Pentagon Says Appropriate Force Used in Afghan Battle

By Meredith Buel Washington 16 May 2007

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A U.S. military commander used an appropriate level of force and demonstrated sound judgment during a battle last month in Afghanistan that Afghan officials say killed dozens of civilians. That is the conclusion of a U.S. military investigation into the incident as we hear from VOA correspondent Meredith Buel in Washington.

An Afghan man, who was wounded during military operations of US and Afghan forces in Shindand district of Herat province, lies on a bed at a hospital in Herat province, 2 May 2007

Brigadier General Perry Wiggins told reporters at the Pentagon that a probe of the battle in which coalition forces say more than 130 Taleban insurgents were killed shows the U.S. commander, whose identity was not revealed, acted correctly.

"Coalition ground force was continuously engaged by intense enemy fire after entering an area of known Taleban activity," he said. "On-scene commander used all necessary means available and took all appropriate actions necessary to defend his unit. The on-scene commander demonstrated sound judgment."

The fight occurred in late April in the Afghan town of Shindand, in western Herat province.

U.S. special operations forces called in air strikes that Afghan officials say killed about 50 civilians.

The fighting sparked large demonstration against the United States and the Afghan government in the region.

Following the incident, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said civilian deaths are unacceptable.

General Wiggins, however, says there is no mention of civilian casualties in the report he received after the investigation into the battle.

"Throughout the engagement all targets were positively identified as hostile and were under observation at the time of the engagement," he added. "The on-scene commander used appropriate level of force to respond to the continuous enemy threat and protect his unit. The on-scene commander's assessment of the enemy's situation was consistent with, and supported the reliable intelligence from varied sources."

Wiggins told reporters that U.S. commanders will not order strikes on areas where intelligence shows civilians could be hurt.

He blamed the Taleban for putting Afghan civilians in harm's way.

"The bulls-eye needs to be squarely placed on the Taleban with regards to these types of putting civilians at risk," he said. "The enemy is operating in high concentrations of civilians. They are doing it premeditatively. They are putting [using] civilians as human shields. That is very disturbing to all soldiers because we go to great lengths, as commanders and as soldiers on the ground, to protect the lives of civilians during the course of our operations."

Wiggins says the thought process commanders go through before ordering air strikes is very calculated and methodical.

Israel Launches Air Strikes on Gaza as Palestinian Factions Call Truce

By Robert Berger Jerusalem 16 May 2007

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Israel has launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip in response to rocket attacks, leaving at least five Palestinian militants dead. At the same time, warring Palestinian factions have called another truce aimed at ending fighting that has killed more than 40 people since Friday. Robert Berger reports from the VOA bureau in Jerusalem.

Palestinian men step on a picture of Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh as a protest against the Hamas-Fatah factional fighting, 16 May 2007

Israeli aircraft fired missiles at Hamas militants in Gaza, after more than 20 Palestinian rockets were fired across the border. The Israeli missiles hit Hamas military headquarters in the southern town of Rafah and a car carrying gunmen in northern Gaza.

Israeli air strikes have been rare since a ceasefire with Palestinians in Gaza began more than five months ago. But Hamas, the senior party in a Palestinian coalition government, has stepped up rocket attacks in recent days. Israelis in the hard hit town of Sderot accuse their government of abandoning them.

"We're on the front lines of a war," said one Sderot resident. "We have a very strong army, but instead of the army coming to our defense, they're just allowing us to suffer."

Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Israel is running out of patience.

"Israel cannot allow its citizens to be harmed," Peretz said. "It will take all the necessary action to defend its sovereignty."

Israel launched its strikes as Hamas and the rival Fatah faction fought fierce gun battles on the streets of Gaza City.

The fighting caused heavy casualties, and Palestinians hunkered down in their homes.

This man on the street said that ordinary people are not from Hamas or Fatah. He said people, and especially children, are terrified.

At nightfall, Hamas and Fatah agreed to a ceasefire, the fourth in as many days. Expectations are low. The previous ceasefires quickly collapsed.

