February 2009 - Posts
Reporter's Notebook
By Jim Maceda, NBC News Correspondent
ELEKTROSTAL, Russia – Electric Steel – "Elektrostal" in Russian – is the epitome of a "one-company town" whose citizens traditionally either worked at, or depended on, the heavy machine factory that bears the town’s name.
About an hour’s drive from Moscow, Electric Steel became, starting in the 1930’s, a symbol of Soviet strength and economic security. Entering this Stalin-era town, one can’t escape Electric Steel’s insignia – a striking red and yellow icon of a Roman blacksmith pounding a steel slab against a black anvil, setting off electric sparks – which adorns just about every workplace, store and street light.
The town has grown over the years – about 150,000 now live in pastel-painted houses along avenues with names like "Soviet," "Karl Marx" and "Lenin." A large statue of Lenin – frozen in a speech-giving pose – stands in the middle of the main square, next to a hockey rink.
We traveled to Electric Steel to see how the deepening economic crisis was affecting this so-called "mono-town," one of hundreds of industrial projects the old Soviet leadership spread across the nation.
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By NBC News’ Karim Hilmi
BAGHDAD – With President Barack Obama's announcement on Friday that the U.S. will withdraw its combat forces from Iraq by late summer of 2010, some Iraqis say they fear that such a move could lead to a resurgence of violence.
"Terrorists are just waiting for the Americans to leave the country in order to turn things upside down," said Ibrahim Salman, 55, a Baghdad municipality official.
Salman, who lost relatives and friends during the sectarian violence that raged across Iraq during 2005 and 2006, said armed groups could take advantage of the American military pullout to terrorize the country once again.
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| Erik De Castro / Reuters |
| U.S. soldiers take up position to secure the opening of a water treatment plant in Baghdad's Sadr City on Jan. 21, 2009. |
"I am against a hasty evacuation of U.S. troops from Iraq because security is not completely achieved throughout Iraq," Salman said. "The Iraqi police force and army still need more training, experience, intelligence gathering and sophisticated military equipment."
Obama explained during his speech at the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, N.C. on Friday that while U.S. combat forces will be withdrawn by August 31, 2010, a force numbering between 35,000 to 50,000 American troops will stay behind in non-combat roles, with the final troops not slated to leave until Dec. 31, 2011.
"As we carry out this drawdown, my highest priority will be the safety and security of our troops and civilians in Iraq," he said.
Obama said the U.S. forces that remain after the combat mission is closed out will have a threefold mission: To train, equip and advise Iraq forces; to offer force protection for both U.S. military and civilian operations that will continue in the country; to engage in targeted counterterrorism missions either alone or in conjunction with Iraqi troops.
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By Ali Arouzi, NBC News Producer
BUSHEHR, Iran – As we were bused from the airport in the southwestern coastal city of Bushehr toward Iran’s nuclear power plant, the most noticeable feature was the large number of anti-aircraft guns dotted across the landscape to protect the facility from attack.
It was a rare occasion – after years of delays, Iranian and Russian engineers carried out a series of critical tests at Iran’s first nuclear power plant Wednesday. The Iranian authorities offered a group of journalists a guided tour of the facility to showcase the event.
The facility – which Iran says will be used to generate electricity – was built by the Russians at a cost of about a billion dollars.
The tests on Wednesday were essentially a dry run, without enriched uranium in the rods, just lead, before full-scale operations are due to begin in the coming months.
"We are very proud. Our power plant is on its way to being ready, despite all the pressure from the West not wanting us to advance," said Mohsen Shirzai, an engineer at the plant who was giving us a guided tour.
The tour itself was sanitized and carefully stage managed, but that was not the point.
The Iranians wanted to send a clear message to the international community: They have made a massive leap forward in their plans to develop nuclear technology, their nuclear plant is in its final stages and in a matter of months Iran will be a nuclear energy-powered country, despite efforts by American, Israel and Europe to curb the program.
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As Mexico's drug violence spills into the U.S. and officials warn tourists of the danger, Mexican officials say more than 90 percent of all drug trafficking weapons are obtained from dealers and gun shows in the U.S. NBC News' Mark Potter reports.
Related links:
Mexican cartels' drugs, mayhem hit U.S. cities
Council on Foreign Relations analysis: Mexico's drug war looms large for U.S.
Slideshow: Mexico under siege
Just a few months ago, Dubai was awash in oil money, but now there are signs that the mega-city's bubble has burst. NBC News' Martin Fletcher reports.
