Thursday, January 31, 2008

Senior al Qaeda leader Abu Laith al Libi killed in North Waziristan



The fallout from the Jan. 29 airstrike is settling, and it appears a senior al Qaeda leader was killed in the attack in North Waziristan, Pakistan. Abu Laith al Libi was killed in the attack, according to a posting at a prominent jihadi website.
The Ekhlaas forum posted a banner praising the martyrdom of al Libi. "We ask God to accept and embrace Shahydna [martyrdom] Libyan Abu Zuhri," a well known poster stated in a thread at the forum.
Al Libi was a prominent al Qaeda leader, but he is not the third of fourth in command of al Qaeda, as CNN has reported. Saif al Adel is currently believed to be al Qaeda's third in command and strategic planner while Abu Ubdaydah al Masri and Matiur Rehman are believed to have split the roles of senior operational leader. Rehman also heads al Qaeda in Pakistan while al Masri commanders al Qaeda forces in eastern Afghanistan.
Obama fundraiser is 'close friend' of corrupt Iraqi businessman. An undeclared payment of $3.5 million (£1.75 million) from a corrupt Iraqi-British businessman has landed Barack Obama's former fundraiser behind bars.
The payment, disclosed in court papers, is the first time Mr Obama's long-serving bagman Tony Rezko, a Syrian immigrant to the United States, has been linked as a friend to the Iraqi-born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi, one of Britain's richest men.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Ahmadinejad called on the West to acknowledge Israel's "imminent collapse." Speaking to a crowd on a visit to the southern port of Bushehr, where Iran's first light-water nuclear power plant is being built by Russia, Ahmadinejad further incited his listeners to "stop supporting the Zionists, as [their] regime reached its final stage." "Accept that the life of Zionists will sooner or later come to an end."


Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan -- the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan.
Some Israeli security officials quietly expressed “concern” about an adviser to Sen. Barack Obama who has advocated negotiations with Hamas and providing international assistance to the terrorist group.
The officials noted Robert Malley, a principal Obama foreign policy adviser, has penned numerous opinion articles, many of them co-written with a former adviser to the late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, petitioning for dialogue with Hamas and blasting Israel for numerous policies he says harm the Palestinian cause.

A Visit to a Gaza Rocket Factory






No matter what Israel does, the rockets from the Gaza Strip just keep coming. Young men like Abdul are the reason why. He studies by day, but at night he builds bombs for the Islamic Jihad. He and his fellow militants can produce up to 100 per night.

Anti-Mosque Initiatives in Europe



Across Europe, right-wing populist parties are gaining support by focusing on issues such as the construction of mosques. SPIEGEL ONLINE talks to right-wing populism expert Oliver Geden about the strategies used by the right and the pressure they put on the mainstream.
It seems like mosques have never been more controversial in Europe. A right-wing populist party has just announced an attempt to get the construction of mosques banned (more...) in an Austrian state. Meanwhile a right-wing group in Cologne is trying to stop a mosque from being built there (more...).
But why have right-wing populist parties suddenly seized on the issue of mosques?
Because mosques provide the perfect topic for right-wing parties and how they are forcing mainstream parties to shift to the right. More...

Tuesday, January 29, 2008



Prosecutors say Parviz Khan, 38, plotted to recruit drug dealers to help kidnap a Muslim British soldier, cut off his head, and post video of the atrocity on the Web.

Iran’s Gulag Archipelago



Frontpage interviews Roozbeh Farahanipour, an Iranian journalist, democracy activist and former political prisoner in Iran.

I was tortured with various techniques one of which was called chicken kabob. This type of torture involved having your hands and feet bound and having a long steel rod run through your arms and legs. As they began spinning you around them, they also began lashing you. The individuals who conducted these types of torture were true sadists, as they would be talking to each other about last night's soccer game or they would be talking on the phone while they were lashing you.
I also endured another torture technique called Ghapuni in Persian, whereby one hand is bent back (as if touching your back) and handcuffed, while your other hand is handcuffed from the bottom. While you are handcuffed in this awkward position, they hang you from the handcuffs, which usually either dislocated or broke your shoulder blades. In my case my shoulder blade broke.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Are there any fascists left ?