US Senate Rejects Measure to Cut Off Funds for Iraq War

By Deborah Tate Capitol Hill 16 May 2007

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The U.S. Senate has rejected a measure that would end funding for U.S. combat operations in Iraq by April 1 of next year. The White House praised the vote, but some Senate Democrats say support is building for the effort to limit funding for the unpopular war. VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

In a procedural vote, the Senate voted 67-29 to reject the measure to cut off funds for the Iraq war by April 1, 2008.

Democrat Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin (r) accompanied by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada (l) gestures during a news conference to discuss Iraq, on Capitol Hill in Washington, 16 May 2007

The measure was sponsored by Democratic Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.

"Redeploying our troops from Iraq will create a more effective integrated strategy to defeat expanding terrorist networks, whether they be in Afghanistan, Somalia, Algeria, Morocco or even here at home," he said. "It is time to end a war that is draining our resources, straining our military and undermining our national security."

The measure divided the Senate's majority Democrats. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, said he opposes any effort to cut funding to U.S. troops.

At the White House, spokesman Tony Snow praised the Senate for voting down the measure.

"We need to send a message that we are engaged and the goal is success in Iraq," said Snow.

But supporters of the bill said their effort is gaining support. In fact, two senators who are seeking the Democratic nomination for president next year who previously were reluctant to limit funding backed the legislation on Wednesday. They are Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.

Anti-war advocates said the vote gives them hope that eventually they will prevail.

"We will have a change in mission in Iraq, away from policing a civil war and to the much more narrow focus of counterterrorism, which is what the American people demand, and we will keep at it and at it and at it until we succeed," said Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat.

In other action, the Senate narrowly rejected a proposal by the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, Senator John Warner of Virginia, which would have cut some U.S. aid to Iraq if the Iraqi government failed to meet certain political and security benchmarks.

At the urging of the White House, Warner included a provision to allow the president to waive the restriction. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called the measure too weak.

The Senate did approve a nonbinding resolution expressing the need to approve funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of the month.

The votes come as lawmakers are seeking a compromise on a bill to fund the wars through September 30 and send it President Bush before a week-long congressional recess at the end of the month.

The House of Representatives passed a measure last week that would fund the wars in two 60-day installments - legislation President Bush says he opposes.

The president has already vetoed one war funding bill on grounds it also included a timeline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Senate Majority Leader Reid wants to avoid another presidential veto and is working with Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky on a compromise funding measure that the House can approve and the president will sign.

Humanitarian Workers Face Extreme Challenges in Chad

By Phuong Tran Goz Beida, Chad 16 May 2007

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In Chad, people are still arriving at camps to escape ethnic violence and bandit attacks along the Sudanese border. Humanitarian workers are often the first to reach out to people escaping from burning villages, rape and looting. Because this remote border area in east Chad is considered a high-danger post, most humanitarian organizations do not allow staff to bring their families. Phuong Tran talked to a Rwandan relief worker in Goz Beida, and has this report for VOA.

Women and children at the Koubigou refugee camp in eastern Chad, 28 March 2007

The only way to get to Goz Beida is by foot or by a plane that lands on a dusty strip of worn earth.

Waves of fighting have pushed Chadians into camps like this one, in Koukou. They arrive daily, some emerging from the forest where they have been in hiding, many for weeks.

This time last year, there were about 25,000 Chadians in these camps. Now, there are some 150,000, scattered throughout the east.

The routine is similar for each wave. New arrivals wait in the 40-plus degree heat for their names to be called so they can pick up a kettle, a mat and blanket.

Some line up to pump water, as humanitarian groups rush to drill more water wells, nearby. Gilbert Nkusi is the water project officer for the United Nations Children's Fund in Goz Beida, eastern Chad.

He says hygiene is horrible here. As more Chadians squeeze into the camps, Nkusi's group tries to disinfect water more quickly, with chloride and ultraviolet rays. This helps to prevent diseases like cholera from spreading in the camps.

As Nkusi checks on the water pumps in each camp, he says the children remind him of his own childhood.

