GAZA STRIP: The Fulbright mystery

Of all the questions surrounding Israel’s decision to lock down the Gaza Strip, the recent case of seven Gaza-based Fulbright Scholars presents a particular curiosity.

The issue became an international controversy in June when it was revealed that the State Department had canceled their scholarships because of the Israeli government’s refusal to let the students leave Gaza for their scheduled visa interviews at the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem.

After the cancellations were made public, the State Department quickly reversed course and started publicly pressuring Israel to let the students out. Israel eventually agreed to let four of the students leave Gaza for their interviews but refused three others on unnamed security grounds.

Undaunted, Washington flew in specialized fingerprinting equipment and conducted the visa interviews for the remaining three at the Erez border crossing.

All three students received U.S. visas; one of them, Fidaa Abed, a 23-year-old accepted to study computer science at U.C. San Diego, even made it out of Gaza and boarded a U.S.-bound plane from Jordan.

Then something changed.

On Aug. 5, the State Department abruptly canceled the visas for the remaining three Fulbright students. Abed found out when he touched down in Dulles airport in Washington.

A security officer pulled him aside. “He told me, ‘I’m sorry, I just received a fax telling me your visa was revoked,’ ” Abed said.

Abed pleaded in vain for more information, but was put on the next plane back to Amman. State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said the visas were revoked after the U.S. “received additional information” about the students from Israel.

IRAQ: No Phelps but plenty of swimmers in Sadr City

Michael Phelps may be a star in much of the world, with 8 gold medals from the Beijing Olympics hanging around his neck, but he's got a long ways to go before the swimmers of Baghdad's Sadr City district get familiar with his name.

"The Chinese guy!" one youngster said as he waited with scores of other boys and young men to plunge into the turquoise water of a public pool that opened amid much fanfare Saturday. "Iraqis are into soccer," one man said, explaining the crowd's unfamiliarity with the world's most famous swimmer.

Swimming pools aren't a luxury most Iraqis can enjoy, especially those living in poor and working-class districts like Sadr City, which until three months ago was a no-go area for just about anyone except U.S. and Iraqi military forces and the Shiite militiamen battling them for turf. Things have been quiet since May.

LEBANON: Hezbollah hands over helicopter shooting suspect

The Shiite militant group Hezbollah handed over the suspect who allegedly shot at a Lebanese army helicopter Thursday, killing a pilot and forcing the chopper to make a crash landing, news agencies reported.

The incident brings several issues to light in Lebanon. First, it points to Hezbollah's trigger-readiness. The group's fighters are geared up for some kind of Israeli attack. Rumors have swirled in Lebanon and Israel about Hezbollah taking control of key hilltops and mountain positions in preparation for any Israeli incursion.

It also shows how much Hezbollah values its mostly positive relations with the army. Hezbollah didn't beat around the bush or stonewall. it promptly handed over the suspect, as yet unnamed, in a speedy attempt at damage control.

But it also has rekindled worries among Lebanon's Christians, Sunnis and Druze about Hezbollah's formidable arsenal of weapons. Hezbollah claims they are meant to deter or combat any Israeli attack on Lebanon. But the only targets of Hezbollah's weapons in recent months have been fellow Lebanese.

— Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

Photo: Relatives of dead Lebanese officer Samer Hanna mourn next to his coffin during his funeral. Hanna was killed Thursday by gunfire that hit his military helicopter in the area that is controlled by Hezbollah militia.

Credit: Nabil Mounzer / European Pressphoto Agency

IRAQ: It's Viagra on sale! Or is it?

Yasir Mazen is only 20 years old, but already he is a successful entrepreneur, dealing goods from his stall in a busy Baghdad market. There's just one problem: Most of his products are counterfeit drugs and medicinal products that earn him big money, but that face the wrath of the law, starting Monday.

That's when the Ministry of Health has vowed to begin enforcing drug regulatory laws that have been ignored since 2003, when Saddam Hussein's fall opened Iraq's borders to all manner of imports. Many of those imports have included drugs and products that claim to have miraculous medicinal effects and that may or may not contain the ingredients needed to be effective.

Some have expired months or years earlier. Some are knockoffs of the real thing, like the little blue pills made to look like Viagra but manufactured in factories in China, India or elsewhere and lacking whatever the real thing contains. Then there are the nonpharmaceutical products that claim to have medicinal value, and which Masin says are his biggest sellers: penile enhancement pumps, sprays, gels.

