Archived news and commentary: August 15 - 21, 2005

2005/08/15 - 2005/08/21
2005/08/08 - 2005/08/14
2005/08/01 - 2005/08/07
2005/07/25 - 2005/07/31
2005/07/18 - 2005/07/24
2005/07/11 - 2005/07/17

› From 2001/09/11 -

Sunday, August 21, 2005

News and commentary:

"'It's called courage'" (Lisa Ramaci-Vincent, Murdoc Online, 2005/08/21)
An e-mail from Steven Vincent's wife to Juan Cole:
"Yes, Steven was aggressive in criticizing what he saw around him and did not like. It's called courage, and it happens to be a tradition in the history of this country. Without this tradition there would have been no Revolutionary War, no Civil War, no civil rights movement, no a lot of things that America can be proud of. He had made many friends in Iraq, and was afraid for them if the religious fundamentalists were given the country to run under shari'a. You may dismiss that as naive, simplistic, foolish, but I say to you, as you sit safely in your ivory tower in Michigan with nothing threatening your comfy, tenured existence, that you should be ashamed at the depths to which you have sunk by libeling Steven and Nour. They were on the front lines, risking all, in an attempt to call attention to the growing storm threatening to overwhelm a fragile and fledgling experiment in democracy, trying to get the world to see that all was not right in Iraq. And for their efforts, Steven is dead and Nour is recuperating with three bullet wound in her back. Yes, that's right - the "honorable" men who abducted them, after binding them, holding them captive and beating them, set them free, told them to run - and then shot them both in the back. I've seen the autopsy report.
You did not know him - you did not have that honor, and you will never have the chance, thanks to the murderous goons for whom you have appointed yourself an apologist." (See also: "US reporter killed 'because he was to marry a Muslim'" (Fraser Nelson, The Scotsman, 2005/08/11))

"A question of Leadership" (BBC News, 2005/08/21)
A transcript of the Panorama Special, where John Ware "examines questions raised by senior members of the Muslim community themselves: Questions about the direction and role of the Muslim Council of Britain and the influences on the leadership of the organisation and its affiliates.":
"John Ware: So, where exactly does the Muslim Council of Britain - stand on Islamist groups that use suicide bombers against civilians wherever they are?
Last year Sir Iqbal Sacranie paid his respects to the ideological chief of Hamas the group responsible for dozens of suicide bombings targeted directly at Israeli civilians. ... It's one thing supporting the Palestinians and it's another, isn't it, supporting the theological justification which Sheikh Yassin gave to the murder of civilians.
Sir Iqbal Sacranie: He may have given that...
John Ware: Well there's no may about it, he did, he was the spiritual leader and the ideological leader of a terrorist movement.
Sir Iqbal Sacranie: In your terms, if it means fighting occupation is a terrorist movement, that is not a view that is being shared by many people. Those who fight oppression, those who fight occupation, cannot be termed as terrorist, they are freedom fighters, in the same way as Nelson Mandela fought against apartheid, in the say way as Ghandi and many others fought the British rule in India. There are people in different parts of the world who today, in terms of historical side of it, those who fought oppression are now the real leaders of the world.
John Ware: Do you think targeting Israeli civilians is terrorism?
Sir Iqbal Sacranie: Targeting any innocent people in any part of the world, any part, is an act of terror, whether it's carried out by individuals, whether this is carried out by groups or whether it's carried out by states, all fits in the definition of terrorism.
John Ware: So if Hamas is targeting civilians in Israel, that's terrorism, is it? ...
Sir Iqbal Sacranie: I've given you a very simple straight answer earlier on. You just need to refer to my answer. Someone who fought against occupation, fought against subjugation..." (Also: "John Ware: Today you still believe that if 'Satanic Verses' was published again, you would expect the government of the day to put pressure on the publishers to withdraw it? ...
Sir Iqbal Sacranie: There is no law at the moment, sadly, that would enable me to pursue with a legal course of.. of seeking its withdrawal.
John Ware: If by 'sadly' - I take it you wish there was a law which would allow you to withdraw a book of this kind should it be published again. Is that right?
Sir Iqbal Sacranie: If the law that we would like to sort of see appear, a law does not prevent totally, it's a very powerful message that goes out in type of what sort of society we have. We respect the freedom of expression but we expect freedom of expression to be exercised with responsibility.")

"Iraq Sunnis Urge U.S., U.N. to Block Draft" (Bassem Mroue, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/08/21)
"A day before the deadline for the new constitution, Sunni Arabs appealed Sunday to the United States to prevent Shiites and Kurds from pushing a draft through parliament without their consent, warning it would only worsen the crisis in Iraq.
Leaders of the Sunni Arab, Shiite and Kurdish factions planned final talks on Monday morning according to officials of all three groups. "I am not optimistic," said Kamal Hamdoun, a negotiator for the influential Sunni minority. "We either reach unanimity or not."
Iraqi officials have insisted they would meet the new deadline and present a final document to the National Assembly, dominated by Shiites and Kurds. But the chief government spokesman suggested another delay may be necessary.
Saddam Hussein, who faces trial soon on charges he massacred fellow Muslims, promised in a letter published Sunday to sacrifice himself for the cause of Palestine and Iraq, and he urged Arabs to follow his path.
The letter, which was delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross to a friend of Saddam's now living in Jordan, was believed to be the first letter the ousted leader has sent to a non-family member since his capture by U.S. forces in December 2003.
"My soul and my existence is to be sacrificed for our precious Palestine and our beloved, patient and suffering Iraq," said the letter, published in two Jordanian newspapers."

"The Dispossessed" (Elie Wiesel, The New York Times, 2005/08/21)
"In 1991, when Saddam Hussein's Scud missiles fell in a deafening din on Tel Aviv, some Palestinians danced in the streets and on the roofs of their houses. I saw them. I was in Jerusalem, and I could see what was happening in the Arab quarter of the Old City. It happened again later, each time a suicide terrorist set off a bomb on a bus or in a restaurant. I evoke these scenes with sadness, and for a reason: we have just seen them repeated in Gaza. ...
Let's imagine that, faced with the tears and suffering of the evacuees, the Palestinians had chosen to silence their joy and their pride, rather than to organize military parades with masked fighters, machine guns in hand, shooting in the air as though celebrating a great battlefield victory. Yes, imagine that President Mahmoud Abbas and his colleagues, in advising their followers, extolled moderation, restraint, respect and a little understanding for the Jews who felt themselves struck by an unhappy fate. They would have won general admiration.
I will perhaps be told that when the Palestinians cried at the loss of their homes, few Israelis were moved. That's possible. But how many Israelis rejoiced?"

"'I Will Go to Do Jihad Again and Again'" (N.C. Aizenman, The Washington Post, 2005/08/21)
"KABUL, Afghanistan -- The prisoner perched on a metal chair, hugging his knees to his chest and rocking slightly, like a nervous child.
But his expression relaxed into a blissful smile as he described what he would do if released from his cell in the headquarters of the national intelligence service.
Sher Ali, a Pakistani man captured three weeks ago in Afghanistan, described a secret camp for insurgents in Pakistan where he trained this summer.
"When I get the chance, I will stick to my promise," said Sher Ali, 28, a Pakistani man with cropped black hair and a long beard. "I will go to do jihad again and again."
Ali said he took his vow to wage holy war against U.S. forces in Afghanistan earlier this summer, just before embarking on what he described as a 20-day weapons training course at a secret mountain camp in northeastern Pakistan."

"Hamas claims evacuation is victory for the suicide bombers" (Con Coughlin, The Sunday Telegraph, 2005/08/21)
"In Palestinian-controlled Gaza last week, virtually everyone The Sunday Telegraph spoke to said that Israel's indihar, or retreat, had been forced by the scores of young suicide bombers who have killed more than 1,000 Israeli civilians in the five-year-long intifada, or uprising.
"The Israelis are leaving Gaza because they can no longer tolerate the bloodshed we have inflicted on them," said Mohammed Khatif, a local shop owner.
"We will continue the struggle until we have reclaimed all the land of Palestine." ...
In Beirut, a Hamas spokesman, Khaled Mashaal, was defiant. "The resistance and the steadfastness of our people forced the Zionists to withdraw," he declared last week. "The armed struggle is the only strategy that Hamas possesses. As long as Palestinian lands remain under occupation, Hamas won't lay down its weapons." ...
Tens of thousands of Palestinians turned out for a Hamas-sponsored rally in Gaza last week; only a few hundred for a rally in support of Mr Abbas.
With many Palestinians genuinely believing that the intifada forced Israel's withdrawal in Gaza, there is widespread support for using similar terror tactics to prompt the Israelis to withdraw from the West Bank."

