8 theSun | TUESDAY JULY 14 2009

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Obama orders probe into killings in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON: US President Barack
Obama said in an interview yesterday
that he has ordered a probe into at-
tempts to quash an investigation into
the mass execution of Taliban prison-
ers in Afghanistan.
The New York Times reported
on Friday that top officials from the
previous administration of president
George W. Bush discouraged sepa-
rate probes by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the State Department
and the Pentagon.
They wanted to hush up the killing
of up to 2,000 prisoners in 2001 be-
cause it was carried out by the forces
of General Abdul Rashid Dostam, an
Afghan warlord then on the Central
Intelligence Agency’s payroll, it said.
“The indications that this had not
been properly investigated just re-
cently was brought to my attention,”
Obama told CNN television during
his visit to Ghana over the weekend.
“So what I’ve asked my national
security team to do is to collect the
facts for me that are known, and we’ll
probably make a decision in terms
of how to approach it once we have
all of the facts gathered up,” Obama
said, according to excerpts released
by CNN.
“I think that, you know, there are
responsibilities that all nations have,
even in war,” Obama told CNN.
“And if it appears that our conduct
in some way supported violations of
laws of war, then I think that, you
know, we have to know about that.”
A powerful commander in control
of a section of northern Afghanistan,
Dostam first allied with the Soviets
during their invasion of the country
in the 1980s.
But later he sided with the
Americans and received military and
CIA support after the United States
invaded Afghanistan in the wake of
the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.
Dostam’s militia worked closely
with US Special Forces and was
part of the Northern Alliance, which
helped the United States topple the
Taliban.
Dostam also served as a defence
official in the government of Afghan
President Hamid Karzai, who is fac-
ing elections this year.
The killings took place in late
November 2001, shortly after the
invasion that ousted Kabul’s Taliban
government.
Taliban prisoners captured by
Dostam’s forces after a major battle in
northeastern Kunduz province were
allegedly packed into shipping con-
tainers and left to suffocate, or were
shot through the container walls,
before being buried in mass graves.
Estimates on the number of people
killed have ranged from several hun-
dred to several thousand.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-
based group Physicians for Human
Rights found the mass grave site in
the northwestern Dasht-i-Laili desert
in January 2002.
“President Obama is right to say
that US and Afghan violations of the
laws of war must be investigated,”
Nathaniel Raymond, PHR’s lead
researcher in the case, said in a state-
ment.
“If the Obama administration finds
that criminal wrongdoing occurred in
this case, those responsible – whether
American or Afghan officials – must
be prosecuted,” he added.
Raymond said the White House
should support the appointment of
a criminal prosecutor to investigate
the US use of torture as well as the
creation of a commission of inquiry
to gather all the facts in the case.
– AFP