Gilbert Nkusi

"I have lived through what these displaced children have, not understanding why they are separated from their families and not having any idea why there is a conflict," he recalls. "When I was five years old, I was displaced in Rwanda."

Nkusi says he remembers seeing, as a child, fighting between warring ethnic groups. He says, even though different ethnic groups are fighting in Sudan and Chad, the confusion for children caught up in the conflict is the same.

His own five children are in Ottawa, Canada, with his wife. He sees them every two months for about one week.

"Our own families are far from us, which makes it even harder to work in circumstances where almost every day there are attacks by the Janjaweed [Sudanese] militia or rebels fighting against government forces," he explains.

The United Nations cut back its staff in eastern Chad, late last year, because of the increasing violence. Most of those laid off have not returned.

The Chad government says it cannot protect civilians or humanitarian workers in this region.

The United Nations is still negotiating with leaders from both Chad and Sudan to post more international peacekeepers along the lawless and often violent border.

Back at the camp in Koukou, humanitarian worker Nkusi must leave by 18 hours, to avoid being on the streets past the nightly curfew.

Violence Kills 41 Outside Baghdad, US Troops Continue Search for Missing Soldiers

By Barry Newhouse Irbil 16 May 2007

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A car bomb in the violent Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, has killed at least 32 people and wounded dozens more. South of the capital, in Nasiriyah, Iraqi officials say fighting between Iraqi military units and Shi'ite gunmen loyal to cleric Moqtada al Sadr has killed at least nine people. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from northern Iraq that U.S. and Iraqi forces are continuing a massive search for three missing American soldiers.

Injured Iraqis from the village of Abu Saydah in the volatile Diyala province lie at hospital beds in in Sadr City Shiite district in Baghdad, Iraq, 16 May 2007

The car bomb detonated in a market in the town of Abu Saydah in Diyala province. Residents have reported breathing problems, indicating the bomb may have dispersed poisonous fumes, such as chlorine gas which has been used in similar attacks.

U.S. military commanders have sent additional troops to Diyala in recent weeks, blaming a rise in violence on insurgents fleeing the security operation in Baghdad.

Major General William Caldwell told reporters in Baghdad that although additional forces have been sent to Diyala to help counter the insurgents, U.S. commanders are still focused on securing the capital.

"If in fact there are insurgent elements, outlaws, illegal groups that move out of the Baghdad area that allow for the conditions where economic progress, political progress, governance progress can take place and be established. What is key to all of this is the enduring piece of it," he said.

The new Baghdad security plan calls for clearing areas of the city of insurgents and then setting up security stations to ensure militants do not return.

A new U.S. government report indicates that the increased number of U.S. troops and the new tactics of the Baghdad security plan have had little effect on the overall number of attacks in the country. The report from the Government Accountability Office is based on U.S. military data, and says there were an average of 157 attacks each day in March, and 149 per day in April.

Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers continue to search for three missing troops who are believed to have been captured by al-Qaida militants in an ambush Saturday.

Chief U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, speaks to reporters at a press conference in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, 16 May 2006

General Caldwell said commanders will evaluate the conditions that led to the soldiers capture, but right now the focus is on finding them.

"I cannot promise you the results that we are all praying for, but I can promise you that we and our Iraqi counterparts are doing everything we can to find out soldiers," said General Caldwell.

The general said coalition forces have questioned about 600 people and detained 11 during the search.

U.S. commanders say the effort includes surveillance aircraft, spy satellites and house to house searches in the rural, predominantly Sunni, area south of Baghdad where the soldiers went missing.

VOASE0516_Education Report

16 May 2007

Foreign Student Series: US Colleges for the Deaf
A look at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, New York. Part 36 of our series.

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

We are going to talk again this week about higher education for disabled students who want to study in the United States. As we noted last time, the National Federation of the Blind says there are no special colleges or universities for blind students.

But there are for deaf students. One of them is Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. Gallaudet says it is the world's only liberal arts university where everything is designed for deaf or hard-of-hearing students.