"Top job fighting extremism for Muslim who praised bomber" (Alasdair Palmer, The Sunday Telegraph, 2005/08/21)
"A Muslim accused of anti-Semitism is to be appointed to a government role in charge of rooting out extremism in the wake of last month's suicide bombings in London.
Inayat Bunglawala, 36, the media secretary for the Muslim Council of Britain, is understood to have been selected as one of seven "conveners" for a Home Office task force with responsibilities for tackling extremism among young Muslims, despite a history of anti-Semitic statements.
Mr Bunglawala's past comments include the allegation that the British media was "Zionist-controlled".
Writing for a Muslim youth magazine in 1992, he said: "The chairman of Carlton Communications is Michael Green of the Tribe of Judah. He has joined an elite club whose members include fellow Jews Michael Grade [then the chief executive of Channel 4 and now BBC chairman] and Alan Yentob [BBC2 controller and friend of Salman Rushdie]."
The three are reported to be "close friends… so that's what they mean by a 'free media'."
In January 1993, Mr Bunglawala wrote a letter to Private Eye, the satirical magazine, in which he called the blind Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman "courageous" - just a month before he bombed the World Trade Center in New York. After Rahman's arrest in July that year, Mr Bunglawala said that it was probably only because of his "calling on Muslims to fulfil their duty to Allah and to fight against oppression and oppressors everywhere".
Five months before 9/11, Mr Bunglawala also circulated writings of Osama bin Laden, who he regarded as a "freedom fighter", to hundreds of Muslims in Britain."

"Police foil gas attack on Commons" (David Leppard and Robert Winnett, The Sunday Times, 2005/08/21)
"Scotland Yard believes it has thwarted an Al-Qaeda gas attack aimed at ministers and MPs in parliament. The plot, hatched last year, is understood to have been discovered in coded e-mails on computers seized from terror suspects in Britain and Pakistan.
Police and MI5 then identified an Al-Qaeda cell that had carried out extensive research and video-recorded reconnaissance missions in preparation for the attack.
The encrypted e-mails are said to have been decoded with the help of an Al-Qaeda “supergrass”. By revealing the terrorists’ code he was also able to help MI5 and GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre at Cheltenham, to crack several more plots. ...
The operation to deter the sarin gas attack is referred to in an internal police document obtained by The Sunday Times. ...
This weekend a senior officer disclosed that the thwarted plot mentioned in the document involved a gas or chemical “dirty bomb” attack against parliament. “The House of Commons was one of their targets as well as the Tube,” he said.
'They were planning to use chemicals, a dirty bomb and sarin gas. They looked at all sorts of ways of delivering it.'"

"Iraq rebels 'will kill anyone linked to constitution'" (Jon Swain and Hala Jaber, The Sunday Times, 2005/08/21)
"Iraq’s insurgents have threatened to kill all the secular politicians involved in writing the country’s new constitution in an apparent attempt to push the the rival Sunni and Shi’ite communities towards civil war.
As talks continued this weekend to draw up a new constitution before tomorrow’s deadline, a statement from “Al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers”, one of Iraq’s most powerful insurgent groups, denounced the document as “un-Islamic” and warned any mullahs and clerics supporting it that “you are responsible before God for every word you offer”.
For the wrangling politicians — given an extra week to agree the document after failing to meet last Monday’s deadline — the threat was more specific. “We will harshly retaliate against anyone who participates and encourages the writing of the constitution and therefore to rule against God’s way,” the group said."

Saturday, August 20, 2005

News and commentary:

"U.S. conceding to Iraqi Islamists, negotiators say" (Reuters, 2005/08/20)
"BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islam will be "the main source" of Iraq's law and parliament will observe religious principles, negotiators said on Saturday after what some called a major turn in talks on the constitution and a shift in the U.S. position.
If agreed by Monday's parliamentary deadline, it would appear to be a major concession to Islamist leaders from the Shi'ite Muslim majority and sit uneasily with U.S. insistence on the primacy of democracy and human rights in the new Iraq.
U.S. diplomats, who have been shepherding the process closely, declined immediate comment and at least one secular Kurdish politician said Kurds would try to block such a deal.
But an official from one of the main Shi'ite Islamist parties and a leading Sunni Arab negotiator said agreement had been reached, reversing an understanding reached earlier in the recent talks that Islam would simply be "a main source" of law.
Parliament would not be able to pass legislation that contradicted the principles of Islam, several negotiators told Reuters. One Shi'ite official said that a constitutional court would decide whether laws conformed to Islamic faith."

"Pope tells Muslims to help defeat terrorism" (Philip Pullella and Tom Heneghan, Reuters/Yahoo! News, 2005/08/20)
"Pope Benedict, in his first major address to Muslim leaders, said on Saturday they had a duty to help defeat terrorism and turn back the "wave of cruel fanaticism" that falsely uses religion to instigate hate.
"Terrorism of any kind is a perverse and cruel decision which shows contempt for the sacred right to life and undermines the very foundations of all civil society," he said in the prepared text of an address for leaders of Germany's Muslim communities.
In the most straightforward and forceful language he has used on the topic since his election in April, the Pope said the world would be exposed to "the darkness of a new barbarism" unless religions worked together to combat terrorism. ...
The Pope did not mince his words about the duty Islamic teachers had in instructing young people properly.
"You guide Muslim believers and train them in the Islamic faith. Teaching is the vehicle through which ideas and convictions are transmitted. Words are highly influential in the education of the mind. You therefore have a great responsibility for the formation of the younger generation," he said."

"Abbas: PA to control evacuated areas" (Khaled Abu Toameh, The Jerusalem Post, 2005/08/20)
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told a group of Palestinian youths in Gaza City on Saturday that the small jihad (holy war) has ended and that the big jihad has begun to rebuild the economy and restore security and public order.
"We want our people in a century's time to live a normal life like any other people in the world," Abbas said. "Therefore the next battle will be the real battle." ...
On Friday, Abbas made his first visit to the international airport in the southern Gaza Strip, where he declared that the disengagement was the fruit of the sacrifices of Palestinian "martyrs."
"We must remember that our achievements are the result of the sacrifices of the martyrs," he told thousands of supporters who gathered to greet him. "The martyrs have paved the road for us.
'The sacrifices of the martyrs, the wounded and the detainees, made the occupation leave Gaza and evacuate the settlements.'"

"'Million Muslim march' idea falls by wayside" (Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch, 2005/08/20)
"Another attempt to bring out the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims in great numbers and demonstrate their rejection of Islamic terrorism bites the dust. From the Lodi News-Sentinel, with thanks to all who sent this in:

The idea of a "million Muslim march" event in Lodi by Muslims to publicly denounce terrorism has officially died, say those involved.
Envisioned in late June as a response to the allegations of terrorists in Lodi's Muslim community, the idea drew the interest of Mayor John Beckman, conservative radio host Mark Williams, the Sacramento chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and local Muslims.

Although it was never a very popular idea.

Interest waned, however, when it became apparent the deep division in Lodi's Muslim community would make organizing such an event difficult if not impossible. It appears it has become impossible, as Beckman said this week the event will not be happening."

(See also: "'Million Muslim march' idea falls by wayside" (Lodi News-Sentinel, 2005/08/19) and "A 'Million Muslim March' for Lodi?" (Robert Spencer, Dhimmi Watch, 2005/06/26))

"Cindy Sheehan's Allies" (Robert D. Novak, The Conservative Voice, 2005/08/20)
The other day Ted Barlow at Crooked Timber wondered: "Who, may I ask, are all the “Westerners who side with the ‘Iraqi resistance’ against America and its allies”? ... Could this vast conspiracy fit into a VW minibus?"
Well, somehow I doubt that very much:
"At Cindy Sheehan's side since Aug. 6 when she began her antiwar protest outside President Bush's Texas ranch have been three groups that openly support the Iraqi insurgency against U.S. troops: Code Pink-Women For Peace, United for Peace & Justice, and Veterans For Peace.
Those organizations were represented at a mock "war crimes" trial in Istanbul that on June 27 produced a joint declaration backing the insurgency. Based on the United Nations Charter, it said "the popular national resistance to the occupation is legitimate and justified. It deserves the support of people everywhere who care for justice and freedom."
The Istanbul statement also rejected U.S. efforts to leave behind a democratic government in Iraq, asserting: 'Any law or institution created under the aegis of occupation is devoid of both legal and moral authority.'" (See also: "Declaration of Jury of Conscience" (World Tribunal of Iraq, 2005/06/27) and "A very useful idiot" (Harry, Harry's Place, 2005/08/17))

"German Court Convicts Man of Qaeda Ties" (Richard Bernstein, The New York Times, 2005/08/20)
"A Moroccan man brought to trial in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks was convicted Friday, when a German court found him guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization and sentenced him to seven years in prison.
But the man, Mounir el-Motassadeq, 31, was found guilty only of belonging to Al Qaeda, specifically to a cell in Hamburg, whose other members included ringleaders in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mr. Motassadeq was acquitted of a more serious charge, of complicity in the attacks, with the presiding judge in the trial criticizing the United States for refusing to release information that the court regarded as central to the case and necessary for a conviction on the complicity charge. ...
Mr. Motassadeq, a Moroccan who has lived in Germany since the early 1990's, has acknowledged going to a Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan and knowing Mohamed Atta and the other men who led the plane hijackings on Sept. 11.
Mr. Motassadeq also had power of attorney over a bank account of one of the hijackers, Marwan al-Shehhi, and transferred money from the account to one of Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who is believed to have been an organizer of the plot along with its architect, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Both are in American custody."

