Archived news and commentary: April 12 -18, 2004

2004/06/28 - 2004/07/04
2004/06/21 - 2004/06/27
2004/06/14 - 2004/06/20
2004/06/07 - 2004/06/13
2004/05/31 - 2004/06/06
2004/05/24 - 2004/05/30
2004/05/17 - 2004/05/23
2004/05/10 - 2004/05/16
2004/05/03 - 2004/05/09
2004/04/26 - 2004/05/02
2004/04/19 - 2004/04/25
2004/04/12 - 2004/04/18
2004/04/05 - 2004/04/11
2004/03/29 - 2004/04/04

Sunday, April 18, 2004

News and commentary:

"Spain PM orders Iraq troops home" (BBC News, 2004/04/18)
"Spain's new prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has given orders for Spanish troops in Iraq to be brought home in "as short a time as possible".
In a televised address to the nation, he said he could not ignore what he called the will of the Spanish people.
Spain's foreign minister told his Egyptian counterpart the pull-out would be "within 15 days", the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Mr Zapatero said he had ordered the defence minister to "do what is necessary for the Spanish troops stationed in Iraq return home in the shortest time possible".
He spoke just hours after the new Socialist government was sworn in."

"Palestinians mourn over the body of the late Hamas leader Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi..."
(Kevin Frayer, AP, 2004/04/18)
"Palestinians mourn over the body of the late Hamas leader Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi as he is carried through the streets during his funeral in Gaza City, Sunday, April 18, 2004."

"Hamas Vows to Avenge Israel's Killing of Rantissi" (Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2004/04/18)
"Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian mourners cried for vengeance Sunday for Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, slain by Israeli missiles even as the Jewish state plans to quit the group's Gaza stronghold.
In secret, Hamas named a new official to replace 56-year-old Rantissi - the second leader of the militant Muslim group to be assassinated by Israel in less than a month. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin died in a previous missile attack on March 22. ...
Rantissi's body was carried aloft on a stretcher draped in a green Hamas flag. Mourners kissed his shrapnel-sliced face and others tossed flower petals onto the body. Fists shook at the sky in anger as four Israeli warplanes roared overhead.
"The blood of Yassin and Rantissi will not be wasted. Their blood will force the eruption of new volcanoes," one militant cried. Thousands took up the refrain of revenge, chanting: 'We will sacrifice our souls and blood for Rantissi.'" (See also: "Rantissi killing: World reaction" (BBC News, 2004/04/18) and "A Chronology of Terrorist Attacks Carried out by Hamas Since September 2000" (IMRA, 2004/04/18) and "Hamas appoints Rantisi successor" (Deutsche Welle, 2004/04/18): "Israeli army radio said the man in question is Mahmoud Zahar, Rantisi's second-in-command but there was no comment from Hamas.")

"UN inquiry into Kosovo shoot-out" (BBC News, 2004/04/18)
"UN officials in Kosovo have confirmed a gunfight between international police on Saturday began when Jordanian police fired on vehicles carrying US police.
The US officers returned fire and two Americans and one Jordanian were killed and 11 others were wounded. ...
The incident occurred as the US officers left the detention centre after undergoing initial training. They had only been in Kosovo for 10 days.
The UN says as they left the compound at least one member of a Jordanian special police unit opened fire on the US vehicles.
The Americans returned fire. Two female Americans and one male Jordanian died. Mr Feller said that among those killed was a member of the prison's management staff and a member of the special police unit.
Two of the injured are in a serious condition. Four Jordanian officers are being held as witnesses to the incident." (See also: "Iraq Said Spark for UN Kosovo Police Fight, 3 Die" (Shaban Buza, Reuters, 2004/04/17))

"Hope For Iraq" (Andrew Sullivan, The Sunday Times/andrewsullivan.com, 2004/04/18)
"All the news out of Iraq these past couple of weeks has been hyped into a message of despair. But in fact, something quite remarkable has occurred. The most dangerous representative of Islamicist theocracy in Iraq, Moqtadr al Sadr, facing the prospect of a moderate government, decided to play his only card and seize power by force. He was routed by American forces and isolated by moderate Shiites. He has now essentially surrendered any possibility of future power in the new Iraq and will be lucky not to be in prison before too long. Meanwhile, the Sunni Baathists remnants, joined by a variety of terrorists from around the region, stepped up their assaults in the city of Fallujah. They tried to piggy-back on al Sadr's revolt to create the appearance of chaos and precipitate an American withdrawal.
Enter the U.S. Marines. We do not yet know the details of the battle in Fallujah. But I predict it will be remembered as one of the most critical modern battles in the war on terror. In a matter of days, the insurgents were killed in vast numbers in classic urban warfare. The ratio of U.S. casualties to insurgent casualties was roughly one to ten. What should have been done very early in the invasion - the wiping out of the Baathist thugs and their Islamicist allies - was finally accomplished. And a truce broke out. It's still too early to know how this delicate situation will resolve itself. But both sides had made their point. Iraqi extremists had made it known they would make life very difficult for American troops and try very hard to create a new Vietnam. The Americans made it clear they wouldn't buckle under and could destroy the insurgents, if push came to shove."

"Extremist Grandmother Alert" (Tim Blair, timblair.spleenville.com, 2004/04/19)
"Crazed Muslim kidnappers and the Mississippi grandmother of hostage Thomas Hamill are all the same to The Sydney Morning Herald's Paul McGeough:

Echoing the religious fervour of his captors, no doubt, 43-year-old Hamill's grandmother remains hopeful: "I got God, and I just trust in God."

Grandma Hamill later burned down a mosque and imprisoned two imams in her basement, the crazy old fundamentalist." (See also: "Hostages to misfortune" (Paul McGeough, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2004/04/17))

"Arab Press Reactions to the Madrid Bombings" (MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 697, 2004/04/19)
"Abd Al-Wahhab 'Adas, deputy editor of the Egyptian government daily Al-Gumhouriyya, accuses "Jewish Zionists" of responsibility for the bombing. He writes: 'If you want to know the true agent of any catastrophe or any terrorist act, you should look for the Jewish Zionists... The most recent of their misdeeds were the explosions in Spain; the Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes explained that an Arabic-language videotape was found close to a Madrid mosque, in which Al-Qa'ida's military spokesman announced his organization's responsibility for the attacks, but he [the Spanish minister] himself denied this, saying that the authenticity of this video had not been confirmed...
"Certainly [it was] the Jews. They are the ones who placed all these things to confirm to the world that Arabs and Muslims are behind explosions of this kind... It is the Jews, with their secret, dirty hands, who played the role very skillfully, to harm the Arabs and the Muslims, and to intensify hatred of them... It is actually they who are behind the events of September 11'"

"The Last Iraqi Insurgency" (Niall Ferguson, The New York Times, 2004/04/18)
"This isn't 'Nam II — it's a rerun of the British experience of compromised colonization. When Mr. Bush met Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain on Friday, the uninvited guest at the press conference — which touched not only on Iraq but also on Palestine, Cyprus and even Northern Ireland — was the ghost of empire past. ...
What lessons can Americans learn from the revolt of 1920? The first is that this crisis was almost inevitable. The anti-British revolt began in May, six months after a referendum — in practice, a round of consultation with tribal leaders — on the country's future and just after the announcement that Iraq would become a League of Nations "mandate" under British trusteeship rather than continue under colonial rule. In other words, neither consultation with Iraqis nor the promise of internationalization sufficed to avert an uprising — a fact that should give pause to those, like Senator John Kerry, who push for a handover to the United Nations. ...
And this brings us to the second lesson the United States needs to learn from the British experience. Putting this rebellion down will require severity. In 1920, the British eventually ended the rebellion through a combination of aerial bombardment and punitive village-burning expeditions. It was not pretty. ...
The lessons of empire are not the kind of lessons Americans like to learn. It's more comforting to go on denying that America is in the empire business. But the time has come to get real. Iraqis themselves will be the biggest losers if the United States cuts and runs. Fear of the wrong quagmire could consign them to a terrible hell."