On May 9, Robert Davila became the ninth president of Gallaudet University

About two thousand students attend Gallaudet. The cost for international students is about thirty-three thousand dollars a year.

Financial aid is available in the form of scholarships, but only after the first year of studies. Most scholarship aid goes to students in financial need who do well in their first year.

One scholarship for international students is for deaf students from developing countries. Another is just for students from China.

The university also offers an English Language Institute. But Gallaudet says this program does not guarantee acceptance to the university.

In the past year, students at Gallaudet protested over the administration's choice of a new president for the university. The protests resulted in the choice of a different president who is more popular with the students, Robert Davila.

He is a former chief executive officer of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. This technical college is in Rochester, New York. It is one of eight colleges in the Rochester Institute of Technology.

More than one thousand students attend the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. About one hundred of them are international students. They come from Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

The cost is about twenty-eight thousand dollars a year for an international undergraduate student. Foreign graduate students pay about twenty thousand dollars.

Both undergraduate and graduate students can receive limited financial aid. They can also take part in the student employment program. This program makes it possible for students to work at the school.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. You can find links to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and Gallaudet University at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find all of the earlier reports in our Foreign Student Series. If you have a question, write to special@voanews.com, and please tell us your name and country. I'm Steve Ember.

VOASE0516_The Making of a Nation

16 May 2007

Vietnam War: Nixon Tries Secret Peace Talks, but Also Bombs Laos and Invades Cambodia
The president had much greater success dealing with China than he did with the war in Southeast Asia.

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VOICE ONE:

This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Doug Johnson with THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.

(MUSIC)

Today, we continue the story of the thirty-seventh president of the United States, Richard Nixon.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

It is nineteen sixty-nine in America. Richard Nixon is in the first year of his first term in office. His biggest foreign policy problem is the continuing war in Vietnam.

During the election campaign, he had promised to do something to end the war. Some Americans believe the United States should withdraw from Vietnam immediately. Bring the soldiers back home, they say.

Others believe the United States should take whatever measures are necessary to win. Expand the ground war, they say, or use nuclear weapons.

VOICE TWO

The decision is not easy. Withdrawing allied troops would leave South Vietnam alone to fight against communist North Vietnam. And that was the reason the United States became involved in the conflict. It wanted to prevent the Communists from taking over the South. Expanding the military effort would mean more deaths.

Already, by nineteen sixty-nine, more Americans had died in Vietnam than in the Korean War.

VOICE ONE

For Richard Nixon, the war is a terrible test. If he is not able to deal with it, his presidency could end like Lyndon Johnson's ended. Johnson decided not to run for re-election after he lost public and political support for his war policies.

Henry Kissinger

How did the new president deal with the problem? Like Johnson, he made decisions based on information from his advisers. His most important adviser was Henry Kissinger. Kissinger was an expert on foreign relations. He later served as Nixon's secretary of state.

Together, they tried many ways to settle the conflict in Vietnam. It took several years to end American involvement there.

VOICE TWO:

The American efforts were both diplomatic and military. The Nixon administration started new, secret peace talks in Paris. The official peace talks were taking place in Paris at the same time. The administration withdrew some troops from Vietnam.

Yet it sent other troops into Cambodia secretly. And it began dropping bombs on Laos. It also started dropping bombs on North Vietnam again. Former president Johnson had stopped the bomb attacks a few years earlier.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE

Efforts to end American involvement did not begin suddenly. For his first eight months in office, President Nixon made no major policy changes. Then, in October nineteen sixty-nine, he ordered the withdrawal of sixty thousand troops.

He said he acted to speed the peace talks. He also ordered American commanders to give the South Vietnamese most of the responsibility for fighting.

VOICE TWO:

Americans were happy that fewer troops would be involved. But many were unhappy that the withdrawal was not complete. Huge anti-war demonstrations took place in the United States in the autumn of nineteen sixty-nine. On November fifteenth, several hundred thousand people protested in Washington, D.C.

