Archived news and commentary: February 9 - 15, 2004

2004/03/29 - 2004/04/04
2004/03/22 - 2004/03/28
2004/03/15 - 2004/03/21
2004/03/08 - 2004/03/14
2004/03/01 - 2004/03/07
2004/02/23 - 2004/02/29
2004/02/16 - 2004/02/22
2004/02/09 - 2004/02/15
2004/02/02 - 2004/02/08
2004/01/26 - 2004/02/01
2004/01/19 - 2004/01/25
2004/01/12 - 2004/01/18
2004/01/05 - 2004/01/11
2003/12/29 - 2004/01/04

Sunday, February 15, 2004

News and commentary:

"The Rise of Middle Eastern Crime in Australia" (Tim Priest, Quadrant, January-February 2004)
"I believe that the rise of Middle Eastern organised crime in Sydney will have an impact on society unlike anything we have ever seen.":
"The Middle Eastern cycle of violence is not local. It can occur on the central coast, around Cronulla, Bondi, Darling Harbour, Five Dock, Redfern, Paddington, anywhere in Sydney. Unlike their Vietnamese counterparts, they roam the city and are not confined to either Cabramatta or Chinatown. And even more alarming is that the violence is directed mainly against young Australian men and women. There is a clear and definite link between violent attacks on our young men and women being racial as well as criminal. Quite often when taking statements from young men attacked by groups of Lebanese males around Darling Harbour, a common theme has been the racially motivated violence against the victims simply because they are Australian.
I wonder whether the inventors of the racial hatred laws introduced during the golden years of multiculturalism ever took into account that we, the silent majority, would be the target of racial violence and hatred. ...
The problems in Paris in Muslim communities are being replicated here in Sydney at an alarming rate. Paris has seen an explosion of rapes committed by Middle Eastern males on French women in the past fifteen years. The rapes are almost identical to those in Sydney. They are not only committed for sexual gratification but also with deep racial undertones along with threats of violence and retribution. What is more alarming is the identical reaction by some sections of the media and criminologists in France of downplaying the significance of race as an issue and even ganging up on those people who try to draw attention to the widening gulf between Middle Eastern youth and the rest of French society.
That is what we are seeing here. The usual suspects come out of their institutions and libraries to downplay and even cover up the growing problem of Middle Eastern crime." (See also: "Don't turn a blind eye to terror in our midst" (Tim Priest, The Australian, 2004/01/12))

"New US channel raises Palestinian ire" (Khaled Amayreh, Aljazeera.net, 2004/02/15)
"A US-financed television station directed at Arab viewers is already drawing fire from Palestinian journalists, academics and public opinion leaders.
Al-Hurra (the free one) is due to start broadcasting on Saturday from Washington, with facilities in several capitals, including US-occupied Iraq. ...
Qassim suspects that the real danger will come not from al-Hurra's news programmes but rather from its expected "hidden agenda", normally encouraging "licentious western lifestyles."
"I think they (al-Hurra) will try to encourage promiscuity and all other forms of immorality, but then this would only vindicate the views of those who are saying that the station's raison d’etre is to undermine Islamic culture and values."...
Hanin al-Sayih, a Nablus journalist, is one of those who seems convinced al-Hurra is only a "small detail" in America’s overall "hateful war on Islam and Muslims."
"What we are experiencing is a religious war by America on Islam. We have seen what America has done in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine. It is a new crusader war on Islam fought under the pretext of fighting terrorism."
Al-Sayih believes, though, that the American people are not free to "behave nicely toward other peoples, especially Muslims."
'We all know that the Jews control American politics. America is the monkey, Israel is the organ grinder.'" (See also: Al-Hurra.)

"Prominent Jews targeted by Muslims and the far Right" (Rajeev Syal, The Sunday Telegraph, 2004/02/15)
"Prominent Jews in Britain are being targeted in a wave of anti-Semitic harassment by far-Right and Islamic fundamentalist organisations.
The home of Lord Triesman, the former general secretary of the Labour party, has been attacked by Combat 18, the neo-Nazi group. Uri Geller, the Israeli television personality, and Barbara Roche, the former Labour minister, have been the victims of graffiti and hate mail. ...
Mr Whine, who works closely with the police to monitor anti-Semitic attacks on synagogues and Jewish graves, said that extremist Islamic groups are behind many anti-Semitic incidents. "There is reliable evidence from the police to prove that an increasing number of incidents are committed by sympathisers of the Palestinians and Islamists.
'The promotion of anti-Semitism by the Arab media and by Islamist organisations worldwide is having a significant effect on the attitudes of Muslim communities around the world towards the Jews.'"

"Libyan Arms Designs Traced Back to China" (Joby Warrick and Peter Slevin, The Washington Post, 2004/02/15)
"Investigators have discovered that the nuclear weapons designs obtained by Libya through a Pakistani smuggling network originated in China, exposing yet another link in a chain of proliferation that stretched across the Middle East and Asia, according to government officials and arms experts.
The bomb designs and other papers turned over by Libya have yielded dramatic evidence of China's long-suspected role in transferring nuclear know-how to Pakistan in the early 1980s, they said. The Chinese designs were later resold to Libya by a Pakistani-led trading network that is now the focus of an expanding international probe, added the officials and experts, who are based in the United States and Europe.
The packet of documents, some of which included text in Chinese, contained detailed, step-by-step instructions for assembling an implosion-type nuclear bomb that could fit atop a large ballistic missile. They also included technical instructions for manufacturing components for the device, the officials and experts said."

Saturday, February 14, 2004

News and commentary:

"With friends like these" (Christopher Caldwell, Financial Times, 2004/02/14)
Caldwell on European anti-Americanism: "In France, Senator Jean Francois-Poncet was a pillar of Atlanticism during his term as Valery Giscard d'Estaing's foreign minister in the 1970s. He isn't one any more. He says now the Euro-American battle over the Iraq war exposed differences that cannot be ignored, and Europe marches to a different drum. "What you have to face," he told me calmly, "is that the Franco-German position had the overwhelming support of public opinion all over Europe."
Johannes Rau, Germany's president and a social democratic Atlanticist, made the same point at the height of European agitation against the war when he said: 'In some ways, Europe has never been more united.'" (Hat tip: InstaPundit.)

