PRI's The World » 01/28/2010

Entire program – January 28, 2010

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:48:40 +0000

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Today on The World: International officials meet with Afghan leaders in London to find a way forward for Afghanistan; Also, a look at which countries are giving what in the effort to help Haiti. Plus a film that makes fun of China’s censorship of the videogame “World of Warcraft.”

Afghanistan conference

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:47:22 +0000

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Afghan forces will begin taking control of security in some of the country’s provinces by the end of 2010, a key summit on its future has pledged. In a statement at the end of the one-day meeting, delegates said the process would be complete within five years. The final communique from the one-day summit in London said it welcomed Afghanistan’s goal of taking charge of the “majority of operations in the insecure areas of Afghanistan within three years and taking responsibility for physical security within five years.” It said the international community would continue to improve the capabilities of the Afghan security forces, boosting the army to 171,600 and the police to 134,000 personnel by October 2011. The summit said the Afghan government had acknowledged that it had to tackle corruption. Marco Werman talks with Afghanistan’s finance minister Omar Zakhilwal, who is also Chief Economic Adviser to President Karzai.

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MARCO WERMAN: One of the leading Afghan delegates at the conference is Omar Zakhilwal. He’s Afghanistan’s Finance Minister and Chief Economic Advisor to President Karzai. Zakhilwal is also one of the key proponents of trying to reach out to the Taliban and reintegrate them into society.

OMAR ZAKHILWAL: There is a large number of Taliban who are with them either because of economic reasons, either because of grievances, either because of fear and what we need to do is to provide environment that is conducive for them to join mainstream society.

MARCO WERMAN: How far has the Karzai government gone in establishing this dialogue with the Taliban. Have you at least identified Taliban members and officials, leaders who you think can be spoken with?

OMAR ZAKHILWAL: The government has always been in contact with elements of the Taliban, the lower level, the mid level and at the high level. What it did not have was the support of the international community. Therefore the Afghan government could not give assurances to elements who wanted to join a peaceful way of life. Now with the London conference and the strong endorsements from the U.S., the U.K., from other donors, we have the backing and we can give the assurances to our enemy that if they renounce violence, if they distance themselves from Al Qaeda, they respect Afghan constitution that ensures basic human rights and woman rights, they could come not only an ordinary peaceful life, but they could also be part of the political process. They could run and be members of the Parliament. If they have the capability just like any other Afghan, they could also serve in the government in whatever post they’re capable for.

MARCO WERMAN: We’ll be getting the Taliban back into the camp of normalcy, shall we say. Will that involve money? Will that involve cash payments to the Taliban to get them back on the right side?

OMAR ZAKHILWAL: Again, peace comes with a cost. But the cost of peace is many, many times less than the cost of war. Yet the benefits are many times greater.

MARCO WERMAN: Well one issue that stands out for many Afghan citizens, just as much as security, maybe even more so, and that is corruption. How will that picture change? How will you stop people working for your government from demanding bribes or simply extorting money from fellow Afghans?

OMAR ZAKHILWAL: We have made progress. Again fighting corruption is inevitable in institutions that are weak. But what we also presented in the London conference was a comprehensive program to combat corruption not only reactively but also proactively by reforming institutions, streamlining procedures and improving services to the public. So definitely corruption is high on our agenda and we’re pretty confident that again we will make good progress on that front.

MARCO WERMAN: Now as far as the security situation in your country, President Obama last night in his State of the Union Address sounded pretty hopeful about the rising quality and number of Afghan troops and police and a future where they’re taking on a fuller measure of responsibility. What is your assessment of the capabilities of the Afghan forces right now?

OMAR ZAKHILWAL: We have full confidence in them. They are increasing in strength. Right now 60% of our operation – - are conducted by our own national security forces. Just weeks ago I personally was witness to the sophisticated suicide attacks around my Ministry by the Taliban, or elements of them. It was only our security forces that responded to them and with very minimum casualties. Within a few hours everything was calmed down. So that shows the competence and capability of our own security forces.

MARCO WERMAN: You’re talking about the attack last week in the center of Khabul?

OMAR ZAKHILWAL: Absolutely.

MARCO WERMAN: Mr. Zakhiwal, since you’re the Finance Minister, you’re in a pretty good position to answer this next question. How will you pay for these new Afghan troops this year and in future years? I’ve heard that the GDP in Afghanistan is simply not big enough to pay the full bill.

OMAR ZAKHILWAL: Well what we expect is the international community will pick the bill up for us. Investing in Afghan security forces costs a thousand times less than what it costs U.S. soldiers. Right now one American soldier in Afghanistan cost about a million dollars per year. One Afghan soldier costs about five thousand. So the aim here is that as we gain self-sustainability we will rely less and less on U.S. soldiers and their sacrifices and for a fraction of their costs.

MARCO WERMAN: Omar Zakhilwal is the Finance Minister of Afghanistan, a Chief Economic Advisor to President Karzai who is speaking with us from a special conference on Afghanistan in London. Thank you very much..

OMAR ZAKHILWAL: Thank you.

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Reaching out to the Taliban

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:47:11 +0000

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai is reaching out to the Taliban — as a way to decrease tensions inside Afghanistan. That’s welcome news to many in the spiritual home of the Taliban…Kandahar. The CBC’s Derek Stoffel reports.

MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. Afghanistan’s President reached out to the Taliban today. Harmid Karzai is in London at an international conference aimed at finding a way to end the fighting in Afghanistan. Today Karzai invited the Taliban to a Peace Council of Elders and he urged Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to help with the negotiations. We’ll hear more from the conference in London, but first, Karzai is also seeking international funding to help persuade Taliban fighters to give up violence. As Derek Stoffel reports that’s welcome news to many in Qandahar.

DEREK STOFFEL: Qandahar is the spiritual home of the Taliban and threat of the insurgents is never far away. A shop keeper tends to his stall at Qandahar city market. The Taliban have attacked this bazaar before. The shop keeper Habi Bulah listens closely to the news on the radio. He says it’s time to make peace at any cost. The foreigners have been fighting the Taliban for too long, the shop keeper says. We should be working with them instead. That’s exactly what Harmid Karzai wants. The Afghan President is proposing a plan known as the Taliban Trust Fund. Under it, Taliban fighters would be paid to lay down their weapons in exchange for security and jobs. In Qandahar some reconciliation has already started on a smaller scale. Haji Aga Lalai is a local politician. For the past three years he headed efforts in Qandahar to reintegrate Taliban fighters into Afghan society. He gave jobs to 606 of them. We can reconcile with most of the Taliban, Lalai says. Many of them fight simply for money. They should be welcomed back. But there are those who fight because of ideology. They shouldn’t be welcomed back. Canadian Brigadier General Dan Menard commands the U.S. and Canadian troops in Qandahar Province. He says his soldiers have seen a handful of Taliban fighters who want to switch sides.

BRIGADIER GENERAL DAN MENARD: The reality is it’s happening. It doesn’t matter if we think it’s a good thing or not, it’s happening and we have to deal with it. And at the low level, it’s actually working quite well.

DEREK STOFFEL: But the Taliban are rejecting any chance of reconciliation. Kari Yusef Ahmadi is a Taliban spokesman. He says the Talibs fighting against international forces will never join the current Afghan government. That rejection, though, comes from senior levels of the Taliban. Karzai’s plan calls for reintegrating the lower ranked fighters, young men who often side with the Taliban because it pays better than farming, for example. Karzai wants the international community to establish a fund and offer these men more to switch sides. So far, there have been pledges of up to $140,000,000.00 for a Taliban fund. While similar proposal aimed at reconciliation have gone nowhere in the past, there are many in Qandahar Province who hope that with the support of the international community this latest plan will bring some sort of peace to their troubled country. For The World, I’m Derek Stoffel in Qandahar.

Yemen and national security

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:46:35 +0000

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Yemen didn’t feature in President Obama’s State of the Union address despite the country’s role in the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Flight 253. The White House has halted transfers of Yemeni detainees from Guantanamo back to their home country because it’s concerned that some of them might join terrorist groups operating in Yemen. Now Yemen says it will build a rehabilitation center for returning detainees to ensure that won’t happen. The World’s Katy Clark reports on the success rate of such rehab programs.

MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WBGH Boston. Nearly half of the 192 detainees still being held at Guantanamo Bay are from Yemen. President Obama would like to send them home, but Yemen is battling a resurgent Al Qaeda. It’s also where the would be Christmas bomber allegedly got his training. The White House has suspended plans to send any Guantanamo detainees back to Yemen amid concerns some might turn to, or even return to violence there. The government of Yemen says it is addressing that. It’s planning to build an $11,000,000.00 center to rehabilitate returning detainees. The money reportedly will come from the United States. The World’s Katie Clark has our story.

KATIE CLARK: Yemen’s plans to build a rehab center for released Guantanamo detainees is a critical step toward both closing Guantanamo and fighting terrorism, that’s according to Sarah Mendelsohn. She runs the human rights and security initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

SARAH MENDELSOHN: It is not inconceivable that as the year goes on, you’re going to have fairly soon a majority population at Guantanamo that are Yemeni. If Guantanamo was a recruitment tool for Al Qaeda in previous years and still, a Yemeni majority at Guantanamo will be a recruitment tool for particularly AQAP, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

KATIE CLARK: Mendelsohn says figuring out how to reintegrate terrorists and would-be terrorists into society is an important next step in counter-terrorism efforts. It’s hardly a new idea though. Saudi Arabia has a state run reintegration program. Yemen even tried it a few years back but people who studied these programs, John Horgan of Penn State among them, say there is no clear cut way to measure how effective they are or even what they’re trying to accomplish.

JOHN HORGAN: The assumption in the Saudi case and in the Yemeni case is that if you want to reduce the risk of these militants going back into terrorist activity, you first have to change the way they think. Now, that is plausible logic, but it doesn’t necessarily seem to be holding up.

KATIE CLARK: Horgan says there’s a big difference between getting someone to disengage in terrorist activities and getting someone to abandon his beliefs. Changing someone’s beliefs, he says, is significantly more challenging. Horgan’s spoken to many former extremists. He says they talk about a disconnect between what they thought life would be like as part of a militant group and what they actually experienced.

JOHN HORGAN: Most terrorist movements will rely on the glamour. They rely on the kinds of street cred that young recruits attribute to these movements. The reality is very, very different and there is enormous value to making this known.