"This gamble by Sharon is at least based on reality" (Anne Applebaum, The Sunday Telegraph, 2004/04/18)
"By promising unilaterally to pull his troops and his settlers out of the Gaza strip and large chunks of the West Bank; by building a fence (or a wall, depending on your point of view) along what has become, in effect, the new, albeit still temporary, Israeli border; by dropping any attempt to negotiate either the borders or the political character of a new Palestinian state; by doing all of this, Sharon has suddenly and abruptly changed all of the rules of the Middle Eastern game. ...
By pulling out without an agreement, the Israelis risk the wrath of the entire Arab world, although they have that already. They also risk creating another generation of suicide bombers, although they've probably done that already too. They also risk creating complete political chaos in the Palestinian territories, although they've got that already. ...
Rather than creating a viable Palestinian state, Sharon's roll of the dice is just as likely to create a chaotic, unstable Palestinian Bantustan, with ludicrous borders and no possibility of economic independence. Sharon himself has said that his withdrawal plan is intended to create a status quo that will last "for many years". Yet a fragile, marginal state seething with angry, unemployed young men will hardly co-exist happily with a happy, thriving Israel. Reshuffling the cards only makes sense if the cards subsequently fall in a luckier pattern. I see no evidence that it will happen. But gambles do sometimes pay off."

"Behind Diplomatic Moves, Military Plan Was Launched" (Bob Woodward, The Washington Post, 2004/04/18)
The first of five articles adapted from Bob Woodward's "Plan of Attack": "More than a year before — on Nov. 21, 2001 — Bush had told Rumsfeld that he wanted to develop a plan for war in Iraq. Since that time the defense secretary had been working closely with Gen. Tommy R. Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command, and other U.S. commanders, as well as Bush and other members of the war cabinet to develop a plan even as Bush pursued diplomacy through the United Nations.
At times, White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. thought of Bush as a circus rider with one foot on a "diplomacy" steed and his other on the "war" steed, both reins in his hands, leading down a path to regime change. Each horse had blinders on. It was now clear that diplomacy would not get him to his goal, so Bush had let go of that horse and was standing only on the war steed."

Saturday, April 17, 2004

News and commentary:

"Moore: Mujahideen = Minutemen" (Charles Johnson, Little Green Footballs, 2004/04/17)
"Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore wants Americans to die, in what surely must be the most disgusting thing he’s written yet. ...

The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not “insurgents” or “terrorists” or “The Enemy.” They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow — and they will win. Get it, Mr. Bush? You closed down a friggin’ weekly newspaper, you great giver of freedom and democracy! Then all hell broke loose. The paper only had 10,000 readers! Why are you smirking? ...
There is a lot of talk amongst Bush’s opponents that we should turn this war over to the United Nations. Why should the other countries of this world, countries who tried to talk us out of this folly, now have to clean up our mess? I oppose the U.N. or anyone else risking the lives of their citizens to extract us from our debacle. I’m sorry, but the majority of Americans supported this war once it began and, sadly, that majority must now sacrifice their children until enough blood has been let that maybe — just maybe — God and the Iraqi people will forgive us in the end."

(See also: "Heads Up... from Michael Moore" (Michael Moore, michaelmoore.com, 2004/04/17))

"Jihad Death Count" (Charles Johnson, Little Green Footballs, 2004/04/17)
"Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad reports that in the period between September 11, 2001 and April 15, 2004, Islamic terrorists have killed at least 7,085 people and wounded 10,132 in 393 attacks around the world.
The surprising thing is that the study appeared in a Dutch paper not known for a hawkish stance; to see them use the word moslimterreur with no scare quotes is a sign that Europe is beginning to worry.
And they even include attacks in Israel. Be aware, however, that in some cases the terrorists themselves are included in the death count." (Note: The original article is in Dutch and requires registration.)

"Saint Mo" (Oliver Kamm, oliverkamm.typepad.com, 2004/04/17)
"Here, on the other hand, is the embodiment of wisdom, speaking last week:

Mo Mowlam has called on the British and American governments to open talks with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.... Asked if she could imagine "al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden arriving at the negotiating table," she replied: "You have to do that. If you do not you condemn large parts of the world to war forever.
"Some people couldn't conceive of Gerry Adams or Martin McGuinness getting to the table but they did."

It's easy to caricature this as an obtuse and embittered ex-ministerial idiosyncrasy, but that would be a mistake. In reality it’s a potent critique of a fallacy that Dr Mowlam once herself did much to promote at the Northern Ireland office.
Of course it’s risible to suppose that theocratic fascism can be stemmed by bilateral negotiation. When Islamist terrorists slam aeroplanes into office blocks and blow up commuter trains they are not issuing negotiable demands. They have the less abstruse goal of destroying western civilisation. Their barbarities are not a cry for help, but acts of total war. Dr Mowlam’s ironic ululation that “if you do not [talk] you condemn large parts of the world to war forever” is thus exactly wrong. The reason large parts of the world are condemned to war is that radical Islamists declare it, and will not desist till they are literally fought to the death." (See also: "Mowlam: We must talk to al-Qaeda" (BBC News, 2004/04/08))

"5 Marines die in ambush" (Ron Harris, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2004/04/17)
"Lance Cpl. Dustin Myshrall knew things were going to be bad from the moment he responded to the call for help from his fellow Marines.
"There was nobody on Market Street (the city's busiest thoroughfare)," said Myshrall, 22, of Baton Rouge, La. "We were flying through the alleys and there weren't any of the little kids like you normally see. But we didn't know it was going to be this big."
In some of the fiercest fighting in recent weeks, five Marines were killed and dozens of Iraqi insurgents slain in a daylong battle that began early Saturday in Husaybah. Marines beat back the offensive by what was reported to be hundreds of Iraqis from another area who had slipped into this city just 300 yards east of the Syrian border.
According to Marine intelligence, nearly 300 Iraqi mujahedeen fighters from Fallujah and Ramadi launched the offensive in an outpost next to Husaybah, first setting off a roadside bomb to lure Marines out of their base and then firing 24 mortars as the Marines responded to the first attack.
At least nine Marines were wounded and more than 20 Iraqi fighters were captured in the 14-hour battle."

"Bush Sealed Hamas Leader's Fate - Palestinians" (Nidal al-Mughrabi , Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2004/04/17)
"'It was Bush.'
The verdict was near unanimous amid the tears and rage on Palestinian streets after Israel killed Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in an air strike Saturday that many Arabs felt President Bush (news - web sites) must have approved.
"Bush has Rantissi's blood on his hands," said Khamis Saadi, among tens of thousands who swept into Gaza's shabby streets.
"All doors to hell should be opened against the Israelis and against the Americans," he cried.
U.S. officials denied giving a green light to Israel.
But Palestinians, fuming over unprecedented concessions Bush gave Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) last week for a Gaza pullout plan, felt Rantissi's killing was just another action in the same vein.
Sharon's Palestinian counterpart, Ahmed Qurie, called it 'a direct result of American encouragement and the complete bias of the American administration toward the Israeli government.'"

"Hamas Leader Killed in Israeli Strike" (Ibrahim Barzak, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/04/17)
"An Israeli missile strike killed Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi as he rode in his car Saturday evening, hospital officials said. Rantisi's son Mohammed and a bodyguard were also killed in the attack.
The militant Hamas leader was one of Israel's top targets after it assassinated Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin in an airstrike last month.
Rantisi's car was hit with missiles Saturday evening on the road outside his home, leaving only the burned, destroyed vehicle. After the explosion, Israeli helicopters were heard in the area.
Rantisi was taken to the hospital in critical condition, his body pocked with bloody wounds and blood streaming from his head and neck. He was taken to emergency surgery but died five minutes after arriving at the hospital. ...
Witnesses said there were three people in the car at the time of the explosion. Five pedestrians were also wounded, hospital officials said.
The dead included Akram Nassar, 35, Rantisi's personal bodyguard and his son Mohammed, 27, hospital officials said. Rantisi's wife was in the car, but her condition and location was not known, hospital sources and Hamas said.
About 2,000 angry Palestinians marched through the streets carrying pieces of Rantisi's car shouting, 'revenge, revenge.'"

"Iraq Said Spark for UN Kosovo Police Fight, 3 Die" (Shaban Buza, Reuters, 2004/04/17)
"Two Americans and a Jordanian were shot dead in Kosovo Saturday when emotions over Iraq apparently boiled over into a gunbattle between members of the U.N. law enforcement mission.
U.N. police spokesman Neeraj Singh said two U.S. police officers and a Jordanian were killed and 10 Americans and one Austrian wounded in the shooting.
The lethal firefight between fellow members of the U.N. force was unprecedented in five years of peacekeeping in Kosovo, where police of some 30 nations make up the international force of around 3,500.
The 10-minute shootout took place in the U.N. compound in ethnically divided Mitrovica — a city that is more commonly the scene of clashes between Serbs and Albanians, in which U.N. police and NATO troops intervene to keep the peace. ...
The deputy head of the Serb hospital in Mitrovica, Milan Ivanovic, said one of the dead was an American woman, who was hit along with four female U.S. police colleagues.
U.N. police sources said four Jordanian police officers had been arrested in connection with the shooting, but could give no further details on the cause.
A police source said it began with a row over Iraq. Singh said the U.N. was still investigating the possible motive."

