Iraqis Flee to Kurdish North in Search of Safety

By Barry Newhouse Irbil 06 June 2007

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The U.N. refugee agency reported this week that some 4 million Iraqis have been displaced by the war and more than half of those have left the country. The rest are looking for a safe haven in Iraq, and some of those have found it in Iraq's Kurdish north. VOA's Barry Newhouse visited an office keeping track of the displaced Iraqis and has this report.

A worker in the residency office for the Kurdistan Regional Government stamps documents for newly arrived Iraqis in a crowded waiting room. Most of the people here are Sunni Arabs who have come from Baghdad, Mosul and Ramadi. Many of them refuse to talk about their plight.

One man says the situation in Baghdad has become so dire, that despite the ongoing security operation, this week he finally decided to leave.

Displaced resident 'Bashar' at work in an Irbil barbershop

He says he faced many problems in Baghdad from terrorist gangs and from Iraqi security forces that have sectarian agendas. He says the dangers and the economic situation became so bad that he had to flee.

This office issues permits for one of Iraq's three Kurdish-controlled provinces. Since 2005, it has granted temporary residency permits to nearly 30,000 people - a small fraction of those in need.

U.N. refugee agency officials say fleeing Iraqis have overwhelmed local governments in some areas of the country. But U.N. officials also have criticized regions that turn away people who need assistance.

Kurdish security forces restrict entrance to fleeing Iraqis at tightly controlled checkpoints, denying entry to people considered security risks. In general, Kurdish officials say they let in professional workers, such as doctors and engineers, or those who can have a local resident vouch for them.

Recently arrived Arabs in Kurdistan say they understand the need for controlling access.

This man says that he is not disturbed by the practice, because there are some
Iraqis who work with terrorist gangs, and the Kurdish forces must protect the region.

Those Iraqis who qualify for entry say staying in Iraqi Kurdistan is much better option than fleeing to Syria or Jordan. This businessman from Baghdad says in Syria, Iraqi refugees live in a legal limbo, in constant threat of deportation.

He says many families sell their homes and their possessions and go to Syria. But there, even if they have the permit from the U.N. refugee office, they will spend all of their savings, because there are no jobs. He says life there is expensive. In Kurdistan, he says, you can work.

But the influx of wealthy Iraqis has pushed up the cost of living for Irbil residents as well. This Iraqi man, who has arrived recently, says he understands the locals are getting upset.

He says we know that rents are getting high, and it is bad for the poorest people here. But, he says, "We don't have a choice."

U.N. officials say the plight of Iraqis fleeing violence is getting worse, yet calls for international help have brought few results.

In Irbil's residency office, several Iraqis said they were not looking for handouts, but merely a chance to start over after losing everything.

US Cool to Israeli Dialogue With Syria

By David Gollust State Department 06 June 2007

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U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz discussed Syria, and the Iranian nuclear program, in a meeting Wednesday that opened an annual bilateral strategic dialogue. U.S. officials are making clear their misgivings about an early resumption of Israeli-Syrian talks. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

Condoleezza Rice at the OAS meeting in Panama, 4 Jun 2007

The talks here were preceded by reports of Syrian overtures to Israel about possible negotiations, and comments by Mofaz about the need for Israel to test Syria's intentions.

However the Bush administration has been publicly cool to the idea, with some U.S. officials saying Syria may be seeking dialogue with Israel to relieve diplomatic pressure over its behavior in Lebanon and Iraq.

In comments after a 45-minute meeting between Rice and the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said the issue was raised at the meeting and that the Bush administration is unenthusiastic.

"Look, we're not going to manage Israeli foreign policy," he said. "They'll make their own decisions. But take a look at Syria's behavior over the recent past, and I don't think you're going to find many indications of Syria showing the rest of the world that they are interested in playing a constructive, positive role in trying to bring about a more secure, peaceful region."

For his part, Mofaz told reporters after the meeting Israel agrees with Washington that progress on the Israeli-Palestinian front, rather than a Syrian track, should be the "first priority."

The former Israeli defense minister and army chief of staff confirmed that Israel has been monitoring Syrian military exercises near the Golan Heights, but he said his government believes the activity is mainly defensive in nature.

The meeting here, to be followed by more detailed U.S.-Israeli security discussions Thursday, also dealt with Iran and its nuclear program.

Mofaz said Israel is willing at least until year's end to allow diplomatic efforts to curb the Iranian program to produce results, while also stressing concerns about Iran's support for Lebanon's Hezbollah militiamen, with whom Israel went to war last year:

"Iran continues a military nuclear program, and I believe that diplomatic efforts should [be allowed to] bear results, until the end of 2007," he said. "Speaking about Iran, I would like to add that the Iranians are continuing to re-build and re-supply the Hezbollah, mainly with long-range rockets that endanger the southern and central parts of Israel."