In Serbia, the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) occupies a broadly similar political space to the BNP in Britain or the FN in France. Even the Western leftists most ready to apologise for Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic are generally ready to concede that the Serbian Radicals are ‘fascist’. And with good reason. More...
U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday submitted a cooperation agreement between the United States and Turkey concerning peaceful uses of nuclear energy to the U.S. Congress, saying that private-sector proliferation worries have been addressed.
The July 2000 agreement, signed by then-US president Bill Clinton, is expected to clear the way for transfers of nuclear know-how to Turkey's planned civilian atomic sector.
Al-Qaeda Controls US Prisons in Iraq. See video

Frontier insurgency spills into Peshawar



For centuries, fighting and lawlessness have been part of the fabric of this frontier city. But in the past year, Pakistan's war with Islamic militants has spilled right into its alleys and bazaars, its forts and armories, killing policemen and soldiers and scaring its famously tough citizens.
There is a sense of siege here, as the Islamic insurgency pours out of the adjacent tribal region into this city, one of Pakistan's largest, and its surrounding districts. More...
The Taliban last year "seriously rejoined the fight" in Afghanistan, an NGO security group said in a report that concluded the country was "at the beginning of a war, not the end of one."
ISAF may number about 41,000 soldiers but "realistically" could not have more than up to 7,000 for combat, with the rest mostly support staff or prevented from fighting because of national restrictions, the group said. The size of the Taliban force was unknown, but estimates ranged from 2,000 to 20,000.
A devastating explosion in northern Iraq was spearheaded by foreign fighters under the sponsorship of Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of the Libyan leader.
Col. Jubair Rashid Naief, who also is a police official in Anbar province, said the Anbar Awakening Council had alerted the U.S. military to the possible arrival in the northern city of Mosul of the Seifaddin Regiment, made up of about 150 foreign and Iraqi fighters, as long as three months ago.

Touted as a reformer, 36-year-old Gadhafi has increasingly been sharing his father's spotlight and reaching out to the West to soften Libya's image and return it to the international mainstream. He has no official government post, but many see him as the man most likely to take power in the North African country when his father steps down or dies.

Saturday, January 26, 2008



A Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim prepares to cut a four-month-old baby’s head with a razor during the Ashura ceremony held in Nabatiyeh town in south Lebanon.

Via Kamangir
NATO commander says Taliban tactics vary: counterinsurgency tactics require different strategies for each region of Afghanistan.
Rodriguez was addressing concerns that U.S. forces are handling the militant insurgency in Afghanistan better that NATO.
Major Jihadi Cleric and Author of Al-Qaeda's Shari'a Guide to Jihad Sayyed Imam vs. Al-Qaeda: Al-Zawahiri Was Sudanese Agent – Sudan's VP Ali Othman Taha Hired Him to Attack Egypt.

Jihadists get encryption upgrade



Until recently, al-Qaida didn't pose much of a threat online because it used outdated technology. Having modern encryption tools changes the equation.

Last week, an Islamist Web site called Al-Ekhlas released updated encryption software to help keep secret communications from prying eyes. The site is allegedly frequented by al-Qaida supporters.
According to the Middle East Media Research Institute, the first version of the software, "Mujahideen Secrets," was released a year ago as "the first Islamic computer program for secure exchange [of information] on the Internet." MEMRI says that the program includes "the five best encryption algorithms, and with symmetrical encryption keys (256 bit), asymmetrical encryption keys (2048 bit) and data compression [tools]."
Reuters reports that the new version of the software, "Mujahideen Secrets 2," was developed by Al-Ekhlas "in order to support the mujahideen (holy war fighters) in general and the (al Qaeda-linked group) Islamic State in Iraq in particular."

The Al-Ekhlas Web site is hosted by Florida-based Noc4hosts.
Bosnia prosecutors are investigating local officials suspected of having granted citizenships to hundreds of Islamic fighters during the 1992-95 war.
Due to the irregularities, a specially established state commission revoked the citizenship last year of hundreds of foreigners including a number of Muslim former fighters in Bosnia's war.

Dutch University rejects Iranian Applicant for Nationality



Apparently, the Dutch university has decided to reject Iranian applicants, because they “are requested to write a formal guarantee…that the Iranian applicant for a visa does not have access to certain specific scientific knowledge” (source). Therefore, Amin loses his chance to pursue his studies in Chemical Engineering, something he rigorously emphasizes “has nothing to do with the nukes”.

