Excerpts: Obama re U.S. mistakes in response to IS.Iran 6-power talks mostly
Iran-US. Syria approves anti-IS strikes. Turkey re anti-IS involvement,
Palestinian jihadist leader spreads chaos in Lebanon. International Criminal
Court (ICC) September 29, 2014

+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 29 Sept.’14:”Obama admits: We ‘underestimated’
ISIS threat”
By Staff Writer,with Agence France Presse, Associated Press
SUBJECT:Obama re U.S. mistakes in response to IS
FULL TEXT:He also admitted that Washington had overestimated Iraq's U.S.
trained military to fight militants.

President Barack Obama admitted Sunday in that the United States
underestimated the opportunity a war-torn Syria would provide for the
comeback of extremist militant groups.

In an interview with CBS News taped Friday[26 Sept.], Obama branded Iraq and
Syria as “ground zero for jihadists around the world,” where he said
al-Qaeda fighters have fled after being driven out by U.S. and Iraqi forces.

“I think our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has
acknowledged that they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria,”
Obama said on the 60 Minutes news show, referring to his director of
national intelligence.

Asked whether Washington has also overestimated the ability or will of Iraq’s
U.S.-trained military to fight the militants on its own, Obama said: “That’s
true. That’s absolutely true.”

Obama said Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) propagandists had become
“very savvy” in their use of social media, and had lured new recruits “who
believed in their jihadist nonsense” from Europe, America and Australia, as
well as from Muslim majority countries.

In related news, fresh U.S.-led strikes hit ISIS targets in Syria overnight,
both in its Raqa province stronghold and in Aleppo province further west, a
monitoring group said on Monday.

The coalition strikes hit militant targets outside Raqa city, the de facto
headquarters of ISIS in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

They also hit targets around the town of Minbej, east of second city Aleppo
that reportedly included ISIS-controlled grain silos, said the Britain-based
group, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria

Contradictory policy
While Obama said that U.S.-led air strikes in Iraq are helping deny ISIS
vital territory and resources, he said the military campaign against the
group and al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria is helping Syrian dictator Bashar
al-Assad, a man the United Nations has accused of war crimes.

“I recognize the contradiction in a contradictory land and a contradictory
circumstance,” Obama said.

“We are not going to stabilize Syria under the rule of Assad… whose
government has committed “terrible atrocities,” Obama said.

“On the other hand, in terms of immediate threats to the United States, ISIL
[ISIS], Khorasan Group - those folks could kill Americans,” he added.

The U.S. Commander in Chief also said that it was in U.S. interest to battle
ISIS as “represents sort of a hybrid of not just the terrorist network, but
one with territorial ambitions, and some of the strategy and tactics of an
army.”

He continued: “This is not America against ISIL. This is America leading the
international community to assist a country with whom we have a security
partnership with, to make sure that they are able to take care of their
business.”

Political reforms
The U.S. president said that part of the solution to defeat ISIS would be
for Syria and Iraq to resolve their domestic political crises.

An enduring solution, Obama said, requires “a change in how not just Iraq,
but countries like Syria and some of the other countries in the region,
think about what political accommodation means.”
Some countries in the region, the president said, “have now created an
environment in which young men are more concerned whether they’re Shia or
Sunni, rather than whether they are getting a good education or whether they
are able to, you know, have a good job.”

[With AFP and AP]


+++SOURCE: US and Iran regularly exchange phone calls and e-mail. Saudi
Gazette 29 Sept.’14:”Iran-6 power talks turn ino mostly Iran-U.S. show”,Associated
Press
SUBJECT: Iran 6-power talks mostly Iran-US

QUOTE:”U.S. officials now regularly exchange phone calls and e-mails with
their Iranian counterparts. As these contacts grow the two sides have begun
discussing other issues.”

FULL TEXT:UNITED NATIONS — First there were three nations negotiating with
Tehran over its nuclear program. Then six. And now, mostly one — the United
States.