1970: President Nixon announces the Cambodian invasion in a speech to the American people

President Nixon tried to explain his policy to anti-war protesters. A slow withdrawal of troops is not the easy way, he told them, but it is the right way. He also continued his efforts for a military victory.

VOICE ONE:

In the spring of nineteen seventy, American and South Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia. They attacked Communist supply centers there. Early the following year, the Nixon administration decided to provide air and artillery support for a South Vietnamese invasion of Laos. The goal was to stop supplies from reaching North Vietnam through that country.

The military action in Laos lasted forty-four days. South Vietnamese forces destroyed many enemy weapons. However, they also suffered many deaths and injuries. And many American planes were shot down. After six weeks, the South Vietnamese were forced to withdraw.

VOICE TWO:

Many members of the United States Congress were angry. They said the invasion of Laos was another in a long series of failures. The Nixon administration had said that the United States was winning the war. Opposition lawmakers said the administration was lying. Criticism by the American public grew louder, too.

President Nixon answered by saying again that the United States must not permit North Vietnam to take over South Vietnam. Former president Johnson had said the same thing. For a long time, many Americans accepted it. As the war continued, however, public opinion changed.

In nineteen sixty-five, sixty-one percent of those questioned approved the war. By nineteen seventy-one, sixty-one percent did not approve.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The official peace talks in Paris offered little hope of settlement. Over a period of several years, each side made proposals. Then each side rejected the proposals. One American observer said: "As long as either side thinks it can win a military victory, there is no hope for official peace talks."

President Nixon wanted to ease public tension and anger over the war. So he announced that Henry Kissinger had held twelve secret meetings with North Vietnamese officials. But the secret meetings made no more progress than the official talks.

VOICE TWO:

In late March nineteen seventy-two, North Vietnam launched a major offensive. In May, Nixon ordered increased bomb attacks against roads and railways in the North. By the end of August, the communist offensive had been stopped. Yet many lives had been lost. The pressure to withdraw American forces grew stronger.

For the next five months, the Nixon administration continued a policy of official talks, secret meetings, and increased military action. Finally, the president announced that an agreement had been reached at the peace talks in Paris. There would be a ceasefire. And negotiators from the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Viet Cong would sign the official agreement.

VOICE ONE:

Under the terms of the agreement, all American and allied forces would withdraw from South Vietnam. The North and South would be free to settle their conflict without interference from other countries. President Nixon made the official announcement from the White House.

RICHARD NIXON: "At twelve-thirty Paris time today, January twenty-three, nineteen seventy-three, the agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam was initialed by Doctor Henry Kissinger on behalf of the United States and special adviser Le Duc Tho on behalf of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The agreement will be formally signed by the parties participating in the Paris conference on Vietnam on January twenty seven, nineteen-seventy-three, at the international conference center in Paris. ...

"The United States and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam express the hope that this agreement will insure stable peace in Vietnam and contribute to the preservation of lasting peace in Indochina and Southeast Asia."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Another foreign policy problem during the Nixon administration was China. The president had much greater success dealing with this problem than with Vietnam. Communists took power in China in nineteen forty-nine. However, the United States did not recognize the Communist government. Instead, it recognized the Nationalist government in Taiwan.

In the early nineteen seventies, the Nixon administration began trying to improve relations. It eased restrictions on travel to China. And it supported a visit to China by the United States table tennis team. Then, President Nixon made a surprise announcement. He, too, would visit China.

With Chou En-lai in 1972

VOICE ONE:

The historic event took place in February, nineteen seventy-two. Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou En-lai greeted the American president. Nixon and Zhou held talks that opened new possibilities for trade. The next year, Nixon sent a representative to open a diplomatic office in Beijing. After more than twenty years, the two countries were communicating again. They established official relations in nineteen seventy-nine.

VOICE TWO:

Many Americans expressed pleasure that tensions between the two countries had decreased. Many were proud to see their president standing on the Great Wall of China.

And at Great Wall

History experts would later agree that it was the greatest moment in the presidency of Richard Nixon.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Doug Johnson. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.