"King Abdullah: Al-Qaida WMDs Came From Syria" (NewsMax, 2004/04/17)
"Jordan's King Abdullah revealed on Saturday that vehicles reportedly containing chemical weapons and poison gas that were part of a deadly al-Qaida bomb plot came from Syria, the country named by U.S. weapons inspector David Kay last year as a likely repository for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
"It was a major, major operation. It would have decapitated the government," King Abdullah told the San Francisco Chronicle. Jordanian officials estimated that the death count could have been as high as 20,000 - seven times greater than the Sept. 11 attacks.
King Abdullah said that trucks containing 17.5 tons of explosives had come from Syria, though he took pains not to implicate Syrian President Bashir Assad in the al-Qaida plot, saying, "I'm completely confident that Bashir did not know about it." ...
By Saturday morning European news services were quoting an unnamed Jordanian official, who revealed that the al-Qaida plotters planned to use weapons of mass destruction in the foiled attack.
"We found primary materials to make a chemical bomb which, if it had exploded, would have made nearly 20,000 deaths ... in an area of one square kilometre," the official told Agence France-Press." (See also: "Report: Chemical bomb attack prevented last week in Jordan" (Haaretz, 2004/04/16))

"In Search of Hezbollah" (Adam Shatz, The New York Review of Books, from the 2004/04/29 issue)
"Beirut used to be known as the Paris of the Middle East, and in the well-to-do Christian and Sunni quarters of the city, the capital of Lebanon still manages to cast a spell. The central business district — a battleground on the dividing line between Christian East Beirut and Muslim West Beirut during the Lebanese civil war — has been rebuilt by a construction firm whose largest shareholder is Lebanon's prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, a billionaire entrepreneur. The cafés are thick with smoke and conversation in Arabic, English, and French, techno music blares from clubs until four in the morning, and everywhere there are women in miniskirts. The old, pre-war Beirut, the sophisticated world where it mattered to people to be seen, seems to have been resurrected.
But "Haririgrad," as downtown Beirut is sometimes called, is hardly representative of the country. If you take a ten-minute drive to the city's southern suburbs, a series of dingy, overcrowded slums, you will see another country, where hejabs are more common than miniskirts, liquor is hard to find, and you're less likely to see posters of Prime Minister Hariri than of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the forty-four-year-old secretary-general of Hezbollah, the Party of God."

"A More Humble Hawk" (David Brooks, The New York Times, 2004/04/17)
"Nonetheless, I didn't expect that a year after liberation, hostile militias would be taking over cities or that it would be unsafe to walk around Baghdad. Most of all, I misunderstood how normal Iraqis would react to our occupation. I knew they'd resent us. But I thought they would see that our interests and their interests are aligned. We both want to establish democracy and get the U.S. out.
I did not appreciate how our very presence in Iraq would overshadow democratization. Now I get the sense that while the Iraqis don't want us to fail, since our failure would mean their failure, many don't want to see us succeed either. They want to see us bleed, to get taken down a notch, to suffer for their chaos and suffering. A democratic Iraq is an abstraction they want for the future; the humiliation of America is a pleasure they can savor today. ...
Despite all this — and maybe it's pure defensiveness — I still believe that in 20 years, no one will doubt that Bush did the right thing. ...
This time, unlike 1920, say, Iraqis can see a panoply of new and thriving democracies. They have witnessed Iran's horrible experience with theocracy. Once the political process moves ahead, nationalism will work in our favor, as Iraqis seek to become the leading reformers in the Arab world.
We hawks were wrong about many things. But in opening up the possibility for a slow trudge toward democracy, we were still right about the big thing." (For more doubts, see also: "Was I wrong about Iraq?" (Johann Hari, Independent/johannhari.com, 2004/04/14))

"A Tale of Love and Death in Afghanistan" (Bernard-Henri Lévy, The New York Times, 2004/04/17)
"Homa Safi was 21, a journalist-in-training at a French-Afghan monthly magazine in Kabul, Nouvelles de Kaboul, that I started two years ago. She was one of the innumerable women whom the fall of the Taliban seemed to have returned to life. But like so many of her Afghan sisters, she decided last month that the gap between what her world offered her and what she wanted was too great. ...
She had met a young man — a Muslim — who worked for a Western nongovernmental organization and with whom she wished to share her life.
Toward the end of March, after the Afghan New Year, the two families met. The young man's family came to Homa's little house in a miserable neighborhood on the outskirts of Kabul to ask her father for her hand. The father refused on the grounds that the young man was a Shiite, not a Sunni, and that anyway she was promised to the son of his friends, a man Homa had never met.
Homa didn't rebel. She just asked for an advance on her salary. She bought medicine in a pharmacy near the magazine. She telephoned a few of her friends one last time, without revealing her intentions. And then she left a world in which a woman's liberty is a thing unknown or incongruous." (See also: "For More Afghan Women, Immolation Is Escape" (Carlotta Gall, The New York Times, 2004/03/08) and "Afghanistan: Self-Immolation Of Women On The Rise In Western Provinces" (Golnaz Esfandiari, Radio Free Europe, 2004/03/01))

"Imam who praised bombers deported" (Henry Samuel, The Daily Telegraph, 2004/04/17)
"France has expelled an Algerian fundamentalist imam who invited his congregation to "rejoice in the Madrid bombings".
Yahia Cherif, who preached in Brest, on the coast of Brittany, was deported to Algiers after being found guilty of "proselytism in favour of radical Islam" and "active relations with a national or international Islamic movement linked to organisations promoting terrorist acts".
He was also found to have incited violence and hatred against people due to their origin. During the hearing, a lawyer representing the interior ministry cited evidence supplied by French intelligence to accuse Cherif of calling for a jihad during a sermon on March 19. The call represented a threat to national security, he said."

Friday, April 16, 2004

News and commentary:

"Don't look too hard for trouble in Iraq" (P. Mitchell Prothero, UPI/The Washington Times, 2004/04/16)
A report from Baghdad: "'Hey man,' Osama interrupts my phone call. "I found the bomb."
Being on the phone, I motion for him to wait, until I see he's pointing to an artillery shell embedded in concrete five feet away from us. It's huge — a 155 mm artillery shell — and there are wires and a homemade detonator sticking out the back.
"Uhhh, I have to call you back," I say into the phone.
The Kurds are laughing hysterically at us at this point, oblivious to the fact that they themselves are only 30 feet away and will live only a nanosecond longer than Osama and me should it explode. ...
Along the way we encounter a bunch of Iraqi families who have come out for the show. Little kids are now running everywhere around the deadly device, and Osama tries to tell them to clear out. But the families tell him the bomb has been there for 24 hours and hasn't gone off yet, so what's the worry? A very typical Iraqi response to danger. ...
"When these guys find a bomb or a (rocket propelled grenade) they carry it to our base," one says. "We'll walk outside to talk to them and they'll be swinging a huge shell out of the back of truck all proud that they helped. We freak out every time."
As we talk about such matters, as if on cue, two Kurdish militiamen walk up to the bomb, as we watch incredulously. They poke it a few times and then actually try to pick it up.
"If he gets that thing up and walks this way with it, so help me God I will shoot him," says one infantryman. "What we should do is just put a bullet in that beast from here and set it off."
Through an interpreter, a Kurdish leader explains that they tried that.
"We've been shooting at it all morning, but it won't go off," explains the Kurd.
We just laugh at this point. It's just another morning in Baghdad." (Hat tip: Andrés Gentry.)

"Arab Liberal: Most Islamic Ideologues, Organization Leaders Advocate Violence" (MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 696, 2004/04/16)
"In an article titled 'Who's Responsible for the Islamic Terrorists?' that appeared in the London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, columnist Khaled Kishtainy, of Iraqi origin, discussed the leading Muslim ideologues' positive attitudes towards the use of violence. ...
'I place on the Islamic intellectuals and leaders of Islamic organizations part of the responsibility for [this phenomenon] of Islamic terrorism, as nearly all of them advocate violence, and repress anyone who casts doubts upon this. Naturally, every so often they have written about the love and peace of Islam – but they did so, at best, for purposes of propaganda and defense of Islam. Their basic position is that this religion was established by the sword, acts by the sword, and will triumph by the sword, and that any doubt regarding this constitutes a conspiracy against the Muslims. ...
Most of the people we contacted were of the opinion that the Westerners are sons of dogs who understand only force, and that the Muslims have no choice but to strap on their weapon and fight. Some cooperated with us in private meetings [but] after the meeting was over asked us not to mention anything of it to others – as if nonviolence and peace were a kind of adultery that must be hidden. This was the atmosphere that helped the emergence of the terrorists, the suicide bombers, and all those who use weapons and explosives.'"