"Two Wests" (New Perspectives Quarterly, from the Fall 2003 issue)
A conversation between Samuel Huntington and Anthony Giddens. Here's Huntington on the two Wests:
"Obviously Europe and the West share a great deal, but there is one difference which is really significant: The US is a profoundly religious country, European countries are secular. The American settlements in the 17th and 18th centuries were created largely for religious reasons. The religiosity of Americans has struck almost every European visitor to the US since Tocqueville. We are still one of the most religious people in the world and quite exceptional among industrialized societies. And religion and nationalism on a global basis tend to go together: People who are more religious also tend to be more nationalistic. Americans are generally deeply committed to both God and country, and, overall, Europeans seem to have rather weak commitments to both.
In addition, the founding religion in the US was dissenting Protestantism and this has introduced a deeply moralistic strain in American culture. We do tend to define issues in terms of good and evil-more than Europeans-and this tendency has certainly reached a peak in the current administration. This clearly contributes to differences between the American and Europeans." (Hat tip: Arts & Letters Daily.)

"True colours" (The Guardian, 2004/02/14)
Francis King is one of 25 authors commenting on the Iraq war:
"During the second world war I became a pacifist landworker. But as the war progressed and more and more acts of Nazi barbarism came to light, I began increasingly to wonder whether my youthfully idealistic decision had been the right one. I still wonder. It is impossible to balance what actually occurred against what might have occurred and so to arrive at a comparison between an actual sum of suffering and a hypothetical one. On the one side of the scales there is the terrible reality of the millions killed and maimed, historic cities ravaged or totally destroyed, the obliteration of works of art of incalculable value, the Soviet domination of eastern Europe, the Gulag, and the atom bomb. On the other side, if there had been no resistance to the Germans, there is — what? We can only guess.
I waver similarly over the recent war (I hate the euphemism "military action") in Iraq. No one could have been unmoved by those pictures of mutilated children and grieving adults, or of the chaos of cities deprived of all public services and subjected to mindless looting. But what would have been the sum of suffering if the coalition had never taken action? Again one can only guess. Saddam Hussein's regime was a monstrous one, which killed many more people over a period of years than the coalition did in a few weeks. The Marsh Arabs alone, subjected to a campaign of unrelenting genocide, died in far greater numbers. It seems certain that the barbarity and corruption would have continued.
In the end, my conclusion is that this was a righteous war but one started for the wrong reason."

"The Zarqawi Rules" (David Brooks, The New York Times, 2004/02/14)
Brooks on the al-Zarqawi letter: "But he also says only an indigenous Iraqi security force, backed by a legitimate democratic government, can truly put him out of business. Americans are easy targets. But when Iraqis take control, "you end up having an army and police connected by lineage, blood and appearance to people of the region. How can we kill their cousins and sons and under what pretext? This is the democracy; we will have no pretext." ...
There is a lot of talk this year about democratizing the greater Middle East. But wherever democratic reforms are initiated, Zarqawi, or people like him, will be there to kill and disrupt. Terrorists understand that democracy is the antithesis of the sort of Islamic totalitarianism they seek to establish. That means the road to democratization is not going to suddenly turn peaceful. The modernizers will always need to be backed by the sword as well as the seminar." (See also: "Text from Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi Letter" (Coalition Provisional Authority, 2004/02/12))

"At Least 21 Killed in Attack in Iraq" (AP/The New York Times, 2004/02/14)
"Guerrillas shouting "God is great" launched a bold daylight assault on an Iraqi police station and security compound west of Baghdad on Saturday, freeing prisoners and sparking a gunbattle that killed 21 people and wounded 33, police and hospital officials said. ...
Around 25 attackers, some of them masked, faced little resistance as they surrounded the police station and stormed in, going from room to room throwing hand grenades and firing heavy machine guns, survivors said. Few police, most with only small weapons, were present at the time. ...
In Fallujah, 35 miles west of Baghdad, no American forces could be seen in Saturday's battle. The U.S. command has said American troops could be quickly dispatched to trouble spots to help Iraqi forces as America hands over security to the Iraqis.
Lt. Col. Sabri said 17 people were killed — almost all police — along with four attackers, two of whom he said carried a Lebanese passports. He said he believed all the attackers were non-Iraqis.
"I suspect they were Arabs or Syrians or belonged to al-Qaida. They want to create instability and chaos," he said."

Friday, February 13, 2004

News and commentary:

"World Press Photo of the Year 2003"
(Jean-Marc Bouju, The Associated Press, 2003/03/31)
So the cartoon of the year was of a naked Sharon devouring infants and now World Press Photo has chosen a picture of a detained Iraqi POW as photo of the year. (Stefan Zaklin got 3:d prize for the same subject). Let's just say that if Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein sat in the jurys, they probably would have agreed completely: "Iraqi man comforts his son at a regroupment center for POWs, Najaf, Iraq, 31 March."

"Exclusive: al-Qaida's blueprint for terror" (Anwar Iqbal, UPI, 2004/02/13)
"A terrorist survival kit, obtained by United Press International, reveals how the Taliban, al-Qaida and their sympathizers are preparing to survive the U.S.-led war against terrorism.
The kit has been printed in several languages — Arabic, Dari, Pashto and Urdu — and is distributed secretly among the terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. ...
"Merge completely in the environment you live in ... there will be no personal friendship, not even with the members of your own group," the kit advises al-Qaida members. ...
"If you live in an area where people wear Western dresses, you also dress like them ... if the majority in that area has a secular mindset, do not express your religious sentiments." ...
'Do not preach ... do not try to convert others to your beliefs ... unless advised by the center to do so.'"

"Dying man had to pay telephone calls made by the carers" (Staffan Wolters, Upsala Nya Tidning, 2004/02/13)
Farewell to the Welfare State. According to the Swedish Television, the telephone calls were made to "Macedonia and Turkey":
"At the same time as the 85-year-old man in Uppsala laid on his deathbed, the carers from the home-help service made a large amount of telephone calls from the man's apartment.
"Shocking," says the county administrative board which is highly critical of how the municipality took care of the man. Now his son demands compensation by Uppsala municipality.
At nine p.m., an evening in November 2002, an 85-year-old man passed away in his apartment in Uppsala. As the man lay dying, carers from the home-help service were there to nurse him.
Afterwards it has been discovered that the home-help service made 15 calls with the man's telephone during his last hours.
"The time codes show that they talked constantly by phone during his dying moments. The bitterness and disgust I felt when I disovered this can't be put in words," says the man's son... ...
The telephone invoices make it clear that a large amount of international calls have been made from the man's telephone. There is no possibility that he could have made the calls himself, considering his grave handicap." (See also: "Hemtjänst tjuvringde på döende mans telefon" (svt.se, 2004/02/13))

"Just Imagine..." (Victor Hanson Davis, National Review, 2004/02/13)
"For all the most recent invective about his lack of spontaneous televised eloquence, almost every necessary and dangerous initiative Mr. Bush has undertaken since 9/11 — protect American shores, destroy the Taliban, scatter al Qaeda, take out Saddam Hussein, promote democracy in the Middle East, put rogue regimes with weapons of mass destruction on notice — has worked or is in the process of coming to fruition.
In response to that success often we have met dissimulation, pretext, and rhetoric of those who have much to lose and very little to gain by seeing the old way of business — status quo alliances, deductive anti-Americanism, corrupt Middle East policies, and bankrupt ideologies such as moral equivalence, utopian pacifism, and multiculturalism — go by the wayside.
And so we get fantasy in place of reality."

