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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2014 INTERNATIONAL Mountain to climb for Britain’s new spy chief

LONDON: A keen mountaineer with a mili- going Sawers, who over the last five years tary background, Britain’s new spy chief worked to restore the reputation of the faces the daunting mission of rescuing the service after accusations of complicity in dented reputation of MI6 while combating torture, mass surveillance and false claims jihadist threats and facing down the men- about Iraq possessing weapons of mass ace of a new confrontation with Russia. destruction (WMD). In 2002, then-prime Alex Younger-or “C” as the heads of foreign minister Tony Blair used a discredited docu- intelligence agency are codenamed-was ment dubbed the “September Dossier” to appointed this month to preside over the justify the invasion of Iraq, which claimed imposing MI6 headquarters on London’s dictator Saddam Hussein could deploy River Thames, its stepped-block shape WMDs “within 45 minutes”. earning it comparisons to a Sumerian zig- “MI6’s reputation was damaged by the gurat temple. Something of a secret in WMD fiasco,” Stephen Dorril, an intelligence plain sight-special effects saw it blown up expert at the University of Huddersfield in the most recent James Bond film, said. Over the past year, “in what seems to “Skyfall”-the fortress is listed on maps as a be a deliberate public relations approach,” mere “government building”. As Younger’s former senior MI6 staff have appeared at predecessor John Sawers once said, “secret conferences and in the media giving organizations need to stay secret”. nuanced views of the so-called “War on As a career spy and MI6 insider, the 51- Terror”, Dorril said. It is a turnaround for an year-old Younger, an economics graduate organization which was not officially and former army officer, knows the territory acknowledged by the British government inside out. He has been with Britain’s spy until 1994. “I think this is maybe to distance agency-properly known to its employees as the service from any form of politicization the Secret Intelligence Service-since 1991. and pressure from government, but also to Younger rose through the ranks to become publicly improve the image of the service,” TURKEY-SYRIA BORDER: The Turkish flag flies on a grain silo backdropped by smoke in the Syrian town of Kobane, after an airstrike by the US the head of intelligence operations world- Dorril added. It is no small task. led coalition, seen from a hilltop outside Suruc, on the Turkey-Syria border. —AP wide for the past two years, according to a As he takes the reins of MI6, Younger brief biography released by the Foreign must take on his predecessor’s challenges- Office. In the past he has worked in Europe, including Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine - 10 the Middle East and Afghanistan, and weeks after Britain’s terror alert was raised directed MI6 operations to protect the to “severe” in the face of risks from jihadist Turbulent path for London Olympics in 2012. “Alex brings a groups. A resurgent Russia, whose actions wealth of relevant experience,” Foreign over Ukraine and stepped-up militarization Secretary Philip Hammond said on recall Cold War schemes, could also be Younger’s appointment. problematic. In his new post, Younger will Syria Kurd fighters take on the single-initial nickname “C” Iraq fiasco (famously changed to “M” in the Bond Described as a “cool customer” who is series, and referred to as “Control” in John “popular with his colleagues,” according to Le Carre’s spy novels). That initial was used Canadian-Israeli woman - first foreign female recruit a former senior MI6 officer who spoke to by the first director of the Secret ARBIL: A Canadian-born immigrant to Israel has woman to join YPG, the Kurds’ dominant fighting Rosenberg, among 11 people arrested in Israel The Daily Telegraph newspaper, Younger is Intelligence Service, George Mansfield become the first foreign woman to join Kurds force in northern Syria. She has crossed into “in a phony ‘lottery prize’ scheme that targeted said to have a forthright approach that won Smith-Cumming, to sign off on documents battling Islamic State in Syria, a Kurdish source Syria and is one of around 10 Westerners recruit- victims, mostly elderly”. Israel’s NRG news site him the job over two other candidates. His a century ago, and was adopted to refer to said yesterday, as details of the volunteer’s tur- ed by YPG, the source said. Rosenberg could not reported at the time that Rosenberg turned to task will be to continue the work of the out- MI6 chiefs ever since.— AFP bulent past surfaced. Gill Rosenberg, 31, is a civil be reached by Reuters for comment. A source crime after running short on money, that she aviation pilot who enlisted in an Israeli army provided an Iraqi Kurdistan cellphone number was estranged from her parents and had tried in search-and-rescue unit before being arrested in for her, but it was turned off on Tuesday. vain to join the Mossad spy service. 2009, extradited to the United States and jailed Israel has maintained discreet military, intelli- over an international phone scam, one of her ‘After me’ gence and business ties with the Kurds since the former lawyers said. A Facebook page registered to Rosenberg 1960s, seeing in the minority ethnic group a On Monday, Israel Radio aired an interview showed photographs of her in settings marked buffer against shared Arab adversaries. The Kurds with Rosenberg in which she said she had trav- as Kurdish areas of Iraq and Syria. “In the IDF are spread through Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq. In eled to Iraq, was training with Kurdish guerrillas (Israeli army), we say ‘aharai’, After Me. Let’s show the latter country, they have the autonomous and would go into combat in next-door Syria. ISIS (Islamic State) what that means,” read a Nov Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). Israel bans The station did not