Via Kamangir

Thursday, January 24, 2008

'Three Little Pigs CD' banned from Government-backed awards for offending Muslims and builders



In UK, a story based on The Three Little Pigs has been rejected by a Government-backed awards event because it might offend Muslims... and builders.
The digital book, retelling the classic children's tale, was criticised by judges who said "the use of pigs raises cultural issues".

Via The Corner

Ashura in NY



The News says: "Although self-flagellation is a painful and bloody act, Shi'ites believe it to be a statement against violence." Uh huh. How long will it be before we start seeing this in New York? What will prevent it? The News also says: "The event, which takes place around the world, is painful both physically and emotionally to those who take part in it." That much is certainly true.
Via Jihad Watch

Monday, January 21, 2008

We Sucked The Least

Vía American Citizan Soldier

Georgian ex-President Eduard Shevardnadze certifies to the facts of Russian intelligence activity on the eve of Rose Revolution. In an interview to one of the most popular Georgian newspaper’s Kviris Palitra, Shevardnadze recalled the events preceding the so-called Rose Revolution, saying that his entire retinue except then Interior Minister Koba Narchemashvili had betrayed him and sided with "the conspirators" led by Zurab Zhvania and Mikheil Saakashvili, news agency Interfax relates the story. Shevardnadze claimed that Zhvania had received "a very large sum of money" from Russia before the elections.
"In the 1990s violence occurred between Muslims and non-Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Chechnya, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kashmir, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, the Middle East, Sudan and Nigeria.
In the mid-1990s, roughly half the ethnic conflicts in the world involved Muslims fighting each other or non-Muslims. Five of the seven states listed by the U.S. State Department as supporting terrorism are Muslim, as are a majority of foreign organizations listed as engaged in terrorism.
According to the International Institute of Strategic Studies, 32 armed conflicts were underway in 2000; more than two thirds involved Muslims. Yet Muslims are only about one fifth of the world’s population."

Via Citizen Warrior

Saturday, January 19, 2008

The successful test-firing of an Israeli long-range nuclear-capable missile Thursday timed for Russian naval exercise



DEBKAFile - It was coordinated with the US Missile Defense Program.
Israeli and US defense officials tied up the last ends during President George. W. Bush’s visit last week. The successful test of a propulsion system for the dual-stage missile from the Palmahim base Thursday, Jan. 17
The new system can propel the missile to any point on earth – an intercontinental capability owned only by the US, Russia, China and France
The test’s context was as much the huge Russian naval maneuver launched in the Mediterranean Tuesday, Jan. 16, as missile and potential nuclear threats from Iran. Eleven vessels were drawn for the war game from two Russian fleets, Atlantic Northwest and Black Sea. It is led by the Admiral Kuznetsov air carrier with 47 warplanes and 10 helicopters on board and the Moskva missile cruiser.
The Israeli propulsion test coincided with a tactical Russian missile launch and landed in the same part of the sea. It sent out a signal that the entire Mediterranean, including the permanent bases Moscow is in the course of establishing in the Syrian naval ports of Tartous and Latakia, are within range. Our military sources report that US Sixth Fleet vessels cordoned off the landing area of the Israeli missile and prevented Russian ships from closely tracking its course.
Western military sources sum up the test as demonstrating that while Iran was still in the development stage of its ballistic missiles, Israel had raced ahead and left the Islamic Republic standing.

An anti-jihad comic book



“Matamoros,” a comic book which was illustrated by John Cox of Cox & Forkum. Its plot follows an American NCO who is wounded in the war, returns home to recuperate and then discovers a jihadist cell in NYC.

Via Michelle Malkin

Ronald Reagan - A Time for Choosing



Thursday, January 17, 2008

Kyrgyzstan National Security Service keeps silence on details about seized radioactive material bound for Iran



The Kyrgyz National Security Service continues to decline comment on taking possession of a small load of a radioactive substance discovered aboard a train bound for Iran, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.
RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service notes that it took the security services nine days to announce the discovery of the material, which was found already on December 31 when radiation detectors alerted Uzbek border guards who reportedly promptly sent the train back to Kyrgyzstan.
Kubanych Noruzbaev, an official from the Kyrgyz Ecology and Environmental Protection Ministry, said the material was cesium-137, a product of nuclear reactors and weapons testing that could also be used in a crude radioactive explosive device or a "dirty bomb", radio marks. Kubat Osmonbetov, a geologist, told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service that there was a uranium-processing plant in northern Tajikistan, raising the possibility that the Tajik train in question might have been used in the past to transport radioactive material. Osmonbetov also noted that cesium-137 and cesium-140 are definitely lethal in large doses. He said the radioactive material should have been discovered long before the train arrived in Uzbekistan.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

36 percent people around the world who were not living in freedom in 2007, according to a new survey by Freedom House. Last year was the second consecutive year that the percentage declined, and nearly “four times as many countries showed significant declines during the year as registered improvements.”

