INTERNATIONAL World News Roundup
Commanders
Petraeus successor
ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008
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Odierno back as Iraq chief
WASHINGTON, Sept 10, (AP): Home barely long enough to knock the Iraq dust off his boots, Lt Gen Ray Odierno is returning to Baghdad to command a slowly shrinking force in possibly the final phase of American combat action. Odierno, who finished a 15-month stint as the No 2 commander in February, moves up a spot next Tuesday, succeeding Gen David Petraeus as the overall commander of US and allied forces in Iraq. Petraeus’ 20 months at the helm took Iraq from the brink of all-out civil war to a state of relative calm. With his new assignment, Odierno will rise in rank from three- to four-star general. It will fall to Odierno to chart a US-Iraqi course for consolidating the hard-fought security Odierno gains and setting the stage for an eventual US withdrawal. He arrives at a point of tension over Iraqi leaders’ insistence that all American forces — not just the combat troops — depart by 2011. The United Nations mandate that is the legal basis for the US military presence expires in December. Early in his tenure, Odierno will have the touchy task of advising the next president on how fast a US pullout should proceed. Odierno has been a staunch advocate of the “conditions-based” approach to judging US troop requirements in Iraq — linking such decisions to an assessment of key trends such as levels of violence, the strength of insurgent groups and changes in the quality and numbers of Iraqi government troops. Republican presidential nominee John McCain subscribes to that approach, whereas his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, has said he would set a timetable for removing US troops.
Republican presidential candidate Sen John McCain, R-Ariz reaches to supporters during a campaign rally at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa on Sept 9. (Inset): Republic vice-presidential candidate Alaska Gov Sarah Palin speaks during a campaign rally at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa on Tuesday. (AP) daily allowance, normally used for official travel, for more than 300 nights spent at her home, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. An analysis of travel statements filed by the governor, now John McCain’s running mate, shows she claimed the per diem allowance on 312 occasions when she was home in the town of Wasilla and that she billed taxpayers $43,490 for travel by her husband and children. Per diem payments are meant for meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business. State officials told The Post her claims — nearly $17,000 over 19 months — were permitted because her “duty station” is Juneau, the capital, and she was in Wasilla 600 miles (965 kms) away. Palin spends little time at the governor’s mansion in Juneau, especially when the state Legislature is out of session, and instead prefers to live in Wasilla and commute to her office in Anchorage. Palin’s spending and record in office are coming under intense scrutiny as she is presented to the nation as a champion of ethics reform and frugal use of tax dollars — as a leader who put the state jet on sale on eBay and drives herself to work. The Post’s analysis shows her husband Todd and their daughters were reimbursed by taxpayers for many trips between Wasilla and Juneau as well as for a variety of other travel that was also listed as state business. Palin’s aides said travel by Alaska’s first family is part of the job. But it’s not clear when children’s travel expenses should be covered. State finance director Kim Garnero told the paper the government covers the travel costs of anyone conducting state business and, “I can’t imagine kids could be doing that.” (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Franken, a comedian and former liberal radio talk show host, won the Democratic nomination Tuesday to run for a US Senate seat from Minnesota. In the November election, he will face incumbent Republican Sen Norm Coleman and the Independence Party’s Dean Barkley, who also won their nominating contests, according to returns from the state’s primary election. Franken, who once starred on the late-night sketch comedy program “Saturday Night Live,’’ outran six opponents, taking 66 percent of the vote, with more than half the returns counted. Coleman had only token opposition. Barkley, who was appointed briefly to the US Senate by former third-party Gov Jesse Ventura after Democratic Sen Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash in 2002, topped a field of seven candidates. Minnesota is one of several battleground states as Democrats try to maintain or expand their slim control over the US Senate. (RTRS)
Chart
It will probably also fall to Odierno to chart further progress, or lack of it, in Iraq in televised congressional hearings that made a star of his predecessor. Tall, with a barrel chest and hound-dog jowls, Odierno will cut a memorable figure for the cameras. Petraeus himself is skipping the next round of congressional hearings in Iraq, leaving it to his boss, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, to appear before Congress on Wednesday. Odierno will answer to Petraeus, who will take over in late October as chief of US Central Command, the headquarters overseeing US military involvement throughout the Middle East, as well as Afghanistan and the rest of Central Asia. Odierno and Petraeus know each other well; for the final 12 months of Odierno’s time in Baghdad as the No 2 commander, his immediate superior was Petraeus. Odierno also knows well the man who will be his American political partner in Baghdad, Ambassador Ryan Crocker. By most accounts, Petraeus and Odierno formed an effective partnership. Their relationship will be more complicated this time, in part because Petraeus will view Iraq from a different perspective, since his command responsibilities will include a wider range of challenges, including the prospect of conflict with Iran, the instability in Pakistan and relations with Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia.
