As Senate opposition to Bush's Iraq policy heats up, the Bush administration is beginning to reverse itself, evidenced by an indication from Bush's spokesman that as many as half the 160,000 US troops currently deployed in Iraq could be withdrawn by next fall.

Senators Joe Biden and John Murtha have been made proposals regarding troop redeployment from Iraq. Unfortunately, neither proposal is realistic. In fact, according to some analysts, it will be impossible to conduct a classic withdrawal which will preserve the credibility of the US.

by Michael Jansen

by Michael Jansen

On Tuesday, the liberal Israeli daily Haaretz carried an editorial asking, "Where's the restraint in Bil'in?" The paper observed that the Israeli army used "sensitivity and intelligence" in dealing with Israeli demonstrators in Gaza, but pointed out that it did not adopt a similar line with Israelis, foreigners and Palestinians taking part in last Friday's protest in the West Bank village of Bil'in.
On this occasion, 100 Israeli troops preempted the weekly demonstration.

The troops entered the village as participants convened near the mosque. Without any provocation from the protesters, the soldiers fired tear gas and salt rounds and rubber-coated steel balls, scattering the crowd. The soldiers kicked and beat left-wing and anarchist Israelis, Quakers and members of the International Solidarity Movement who normally take part in this event. Twelve people were wounded and 14 arrested, 12 detained briefly, two until the next day.

by Michael Jansen

With Israel's evacuation from Gaza and four small West Bank settlements less than two weeks away, the intentions of both Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon and US President George Bush are far from clear. While Israel is determined to depart from Gaza and vacate the northern West Bank colonies, planning for "disengagement" has been haphazard and the withdrawal of the settlers could very well be chaotic. Although Bush has oft declared that he hopes the Palestinians can meet the challenge of "disengagement," he has done very little to be of assistance. General William Ward was dispatched to help the two sides coordinate the pullout and Bush called upon European donors to offer material assistance to the Palestinian Authority but he has provided nothing on the material plane.

Chaos on the Israeli side during the evacuation may very well suit Sharon and his ally Bush because it could lead to confusion and anarchy in Gaza and perhaps exacerbate lawlessness in the northern West Bank. Sharon could prefer a chaotic outcome to a coherent outcome because he could argue that Israel cannot afford the security risks of pulling out of any more occupied territory.

Bush could also opt for chaos because he could throw up his hands and say he cannot proceed with the "roadmap," which Israel opposes, because the Palestinians did not get their security act together to deal with the vacuum created by Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Bush's disengagement would, once again, leave the Israelis free to continue with their effort to transform the West Bank into walled Israeli and Palestinian enclaves, which would prevent the emergence of a Palestinian state except, perhaps, in Israeli abandoned Gaza.

by Michael Jansen

Iraq's rich cultural heritage continues to be stripped of archaeological sites in the countryside while in Baghdad, the doors of the Iraq National Museum, the fifth most important in the world, remain closed to the public because of fears that its treasures could be stolen in a raid by the well organised antiquities mafia.

On the sidelines of celebrations marking the reconstruction of a 16th century palace and mosque at Rada, in Yemen, this correspondent was briefed on what is happening in Iraq on the archaeological front by Dr Macguire Gibson of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. Gibson, who dug for many seasons at the Sumerian site of Nippur in southern Iraq, is president of the American Academic Research Institute.

He was one of the US scholars who warned the Bush administration ahead of its 2003 war that a great deal of the ancient and Islamic history of the Land Between The Two Rivers could be lost and Iraq's museums could be looted during a conflict. Tragically, the administration did not listen to warnings and pleas of experts like him. As a result, Iraq's artefacts and documents are being dug from sites where they have lain for millennia, sold to dealers, provided with false provenance, and installed in collections of unscrupulous individuals and institutions.

by Michael Jansen

Former Lebanese army chief Michel Aoun, who returned to Lebanon in triumph last Saturday, is compared by his ardent Maronite Christian followers to General Charles de Gaulle and Napoleon.

The comparison with de Gaulle is invidious. De Gaulle returned to France at the end of World War II as the head of the Free French who fought alongside the Allies against Nazi Germany which was occupying France and many other countries in Europe. De Gaulle, who served as president from 1959-69, ended the French occupation of Algeria. But the comparison with Napoleon is more apt. Like Napoleon, Aoun - nicknamed "Napole-Aoun" - had ideas above his station, seized power, and inflicted great destruction and suffering on the Lebanese before he was sent into exile. Napoleon returned to France and wrought more havoc. It remains to be seen what Aoun will do now that he is back home.

So far he has managed to put the noses of a number of established politicians out of joint. He called for the abolition of "political feudalism and the religious [sectarian] system that dates back to the 19th century". This has upset the political elite which depends for its power and privileges on sectarian quotas fixed in the 1943 National Pact and preserved by the 1989 Taef Accord which ended the 1975-1990 civil war. By claiming triumph over the Syrians on his return, Aoun has, at least temporarily, overshadowed the leadership of the anti-Syrian "opposition" front which claims credit for this fear.