakistanis forget it? True, taking Kashmir by force is now impossible. What remains possible and desirable is to create conditions in which Kashmiris can get the substance of azadi by creating conditions in which India would cede it. What legal shape it will take can be left to the good sense of the Indians and Kashmiris. Pakistanis, as freedom lovers and friendly outsiders, should only encourage and when asked advise.

India has been dropping hints that it is ready to make a deal with Pakistan on Kashmir provided Pakistan accepts the Line of Control. Other goodies like agreements on Siachin, Baglihar, maybe Sir Creek -- are also hinted at. Accepting the Line of Control as a legitimate international border is hard for the Pakistani state as it is now constituted. But it can refuse to accept it as a de jure solution, though it should accept LoC as the de facto border. There are good reasons to believe that the arrangement agreed at Simla was intended to do just that on both sides. India can happily live with it so long as Pakistanis do not keep on stirring trouble through terrorism. Strenuous anti-India propaganda being counterproductive needs to be curbed.

But there is no call to accord de jure recognition to LoC. Question recurs: what of Kashmiris? But it is a matter for Kashmiris and the Indians to sort out in the fullness of time.

Meanwhile Pakistan and India can agree upon a modus vivendi being suggested by America. That is probably the only workable recourse today. For the rest, Pakistan can continue saying that they only recognise LoC as a de facto border; as it is not a de jure one. It can remain a dispute.

That is, leave Kashmir to history. What will be the ultimate outcome? Let Kashmiris, Indians and history decide. But realism has many faces. Where do Pakistanis want to go? There are questions about who the Pakistanis are; which Pakistanis matter and which do not. This last category has to be destroyed, while the category of those who actually matter today need to be downgraded. Let them keep their human rights intact; no more than of any other Pakistani.

Country law should be the will of the people, freely formulated through their elected representatives. Let it represent the moral consensus of the society. Government institutions and fighting forces should be subordinate to the state through the government. The government should also be subordinate to law and should work under law without transgressing the limits set by law.

That leads to judging what the state policies should be. For whose benefit is Pakistan to be run? Well, Pakistan must be run for the maximum benefit to the maximum number of Pakistanis. The current supremacy of the army is a disgrace for Pakistanis. That has to end once and for all. Relationship with neighbours can then be peaceful and productive and to begin with should aim at the enrichment of all people in the region; the region should contribute to the general prosperity of the world.

Meantime these ideas may look far-fetched and long-term ideals. No, they are not long-term ideals. These are short-term ideals. We need to implement them here and now. Kashmir being a matter for history, what prevents Pakistan from accepting the step-by-step improvement of relations?

So long as the Pakistani state keeps the interest of the common people supreme, the policy towards India becomes obvious: there has to be the maximum possible people-to-people contact; maximum possible trade, maximum possible economic cooperation, compelling, insofar as Pakistan can, India to keep the interest of the Indian people supreme.

One is not sure that the ruling elites in either Pakistan or India are actually interested in material betterment of the common Indians and Pakistanis. Both are elitists and all they are interested in is in the prosperity of the elites.

This is the way to keep peace within either state and also among them. Let's accept the people as the supreme masters for whose benefit states must be run by governments that are established by law and freely elected by the people.

How Expatriates Can Help

The Dawn

Opinion

March 29, 2006

By Zubeida Mustafa

THE Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP), set up in 2001 as a non-profit support organisation to facilitate philanthropy, has published a report titled Philanthropy by the Pakistani Diaspora in the USA. Based on a survey it conducted in North America in which 631 Pakistani expatriates participated, this report confirms some trends that have been observed over the years.

It also makes some recommendations, though it is not at all clear if the obstacles faced in channelling philanthropy into an institutional charity in Pakistan can be overcome very easily.

Let us take the findings first which have been reported in more generous terms than how they emerge when read with a measure of objectivity. The PCP report describes the Pakistanis in North America — mainly professionals, quite a few being physicians and surgeons — as a “generous, giving and active community”. They donate 250 million dollars in cash and kind every year apart from 43.5 million hours of volunteered time which is given the monetary value of 750 million dollars by the PCP.

The report describes this amount (a total of one billion dollars) as “very impressive”. This is arguable. The cash and kind donations come to barely one per cent of the expatriates’ income. The time volunteered works out to 1.6 hours a week per head for the 500,000 migrants. It would be slightly more if you exclude the children.

But what cannot be denied is that in absolute terms the amount given as philanthropy is quite a big sum. It has, however, not made much of an impact nationally for several reasons. First, only a sum of 100 million dollars (40 per cent) actually comes to Pakistan. Secondly, most of this amount goes directly to individuals in need and not to institutionalized charities.

Hence the question to be asked is why are Pakistani expatriates not willing to give more generously to the country of their origin when they are in a position to do so? The most important factor is, to quote the report, “the chronic lack of trust in the civic sector in Pakistan; over 80 per cent of our survey respondents believe that such organisations are inefficient and dishonest; over 70 per cent feel that they are also ineffective and inattentive to the most pressing problems in Pakistan.”