"3 Sunnis Promoting Vote Slain in Iraq" (Robert H. Reid, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/08/20)
"Masked gunmen killed three Sunni Arabs in front of horrified witnesses outside a mosque in Mosul on Friday, after grabbing them as they hung posters urging fellow Sunnis to vote in a referendum on the new constitution. ...
The three members of Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, were seized in a Mosul neighborhood where they were promoting voter registration for the Oct. 15 referendum on the new constitution, said party official Nouredine al-Hayali.
They were driven to another neighborhood, shoved against a wall near the Dhi al-Nourein mosque and shot dead while more masked gunmen blocked off a major street, witnesses said. The gunmen then fled in three cars, leaving the bodies behind. ...
Kurdish negotiators, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, told The Associated Press the Americans were pressing Kurds to accept Shiite and Sunni demands for a greater role for Islam at the expense of women's rights and civil liberties.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman said he was not aware of results of the latest round of talks. If the Kurdish claims are true, it would appear the United States wants to please the Shiite majority in order to get a draft charter by the deadline."

Friday, August 19, 2005

News and commentary:

"What Cindy Sheehan Really Wants" (Christopher Hitchens, Slate, 2005/08/19)
"Some have perhaps been drawn to "Camp Casey" out of reverence for life. Their demand, however, is an immediate coalition withdrawal from Iraq. Have they seriously asked themselves how humane the consequences of that would be? The news of a pullout would put a wolfish grin on the faces of the "al-Qaida in Mesopotamia" brigade, as Mr. Zarqawi's force has named itself in order to resolve all doubt. Every effort would be made to detonate every available car-bomb and mine, so as to claim the withdrawal of coalition forces as a military victory for jihad. I can quite understand Ms. Sheehan's misery at the thought of her son being killed on some desolate road. But will she be on hand to console the parents whose sons are shot in the back while being ordered to surrender and withdraw?
I hope I don't insult the intelligent readers of this magazine if I point out what the consequences of such a capitulation would be for the people of Iraq. Paint your own mental picture of a country that was already almost beyond rescue in 2003, as it is handed back to an alliance of homicidal Baathists and Bin-Ladenists." (See also: "Cindy Sheehan's Sinister Piffle" (Christopher Hitchens, Slate, 2005/08/15)

"Al-Arabiya Reports: Middle East's First Gay Wedding" (...Or Does It Explode?, 2005/08/19)
"The website of the satellite TV station Al-Arabiya is reporting a watershed moment for the Middle East's gay pride movement. According to the Arabic-language story (which apparently has not yet been picked up by the English-language media), two Kuwaiti male lovers were recently married at a major hotel in Cairo.
The story is quite long and detailed, as are the dozens upon dozens of comments from readers (some in English). According to Al-Arabiya, the wedding began in customary fashion as "bride" and "groom" arrived at a hotel off Midan Tahrir (Liberation Square) riding together in a car. They were greeted outside the hotel entrance with flowers, incense, musicians, and even a belly dancer (no word on the dancer's gender). ...
News of the alleged first ever gay wedding in the Middle East has generated a minor sensation. The Kuwaiti paper Al-Watan has since published an article claiming it had called the Hilton Ramses Hotel in Cairo and that hotel management denied the report. Without photos of the event, the names of the taboo-shattering couple, or the imam who married them, the article's veracity remains in doubt.
Still, that a leading Arabic media outlet would even cover a gay wedding marks a watershed moment. We'll keep you posted if more details come to light." (Hat tip: Instapundit.)

"Attackers Fire Missiles at U.S. Navy Ship" (Jamal Halaby, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/08/19)
"AMMAN, Jordan - Attackers fired at least three rockets from Jordan early Friday, with one narrowly missing a docked
U.S. Navy ship and killing a Jordanian soldier. It was the most serious militant attack on the Navy since the
USS Cole was bombed in 2000.
Another rocket fell close to a nearby airport in neighboring Israel, officials said. Jordanian and Israeli authorities said militants fired the Katyusha rockets from a warehouse in the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba. ...
One rocket sailed over the bow of the USS Ashland and slammed into a Jordanian army warehouse at the port, killing soldier Ahmed Jamal Saleh, a Jordanian security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
The soldier died in an ambulance taking him to hospital, while another unidentified Jordanian also was wounded, the official said. ...
The Abdullah Azzam group was among several that claimed responsibility for previous attacks on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, including the Oct. 7 car bombing of a hotel in the resort of Taba, which borders Israel, and the July 23 Sharm el-Sheik bombings that killed at least 64 people."

"Settling In for a Long Wait" (Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, 2005/08/19)
"The Israeli abandonment of Gaza is a withdrawal of despair. Unlike the Oslo concessions of 1993, there is not even the pretense of getting anything in return from the Palestinians. Nonetheless, unilateralism is both correct and necessary. Israel has no peace partner -- Mahmoud Abbas has nothing to offer and has offered nothing -- and in the absence of a partner, there is only one logical policy: Rationalize your defensive lines and prepare for a long wait. ...
If Israel can complete its West Bank fence, it will have established a stable equilibrium and essentially abolished terrorism as a regular and reliable means of attack -- i.e., as a usable strategic weapon. That will leave the Palestinians a stark choice: Remain in their state of miserable militancy with no prospects of victory or finally accept the Jewish state and make a deal. ...
The Gaza withdrawal is not the beginning but the end. Apart from perhaps some evacuations of outlying settlements on the West Bank, it is the end of the concession road for Israel. And it is the beginning of the new era of self-sufficiency and separation in which Israel ensures its security not by concessions but by fortification, barrier creation, realism and patient waiting.
Waiting for the first-ever genuine Palestinian concessions. Waiting for the Palestinians to honor the promises -- to recognize Israel and renounce terrorism -- that they solemnly made at Oslo and brazenly betrayed. That's the next step. Without it, nothing happens."

"Palestinians celebrate with poetry" (Khaled Abu Toameh, The Jerusalem Post, 2005/08/19)
"Palestinians have composed a number of "victory" poems and songs that will be recited during celebrations in the evacuated settlements in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. ...
Most of the poems and songs laud the "resistance" for its role in driving Israel out of the Gaza Strip and urge Palestinians to prepare for the next struggle to liberate Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem.
Entitled "The Joy of Victory," one of the most popular poems was written by Dr. Kamal Ghnaim. It reads: "O Palestine, be prepared, God's promise and imminent victory are nearing. O Jerusalem, rejoice! We are coming after long patience.
"Rejoice, for the darkness is fading despite the craftiness of the aggressor. Call out to Jaffa and Haifa that the Muslims are marching toward them."
Poet Khamis Lutfi wrote: "No stranger has ever lasted on our land. Our history has testified to this. Peace with you [Israel] will remain a lie and your continued existence is impossible. You will vanish and we will continue to exist.
'The sky and the air will be ours, as well as the moist and the gentle breeze. Today, tomorrow and the memories are ours. So are Jerusalem, Hebron, Jaffa and Haifa and the Galilee. All of Palestine is ours, from the river to the sea. O modern barbarians, go away! You came as invaders and the time has come to leave. Don't lie by saying that you have a homeland here. We will destroy you and we will chase you forever.'"

Thursday, August 18, 2005

News and commentary:

"United in hate" (Douglas Davis, The Spectator, from the 2005/08/20 issue)
"Politics makes strange bedfellows. Stranger still when the odd couple are fundamentalist Islam and the secular Left. The evolving Black–Red alliance is growing in France, Germany and Belgium. But, based on the successful British model, it is now going global to declare war on the war on terror. ...
The steering committee of the Marxist–Islamist alliance [the Stop the War coalition] consists of 33 members — 18 from myriad hard-Left groups, three from the radical wing of the Labour party, eight from the ranks of the radical Islamists and four leftist ecologists (also known as ‘Watermelons’ —green outside, red inside). The chairman is Andrew Murray, a leading light in the British Communist party; co-chair is Muhammad Aslam Ijaz, of the London Council of Mosques. Among the major players from the Left are Lindsey German, who resigned as editor of the Socialist Workers’ party newspaper to become convenor of the Stop the War coalition; John Rees, also of the SWP, and, of course, George Galloway. ...
Take Spark, the organ of Arthur Scargill’s Socialist Labour party, which hailed Asif Mohammed Hanif, the British suicide-bomber who attacked a beachfront bar in Tel Aviv, as a ‘hero of the revolutionary youth’. Hanif, declared the paper, had carried out his mission ‘in the spirit of internationalism’. ...
But the Tora Bora Award for Chutzpah goes to George Galloway, veteran champion of Arab and Islamist causes. Appearing on al-Jazeera television last month, he attacked the West while extolling Islamic virtue. ‘It’s not the Muslims who are the terrorists,’ he declared. ‘The biggest terrorists are Bush and Blair, Berlusconi and Aznar.... We believe in the Prophets, peace be upon them. [Bush] believes in the profits, and how to get a piece of them. That’s his god.’ Marx meets Mohammed. High theatre meets low farce. The savvy Galloway, now more godly than gorgeous, has created a conduit through which Islamofascism pumps its poison into Britain’s political bloodstream. It would be quite funny were it not so serious." (See also: "The Barriers Come Down: Antisemitism and Coalitions of Extremes" (Dave Rich, AXT, November 2004) and "British MP George Galloway in Syria: Foreigners Are Raping Two Beautiful Arab Daughters - Jerusalem and Baghdad" (MEMRI TV, 2005/07/31))