"Soldier held on suspicion of espionage" (CNN.com, 2004/02/13)
"A National Guard soldier at Fort Lewis, Washington, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of trying to pass information about military capabilities to the al Qaeda terrorist organization, military officials said.
Spc. Ryan G. Anderson, 26, was taken into custody following an internal sting operation, said Lt. Col. Stephen Barger, post spokesman.
He will be charged with "aiding the enemy by wrongfully attempting to communicate and give intelligence to the al Qaeda terrorist network," Barger said. ...
When asked if Anderson is a Muslim, Barger said, "Religious preferences are an individual right and responsibility, and I really can't get into it."
Sources said Anderson converted to Islam several years ago."

Thursday, February 12, 2004

News and commentary:

"Democratic Realism: An American Foreign Policy for a Unipolar World" (Charles Krauthammer, AEI, 2004/02/12)
"What is a unipolar power to do [after 9/11]?":
"The isolationists want simply to ignore unipolarity, pull up the drawbridge, and defend Fortress America. Alas, the Fortress has no moat — not after the airplane, the submarine, the ballistic missile — and as for the drawbridge, it was blown up on 9/11.
Then there are the liberal internationalists. They like to dream, and to the extent they are aware of our unipolar power, they don’t like it. They see its use for anything other than humanitarianism or reflexive self-defense as an expression of national selfishness. ...
Then there is realism, which has the clearest understanding of the new unipolarity and its uses — unilateral and preemptive if necessary. But in the end, it fails because it offers no vision. It is all means and no ends. It cannot adequately define our mission.
Hence, the fourth school: democratic globalism. It has, in this decade, rallied the American people to a struggle over values. It seeks to vindicate the American idea by making the spread of democracy, the success of liberty, the ends and means of American foreign policy.
I support that. I applaud that. But I believe it must be tempered in its universalistic aspirations and rhetoric from a democratic globalism to a democratic realism. It must be targeted, focused and limited. We are friends to all, but we come ashore only where it really counts. And where it counts today is that Islamic crescent stretching from North Africa to Afghanistan. ...
The rationality of the enemy is something beyond our control. But the use of our power is within our control. And if that power is used wisely, constrained not by illusions and fictions but only by the limits of our mission — which is to bring a modicum of freedom as an antidote to nihilism — we can prevail."

"REWARD - Up to $10,000,000 USD"
(AFP/HO, 2004/02/12)
"A new poster distributed by the US Army shows different images of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian said to be leading an al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group operating in Iraq. The US State Department said it had doubled to 10 million dollars the reward for information leading to Zarqawi's capture."

"Text from Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi Letter" (Coalition Provisional Authority, 2004/02/12)
The full text of the letter believed to have been written by terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi to al Qaeda operatives:
"When the Americans withdraw, and they have already started doing that, they get replaced by these agents who are intimately linked to the people of this region. What will happen to us, if we fight them, and we have to fight them, is one of only two choices:
1) if we fight them, that will be difficult because there will be a schism between us and the people of the region. How can we kill their cousins and sons and under what pretext, after the Americans start withdrawing? The Americans will continue to control from their bases, but the sons of this land will be the authority. This is the democracy, we will have no pretext. ...
Some people will say, that this will be a reckless and irresponsible action that will bring the Islamic nation to a battle for which the Islamic nation is unprepared. Souls will perish and blood will be spilled. This is, however, exactly what we want, as there is nothing to win or lose in our situation. The Shi'a destroyed the balance, and the religion of god is worth more than lives. Until the majority stands up for the truth, we have to make sacrifices for this religion, and blood has to be spilled. For those who are good, we will speed up their trip to paradise, and the others, we will get rid of them. ...
The zero-hour needs to be at least four months before the new government gets in place. As we see we are racing time, and if we succeed, which we are hoping, we will turn the tables on them and thwart their plan. If, god forbid, the government is successful and takes control of the country, we just have to pack up and go somewhere else again, where we can raise the flag again or die, if god chooses us."

"Israel: Born of British Colonialism..."
(zombie, 2004/02/10)
From "Photos from Daniel Pipes Lecture Feb. 10": "Here are some photos from the lecture that Daniel Pipes gave on the U.C. Berkeley campus on Tuesday, February 10th, 2004 - as well as from the protest before, during and after the lecture. ... Not sure if it's visible from these pictures, but a vibe of pure hate was in the air that night, directed at Pipes and anyone who supported him."

"Fascism at UC Berkeley: Muslim Student Association Disrupts Daniel Pipes Lecture" (Cinnamon Stillwell, ChronWatch, 2004/02/12)
Pipes Lecture II: "It began as soon as Pipes stepped up to the podium. In fact, before he’d spoken one word, someone had to be escorted outside because he wouldn’t calm down. Then jeering, giggling, hissing, booing, and finally, the orchestrated chanting of ''racist'' and ''Zionist,'' (among other things) starting drowning out the lecture. However, the rest of the audience gave as good as it got and the event turned out to be more of a shouting and clapping match between Muslims and Jews than anything else.
The tension in the air was thick, tempers were rising, and yet amidst it all, Pipes kept his cool. He managed to deliver his lecture, which covered the War on Terrorism, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and Iraq, but he was forced to stop many times. Pipes spoke directly to the protesters on several occasions, pointing out the irony of their undemocratic behavior, as well as mentioning casually that it is only when he speaks at college campuses that he requires such heavy security. He even brought up the fact that members of the MSA are currently under investigation for possible ties to terrorism.
Their reaction to his speech was telling.
When Pipes brought up the need to support moderate Muslims over those who subscribe to militant Islam, they booed.
When he brought up the need to improve the status of women in Islamic countries, they booed.
When he warned that peace in the Middle East would never be achieved as long as the Palestinians continued to subscribe to a ''cult of death,'' they booed.
When he mentioned Middle East Studies professors who have been arrested under terrorism charges, they booed.
When he discussed the need to combat Islamic terrorism, they booed.
When he referred to the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks as subscribers to militant Islam, they booed and shouted ''Zionism'' — no doubt a reference to the myth that Jews were behind the attacks."