Student terror tie revealed



The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - The 21-year-old Syed Haris Ahmed admitted to taking "casing videos" of Washington landmarks, including the U.S. Capitol, that ended up on the computer of a London terrorist. He acknowledged meeting with extremists in Toronto and going to Pakistan for jihadist military training. He also admitted in a signed statement: "I hoped to be recruited into a Jihadi training camp where I could learn how to fight Muslim oppressors everywhere."
By March 17, 2006, Ahmed told agents that his jihadist thoughts led him to contemplate attacks on Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, the Masonic Temple in Washington and oil refineries in Texas. He suggested the attack on U.S. oil refineries to raise the price of oil and bring more money to the Middle East, because "it is Muslim property and it's being stolen."
Ahmed, born in Pakistan and raised in Dawsonville, now stands indicted with co-defendant Ehsanul Islam Sadequee of Roswell of federal charges of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Ahmed and Sadequee, who was born in Virginia to Bangladeshi parents, have pleaded not guilty. The transcripts of Ahmed's taped interviews were released Monday at a hearing in which a judge is considering a motion to suppress Ahmed's statements to counterterrorism agents. Ahmed, then a 21-year-old Georgia Tech mechanical engineering student, was interviewed on five occasions —- initially at his home, then at a hotel and, the final three times, at FBI headquarters in Atlanta. Ahmed did not know the interviews were being secretly tape recorded.

Via Michelle Malkin

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Help Lionheart!



Lionheart is a counterjihadist blogger who faces prison if he returns to the UK.

God Help Britain - Lionheart has received a pathetic £300 in donations since his plight became known. He's stuck in an unfamiliar country with no idea of what the future holds. He doesn't have a job, probably no way of earning any money while he is an alien in the US and facing a potential seven years in prison. Just take a minute to imagine how you would feel should you be in his shoes now. Remember, he is in this situation because he wanted to alert us to the dangers we face.

PLEASE DONATE HERE...

New talib leader



Baitullah Meshud, also known as the emir of South Waziristan, is described by Pakistani authorities as a brutal but able leader who commands thousands of followers. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf blames him for the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
The newly appointed leader of the Taliban in Pakistan is being called more dangerous than Osama bin Laden by analysts there. His movement was created last month when 26 Pakistani militant groups joined forces to fight for an Islamic regime there, tribal sources say. More...

France Impedes Transfer of Saddam's 23 Million Euros



The Iraqi government has asked France to transfer Saddam Hussein’s frozen assets in Banque du France in the amount of 23.48 million euros in keeping with Security Council resolution 1483 from 2003. An Iraqi diplomat said France is the only country which has failed to unfreeze Saddam’s assets in its banks and criticized the government of former president Jacques Chirac for mishandling this matter.

Muslims girls and their "islamic warriors"

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Al Qaeda is building a white army of terror



Al Qaeda is building a white army of terror in the United Kingdom, according to the U.K.'s Scotland on Sunday.
According to a source at MI5 — the British equivalent of the CIA — 1,500 white Britons are believed to have converted to Islam with the purpose of funding, planning, and carrying out surprise terror attacks, the newspaper reported.
Security experts say the growing number of white terrorists poses a serious threat because they are less likely to be detected than members of the Asian community.
Terror groups like Al Qaeda reportedly began recruiting white non-Muslims in response to the success intelligence services have had in disrupting and stopping extremist plots around the world.
One reported strategy the terrorists use is to look for converts in prisons, where those in custody tend to be lonely and particularly susceptible. Recruiters comfort and support the inmate, with little mention — if any — to religion, according to the paper. Over time, conversations turn more radical.