From the newly reopened national museum to a restored girls’ school, an improved security situation in Baghdad has led to many signs of stability in the Iraqi capital.
Iraq's restored National Museum formally reopened on Monday, six years after looters carried away priceless antiquities and treasures in the chaos following the U.S.-led invasion. NBC News' Sarah Ford reports on what was lost and found.
Also see images of Iraqis returning to Baghdad's markets to buy things from books to fish.
Improved security is ushering in a new sense of openness in Iraq. As NBC News' Richard Engel reports, the nation’s women are determined to shake off the repression that came with years of violence.
There’s a new weapon in the fight against the Taliban, and it’s hardly high-tech. As NBC News' Jim Maceda reports, U.S. officials are hoping that growing pomegranates will cut into the militants’ opium trade.
By Karim Hilmi, NBC News
BAGHDAD -- Concrete blast walls and armed paramilitaries carrying AK-47 assault rifles still guard the street leading to Baghdad's Virgin Mary Cathedral.
But despite the danger that comes with being a Christian in Iraq, Father Azeria Warda Benyameen refuses to accept any bodyguards.
"I believe the mighty God is the supreme protector and He gives life and He is the only one who takes it," Benyameen says with a smile.
Benyameen, who is in his late fifties, is the church's senior priest. He offers sermons and services in Aramaic, the ancient language that drew fresh interest when it was featured in Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ."
Although he isn't convinced Baghdad is secure he refuses allow the terror attack to drive him out of the capital's Camp Sarah neighborhood.
"Security stability is not yet 100 percent achieved in Baghdad and government needs to exert more efforts to get rid of armed groups, murderers and sleeping terrorist cells," Benyameen said.
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by Ann Curry, NBC News
CHAD/DARFUR BORDER -- We traveled to the Chad/Darfur border with New York Times columnist Nick Kristof and actor/activist George Clooney, two men you might not guess have much in common, but both are smart and funny -- and care deeply about Darfur.
Today in a refugee camp on the Chad side, we found in one refugee camp, a school house named for the President Obama.
School house named after President Obama | Photo by: Ann Curry/NBC News
The students told us Obama made them believe anything was possible, that they could rise from the sands of this desert, where they don't even have shoes, and become anyone they wanted, maybe even a president. That these children, who are among humankind's most suffering living in one of the world's most hopeless places, could imagine such greatness... now that is the audacity of hope.
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By Ann Curry, NBC News
SOMEWHERE IN CHAD -- Our NBC News team has landed in Africa and is again heading to the edge of Darfur, gearing up to report a pivotal moment in this tragedy.
Anytime now the International Criminal Court will announce whether to issue an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan for the atrocities in Darfur, a region of Sudan.
About six years after a war between the government of Sudan and a rebel group unleashed systematic rapes, mass killings, and the burning of hundreds of villages, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions are still waiting in camps in Sudan and Chad, waiting for hope and justice.
Video: Darfur's victims await justiceAs our news team moves from planes to vans toward this world of desperation, I think of a woman named Myriam, who survived the burning of her village called Tamajour, just two days before we found her under a tree. Her 5-year-old daughter was traumatized and refusing to eat. When we took her back to her village to salvage what she could, it was still smoldering. The only life she had ever known was in ashes.
I think of Khamis, 13-year-old orphaned when his mother was killed and his father was lost in an attack. When we last saw him, he was a boy alone, surviving on his wits and the kindness of others in a refugee camp. Still he was able to be a good student in the camp's school.
I think of Aziza, raped as a virgin at 17, by an Arab wearing a Sudanese uniform. She said he first wanted to know what tribe she belonged to. He told her, "You are black. You have no place here. We will push you out of here. This land will remain for us." Then he grabbed her tightly and raped her, biting her arm and neck to mark her a victim of rape.
In the hospital, we found elderly Gida Zakaria, severely burned when her thatched roof was set on fire. White gauze was wrapped around her slender body. She told us her husband couldn't move fast enough and was burned to death.
Photo: Six-year-old Khalid (left) recovers at a hospital after a Janjaweed attack, flanked by his mother and sister. Click here to see more photography by the NBC News team and Ann Curry during a 2006 trip.In a nearby room, a young man lay motionless, both his eyes bayoneted. At his side, his wife was weeping and his children sat stunned.
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has argued Sudan's President Omar al Bashir masterminded genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur and should be brought to justice.