"Bush, Blair United on Iraq Government Plan" (Steve Holland, Reuters, 2004/04/16)
"President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair presented a united front on Friday behind a U.N. envoy's proposal for a caretaker government in Iraq.
They also backed a controversial plan put forward by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon under which Israel will withdraw from Gaza but retain some settlements on the West Bank. ...
The two leaders seized on a U.N. proposal for an interim Iraqi government as a welcome recommendation. Bush has been criticized this week for not having shed light on what plan he supports for Iraq once sovereignty is transferred on June 30 from a U.S.-led coalition.
The proposal was put together by U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to dissolve the Iraqi Governing Council and develop a caretaker government until elections can be held early next year. ...
Bush said Brahimi had "identified a way forward to establishing an interim government that is broadly acceptable to the Iraqi people." Blair said a new U.N. resolution would be sought on the transition to Iraqi rule." (See also: "Bush, Blair Discuss Sharon Plan; Future of Iraq in Press Conference" (The White House, 2004/04/16))

"Bush Planned for War as Diplomacy Continued" (William Hamilton, The Washington Post, 2004/04/16)
An article on Bob Woodward's "Plan of Attack": "Bush wanted someone with Powell's credibility to present the evidence that Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction -- a case the president had initially found less than convincing when presented to him by CIA deputy director John McLaughlin at a White House meeting on December 21, 2002.
McLaughlin's version used communications intercepts, satellite photos, diagrams and other intelligence. "Nice try," Bush said when he was finished, according to the book. "I don't think this quite - it's not something that Joe Public would understand or would gain a lot of confidence from."
He then turned to Tenet, McLaughlin's boss and said, "I've been told all this intelligence about having WMD and this is the best we've got?"
"It's a slam dunk case," Tenet replied, throwing his arms in the air. Bush pressed him again. "George, how confident are you."
"Don't worry, it's a slam dunk," Tenet repeated."

"Hostage Video" (ABC News, 2004/04/16)
"The Arab television network Al Jazeera today aired a videotape of an American soldier who was taken hostage in Iraq.
A senior military official told ABC News that the soldier in the video was one of two GIs who disappeared on April 9, during the same convoy attack in which seven employees of a Halliburton subcontractor went missing.
The tape shows Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, surrounded by masked gunmen, identifying himself and saying he is being treated well as a prisoner of war under Islamic law. He said his captors are demanding the release of Islamic soldiers."

"Saudi presenter shows beaten face" (BBC News, 2004/04/16)
"A TV presenter who says she was beaten by her husband has allowed newspapers to show pictures of her swollen face to highlight domestic abuse.
Rania al-Baz said her husband, Mohammed al-Fallatta, beat her so hard earlier this week that he broke her nose and fractured her face in 13 places.
She is recovering in hospital. Police are looking for Mr Fallatta, an unemployed singer.
Reuters news agency says he faces charges of attempted murder.
Ms Baz's mother told Saudi media that Mr Fallatta beat her daughter regularly.
This time, the mother is quoted as saying, he became infuriated when Ms Baz answered the telephone.
After beating her, Mr Fallatta took her to hospital and fled, her mother reportedly added.
"I want to use what happened to me to draw attention to the plight of women in Saudi Arabia," Ms Baz said.
Every morning for the past six years, Ms Baz has been the smiling face of a family programme on Saudi television. She is well-known and loved in the kingdom.
The BBC's correspondent Kim Ghattas says this is probably the first time ever that a case of domestic violence has received media coverage in Saudi Arabia." (See also: "Rania Al-Baz Lashes Out at Abuse of Women" (Essam Al-Ghalib, Arab News, 2004/04/12) and "Time to Stand Up and Be Counted" (Raid Qusti, Arab News, 2004/04/14))

"Our Present Chaos" (Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 2004/04/16)
"What a weird war we are in. The president of the United States gives a press conference to steel our will and endures mostly inane cross examination — at the very time the New York Times best-seller list has five of its top ten books alleging that he is a near criminal. Various disgruntled, passed-over or fired employees (Clarke and O'Neill), buffoonish provocateurs (Franken), and conspiracists (Phillips and Unger) all assure us in their pulp of everything from Bush family ties with Nazis to a First Family perennially plotting to get Americans killed for nothing other than cheap oil. ...
Are we crazy? I think in fact we almost are. But the tragedy is that if we are paradoxical, self-incriminatory, and at each other's throats, our enemies most surely are not. They know precisely what they want from us — an Islamic world of the 8th century, parasitic on the resources and technology of the 21st, by which all the better to destroy a supposedly soft and bickering West. And if the present chaos here at home continues, they are apparently on the right track." (Note: It is indeed a very telling list. "Best-Seller Lists: Hardcover Nonfiction" (The New York Times, 2004/04/18):

"1 AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, by Richard A. Clarke. (Free Press, $27.) President Bush's former counterterrorism coordinator criticizes the administration's handling of events before and after the 9/11 attacks.
2 TEN MINUTES FROM NORMAL, by Karen Hughes. (Viking, $25.95.) The autobiography of a close adviser to President Bush.
3 DELIVER US FROM EVIL, by Sean Hannity. (ReganBooks/HarperCollins, $26.95.) The radio and television personality argues that the war on terror must involve the defeat of liberalism as well as despotism.
4 THE OTHER MAN, by Michael Bergin. (ReganBooks/HarperCollins, $25.95.) A former star of "Baywatch" remembers his relationship with Carolyn Bessette Kennedy.
5 THE PASSION. (Tyndale, $24.99.) A collection of still photographs taken on location during the filming of Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ."
6 LIES (AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM), by Al Franken. (Dutton, $24.95.) A satirical critique of the rhetoric of right-wing pundits and politicians.
7 WORSE THAN WATERGATE, by John W. Dean. (Little, Brown, $22.95.) The man who served as counsel to President Richard Nixon offers an indictment of the Bush administration.
8 HOUSE OF BUSH, HOUSE OF SAUD, by Craig Unger. (Scribner, $26.) Tracing "the secret relationship between the world's two most powerful dynasties."
9 THE PRICE OF LOYALTY, by Ron Suskind. (Simon & Schuster, $26.) A view inside the Bush administration from the perspective of Paul O'Neill, the president's first Treasury secretary.
10 GHOST WARS, by Steve Coll. (Penguin, $29.95.) An examination of the C.I.A.'s role in Afghanistan over the past 25 years, by the managing editor of The Washington Post.")

"The West must not fall for bin Laden's propaganda tricks" (Dominic Cummings, The Daily Telegraph, 2004/04/16)
"Osama bin Laden's "peace offer" to Europe might sound to some like the rantings of a madman in a cave, but it is actually, from his point of view, extremely cunning. For, assuming it is genuine, it shows he has reinvented himself as the rational terrorist and we underestimate him at our peril.
What he had to say resembles the propaganda offensive when Lenin and Stalin launched their campaign to subvert Western intellectuals. The NKVD agent Otto Katz said: "Columbus discovered America; I discovered Hollywood."
Just as the IRA relies on Sinn Fein as its more respectable public face, so bin Laden is trying the same trick. Much of bin Laden's offer could not have been done better if he had focus-grouped it at London dinner parties, such is its appeal to the chattering classes and the Western "intellectual" mind.
"Loot the looters", said Lenin; "Oppression kills the oppressors", says bin Laden."

"Europe unites against Bin Laden after tape offers truce to 'our neighbours in the north'" (Julian Borger and Giles Tremlett, The Guardian, 2004/04/16)
"The CIA said last night that the taped statement was likely to be the voice of the fugitive leader and that the message "appears to be intended to drive a wedge between Europe and the US ... and it's a propaganda ploy to bolster the morale of its followers." ...
European politicians yesterday unanimously dismissed any notion of negotiations with al-Qaida. The British foreign secretary Jack Straw said: "One has to treat such proposals with the contempt they deserve.
"This is a murderous organisation which seeks impossible objectives by the most violent of means and has said...that whilst we love life they love death. It is yet another bare-faced attempt to divide the international community.
French president Jacques Chirac ruled out any negotiations with terrorists as did the new socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said a peace deal with Bin Laden would be "unthinkable".
Germany also reacted with disdain. "There can be no negotiations with terrorists and serious criminals," a government spokesman said."