KATIE CLARK: Horgan says you also have to give former terrorists something to do. Men who go through the Saudi program are assisted in finding a home, a wife and a job. They also get cash. Keeping them busy is key to keeping them out of trouble. Of course it doesn’t always work. There have been numerous reports of graduates of both the Saudi program and a more informal on that’s been going on in Yemen returning to the fight. Christopher Bosack of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says there will always be that risk.

CHRISTOPHER BOSACK: There only way there’s no risk is by not letting anybody out.

KATIE CLARK: And in the case of many of the Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo, various judges have ordered them to be released. Right now the focus is on how to do that with the least amount of risk. For The World, this is Katie Clark.

MARCO WERMAN: You can hear an extended version of Katie’s interview with Penn State’s John Horgan at the world dot org.

Coordinating aid for Haiti

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:45:19 +0000

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It has been more than two weeks since the deadly earthquake struck Haiti and aid distribution has often been marked by poor coordination, vast gaps in coverage, and long lines of desperately needy people. Marco Werman speaks with Stephanie Bunker of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs about the range of countries now contributing to the relief effort in Haiti.

MARCO WERMAN: The fundraising efforts we just heard about in Ghana and Zambia are examples of private giving to help with relief in Haiti. Then there’s the aid sent by governments around the world. There, too, the aid is coming from a variety of countries, some big and rich, others small and poor. Stephanie Bunker is the spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Stephanie, your office keeps track of aid going to Haiti and we should add to any number of other places in need of humanitarian assistance. Rank for us the top countries in terms of aid for Haiti since the earthquake.

STEPHANIE BUNKER: The top donor is the United States, followed by Canada. Saudi Arabia is in third place now. Spain, the U.K., France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Australia and so forth.

MARCO WERMAN: Now you mentioned Saudi Arabia as the third largest donor. What have they offered to Haiti?

STEPHANIE BUNKER: Interestingly, this donation just came through and it’s $50,000,000.00 in cash that they are giving to the United Nations for something called the Emergency Relief and Response Fund in Haiti that can be immediately channeled in case there is some urgent need.

MARCO WERMAN: Is that typical for Saudi Arabia? Have you seen them pop up before as a major donor for these kind of catastrophic situations?

STEPHANIE BUNKER: They’ve actually got a pretty good track record. And if you recall, during the global food crisis they came up with, I think the single largest donation ever to the World Food Program. I forget what it was, I think it was in the $700,000,000.00 maybe? It was a massive contribution.

MARCO WERMAN: That was a couple of years ago when there just a bottoming out of wheat.

STEPHANIE BUNKER: Yes.

MARCO WERMAN: What about countries with fast growing economies like China, India and Brazil? I didn’t hear them mentioned in the top six or seven.

STEPHANIE BUNKER: They’re not in the top six or seven, but Brazil has been very generous. In financial terms alone Brazil has given $550,000,000.00 but that doesn’t necessarily reflect all that Brazil has done. A lot of countries also provide in-kind aid and they don’t put a dollar cost to it and they provide a lot of emergency services; surgeons, search and rescue teams, and so on, that are very expensive, but they don’t necessarily indicate the cost of that.

MARCO WERMAN: If you look over the list of countries that are pledging small amounts, it’s striking how many poor countries are there. I see Sierra Leone, Liberia, what are some of the poorest countries that have contributed and what are they bringing to the table?

STEPHANIE BUNKER: We were looking into this just yesterday. We looked at the World Bank’s low income country category and we found out that the countries from that list include Ghana, which is contributing $3,000,000.00, the Democratic Republic of Congo is chipping in $2,500,000.00 as a pledge at least, and Sierra Leone which is giving $100,000.00.

MARCO WERMAN: Is the amount of aid that governments have pledged to Haiti unprecedented?

STEPHANIE BUNKER: It’s not unprecedented. We saw a huge outpouring also for the tsunami, but it’s certainly extremely unusual. It’s unusual in terms of its size and it’s unusual in terms of the scope of countries that are actually contributing in one way or the other. I think it’s really very significant when you have a country like Cambodia contributing financially to a country like Haiti so far away.

MARCO WERMAN: Stephanie Bunker is the spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Stephanie thanks for taking a few minutes today to speak with us.

STEPHANIE BUNKER: Thank you.

“World of Warcraft” movie and China’s censors

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:44:16 +0000

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Some Chinese are calling it the first great Chinese film of 2010. It’s an online satire that has gotten more than a million hits since it went online a week ago. It’s called “The War of Internet Addiction,” and it’s set in Azeroth, the fantasy land where the online game “World of Warcraft” takes place. Millions of Chinese play World of Warcraft, and the Chinese government doesn’t necessarily like that fact. The hour-long film skewers Chinese officials for trying to censor and control the game. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad reports from Beijing.

Watch the film here with English subtitles:

MARCO WERMAN: Some are calling it the first great Chinese movie of 2010. But it’s not playing in theaters. It’s an online satire. The hour long film takes place in Aziroth the fantasy setting for the online game World of Warcraft. The game has over 11,000,000 users worldwide, half of them in China. As The World’s Mary Kay Magistad reports, the film skewers Chinese officials for trying to censor it.