What will the court decide? And what do the victims have to say about it?
Who more deserves a voice than the victims of atrocities?
Ann Curry will be filing reports for Nightly News, TODAY, and msnbc.com this week. Click here to read her 2006 blog entries. Follow her Twitter feed here.
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
LHASA, Tibet – One thing you learn quickly as a journalist here is that the Chinese like statistics.
"Tibet’s GDP was 174 million yuan ($25.5 million) in 1959. In 2008, it rose to 39.6 billion yuan ($5.8 billion), increasing 65-fold."
"There are 18 traditional Tibetan medicine hospitals in the Tibet Autonomous Region."
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| Adrienne Mong / NBC News |
| The flags of Tibet today. |
"The field of Tibetology studies has grown rapidly over recent years. There are now 600 experts. Twenty percent are senior researchers."
"Sixty-eight households live in this village. Nineteen of them had new homes built, and the rest had their existing homes renovated or upgraded."
But when it comes to monasteries and monks in Tibet, it’s a much less precise science.
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The U.S embassy compound in Iraq is the biggest, most expensive U.S. embassy ever built. Take a tour with NBC News' Richard Engel.
By Carol Grisanti, NBC News Producer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – As the Obama administration’s special envoy, Richard Holbrooke, meets with Pakistani officials this week, he is likely to find that a grim mood has gripped the country.
U.S. drone attacks are leading anti-American sentiment to soar, a Taliban insurgency is growing in strength, tensions with India have been renewed over the Mumbai terrorist attacks, and the war in Afghanistan is going badly for the United States, causing problems to spill across the border in Pakistan.
Many here believe that Pakistan is going through an existential crisis of sorts – 67 percent of those polled by Gallup recently felt the situation would not improve.
I’m here to listen and understand what the ground realities are, Holbrooke told Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi during meetings on Tuesday. Holbrooke said that he has not come with any proposals or to issue demarches to Pakistan.
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| Faisal Mahmood / Reuters |
| Richard Holbrooke, U.S. special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, attends a meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Islamabad on Tuesday. |
One issue Holbrooke is sure to hear a lot about is the missile attacks from remotely piloted U.S. drones on al-Qaida and Taliban hideouts in Pakistan. The U.S. and NATO complain the sanctuaries are contributing to the deteriorating security in Afghanistan, but the attacks have infuriated Pakistanis, who regard them as an infringement on their sovereignty. After each one, popular TV talk shows and newspaper columnists highlight the civilian casualties from the U.S. missiles – whipping up even more resentment on the Pakistani street.
Retired Gen. Talat Masood, a political analyst and lecturer, says the policy should be modified.
"One idea that the Pakistanis have put forward to Mr. Holbrooke is to modify the drone policy to make it a joint venture that will be acceptable to all Pakistanis," he said. "The people have to feel that the threat is to both of our countries and that the U.S. is helping Pakistan because we don’t have the equipment to do it by ourselves."
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By Martin Fletcher, NBC News Correspondent
TEL AVIV – Think a few hanging chads are a problem? Or the Electoral College, which has at times left the winner of the U.S. popular vote as the loser? Well, consider the
Israeli political system.
Thirty-three parties contested yesterday’s general election. One party emerges with the most seats, two parties claim victory and most analysts agree that the winner has only a slim chance of actually forming the next government.
Huh? How does that work?
No party has ever won an outright victory in Israel’s history, leading to a series of coalitions that rarely see out their full term. It seems that the tougher the problems facing Israel, the less power the government has to deal with them – and most things end up being a mushy compromise.
That’s why it took individuals with particular credibility to power key decisions (Yitzhak Rabin and the Oslo peace accords, Ehud Barak ending Israel’s 22-year long occupation of Southern Lebanon, and Ariel Sharon withdrawing from Gaza).
Without such towering figures, the election process leaves Israel exposed at a time it faces critical challenges: Iran’s alleged race to build a nuclear bomb; increasing international hostility towards Israel’s methods of fighting terrorism (particularly the recent Gaza assault); and America’s expected tilt to a more even-handed approach to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians. And that’s leaving out all the economic and social issues facing this nation.
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By Ali Arouzi, NBC News Producer
TEHRAN, Iran – The celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution were conducted in traditional fashion – full of chants like "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."
But 30 years on, the reaction among Iranians to the revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed shah and brought hard-line clerics to power is far from monolithic.