True nature of Islam

Osama bin Laden’s security coordinator captured in Pakistan



A senior al Qaeda commander has been reported to have been captured in the Pakistani city of Lahore, according to a Pakistani newspaper. Dr. Amin al Haq, the security coordinator of Osama bin Laden’s Black Guard, “was apprehended from Lahore couple of days back,” The Nation reported, citing “credible Afghan sources.” Al Haq is said to be “under interrogation” at an undisclosed location.
Al Haq has a long pedigree with both the Taliban and al Qaeda. He was born in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, was educated as a physician, and practiced medicine in Pakistan. “He was associated with Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan headed by late Maulvi Younas Khalis, which joined the Taliban Movement in 1996,” The Nation reported. He “was also part of the Afghan delegation flown to Sudan in 1996 to bring Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan.”
On Dec. 19, 2000, al Haq was identified as a senior member of al Qaeda per United Nations resolution 1267. He accompanied Osama bin Laden during the 2001 battle at Tora Bora in Nangarhar province, and helped senior al Qaeda leaders escape the US and Afghan militia assault on the cave complex. During renewed fighting at Tora Bora in the summer of 2007, al Haq was reported to have been wounded and fled across the border into Pakistan's Kurram tribal agency.
As security coordinator for the Black Guard, it is believed al Haq would be in close proximity to Osama bin Laden. US intelligence believes Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan’s tribal agencies, a claim the Pakistani government has denied.
More...

Crushing Al-Qaeda



Bill Roggio - My direct experience in Iraq tells me that iraqis have been disgusted by al Qaeda's attacks on all sects of Iraqis. I've met a former Sunni insurgent commander of the Jaish Mohammed named General Mustaffa who now runs the Concerned Citizens group in Arab Jabour. His wife is Shia, his son's name is Ali, a Shia name, and he recruited Shia to be members of his local police force. He expressed disgust at both al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army's tactics, and railed against both Syria and Iran for their involvement in the insurgency.
I have run into this sentiment from several different across Iraq. In East Rashid, I met Sunnis who were horrified how al Qaeda ran out their Christian neighbors. In the mixed town of Haswa south of Baghdad, which sits along a sectarian fault line, Sunni and Shia banded together to fight both al Qaeda in Iraq and the Mahdi Army. In Anbar, US Army Captain Travis Patriquin is mourned as a martyr for his support of the tribes' fight against al Qaeda.
The Western media has over generalized and in many cases manufactured the "Sunni-Shia divide." In fact, this situation is what both al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army strived to create. They wanted Iraqis to be dependent on each group as the defenders of their sect, while it wants the U.S. public to conclude Iraq is in the middle of a sectarian civil war, a war we should not be involved with. More...

Preaching Palestine



See video

Friday, January 11, 2008

Portrait of the Artist as a Dhimmified Man



Pajamas Media - The current level of self-censorship is deeply problematic. “Their eagerness to assume the role of subjugated infidels living under Islamic rule can only demoralize the population and embolden the extremists.”

The art that you do not see reflects what everyone already sees. And what we see is the preemptive surrender of public freedoms in the name of appeasing the continent’s restive Muslim underclass.
Grayson Perry, a Turner Prize recipient and England’s most famous cross-dressing potter, has been heralded for his controversial explorations of religious imagery, which include a vase entitled “Transvestite Brides of Christ” and a portrayal of the Virgin Mary that is best left to the imagination. Yet apparently there are some boundaries that even groundbreaking artists dare not cross.
“I’ve censored myself,” Perry told the Times, admitting that he treads lightly around radical Islam. “The reason I haven’t gone all out attacking Islamism in my art is because I feel real fear that someone will slit my throat.”

Delivering Obstetrics from Radical Islam



Is a Muslim within his rights to insist a female physician examine his wife, or refuse male assistance in the birth of his child? And, are hospitals obliged to accommodate the Muslim’s wish when this unfairly burdens staff, entails a delay that jeopardizes patient care, or if accommodations like these contravene the Hippocratic oath? Europe grapples with questions like these with increasing frequency; and Great Britain and the Netherlands appear well on their way to translating the discriminating tastes of their hospital guests into hospital policy.
The Dutch Telegraaf reports that the Dutch physicians’ organization (KNMG), in reply to verified cases of doctor intimidation, has published guidelines that will allow Muslims to refuse a male physician. The organization asks that hospitals satisfy requests for a female physician in every case but those deemed “acutely emergent,” and urges sensitivity. More...