MARY KAY MAGISTAD: What’s an online gamer to do in China when even the fantasy world gets dragged into Chinese politics? World of Warcraft player Xingan Yu Mi recruited 100 fellow players and made a movie. It’s called The War of Internet Addiction and it’s set almost entirely within the animated video game world of Aziroth. It pits sinister forces against World of Warcraft players. There’s the green damn, a Chinese government promoted filtering software. There are the forces of harmony, a swipe at the Communist Party’s insistence on building a harmonious society; one where people don’t challenge the government. And there’s the evil Uncle Yon, loosely based on a real person who treats so-called internet addiction with electric shock. Uncle Yon tries to lock up the hero, Khan. But Khan escapes and tries to rally other World of Warcraft players. Yon catches up with him. He says, “you think you can get away? All of you internet addicts are coming with us. I’m here to cure you.” And then, Khan steps up with the seminal speech of the film, an impassioned defense of unfettered online gaming. It’s a “we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore” cree de corps.

INTERPRETER: You say we’re addicted to World of Warcraft? Well yes, we’re addicted, but not to the game. We’re addicted to the sense of belonging the game gives us, to our friendships. I and everyone else who loves this game dutifully go to work in crowded buses, consume food without knowing what chemicals are inside. We cried for the Szechuan earthquake and cheered for the Olympics and never wanted out country to fall behind any other in any way. But this past year, because of you people, we couldn’t compete in the game we love. You brainwashed me since I was young that nowhere was better than home. But now, you’re even taking away my emotional home? Forget that!

MARY KAY MAGISTAD: And then he shouts something that in Chinese could mean grass mud horse. It’s a homonym for an expletive that can’t be repeated here and the homonym has become popular internet speak to get around the censors. Khan’s speech is packed with inside references about the Chinese government’s attempts to control the internet and gaming in particular. Over the past year World of Warcraft has passed from one server to another in China. Two government departments are fighting over who controls it’s future and it’s profits and it was suspended for months. For now, the game is still accessible and for the moment is the spoof. At the climax, the hero, Khan, calls for everyone to raise their hands in support of the game. The evil Uncle Yon jeers at him. He says, “useless Khan. These kids taught by our society don’t have the courage to oppose us. Prepare to die! Harmony electric shock!” But then, all around the fantasy world of Aziroth players say silence is not obedience and they pump their fists into the air sending balls of light that strike Yon and smite him dead. But this is a world where spirits walk and as Yon’s rises above his body it speaks. He says “Don’t think you’ve defeated the green dam and the force of harmony. I won’t die. This force is something you players will never be able to defeat.” If that’s true, at least the filmmaker and his friends are going to go down laughing. For The World, I’m Mary Kay Magistad in Beijing.

MARCO WERMAN: And we have a link to a version of the film with English subtitles at the world dot org.

Surfing in Liberia

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:44:09 +0000

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So we’re searching for what may be the best unknown surfing spot in West Africa. It’s a small coastal town, located at the end of an unpaved road, about 30 miles north of Liberia’s capital, Monrovia. The coast there is an open stretch of mostly empty beaches, where it’s not uncommon to see big swells rolling in, one after the other. The beach town itself is named after Liberia’s first President.

(Photo: Glenna Gordon)

Geo Answer:

Liberia’s surfing capital is Robertsport. New York Times’ Diplomatic Correspondent Helene Cooper grew up in Liberia. She recently trekked to this surfing mecca.

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(Photo: Glenna Gordon)

MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman. This is The World. Surf’s up for today’s geo-quiz . We’re searching for what may be the best unknown surfing spot in West Africa. It’s a small coastal town located at the end of an unpaved road about 30 miles north of Liberia’s capital, Monrovia. The coast there is an open stretch of mostly empty beaches where it’ not uncommon to see 20 foot swells rolling in one after the other. The beach town itself is named after Liberia’s first President. What’s it called? Well there’s no time like the present to answer that. New York Times diplomatic correspondent Helene Cooper grew up in Liberia. She recently trekked to this surfing mecca.

HELENE COOPER: It’s about two, two and a half hours from Monrovia. Mostly on a dirt road. That’s a really actually good dirt road. When we finally get to Robertsport and my mouth fell open because it’s just so beautiful. It’s not just the waves that are incredible, but Robertsport was one of the first colonies where freed slaves landed in Liberia. Liberia, as you know, was founded by freed slaves from the United States and freed blacks. One of the most historic ships, the Harriet, landed at Robertsport. This is back in 1829. A lot of the houses there are 150, 160,170 years old, so it’s a combination of houses that look straight out the deep south, out of Mississippi, but then you have this backdrop of the Atlantic ocean and where the continent curves at that point in Robertsport creates these really cool swells for surfing where you can ride waves for long, long periods of time. So I get to Robertsport and we go to Nana’s lodge which is this rustic safari type surfing camp and I’m completely expecting that I’m going to see the usual surfer types and white guys. And I saw Liberian guys, I saw black guys in the water on surfboards and that’s what just completely blew me away.

MARCO WERMAN: Yeah, so that must be a fairly new development. Robertsport, by the way, is the answer to our geo-quiz today and it’s extraordinary. You describe these 200 yard waves that you can ride, they’re just breaking and breaking. That’s the way it goes. Here you meet this 21-year-old named Benjamin Mecrumiddah. How did he get into the sport?

HELENE COOPER: The civil war, Liberia ended about six years ago. So for six years now this was a horrible war that took hundreds of thousands of lives and finally this country is slowly coming out post-war. Benjamin at the time was a teenager and at the time there were a lot of NGO types that went to Liberia and a lot of them tend to surf. He met this Scottish surfer called Wolf Magnuson. Benjamin was fishing on the beach and saw, and what he described it to me and he said I saw this white guy and he was on the water and it looked like he was flying. And I was just, so you just went up to him? And he was like what are you doing? And the two of them just struck up this really cool friendship and Wolf taught Benjamin how to surf. And I asked Benjamin how he felt that first day. He kept talking about he kept falling off the board, he kept falling off the board, but he was determined he wanted to do it and then finally at one point he stood up on the board and caught a wave breaking and he said he felt like he was on a motorcycle. Talking to him as he’s describing this, there’s this huge smile that breaks out on his face. This is a guy who’s been through God-knows-what in the war. His whole childhood had been dominated by this awful civil war and all of a sudden he said he had this feeling of freedom and he’s riding on top of the water that he said he could never duplicate. Ever since then he’s been a surfer and more and more of his friends are surfing. There are a lot of Liberian guys now who surf and even a few Liberian women are starting to talk about doing it. I’ll believe that when I see it.

MARCO WERMAN: Wow. That’s really cool. It sounds like catching the first wave for Benjamin was the most therapeutic thing that happened to him after the civil war in Liberia. Is that kind of the – - of surfing in Liberia for Liberians right now?

HELENE COOPER: I’m not a surfer myself, but everybody I talk to talks so much about this feeling of freedom and that’s like, a lot of us get that, I get off on that when I get in my car and drive really fast over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge listening to Bruce Springsteen. But it’s this whole feeling of suddenly getting away from where you are but yet you are in the same place, but you feel like you’re flying.

MARCO WERMAN: Helene, you described some hotels in Liberia that’s – - tourism industry. Some of these rooms are starting like at $200.00 a night. Is tourism really an option for Liberia right now?

HELENE COOPER: I think that’s going to take some time, but I don’t think it’s out of the question. Liberia has beautiful, beautiful beaches. And these are very unspoiled beaches. It also has chimpanzee sanctuaries upcountry. There are mountains. Liberians speak English so I think it could be a destination for Americans as well. It’s not that far from the United States. They’re talking about starting direct service between New York or possibly Atlanta, and Monrovia. Right now for Liberians, we’re all still rebuilding after the war. The country is still in very poor shape, but we can dream.

MARCO WERMAN: Helene Cooper is the New York Times diplomatic correspondent. Her memoir about growing up in Liberia is called The House at Sugar Beach. Helene always good to speak with you. Thanks a lot.

HELENE COOPER: Nice to talk to you Marco.

British view of Afghan mission

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:58:27 +0000

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The World’s Laura Lynch reports on how the mission in Afghanistan is viewed by military families in Britain.

MARCO WERMAN: There’s one group of people in Britain who may be watching the outcome of today’s conference with more than a passing interest. They are the relatives of the 250 British men and one woman who have died serving in Afghanistan. Many of those families still have questions about the mission there and Britain’s role in it. The World’s Laura Lynch has more.

LAURA LYNCH: Olaf Schmidt was known to everyone as Oz. He was among the select few who spent days and nights searching for, then disabling, the roadside bombs littered throughout Southern Afghanistan. Last October on his last assignment before taking leave, Schmidt was killed as he tried to dismantle another device. About three weeks later his wife Christina paid tribute to him at his funeral, his medals pinned to her chest.

CHRISTINA SCHMIDT: In my eyes, my husband, my son’s father was a warrior. Warriors are unique. Our protectors, not destroyers. Oz and troops like him joined to serve traditional warrior values, to passionately protect the country they love, its ideals, and especially their families, communities and each other.

LAURA LYNCH: Christina Schmidt’s strength and dignity moved the nation. She says she wants people to know Oz believed in the mission in Afghanistan.

CHRISTINA SCHMIDT: And I think that he joined to protect our shores, whether that be literally on front door, or literally abroad.

LAURA LYNCH: Now a widow raising her six-year-old son Laird, Christina Schmidt refuses to say whether she supports the mission herself. But she is determined to support the troops, especially because of the words Oz spoke to her just weeks before he died.

CHRISTINA SCHMIDT: You know that the biggest thing that we need to feel is appreciated because we fall between two stores. Whether we agree with the war or not, we’re there, literally fighting for you. He said I’m there and I deal with every device as if you and Laird were on the other end of it. And that’s what gets me. That’s what makes me tick and keep my game up. And he said I need you to stand there and be proud of me and what I’ve achieved and the lives I’ve saved and the limbs I’ve saved.

LAURA LYNCH: But other families who have suffered devastating losses are speaking out against Britain’s presence. Graham Knight’s son Ben died in the fall of 2006 when his spy plane exploded over Qandahar. Thirteen other servicemen died with him in what later turned out to be an accident. Three days later a broken father spoke to reporters of his loss.

GRAHAM KNIGHT: I’m fine. I didn’t want him to be on planes but it was what he wanted to do. But he’s been flying with the birds and now he’s flying with the angels. And with God – - .

LAURA LYNCH: Knight has become an outspoken critic of the war. He says he supports the troops and always has, but he wants them to come home.

GRAHAM KNIGHT: I would like the troops out tomorrow, yes. I personally feel that the war that we’re fighting now isn’t the war that we went in for.

LAURA LYNCH: Knight says with Al Qaeda all but gone from Afghanistan he believes there is no legitimate reason to keep fighting. He held that view even before Ben died, even though Ben disagreed with him.

GRAHAM KNIGHT: And he felt that the Afghan people ought to have the freedoms, same freedoms as we do. In our country to have a democracy and to be able to choose how they live their lives. But having said that, I don’t think, if he was still alive today, he would agree that we should still be there.

LAURA LYNCH: Prime Minister Gordon Brown has repeatedly said troops need to stay in Afghanistan to ensure the Taliban don’t return to power and once again give Al Qaeda sanctuary. Knight believes that won’t necessarily make Britain any safer.

GRAHAM KNIGHT: The only bombings that we’ve had in this country were done by British people who had gone to Pakistan and trained. The reason that they gave in their suicide videos for actually doing it was because we were killing their brothers in Afghanistan and Iraq. So I think our security has got worse since we actually went out into these countries rather than better.

LAURA LYNCH: Aside from their determination to show moral support, Christina Schmidt and Graham Knight agree on one other thing. They say the government isn’t doing nearly enough to give its fighting forces better equipment and more troops to share the burden. For The World, I’m Laura Lynch in London.

MARCO WERMAN: Before we go to the break, here’s one more story from Afghanistan. Michael Semple, a former EU official spent most of his career trying to bring peace to Afghanistan. In 2007 Semple was working on plans to reintegrate moderate Taliban into mainstream society when President Karzai ordered him expelled from the country. Semple was accused of being a spy and a Taliban supporter. You can hear the rest of his story on our website. That’s the world dot org.

Zambia church raises funds for Haiti

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:57:37 +0000

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The BBC’s Jo Fidgen reports on a Haiti fundraiser held by an international church in Lusaka, Zambia.

MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman. This is The World. Americans have opened their wallets in a big way to help Haiti. U.S. charities have collected about $500,000,000.00 in private donations since the earthquake on January 12th. Not surprising perhaps, despite a bad economy, since we’re one of the globes wealthiest countries, but the disaster in Haiti has moved people in poorer nations to donate as well. We’re going to hear now from two developing countries where people have been moved to give to the Haiti relief effort. We begin with a quick stop in Zambia. The BBC’s Jo Fidgen visited an international church in the capital, Lusaka, where a collection for Haiti was underway.

PASTOR WALKER SHIRTS: We want to announce that we were able to give twenty million to Samaritans Purse. That wire has been sent. It’s on the ground in Haiti blessing and helping those precious people. Thank you for your generosity.

JO FIDGEN: Pastor Walker Shirts organized the collection. Were you expecting such an overwhelming response?

PASTOR WALKER SHIRTS: I must say I wasn’t that surprised because our folks have been very generous in other areas. When the tsunami hit Southeast Asia a number of years ago they did something similar. We hadn’t planned on this but it came from suggestions of the members saying that we should do this.

JO FIDGEN: The congregation, several hundred strong, is now filing out of the church into the car park. Many have donated to the Haiti fund.

MALE VOICE 1: People everywhere are concerned about the situation in Haiti. The devastation, the loss of life, the displacement, the children, the women. That plight opens our heart.

JO FIDGEN: It may surprise some people that Zambians are giving freely when there are so many problems here.

MALE VOICE 1: Whatever we have is blessing to give to a fellow human being who is in need.

FEMALE VOICE 1: People might say we are a poor country, how come we are giving? I can refer to them the widow, the poor widow who gave the last two coins and Jesus Christ has said this woman has given more than what the rich people have given because they gave from abundance and this woman gave from nothing. She gave the last that she had. This is what we Zambians are going to do.

FEMALE VOICE 2: I don’t give to charities abroad. Normally I give to the people within the country. That was the first time I was giving to somebody outside the country.

JO FIDGEN: So why Haiti?

FEMALE VOICE 2: I just felt touched by seeing so many dead bodies, children trying to leave, people having no water. I just thought I had to give something. Whatever was in my purse that morning, I just gave it away.

MARCO WERMAN: A parishioner at the Miracle Life Family Church in Lusaka, Zambia closing that report from the BBC’s Jo Fidgen.

Ghana concert for Haiti relief

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:56:38 +0000

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Reporter David Amanor reports on a musical fundraiser for Haiti relief in Ghana’s capital, Accra.

MARCO WERMAN: A similar spirit has moved people in another African capital to raise money for Haiti. Reporter David Amenor attended a musical fundraiser in Ghana’s capital, Acra.

DAVID AMENOR: A host of popular musicians tuned up and turned up for this concert under the Banner Haiti Ghana Responds. The role call included veteran artists like Kojo Enteree and Reggie Rockstone. And while this was certainly a party to enjoy, a picture slide show of the devastation was replayed on big screens reminding us all of the reasons we came.

MALE VOICE 1: The scale of the disaster has blown my mind personally, you know? It has made me feel so humble, especially learning that two million people are homeless. That is half the population of Acra. It’s just unbelievable.

DAVID AMENOR: I’ve got someone here from?

FEMALE VOICE 1: Guyana, South America. Actually I’ve lost two of my very close friends in Haiti. One of them, they were living with their mother and their house collapsed and she died.