One cannot deny that corruption is a bane in Pakistan and donors living in Pakistan also like to check before loosening their purse strings for an institution collecting donations. But that does not mean that there are no honest and efficient charities operating in the country that deserve to be helped.

What is understandable is that people living thousands of miles away find it difficult to obtain information about the performance of various institutions, hence they tend to be wary about giving. Information has never been the Pakistanis’ forte.

Another constraint faced by Pakistani Americans is the structural hurdles in transmitting money to Pakistan. After 9/11, American regulations were been tightened and are at times ambiguous about charitable giving abroad. Neither are there any convenient mechanisms to transfer funds to this country or to obtain information about a charity operating in Pakistan. Small wonder the kundi system has been so popular — its success can be attributed to its convenience and informal method.

Charities have also not been able to go about effectively in their fund raising mission. Some of them seeking donations from the expatriate community do not do their homework. They do not obtain exemption from taxes on donations — a powerful motivating factor — and that discourages many would-be philanthropists.

Experience shows that where an infrastructure is in place, funds flow in more easily. For instance, a few charitable organisations, which have representation abroad, are better known among the expatriates. They also manage to attract funds more easily. Thus the Layton Rehmatullah Benevolent Trust and the Edhi Foundation have successfully mobilized the Pakistani expatriate community for philanthropic causes. But this approach would benefit only large charities for small institutions cannot afford to have a representative in every country where Pakistani expatriates live.

In this context, the PCP offers some suggestions. The three key areas that must be addressed are

• Building confidence in Pakistan’s civic sector

• Facilitating mechanisms for charity giving

• Improving outreach on the achievements of the civic sector in Pakistan

Individual organizations can improve their prospects by adopting transparency in their working to inspire confidence in the public. They will also have to disseminate information about themselves. Many are already doing this yet they have failed to reach out effectively to many expatriates abroad given the considerable scope of the work involved.

The report suggests that the PCP could play a facilitating role by developing mechanisms for philanthropy. If the organization is not to become the conduit for funding — which it should not if it doesn’t want to lose its credibility — it should confine its role to being a clearing house of information and one providing guidance to philanthropists. Thus it should study the laws of different countries on the transmission of funds by the Pakistani diaspora to guide philanthropists on how to proceed. The organization could emerge as an important source of knowledge by giving essential but authentic facts about the various charities operating in the country. For instance a donor could be guided on how to do a quick check on a charity he wants to support. Some of the guidelines would be:

• determine the trustworthiness of a charity by checking its documentation

• obtain audited financial information

• study the profile of the organization

• look up the number of beneficiaries, their socio-economic status

• ask for the sources of income — are fees charged

This information should be enough to enable any intending expatriate donor to decide where he feels most comfortable about sending his donation.

The centre steps on sensitive ground when it speaks of the newly coined term “non-profit organization” (NPO). Does this suggest charity in the conventional old fashioned sense when people gave donations on humanitarian grounds? The idea was to help meet the basic needs — for food, health, shelter, education and livelihood — of a person who was unable to sustain himself on account of the failure of society to provide him social justice. But today organisations charging exorbitant fees for their services show themselves as NPOs because they show no profits in their accounts — their earnings being shown as their expenditure on keeping themselves functional. Are they deserving of philanthropy?

There is need to define ‘charity’. Under Indian law it is defined as including ‘relief of the poor — their education, health care and the advancement of any other object of general public utility’.

The PCP would do well to study the Indian diaspora’s giving pattern. India has a long tradition of philanthropy and its diaspora has made a big impact on India’s national life. Cultural traits determine a person’s approach to philanthropy and the Muslims of South Asia have not been known for it. A beginning could now be made.

The Pakistani diaspora in North America should be encouraged to make donations to the institutions that really cater to the needs of the poor. Many Americans of Pakistani origin have made a mark in life after graduating from public sector universities in Pakistan. Should they not repay their debt and help these universities in some way?

The health professionals who studied at the public sector medical colleges and are now doing so well in life should be helping their alma mater. After all, these are the institutions that really cater to the needs of the poor. One has to visit them to believe it.

As for the time the Pakistani diaspora volunteers could make an impact if people, especially health professionals and teachers, would return home every year to work for a few weeks to teach and train their own fellow professionals who are not affluent and could never hope to pay for good education abroad. The expatriates could finance the studies of a student who cannot pay for himself.

As for the PCP, it should encourage expatriates to play a direct role in supporting such institutions that really benefit the poor. The problem is that the rampant commercialism, that has overtaken the social sector in the hands of private entrepreneurs, has marginalised the poor. Even philanthropy seems to be sidelining them.

Tamils Seek A Return To Normalcy

CNN.com

March 29, 2006

Sri Lanka's fragile peace allows mine clearing to intensify

MANKULAM, Sri Lanka (AP) -- The shiny round object half buried in her garden aroused Nixon Kousi's curiosity -- and could have cost her life.

Kousi, a 23-year-old mother of two, is one of thousands of ethnic Tamils who have returned to their native villages in Sri Lanka's northeast during the past four years, hoping to start a normal life after spending years in refugee camps while fighting raged between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels.

