ORIGINAL MATERIAL PRODUCED BY THE GLOBAL BEAT SYNDICATE Ralph A Cossa: on the impact of South Korea's elections on relations with Pyongyang Tom Barry: on NATO expansion, the one treaty this White House supports Yuki Tatsumi: on the test Japan faces in Iraq

New York University

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As casualties in Iraq increase dramatically, the Pentagon has tried to ban news photographs of coffins bringing back dead American servicemen, and it has stopped providing detailed daily casualty updates.

DEFENSE CONTRACT EMPLOYEES FIRED FOR PASSING PHOTOGRAPHS OF COFFINS TO NEWSPAPER
Tami Silicio and her husband David Landry, both defense contract employees in Iraq, were fired by their employer, Maytag Aircraft, last week for letting the Seattle Times publish their photographs of flag draped coffins which are now being flown back to the U.S. in record numbers. At the same time, an internet website, the Memory Hole published some 360 photographs of returning coffins taken by Defense Department photographers, and which the group had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. (International Herald Tribune, April 23, 2004)
U.S. WOUNDED IN IRAQ SOARS TO NEARLY 600 IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS, NEARLY 900 SINCE APRIL 1,
A total of 3,864 U.S. servicemen have been wounded in Iraq since President Bush launched his war against Saddam Hussein in March 2003. The U.S. death toll now stands at more than 700. April marked the highest casualties since the war began--more than 100 Americans killed, and nearly 900 wounded, compared to an average of 200 to 300 wounded in other months. The Pentagon has recently stopped giving daily updates on casualties and refuses to talk about details and severity of wounds. (Robert Burns, AP Military Writer, the Guardian, April 23, 2004)
NOT COUNTING THE IRAQI CIVILIAN DEAD
The Pentagon made a conscious decisionfrom the beginning not to keep track of how many Iraqi civilians have died as collateral damage--part of the fallout from U.S. military operations. A website, iraqbodycount.net estimates that the figure is now somewhere between nearly 9,000 and 11,000. On sunday, the casualties included a number of Iraqi children accidentally caught in U.S. crossfire. (iraqbodycount.net, April 26, 2004)
BRING BACK THE DRAFT?
Bush administration officials say that it is not helpful to talk about renewing the draft at this stage in the game, but they are noticeably coy about the future. The military is now stretched dangerously thin, and enlistments are down. The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin explores recent White House declarations and suggestions from Congress that the Draft may become a necessity. Complete with links to relevant comments and documents. (Dan Froomkin, Washington Post, April 23, 2004)

JAPANESE PUBLIC ANGRY AT RELEASED HOSTAGES
The three Japanese hostages released after undergoing harrowing captivity in Iraq have gone into hiding after returning to Japan. In a bizarre twist, the Japanese public seems to be holding the volunteer aid workers responsible for putting Japan in a difficult, and potentially embarrassing situation and having ignored the Japanese foreign ministry's ban on civilian travel to Iraq.( Hiroshi Matsubara, Japan Times, April 21, 2004)
•Norimitsu Onishi reports in the International Herald Tribune, (April 23, 2oo4)

SHARON'S VEILED THREAT AGAINST ARAFAT COULD CLEAR THE WAY FOR FUTURE ACTION
Sharon's declaration that he no longer feels bound by his promise not to kill Arafat may be a gesture intended to beef up his image as a hardliner before the upcoming Likud referendum on withdrawal from Gaza, but it also clears the way for Sharon to make his move in case there is another serious terrorist attack, or in the event that George Bush becomes a lame duck president after next November's elections. (Aluf Benn, Haaretz, April 25, 2004)

SON OF AL QAEDA
Abdurahman Khadr's father was a close friend of Osama Bin Laden, and he died fighting for Al Qaeda. Abdurahman was groomed for the same fate. Instead he decided to become an informant for the CIA. PBS Front Line details the inside story (60-minute documentary viewable on line, and background research material also available on line--April 22, 2004)

THE TEMPERATURE IS RISING IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Patrick Seale, the biographer of the late Syrian strongman Hafez al-Assad, notes that the level of frustration is rising precipitously in the Arab world, and that there is a general impression that the region is moving towards an explosion. (Patrick Seale in Dar al Hayat, April 23, 2004)

YALE GLOBAL STUDY: SUICIDE BOMBINGS ARE DRIVEN BY POLITICS RATHER THAN RELIGION
Sociologist Riaz Hassan notes that from Sri lanka to the Middle East, the terrorist weapon of choice has become the suicide bomber, but in many cases this extreme sacrifice has little or no connection to religious fanaticism. The Tamil Tigers in Sri lanka, for instance, are completely opposed to religion. In the Palestinian territories, Hamas uses religion to raise money and recruit volunteers, but the objectives of its use of suicide bombers are invariably political. Hassan recommends that instead of mobilizing military force it may be more effective to move politically to alleviate the grievances that drive these groups to extreme solutions. (Riaz Hassan, Yale Global online, April 23, 2004)

THE WORDING OF THE U.N. RESOLUTION ON THE DARFUR CRISIS IN SUDAN IS WEAK, THE SEVERITY OF THE CRISIS IS NOT.
The Sudanese government's accommodation with rebels of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army in the south have left rebels in the eastern Darfur region politically isolated. The result has been a surge of new fighting which has been particularly vicious. The U.N.'s actions so far to stop yet another genocide appears to be a limp effort at best. Most important, no ceasefire monitoring force has been created. Amnesty International comments. (April 23, 2004)
•Sudan crisis the worst at the moment (Middle East Times)

EUROPEAN UNION FACES CHALLENGE IN BRITISH REFERENDUM TO APPROVE THE EUROPEAN CONSTITUTION
European Commissioner, Chris Patten, warns that if Britain votes against the European constitution in an upcoming referendum, it could force Britain out of the European Union. Patten cautions that this could be a make or break vote. (Kamal Ahmed, The Observer, April 25, 2004)

CYPRUS REFERENDUM COMPLICATES ENTRY INTO EUROPEAN UNION
The rejection by Cyprus' Greek population of a plan to reunite the Turkish and Greek territories prior to joining the European Union took political leaders by surprise over the weekend and complicated the island's future. Cyprus' Turkish population voted for reunification. The fear is that the island's antagonisms will now be carried over into the European Union's operations with no resolution in sight.(BBC, April 25, 2004)
•Vote raises Turkish suspicions about Western motives (Zaman on line, April 24, 2004)
•European Union to discuss vote(Reuters, April 25)
•U.N. Reaction

CHINA'S GRAYING POPULATION
By 2040, China will have a population of elderly retirees that will include nearly 400 million people--more than the entire population of the European Union or the United States. How China deals with its senior citizens will have a dramatic impact on the future of Chinese society. The Center for Strategic and International Studies explores the implications. (April 2004)

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