Shirin Ebadi's Center for Defenders of Human Rights announced the establishment of a ?temporary committee, ?National Council for Peace,? to prevent war and institute human ?rights. We have spoken to Narges Mohammadi, the Center's spokeswoman, about this ?new committee and its goals. Below is an excerpt of this interview.?

Rooz (R): When was the committee for peace established and what are its goals? ?

Narges Mohammadi (NM): Given the situation and Iran's domestic and international ?standing and the increasing chance for war, many of Iran's political, intellectual and civil ?circles were wondering how it was possible to prevent a possible war. At the Center for ?Defenders of Human Rights, we finally reached the decision to start a peace movement in ?Iran by helping to organize a social movement and educating the public. ?(...)

George W. Bush, US president, and Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi prime minister, have signed a declaration that paves the way for a possible long-term US presence in Iraq in addition to the restoration of full Iraqi sovereignty.

US and Iraqi officials said both countries would work towards extending the United Nations mandate that allows US and coalition troops to operate in Iraq for one more year. Washington and Baghdad have also agreed to work towards then replacing the mandate with a US-Iraqi security agreement.

Hoshyar Zubari, the Iraqi foreign minister, told the FT that the next year would be the last in which US and allied troops in Iraq were covered by the UN mandate that has been in effect since 2003. He said that the status of forces in Iraq would afterwards be covered by a bilateral US-Iraqi agreement. (...)

The Bush administration's $196.4 billion war supplemental spending request, released Monday, has Democrats reeling. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd called the supplemental "short-sighted at best," while House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey remarked in a statement, "It's amazing to me that the president expects to be taken seriously." Yet beyond the request's mind-boggling size, its open-ended aims point to the potentially vast scope of the "war on terror" for years to come - including an undiminished presence in Iraq and the possibility of action against Iran.

In the newly revised supplemental, more money than ever has been appropriated for procurement - the production of new materials, which may take three years to actually reach the battlefield, according to Department of Defense estimates in 2006. Moreover, that battlefield may change. The 2008 supplemental's title, the Global War on Terror Request, is appropriately broad, as the majority of the request's appropriations do not refer exclusively to Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, according to a report this morning in Congressional Quarterly Today, the Bush administration's request for a "Massive Ordnance Penetrator for the B-2 aircraft in response to an Urgent Operational Need from theater commanders" could be geared toward bombing underground targets in Iran.

Policy experts say that, as it stands, the supplemental contains no provisions that would prevent its funds from being used to strike Iran. (...)

(The Hague) - The request on November 20 by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for arrest warrants for three rebel leaders believed to be responsible for attacks on international peacekeepers in Darfur is an important step toward protecting those who protect civilians, Human Rights Watch said today.

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(Washington, DC, November 19, 2008) – President �lvaro Uribe of Colombia should stop making false and dangerous accusations against human rights groups that criticize his government, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today in a joint statement. Colombia should instead address the human rights concerns they raise.

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(Johannesburg) - Lesotho's drive to test all of its citizens age 12 or older for the virus that causes AIDS fell short of its goals, both in carrying out the program and in safeguarding the rights of those tested, said Human Rights Watch and the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa in a new report released today.

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