Today, many of the people who helped usher in the Islamic revolution are disappointed with its legacy results; meanwhile, many of Iran’s young people don’t define their lives by a revolution that came about before they were born.
Even President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that Iran would welcome talks with the United States, if they were based on mutual respect.
Could Iran be in for a new era of change?
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By Martin Fletcher, NBC News Correspondent
TEL AVIV, Israel – Apart from the usual horse race of an election – and this one is really down to the wire – tomorrow’s contest to decide the makeup of the Israeli parliament has proved to be a slightly zany mixture of predictable and polarizing politics..
Most apparent is that there is no major issue that the traditional parties – Likud, Kadima and Labor – disagree on in any substantial way. They all pretty much agree that the attack on Gaza was justified; the economy is in big trouble; Iran is the major foreign threat; relations with Washington must be maintained at almost any cost; the disadvantaged must be helped; education must improve; and there isn’t enough water.
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| Kobi Gideon / EPA |
| Right-wing Israeli politician Avigdor Lieberman, prays at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, on Monday. |
So instead, the choice among the major party leaders has become personal. Campaign commercials have become negative and personal, with the campaign focusing on the parties’ leaders rather than policy. In that regard, polls show Kadima’s Tzipi Livni catching up dramatically with Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu, with Labor’s Ehud Barak trailing. In addition, analysis has focused on speculation about what combination of parties will likely form a coalition government.
However, the blandness of the campaign, and the lack of clear distinctions, however, has left the field open to the one candidate who is different, in substance and appearance – Avigdor Lieberman.
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By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
BEIJING – It looks like China may have overtaken the United States as the world’s biggest auto market. Official figures are due out this week that will show, for the first time ever, more vehicles were sold in China during January than in the United States.
It makes for a nice headline and General Motors was among the first to mention it during a conference call last week after tallying their preliminary sales figures.
At first glance, statistics would indicate, among other things, that China’s economy has not suffered as much from the global economic crisis as initially believed and that its auto industry is thriving as a key growth area for the beleaguered Big Three in Detroit.
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As Kyrgyzstan stands by its decision to close a key U.S. air base in Central Asia, Russia says it will allow U.S. military supplies to pass through its territory. NBC News' Jim Maceda reports.
By NBC News’ Mushtaq Yusufzai and Carol Grisanti
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – There are no more schools in Charmang, a rural village of mud-brick homes and lush wheat fields nestled in the mountains of Bajaur, a tribal territory, along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The Taliban are in control now.
"First, the Taliban imposed a ban on wearing Western-style school uniforms at my private school," said Amjad Ali, a 17-year-old former student from Charmang. "Then they stopped all the girls from attending classes and finally they just blew up the building."
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| NBC News’ Mushtaq Yusufzai |
| Taliban militants in Bajaur, a tribal territory along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. |
In Charmang, the Taliban torched and destroyed more than 40 private schools because the students wore Western-style uniforms and learned English. The Taliban also accused the schools’ administrators of following a pro-Western curriculum and allowing co-educational classes – in Taliban terms that makes them un-Islamic.
But Saleh Mohammed, Ali’s father, was determined to educate all his children. After their school, The Islamia Model School, was destroyed, he brought Ali and his two younger daughters – Shaista and Nafeesa – to the public school in Charmang. Ali’s father wanted to ignore the Taliban threats, but the principal of the school was too afraid – he registered Ali but refused to accept the girls.
"The Taliban would come to my public school and deliver lectures about jihad against the infidels, who they said are occupying Afghanistan and will soon invade Pakistan," said Ali. "Most of my classmates registered for jihad training and would go to their meetings after school."
Ali explained how things just got worse with time. "Later on the Taliban just took over our school and turned it into a training camp. I refused to join the Taliban, and my family became very afraid, so we left Charmang in the dark one night."
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A Nazi hunter questions the mysterious disappearance of Aribert Heim, better known as "Dr. Death," the mastermind behind some of the most sadistic crimes in Nazi concentration camps.
Watch NBC News' Martin Fletcher report in conjunction with the New York Times and Germany's ZDF television below. Read the complete New York Times story about Heim here: Uncovering Lost Path of the Most Wanted Nazi.
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By Andy Eckardt, NBC News Producer
After being questioned by authorities for nearly nine hours at the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees on Wednesday, U.S. Army Spc. André Shepherd felt tired, but also ‘‘full of hope to win the battle that had just started," according to his lawyer, Reinhard Marx.
And a legal battle it will surely be.