Minister warns Brown

over spending cutbacks
LONDON: Lord Adonis, the Secretary of
State for Transport , has become the first
senior minister to launch an offensive
against cuts to his major spending plans,
ruling out any withdrawal of support for
his ambitious high-speed rail line despite
growing pressure on the government to
cut some big projects.
In an interview with The Independent,
Lord Adonis issues a clear message to
sceptics as well as to the Prime Minister
that he will not tolerate any attempt to
sacrifice the high-speed line, which could
cost the public around £8 billion (RM46
billion.
It comes as pressure grows on Gor-
don Brown from his own party to “come
clean” over spending and admit that
some sacred cows will have to go. Data
released by the Centre for Economics and
Business Research suggests that around
£100 billion (RM580 billion) in tax rises
and spending cuts will be needed by 2018
to restore the public finances.
The Prime Minister’s support for a
high-speed rail line, ultimately linking
London to Glasgow, was central to the
deal that saw Lord Adonis move to the
Department for Transport (DfT) last
year. Allies believe he could walk out
of Brown’s cabinet should backing for
the project waver. The government’s
spending plans beyond 2011 remain a
mystery, though the Chancellor, Alistair
Darling, has promised that more details
of future spending will be laid out ahead
of the next election. Brown has said that
“hard choices” will have to be made, but
has stubbornly refused to reveal where
spending cuts will come.
However, Lord Adonis signalled that
he will not compromise over his chosen
pet project, despite the prospect of a dec-
ade of spending cuts.
“High-speed rail is a long-term
project. The fact that we have constrained
finances for the next few years shouldn’t
lead us to constrain our ambition,” Lord
Adonis said.
“On the contrary. What we’re plan-
ning for is the infrastructure we will
need over the next generation. We won’t
be spending serious money on it for at
least five years. The bane of infrastruc-
ture planning in this country has been
the failure to think for the long term and
to cancel projects because of very short-
term funding constraints.”
The jockeying among ministers for a
major slice of a limited pot of money is set
to kick off in earnest after the Pre-Budget
Report in the autumn, when Darling
will announce his projections for the
economy. The Independent understands
that some discussions over future spend-
ing plans have begun at an official level.
Currently, several departments are
working on the basis that they will con-
tinue to be looked upon favourably by the
Treasury. – The Independent
‘North Korean leader Kim
has pancreatic cancer’
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il, 67, has life-threatening
pancreatic cancer, South Korean
broadcaster YTN said yesterday,
citing information gathered from
Chinese and South Korean intel-
ligence sources.
The report raises questions
about leadership in Asia’s only
community dynasty and who
will make decisions concerning
its nuclear programmes.
Kim’s health is one of the
most closely guarded secrets
China’s in the reclusive state but he is
widely thought to have suffered
far-west a stroke a year ago, although
strife there has never been official
reveals a confirmation.
YTN said the diagnoses of
country the cancer came around the
in flux same time as the stroke.
pg 10 A gaunt Kim with thinning hair
made a rare public appearance
last Wednesday at a memorial
for his father and state founder
Kim Il-sung.
The stark figure he cast
furthered speculation he was
still ill.
South Korea’s National
Intelligence Service could not This picture shows Kim Jong-il on Oct 2, 2007 (left) and
immediately comment on the and a handout photo (right) on July 1, 2009 shows an
report, nor could US officials. older and thinner Kim Jong-Il.
South Korean financial mar-
kets took the YTN report with
caution, saying it cast a shadow over senti- 5.5%. The pancreas makes insulin and other
ment. hormones which help the body use or store
“Such news highlights South Korea’s geo- energy from food.
political uncertainty and risks and one thing Pancreatic cancer occurs more often in
that investors hate is any uncertainty,” said people who have diabetes than in those who
Lee Kyoung-su, a market analyst at Taurus do not, it said, and Kim has been long thought
Investment & Securities. to suffer from diabetes.
North Korea has been raising tension in Kim Jong-il took power in 1994 when his
Asia through missile launches and a nuclear father died at the age of 82. He assumed the
test on May 25 which was met by UN sanc- title of general secretary of the ruling Workers’
tions aimed at cutting off it arms trade, one of Party and chairman of the National Defence
its few sources of hard cash. Commission, but has never taken the title of
South Korean officials said this military president.
grandstanding was aimed at helping Kim build His youngest son Kim Jong-un, born in late
internal support as he prepares for succession, 1983 or early 1984 and educated in Switzer-
with his youngest son seen as the likely heir. land, is regarded as the most capable of Kim’s
The US National Cancer Institute puts the three known sons with striking resemblance
five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer at to his father. – Reuters

Defeated candidate warns of system ‘collapse’ in Iran

TEHERAN: A defeated candi-
date in Iran’s disputed election
has said the Islamic system
may face “collapse” unless it
embraces change, in unusually
blunt language from a prominent
establishment figure.
Conservative Mohsen Rezaie,
a former Revolutionary Guards
commander who finished third
in the June 12 vote won by Mah-
moud Ahmadinejad, called for na-
tional unity in a statement posted
on his website on Sunday.
“Continuation of the current
situation would lead us to col-
lapse from inside,” he wrote. “We
need cooperation and brother-
hood. We need to respect people
and their rights.”
The presidential election
sparked days of street protests
by supporters of moderate can-
didate Mirhossein Mousavi, who
says the vote was rigged in Ah-
madinejad’s favour, and exposed
deepening divisions within the
Islamic Republic’s leadership.
Mousavi has said the next
government of Ahmadinejad
would be illegitimate. The authori-
ties reject opposition charges of
vote fraud and Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has up-
held Ahmadinejad’s re-election
for another four-year term.
In his statement, Rezaie
criticised the way the election
was handled as well as “misman-
agement in dealing with public
demands and protests”, in a clear
reference to post-vote unrest,
saying this had led to a crisis
which the West could exploit.
The vote further strained
ties between Iran and the West,
which are at odds over Teheran’s
nuclear ambitions. – Reuters