"The ... pumps are very popular nowadays," said Mazin, who acknowledges his products go through no government testing. The boxes in which they are sold usually feature pictures of half-naked men and women and bear little resemblance to legitimate health products. That doesn't matter to his customers, who are willing to fork over as much as $75 for some items. Part of the appeal is that such products were never sold in public under Hussein, even if they could be smuggled into the country. Now, they are easily available, and everyone wants to give them a try, said Mazin.

That's what riles Adel Muhsin, the Health Ministry's inspector general, who says Iraqis are getting robbed. "Let's be realistic. They're scams," said Muhsin. He says his goal is to shut down so-called "phantom pharmacies" that sell untested drugs, and the warehouses that supply these pharmacies. He also wants every medicine sold in Iraq to undergo testing at a state laboratory to ensure it is effective.

The ministry already has begun stepping up enforcement. Last week, plainclothes police arrived at a market in central Baghdad and inquired how they could buy medicine. They purchased some pills from one of the vendors and left. Minutes later, uniformed police swooped down on the market, detaining vendors and confiscating their goods.

One vendor who witnessed the raid but did not want to be identified said sellers usually know in advance of such raids because they pay off corrupt police to alert them. This time, he said, the police suddenly changed the location of the raid, leaving vendors unprepared.

-- Times staff writers

Photo credit: Tina Susman

 

IRAQ: For Jose Nazario, the trial and the war are over

A civilian jury Thursday acquitted former Marine Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario in the killings of four Iraqi prisoners during the battle in Fallouja in November 2004. As one of his lawyers told a reporter, the war in Iraq is finally over for Nazario.

Jurors said the U.S. attorney's office left too many unanswered questions and failed to provide any witnesses who saw Nazario shoot any of the Iraqis. Several jurors also said they were uneasy with the notion of civilians sitting in judgment of an action taken by a Marine during combat.

"Who are we to decide what men in war are doing?" juror Nicole Peters, a high school guidance counselor, told author and journalist Nathaniel R. Helms, who was covering the trial for www.defendourmarines.com.

For Nazario, the case is over. Not for Sgt. Ryan Weemer and Sgt. Jermaine Nelson. Both face courts martial at Camp Pendleton on murder charges, as well as a Sept. 29 hearing before District Judge Stephen Larson to decide if they should be sentenced to jail for refusing to testify at Nazario's trial.

During the trial, Larson promised Weemer and Nelson that their testimony could not be used against them in their courts martial. Still they wouldn't budge. He made one last attempt, noting that the Marine Corps prides itself on honor and that Weemer and Nelson could show honor by testifying.

“It’s my understanding that a Marine has something other than his life, and that’s his honor and integrity," Larson said to Weemer. "The court is calling on his honor and integrity, and the Constitution he has sworn to uphold and defend.”

Final note: In the audience for several days of the trial was Larson's father, a former Marine.

For more on the verdict, see the story in The Times.

-- Tony Perry, San Diego

Photo: Jose Nazario. Credit: Associated Press

LEBANON: Did Hezbollah shoot down Lebanese helicopter?

A deadly shooting Thursday of a military helicopter in southern Lebanon by unidentified gunmen raised fears of tensions erupting between this country's army and Hezbollah.

The Lebanese Shiite militant group, which is believed to control the zone of the shooting, commented on the incident today, but didn't claim responsibility for it. A statement issued by the group said:

The shooting yesterday ... is a sad and painful incident that involves certain circumstances which will be revealed through investigation, God willing. ... Hezbollah will fully cooperate with the brothers in the Lebanese army as well as with concerned judicial authorities to bring out the truth and guarantee justice.

But a flurry of reports in Lebanese local newspapers and comments by politicians earlier indicated that Hezbollah’s fighters were responsible for the shooting, which resulted in the killing of one lieutenant, either “by mistake” or purposely to send a message to the military.

The shooting took place near the area where thousands of United Nations peacekeeping troops are deployed to help guarantee security along the border with Israel.

The army said in a statement that one of its helicopters came under fire without identifying the assailants:

While a Lebanese Armed Forces military helicopter was conducting a training mission over the area of Iklim El Toufah it came under fire shot by armed gunmen and the crew was forced to make an emergency landing over the hill of Soujoud and as a result of the incident the helicopter was damaged and 1st Lt. pilot Samer Hanna martyred.