Spokesman McCormack said both Mofaz and Secretary Rice expressed hope that the postponement of Wednesday's planned meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be brief, that the leaders' dialogue, brokered by Rice earlier this year, will continue.

Officials say Rice is preparing another trip to the Middle East later this month that is expected to include a meeting in Cairo of the international Middle East Quartet and officials of the Arab League.

The Quartet, which includes the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, is seeking to revive Israel-Palestinian talks based on its 2003 Middle East peace "road map."

The Arab League, for its part, reaffirmed several weeks ago its 2002 overture offering Israel Arab-wide normalized relations if it reaches a peace deal with the Palestinians and withdraws to 1967 borders.

There are reports that Prime Minister Olmert and Mr. Abbas will be invited to the Arab League-Quartet meeting, but a senior U.S. diplomat said he could not confirm that.

Mr. Olmert is due to meet President Bush in Washington June 19, less than a week before the anticipated Cairo gathering on June 25.

In Egypt, Legacy of 1967 Defeat Still Burns

By Challiss McDonough Cairo 06 June 2007

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Egyptian airplanes are seen destroyed on the runway after being bombed by Israeli warplanes during the Six Day War, June 1967

As countries throughout the Middle East mark the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, also known as the Six-Day War, the sting of the rapid military defeat is still sharply felt in Egypt and across the Arab world. Increasingly, critics are noting another side of the war's legacy, saying the humiliating military loss to Israel has been used to justify authoritarian rule. VOA Correspondent Challiss McDonough has more from Cairo.

The rapid and extreme military defeat stung all three Arab states that fought in the war. All three lost territory; in six days, Israeli troops took the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt.

For the people of Egypt, where then-revered leader Gamal Abdel Nasser had touted the country's military might as unparalleled, the defeat was especially shocking, because it shattered the nation's carefully cultivated myth of invulnerability.

Cairo resident Ahmed Awad was 22-years old at the time, and remembers the war well.

He says "In the beginning I can tell you that everyone truly believed that in two hours, we could invade Israel and seize it all, and that would be it, we would have taken it. Because what is this Israel? And how many millions are we?"

The Egyptian press tried to convince the people that they were winning the war. Awad, now 62, was then living in the town of Suez, near the canal. As he saw exhausted and battered Egyptian soldiers returning from Sinai, he slowly realized that the reports of victories were lies.

Political and military analyst Mohamed el-Sayed Said is a deputy head of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

Egyptian prisoners are guarded by Israeli troops after being captured near Al Arish in the Sinai during the Six Day War, June 1967

"The 1967 defeat was like throwing us all into the gates of Hell," he said. "It shocked us to the bones, and obviously changed dramatically the chemistry of political and cultural life in the country."

People in the Arabic-speaking world usually refer to the Six-Day War as "naksa," the Arabic word for setback. Originally, the term was aimed at downplaying the significance of the defeat. But this year especially, critics are saying the Arab world has suffered 1,001 setbacks since 1967.

In the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, a political cartoon showed a man with a calendar, where every single day is June 5.

The lingering legacy is still felt acutely in Egypt, which at the time of the war was a leader of the Arab world. But in the 40 years since, Egypt has lost much of its stature. A newspaper columnist recently wrote that Egyptians blame the 1967 defeat for everything from price hikes to sexual impotence.

The complaints echo a common frustration with what many people here see as the stagnation or regression of Egyptian society in many areas, including education, culture, politics, the economy and even sports.

Mohammed el-Sayed Said says one legacy of the defeat is the rise of political Islam, as disappointment in Mr. Nasser's secular Pan-Arabism began to turn more and more young people toward Islamist movements. He says secular reformers, having failed in their bid to democratize Egypt, are "totally demoralized."

"Well when we reminisce over the last 40 years, the greatest frustration is not the defeat itself, it is in fact the failure of the reform movement to bring about democracy, because that was the focus of all political and cultural criticism that focused on explaining the 1967 defeat," Said said. "We have all come to agree that the defeat is caused by the lack of transparency, lack of checks and balances, lack of accountability and lack of, you know generally, democracy."

To mark the anniversary, Arab satellite TV stations are broadcasting grainy old television footage of the battles and speeches surrounding the war. Egyptian newspapers are full of bleak commentary, much of it critical of the Arab regimes.

An unsigned editorial in the Egyptian opposition weekly newspaper Al-Dustour said after 40 years, Egypt has failed to learn any true lessons from the war. The paper wrote "The lesson was clear: If we want victory over our enemies, we must build a democratic country."