name the interviewee, who 9 post. Yahel Ben-Oved, an Israeli lawyer who its citizens from traveling to enemy states, spoke North American-accented Hebrew, but represented Rosenberg in the US criminal pro- among them Syria and Iraq. It has been cracking source involved in the report identified her as ceedings, said they had no knowledge of her down on Israeli Arabs who return after volunteer- Rosenberg. joining the Kurds though they had spoken ing to fight with Islamic State or other rebels “They (the Kurds) are our brothers. They are recently. “It is exactly the sort of thing she would against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s rule. good people. They love life, a lot like us, really,” do, though,” said Ben-Oved. Canada similarly worries about its citizens fight- Rosenberg said, explaining why she joined up Rosenberg had consented to extradition and ing in Syria. Israeli and Canadian officials said after contacting the guerrillas over the Internet. served around three years in a US prison under a they were aware of Rosenberg’s case, but did not A source in the Kurdistan region with knowledge plea bargain, Ben-Oved said. A 2009 FBI state- immediately elaborate on what if any efforts of the issue said Rosenberg was the first foreign ment on the case names her as Gillian were being made to return her.—Reuters Nigeria blasts US for refusal to sell arms JOHANNESBURG: Nigeria’s ambassador to the Boko Haram should be expanding and becom- Nigerian troops responsible for the deaths of United States has castigated Washington for ing more deadly.” thousands of detainees since a state of emer- refusing to sell “lethal weapons” to fight his Nigeria’s military on Oct 17 announced an gency was imposed in May 2013 in three north- country’s Islamic uprising, saying the extremists immediate cease-fire with Boko Haram, but the eastern states. In the latest such report, commu- otherwise would have been defeated long ago. militants have responded with more and dead- nity leaders and family members told AP that sol- Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye said the United lier attacks. Adefuye confirmed that Washington diers raided homes in Potiskum, capital of Yobe States is letting down an old ally in its hour of has refused Nigeria’s requests because of allega- state, on Nov. 15 and dragged away young men need, and Nigeria’s people and government feel tions the defense forces have violated the aged between 18 and 30. Soldiers later dumped abandoned. “The US government has up till human rights of Boko Haram suspects. It was 18 bullet-ridden bodies at the hospital mortuary, today refused to grant Nigeria’s request to pur- not possible to get an immediate response from according to hospital records made available to chase lethal equipment that would have US officials. He said the allegations are based on AP. The military has not responded to requests brought down the terrorists within a short time,” rumors spread by political opponents as Nigeria for comment. The executions came two days ANDES: People visit the Cemetery of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia Adefuye told members of the Washington- prepares for February presidential elections. US after a suicide bomber killed 30 people in a pro- (FARC) in Andes, Caqueta Department, Colombia. —AFP based Council on Foreign Relations Monday laws ban sales of lethal weapons to countries cession of moderate Muslims. On Monday, night. “We find it difficult to understand how whose military are accused of gross human Potiskum was further terrorized when a suicide and why, in spite of the US presence in Nigeria rights abuses. bomber killed 48 students at an all-boys high Inside the secret cemetery with their sophisticated military technology, An Associated Press investigation found school.—AP of Colombia’s FARC rebels

LOS ANDES: A little-known cemetery of ‘Respect the dead’ Pakistani village that gave fallen FARC guerrillas lies tucked away in The FARC today has around 8,000 the Andes, maintained with care until it fighters, according to government esti- can be opened to the public once peace mates. It built its secret cemetery during a its sons to fight for Britain is restored in Colombia. The graveyard previous, failed set of peace talks held was long kept secret by the Revolutionary several hours’ drive away in San Vicente DULMIAL: Down a broken road winding through a ognized with a historic 12-pounder artillery gun, valor shown for the British forces during various Armed Forces of Colombia, the leftist del Caguan from 1998 to 2002. The region corner of Pakistan’s Punjab province lies a silent made in Scotland, installed on a marble platform in wars,” said Riaz Ahmed Malik, president of Dulmial’s guerrilla group known by its Spanish around San Vicente del Caguan was then graveyard, the resting place of hundreds of soldiers 1925 as a memorial and still kept an immaculate, history society. “The IOM medal was equivalent to acronym FARC that grew out of a peasant a large demilitarized zone controlled by who fought for Britain in two world wars. Nestled gleaming black. A few meters away, the primary the Victoria Cross because this top British military uprising 50 years ago and is now Latin the FARC. But the army took over the area, in the rocky hills of Punjab’s salt ranges, blasted by school building has another plaque placed on a medal was not awarded to Indian soldiers before America’s oldest rebellion. forcing the rebel group into the country- heat in the summer, the village of Dulmial is a far monument. “From this village 460 men went to the 1911.” Troops from the village were also honored To reach the site, visitors climb a steep side of Caqueta province, one of those cry from the freezing mud of the Flanders trenches. Great War 1914-1919. Of these 9 gave their lives,” for bravery fighting in France in 1915, he said. mountain road, winding their way hardest hit by fighting that has killed But the village, around 150 kilometers from the plaque reads. “Besides 460 men