"Report: Chemical bomb attack prevented last week in Jordan" (Haaretz, 2004/04/16)
"A terror cell seized over a week ago in Jordan planned to carry out a large-scale chemical attack in a military intelligence base in the kingdom, according to the London-based Arab daily Al Hayat.
Jordanian officials told the paper that security forces captured three car bombs that contained chemicals.
It is believed that the organization of Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is affiliated with Al-Qaida, planned the attack.
The cell entered Jordan through Syria at the end of March, with three cars laden with explosives and weapons.
It is believed that had the cars exploded at the military base, thousands of people would have been killed and all buildings in a radius of one kilometer of the explosion would have been completely destroyed." (See also: "Jordan 'thwarts terrorist attack'" (Dale Gavlak, BBC News, 2004/04/15))

Thursday, April 15, 2004

News and commentary:

"Palestinian sisters Aya, 3, is hugged by Riham, 9..."
(Joseph Barrak, AFP, 2004/04/15)
"Palestinian sisters Aya, 3, is hugged by Riham, 9, posing with her father's handgun, at a food market in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh, in the south of the country."

"Osama Bin Laden Speech Offers Peace Treaty with Europe, Says Al-Qa'ida 'Will Persist in Fighting' the U.S" (MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 695, 2004/04/15)
A translation of Osama Bin Laden's speech. Or is it John Pilger?:
"What happened in September 11 and March 11 is your own merchandise coming back to you. We hereby advise you ... that your definition of us and of our actions as terrorism is nothing but a definition of yourselves by yourselves, since our reaction is of the same kind as your act. Our actions are a reaction to yours, which are destruction and killing of our people as is happening in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine.
When you look at what happened and is happening, the killing in our countries and in yours, an important fact emerges, and that is that the oppression is forced on both us and you by your politicians who send your sons, against your will, to our country to kill and to be killed.
Therefore, both sides have an interest in thwarting those who shed the blood of the peoples for their own narrow interests, out of vassalage to the White House gang...
This war makes millions of dollars for big corporations, either weapons manufacturers or those working in the reconstruction [of Iraq], such as Halliburton and its sister companies...
It is crystal clear who benefits from igniting the fire of this war and this bloodshed: They are the merchants of war, the bloodsuckers who run the policy of the world from behind the scenes.
President Bush and his ilk, the media giants, and the U.N. ... all are a fatal danger to the world, and the Zionist lobby is their most dangerous member. Allah willing, we will persist in fighting them..." (See also: "Man Said to Be Bin Laden Offers 'Truce'" (Reuters, 2004/04/15))

"France's US envoy slams "racist campaign" against French over Iraq war" (AFP/Yahoo! News, 2004/04/15)
"France's ambassador to the United States denounced what he called a "racist campaign" against the French waged by US media and fueled by the Pentagon since the start of war in Iraq.
Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, told staff, students and diplomats at the University of California at Los Angeles that Fox News and the New York Post, media baron Rupert Murdoch's properties, led the onslaught with a daily barrage of insults.
"It was a racist campaign," he said in a speech to the university's School of Public Policy and Social Research. 'We were insulted just because we were French and it was unfair and dangerous.'"

"Jordan 'thwarts terrorist attack'" (Dale Gavlak, BBC News, 2004/04/15)
"King Abdullah has said that a potentially massive attack on Jordan was thwarted by the arrest of a group of suspected terrorists.
The king said the assault could have killed thousands of civilians.
Authorities in the capital Amman have arrested a number of terror suspects over the past two weeks but had been searching for a remaining man.
But officials say all the group members have now been caught and a large amount of explosives has been seized."

"Italian hostage 'defied killers'" (BBC News, 2004/04/15)
Hostage slaughtered VI: "The Italian hostage killed by kidnappers in Iraq was a defiant "hero" in his final moments, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini says.
The dead man was identified as Fabrizio Quattrocchi, 36, a security guard.
As the gunman's pistol was pointing at him the hostage "tried to take off his hood and shouted: 'now I'll show you how an Italian dies,'" he said. ...
"He died a hero," Mr Frattini said, adding the family had authorised him to reveal the details."

"Three Japanese Hostages Released in Iraq" (Jim Krane, AP/The Washington Post, 2004/04/15)
"Three Japanese hostages who had been threatened with death unless Tokyo withdrew its troops from Iraq were released Thursday, a day after militants executed an Italian captive.
The two aid workers and one journalist were released to a group of Islamic clerics that helped end the crisis after about a week in captivity, according to video from Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera. A Japanese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Tokyo said the three were unharmed."

"Will the Opposition Lead?" (Paul Berman, The New York Times, 2004/04/15)
"The war in Iraq may end up going well or catastrophically, but either way, this war has always been central to the broader war on terror. That is because terror has never been a matter of a few hundred crazies who could be rounded up by the police and special forces. Terror grows out of something larger — an enormous wave of political extremism. ...
The wave began to swell some 25 years ago and by now has swept across a big swath of the Muslim world. The wave is not a single thing. It consists of several movements or currents, which are entirely recognizable. These movements draw on four tenets: a belief in a paranoid conspiracy theory, according to which cosmically evil Jews, Masons, Crusaders and Westerners are plotting to annihilate Islam or subjugate the Arab people; a belief in the need to wage apocalyptic war against the cosmic conspiracy; an expectation that, post-apocalypse, the Islamic caliphate of ancient times will re-emerge as a utopian new society; and a belief that, meanwhile, death is good, and should be loved and revered."

"America's Ayatollah" (Richard Cohen, The Washington Post, 2004/04/15)
For once Cohen actually has a valid point, but as so often he arrives at it by spinning the truth beyond recognition. It's also depressing to note that he doesn't believe the world can change for the better. If true, wouldn't that invalidate politics and political discourse as a whole, including Cohen's entire career?
Anyway, according to Cohen, "we have it on the word of David Kay and countless weapons inspectors that [Hussein] manifestly was not [such a threat]".
Here's David Kay in his own words:

"...what we learned during the inspection made Iraq a more dangerous place potentially than, in fact, we thought it was even before the war." (2004/01/27)

"In a world where we know others are seeking [weapons of mass destruction], the likelihood at some point in the future of a seller and a buyer meeting up would have made that a far more dangerous country than even we anticipated with what may turn out not to be a fully accurate [intelligence] estimate." (2004/01/29):

"What matters more is the phrase Bush used five times in one way or another: "We're changing the world." ...
"I also know that there's an historic opportunity here to change the world," Bush said of the effort in Iraq. But the next sentence was even more disquieting. "And it's very important for the loved ones of our troops to understand that the mission is an important, vital mission for the security of America and for the ability to change the world for the better." It is one thing to die to defend your country. It is quite another to do that for a single man's impossible dream. What Bush wants is admirable. It is not, however, attainable. ...
Some people might consider this religious drivel and others might find it stirring, but whatever it is, it cannot be the basis for foreign policy, not to mention a war. Yet it explains, as nothing else can, just why Bush is so adamantly steadfast about Iraq and why he simply asserts what is not proved or just plain untrue -- the purported connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda, for instance, or why Hussein was such a threat, when we have it on the word of David Kay and countless weapons inspectors that he manifestly was not. Bush talks as if only an atheist would demand proof when faith alone more than suffices. He is America's own ayatollah." (See also: "Bush Asserts 'We Must Not Waver' on Terror or Iraq" (Richard W. Stevenson and Douglas Jehl, The New York Times, 2004/04/14))

"Man Said to Be Bin Laden Offers 'Truce'" (Reuters, 2004/04/15)
"In a recording broadcast on Arab satellite networks Thursday, a man who identified himself as al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden offered a "truce" to European countries that do not attack Muslims.
"I announce a truce with the European countries that do not attack Muslim countries," the taped message said as the stations showed an old, still picture of bin Laden.
The message said the truce would last three months and could be extended.
There was no immediate way to confirm the voice was bin Laden's.
This truce, the message said, was to deny "the war mongers" further opportunities and because polls have shown that "most of the European peoples want reconciliation" with the Islamic world. ...
The message said that American policy ignores the "real problem," which is "the occupation of all of Palestine."
The message also denounced the U.S. was on Iraq, saying it was making "billions of dollars" for companies, "whether those that make weapons or those that take part in reconstruction," naming the American firm Halliburton."

"The Trouble With Civilian Casualty Stories" (Jefferson Morley, The Washington Post, 2004/04/15)
Fallujah as the New Jenin: "In the United States, the most common report of civilian casualties was an Associated Press story quoting Fallujah hospital director Rafie al-Issawi saying 600 people had been killed in Fallujah, most of them women and children. ... The AP story included the reporter's account of visiting a cemetery in Fallujah and counting 300 new graves, many of them inscribed with the names of women and children. ...
The Asia Times asserted that "Fallujah residents are describing what happened last week as 'the new Jenin' - a direct reference to the lethal April 2002 Israeli offensive unleashed against a Palestinian camp."
But the Jenin analogy points up the hazards of estimating civilian deaths in combat zones inaccessible to journalists. While Palestinians originally claimed Israeli forces had massacred hundreds of civilians at Jenin, an investigation by Human Rights Watch concluded that 52 people had been killed in the fighting, 23 of whom were civilians." (See also: "600 Iraqis reported killed last week in Fallujah" (AP/Toronto Star, 2004/04/11) and "The media and 'the massacre'" - News and commentary on the conflicting reports on what happened during the battle of Jenin.)