But Al Dustour said after 40 years, Egypt is still ruled by one man "who always takes us backward while other nations move forward."

In the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, columnist Abdullah Iskandar blasted Arab leaders for failing to analyze and address the root causes of the defeat. He accused them of focusing more on retaining their own power. Iskandar says the 1967 war has been used as "a justification for despotism and totalitarianism, and a pretext to suppress Arab society."

He writes that "forty years ago, the choice was between a military regime resulting from a coup, or a pluralistic democratic system." He says today, the options are "a despotic ruler on the one hand, and fundamentalism and civil wars on the other."

Somali Radio Stations Silenced After Ethiopian PM's Visit

By Katy Migiro Nairobi 06 June 2007

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The Somali government has closed down three main FM stations in the capital, Mogadishu. Katy Migiro reports for VOA that the media clampdown follows a surprise visit by the Ethiopian Prime Minister aimed at shoring up confidence in the Somali government.

Shabelle Media Network, Horn Afrik and IQK, a Koranic radio station, were all shut down by a Somali government decree.

This is the second time these three radio stations have been targeted in the past six months. No reason has been given for this latest closure.

But announcer Mohamed Kawashito, of Radio Puntland that operates in the semi-autonomous northern region of Somalia, says private radio stations are shut down when they criticize the government. The stations have in the past been accused of pro-Islamic bias.

"Several times the traditional government has banned the Shabelle radio, Horn Afrik radio," he said. "We do not know the reason, but I think sometimes the local station and local media pointed to bad things or the bad situation in the central government or traditional government."

Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi (l) is welcomed by Somali PM Ali Mohamed Gedi (r) on his arrival at Mogadishu airport, 05 Jun 2007

Tuesday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi paid a surprise visit to Mogadishu. Mr. Meles' trip was aimed at boosting the morale of his troops, which invaded and occupied Somalia in December, as well as that of Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi who survived a fourth assassination attempt on Sunday.

But the secretive nature of the unpublicized Meles trip only underscored how dangerous and violent the Somali capital is.

Nairobi-based Somali analyst Daudi Aweis compares Meles trip to the surprise visits by U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Iraq, which he fears Somalia is starting to resemble, especially in the increasing numbers of suicide attacks against targets regarded by some as supporting a foreign occupying force.

Aweis says the only solution to Somalia's problems is through negotiations, not violence.

"The best way forward is to have negotiations, because all these problems are well known," he said. "If they are discussed deeply, a solution can be obtained. But the military solution will not be the best option to solve these problems. Because if you try to defeat one side or to exclude one group from the Cabinet or from the government, it means that that group, according to their clan lines, they are going to regroup. It takes for them two or three years and they can come back. So the problem is there again."

Aweis believes there is little hope that progress will be made at the national reconciliation conference, due to open on June 14.

The transitional government has said it will not talk with the Islamic Courts, ousted in December, and the Islamic Courts say they will not come to the negotiating table until Ethiopian troops withdraw.

Iraqi Commander Defends Security Operation Despite Report Citing

By Barry Newhouse Irbil, Iraq 06 June 2007

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Iraqi police say two car bombs in a Shi'ite district of Baghdad have killed at least seven people and wounded more than 25 others. The Iraqi commander in charge of the Baghdad security plan has defended the operation's success, following an internal U.S. military report indicating progress in securing neighborhoods in the capital has been slow. Meanwhile, U.S. military says four American soldiers have been killed in Iraq, pushing the U.S. death toll in more than four years of war in the country toward 3,500. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from northern Iraq.

Two massive car bombs exploded near Baghdad's most revered Shiite Muslim shrine, located in the capital's Kazimiyah district. Witnesses said the blasts appeared to target civilians in the Shi'ite majority district.

Large vehicle bombs continue to obstruct American and Iraqi efforts to secure the capital. In several raids Wednesday targeting al Qaida-linked car-bomb networks, U.S. forces killed two suspected terrorists and captured 10 others.

Iraqi police commandos man a checkpoint on Baghdad's Palestine street, 05 Jun 2007

A U.S. military report this week said efforts to secure the capital are moving more slowly than expected. An Iraqi military spokesman for the Baghdad security plan defended the operation, saying troops are changing tactics to clear violent neighborhoods.

General Qasim al Muslawi says commanders are rotating troops out of troubled neighborhoods and replacing them with larger numbers of soldiers. He also says he needs more cooperation from citizens to help limit the ability of terrorists to move around.

The success of the Baghdad security plan is key to stabilizing the country and strengthening Iraq's divided government. But many Iraqi and American lawmakers remain skeptical of its chance for success.