"Al-Qaida Leader in Saudi Arabia Killed" (Abdullah Al-Shihri, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/08/18)
"Al-Qaida's leader in Saudi Arabia was killed Thursday during clashes with police in the western city of Medina, the Interior Ministry said.
Saleh Mohammed al-Aoofi was among six al-Qaida militants reported killed during police raids on numerous locations in the holy city and the capital, Riyadh, security officials told The Associated Press.
Al-Aoofi, a Saudi in his late 30s, and another militant were killed during one of seven police raids in Medina, the Interior Ministry said.
Al-Aoofi was considered the top leader of Saudi dissident
Osama bin Laden's network in this conservative Gulf country, which has been rocked by multiple terror attacks since 2003.
He was among two of the kingdom's 26 most-wanted militants still at large. The other 24 on the list issued in December 2003 either have been captured or killed."

"Iraq's Deep Divides" (Ralph Peters, New York Post, 2005/08/18)
"Our beleaguered representatives in Baghdad may not grasp it, but what the constitution says about women's rights is the key strategic issue. Many among the country's Shia majority and Sunni-Arab minority would like to turn back the clock and deny women rights they enjoyed under Saddam.
Make no mistake: If Iraq's constitution fails to guarantee fundamental human and legal rights to half its population, our mighty efforts will have been in vain. Without women's rights, from family law to education guarantees, Iraqi democracy will be worthless. The extremists will have won.
This is the bellwether issue in the Middle East and beyond. We don't think of ourselves as waging a global struggle for women's rights, but that's the crucial issue of our time. Because the treatment of women is the best possible indicator of the health and potential of a society, economy and state.
No matter how much oil wealth a country enjoys, if half its population isn't free the society will remain stunted and inhumane. ...
Let's see what Iraq's political mandarins produce in the coming days. Let's hope that they can overcome the country's blood-soaked differences. But let's not make excuses for a constitution that enshrines the revived slavery of women.
The civilization of Middle Eastern Islam is sick. Only women whose rights are protected can nurse it back to health."

"The real Muslim moderates" (Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe, 2005/08/18)
"As Anouar Boukhars, a Moroccan graduate student at Old Dominion University, has written, this war is ultimately ''not a clash between Islam and the West. The real battle is taking place within a Muslim civilization in severe internal crisis, and the stakes of that battle are high indeed."
Another moderate is Zuhdi Jasser, a doctor and US Navy veteran who launched the American Islamic Forum for Democracy in 2003. The forum's stated purpose: ''to take back the faith of Islam from the demagoguery of the Islamo-fascists." Writing after the London bombings last month, Jasser argued forcefully that it is not enough for well-meaning Muslims to issue ''empty condemnations" of the extremists.
''As Muslims we must help bring these barbaric Islamists to justice and assist in dismantling the systems that create them," he wrote. ''We can publicly embarrass radical imams and organizations . . . We can publicly expose the twisted interpretations of the Koran . . . We need to force a public debate with the Islamists, not run from it . . . It is time to . . . teach Muslims to dismantle terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hezbollah . . . The war against Islamo-fascism has many fronts, and moderate Muslims need to be leading the struggle."
Other anti-Islamists include Mansoor Ijaz, who says Muslim communities should form ''watch groups" to monitor the activities of Islamist radicals; Ahmed al-Rahim, who calls for a ''Million Muslim March" -- a massive denunciation of the jihadis and their teachings; and Kamal Nawash, who declares bluntly: 'Throughout the Islamic world, we must acknowledge that we have a problem of fanaticism, we have a problem of terrorism, and it is our responsibility . . . to stop this.'" (See also: "On condemning terrorism" (Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe, 2005/08/11))

"Sex and the single-minded Muslim" (Cherry Potter, The Times, 2005/08/18)
"If we really want to understand the mindset of the Muslim fundamentalists, it’s time that the issue of sexual politics was addressed head on. Just how does the total domination of women in fundamentalist societies affect the men? After all, when it comes to sex, both genders are involved. And when it comes to extreme forms of aggression and violence, sublimated sexual fear and repression are all too often at the root of the problem.
Take the heartbreaking story of a young Muslim woman, Fatima (I have changed her name), who was referred for psychotherapy. When I first saw her in the waiting area, she looked hunched and lifeless in her scruffy jeans and T-shirt. She had become so severely depressed she rarely left her refugee hostel. Her English was excellent. She was from a progressive Middle Eastern country where she had been a university lecturer before fleeing to the West. As a teenager she had been raped by her brother-in-law. Her mother swore her to secrecy — imperative to save the family honour. Years later, despite her successful career, her mother, against Fatima’s wishes, arranged for her to be married to a much older man. To conceal her lost virginity, her mother hired a doctor to sew up Fatima’s vagina. In an act of desperation Fatima took rat poison in a mosque. Her mother publicly denounced her daughter to protect the family from scandal. Should Fatima ever return home her brothers would murder her for bringing dishonour to their family. “Honour” killings, Fatima told me, were common — the authorities either turn a blind eye or issue six-month prison sentences."

"In Pakistan's Public Schools, Jihad Still Part of Lesson Plan" (Paul Watson, Los Angeles Times, 2005/08/18)
"LAHORE, Pakistan — Each year, thousands of Pakistani children learn from history books that Jews are tightfisted moneylenders and Christians vengeful conquerors. One textbook tells kids they should be willing to die as martyrs for Islam.
They aren't being indoctrinated by extremist mullahs in madrasas, the private Islamic seminaries often blamed for stoking militancy in Pakistan. They are pupils in public schools learning from textbooks approved by the administration of President Pervez Musharraf. ...
In North-West Frontier Province, which is governed by supporters of the ousted Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan, the federally approved Islamic studies textbook for eighth grade teaches students they must be prepared "to sacrifice every precious thing, including life, for jihad."
"At present, jihad is continuing in different parts of the world," the chapter continues. "Numerous mujahedin [holy warriors] of Islam are involved in defending their religion, and independence, and to help their oppressed brothers across the world."
The textbook for adolescent students says Muslims are allowed to "take up arms" and wage jihad in self-defense or if they are prevented from practicing their religion.
"When God's people are forced to become slaves of man-made laws, they are hindered from practicing the religion of their God," the textbook says. 'When all the legal ways in this regard are closed, then power should be used to eliminate the evil.'"

"Triple blast timed to cause complete carnage in capital" (Catherine Philp and Ali Hussain, The Times, 2005/08/18)
"Crowds of passengers were boarding buses to leave Baghdad for the more tranquil south when the first of three bombs exploded yesterday, ripping through the busy bus station in the centre of the capital.
Minutes later a second exploded, catching the injured from the first blast and the rescuers who came to their aid. Then, as the casualties were being rushed to nearby al-Kindi hospital, the third exploded just metres from the gates of the emergency room, cutting down policemen, doctors and the wounded.
The devastating series of bombs that hit Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 43, broke the recent tense lull that prevailed across the city in the run-up to the expected announcement of a new constitution. Insurgents were said to be stockpiling their explosives for a spectacular attack to greet the country’s new charter, but the deadline passed without agreement and it was only yesterday morning, when meetings resumed, that the explosions happened.
When they did, they were ingeniously barbaric, detonating over a period of less than 20 minutes. “This was organised — they were trying to kill as many people as possible,” Ali Jassim, a traffic policemen, raged amid the wreckage in al-Nahda bus station." (See also: "Iraqis vent rage on call-in TV after bombs kill 43" (Michael Georgy, Reuters, 2005/08/17) and "3 Car Bombings Kill Up to 43 in Baghdad" (Antonio Castaneda, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/08/17))

Added in archive:
"The Barriers Come Down: Antisemitism and Coalitions of Extremes" (Dave Rich, AXT, November 2004)

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

News and commentary:

"Today Gaza and tomorrow Jerusalem"
(Jamal Saidi, Reuters, 2005/08/17)
"Top Palestinian Hamas official and politburo chief Khaled Meshaal speaks during a news conference in Beirut August 17, 2005. Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Wednesday that Israel's evacuation of Jewish settlements in Gaza was a first step toward the liberation of all occupied land through armed struggle. The banner behind Meshaal reads 'Gaza and tomorrow Jerusalem.'"