"Militia chief signals end of uprising" (David Blair, The Daily Telegraph, 2004/04/15)
Sadr's only remaining peace terms are that he "does not want to be attacked, he wants his personal safety..." Whatever happened to the Sadr who just the other day said that he is "just a body" and is "ready to sacrifice" himself?:
"The fiery radical at the heart of Iraq's Shia revolt sued for peace yesterday, buckling under the twin pressures of a massive build-up of American forces near his base and demands for moderation from the country's ayatollahs. ...
Sources close to the cleric said he had dropped his demand that American forces pull back from Najaf and release prisoners before he would enter talks.
Haider Aziz, one of Sadr's translators, disclosed the radical leader's peace terms: 'He does not want to be attacked, he wants his personal safety and he wants coalition forces to withdraw from Najaf.'" (See also: "Cleric 'ready to sacrifice' to drive U.S. from Iraq" (CNN.com, 2004/04/13))

"A Wrong Turn, Chaos and a Rescue" (Pamela Constable, The Washington Post, 2004/04/15)
"It began as a routine supply mission to the front lines, in a volatile but largely becalmed city.
It ended as a fiery and chaotic rescue mission, with a small force of Marine tanks, Humvees and ground troops surrounded and attacked as they fought their way through a hostile neighborhood to save the crew of a burning armored personnel carrier. ...
Suddenly, the crew encountered a large number of armed men milling in the streets. Within minutes, they were being attacked from all sides. ...
The rescue squad rushed four tanks and six Humvees to the area, where they fought their way through several blocks to reach the burning carrier. Surrounded by 25 Marine riflemen on foot, the armored vehicles advanced, firing machine guns from their turrets. Overhead, Air Force attack planes repeatedly strafed the area. Marine officials here said at least 20 insurgents were shot dead during the fighting.
"Within the first 500 meters, we were shooting 360 degrees," said Lt. Joshua Glover, 25, who commanded the rescue force. "When we finally saw the [armored personnel carrier], it was a piece of burning metal."
The carrier's crew had managed to escape and had taken shelter in the nearest house, where they were pummeled with gunfire from the surrounding houses. Under covering fire from U.S. tanks and planes, Glover's team was able to get the crew into Humvees and race off to safety."

"Iraqi Nuclear Gear Found in Europe" (Colum Lynch, The Washington Post, 2004/04/15)
"Large amounts of nuclear-related equipment, some of it contaminated, and a small number of missile engines have been smuggled out of Iraq for recycling in European scrap yards, according to the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog and other U.N. diplomats.
Mohammed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned the U.N. Security Council in a letter that U.N. satellite photos have detected "the extensive removal of equipment and, in some instances, removal of entire buildings" from sites that had been subject to U.N. monitoring before the U.S.-led war against Iraq. ...
"It is not clear whether the removal of these items has been the result of looting activities in the aftermath of the recent war in Iraq, or as part of systematic efforts" to clean up contaminated nuclear sites in Iraq, ElBaradei wrote. 'In any event these activities may have a significant impact on the agency's continuity of knowledge of Iraq's remaining nuclear-related capabilities and raise concern with regards to the proliferation risk associated with dual use material and equipment disappearing to unknown destinations.'"

"Sept. 11 Panel Cites C.I.A. for Failures in Terror Case" (Philip Shenon and Eric Lichtblau, The New York Times, 2004/04/15)
"George J. Tenet and his deputies at the Central Intelligence Agency were presented in August 2001 with a briefing paper labeled "Islamic Extremist Learns to Fly" about the arrest days earlier of Zacarias Moussaoui, but did not act on the information, the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said on Wednesday. ...
The staff report also disclosed that the C.I.A. for years had intelligence in its files suggesting that Al Qaeda might hijack passenger planes and try to use them as missiles, but the reports were never drawn together in a larger analysis of the threat.
The reports cited a 1996 warning about a terrorist plot to fly a plane laden with explosives into an American city; a 1996 warning that Iranians intended to hijack a Japanese plane and crash it into Tel Aviv; and a 1995 warning that terrorists intended to fly a plane into C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Va. The agency also knew that an Algerian terrorist group hijacked an Air France jet in 1994 with the intention of flying it into the Eiffel Tower, a plot that failed because none of the terrorists knew how to fly."

"Video reveals full horror of Italian hostage's execution" (John Hooper and Nick Paton Walsh, The Guardian, 2004/04/15)
Hostage slaughtered V: "The US Fox network reported that the video showed a hooded man being killed by a shot to the head. The hood was then removed. ...
Yesterday, a French television journalist was freed after a four-day ordeal, which, he said, was marked by constant movement and threats to his life. Alexandre Jordanov, who works for Capa Television in Paris, was kidnapped on Sunday while videotaping a US military convoy under attack. ...
Today Russia will begin evacuating 816 people, including its citizens and people from other parts of the former Soviet Union, who were mostly involved in rebuilding the energy infrastructure."

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

News and commentary:

"Italian Hostage Executed in Iraq" (Tom Rachman, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/04/15)
Hostage slaughtered IV: "The Italian ambassador to Qatar, where the network is based, watched the video and confirmed that the man killed was Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of the kidnapped Italians, Frattini said.
"He saw the film," Frattini said, during a live TV talk show. ...
"They have cut short a life. They have not damaged our values and our commitment to peace," Premier Silvio Berlusconi said after the death was confirmed. The premier was sending a diplomat, Gianni Castellaneta, to Iraq as an envoy to try to save the remaining hostages.
Frattini said the government would do "what is possible and impossible" to free the remaining three.
"We are all close to the young men who are there, and to the family of the young man who was killed," he said, during a dramatic 90-minute broadcast that dragged from Wednesday night into Thursday morning. ...
Frattini told the parliamentary commission that an Italian withdrawal would be "unimaginable." Pulling out Italy's 3,000 soldiers and paramilitary police from Iraq would mean "the victory of terrorism, civil war and defeat for the Iraqi people."
Italy is the third-largest coalition partner in the occupation force. Italy didn't send in combat troops during the war. Its forces are based in the southern city of Nasiriyah, working on reconstruction."

"Italian hostage killed - Aljazeera TV" (Aljazeera.net, 2004/04/15)
Hostage slaughtered III: "'When your president says pulling the troops out of Iraq is non-negotiable then this means he does not care for the safety of his citizens as much as he is concerned with satisfying his masters in the White House,' said the group in a statement sent to Aljazeera.
"We have killed one of the four hostages we have in order to teach a lesson for those who are involved. We know they are guards working for the American occupation in our country.
"We ask you one more time to revolt once again in the face of your leaders and reject this unjust war on us so that we can protect your citizens. We are waiting for that from you or else we will kill them one by one," added the Green Brigade."

"Italian hostage is killed in Iraq" (BBC News, 2004/04/14)
Hostage slaughtered II: "One of the four Italian hostages abducted in Iraq has been killed, the Italian foreign minister has said.
Franco Frattini was confirming an earlier report on the al-Jazeera television network. ...
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the killing - the first confirmed hostage death in Iraq - would not affect the peace effort. ...
The TV also said it had received a statement from the kidnappers, who were members of a group calling itself al-Katibat al-Khadra, or Green Battalion.
They were quoted as saying that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was "responsible" for ruling out demands for the withdrawal of Italian troops based in the southern city of Nasiriyah from Iraq.
They also threatened to kill the other three hostages 'one by one.'"