"My Talk at UC-Berkeley" (Daniel Pipes, danielpipes.org, 2004/02/12)
Pipes Lecture I: "I spoke on February 10 at the University of California-Berkeley to a crowd of about 550; a sizeable number could not get in. As I had expected, this was the most out-of-control talk of the roughly one thousand I have given, with a core group of about 150 Islamists, Palestinian radicals, and far-leftists constantly disrupting me, mostly with insults that I would prefer to forget. ...
For the moment, suffice to say that the vice-chancellor of the university present at this event, plus the UC police arrayed at it in large numbers, both showed weakness in permitting the disruptors to dominate. I should not have been subjected to this treatment. To make matters worse, none of the offenders was arrested. I shake my head with dismay at this; and a second time on recalling that UC-Berkeley is a taxpayer-funded institution.
And this observation: The same Muslim Student Association which is under federal investigation for financing terrorism and perpetuating violence and had a direct role in disrupting my talk (as outlined in an e-mail dated Feb. 10 from "sajidah the berkeley girl") is sponsoring at Berkeley on February 13-15, 2004 a conference titled "Liberation Through Islam." Two items here are worthy of note: the session on "Preparing to Die" and the "special live talk from prison by Imam Jamil Al-Amin." Al-Amin, for those unfamiliar with the name, is a convicted cop-killer; but at Berkeley he is fêted as a distinguished speaker."

"Undeclared Centrifuge Design Found in Iran" (AP/The New York Times, 2004/02/12)
"U.N. inspectors in Iran have discovered undeclared designs for an advanced centrifuge used to enrich uranium, diplomats said Thursday, another apparent link to the nuclear black market emanating from Pakistan.
Preliminary investigations suggest the design matches drawings of enrichment equipment found in Libya and supplied through the network headed by Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the diplomats told The Associated Press."

"UN says work needed for Iraq poll" (BBC News, 2004/02/12)
"A United Nations envoy has agreed with Iraq's top Shia cleric that Iraq should hold direct elections - but no timetable has been set.
After two hours of talks with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said polls should be held, but they would have to be well prepared.
Ayatollah Sistani wants direct elections before 30 June, when the US plans to transfer power to the Iraqis. ...
The US says conditions are not right for elections - a position underlined by the fact that Thursday's talks followed one of the bloodiest 24 hours in Iraq since the war ended."

"Pride and prejudice" (Hillel Halkin, The Jerusalem Post, 2004/02/12)
Halkin on a discussion with a rabbi and a "board member of liberal views" at a dinner in Jerusalem of the board of governors of the American Jewish Committee:
"Engaged in conversation with the woman on my right, I wasn't listening to what he and the board member were talking about - not, that is, until, during a lull with the woman, my left ear heard him say that Islam and the Arab world were being blamed these days for so many of the world's problems.
"With justification," I said, turning in his direction. It's a bad habit of mine: I sometimes find it hard to keep my mouth shut.
It wasn't a lengthy comment, but it was enough. The rabbi said something about the foolishness of generalizing about subjects as diverse as Arabs and Islam. I said that, diverse or not, they were depressing subjects. He asked what I meant. I said it was obvious what I meant: Wherever one looked at Arab and Muslim countries, one saw backwardness, fanaticism, and the inability to modernize and democratize.
"You're generalizing," the rabbi repeated.
"Of course I am," I said. "It can't be an accident that nearly all the Arab world is a sink of human misery. Its whole culture is screwed up."
"You're a racist!" the board member exclaimed.
The rabbi nodded. At last he had heard a generalization he agreed with."

"Saving Ourselves From Self-Destruction" (Mohamed ElBaradei, The New York Times, 2004/02/12)
"Nuclear proliferation is on the rise. Equipment, material and training were once largely inaccessible. Today, however, there is a sophisticated worldwide network that can deliver systems for producing material usable in weapons. The demand clearly exists: countries remain interested in the illicit acquisition of weapons of mass destruction.
If we sit idly by, this trend will continue. Countries that perceive themselves to be vulnerable can be expected to try to redress that vulnerability — and in some cases they will pursue clandestine weapons programs. The supply network will grow, making it easier to acquire nuclear weapon expertise and materials. Eventually, inevitably, terrorists will gain access to such materials and technology, if not actual weapons.
If the world does not change course, we risk self-destruction."

"A Tale of Nuclear Proliferation: How Pakistani Built His Network" (William J. Broad et al., The New York Times, 2004/02/12)
"The scope and audacity of the illicit network are still not fully known. Nor is it known whether the Pakistani military or government, which had supported Dr. Khan's research, were complicit in his activities.
But what has become clear in recent days is that Dr. Khan, a Pakistani national hero who began his rise 30 years ago by importing nuclear equipment to secretly build his country's atom bomb, gradually transformed himself into the largest and most sophisticated exporter in the nuclear black market.
"It was an astounding transformation when you think about it, something we've never seen before," said a senior American official who has reviewed the intelligence. 'First, he exploits a fragmented market and develops a quite advanced nuclear arsenal. Then he throws the switch, reverses the flow and figures out how to sell the whole kit, right down to the bomb designs, to some of the world's worst governments.'"

"French Sikhs Defend Their Turbans and Find Their Voice" (Thom Shanker, The New York Times/LibertyForum, 2004/02/12)
No one, it seems, thought...: "No one, it seems, thought about the Sikhs and their turbans.
As part of a struggle to separate religion from the state, France is poised to pass a law banning religious symbols like Muslim veils, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses from public schools.
But a report by an official commission of experts and a speech by President Jacques Chirac last month recommending passage of a legal ban said nothing about the head coverings worn by Sikhs. ...
The Sikhs' outcry so late in the game has stunned and dismayed French officials and experts involved in the commission.
"Why didn't the Sikhs come forward, why didn't they protest while we were doing our investigation?" Bernard Stasi, who led the commission that produced the report, said in an interview. "I have finished my job and it's too late to change the report. Now it's in the government's hands."
He acknowledged that no French Sikhs were among the more than 200 people interviewed by his commission during its six-month investigation.
An official at the Ministry of National Education, which is responsible for negotiating the law with Parliament, declined comment, except to say: 'What? There are Sikhs in France?'" (Hat tip: Douglas.)