"United Nations Bankrolled Latest Anti-israel Propaganda" (Jacob Gershman, New York Sun, 2005/08/17)
"The United Nations bankrolled the production of thousands of banners, bumper stickers, mugs, and T-shirts bearing the slogan "Today Gaza and Tomorrow the West Bank and Jerusalem," which have been widely distributed to Palestinian Arabs in the Gaza Strip, according to a U.N. official.
The U.N. support of the Palestinian Authority's propaganda operation in the midst of the Israeli evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip has provoked outrage from Israeli and Jewish leaders, who are blaming Turtle Bay for propagating an inflammatory message that they say encourages Palestinian Arab violence. ...
A special representative of the United Nations Development Program in the Gaza Strip, Timothy Rothermel, told Fox News that his office provided financial support for the production of materials that make up the Palestinian Authority's propaganda campaign, timed to coincide with the Gaza pullout. The Palestinian Authority's withdrawal committee developed and produced the posters and other items using U.N. money, Mr. Rothermel said.
In addition to the slogan "Today Gaza and Tomorrow the West Bank and Jerusalem," many of the materials displayed the logo of the United Nations Development Program, which operates in 166 countries and spends about half a billion dollars a year." (Hat tip: James Taranto.)

"Islamic cleric says Ireland is a 'legitimate target'" (Mick McCaffrey, The Belfast Telegraph, 2005/08/17)
"A notorious British-based Islamic extremist has said Ireland is a "legitimate" target for al-Qa'ida terror attacks.
Anjem Choudary, who has close links to the infamous hate preacher, Omar Bakri Mohammed, said the use of Shannon Airport as a stop-off for US warplanes justifies Ireland being attacked.
The solicitor (38) said: "If your government wants to support the atrocities in Afghanistan they can expect some repercussions," and added that Ireland had "opened itself" to attacks from radical Muslims linked to al-Qa'ida.
Choudary even said that terrorists have the right to kill indiscriminately since American bombers did not pick and choose military targets in Iraq.
He said he was "not in the business" of condemning terrorist attacks in Britain and Ireland and added: "What you need to do is you need to be responsible and you need to look after your national security.
"If people slipped into Ireland from Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere, where the Irish are standing side by side with the butcher of Baghdad, George Bush, then they would have a legitimacy for that type of thing.
"That's not my personal opinion but your asking me what it says in the Koran." ...
He also criticises Irish Muslims, saying they've been 'stripped of their Islamic personality through secular education. On the one hand they're not willing to speak up and on the other hand they're intimidated into being docile.'" (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.)

"Bomb blasts shake Bangladesh" (Tasneem Khalil, CNN.com, 2005/08/17)
The Bangladeshi "resistance": "DHAKA, Bangladesh (CNN) -- A series of bombs exploded nearly simultaneously in dozens of cities across Bangladesh Wednesday, striking regional capitals as well as the national capital, Dhaka, authorities said.
According to police, at least 115 people were injured with 350 bombs detonating. Bangladeshi media reported at least one fatality.
"These are planned incidents," said Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babr. "We had intelligence report(s) about such plan but that expired a few days back."
Bangladeshi authorities said they had received reports of bomb blasts from 36 districts across the country.
Jamayetul Mujahedin, an Islamic militant group, claimed responsibility for the attacks in leaflets distributed around many of the blast sites.
Most of the bombs exploded in quick succession in and around the government facilities, police said.
In Dhaka, bombs exploded near the high-security Bangladesh Secretariat, the Supreme Court Complex, the Prime Minister's Office, the Dhaka University campus, the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel and Zia International Airport.
At least three people were injured in the Dhaka blasts.
In Chittagong, at least 15 bombs exploded. In Sylhet, officials counted five blasts.
Additional reports of bombings were coming from Nilphamari, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal, Sunamganj, Netrokona, Bandarban, Jessore, Thakurgaon, Moulvibazar, Faridpur, Narayanganj, Comilla and Chuadanga." (See also: "111 bombs explode across Bangladesh" (ABC News, 2005/08/17): "Mazeedul Haq, Chittagong's police Commissioner, said the leaflets bore the name of the banned Jamayetul Mujahideen and read: "It is time to implement Islamic law in Bangladesh. There is no future with man-made law."
A police official in Barisal says leaflets had been found there reading: 'Bush and Blair be warned and get out of Muslim countries. Your days of ruling Muslim countries are over.'")

"A very useful idiot" (Harry, Harry's Place, 2005/08/17)
The Iraqi "resistance" III: "Ted Barlow [at Crooked Timber] asks: Who, may I ask, are all the “Westerners who side with the ‘Iraqi resistance’ against America and its allies”? Generally speaking, the “Iraqi resistance” is killing our troops in the interest of a fundamentalist ideology that liberals find appalling. If our countrymen are actually taking their side as they try to kill coalition troops, that seems like a (conversational, if not legal) accusation of treason. Who are we talking about? Ward Churchill? George Galloway? Michael Moore, for comparing the insurgents to the Minutemen? Some Guy With A Sign Once? Could this vast conspiracy fit into a VW minibus?
I can't speak with any authority about the situation in the United States but here in the UK you would need more than a few VW minibuses to fit the cheerleaders for the green terror and bloody counter-revolution into. And here is where the SWP hack 'Lenin' proves his worth:

I'm sick to death of liberal commentators waffling on their opposition to the war. It's all like "Well, just because we think the war was wrong doesn't mean we want the other side to win.
... troops are murdering Iraqis, and the sooner the last soldier and diplomat is chased out on the last helicopter the better. What are you so fucking scared of? Why hide behind official misrepresentations about the Iraqi resistance working for a "fundamentalist ideology" when you know damned well they're fighting a guerilla war against an occupying enemy?

So there you are. And if the learned gentlemen at Crooked Timber need a reminder - the SWP, who have a few thousand members, are the leading organisation in the British anti-war movement. They share the leadership with various 'maverick' Stalinists (who also support the 'resistance') and the British wing of the Muslim Brotherhood (who also support the 'resistance) and carry some influence with a certain newspaper comments page editor (who also supports the 'resistance').
So in other words the entire leadership and leading organisations of the official anti-war movement in Britain support the alliance of Al-quada and the Ba'athist deadenders who have spent the last year murdering Iraqi civilians. And judging from the SWP blog they no longer hide the fact. Indeed they are rather proud of their position." (See also: "Not another one" (Ted Barlow, Crooked Timber, 2005/08/11) and "Why I Hate Liberals" (lenin, Lenin's Tomb, 2005/08/15))

"Iraqis vent rage on call-in TV after bombs kill 43" (Michael Georgy, Reuters, 2005/08/17)
The Iraqi "resistance" II: "State television flashed grisly images of the latest bombing victims as the anchor told viewers their squabbling leaders would stabilise the country, in words that could only be termed reassuring in Iraq's chaos.
"It is a dialogue. They did not pull out guns and shoot each other," said the anchor on Iraqiya television, referring to Iraqi politicians struggling to draft a constitution. ...
Al-Iraqiya quickly broadcast a call-in show, inviting Iraqis to respond to "the ugly terrorist crime" while broadcasting images of the latest carnage in Baghdad's version of U.S. and British breakfast television. ...
"These men that kill 100, 50 and 70 men a day -- have they been put to death," said a caller named Abu Abbas. "How many have been put to death? How many? The National Assembly is supposed to represent the Iraqi people. All I hear is we will do this and we will do that."
Frustrated Iraqis were bombarded with footage of bloodied bodies and policemen standing in emergency rooms that have treated hundreds of bombing victims.
"When will Iraqi blood stop being spilled?" asked Om Hassan. ...
Angry callers yelled while Iraqi officials sat at the negotiating table again after failing to meet an Aug. 15 deadline to draft a constitution.
The anchor urged the officials to finish writing the document after telling Iraqis that Saddam Hussein's police state would never return, words that failed to soothe another caller.
"Instead of Saddam we now have thousands of Saddams," he fumed."

"3 Car Bombings Kill Up to 43 in Baghdad" (Antonio Castaneda, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/08/17)
The Iraqi "resistance" I: "Three car bombs exploded near a bus station and hospital in Baghdad Wednesday, killing as many as 43 people and wounding scores in the deadliest attacks in the capital in weeks, police said. Survivors searched charred buses and cars for signs of relatives. ...
A suicide car bomber targeting policemen detonated his vehicle outside the Nahda bus station in central Baghdad, one of the city's major transit points, the U.S. military said.
A second car exploded in the open-air station's parking lot near buses that carry passengers to Amarah and Basra, Shiite-dominated cities in southern Iraq, police Capt. Nabil Abdul-Qader said.
About 30 minutes later, a suicide bomber exploded his vehicle near the Kindi Hospital as many of the wounded were arriving for treatment, police said. It was unclear if the hospital was targeted in the blast.
Abdul-Qader said 43 people died and 85 were wounded in the attacks."