Now the fighting is largely over -- halted by a shaky 2002 cease-fire -- but hundreds of thousands of land mines remain from the 19-year civil war, as Kousi discovered in front of her mud-wall home in this small town once the scene of fierce fighting.

"I was cleaning the pans here when I saw something round. I thought it was a five-rupee coin," she said, pointing at where she noticed the shiny object. "When I could not pull it out, I called in my brother-in law. He removed the soil around and it was no coin, but a land mine."

Life was desperate for her family during five years in refugee camps, but home also proved to be perilous, Kousi said. "It is only after finding the mine in front of our home that we understood the real threat," she said.

There are an estimated 1 million land mines -- buried by both government troops and the Tiger rebels -- spread across about 200 square kilometers (125 square miles) of Sri Lanka's Tamil-majority northeast, officials say.

The region was the heart of the civil war, and mines were often sown in populated and fertile areas. The Tigers began fighting in 1983 to create a separate state for the country's 3.2 million Tamils, alleging discrimination by the country's 14 million Sinhalese.

More than 65,000 people from both sides were killed, tens of thousands were maimed and many more fled the country.

Since 1985, land mine explosions have killed 191 civilians and injured 1,099 others, according to government officials.

Kanniappan Govindarasan, 64, was among the wounded. A fisherman who gave up his boat when the navy imposed heavy security restrictions, he stepped on a land mine as he chopped firewood in a forested area. He now moves about in a hand-operated tricycle in Jaffna, the main city in the north.

"I am ashamed but I have to say this, I now beg for money in the Jaffna bus stand," Govindarasan recounted.

The number of land mine casualties has fallen since 2002, the year the cease-fire was signed, when more than a dozen people were injured or killed every month by land mines. Since 2003, when de-mining operations began in force, that number has dropped to about 2 per month, officials say.

In Kousi's neighborhood, all 300 families fled in 1997 as government troops advanced along the main highway that connects Sri Lanka's troubled northern Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the island. Her village of Mankulam has been controlled by the rebels since 2000.

The village's once-fortified garrison is now covered with bushes, and only a careful observer notices the rusted barbed wire and half-empty sandbags of bunkers. Hidden among the bushes are mines.

A de-mining group that started work here in December 2004 has unearthed 289 mines, said C. Thiraviyanathan, a member of the team. The Tamil Tigers originally recruited de-miners, but later Norwegian People's Aid trained team members and provided safety equipment.

Thirty-eight families have resettled in the village in recent months. But more than 260 families are still waiting to return to the village -- their homes in areas marked by the team with yellow tape to show mines still are hidden there just beneath the surface.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.

Handsets Get Taken To The Grave

BBC News

March 29, 2006

More people than ever are asking to be buried or cremated with their mobile phones when they die, say researchers.

The trend, which began in South Africa, has now spread to a number of countries, including Ireland, Australia, Ghana, and the US.

Martin Raymond, director of international trend-spotting think-tank, The Future Laboratory said that this had started off "in the realm of the urban myth", but was fast becoming fact.

"You hear about it, the idea that people are being buried with their mobile phones, but you can't really believe it," he told the BBC World Service's Culture Shock programme.

He explained that the first cases of people asking to be buried with their phone originated in Cape Town, where some people's belief in witchcraft meant they feared that "they could fall under a spell, be put to sleep and actually be buried.

"In fact, they were asking for the phones to be put into the coffins with them in case they woke up."

'Limelight funerals'

Mr Raymond said that in Australia the trend was more about affluence.

"People wanted to be buried with the totems that they felt represented their lifestyle," he explained.

"We came across one guy who asked to be buried with his mobile phone and his Blackberry, and also with his laptop."
He added that in many cases, being buried with your phone is part of what he termed limelight funerals, people wanting to be buried like celebrities.

The phone is put in the coffin along with diamonds, jewellery, expensive suits, and gold watches.

In some places, however, the practice has parallels with a much more distant time, as being buried along with one's possessions can be traced to ancient Egypt.

In the days of Tutankhamen it was done because they believed literally that the objects would be available to them in the afterlife.

However, in modern times some people are finding they like the idea of being buried with the things that defined them while they were alive.

"When we looked at this in Chad and Ghana, there was part of that implicit in the burial service - that you were taking things with you that would be useful," Mr Raymond said.

"In Ireland, where we came across this, it was more to do with people being buried with things they liked. One guy we came across was buried with a pack of cigarettes and some matches.

"Another was buried with his favourite teddy bear, given to him by his girlfriend."

Spare battery

In some cases, they are even taking their mobiles into cremation.

"We came across this in places like South Carolina in the US - people were being burned but unknown to the crematorium, they had left the phones in their jackets," Mr Raymond said.
"If you heat a mobile phone battery, it tends to explode, and the first reports were about explosions, and that's how they started noticing this trend."

Some funeral parlours will now arrange for the phone put into the box with the ashes following the cremation.

And one service in South Africa will put a number of batteries in the coffin just in case the dead person wakes up much later and finds their own battery has run out.