"Regime Thought War Unlikely, Iraqis Tell U.S." (Thom Shanker, The New York Times, 2004/02/12)
"A complacent Saddam Hussein was so convinced that war would be averted or that America would mount only a limited bombing campaign that he deployed the Iraqi military to crush domestic uprisings rather than defend against a ground invasion, according to a classified log of interrogations of captured Iraqi leaders and former officers.
Mr. Hussein believed that a "casualty averse" White House would order a bombing campaign that Iraq could withstand, according to the secret report, prepared for the Pentagon's most senior leadership and dated Jan. 26. And the Iraqi Defense Ministry, in a grand miscalculation, believed that any ground offensive would come across the Jordanian border.
The study, a rough-draft history of the war from the perspective of Iraqi leaders, offers a scathing history of a Stalinist, paranoid leadership circle in Baghdad that guaranteed its own destruction. The interrogations yielded a portrait of a government disconnected from reality in peace and in war, where members of Mr. Hussein's inner circle routinely lied to him and each other about Iraqi military capacities."

"A Kinder View of Uncle Sam" (Karl Vick, The Washington Post, 2004/02/11)
"On Revolution Day, the Iranian equivalent of the Fourth of July, Azadi Street was again transformed from east-west artery to carnival midway. Men lined up for free yogurt. Hawkers coaxed women to finger the material of baby clothes. Children clamored for a turn throwing darts at George W. Bush.
Hossein Asadi put three darts right between the eyes of the caricature, sketched on a pair of boards mounted in a sideshow tent. He walked away with a new yellow tennis ball but no change in his feelings, which were nothing if not admiring.
"They like me to hit George Bush, so I hit George Bush," said Hossein, 15. "They say it's the Great Satan, but I say it's a great country.
"I've seen nothing bad from the Americans."
Wednesday marked 25 years since an elderly Muslim cleric with eyes the color of coal declared Iran a theocracy. But while religious figures remain firmly in charge here, sweeping aside an entire reform movement last week with the stroke of a pen, another pillar of the revolution appears shakier.
Anti-Americanism is not what it used to be in Iran."

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

News and commentary:

"A still shows Sheikh Terra holding a weapon and a Koran..."
(Reuters, 2004/02/11)
"A still shows Sheikh Terra holding a weapon and a Koran in front of an Iraqi flag, taken from a video for the rap song Dirty Kuffar or Dirty Infidels, performed by Sheikh Terra and the Soul Salah Crew."

"Al-Qaeda sympathisers battle 'infidels' with rap" (Reuters/The Sydney Morning Herald, 2004/02/11)
"Al-Qaeda's newest weapon against the West is a violent English-language rap tune urging young Muslims to wage holy war.
The song is being broadcast on the internet in an attempt to lure music-loving youth into the terror network, which is blamed for the September 11 attacks on US cities and other bombings around the world.
Titled Dirty Kuffar or Dirty Infidels, the song is performed by a London-based group which Islamists said was deeply sympathetic to Osama bin Laden's network.
A music video accompanies the catchy yet violent lyrics, belted out by the group's lead singer Sheikh Terra - rap lingo for terror - and the Soul Salah Crew, a take-off on gritty British rappers So Solid Crew. Salah means righteousness or piety in Arabic.
The song calls on Muslims to wage jihad, or holy war, against "Crusaders and apostate Arab rulers", saying they will be "thrown inna fire".
"Be prepared for the battle with the infidels," it says.
The video, which uses footage from news agencies and television, opens with images of a US soldier killing an Iraqi man and then cheering.
"Dirty Kuffar wherever you are; From Kandahar to Ramallah; OBL (Osama bin Laden) Crew be like a shining star; like the way we destroy them two tower ha ha," one singer raps in front of images of the September 11 airliner attacks on New York's World Trade Centre."

"Moqtada Al-Sadr: The Young Rebel of the Iraqi Shi'a Muslims – Iraqi Leadership Biographical Series" (Nimrod Raphaeli, MEMRI, 2004/02/11)
A profile of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr:
"Since the defeat of Saddam, the city named after him, Saddam City, has become Al-Sadr City, named after Moqtada Al-Sadr's father. Inhabited by more than one million Shi'a loyal to Al-Sadr, the city has developed its own municipal, educational, medical, and social services. In addition, there are "courts" presided over by young judges, followers of Moqtada Al-Sadr, who adjudicate conflicts between people, and whose verdicts are carried out by "security committees." The courts follow the Shari'a (Islamic law), and those who refer to them accept their verdicts as binding. There are observers who compare these young student-judges to the students of the religious schools in Pakistan who later became the nucleus of the Taliban movement. As part of the Islamization of life in Al-Sadr City, Al-Sadr issued a Fatwa forbidding the sale of videos and of liquor.
While most Iraqis were still celebrating the fall of the Saddam regime, as early as mid-July Moqtada Al-Sadr was delivering Friday sermons in his mosque calling on his followers to join a new army, the Al-Mahdi army, named after a mythical Imam who will return one day in messianic form. In practice, the Mahdi army is nothing more than a manifestation of muscle flexing on the part of Al-Sadr. Some observers say it was meant to be something akin to Saudi Arabia's special religious police whose name and responsibility is 'The Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.'"

"Closing a mine" (Ali, Iraq the Model, 2004/02/11)
Ali on the latest horrifying suicide bombings in Iraq:
"The terrorists’ leaders are in continuous need for frustrated, angry, desperate and ignorant people to teach them their hatred and convert them into blind obedient walking bombs that could be directed wherever and whenever they choose. Such (raw material) was/still provided by the oppressive Arab and Muslim regimes.
I was always on the opinion that hatred or faith cannot persuade a human being to kill himself and others, these can convince him to fight and kill others, but never through killing himself, as life in my opinion is precious for all, and the only way to convince men or women to kill others through giving up their own lives is through driving them to the edge of despair, making them believe that their life worth nothing, and only when they're desperate enough, that hatred for others or the faith in a better life after death can act as an enough motivation to commit such a horrible crime against themselves and others.
So, when Iraq becomes a country that provides hope and peace for her citizens instead of despair, and putting in mind what creating such a model will affect other Arabs and Muslims, one can conclude with no much difficulty that the unseen heaven promised by the terrorists’ leaders will find it so hard to maintain the same effect while competing with a solid reality that provides peace, honorable life and prosperity without even the need to give up the dream of a better life after death. Then those evil leaders will not only loose what was before a promising (mine) of continuously supplying this raw material, but will also loose many grounds on other mines they used to monopolize such as Saudi Arabia, Syria, Algeria…etc."