"Iraq Kidnappers Kill Italian Hostage - Jazeera TV" (Reuters, 2004/04/14)
Hostage slaughtered I: "Arabic television Al Jazeera said Iraqi kidnappers had killed an Italian hostage and were threatening to kill three others in response to Italy's refusal to withdraw its troops from Iraq.
An Al Jazeera official told Reuters the channel received footage of the killing of the Italian but would not broadcast it.
"We have the footage but we won't air it as it is too bloody. They slaughtered the hostage because of (Italian Prime Minister Silvio) Berlusconi's last remarks refusing to withdraw troops from Iraq," the official told Reuters." (See also: "Television image aired April 13, 2004 by Arabic television Al Jazeera..." (Al Jazeera/Reuters, 2004/04/13))

"Time to Stand Up and Be Counted" (Raid Qusti, Arab News, 2004/04/14)
Qustin on the horrible case of Rania Al-Baz, the Saudi TV presenter who was almost killed by hur husband because she answered the telephone:
"For too long many of our women have been silent about the abuse they receive from their husbands. They swallow their miseries and the abuse goes on and on. Sometimes, as we have recently read in our local papers, things end tragically as was the case of a man in Jizan who poured gasoline on his wife and burned her to death. I was glad to learn from Arab News that some members of the newly established Human Rights body in the Kingdom had paid Al-Baz a visit in the hospital and showed their support for her. But I believe much more needs to be done, not just by the human rights’ body but also by society itself. For starters, people working in the media in the country should highlight such stories in the local press. Unfortunately, as was the case with the inhumane treatment received by travel agency employees in Riyadh who had their heads shaved, this particular incident of domestic violence suffered by a well-known TV presenter was nowhere to be found in the local Arabic printed media. ...
Another unfortunate thing is our society’s prejudice toward women. Though many of us lead a comfortable life in the 21st century — driving a car, using a cell phone, watching satellite TV — the mindset of many Saudi males is that women are useful as sex objects or for obeying orders. Many Saudi men still think of women as inferior creatures who were put on earth to please and gratify them. They tend to look at women as property bought upon payment of the dowry.
That “ownership” concept extends to abusing maids as well. Several months ago I met an acquaintance who works in Indonesia. His job was to hire female Indonesians for recruitment as housemaids by several Gulf agencies. He told me of many cases of Indonesian maids who had been abused by their Saudi employers. Some had been beaten and others burned; some had been sent home because they were pregnant from their employers. He said that in most cases, there was no public notice of what had happened and that all would be hushed up by a sum of money paid to the unfortunate woman." (See also: "Rania Al-Baz Lashes Out at Abuse of Women" (Essam Al-Ghalib, Arab News, 2004/04/12))

"Iranian News Agency Report: Iraqi Civilians 'Systematically Sexually Abused' by U.S. Armed Forces" (MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series - No. 694, 2004/04/15)
Apropos demonization: "In an article titled "What Price 'Freedom?'" the website of the major Iranian news agency Mehr News charged the U.S. Army with "committing systematic sexual abuse against Iraqi civilians," and directed readers to a website supposedly set up by the U.S. Armed Forces, www.rape.com, that contains a section on "Rape in Iraq" featuring "gory pictures of the atrocities committed by U.S. Armed Forces against Iraqi women and children." However, this is in fact the website of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), the largest domestic anti-sexual assault organization in the U.S., and which displays no such photos. The following are excerpts from the article: ...
'The U.S. occupation forces are currently involved in the indiscriminate bombing, shelling, and abuse of Iraqi civilians in Fallujah. The crimes committed by the U.S. forces are so severe that even members of the Iraqi Governing Council such as Mr. Pachachi are threatening to resign their posts in disgust. ...
U.S. forces are committing systematic sexual abuse against Iraqi civilians. They have even set up a website on the Internet to celebrate their despicable acts in Iraq. [The] 'RAPE.COM' website includes a section named 'RAPE IN IRAQ' – in which gory pictures of the atrocities committed by U.S. armed forces against Iraqi women and children are proudly displayed for all to see. ...
Democracy has never been imposed so brutally on any nation by a band of fraudulent genocidal criminals posing as the bleeding heart freedom lovers of Washington.'"

"Greg Dyke and Tony Blair" (Norm, normblog, 2004/04/14)
"There's a piece by Tom Mangold in the Evening Standard of 14 April, entitled 'Why Greg really fell out with Tony'. It's not available online but here is a substantial excerpt: ...

Last July, even before David Kelly committed suicide, as Alastair Campbell continued to bombard the BBC with complaints about its war coverage and alleged anti-Government bias, Dyke snapped. In rage and frustration with his former friend Blair, he told other friends that he wanted to put a substantial part of his own private fortune into helping the formation of a new Labour Party that would end Blair's run as leader.
In a state of considerable anger, described by one witness as "a rant", Dyke, editorial chief of the most powerful and trusted news organisation in the world, gave vent to his fury.
He told friends he had had enough of Campbell's bullying of BBC news, that Blair was almost certainly behind these attacks, and that he was personally prepared actively to help engineer the removal of Blair by promoting a new political party to which he would donate three million pounds of his own private fortune."

"Tehran has armed agents in Iraq - Iran exile group" (Mark John, Reuters, 2004/04/14)
Iran has sent thousands of armed agents into neighbouring Iraq to back a Shi'ite Muslim uprising there and foment anti-U.S. sentiment, an exiled Iranian opposition group said on Wednesday.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), listed by the United States as a terrorist group, said Iranian agents had infiltrated the Iraqi police force and Iranian Shi'ite clerics were present in towns and villages throughout Iraq.
Tehran "has sent thousands of troops into Iraq and thousands of arms so as to be able to intervene there better," Mohammad Mohaddessin, head of the NCRI's foreign affairs commission, told reporters in Paris, where it has an office.
"The strategic aim is to secure its domination of this country. It believes it has time on its side," he said through an interpreter, citing unnamed sources within Iran.
The NCRI is the political wing of the People's Mujahideen, banned by the EU as a terrorist organisation. ...
But NCRI pronouncements have been given some credence since it said in 2002 that Tehran was hiding an uranium enrichment plant forcing Iran to admit the existence of the plant and allow U.N.'s nuclear inspectors to view it."

"Was I wrong about Iraq?" (Johann Hari, Independent/johannhari.com, 2004/04/14)
Hari wonders if it was wrong to support the war in Iraq: "The Human Rights Centre (HRC) in Kadhimiya has been set up by Iraqis themselves from the ashes of Baathism. They have been going methodically through the massive - and previously unexplored - archives left by the regime, which document every killing in cold bureaucracy-speak. The HRC have found that if the invasion had not happened, Saddam would have killed 70,000 people in the past year. Not sanctions: Saddam's tyranny alone. ...
More facts: the opinion polls. ... ...they also find that 56 per cent of Iraqis say their lives are better than before the war. Only 15 per cent want the coalition troops to leave immediately. Remember that the "End the Occupation Now" campaigners have just 15 per cent of Iraqis on their side. The anti-war campaigners must confront the fact that most Iraqis feel their lives are better now. I was beginning to perk up as we went through these facts. Maybe we were not wrong after all. ...
After my week of wobbling, I have come to the conclusion that the only decent course is to keep supporting the clear majority of Iraqis: against Saddam, against Sadr and against killing Sadr, and against immediate troop withdrawal. And we must back the Iraqis in the biggest demand of all: a transition to real, full Iraqi democracy - and fast."

"EXPEL THE ARAB ENEMY!"
(Enric Marti, AP, 2004/04/14)
Apropos anti-Arabism: "A girl holds a sign during a right-wing demonstration in front of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's residence in Jerusalem Wednesday April 14, 2004."

"Furious Palestinians Reject Bush Pledges to Israel" (Wafa Amr, Reuters, 2004/04/14)
Funny how often Palestinian leaders are described as "moderate" or "spiritual". The Palestinian Prime Minister is of course "the moderate premier" even though the moderate Palestinian position is an ethnically cleansed state of their own as well as a Palestinian dominated Israel — and even directly after he has stated his fundamentally absolute stance on the issue. The corresponding Israeli position is almost always (and appropriately) described as "extreme":
"Palestinian leaders denounced President Bush's pledge to Israel on Wednesday that it could keep parts of the West Bank as a rejection of Palestinian rights that endangers the region's future..
"Bush is the first U.S. president to give legitimacy to Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. We reject this, we will not accept it," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie told reporters at his West Bank home. "Nobody in the world has the right to give up Palestinian rights," the moderate premier said in reaction to what appeared to be a historic policy shift — Bush's implicit recognition of Israel's right to retain settlements in the occupied West Bank. ...
"Bush and Sharon are trying to protect each other's political future but endangering the political future of Israel, the Palestinians and the whole region," said Yasser Abed Rabbo of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee." (See also: "PA angry over Bush, Sharon meeting" (Khaled Abu Toameh, The Jerusalem Post, 2004/04/14): "'This is a grave mistake,' said Abbas Zaki, a senior Fatah leader and close associate of Arafat. 'Bush is making a major mistake by raising the issues of the refugees and borders. This is an upheaval that is unacceptable. The US has killed the peace process. The US wants to impose the Israeli solution. This is a big deceit.'")

