http://www.radiohc.cu/homeing.htm UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Calls on US-Led Forces in Iraq to Respect International Law as "Occupying Power", Drawing Immediate Anger From US Officials Geneva, April 24 (RHC) - United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has called on US-led forces in Iraq to respect international law as an "occupying power," drawing immediate anger from US officials. Annan told the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva that he hopes the coalition will set an example by making clear that they intend to act strictly within the rules. Washington responded that it had not been established whether the so-called coalition that toppled Saddam Hussein was an occupying power under international law, but claimed that US-led forces were nevertheless abiding by international conventions. US envoy Kevin Moley told reporters in Geneva that Washington finds it "at best odd" that the secretary general chose to bring this to the US government's attention. In an indirect reference to the widespread looting in Iraq, the prolonged lack of basic services like electricity and clean running water, and the incapacity of humanitarian agencies to establish themselves in the country due to security concerns, Annan cited the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1907 Hague Convention. The accords set down the responsibilities of occupiers, ranging from maintaining public order to ensuring the well-being of the civilian population. Last week, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, deputy operations director at US Central Command, said the United States did not currently consider itself an occupying power in Iraq. Rather, he said, the coalition was a "liberating force" - a category that does not exist in the Geneva or Hague conventions. Moley also said he was angered that Annan cited "the decision to go to war without specific authorization by the UN Security Council," calling the affirmation "an egregious misstatement of the facts." Annan said the coalition decision to act "created deep divisions that will need to be bridged" if the international community is to deal effectively, not just with the aftermath in Iraq, but with other major challenges on the international agenda. Retired US General Charged With Leading Post-War Iraq Says Anti-Americanism Will Abate, Despite Growing Signs of Discontent Over US Occupation Baghdad, Kut, Erbil, Iraq, April 24 (RHC) - The retired US general charged with leading post-war Iraq has asserted that anti-Americanism in the country will abate, despite growing signs of discontent over US occupation. At a news conference Wednesday in Erbil, administrative center of Iraq's northern Kurdish region, Jay Garner acknowledged that discontent among Iraqis is high in the chaotic aftermath of the toppling of Saddam Hussein - but asserted that most Iraqis realize that US forces are not going to be in the country for a long period. Just hours after the statements, Iraqi assailants fired on a US Marine command post in two drive-by shootings in the city of Kut, and a senior Shiite Muslim cleric in Baghdad said his sect's highest authority in Iraq will refuse any contact with Americans. Tensions have been rising in Kut between US troops and followers of a Shiite cleric who claims control of the city, which lies some 100 miles southeast of Baghdad. Marines entered the city without resistance last week, but since then shots have been fired at them several times. The shootings came the day after a standoff on the city's main bridge over the Tigris River, where 200 protesters blocked a convoy of about 20 US military vehicles for more than four hours. The same number of protesters came back for more anti-American demonstrations Thursday at the same bridge. In the Iraqi capital, meanwhile, Sayyed Ali al-Kathimi al-Waethi told foreign reporters that Americans should leave the country and Shiite scholars will agree on the right person to run Iraq's affairs. Al-Waethi represents the Hawza - the Shiite religious school in Najaf which is the supreme seat of Shiite learning, issues directives that many Shiites follow without question and whose scholars are revered as spiritual authorities. He said the religious leaders have not had and will not have contact with American forces or with Jay Garner. In the two weeks since US forces entered Baghdad Shiites have, under Hawza direction, organized local committees, doled out funds to pay salaries, collected looted property and sent militias to secure hospitals and electric plants. The Shiites have divided their religious loyalties among at least three leaders but their opposition to a prolonged US presence on Iraqi soil appears uniform. British Broadcasting Corporation Lashes Out at US Media Over "Unquestioning" Coverage of Iraq War London, April 24 (RHC) - The director general of the British Broadcasting Corporation, Greg Dyke, has delivered a stinging rebuke to the US media over its "unquestioning" coverage of the war in Iraq and warned the British government against allowing the country's media to become "Americanized". In a speech delivered Thursday at Goldsmiths College in London, Dyke said he was "shocked" to hear US radio giant Clear Channel had organized pro-war rallies in the US, calling the action "a long way from (Britain's) idea of impartiality." Saying he was even more shocked to discover that the same group wants to become a big player in radio in the UK when it's deregulated later this year, the BBC director general urged the UK government to ensure that the new laws did not allow