"Anti-Semitism infuses French debate on scarves" (Thomas Fuller, International Herald Tribune, 2004/02/11)
"While the public discussion focuses on France's vaunted secularism, on women's rights and the definitions of Frenchness, racism is a silent but powerful undercurrent propelling the debate.
It is an undercurrent that Sarah Aguado, a precocious 13-year-old, knows well. As the only Jew in a school with a large Muslim minority, she was repeatedly insulted and attacked and finally forced to flee.
Classmates called her a "dirty Jew." One student slapped her and made a racist remark. Another asked whether her family in Israel "owned guns and killed Palestinians." Sarah stopped eating and had nightmares, her mother said. Five weeks ago, mother and daughter moved to the south of France, where Sarah enrolled in a new school, relieved to exit the "catastrophic" situation. ...
The story of Sarah Aguado illustrates the overlapping challenges facing teachers today: the ingrained problem of racism and the breakdown of discipline in the once-vaunted French public school system.
Violence is a regular feature of school life, Sarah said, and teachers are "afraid of the students."
In autumn 2002 she was attacked by a fellow student while waiting with a friend in front of her school.
"I didn't even know him," she said of the attacker. 'He started to say to my friend, 'How can you hang out with a Jew?' Then he started hitting me, slapping me in the face. I tried to push him away.'"

"The War in Iraq Was the Right Mistake to Make" (Jonathan Rauch, The Atlantic, 2004/02/11)
"People whom I trusted — the president, the secretary of State, the British prime minister, many others — said that containment had already failed as far as chemical and biological weapons were concerned. Nukes, they said, might not be far down the road. Better to react too soon than too late.
Kay's finding, if it holds up, does not make Saddam a nicer man or his regime's record any better, but it does make objectively undeniable the fact that, at the time when America chose war, containment was working. The premise on which I supported the war was wrong. ...
So it is time to admit that the war was premised on a mistake. Had I known then what I know now, I would have opposed it. Next question: Does that mean the war itself was a mistake? Yes. But it was a special kind of mistake: a justified mistake. ...
Many people now demand to know why American intelligence was so badly fooled. The subject certainly merits investigating. Questions should be asked. Chins should be stroked. But even without an investigation, we know the most important reason we were fooled: Saddam Hussein did everything in his power to fool us, and by the time he stopped trying to fool us — if he stopped trying — it was too late for anyone ever to believe him.
The war was based on lies. Not Bush's or the CIA's; Saddam Hussein's." (Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan.)

"Iranians mark Islamic revolution" (BBC News, 2004/02/11)
"Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have marked the 25th anniversary of the revolution which ousted the Shah and swept the Islamic regime to power.
President Mohammad Khatami told a huge rally in the capital, Tehran, that the country faced a "fork in the road".
It could imitate the West and lose its identity, choose extremism or embrace the "path of the Islamic republic and of reforms", he said. ...
There were ritual chants of "death to America" and effigies of US President George W Bush were set on fire.
There were also many placards bearing the images of the father of the revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, and the current Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
However, there were none at all of Mr Khatami and there was little applause following his speech."

"IDF troops kill 15 Palestinians in Gaza" (Haaretz, 2004/02/11)
"Twelve Palestinians were killed Wednesday in a clash with the Israel Defense Forces in the Sajiyeh quarter, in eastern Gaza City. ...
According to Palestinian sources, PA security forces discovered an undercover Israeli unit driving in a vehicle in Sajiyeh before 5 A.M. on Wednesday morning. They opened fire and in the exchange a Palestinian security guard, Muhammed Abu Armana, was killed.
As a result of the shooting Israel sent in tanks and armored vehicles, the Palestinians said. These approached the house of the Hasnin family at the end of a field in western Sajiyeh.
At this point, a gun battle broke out between the Israelis and three armed Palestinians, all members of Izzadin el-Kassam - Hasnin, Eiman Sheikh Halil and Muhammed al-Hayek. All three were killed. As rumors of the battle spread, armed Palestinians, most of them Hamas members, began streaming to the area from Sajiyeh and Jebalya,a-Shati and Sheikh Radwan. Youths and children gathered at street corners to watch. Some of them stoned the Israeli troops."

"President Announces New Measures to Counter the Threat of WMD" (George W. Bush, The White House, 2004/02/11)
"There is a consensus among nations that proliferation cannot be tolerated. Yet this consensus means little unless it is translated into action. Every civilized nation has a stake in preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction. These materials and technologies, and the people who traffic in them, cross many borders. To stop this trade, the nations of the world must be strong and determined. We must work together, we must act effectively. Today, I announce seven proposals to strengthen the world's efforts to stop the spread of deadly weapons.
First, I propose that the work of the Proliferation Security Initiative be expanded to address more than shipments and transfers. Building on the tools we've developed to fight terrorists, we can take direct action against proliferation networks. We need greater cooperation not just among intelligence and military services, but in law enforcement, as well. PSI participants and other willing nations should use the Interpol and all other means to bring to justice those who traffic in deadly weapons, to shut down their labs, to seize their materials, to freeze their assets. We must act on every lead. We will find the middlemen, the suppliers and the buyers. Our message to proliferators must be consistent and it must be clear: We will find you, and we're not going to rest until you are stopped."

"Car Bombing in Baghdad Kills Up to 46" (Mariam Fam, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/02/11)
"A suicide attacker blew up a car packed with explosives in a crowd of hundreds of Iraqis waiting outside a Baghdad army recruiting center Wednesday, killing up to 46 people in the second bombing in two days targeting Iraqis working with the U.S.-led coalition. ...
The 7:25 a.m. blast tore into would-be army volunteers waiting outside the recruitment center less than a mile from the heavily fortified Green Zone, where the U.S. administration has its headquarters. Baker said a man driving a white 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierra detonated about 300 to 500 pounds of explosives. ...
The recruitment center was surrounded by barbed wire and had sandbagged posts in front of it. But around 300 Iraqis were gathered outside the center's locked gates, waiting for it to open, and were completely exposed. Some were lined up to join the military, others waiting to depart for a training camp in Jordan." (See also: "Dozens Killed in Bombing South of Baghdad" (Mariam Fam, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/02/10))

"Three strikes for Gary" (Tim Blair, timblair.spleenville.com, 2004/02/11)
Upside down, boy, you turn me. Inside out and round and round: "The Guardian’s Gary Younge writes, and the Sydney Morning Herald duly reprints:

This war is not just killing Iraqi civilians, resistance fighters and coalition soldiers. It's murdering any pretence that we live in countries that value, let alone practice, the principle of democratic accountability. It calls into question our ability to rein in political excess and to root out state-sponsored incompetence.