The 31-year old soldier from
Cleveland, Ohio, went "Absent Without Leave" in April 2007 when he walked off his unit’s base near Katterbach, Germany.
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| Reuters |
| U.S. Army specialist Andre Shepherd listens to reporter's questions during a news conference in Frankfurt in November, 2008. |
He said he deserted because he did not want to return to what he calls a "completely illegal war" in Iraq. He is believed to be the first American deserter to plead for asylum with German immigration authorities.
Shepherd’s case is unique in Germany, but he is not alone across Europe. According to Bruce Anderson, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army in Europe, Shepherd is among 71 Army soldiers to desert European bases in 2008.
If he is granted asylum, his case could create new legal options for soldiers looking to escape the military, his supporters say. But rejection of his case could find him handed over to military authorities and could lead to a longer jail sentence.
"I take it a day at a time," Shepherd said in a phone interview. "And I will pursue what I believe is the right thing. They can't punish you for something that is right."
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By Tom Aspell, NBC News Correspondent
NICOSIA, Cyprus – Even the sunny east Mediterranean island of Cyprus is feeling the effects of the global financial meltdown and is implementing its own stimulus program.
The government announced this week that it will inject $380 million into its flagging tourism and construction industries to counter the effects of the global financial crisis.
That’s a drop in a bucket when compared with the $800 billion the United States intends to spend shoring up its economy. But for this nation of 800,000 people, the money is an expensive gamble to minimize damage to its two most important economic sectors.
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| AFP/Getty Images File |
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Tourists take a stroll during better times in Cyprus.
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Looking for a cheaper getaway elsewhere
Cyprus attracts about 2.4 million tourists a year, half of them from the United Kingdom. But tourism is in decline as Britons look for cheaper holiday destinations. And other Europeans are also booking fewer trips here.
The credit crunch, coupled with the high cost of tourist services, is suddenly making Cyprus much more expensive. British tour operators have warned Cyprus that unless it slashes its costs, they will encourage customers to go to Turkey or other cheaper holiday spots around the Mediterranean.
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By Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent
BAGHDAD – NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel interviewed Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander in Iraq, on Tuesday. The commander said he has briefed President Barack Obama via secure-teleconference and recommended U.S. troop withdrawals.
Odierno wouldn’t say when or how many troops could leave – if current stability continues – but that "a formal announcement" would be made "soon in Washington." The general said his assessment that reductions are possible was made before this weekend’s provincial elections in Iraq, based on the military’s assumption that the elections would go smoothly.
Cost cuts
Odierno also told NBC News a priority is now to cut costs in Iraq. He said the military has already started shipping some expensive equipment from Iraq back to the United States to save money. Odierno said the military is also taking a "good hard look" at its use of contractors. He added that reducing troops would further save money.
Odierno also addressed the issue of Iran’s alleged involvement in Iraq. He said he has not seen any let up in Iran’s activities in Iraq and accused Iran of continuing to train and fund militias.
Watch the highlights of the interview:
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By Jennifer Carlile, msnbc.com reporter
London on a winter’s day evokes images out of a Dickens novel – quaint and covered in snow – which makes one wonder how a few inches of the white stuff could bring this world-class city of 8 million to a standstill more than 150 years after the author penned "A Christmas Carol."
The images of Scrooge awakening on Christmas morning, watching residents "scraping the snow from the pavements in front of their dwellings, and from the tops of their houses" are more fairytale than reality to modern-day Londoners.
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| Jennifer Carlile/msnbc.com |
| Becky Prince, Claire Shropshall, Sally Reid and Susie Webb, pictured left to right, pose with their snow man, woman and dog in Clapham Common, southwest London. |
But Monday morning brought the heaviest snowstorm in 18 years, and Dickensian scenes of the "mad delight to see it come plumping down into the road below, and splitting into artificial little snowstorms" came to life for millions.
Along with the delight came the delays, and then the cancellations.
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By Chris Hampson, NBC News Director of International News
LONDON – And now some really big breaking news from the U.K.:
It’s snowing.
Not the sort of chill-you-to-the-bones white stuff that freezes thermometers across whole swathes of the United States, where the snow comes to the eaves and you have to chisel your way out of an upstairs window.
No, this is British snow. Light fluffy cotton-wool stuff you see on pretty calendars in December.
It’s about 28 degrees Fahrenheit – just below tee-shirt weather in some parts of the world. But here it’s enough to bring much of the country and its capital to a standstill.
It’s chaos.
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