On Tuesday, a faction of lawmakers loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pushed through legislation that will require Iraq's government to seek the approval of parliament before extending the U.N. mandate for U.S. forces. The current mandate expires December 31.

In an interview with an American radio network, NPR, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said if American forces leave Iraq, the situation could worsen.

Nouri al-Maliki (file photo)

Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki urged Iraqi forces to continue efforts to secure the country and to focus on pursuing foreign-supported militia groups.

The prime minister says some countries think Iraq is weak and the current situation is a chance for them to gain power by supporting militia groups. He says one, strong unified Iraq is the best thing for everyone.

Sectarian attacks continue to hurt efforts at unifying the country's numerous religious and ethnic groups.

On Tuesday, near the Shi'ite holy city Najaf, a close aide to the country's most revered Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani was killed at home. Police said unidentified gunmen drove by the house of Raheem al-Hasnawi, shooting him dead.

VOASE0606_Education Report

06 June 2007

Foreign Student Series: Studying Religion in the US
We look at one of the largest seminaries in North America in Part 40 of our Foreign Student Series.

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

A Chinese woman studying business law in Japan has a question about studying a different kind of law. Wang Yuxian says she is a Christian and would like to know about theological seminary programs for foreign students in the United States.

A ceremony at St. John's Seminary in Boston

A theological seminary is a graduate school of religion and a professional school for training religious leaders.

Foreign students who want to study at a seminary in the United States apply just as they would to any other graduate school. They have to meet the academic and English language requirements and prove they would be able to pay for their studies.

Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, is one of the largest in North America. Today it has more than four thousand students from about seventy countries.

Fuller is one of two hundred fifty-three schools accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. An accredited school is one that has passed inspection by a rating group like the association. All of the schools are Christian. But other schools train leaders in Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and other faith traditions.

The Fuller Theological Seminary opened in nineteen forty-seven. It has three schools: Theology, Intercultural Studies and Psychology. It also has a center for lifelong learning.

Students at Fuller can earn a doctor of ministry degree or more than twenty other graduate degrees. Examples include a master's degree in marital and family therapy and a master's in global leadership.

There are also degree programs taught in Korean and Spanish. And Fuller admits some students through its English as a second language program.

Some degree programs cost more than others. One year at Fuller can cost anywhere from twelve thousand to twenty-four thousand dollars.

International students can apply for scholarships and grants. But Fuller says that normally they will not be permitted to work during the time of their studies. The same is true for family members.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. We began our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States in September. We are almost at the end of the series. But all of the reports, including this one, can be found along with links to helpful sites at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

VOASE0606_The Making of a Nation

06 June 2007

American History: Jimmy Carter Wins the 1976 Presidential Election
The Democrat had been governor of the southern state of Georgia and, before that, a nuclear engineer and a peanut farmer. He defeated Gerald Ford, who took office after Richard Nixon resigned.

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VOICE ONE:

This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE TWO:

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

(MUSIC)

Today, we tell about the presidential election of nineteen seventy-six.

VOICE ONE:

Gerald Ford is sworn-in by Chief Justice Warren Burger. At center is Ford's wife, Betty.

When Vice President Gerald Ford became president in nineteen seventy-four, he took office during a crisis. For the first time in American history, a president -- Richard Nixon -- had resigned.

He resigned as a result of the case known as Watergate. It involved the cover-up of illegal activities. Officials in Richard Nixon's administration had lied about Watergate. They also had misled the public about the war in Vietnam.

VOICE TWO:

After Vietnam and Watergate, many Americans no longer believed their public officials. At this difficult time, Gerald Ford dealt with the public calmly. In one speech, for example, he said, "The state of the Union is not good."

One political observer said President Ford brought respect back to the government. Yet just a little more than two years after Ford became president, American voters rejected him. In the presidential election of nineteen seventy-six, they chose the Democratic candidate, Jimmy Carter, instead. Why?

VOICE ONE:

One reason was that Ford had pardoned Nixon. He announced a presidential pardon for any crimes for which Nixon might have been responsible. This made many people angry. Another reason was that Ford refused to give federal money to New York and other cities with special needs. Many voters felt this showed that he was not concerned about poor people and their problems.

Others believe that unemployment and inflation defeated Gerald Ford. He was not able to deal effectively with these problems during his short presidency.

For these reasons, there was competition for the Republican Party nomination in nineteen seventy-six. Ford's chief opponent was Ronald Reagan, governor of California.

VOICE TWO:

The Democratic Party thought that voter anger about Watergate would help the Democratic candidate become president. Eleven Democrats campaigned for the nomination. Two well-known politicians did not campaign. But they said they would serve if no other candidate won the party's support. They were former Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Senator Edward Kennedy.