Washington insists that the Iran-six power negotiations are alive and well.
But with a deadline to a deal only eight weeks away, the US is increasingly
reshaping the talks it joined five years ago into a series of bilateral
meetings with Iran as the two nations with the greatest stakes race to seal
a deal — and strengthen ties broken more than three decades ago.

The shift began in 2009 when the US thawed its 30-year freeze on talking to
Tehran — in place since the Iranian revolution and siege of the American
Embassy — and joined other nations at the nuclear negotiating table.

It gathered steam with a series of secret US-Iran nuclear meetings starting
in 2012, and culminated with a 15-minute telephone conversation last year
between the President Barack Obama and Hassan Ruhani, Iran’s newly elected
president.

US officials now regularly exchange phone calls and emails with their
Iranian counterparts. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif have met several times on the nuclear issue
since last year, the latest during the current round of negotiations that
ended Friday[26 Sept.].

As those contacts grow, the two sides have begun discussing other issues.

A senior US official said that every US-Iran meeting during the current
session has included conversation about the whereabouts of former FBI Agent
Robert Levinson, journalist Jason Rezaian and other Americans missing or
detained in Iran. The common threat posed by the self-proclaimed Islamic
State group of militants also was discussed, said the official, who declined
to go into details and demanded anonymity in line with State Department
custom.

Such developments hold the promise of expanded dialogue and slowly mending
US-Iranian ties, should the nuclear talks result in a deal by the Nov. 24
target date.

Former US negotiator Gary Samore says that even when limited to the nuclear
issue, the growing Iran-US negotiating axis is “an extremely good thing,”
because it streamlines the talks between the two main players, allowing them
to advance more quickly. – AP

+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 29 Sept.’14:”Syria ‘stands with international
effort’ to fight Islamic State”, Reuters

SUBJECT: Syria approves anti-IS strikes

QUOTE: “Syria stands with a global effort to combat self-proclaimed Islamic
State”

FULL TEXT:UNITED NATIONS — Syria stands with a global effort to combat self
proclaimed Islamic State, Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem said on
Monday[29 Sept.], in a statement to the United Nations that appeared to give
tacit approval of US and Arab airstrikes in Syria targeting the militants.

"The Syrian Arab Republic reiterates that it stands with any international
effort aimed at fighting and combating terrorism, and stresses that this
must be done in full respect of the lives of innocent civilians and within
the frame of full respect of national sovereignty, and in conformity with
international conventions," Moualem told the United Nations General
Assembly.

He did not specifically condemn the airstrikes, but warned that taking
military action while some countries continue to support the militants being
targeted could create a situation in which "the international community will
not exit in decades." — Reuters


+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 29 Sept.’14:” Turkey ‘can’t stay out’of anti-IS
fight –Erdogan”, Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Turkey re anti-IS involvement
QUOTE:”Turkey cannot stay out of the international coalition fighting
Islamic State (IS) jihadists, President Erdogan said Sunday [28 Sept.]
FULL TEXT:ISTANBUL — Turkey cannot stay out of the international coalition
fighting Islamic State (IS) jihadists, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
Sunday[28 Sept.], as Ankara prepares in the coming week to define its
military involvement.

Turkey has for months frustrated the West with its cautious position against
IS, but there appears to have been a sea change in its policy following
Erdogan's trip last week to the United States.

"We will hold discussions with our relevent institutions this week. We will
definitely be where we need to be," Erdogan said in a keynote address to a
World Economic Forum meeting in Istanbul.

"We cannot stay out of this," he added.

IS militants have now advanced in Syria to just a few kilometres from
Turkey, sending tens of thousands of people fleeing across the border.

Turkey has so far taken in over 160,000 refugees who fled the IS assault
around the town of Ain Al Arab, but Erdogan said it would be better if they
could live safely in their own country.

The president also reaffirmed his call for a buffer zone and no-fly zone
within Syria to protect Turkey's borders and the refugees. He also indicated
ground forces could be needed.