"Chianti crusaders" (Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun, 2005/08/17)
"What better place to condemn Western immorality than an Italian palace? Damn the war and pass the chianti, old chap. ...
It's Monash University's National Centre for Australia Studies that will next month hold a two-day conference at its wing of Prato's Palazzo Vaj. The topic: Democracy at the Crossroads?
Actually, that question mark is redundant, because the organisers -- who have form -- invited a cacophony of like-minded speakers who don't just agree our democracy is at the crossroads in our war against Islamist terrorism, but that it's shot off the road and over the cliff.
The real enemy, some even add, is us.
Just ask them. Ask Australian "journalist" John Pilger, who so rejects what Australia has done that he says our troops in Iraq are "legitimate targets" of terrorists and "we have no choice now but to support the (Iraqi) resistance". ...
Or ask the keynote speaker, British Trotskyist Tariq Ali, who has decreed that the people who actually need shooting are the Iraqis working with the American "imperialists" to bring democracy to Iraq.
And, indeed, terrorists have since killed many such Iraqis, including female MP Lamia Abed Khadouri, shot dead in her home. ...
By now you'll have figured the conference isn't actually scheduled to discuss the threat from terrorists themselves -- only the threat from our politicians.
It's as if suicide bombers are just scare-figures dreamed up by power-crazed Right-wing leaders. Such fantasies come easily when you hold your conference in a palace in Italy, rather than, say, a madrassa in Pakistan." (Hat tip: Tim Blair.)

"Hamastan? Gaza pullout is worth the risk" (Max Boot, Los Angeles Times, 2005/08/17)
"For almost 40 years, the conceit has been growing around the world that Palestinian terrorism can be explained and even excused by Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This was always a dubious proposition in light of the fact that Arabs have been fighting Israel since its formation in 1948, not since its conquest of those territories in 1967. The Palestine Liberation Organization began its attacks while the West Bank was still part of Jordan and Gaza was part of Egypt.
Now the Israeli decision to remove its settlers from the Gaza Strip and a small portion of the West Bank should provide a further test of the belief that Jewish settlements are the root cause of this conflict.
The early signs are not good — literally. Gaza City is decked out with green Hamas banners proclaiming, "Resistance wins, so let's go on." ...
So does this mean that Ariel Sharon is making a big mistake? It certainly means he is taking a risk — the risk of creating a Hamastan where terrorism will flourish — but, on balance, it is the right decision. ...
The real danger from Gaza may not be to Israel but to the rest of the West. The Israeli army has battled terrorist groups in a way that the Palestinian Authority has neither the power nor, in all likelihood, the desire to do. If, following the Israeli pullout, Gaza becomes another training ground for Islamo-fascist fanatics — a successor to Afghanistan under the Taliban — the resulting terrorists will find the U.S. and Europe much easier targets than Israel, which is the world's most heavily defended state. Irony of ironies, perhaps in a few years enlightened Westerners will rue the day when Israel gave up control of Gaza."

"'Hard Slog' for Bush" (David Ignatius, The Washington Post, 2005/08/17)
"President Bush is saying the right thing about Iraq, which is that there is no easy fix for a war that his defense secretary correctly termed "a long, hard slog." But Bush is conveying this message in a detached way that upsets and angers growing numbers of Americans. The evaporation of political support at home is palpable. If the administration can't explain its war aims better, it may soon face a Vietnam-style tipping point.
First, let's look at what the president is doing right: At a time when anguished Americans are calling for a quick withdrawal from Iraq, Bush is telling them a painful truth.
"Pulling the troops out [now] would send a terrible signal to the enemy," he said last Thursday in Crawford, Tex. And Bush was right to avoid confirming any big reduction in U.S. troop levels in Iraq next year. Such a bring-the-troops-home message might buy him a respite in the public opinion polls, but it would undermine a fragile Iraqi government at a crucial time. ...
The measure of leadership isn't dealing with success but dealing with difficulty. Bush is now in that bitter cockpit. Somehow the president must find a way to level with the country and build support for a sustainable policy that puts more of the burden on Iraqis. A good start for Bush would be to come back to Washington early from Texas and start thinking how the nation as a whole can share in the sacrifices required by this long, hard slog."

"Officer Says Military Blocked Sharing of Files on Terrorists" (Philip Shenon, The New York Times, 2005/08/17)
"A military intelligence team repeatedly contacted the F.B.I. in 2000 to warn about the existence of an American-based terrorist cell that included the ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a veteran Army intelligence officer who said he had now decided to risk his career by discussing the information publicly.
The officer, Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, said military lawyers later blocked the team from sharing any of its information with the bureau.
Colonel Shaffer said in an interview on Monday night that the small, highly classified intelligence program, known as Able Danger, had identified the terrorist ringleader, Mohamed Atta, and three other future hijackers by name by mid-2000, and tried to arrange a meeting that summer with agents of the Washington field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to share its information.
But he said military lawyers forced members of the intelligence program to cancel three scheduled meetings with the F.B.I. at the last minute, which left the bureau without information that Colonel Shaffer said might have led to Mr. Atta and the other terrorists while the Sept. 11 attacks were still being planned."

"Shot Brazilian 'did not jump barrier and run'" (Philip Johnston, The Daily Telegraph, 2005/08/17)
"The Brazilian electrician shot dead by police on the London Underground last month was being restrained when he was killed by officers from Scotland Yard's firearms unit, according to documents leaked last night.
Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, was shot seven times in the head by two plainclothes policemen who had followed him on to the train at Stockwell station in the mistaken belief that he was a potential suicide bomber. Documents and photographs leaked to ITV News also confirmed that Mr de Menezes did not run from the police, as had been reported, had used his Tube pass to enter the station, rather than vault the barrier, and had taken a seat on the train before being grabbed by an officer.
He was wearing a light denim jacket and not as previously reported a padded coat which could have concealed explosives.
The documents, which contain witness statements made to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, also suggest that the intelligence operation may have been botched because an officer watching a flat believed to be the hideout of one of the suspects in the abortive July 21 attack was 'relieving himself.'"

"Israeli Military Convoy Leaves for Gaza" (Amy Teibel, AP/The Washington Post, 2005/08/17)
"Thousands of Jewish settlers and supporters defied the Tuesday deadline to leave Gaza, pelting Israeli troops with eggs and stones and dancing around the Torah in celebration of their resistance to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's historic plan to disengage from the Palestinians.
More than 100 Israeli military vehicles left a huge staging area at dawn Wednesday and headed toward Gaza to forcibly evacuate those remaining behind, moving toward the main crossing point into the Gush Katif bloc of settlements. ...
While a few of Gaza's 21 communities were deserted by the midnight deadline, settlers claimed about 2,000 people, most of them youthful "reinforcements" from the West Bank, were in the main synagogue at Neve Dekalim, the largest Gaza settlement, although the number appeared smaller.
About 2,000 soldiers and police were already deployed in the settlement to haul out the die-hards. ...
At times, settlers and soldiers were reduced to tears as they argued over the wisdom of abandoning Gaza, Israeli-occupied land for 38 years and the focus of deadly Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades."

Added in archive:
"Boy ready for martyrdom" (Matthew B. Stannard, San Fransisco Chronicle Staff, 2005/08/12)

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

News and commentary:

"Chinese Muslims arrested for studying Koran" (AP/Taipei News, 2005/08/16)
Just imagine the uproar if this had happened in America or Israel. But as it didn't (and of course wouldn't), my guess is that it isn't even going to register on the radar of the "Arab Street" and the Western consciousness:
"Authorities in China's Muslim-majority Xinjiang region have detained a Uighur woman and 37 of her students, some as young as seven, for studying the Koran, a rights group said yesterday.
Aminan Momixi, 56, was teaching the Koran to the students aged between seven and 20 at her home on Aug. 1 when police burst in and arrested her, the German-based World Uighur Congress said.
Her students, most of whom were primary and secondary school pupils, were also arrested and some remain in detention, it said.
Police confiscated 23 copies of the Koran, 56 textbooks on the Koran, a hand-written manuscript and other religious materials, the organization said. Momixi was accused of "illegally possessing religious materials and subversive historical information," the congress said, adding that she had been denied access to a lawyer. ...
[The congress' spokesman Dilxat ] Raxit said the parents just wanted their children to learn moral values which the Koran taught them. China bans all religious activities outside state control."