American media companies to undermine the impartiality of the British media. He noted that the communications bill currently before parliament will, if it becomes law, allow US media companies to own whole chunks of the electronic media in his country for the first time. Dyke singled out Fox News for particular criticism over its pro-Bush stance, which helped the Rupert Murdoch-owned broadcaster to oust CNN in the US to become the most popular news network. He said commercial pressures may tempt others to follow the Fox News formula of "gung-ho patriotism," but, he stressed, for the BBC this would be a terrible mistake. Dyke revealed that there had been a huge increase in demand for BBC news in the US since September 11, saying this reflected "concerns about the US broadcasting news media". He said many US networks wrapped themselves in the American flag and swapped impartiality for patriotism, but that what's becoming clear is that those networks may have misjudged some of their audience. Dyke also mounted a strong defense of the BBC's Iraq war coverage after government ministers publicly accused the corporation of bias towards the Baghdad regime. Citing the history of war reporting from Suez through Vietnam to Kosovo, the BBC chief said British governments of every persuasion had sought to use the media to manage public opinion, even, on occasions, through applying pressure. Outrage Continues Over Israeli Killing of Associated Press Palestinian Cameraman New York, April 24 (RHC) - The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressing "outrage" over the death of a Palestinian cameraman with the Associated Press Television Network who was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Nablus last Saturday. The CPJ said that Nazih Darwazeh, who was wearing a fluorescent orange vest clearly marked "Press" when he was shot in the head at close range while filming clashes between Palestinian youths and Israelis troops in the heart of Nablus, became the fourth journalist to be killed by Israeli gunfire in the Occupied Territories over the past 13 months. The organization demanded that Sharon open "an immediate and thorough inquiry" into the killing. The committee's acting director, Joel Simon, said his organization believes that "the Israeli army's failure to conduct serious investigations and punish offenders fosters an environment of reckless and unlawful behavior in which soldiers who harm journalists face little or no consequences." Paris-based Reporters Without Borders also called for an immediate investigation of the incident, which was filmed by a Reuters cameraman, saying the organization is "appalled by his death" and also demanding an inquiry whose results are made public. The incident comes amid growing concern about Israeli attacks in the occupied territories, as members of the International Solidarity Movement - volunteers who act as human shields for Palestinians against Israeli troops and demolition bulldozers - are saying they feel increasingly threatened by Israeli military actions. On April 11, British solidarity activist Tom Hurndall was shot in the head by Israeli troops while trying to move children out of the line of Israeli fire, and remains in critical condition. Rachel Corrie, a US activist, died March 16 after being run over by an Israeli bulldozer that she was trying to stop from demolishing a house. In addition to the four journalists' deaths over the past 13 months, at least eight were wounded by Israeli gunfire last year and four more so far this year, according to Reporters Without Borders, which asserted that none of the incidents have been investigated by the army. The CPJ said that video footage of Darwazeh's shooting appears to corroborate accounts by Palestinian journalists who witnessed the incident and say that an Israeli soldier took careful aim and fired a single shot from a distance of between 10 and 20 meters at a moment when there were no nearby clashes or gunfire. US Country Music Group Dixie Chicks Denounce Death Threats, Saying Backlash Against Their Anti-War Stance "Out of Control" April 24 (RHC) - The US country music group Dixie Chicks has said they've received death threats and that the backlash against their anti-war stance has gone "out of control". The Grammy-winning group said they feared for their lives after singer Natalie Maines recently told a London audience that she was ashamed she came from the same home state as President Bush. In an interview aired Thursday on US network ABC's Primetime show, Maines said she regretted the remark but remained passionately against the war. The Dixie Chicks' CDs have been destroyed in scenes that some have said were reminiscent of Nazi book burning and their sales have slumped following Maines remarks. Maines, interviewed alongside fellow band members Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, said she had criticized Bush out of frustration because on the eve of war she had a lot of questions she felt were unanswered. While saying that she regretted her choice of words and the disrespectful manner of using them, she added that she's not sorry for asking questions and not just following. The country singer said she's really not concerned that Bush is from her home state, that her concern was and is what she called "the lack of compassion" every time the president talked about war. She said she honestly felt a lack of compassion for people that were questioning the war and for the people who were about to die on both sides. Maines termed as "just crazy" that the group now has to have metal detectors at their concerts.