"It is not possible only from the air, there is also a ground dimension," he
said.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced on Sunday[28 Sept.] that the
government would send motions requesting extended mandates for military
action in Iraq and Syria on Monday[29Sept.].

In a hugely rare intervention, Turkey's top general, Necdet Ozel, will speak
to the Cabinet on Tuesday[30 Sept.], Davutoglu added. Parliament will then
debate the mandates on Thursday[2 Oct.], paving the way for military action,
although what that will involve is still not clear.

Erdogan, who has long pressed for the ouster of Syria's President Bashar
Assad, indicated that he did not think military action would be enough to
thwart IS and long-term solutions were needed to solve political problems in
Syria and Iraq.

"Dropping bombs from air only brings a temporary solution," he said, adding
that coordinated action needs to be taken against IS in both Syria and Iraq,
attacking Britain for only planning strikes on targets inside Iraq.

"Instead of handling it this way, we should send our Syrian brothers to
their own country through a safe zone."

Ankara has justified its low key role in the fight against IS by saying its
hands were tied by concerns over the fate of dozens of Turkish hostages
abducted by IS in Iraq.

But these hostages were freed last weekend, prompting what Erdogan has
acknowledged as a major change in Turkish policy.


+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 29 Sept.’13:”Army Repels Jihadist Infiltration
Attempt as Gunmen Try to Spread Chaos in Lebanon”
SUBJECT Palestinian jihadist leader spreads chaos in Lebanon
FULL TEXTThe Lebanese army clashed with jihadists trying to infiltrate
Lebanese territories at dawn Monday[29 Sept.], leaving many dead and injured
among their ranks, Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) reported.

The infiltration attempt was made on the outskirts of the northeastern
border town of Arsal, which last month witnessed bloody clashes between the
army and militants from al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State
group.

The jihadists took with them hostages from the military and police, and
killed three of them.

The military has so far stopped several infiltration attempts after it
blocked dirt roads near Arsal to stop the militants, who are taking refuge
in the town's outskirts and on the porous Lebanese-Syrian border, from
receiving supplies.

VDL also reported that militants, taking the Syrian border towns of Serghaya
and Asal Alward as their base, are trying to smuggle arms to Lebanon.

The gunmen are led by a Palestinian identified as Hatem al-Hassan, the radio
station said, adding that his deputy is Ahmed al-Rifai, a Syrian.

The armed groups are taking the weapons and ammunition to caves in the town
of Maaraboun, which similar to Arsal lies in Baalbek district, to hand them
over to Lebanese fighters, VDL stated.

Their intention is to spread chaos in Lebanon, it added.



+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 29 Sept’14:”Islamic nations lobbying Palestinians to
go to ICC”, Associated Press
SUBJECT: International Criminal Court (ICC)
EXCERPTS:UNITED NATIONS — The world's largest bloc of Islamic countries has
been lobbying the Palestinians to join the International Criminal Court
(ICC) so it can prosecute Israeli politicians and military leaders for war
crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, the bloc's leader said
Saturday.

Iyad Madani said the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
strongly supports Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' plan to ask the UN
Security Council to impose a deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from
Palestinian lands.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Madani also described
the Islamic State extremist group which has captured a wide swath of Syria
and Iraq as "criminal" and said he supports its destruction.

The Palestinians, under pressure from the United States and Israel, have
been reluctant to become a party to the Rome Treaty that established the
ICC. Abbas had been expected to sign up to the treaty during the recent
50-day Gaza war that killed more than 2,000 Palestinians, the vast majority
civilians, and 70 Israelis. But he postponed an announcement, saying the
Palestinians want to pursue action in the Security Council first.

"As OIC, we're lobbying him to join the Rome Treaty and open the door as a
member of the ICC court to bring up charges against the individual
politicians and military people in Israel who are responsible for all those
atrocities, the latest of which is Gaza," Madani said. - - - -
======================================================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA