World in brief: Ally won’t helpin any Iran fight
The United States wrapped up a massive military exercise a few dozen miles off Iran’s coast on Wednesday, even as the United Arab Emirates became the second gulf nation to declare it would not take part in any attack on the Islamic nation.
The U.S. has denied any intention to attack. But the public refusals of two allies to help could affect U.S. military options or require shifting of resources if tensions did seriously escalate.
Qatar – home to 6,500 U.S. troops and the enormous al-Udeid Air Base, headquarters of all American air operations in the Middle East – said earlier this month it would not permit an attack on Iran from its soil.
The Gulf Cooperation Council, a loose alliance of Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the Emirates, has called on its members not to support any U.S. action against Iran.
The United States has close to 40,000 troops in the gulf, including 25,000 in Kuwait, 3,000 in Bahrain, 1,300 in the United Arab Emirates and a few hundred in Oman and Saudi Arabia, according to figures from the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center.
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba
New prisoner sent to detention center
An alleged al-Qaida operative captured in Kenya and accused of participating in a string of attacks in East Africa is the newest prisoner at Guantanamo, sent to the remote base because he is thought to pose a danger to the U.S., the military said Wednesday.
Abdul Malik, whose nationality was not immediately clear, is a rare new arrival at Guantanamo. The military prison is criticized by human rights advocates and U.S. allies and foes alike for holding hundreds of foreign men for years without trial.
Navy Cmdr. Chito Peppler, a Pentagon spokesman, said Malik was a high-ranking member of al-Qaida in East Africa. He will likely face interrogation at Guantanamo.
Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said this week that Malik acknowledged involvement in the November 2002 attack on the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, Kenya, in which 13 people died. A lawyer for Malik’s family in Kenya, Harun Ndubi, dismissed as “utter nonsense” claims that his client had confessed.
WASHINGTON
Bush, Putin at odds on missile defenses
Russian President Vladimir Putin registered his concerns Wednesday with President Bush about a planned U.S. missile defense system in Central Europe in a conversation that highlighted strains between the two nations.
After the phone call, a White House spokesman said Bush emphasized to the Russian president that missile defenses in Europe were intended to protect against an evolving threat from the Middle East.
It is “a threat that we share in common with Europe and Russia,” said Gordon Johndroe, the National Security Council spokesman.
According to the Kremlin, Bush expressed a willingness to discuss the project with Russia in detail in the interest of mutual security.
Putin last month accused the United States of an over-reliance on force while the Bush administration has contended there are increasing authoritarian tendencies in Russia under Putin.