of our village who fought in between waterfalls and cliffs to the spot 220,000 people in five decades. “Nearly Islamabad, gave 460 men to fight in the 1914-18 WWI, at least 736 went to fight in WWII,” Malik said. where a rebel stops them and inquires every week, we come to this cemetery to conflict-more than any other single village in what Proud history was then British India. By the end of World War I, Dulmial’s military tradition continues to this ‘We ate roots’ about their intentions before deciding bury guerrillas from around the region. nearly 1.3 million men from across the Indian sub- day-the district is still a fertile recruiting ground for Haji Malik Muhammad Khan was one of those whether to let them enter. The adjacent Fighters killed in combat, killed in uni- continent had volunteered for service, with 74,000 Pakistan’s armed forces. The WWI centenary has men. Now 91 years of age, the old soldier is still fit hamlet of Los Andes firmly supports the form,” said a business owner from the giving their lives in the fight against Germany and sparked interest in the village’s history and the sac- enough to take a daily march across the village. “I FARC, which was founded as a Marxist- area. its allies. rifice made for the colonial rulers, who governed was recruited in the British army on December 11, Leninist group and claims to be fighting A resident of San Vicente del Caguan As part of commemorations of the 100th the subcontinent until it was divided into India and 1940,” he said. “Everybody from our village was for a more just Colombia, particularly for described the cemetery as an “untouch- anniversary of the start of World War I, the British Pakistan at independence in 1947. A one-room going to fight because there was great poverty peasants and the poor. able place.” “When the army kills a guerril- High Commission in Islamabad unveiled a plaque museum in the former home of late WWI veteran around here.” Khan’s service with a Punjab infantry “This place is a symbol of the struggle la, they dump his body in the river like a on Monday honoring Pakistani recipients of the Fateh Muhammad Malik houses mementoes of the regiment fighting the feared Japanese took him to for peace. We’re very proud to have it dog. Here, the dead must be respected,” Victoria Cross. Three soldiers from what is now village’s proud heritage-a captured Italian battle some of the toughest theatres of the war in the here,” said Placida Perdoma, a frail woman said the resident, a graying man in his 70s Pakistan were awarded the VC, Britain’s highest mil- flag, old military equipment and photos of soldiers. east-Burma (now called Myanmar), Indonesia and of 62 who owns one of the handful of who asked to remain anonymous. When itary honor, for extreme bravery under fire. “Three soldiers of our village received Indian Malaya (now Malaysia). “There were many difficult wooden shacks that make up Los Andes, the army once exhumed a rebel’s corpse, Dulmial’s contribution to Britain’s war effort is rec- Order of Merit (IOM) medals for their bravery and times during the war,” he said. “Many a time we had about 300 kilometers south of the capital the hamlet erupted into protest and, to eat the roots of banana plants to quell our Bogota. Perdoma, who proudly claims to under the Catholic Church’s mediation, hunger. “Once our whole regiment was surrounded have once been entrusted with the keys managed to make the authorities return by the Japanese in the forests of Burma. As intelli- to the cemetery, said she hopes to see it the body. Since then, villagers have gence officer, I was assigned to get us out of the transformed into a “center of remem- begun burying civilian dead in a nearby siege and thanks God I succeeded.” brance” if peace negotiations in Havana plot in an effort to protect the site. Almost 70 years after the end of WWII, Khan between the FARC and President Juan But locals say the army regularly wants no one else to go through the horrors he Manuel Santos’s government reach a con- bombs the area. Estella Campos, a 38- witnessed as a young man. “Disputes should be clusive deal. year-old farmer with three children, says solved through talks. There should be no war. War Perched on a hillside, the FARC plot she and her daughter were wounded by destroys countries, lands, crops, people. War is a comes slowly into view behind a carefully an army mortar as they left their house in very bad thing,” he said. But for Malik, wars have groomed, tree-lined path. “This is a sacred January. “The soldiers keep aiming mor- put their village on the map, making it stand out site, a place of worship,” said a gardener, tars here every day. They have spoiled the from the thousands of others that dot Punjab. “This cannon installed here is our pride. If we did not asking not to be named. The dozens of fields, killed horses, cows, damaged hous- have this gun for our martial services, our village small mausoleums bear no religious sym- es with these mortars,” she said. Campos would have been like all others,” he said. “Our vil- bols or surnames-just a first name said she prays for peace every morning, lage sent the highest number of soldiers in WWI engraved on a plaque. One pays tribute to and voiced hope that the ongoing negoti- from Asia and we are proud of our history.” His mis- the bravery of a rebel nicknamed Pilosita: ations would halt the graveyard’s expan- sion now is to build a monument to accompany “You were an extraordinary guerrilla. We sion and turn it into a memorial. “When DULMIAL: Pakistani schoolchildren play beside a cannon placed in the village Dulmial in the gun, commemorating soldiers from the village will never forget you. You’re with your unit people see the cemetery, they will Chakwal district in Punjab province. A cannon was awarded to Dulmial in recognition of serv- who fought for Pakistan, as well as the British now. Take command.” remember,” she said.— AFP ices rendered by all ranks from this village during and prior to first great war 1914-1919.—AFP Empire.—AFP