Turkey shells northern Iraq



Jabbar Yawar, a spokesman for the Peshmerga security forces of northern Iraq, said on Friday that Turkish forces had shelled two areas in Dahuk province for two hours.
Earlier, Iraqi Kurdish television said Turkish military had bombed northern Iraq, but gave no details of any injuries or damage to property.
Turkey has also massed up to 100,000 troops on the border with Iraq.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Confirmed: Barack Obama practiced Islam



Daniel Pipes - Obama was born a Muslim to a non-practicing Muslim father and for some years had a reasonably Muslim upbringing under the auspices of his Indonesian step-father.
All this matters, for if Obama once was a Muslim, he is now what Islamic law calls a murtadd (apostate), an ex-Muslim converted to another religion who must be executed. Were he elected president of the United States, this status, clearly, would have large potential implications for his relationship with the Muslim world.

Afghan clerics warn Karzai against missionaries



Afghanistan's Islamic council has told President Hamid Karzai to stop foreign aid groups from converting locals to Christianity and also demanded the reintroduction of public executions.
The ulema have always played a crucial role in Muslim Afghanistan and have been behind a series of revolts against past governments.
But since the ousting of Taliban's radical Islamic administration by U.S.-led troops in 2001, Afghanistan has seen an unprecedented period of freedoms.
"The council is concerned about the activities of some ... missionary and atheistic organs and considers such acts against Islamic sharia (law), the constitution, and political stability," said a copy of the statement obtained by Reuters.

Scroll to Mr. Bush Reminds Him of His Historic Role



A historic document is planned to be submitted to visiting US President George Bush upon his arrival this week, calling upon him to choose to be remembered like Cyrus, and not like Nebuchadnezzar.
The document, grandly transcribed on parchment and furled into a scroll, is addressed to the the "Leader of the West." It reminds President Bush to "declare to the world" that he will honor G-d's word and act "towards settling the Jewish People throughout their entire Land."
It begins by saying that Mr. Bush can "make a declaration, as did Cyrus, King of Persia... who, in the year 538 BCE, returned the exiled nations to their lands, recognized the full right of the Jewish people to reestablish their Holy Temple, the “house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:7), and called upon them to return to their land."
"And thus," the manifesto continues, "if you truly desire peace and benevolence, and you would be counted in the company of the truly righteous, we call upon you to declare to all the world: The Land of Israel was bequeathed to the nation of Israel by the Creator of the world. Neither could I, as a son of my faith, nor the Muslims according to their faith, ever take away even the slightest grain from the Eternal’s gift, which He gave to His people Israel, the eternal people."

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Barak Obama: First Action- To End "Occupation" of Iraq



In an 11-minute interview with hometown Chicago radio broadcaster and journalist, Roland Martin, Barack Obama revealed that his first act, if elected president, would be to pull our troops out of Iraq as quickly as possible.

Roland Martin: If you are elected what is the very first thing that you focus on as Commander in Chief of this country?

Barack Obama: Well, we will call in the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I will give them a new assignment and that is to bring our troops home in a careful, responsible way, but to end this occupation in Iraq. I will call in my Secretary of State and initiate the diplomacy that's needed to make sure that exit is accompanied by negotiations between the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.

Via Gateway Pundit

Haaretz Editor Asked US Secretary of State to "Rape" Israel



Haaretz’s Chief Editor asked US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to “rape” Israel, using other unsavory terminology as well in his request for American pressure.
The comments were made during a confidential briefing by Rice on September 10, during one of many visits to the Jewish state. The meeting was attended by about 20 heads of the most senior Israeli think tanks and media leaders, including Landau, at the residence of US Ambassador Richard Jones. Some reported that Landau's remarks were greeted with "blatant discomfort" by some of those present.
Landau, who was seated next to Rice, referred to Israel as a “failed state” politically, and said that a US-imposed settlement is the only thing that can save it.

Muslim Brotherhood, AKP's Solution To Kurdish Problem



In an interview with leftist Turkish daily Evrensel, the left wing human rights activist, writer and journalist Ertugrul Kurkcu spoke about the Kurdish problem and the ongoing military operations against the PKK. Kurkcu claimed that AKP government wants to find the solution to the problem in the Islamization of the Kurds and within the framework of Islamic brotherhood and unity – a project which has ties to the U.S. too.
He said that the Kurdish question cannot be solved within the borders of just one country and that the real solution would mean Kurds taking their own destiny into their own hands in all the countries that rule them. Kurkcu added, “Midnight air attacks with 50 war planes, fuel transfer in the air, laser technology to identify and hit targets are all aimed at sending a message to the region about the strength of the Turkish Armed Forces, rather than targeting the PKK”.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