According to a local newspaper, Assafir, the shooting took place ...

IRAQ: Earthquake hits southern Iraq

The area near Iraq's border with Iran is known to be less than stable, and now it seems Mother Nature has joined smugglers and suspected militiamen in stirring up the pot there. Early today, an earthquake hit southern Iraq, centered near the Iranian border and strongly felt in the city of Amarah about 40 miles to the west.

The Voice of Iraq news agency said it measured about 5.1, but the U.S. Geological Survey put it at 5.7, not huge but big enough to frighten people unaccustomed to such things.

"I was sleeping inside my room when I noticed that the lights of the room, fans and the furniture were moving in different directions," said one Amarah resident. "I tried to stand up. I discovered it was not only the ceiling but the floor moving as well!"

People, followed by cats, dogs and other animals, fled into the streets, shouting to each other and searching for friends and relatives in the dark. After a while, the messages were sent through loudspeakers in mosques to calm people down.

For hours, the city resembled a doomsday scene. People milled outside, advised to stay out of their homes by rescue workers in case another temblor struck. By daylight, they had gone home. No casualties were reported, but there were fears another quake could strike.

Iraq's last earthquake came in February, when a series of small but frightening quakes hit the city of Kut, about 100 miles southeast of Baghdad.

-- Raheem Salman and Tina Susman in Baghdad

Graphic: U.S. Geological Survey

IRAQ: Civilian jury to decide Marine's fate

UPDATE: The jury acquitted defendant Thursday afternoon of all charges after less than six hours of deliberation. Jurors said prosecutors lacked evidence.

A civilian jury in Riverside, Calif., is deciding whether former Marine Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario committed crimes during the first day of the U.S. battle in November 2004 to rout insurgents from Fallouja.

It is the first time a former military personnel has been tried under a law passed in 2000 by Congress. Nazario has pleaded not guilty. He did not testify during the trial but during pre-trial media interviews he denied any role in the deaths of four Iraqis.

But a tape recording played to jurors appeared to show Nazario admitting to Marine Sgt. Jermaine Nelson that he ordered the four killed.

His lawyer told jurors that a conviction will undercut the morale and effectiveness of other troops in warzones. But the prosecutor said failure to convict will damage the moral authority of the U.S. in Iraq and elsewhere.

For more, read today's Los Angeles Times story "Ex-Marine's case goes to Riverside County jurors."

--Tony Perry, Riverside

Photo: Jose Luis Nazario. Credit: Associated Press.

ISRAEL: Gilad Shalit, unhappy birthday

797 days, two years and three birthdays ago, IDF corporal Gilad Shalit was kidnapped to Gaza in an attack that killed two other soldiers.

For two years, families, friends, activists and citizens campaigned tirelessly for the release of three Israeli soldiers. Two were returned in a swap with Hezbollah a month ago, but virtual memorial candles now burn beside their pictures on the website they shared with Shalit: they were dead.

But somewhere in the parallel existence that is Gaza, only two hours away from Tel-Aviv, Gilad Shalit is alive. And this week he is turning 22.

Friends and supporters are marking Shalit's third birthday since his capture this week in a number of events held near the site of the attack, in Tel Aviv and the northern community of Mitzpe Hila, Shalit's home.

Families of MIAs and hostages have learned from past experience of others. News breaks constantly in Israel, where the worst thing is to disappear from the public agenda. Staying on top of it is a constant, draining effort for families but falling from it is a luxury they cannot afford.

EGYPT: One Olympic medal, an angry president

You will not hear the chimes of Olympic medals in Egypt’s trophy cases.

The country won only one in the Beijing Games. That embarrassment has riled President Hosni Mubarak, who has ordered an investigation into why his athletes fared so poorly.

The state press agency has reported that Mubarak has ordered a fact-finding committee to find out “who is responsible for the Egyptian mission’s bad performance and calling them into account.”

Yikes. Someone’s in trouble. But it most likely won't be Mounir Thabet, the head of the country's Olympic Committee and the president's brother-in-law. It also won't be Hesham Mesbah, the only one of Egypt’s 177 Olympic athletes to win a medal –- a bronze in judo.

Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: President Hosni Mubarak Credit: AFP