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Thursday, January 12, 2012

Video shows US soldiers urinating on dead Taliban


The video appear to be showing American forces urinating on dead Taliban fighters. It has also sparked promises of a U.S. investigation on Thursday, but the Taliban said it would not harm nascent efforts to broker peace talks. The video, posted on YouTube and other websites, shows four men in camouflage Marine combat uniforms urinating on three corpses. One of them jokes: "Have a nice day, buddy." Another makes a lewd joke. It is likely to stir up already strong anti-U.S. sentiment in Afghanistan after a decade of a war that has seen other cases of abuse, and that could complicate efforts to promote reconciliation as foreign troops gradually withdraw. "Such action will leave a very, very bad impact on peace efforts," Arsala Rahmani, a senior member of the Afghan government s High Peace Council, told Reuters. The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, seeing a glimmer of hope after months of efforts to broker talks, is launching a fresh round of shuttle diplomacy this weekend. Marc Grossman, Obama s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, will fly into the region for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and top officials in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. His immediate goal is to seal agreement for the Taliban to open a political office in the Gulf state of Qatar. Despite concerns when the video first emerged that it would not help his efforts build confidence among the warring parties, a Taliban spokesman said although the images were shocking, the tape would not affect talks or a mooted prisoner release. "This is not the first time we see such brutality," said spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. "We know that our country is occupied...This is not a political process, so the video will not harm our talks and prisoner exchange because they are at the preliminary stage." The U.S. Marine Corps has said it will investigate. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan described the acts depicted in the video as "disrespectful" and "inexplicable". "This behaviour dishonours the sacrifices and core values of every service member representing the 50 nations of the coalition," ISAF said in a statement, adding that a U.S. criminal investigation had been launched. Karzai s office declined immediate comment.

Iran says N-scientist killed by Israeli, US agents


Tehran has blamed Israeli and US agents but insist the killing would not derail a nuclear programme that has raised fears of war and threatened world oil supplies. The fifth daylight attack on technical experts in two years, the killer s magnetic bomb delivered a targeted blast to the door of 32-year-old Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan s silver sedan as he drove down a busy street close to Tehran University during the morning rush hour. The chemical engineer s passenger also died, Iranian media said, while a passer-by was slightly hurt. Israel, whose military chief had warned Iran only on Tuesday to expect more mysterious mishaps, declined to comment. While many analysts saw Israeli or Western involvement as eminently plausible, the role of local or other Middle Eastern hands in a deadly shadow war of bluff and sabotage could not be ruled out. The killing, which left debris hanging in trees and body parts on the road, came in a week of heightened tension: Iran has started an underground uranium enrichment plant and sentenced an American to death for spying; Washington and Europe have stepped up efforts to cripple Iran s oil exports for its refusal to halt work that the West says betrays an ambition to build nuclear weapons, not the power plants Iran claims. Iran has threatened to choke the West s supply of Gulf oil, drawing a U.S. warning that its navy was ready to open fire to prevent any blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. However, analysts saw the latest assassination, which would have taken some preparation, as part of a longer-running, cover effort to thwart Iran s nuclear development programme that has also included suspected computer viruses and mystery explosions. While fears of war have forced up oil prices, the region has seen periods of sabre-rattling and limited bloodshed before without reaching all-out conflict. However, a willingness in Israel, which sees an imminent Iranian atom bomb as a threat to its existence, to attack Iranian nuclear sites, with or without U.S. backing, has heightened the sense that a crisis is coming.