"The mother of all battles" (Joan Walsh, Salon.com, 2005/08/16)
Last week, Christopher Hitchens wondered if the left really want the Coalition to lose the war in Iraq. Here's an affirmative answer from Joan Walsh, found via James Taranto, who wryly notes that "Rooting for "the administration's unraveling in Iraq" -- that is, for America's defeat in the central antiterror battleground -- is not what we'd call a political program." [emphasis added]:
"The smearing will continue, but it's already too late: Cindy Sheehan has launched an American antiwar movement. Maybe, as Matt Drudge blared over the weekend, she's said controversial things about Israel. Maybe the IRS will chase her for tax evasion, since she's reportedly announced that she won't pay taxes for 2004, the year her son Casey died in Iraq. Maybe her family has been shaken by her activism. Maybe the smears will even work, and cost Sheehan some of her mainstream political credibility. It doesn't matter: Someone else will take her place. ...
And yet, even as Sheehan's public relations victories give people reason to be optimistic about the administration's unraveling in Iraq, liberals and war opponents have to be careful not to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory." (See also: "Losing the Iraq War: Can the left really want us to?" (Christopher Hitchens, Slate, 2005/08/08). As for Sheehan's "mainstream political credibility", see also: "The Sorrow and the Pity" (James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, 2005/08/15) and "The Sad Story of Cindy Sheehan" (James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, 2005/08/12)))

"London mayor likens jihad terrorists to Founding Fathers" (Robert Spencer, Dhimmi Watch, 2005/08/16)
"As well as to Ian Smith, Nelson Mandela, and Yasir Arafat -- which indicates his utter moral confusion. "Anti-terror plans could be counter-productive, warns London Mayor," from IRNA...

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, Monday expressed serious reservations about the government's new anti-terror plans, particularly extending the exclusion and deportation powers of the Home Secretary.
In response to the Home Office's consultation document on the new proposals, Livingstone also raised concern about the government's list of 'unacceptable behaviors' and called people to be allowed to express their views on issues as the Middle East conflict.
"People such as the founders of the United States, the founder of Israel, opponents of Ian Smith's regime in 'Rhodesia' (Zimbabwe), Nelson Mandela and the Yasser Arafat have all been branded terrorists by someone at one time or another," the mayor said.
"But nothing would have been gained by us banning either side in those conflicts. Today it would be totally counter-productive as it would reduce the trust, and therefore the information, from the communities whose help is indispensable to the police," he warned..."

(See also: "Anti-terror plans could be counter-productive, warns London Mayor" (IRNA, 2005/08/15))

"Muslim groups warn of radical backlash" (Matthew Tempest, The Guardian, 2005/08/16)
"A coalition of Muslim leaders today warned that closing mosques deemed extremist and banning radical Islamic groups could fuel a radical sub-culture in Britain.
Nearly 40 signatories, including the Islamic Human Rights Commission and the Muslim Association of Britain, said new measures outlined by the prime minister could lead to Islamic values being "demonised". ...
The statement criticised the use of the term extremism, which it said had no tangible legal meaning and was unhelpful.
The joint statement argued that the right of people to resist invasion and occupation was legitimate and said that questioning the legitimacy of Israeli occupation was also valid political expression.
The leaders also criticised the decision to ban the group Hizb ur-Tahrir, which is outlawed in Germany, and which Mr Blair specifically stated he intended to proscribe.
A proposal to ban the group was described as "unwarranted, unjust and unwise" and any disagreement with a political organisation should be expressed through debate, not censorship, the leaders wrote. ...
The closure of mosques accused of "fomenting extremism" would amount to a collective punishment of the community, the statement warned.
It may "create fear" which could lead to 'the very radical sub-culture which we all seek to prevent.'" (See also: "Full text: joint statement from Muslim groups" (The Guardian, 2005/08/16))

"The world watches as Iraq becomes a litmus test of democratic success" (Amir Taheri, The Times, 2005/08/16)
"The importance of what is happening in Iraq goes beyond its borders. If, as it now seems likely, Iraq does become a pluralist state committed to building a democracy, it would be hard for the despotic regimes in the region to defend a status quo that has kept much of the Middle East out of the post-Cold War trend towards reform and liberalisation. ...
The terrorist campaign has obscured the immense successes that the Iraqis have achieved. The most important of these is the destruction of the physical edifice of despotism and the slow but steady crumbling of its intellectual and moral infrastructure.
Iraq is the ideal choice as a model of democratisation in the Arab world. It faces virtually all the problems that Arab states face, including the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, the status of women and the role of the clergy. Success in Iraq could inflict a strategic defeat on all despotic ideologies in the region.
Soon after the liberation of Iraq in 2003, Yussuf al-Ayyeri, a chief theoretician of al-Qaeda, published a book entitled The Future of Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula after the Fall of Baghdad. In it, he designated Iraq as “the greatest battlefield of Islam against the infidel and its native allies”. Al-Ayyeri wrote: “It is not the American war machine that should be of the utmost concern to Muslims. What threatens the future of Islam, its very survival, is American democracy. To allow Iraq to build would represent Islam’s biggest defeat since the loss of Andalusia.”
This is why all reactionary forces, from pan-Arabists to Islamists, and their sympathisers in the West, have united to prevent Iraq from succeeding. Iraq has become the litmus test of the success of the democratic experience in the region. There is no guarantee that it will succeed. But it is vital for everyone concerned that it does."

"Unfree Under Islam: Shariah endangers women's rights, from Iraq to Canada" (Ayaan Hirsi Ali, The Wall Street Journal, 2005/08/16)
"Two cases demonstrate just how difficult that struggle can be, in the context of new as well as established democracies.
The first is the draft constitution of Iraq, now due next week. Iraqi women like Naghem Khadim, demonstrating on the streets of Najaf, are fighting to prevent an article from being put in the constitution that would establish that the legislature may make no laws that contradict Shariah edicts. The second case is the province of Ontario, in Canada. There, Muslim women led by Homa Arjomand, an activist of Iranian origin, are fighting -- using the Canadian Charter of Rights -- to keep Shariah from being applied as family law through a so-called Arbitration Act passed as law in Ontario in 1992.
It seems strange to associate the context of Canada with that of Iraq, but a closer look at the arguments used to reassure the demonstrating women in both countries reveals the similar ordeals that Muslim women in both countries must go through to secure their rights. It shows how their legitimate and serious worries are trivialized, and how vulnerable and alone they are. It shows how the Free World led by the U.S. went to war in Iraq, allegedly to bring liberty to Iraqis, and is compromising the basic rights of women in order to meet a random date. It shows how the theory of multiculturalism in Western liberal democracies is working against women in ethnic and religious minorities with misogynist practices. It shows the tenacity of many imams, mullahs and self-made Muslim radicals to subjugate women in the name of God. Most of all, it shows how many of those who consider themselves liberal or left-wing see their energy levels rise when it comes to Bush-bashing, but lose their voice when women's rights are threatened by religious obscurantism."

"United in greed, divided it falls" (Mark Steyn, The Daily Telegraph, 2005/08/16)
"You'll recall that Kofi Annan's son Kojo - who had a $30,000-a-year job but managed to find a spare quarter-million dollars sitting around to invest in a Swiss football club - has been under investigation for some time for his alleged ties to the Oil-for-Food programme. But the investigators have now broadened their sights to include Kofi's brother Kobina Annan, the Ghanaian ambassador to Morocco, who has ties to a businessman behind several of the entities involved in the scandal - one Michael Wilson, the son of the former Ghanaian ambassador to Switzerland and a childhood friend of young Kojo. ...
Despite the current investigations into his brother, his son, his son's best friend, his former chief of staff, his procurement officer and the executive director of the UN's biggest ever programme, the Secretary-General insists he remains committed to staying on and tackling the important work of "reforming" the UN.
Unfortunately, his Executive Co-Ordinator for United Nations Reform has also had to resign. Officially, Maurice Strong, Under-Secretary-General, godfather of the Kyoto treaty and chief UN negotiator on North Korea, resigned because he'd put his step-daughter on the payroll - she's also quit - and because of his ties to Tongsun Park, a Korean businessman charged by the US Attorney's office with taking millions of dollars from Saddam to act as an unregistered foreign agent for Iraq. Mr Park allegedly invested a million of those Saddamite greenbacks in a business of Under-Secretary-General Strong's son - a now bankrupt Canadian petroleum company." (See also: "U.N. Secretary-General's Brother Kobina Annan May Have Played a Role in Oil-for-Food Scandal" (Claudia Rosett, New York Sun, 2005/08/15))

Added in archive:
"The Real Target" (Ralph Peters, New York Post, 2005/08/03)

Monday, August 15, 2005

News and commentary:

"An Israeli army soldier closes the gate..."
(Tsafrir Abayov, AP, 2005/08/15)
"An Israeli army soldier closes the gate of the entrance to the nothern Gaza Strip Jewish settlement of Nissanit shortly after midnight Monday Aug. 15, 2005. Israeli army troops sealed off the Gaza Strip at midnight Sunday, marking the start of the withdrawal, the first time Israel will pull out of land Palestinians want for a future state. Forty-eight hours later, soldiers will begin forcibly removing those settlers remaining in the settlements. The writing on the gate reads in Hebrew 'welcome to Nissanit.'"