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen Joe Biden, D-Del, speaks to supporters at Mehlville High School in St Louis on Sept 9. (AP)
Wooten
French
Rangel urged to step aside: US House
America
Trooper not contacted by investigator:
The Alaska state trooper at the heart of a legislative investigation into whether Gov Sarah Palin abused her power said he has not been contacted by the man overseeing the inquiry. The Legislature is investigating whether Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president, fired former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan because he would not dismiss trooper Mike Wooten. Wooten went through a messy divorce from Palin’s sister. But nearly six weeks into the investigation, Wooten told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he has not been contacted by the Legislature’s investigator, former Anchorage prosecutor Stephen Branchflower. “I have not been contacted by him, nor will I contact him,” Wooten said. “If he wants to talk to me, I will cooperate 100 percent with him, but he has not contacted me.” Meanwhile, Monegan said that Branchflower will interview him in Anchorage on Wednesday for the investigation. He said that he still believes he was fired because Wooten remained on the force but that he has tried not to follow developments in the case. “I think I do that for as much self-preservation as anything else,” he said. “I haven’t been avoiding all the reports, but I don’t seek them out, either.” Wooten, 36, admits using a Taser on his stepson but said he poses no threat to the Palin family and did not drink in his patrol car as they alleged in a 2005 complaint before Palin was elected governor. Now Wooten has become known nationally because of the investigation. State Sen Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat who is overseeing the inquiry, did not immediately return calls for comment. Wooten said he had heard rumblings at work that the Palin administration was trying to get him off the force these last few years. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑
Transition
“My sense is that it will be a very smooth transition,” said Nathan Freier, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who was among Odierno’s top advisers in Baghdad in the summer of 2007. Freier is among a relatively small number of Iraq specialists who met privately with Odierno in Washington this summer as the general sought out a range of opinions and views about how to move forward in Iraq. Another he consulted in August was Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations, a regular visitor to Iraq and a sometime adviser to Petraeus. Neither Biddle nor Freier would disclose what Odierno said or was told in the consultations, but Biddle said in a recent telephone interview that he is worried Odierno may be facing an Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who is bent on using his growing political clout — and the increasingly powerful Iraqi army — to crush his political opponents. For Odierno, this will be his third and final tour in Iraq. His first, in 2003, was as commander of the 4th Infantry Division, which was responsible for an area north of Baghdad that included the tribal home of Saddam Hussein, who fled his palaces as US troops conquered the capital in April and remained in hiding until Odierno’s soldiers captured him in an underground bunker in December 2003.
of Representatives Republican leaders on Tuesday called on New York Democrat Charles Rangel to step down as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee pending a House investigation of possible ethical breaches. In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Republican leaders questioned Rangel’s ability to lead the committee after his lawyer revealed last week that he failed to report $100,000 of income from a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic. Rangel, who has represented New York City’s Harlem district for 38 years, plans to Rangel hold a news conference on Wednesday to discuss the tax filing error and to answer the Republican letter, an aide said. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑
Travel allowance tapped at home:
Republican vice-presidential nominee and Alaska Gov Sarah Palin has charged her state a
Go for third – Paul: Libertarian-leaning congressman Ron Paul is urging voters to reject John McCain and Barack Obama and support one of the third-party candidates for president. Paul, a Republican who abandoned his presidential bid earlier this year, is gathering some of the candidates, independent Ralph Nader among them, on Wednesday to make his plea. “The strongest message can be sent by rejecting the two-party system,” Paul said in prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press. “This can be accomplished by voting for one of the non-establishment, principled candidates.” He recommended Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party, former Georgia Republican Rep Bob Barr of the Libertarian Party, former Georgia Democratic Rep Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party and possibly others. He invited them to his news conference Wednesday. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑ Franken wins Senate nomination: Al