Democratic accountability? A dictatorship has been dismantled. Rein in political excess? Ubay and Qusay are no longer able to rape at will. Root out state-sponsored incompetence? Saddam, who bankrupted an oil-rich nation, was rooted out of a spider hole. On the Younge scale, we’re doing okay." (See also: "Powell exposed by his barefaced lies on Iraq" (Gary Younge, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2004/02/11))

"Truck Bomb Kills 50 on a Crowded Iraqi Street" (Ariana Eunjung Cha, The Washington Post, 2004/02/11)
"After the explosion, U.S. troops trying to secure the area clashed with angry Iraqis who contended that the explosion was caused by a missile fired by a U.S. warplane.
"There is no god but Allah. America is the enemy of God," the protesters chanted. "Hell to the Americans. Hell to the Jews." ...
"We heard a helicopter" and then something fell from the sky, said Hamza Habeeb, who had been waiting in front of the courthouse and suffered light cuts to his head and legs.
"Look at this piece of metal. It is not from a car," said Saad Karim, 21, who said he was a friend of one of the wounded.
"Why weren't Americans at the police station? We used to see them there," Ali said.
Karim Khudhaier Salihy, 55, a sheik who said he was speaking on behalf of the 350 people in his tribe, said he believed the U.S. military fired on the police station and that it did so intentionally. "The Americans, they don't want Iraq to be stabilized," he said. 'They want to make ethnic conflict to prolong their presence in Iraq. So they created a crisis.'"

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

News and commentary:

"Jews in Sweden are afraid to be known as Jews" (Amiram Barkat, Haaretz, 2004/02/10)
"Daniel Schechner, a 21-year-old law student from Stockholm, makes sure to conceal even the slightest hint of his Jewishness when he goes out in public.
When he says that he lives a double identity, he means that at work, school and in the street he would not voluntarily reveal his religion. He uses his non-Jewish last name, which he asks the reporter not to print. He does not dream of walking down the street while wearing a skullcap, Star of David or T-shirt with Hebrew on it, and when he went to Israel, he told people that he went to another country.
Schechner says that when he and his friends speak about "Jewish" subjects like synagogue or kashruth, they use code words. Nevertheless, the camouflage doesn't always provide perfect protection. Schechner relates that not long ago, when he was standing in a subway car, he was approached by someone who looked like a homeless person, who asked him about the "Jewish situation."
"What do you want from me? I'm a Swede," Schechner replied. The only response was: "Treat the Palestinians nicely." Says Schechner: 'Then he muttered something about my having a Jewish nose.'" (See also: "Silence surrounds Muslim Jew-hatred" (Sverker Oredsson and Mikael Tossavainen, Dagens Nyheter/Watch, 2003/10/20) and "Snow White and the Madness of Truth" - news and commentary on the"Snow White" scandal.)

"France probes bank accounts of Arafat's wife" (Arnon Regular et al., Haaretz, 2004/02/10)
"French prosecutors said Tuesday they had opened an inquiry into transfers totaling nine million euros into bank accounts held in their country by Suha Arafat, wife of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
The Paris public prosecutor confirmed a report in Le Canard Enchaine weekly that an inquiry into financial matters connected to Suha Arafat, who lives in Paris, was launched last October, based on information provided by the Bank of France and a government anti-money laundering body.
An International Monetary Fund report on Palestinian Authority accounts between 1997 and 2003 found that some $900 million in PA funds, some of them contributed by donor nations, had been diverted by PA officials to accounts overseas.
A hefty chunk of these funds, around $10 million, had reportedly been transferred to accounts owned by Suha Arafat in Paris. She allegedly used hundreds of thousands of dollars for personal matters and the rest of the money remained in the accounts."

"French MPs back headscarf ban" (BBC News, 2004/02/10)
"French MPs have voted by a massive majority to ban the Islamic headscarf and all other overt religious symbols from state schools.
The bill was passed by 494 votes to 36. It now goes to the upper house, the Senate, for approval.
The wearing of Jewish skullcaps, large Christian crosses and probably Sikh turbans would also be banned.
About 70% of French people back the controversial law - and even 40% of Muslim women, according to some polls."

"Dozens Killed in Bombing South of Baghdad" (Mariam Fam, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/02/10)
"A suicide bomber blew up a truckload of explosives Tuesday outside a police station south of Baghdad, killing up to 53 people and wounding scores — including would-be Iraqi recruits lined up to apply for jobs.
The blast in this predominantly Shiite Muslim city followed the disclosure Monday of a letter from an anti-American operative to al-Qaida's leadership asking for help in launching attacks against the Shiites to undermine the U.S.-run coalition and the future Iraqi government.
Many angry townspeople blamed the Americans for the blast, and Iraqi police had to fire weapons in the air to disperse dozens of Iraqis who stormed the shattered remains of the station hours after the explosion.
"This missile was fired from a U.S. aircraft," said Hadi Mohy Ali, 60. 'The Americans want to tear our unity apart.'" (See also: "U.S. Says Files Seek Qaeda Aid in Iraq Conflict" (Dexter Filkins, The New York Times, 2004/02/09))

"Afghan Insurgency Dwindles, Official Says" (Paul Ames, AP/Yahoo News!, 2004/02/10)
"Resistance to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan is "running out of energy," according to NATO's top military commander, who said the number of hardcore Islamic insurgents may have fallen below 1,000.
The upbeat assessment of U.S. Marine Gen. James L. Jones conflicts with a Taliban claim that the al-Qaida terror network has launched a renewed campaign in the country.
"The level of the threat ... is quite a bit lower than I had thought," Jones said late Monday as he returned from a one-day visit to Afghanistan."

"U.S. Aides Report Evidence Tying Al Qaeda to Attacks" (Douglas Jehl, The New York Times, 2004/02/10)
"Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian suspected of ties to Al Qaeda, is now thought likely to have played a role in at least three major car-bomb attacks in Iraq that have killed well over 100 people in the last six months, according to senior American officials.
Intelligence information, including some gathered in recent weeks, has provided "mounting evidence" to suggest that Mr. Zarqawi was involved in the bombings, including the attacks in August on a Shiite mosque in Najaf and the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, and the attack in November on an Italian police headquarters. ...
The raid on the safe house in Baghdad used by associates of Mr. Zarqawi was said by one American official to have provided valuable new evidence. The items seized included a compact disc that contained the 17-page proposal to senior leaders of Al Qaeda as well as a seven-pound block of cyanide salt, which the officials said could have spread cyanide gas within an enclosed area." (See also: "U.S. Says Files Seek Qaeda Aid in Iraq Conflict" (Dexter Filkins, The New York Times, 2004/02/09) and "Cyanide Salt Block Found in Iraq" (FOX News, 2004/02/03))

"Islamic extremists invade U.S., join sleeper cells" (Jerry Seper, The Washington Times, 2004/02/10)
"Islamic radicals are being trained at terrorist camps in Pakistan and Kashmir as part of a conspiracy to send hundreds of operatives to "sleeper cells" in the United States, according to U.S. and foreign officials.
The intelligence and law-enforcement officials say dozens of Islamic extremists have already been routed through Europe to Muslim communities in the United States, based on secret intelligence data and information from terrorists and others detained by U.S. authorities. ...
Al Qaeda sleeper cells are believed to be operating in 40 states, according to the FBI and other federal authorities, awaiting orders and funding for new attacks in the United States."