"The Sorrow and the Pity" (James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, 2005/08/15)
Cindy Sheehan II: "Sheehan spoke at an April San Francisco State University rally in support of Lynne Stewart, who was convicted in February of providing material aid to terrorists. Here's an excerpt:

I was raised in a country by a public school system that taught us that America was good, that America was just. America has been killing people . . . since we first stepped on this continent, we have been responsible for death and destruction. I passed on that bullshit to my son and my son enlisted. I'm going all over the country telling moms: "This country is not worth dying for." If we're attacked, we would all go out. We'd all take whatever we had. I'd take my rolling pin and I'd beat the attackers over the head with it. But we were not attacked by Iraq. We might not even have been attacked by Osama bin Laden if 9/11 was their Pearl Harbor to get their neo-con agenda through and, if I would have known that before my son was killed, I would have taken him to Canada. I would never have let him go and try and defend this morally repugnant system we have. The people are good, the system is morally repugnant. ...
We are waging a nuclear war in Iraq right now. That country is contaminated. It will be contaminated for practically eternity now. It's okay for them to have them, but Iran or Syria can't have them. It's okay for Israel to occupy Palestine, but it's -- yeah -- and it's okay for Iraq to occupy -- I mean, for the United States to occupy Iraq, but it's not okay for Syria to be in Lebanon.

Earlier in April, at a speech before the United Methodist Church in Venice, Calif., Sheehan likened Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to "Hitler and Stalin" and was particularly lurid in describing her hatred of Rumsfeld's then-deputy:

As soft-spoken and sincere-sounding as Paul Wolfowitz is, is there yet any sane adult in this country whose skin does not crawl when this murderous liar opens his mouth and speaks?

She concluded: "In their secret hiding places, while celebrating newly won fortunes with their fellow brass, these men must surely congratulate themselves with orgies of carnal pleasure as they mock the multitudes who are yet so blind as to mistake them for God's devoted servants."
The mainstream media have largely ignored Sheehan's crackpot views, and not only -- perhaps not even primarily -- for ideological reasons. Members of the White House press corps find the annual sojourn to Crawford deathly dull. They need something to do; they want bylines -- and "heartbroken everymom" makes for a much more compelling story than 'extremist hatemonger.'" (See also: "Transcript of Pro-Stewart Rally" (discoverthenetwork.org, 2005/04/27) and "Pulling No Punches" (Cindy Sheehan, LewRockwell.com, 2005/04/15))

"Cindy Sheehan's Sinister Piffle" (Christopher Hitchens, Slate, 2005/08/15)
Cindy Sheehan I: "Here is an unambivalent statement: "The moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute."
And, now, here's another:

Am I emotional? Yes, my first born was murdered. Am I angry? Yes, he was killed for lies and for a PNAC Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel. My son joined the army to protect America, not Israel. Am I stupid? No, I know full well that my son, my family, this nation and this world were betrayed by George Bush who was influenced by the neo-con PNAC agendas after 9/11. We were told that we were attacked on 9/11 because the terrorists hate our freedoms and democracy … not for the real reason, because the Arab Muslims who attacked us hate our middle-eastern foreign policy.

The first statement comes from Maureen Dowd, in her New York Times column of Aug. 10. The second statement comes from Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq last year. It was sent to the editors of ABC's Nightline on March 15. In her article, Dowd was arguing that Sheehan's moral authority was absolute.
I am at a complete loss to see how these two positions can be made compatible. Sheehan has obviously taken a short course in the Michael Moore/Ramsey Clark school of Iraq analysis and has not succeeded in making it one atom more elegant or persuasive. I dare say that her "moral authority" to do this is indeed absolute, if we agree for a moment on the weird idea that moral authority is required to adopt overtly political positions, but then so is my "moral" right to say that she is spouting sinister piffle. Suppose I had lost a child in this war. Would any of my critics say that this gave me any extra authority? I certainly would not ask or expect them to do so. Why, then, should anyone grant them such a privilege?" (See also: "The Sad Story of Cindy Sheehan" (James Taranto, Best of the Web Today, 2005/08/12))

"Iraqi Parliament OKs Constitution Delay" (Antonio Castaneda, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/08/15)
Iraq III: "Iraq's parliament agreed to a seven-day extension for leaders to complete a draft constitution, after politicians failed to meet a midnight Monday deadline for agreement on the charter.
Parliament adjourned after voting to extend the deadline until Aug. 22, acting on a request from Kurdish leaders for more time.
Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish framers of the charter had reached a tentative deal late Monday, resolving issues ranging from oil revenues to the country's name but putting off decision on the most contentious questions — including federalism, women's rights, the role of Islam and possible Kurdish autonomy. ...
"We should not be hasty regarding the issues and the constitution should not be born crippled," President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, said after the vote. 'We are keen to have an early constitution, but the constitution should be completed in all of its items in a proper manner that appeals to all components of the Iraqi people so that the whole people interact with the whole constitution.'"

"Sharon warns Palestinians as Gaza pullout starts" (Jonathan Saul, Reuters, 2005/08/15)
Withdrawal V: "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon began his promised pullout from Gaza on Monday and threatened Palestinians with Israel's harshest response ever should they attack once settlers have been evacuated.
In a televised address coinciding with the start of the withdrawal, the Israeli leader told Gaza's 8,500 Jewish settlers he shared their pain but also understood the plight of the 1.4 million Palestinians in the coastal strip.
"We cannot hold onto Gaza forever. More than a million Palestinians live there and double their number with each generation. They live in uniquely crowded conditions in refugee camps, in poverty and despair, in hotbeds of rising hatred with no hope on the horizon," he said in the five-minute address.
'The world is waiting for the Palestinian response -- a hand stretched out to peace or the fire of terror. To an outstretched hand we shall respond with an olive branch, but we shall fight fire with the harshest fire ever.'" (See also the complete speech: "Sharon's speech on start of Gaza pullout" (Reuters, 2005/08/15))

"Israel Begins Withdrawal From Gaza Strip" (Amy Teibel, AP/Yahoo! News, 2005/08/15)
Withdrawal IV: "NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip - Tearful Jewish settlers locked gates at their communities, formed human chains and burned tires to block troops from delivering eviction notices Monday as Israel began to pull out from the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation.
Police and soldiers waited patiently in the sweltering sun and avoided confrontations at the behest of their commanders. At one spot, a sobbing settler pleaded with a general not to evict him before the two men embraced. ...
Hamas activists in Gaza City hung banners Monday proclaiming the pullout was a result of attacks by militants on Israelis. "The blood of martyrs has led to liberation," one banner said. ...
Settlers were defiant at Gush Katif. Hundreds blocked the gates of Neve Dekalim, Gaza's largest settlement, to prevent troops from entering.
Dozens of men, wearing white prayer shawls, held morning prayers at the gate, appealing for divine intervention to block the withdrawal. Youths wearing orange, the color of defiance, sat on the streets and yelled at soldiers. "You're a partner to a crime," one screamed. ...
Abbas issued a statement praising the pullout but said it must be followed by more.
"The Israeli withdrawal which starts today is a very important and historical step, but it is an initial step that should take place not only in Gaza, but in the West Bank and East Jerusalem," he said."

"Abduction of journalist embarrasses PA" (Khaled Abu Toameh, The Jerusalem Post, 2005/08/15)
Withdrawal III: "Unidentified gunmen on Sunday night kidnapped a French journalist who was in the Gaza Strip to cover the disengagement, prompting some foreign TV crews to leave the area out of fear for their lives. ...
The journalist was identified as Muhammed Ouathi, an Algerian Muslim with French citizenship who was working as a soundman for French Television Channel III.
Eyewitnesses said three kidnappers armed with rifles kidnapped him while he was walking back to his hotel in Gaza City. The three threatened Ouathi, pulled him into a white Subaru and drove away to an unknown destination.
PA Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfik Abu Khoussa said that Outahi was abducted while he was with another three French journalists.
"The unknown kidnappers left the three French journalists and abducted the half French, half Algerian journalist and took him to an unknown place," he added. ...
Palestinian gunmen have kidnapped several foreigners in the past few weeks in a sign of growing lawlessness in the Gaza Strip. Most of the kidnappings were carried out by disgruntled Fatah gunmen and dissident security officers demanding jobs and money from the PA."

"A Democracy Killing Itself" (Daniel Pipes, USA Today/danielpipes.org, 2005/08/15)
Withdrawal II: "The Israeli government's removal of its own citizens from Gaza ranks as one of the worst errors ever made by a democracy. ...
To Palestinian rejectionists, an Israeli retreat under fire sends an unambiguous signal: Terrorism works. Just as the Israeli departure from Lebanon five years earlier provoked new violence, so too will fleeing Gaza. Palestinians ignore all the verbiage about "disengagement" and see it for what it really is, an Israeli retreat under fire. Indeed, Palestinian leaders have already broadcast their intent to deploy Gaza-like aggression to pry the West Bank and Jerusalem from Israeli control. Should that campaign succeed, Haifa and Tel Aviv are next, after which Israel itself disappears.
The Sharon government has also defaulted on its obligations to its allies in the war on terror. As other states, such as Great Britain, finally show signs of getting more serious about counterterrorism, Israel's politicians release hundreds of convicted terrorists and retreat under fire from Gaza, encouraging more terrorism.
Israel's mistakes are not unique for a democracy – French appeasement of Germany in the 1930s or American incrementalism in Vietnam come to mind – but none other jeopardized the very existence of a people."