"Bush Endorses Israel's West Bank Plan" (Barry Schweid, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/04/14)
"Breaking with long-standing U.S. policy, President Bush on Wednesday endorsed Israel's retention of part of the West Bank in any final peace settlement with the Palestinians. In a show of support for Israel's leader that brought immediate condemnation from the Palestinians, Bush also ruled out Palestinian refugees ever returning to Israel.
An elated Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said his plan would create "a new and better reality for the state of Israel." ...
Bush, in a historic news conference with a broadly smiling Sharon, endorsed as "courageous" the Israeli leader's plan to pull out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
The president said there were "new realities" on the West Bank since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast war. Bush said major Israeli population centers in the West Bank now make it "unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return" to pre-war borders." (See also: "President Bush Commends Israeli Prime Minister Sharon's Plan" (The White House, 2004/04/14) and "Letter from President Bush to Prime Minister Sharon" (CNN.com, 2004/04/14)

"Tenet: U.S. Lacks Tools to Combat al-Qaida" (Hope Yen, AP/My Way, 2004/04/14)
"CIA director George Tenet predicted Wednesday it will take "another five years of work to have the kind of clandestine service our country needs" to combat al-Qaida and other terrorist threats.
"The same can be said for the National Security Agency, our imagery agency and our analytic community," Tenet testified before the commission investigating the worst terror attacks in the nation's history.
He said a series of tight budgets dating to the end of the Cold War meant that by the mid-1990s, intelligence agencies had "lost close to 25 percent of our people and billions of dollars in capital investment." ...
"While we now know that al-Qaida was formed in 1988, at the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the intelligence community did not describe this organization, at least in the documents we have seen, until 1999," the report said.
As late as 1997, it said, the CIA Counter-Terrorism Center "characterized Osama bin Laden as a financier of terrorism." ...
Readily acknowledging that intelligence agencies "never penetrated the 9-11 plot," Tenet said, 'We all understood (Osama) bin Laden's intent to strike the homeland but were unable to translate this knowledge into an effective defense of the country.'"

"Iraq Cleric Offers Peace Talks; U.S. Forces Poised" (Gleb Bryanski, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2004/04/14)
"U.S. forces tightened their grip around one of Iraq's holiest cities Wednesday and the rebel Shi'ite cleric they have vowed to kill or capture offered unconditional talks to spare Najaf a bloodbath.
Moqtada al-Sadr, who launched an anti-U.S. uprising this month and is now holed up in Najaf, had dropped previous conditions for talks with U.S. authorities, his spokesman said. ...
Sadr's spokesman, Qays al-Khazali, said the cleric, bowing to pressure from senior Shi'ite religious authorities, was now ready to negotiate without insisting that U.S.-led forces first leave residential areas of Najaf and free detainees.
Sadr himself told the German news agency DPA: "We want to free holy Najaf from the claws of the occupiers." He said he was willing to die in the struggle, but left the door open to "well-meaning" negotiators who wanted to help end the violence."

"U.S. Launches Heavy Fire on Fallujah" (Jason Keyser and Lourdes Navarro, AP/Yahoo! News, 2004/04/14)
"U.S. warplanes and helicopters firing heavy machine guns, rockets and cannons hammered insurgents Wednesday in the besieged city of Fallujah, and the commander of U.S. Marines here warned that a fragile truce was near collapse. ...
Early Wednesday, an A-130 gunship pounded a row of buildings from which Marines say ambushes have repeatedly been launched in a residential area.
Gunmen repeatedly attacked one house in Fallujah that the Marines were using. At least 12 gunmen were killed in two nights of attacks.
Many — but not all — residents have fled neighborhoods around the Marine positions. Marines have taken over abandoned houses and use sledgehammers to bash through walls and move between houses without exposing themselves to fire."

"Four Iraq Bodies May Be Those of U.S. Contractors, U.S. Says" (Bloomberg, 2004/04/14)
"Four bodies found yesterday in Iraq may be those of members of a group of seven contractors for a unit of Houston-based Halliburton Co. who went missing last week, according to the U.S. State Department.
"The remains of four unidentified individuals were found in Iraq," Brenda Greenberg, a State Department spokeswoman, said by telephone. "The Department of State has been in contact with the families of seven U.S. citizen civilians missing since Friday."
Kidnappers are holding at least 40 hostages from 12 countries, Dan Senor, the U.S.-led coalition's spokesman said in Baghdad yesterday."

"In 'Classic Urban Warfare,' Marines Claw Way Through Town" (Jeffrey Gettleman, The New York Times, 2004/04/14)
"American forces killed more than 100 insurgents in close quarter combat in a small village in central Iraq, Marine commanders said today.
The battle, classic urban combat that raged for 14 hours on Tuesday, was one of the heaviest engagements since the invasion of Iraq last year. It showed not only the intensity of the resistance but an acute willingness to die.
"A lot of these guys were souped up on jihad," said Lt. Col. B. P. McCoy, commander of the Fourth Battalion, Third Marine Regiment, whose troops fought the insurgents. "They might as well been suicide fighters."
Marines fought house to house, roof to roof, doorway to doorway. They repelled attacks of machine gun fire, volleys of rockets and repeated charges by masked insurgents, Colonel McCoy said. Two Marines were shot but their injuries were not life threatening. The fighting erupted in the town of Karmah, six miles northeast of Falluja, during a search-and-destroy type mission.
"They hit us with everything they had," said Tom Conroy, a corporal. 'This is a whole other world. The hostility is no longer hard stares or dirty looks. It's gunfire.'"

"Terrorists in Spain Said to Eye Jewish Sites" (Elaine Sciolino, The New York Times, 2004/04/14)
"Terrorists believed responsible for the Madrid train bombings last month also considered attacks on a Jewish community center and cemetery outside Madrid, a senior Spanish investigator said Tuesday.
A map showing the two sites was found in the ruins of an apartment destroyed 10 days ago when at least six of the bombing suspects blew themselves up to avoid capture by the police, the official added. ...
The full text of a painstakingly reconstructed video found in the ruins of the apartment and released by the police on Tuesday offered the terrorists' first criticism of the Socialists, who defeated Spain's center-right government in the election three days after the March 11 bombings.
"After discovering that the situation has not changed, and that your new government announced it would start its mandate with yet more fighting against Muslims and the deployment of more crusader troops to Afghanistan, the Death Squadrons and Ansar al Qaeda have decided to continue on the path of holy war and resistance," the speaker on the video said.
The speaker added that unless all Spanish troops were withdrawn from Muslim lands within a week, the holy war would continue.
One senior official said investigators believed that the speaker, who was masked and wearing explosives strapped around his waist and who was flanked by two other masked men, was Sarhane Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet, the Tunisian thought to have been at the center of the train bombings. He was later killed in the explosion in the apartment. ...
In the video found in the apartment debris, the speaker referred to Al Andalus, saying that the "brigade located in Al Andalus will not leave here until there is an immediate, unconditional withdrawal of their troops from Muslim bases." (See also translation of the text: "Here is the CNI's transcript of the videotape..." (John, Iberian Notes, 2004/04/14): "You know the Spanish crusade against the Muslims, and it has not been so long since the expulsion from Al-Andalus and the courts of the Inquisition.
We are sorry for your injustice but our jihad is above everything, because our brothers are murdered and their throats cut all over the world.
Blood for blood! Destruction for destruction!")

"Bush Asserts 'We Must Not Waver' on Terror or Iraq" (Richard W. Stevenson and Douglas Jehl, The New York Times, 2004/04/14)
"President Bush vowed on Tuesday night that the United States would not bow to the surge of violence in Iraq, saying that to change course in the face of mounting attacks would betray the Iraqi people and embolden America's enemies around the world.
Mr. Bush strongly reiterated his commitment to transferring sovereignty in Iraq back to Iraqis on schedule on June 30 despite the spike in resistance there.
Seeking to tamp down concern that Iraq is spinning out of control, Mr. Bush said he would provide the military with whatever forces it needed to quell the insurgency and come up with whatever money is necessary to rebuild Iraq.
"Now is the time and Iraq is the place in which the enemies of the civilized world are testing the will of the civilized world," Mr. Bush said to a prime-time audience from the ornate setting of the White House East Room. 'We must not waver.'" (See also: "President Addresses the Nation in Prime Time Press Conference" (The White House, 2004/04/14))

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

News and commentary:

"Television image aired April 13, 2004 by Arabic television Al Jazeera..."
(Al Jazeera/Reuters, 2004/04/13)
"Television image aired April 13, 2004 by Arabic television Al Jazeera shows Italian hostages held by an Iraqi Islamist group which demanded that Italy withdraw its forces from Iraq. The four men in civilian clothes were shown seated on th