Monday, February 9, 2004

News and commentary:

"Soft spot for Iraqi thugs" (David McKnight, The Australian, 2004/02/09)
Of course, we have examples of these specimens in Sweden as well:
"Are Saddam Hussein's thugs comparable to the Timorese fighting Indonesian occupation? Or to Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress? Or to the French Resistance against Nazi Germany?
Extraordinarily, ultra-leftists such as John Pilger and Tariq Ali think so. They say they support the "resistance".
In a radio broadcast on December 31 last year, Pilger told American listeners: "I think the resistance in Iraq is incredibly important for all of us. I think that we depend on the resistance to win so that other countries might not be attacked, so that our world, in a sense, becomes more secure. Now, I don't like resistances that produce the kind of terrible civilian atrocities that this one has, but that is true of all of the resistances."
British leftist Ali also hails the resistance. In his latest book, Bush in Babylon, he calls them the maquis, an echo of the French anti-Nazi fighters. ...
The fact is that in Iraq today, the Iraqi Left, as well as the vast majority of religious and political forces, denounce the campaign of bombings and the attacks led by Ali and Pilger's "resistance".
The Iraqi Left can speak with some moral authority, having been murdered, tortured and imprisoned in their thousands by Saddam for many years. They fear the resurgence of the fascist Baath Party and the rise of fundamentalism that will use anti-US struggle as a springboard to reimpose Baathism or an extreme Islamic state." (Hat tip: Tim Blair.)

"Artificial news, but its influence is real" (Paul Sheehan, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2004/02/09)
"And all the while Media World rages about the mendacity of elected politicians, it confects the most brazen fabrications. The technique for imposing these fabrications can be called "omission syndrome". It works like this: a highly complex, morally ambiguous sequence of events is boiled down, after the events, into a super-simple accusatory narrative which omits all major inconvenient facts.
The invasion of Iraq has provided a paradise for omission syndrome, and the latest fabrication is that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq at the time of the invasion, thus the entire premise for the invasion was wrong, was almost certainly known to be wrong before the war began, and politicians have lied to us.
Everything about this mantra is a half-truth, and I write this as someone who opposed the invasion of Iraq (in columns on February 6, 24 and March 31)." (Hat tip: Tim Blair.)

"Report: Al-Qaida has obtained tactical nuclear explosives" (Yoav Stern, Haaretz, 2004/02/09)
"Al-Qaida have possessed tactical nuclear weapons for about six years, the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported Sunday.
The Arabic daily reported that sources close to Al-Qaida said Osama bin Laden's group bought the nuclear weapons from Ukrainian scientists who were visiting Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 1998.
The report has not been confirmed.
However, the sources said Al-Qaida doesn't intend to use the weapons against American forces in Muslim countries, "due to the serious damage" it could cause. But that decision is subject to change, the sources said, if Al-Qaida "is dealt a serious blow that won't leave it any room to maneuver."
The possibility of detonating the nuclear devices on American soil was also raised in the report, although no details were given."

"U.S. Says Files Seek Qaeda Aid in Iraq Conflict" (Dexter Filkins, The New York Times, 2004/02/09)
"American officials here have obtained a detailed proposal that they conclude was written by an operative in Iraq to senior leaders of Al Qaeda, asking for help to wage a "sectarian war" in Iraq in the next months.
The Americans say they believe that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who has long been under scrutiny by the United States for suspected ties to Al Qaeda, wrote the undated 17-page document. Mr. Zarqawi is believed to be operating here in Iraq. ...
The memo says extremists are failing to enlist support inside the country, and have been unable to scare the Americans into leaving. It even laments Iraq's lack of mountains in which to take refuge.
Yet mounting an attack on Iraq's Shiite majority could rescue the movement, according to the document. The aim, the document contends, is to prompt a counterattack against the Arab Sunni minority.
Such a "sectarian war" will rally the Sunni Arabs to the religious extremists, the document argues. It says a war against the Shiites must start soon — at "zero hour" — before the Americans hand over sovereignty to the Iraqis. That is scheduled for the end of June. ...
With some exasperation, the author writes: "We can pack up and leave and look for another land, just like what has happened in so many lands of jihad. Our enemy is growing stronger day after day, and its intelligence information increases."
"By God, this is suffocation!" the writer says."

See the archive for earlier news and commentary.

 

Copyright © Watch 2001-2006.
Copyrights of quoted materials belong to their respective owners.

"When people accept futility and the absurd as normal, the culture is decadent. The term is not a slur; it is a technical label."

Jacques Barzun

Articles of the week

"Losing the Enlightenment" (Victor Davis Hanson, OpinionJournal, 2006/11/29)

"Allah’s England?" (Daniel Johnson, Commentary. November 2006)

"'Sex in the Park': The latest doings of the Danish imams" (Henrik Bering, The Weekly Standard, 2006/11/18)

"Narcissism on Stilts" (Harold Evans, New York Sun, 2006/11/16)

"Terrorists are recruiting in our schools, says MI5 boss" (Philip Johnston, The Daily Telegraph, 2006/11/10)

› AOTW Archive



From the archives

Oriana Fallaci, R.I.P.

"The Rage, the Pride and the Doubt" (Oriana Fallaci, The Wall Street Journal, 2003/03/13)

"How the West Was Won and How It Will Be Lost" (Oriana Fallaci, The American Enterprise, from the January/February 2003 issue)

"On Jew-hatred in Europe" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2002/04/13)

"Anger and Pride" (Oriana Fallaci, dennisprager.com, 2001/12/19)

Weekly archive

2006/12/04 - 2006/12/10
2006/11/27 - 2006/12/03
2006/11/20 - 2006/11/26
2006/11/13 - 2006/11/19
2006/11/06 - 2006/11/12
2006/10/30 - 2006/11/05

› From 2001/09/11 -



Monthly index

December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006

› From September 2001 -



Author index

› Ajami, Fouad - Johnson, Paul
› Kagan, Robert - Ye'or, Bat



Support Watch

Please feel free to donate if you enjoy the daily content and links Watch provides:

Contact Watch

Email:
watch-at-windsofchange.net