A new, younger jihadi threat emerges



Four years ago, Imane Laghriss and her twin sister, Sanae, were arrested for planning to blow themselves up inside Morocco's parliament. They were 14 at the time. The two were sentenced to five years in jail in 2003. After serving 18 months and nearly two years in a juvenile center, they are now free.
But while Imane claims to have forgone violence, she still holds the same radical ideology that inspired the unrealized plan. She surfs radical websites and says she wants to go to Iraq to fight US troops – "but not civilians."
The two women represent the leading edge of what security analysts and terrorism experts say is an emerging threat facing both Western and Arab countries: younger jihadis who have been recruited over the Internet or inspired to act through militant Islamist literature or videos. What's more, analysts say, these young radicals often don't belong to a centralized group and may even act on their own.
"As I speak, terrorists are methodically and intentionally targeting young people and children in this country. They are radicalizing, indoctrinating, and grooming young, vulnerable people to carry out acts of terrorism," said Jonathan Evans, the director general of the British MI5. More...

Islam in Europe


Defense Minister Barak: We Can't Defend Yad Yair Synagogue



Defense Minister Ehud Barak informed MK Rabbi Meir Porush (UTJ) in a letter Wednesday that the Israel Defense Forces cannot protect the Yad Yair synagogue in Samaria.
Barak recommended that the synagogue be moved instead.
"The congregation which prays at Yad Yair Synagogue in the Binyamin area faces security risks and it is hard to secure it in a permanent and continuous manner," wrote Barak. "Therefore, the IDF recommends relocating the synagogue to the Talmonim Bloc, thus preventing a situation in which human lives are put at risk."
Barak's letter was written following a demand by Porush for an explanation regarding an attack in October on the synagogue. Torah scrolls, prayer books and other Jewish sacred texts were destroyed in the flames. The arsonists also defaced the nearby memorial to Yair Mendelson, for whom the synagogue is named. Mendelson was murdered by Arabs at the beginning of the first intifada in the 1980's.
The attack in October was the third in 18 months. Both the synagogue and an adjoining building are located on privately-owned Jewish land.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Bhutto Murder Closes Anti-Terror War Cycle Bush Launched after 9/11



Ahead of the Bhutto assassination, al Qaeda prepared follow-up actions in Iraq and Gaza.
Two major steps are revealed here by DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources:
1. The Fatah al-Islam commander Shaker al-Abessi was transferred to Iraq to spearhead a new offensive. Al Abessi commanded the four-month Fatah al-Islam confrontation with the Lebanese army from the Badr al-Nahr camp near Tripoli in the summer of 2007.
Al Qaeda, hoping to build al-Abessi into a second al-Zarqawi, has sent him to establish the “Iraq Front,” a new body for recouping the organization’s trounced forces and turning the tables on the US army. His plan to transit the Syrian-Iraqi border with his top men shows how fragile and uncertain are Washington’s gains in securing joint Syrian-US control of the border.
2. A large body of the Fatah al-Islam rank and file was transferred from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip, apparently by sea. This week, they were in the thick of the Hamas-Jihad Islami missile and mortar offensive against Israel.

By these two steps, al Qaeda established support structures for its next two offensives in a region ranging from Afghanistan in the east to the Mediterranean in the west.

Osama bin Laden’s momentum after Benazir Bhutto was murdered might have been slowed had the Americans reacted rapidly with a combined US-Pakistan military assault on al Qaeda and Taliban strongholds in Pakistan and Afghanistan, on a scale comparable to the post-9/11 campaign. But neither army was ready.
Anxiety over the fate of Pakistan’s estimated 50-60 nuclear warheads is more acute. The Pentagon’s assurance Friday that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is secure under the control of the military would become meaningless if that military turns against the United States. An American operation to pluck that arsenal from terrorist clutches might be fought off by that same military.
In these circumstances, however badly they are needed for the war against al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq, US special forces will need to be permanently deployed within speedy reach of Pakistan’s nuclear stocks. A single bullet (or blast) has switched the spotlight on the world’s most dangerous nuclear threat from Iran to Pakistan.

Afghanistan Gov't Orders U.N., E.U. Reps Out of Country



The Afghanistan government has ordered the U.N. and E.U. representatives in the country to leave, claiming that the two met secretly and illegally with senior Taliban officials.
The government also accused the representatives of constituting a danger to Afghanistan's national security.