DAVID AMENOR: The organizers, Friends of Haiti, believe they can raise two million U.S. dollars from direct donations and the SMS campaign. In Ghana you simply text the word Haiti to a short code, 1962, and one Ghana cedi, that’s approximately seventy U.S. cents, is deducted from your mobile phone balance each time. Kufi Blanksen Orcansee started the group with a blog and a social network utility Facebook. He’s confident Ghanans will continue to respond in the month long campaign.

KUFI BLANKSEN ORCANSEE: We have a great deal of affection for the Haitians. The Haitians were the first black republic. Ghana is the first black sub-Saharan African republic. So clearly, we took some inspiration from the Haitians. It makes all the sense in the world that – - down today. We should do something to help them.

DAVID AMENOR: Let’s hear from some late-comers. Why did you come late?

MALE VOICE 2: Okay so the issue is this, I’m not supposed to be on stage, so definitely I come on a time I want to come and enjoy myself and contribute my – - to eighty people.

MALE VOICE 3: The performers, the musicians, have to bring people together. So I think, what do you think?

DAVID AMENOR: I think that’s nice.

MARCO WERMAN: That report from freelance reporter David Amenor in Acra, Ghana.

Yemen and national security

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:55:20 +0000

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Yemen says it will build a rehabilitation centre for detainees returning from Guantanamo to deter them from joining terrorist groups. The World’s Katy Clark reports on the success rate of such rehab programs.

CHRISTOPHER BOSACK: There only way there’s no risk is by not letting anybody out.

MARCO WERMAN: You can hear an extended version of Katie’s interview with Penn State’s John Horgan at the world dot org.

Obama omits Middle East in speech

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:54:31 +0000

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The World’s Matthew Bell reports on one topic President Obama didn’t mention in last night’s State of the Union — the Middle East.

MARCO WERMAN: Last night President Obama used a good portion of his State of the Union Address to talk about jobs and economy. Foreign policy got short shrift in the speech. The President never even mentioned the words “Middle East”. The World’s Matthew Bell has more on that.

MATTHEW BELL: Democratic Congressman Jim McDermott of Washington State was disappointed that President Obama never mentioned reviving stalled Middle East peace talks. McDermott is one of 54 members of Congress who just signed a letter to the President asking him to pressure the Israeli’s to ease their blockade of the Gaza strip. The letter says the situation for the Palestinian citizens in Gaza is dire and that relieving the suffering there fits into the administration’s broader goals of securing peace in the Middle East. McDermott says the Israeli ban on things like building supplies, certain foods and even medicines goes too far.

CONGRESSMAN JIM MCDERMOTT: These are medical, human issues and I think that there is a responsibility for people to be reasonable about this. I understand protection, and certainly Israel has the rights to protect themselves, but they do not have the right to prohibit people from getting medicine and health care.

MATTHEW BELL: Israel says the blockade is not aimed at punishing the people of Gaza, but to prevent the Hamas government there from being able to attack Israel. Israelis say they do allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and that some Palestinians are even granted access to medical care inside Israel. The situation in Gaza is a tough one to try to solve for the Obama administration and it’s just one component in the President’s effort to achieve a comprehensive Middle East peace deal. Nathan Brown is a Middle East expert at George Washington University.

NATHAN BROWN: The policy that he’s been following is in a little bit of a hiatus. He may have hit a dead end with his diplomatic effort and there isn’t any clear direction that he’s been given so far. In addition he’s also confessed publicly that the going is much tougher than he anticipated. Therefore it may be time to reconfigure policy and perhaps even re-jigger his priorities.

MATTHEW BELL: U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell is working to restart talks on some level and Brown says he can’t see the President giving up entirely.

NATHAN BROWN: But I think the Obama administration has woken up to the realization that, number one it’s going to be hard to get those negotiations going and number two if they succeed it’s not at all clear the two sides have much to talk about.

MATTHEW BELL: But Middle East expert David Makovsky, author of Myths, Illusions and Peace, says talking doesn’t have to happen at the summit level between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

DAVID MAKOVSKY: I think you could have a situation of President Obama asking Senator Mitchell to make shuttles between the parties. That is a way of getting them to the table. It might be useful, frankly, just to have working level talks of which the summit of Netanyahu/Abbas summit is more towards the end rather than the beginning.

MATTHEW BELL: President Obama was asked about the Israeli/Palestinian peace process at a town hall meeting in Tampa, Florida today. He said the U.S. is working to try to strengthen the ability of both parties to sit down across the table. For The World, I’m Matthew Bell.

Obama on climate change

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:53:02 +0000

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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with The World’s Environment Editor, Peter Thomson, about the place of climate change legislation on President Obama’s agenda.

MARCO WERMAN: To the surprise of many, one thing that was on the Mr. Obama’s radar last night was climate change. The President stuck to his guns on his determination to pass a comprehensive energy and climate bill. But instead of playing up the urgency of the environmental threat, he spoke about it mostly from the angle of jobs and competitiveness.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Providing incentives to energy efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future. Because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy and America must be that nation.

MARCO WERMAN: The World’s environment editor Peter Thomson is with me now. Peter what do you make of the President’s comments last night?