VOICE ONE:

One of the lesser-known candidates was the former governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter. Political experts gave him little chance of winning the nomination, because most Democrats did not know him. Whenever his supporters talked about him, others always seemed to say, "Jimmy, who?"

Carter used this problem to help win more recognition. Whenever he met voters, he would say, "Hello! I am Jimmy Carter, and I am running for president."

Jimmy Carter

VOICE TWO:

People liked Jimmy Carter. Before becoming governor of Georgia, he had been a nuclear engineer and a peanut farmer. Again and again, he told people that he was not part of the established political power system in Washington. He also had strong religious beliefs. This appealed to a lot of Americans.

Many voters supported Carter in the local Democratic primary elections before the party's nominating convention. His victory in the Florida primary was especially important. He defeated another southern politician, Governor George Wallace of Alabama.

VOICE ONE:

Carter represented what was called the "New South" in the United States. He made it clear that he opposed ideas of the "Old South". These included racial separation and mistreatment of black Americans.

George Wallace spoke of creating a better life for both blacks and whites. Yet he had strongly defended racial separation for most of his political life. Many people remembered pictures of Governor Wallace at the University of Alabama in nineteen sixty-three. The pictures showed him blocking the door to prevent two young blacks from attending the school.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The Republican primaries had mixed results for President Ford. In New Hampshire, he won only fifty-one percent of the vote. Ronald Reagan won forty-nine percent. It was a poor showing for a president in office. But in Massachusetts he got two votes for every one vote that Reagan got.

Reporters said Ford and Reagan debated about issues that were not very important or interesting. The campaign did show, however, that Reagan was more conservative than Ford.

For example, Reagan talked strongly about United States control of the Panama Canal. "We built it," he said. "We paid for it. And we are going to keep it." In his campaign speeches, Ford denounced extremism. It was clear he was speaking about Reagan.

VOICE ONE:

Ford and Reagan won almost the same amount of support in the Republican primaries. Yet many convention delegates remained undecided. This was a dangerous situation for the Republican Party. Party leaders did not want a fight over undecided votes at the nominating convention. Such disunity could damage the chances of the party's candidate against the Democratic candidate in the general election.

VOICE TWO:

The situation was similar in the Democratic Party. As support for Jimmy Carter increased, Democrats who did not like him began to say, "Anybody but Carter." But Carter was not to be stopped. He kept repeating that he did not have ties to groups that tried to influence government policies. He would be different, he said. And that sounded like what the people wanted.

VOICE ONE:

Carter won the Democratic primaries in Georgia, Alabama, and Indiana. The other candidates fell hopelessly behind.

At the party convention, he was nominated on the first vote. In his acceptance speech, he repeated the line he had made famous: "I am Jimmy Carter. And I am running for president." Carter said there was a fear that America's best years were over. He said the nation's best was still to come.

The Democratic convention chose Walter Mondale, a senator from Minnesota, to be the party's vice presidential candidate.

VOICE TWO:

A month before the Republican Party convention, Ronald Reagan made a costly political mistake. He said that -- if he won the nomination -- he would want Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania to be the vice presidential candidate.

Conservatives were angry, because Schweiker was a liberal Republican. Some political observers say this is why Reagan lost the nomination to President Ford. Ford won by one hundred-seventeen votes.

Many of the delegates then wanted Reagan to be the party's vice presidential candidate. But Reagan was not interested. Instead, the nomination went to Senator Robert Dole of Kansas.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The general campaign started in September nineteen seventy-six. In one speech, President Ford said, "The question in this campaign is not who has the better vision of America. The question is who will act to make the vision a reality."

Political experts said that what happened during the next two months was uninteresting. One newspaper said the campaign left the voters feeling sleepy.

Ford and Carter agreed to debate each other on television. Nobody had done that since Nineteen-Sixty, when Richard Nixon and John Kennedy held several television debates.

VOICE TWO:

Many people thought Ford did a little better than Carter in the first debate. In the second debate, however, President Ford made a mistake. He said the Soviet Union did not control eastern Europe -- and never would in a Ford administration. For some voters, the statement added to their belief that President Ford was not very intelligent.

The third debate did not have a clear winner. Public opinion studies showed that many voters were still undecided.

VOICE ONE:

Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter in the inaugural parade

The race for the presidency was very close. Jimmy Carter won with fifty-one percent of the popular vote. President Ford won forty-eight percent.

Two years before, most Americans had not known Jimmy Carter's name. Now, many of those same people had elected him the thirty-ninth president of the United States.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

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

VOICE ONE:

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