PETER THOMSON: Well Marco, like you said, given recent events, I think a lot of people were surprised that he even mentioned climate change in the State of the Union Address. We had this muddied outcome of global summit in Copenhagen last month that really seemed to stall a lot of global momentum in dealing with climate change. Then we had last week’s election of Scott Brown, Republican here in Massachusetts to the Senate to replace a sure Democratic vote in favor of climate change legislation which kind of took the wind out of the sails of the movement in D.C. as well. I think a lot of people were expecting the President to just duck this and put it on the shelf. Mind you, he did not mention Cap and Trade which is the key mechanism for controlling climate emissions that was moving through the capital last year. He didn’t even mention the U.S. targets of emissions reductions. What he talked about was jobs, jobs, jobs. Jobs in green energy development. Keeping the U.S. ahead of China and Germany on developing green energy technologies and really looking at this as an economic development strategy.

MARCO WERMAN: Well Peter, let’s put this quickly into a larger context. You mentioned Copenhagen and the muddied outcome there. And there is a key deadline coming up, right, for what’s called the Copenhagen Accord?

PETER THOMSON: Yes, it’s January 31st and it’s the deadline for developed countries like the U.S. to register their emissions targets and for developing countries to register their plans for reducing emissions. There have actually been a lot of concern that countries would miss even this first deadline of this very weak accord. It looks like most actually will make the deadline of January 31st, but there’s still a tremendous amount of uncertainty and disagreement about what force that document has and how important it ultimately will be in helping the entire world come to grips with this problem. And, of course, it’s also contingent on the emissions targets by countries like the United States and countries sticking to those targets. Of course the United States target brings us back to Washington because that’s where we’ll really decide whether or not we can make those targets. The U.S. pledged to cut our emissions by 17% over 2005 levels by 2020. But we’re not going to do that without action out of Washington.

MARCO WERMAN: So back in Washington, will Congress support the Copenhagen Accord and what might we see there in the near term in relation to climate change?

PETER THOMSON: Well I think Washington’s frankly not very concerned about the Copenhagen Accord, but in terms of those targets, Senator John Kerry who is the chief sponsor of the Cap and Trade bill says he’s undaunted and he’s going to push ahead on that. But he’s also talking with some key Republicans like Lindsey Graham, some key independents like Joe Lieberman on trying to fashion some kind of compromise that might pull Cap and Trade out, but really push forward on some kind of incentives for clean energy development. They’re throwing some bones to the Conservatives on these issues by talking about increased off shore oil drilling and greater reliance on new nuclear power plants.

MARCO WERMAN: The World’s environment editor Peter Thomson thanks for the update.

PETER THOMSON: Thanks Marco.

Etelvina Maldonado

The World — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:16:10 +0000

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In the past 24 hours, we’ve heard of the passing of historian Howard Zinn, and novelist J.D. Salinger. Both men well-known here in the US — but both also had great influence on how people outside this country view America. For our Global Hit today, we want to tell you about a woman who died this week, unknown to many here in the U.S. Etelvina Maldonado was 75. Even in her home of Colombia, Etelvina Maldonado was not a household name.

http://www.myspace.com/etelvinamaldonado

As you may be able to tell from her voice, Etelvina Maldonado was not a commercial pop star. The music she’s performing here, like a lot of her repertoire, is a style unique to the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It’s called bullerengue.

An obscure style and performer. And yet, Etelvina Maldonado is being hailed today as a national treasure on the web page of Colombia’s Ministry of Culture. Maldonado didn’t follow the same path as some Colombian artists who perform traditional music, and then enjoy success as folkloric artists on the world stage.

She was relatively unknown until she took part in a 1996 recording that fused jazz and traditional Colombian music. Prior to that, she lived quietly in Cartagena, singing the way she always had…away from any spotlight, for small local parties, family and friends.

And even after 1996, she never gained the renown of someone like Colombia’s best known folkloric singer Toto la Momposina. I only came across Etelvina Maldonado by chance last year. In Bogota, I hit it off with the country director for the Nature Conservancy Jose Yunis Mebarek, who I had interviewed for a story about water conservation.

We bonded over the topic of music, and he invited me to his apartment to offer me — as he called it — a primer on Colombian music. We listened for two hours to fantastic vallanato, cumbias, and salsa. And then Jose’s eyes lit up, suddenly remembering something he forget to play me.

He got his laptop, went to YouTube, and pulled up the only example of Etelvina Maldonado he could think of. When I saw her on the screen, she looked like an unassuming grandmother. Then I heard her voice.

If I had had another week in Colombia, I would have gone to Cartagena to interview her. Instead, in the sweet night air of Bogota, I walked from Jose’s apartment back to my hotel, whistling Etelvina Maldonado’s song.

Her voice was so indelible, I felt like I had been listening to her all my life.

‘I was expelled from Afghanistan’

Ian Rosser — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:58:11 +0000

Irish-born Michael Semple and his wife moved to Pakistan in the 1980′s to work as Oxfam’s aid program representatives for both Pakistan and Afghanistan. They divided their time between the two countries and Michael ultimately worked in Afghanistan in a number of different roles. But then, in 2007, he was expelled from Afghanistan, accused of being a spy and a Taliban supporter. We thought our listeners would like to hear Semple’s account of witnessing the end of the Soviet-backed regime, the ensuing civil war and rise of the Taliban and events after September 11th, 2001.