Mahdi Army taking significant casualties in Baghdad, South

While the size of the Mahdi Army is a constant source of debate, media accounts often put the Mahdi Army at anywhere from 40,000 to 60,000 fighters. With an estimated 1,000 Mahdi fighters killed, captured, wounded and surrendered, the Mahdi Army has taken an attrition rate of 1.5 to 2.5 percent over the past five days. More...

Photo: About 200 demonstrators held a rally to support the military operations in Basra and Maliki's government, in Diwaniya.

Iraqi Shiites Copying From Their Hezbollah Cousins in Lebanon?

Counterterrorism Blog -- It shouldn't surprise us if we find that the Shiite militias have prepared for the same type of warfare engaged in by their Hezbollah cousins in 2006, using Iranian arms, IRGC advisers and trainers, and similar tactics.
The obvious difference between Lebanon 2006 and Iraq 2008 is the direct action in Iraq by the U.S. military, who are now far more efficient in counterinsurgency and urban warfare than the Israelis were entering the 2006 conflict. Did the Shiite militia desire such a reaction? Is that why they shelled the Green Zone so early in the conflict with the Iraqi army, to draw the Americans in and inject more uncertainty over Iraq into the 2008 election cycle?
Shiite militia leaders have already achieved one strategic goal: they showed Pentagon planners and American voters that the Iraqi army is nowhere ready to secure Iraq, much as Hezbollah exposed the weaknesses in Israeli armed forces. We can also expect that unless the American military completely wipes out the Shiite militia (an unlikely outcome given the tactics of the militia), the Shiites will take another page from Hezbollah leaders and claim victory, thus raising the morale of their followers and their reputation on "the Arab street." And that would mean another strategic victory for their Iranian backers.

Israeli Uncensored News -- A Christian Arab named Balut from Fassuta village in Galilee arrested for spying for Hezbollah and smuggling drugs for it into Israel. Balut is otherwise a distinguished IDF scout. Druzes and Bedouin who serve in the IDF have no loyalty to the Jewish state, and serve just anyone who pays them, Jews and their enemies alike. The Balut case is one of the many Arab spy cases in the IDF. A mayor of the same village was also convicted for spying in 2006.

Fatah PA Corruption Exposed

Arutz Sheva -- Senior Fatah officials in the Palestinian Authority health system systematically stole valuable medications and replaced them with worthless placebo pills.
The placebos, which lab tests show had no medical value, were passed along to clinics and hospitals, where they were given to patients suffering from serious and often life-threatening diseases.
The real medications were taken to massive warehouses in Ramallah and Shechem, and were sold for high prices on the black market.

'Satanic Verses' play premieres in Germany

Al-Arabiya -- The play, adapted from Rushdie's 1988 book, was reworked for the stage by the manager of the Hans Otto Theatre in the eastern city of Potsdam, Uwe Eric Laufenberg, and dramatist Marcus Mislin.Amid heavy media coverage of the upcoming premiere, the general secretary of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, urged followers of Islam to remain calm over the staging of the play and engage in a "critical and constructive dialogue" about the issues it raises.But he also questioned whether the play might go too far.

Gates of Vienna -- Look at those traditional English public school pupils down on their knees on the carpet, all decked out in their school uniforms, the girls properly veiled. Then over they go! Foreheads on the floor, just like good Muslims.

Damascus lines its borders with troops ahead of semi-boycotted Arab summit

DEBKA -- Yemen and Jordan sent junior representatives, following the lead of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco and Oman. Lebanon boycotted the meeting in protest against Syrian “meddling” which has deprived the country of a president since November. Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki was too busy with his offensive against fellow Shiites in Basra. But Baghdad sent its Shiite Arab vice president Adil Abdul-Mahdi. Iran sent FM Manouchehr Mottaki after backing away from Syria’s original plan to invite its president.
Syrian president Bashar Assad has inexplicably responded to the partial boycott of the Arab League “summit” by lining up army units on his borders with Iraq, Lebanon and Israel, as well as pushing contingents across the border into Lebanon proper.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources report that a group of Syrian armored divisions has been posted along the Beirut-Damascus highway at Zabadani, under the command of the president’s younger brother, Maher Assad, commander of the presidential guard.
Last Monday, DEBKAfile’s military sources revealed that the bulk of Palestinian terrorist forces under Syrian and Iranian command had been shifted out of the Damascus area and sent into Lebanon too, taking up battle positions in the Beqaa Valley.
Another 10,000 Syrian troops have been positioned at Kurdish centers along the Iraqi border following last week’s riots in Qamishli on the Kurdish New Year, in which several Kurds were killed.

Tribute

Retired Kuwaiti pop star joins al-Qaeda

Jihad Watch -- Hussein al-Ahmad, who was until recently one of the Gulf’s most famous pop stars, decided to join “his Mujahideen brothers in Afghanistan to support Islam and fight alongside his fellow Muslims in al-Qaeda”, reported Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai.
He says: “I then informed my family and friends that I would retire from the dark world of sin (singing). Since then, my job has been to warn against arts and their sinful atmosphere.”

Indians ‘involved’ in missile technology smuggling

Dawn -- An employee of the Indian Embassy in Washington and Indian government agencies conspired with an Indian businessman to obtain secret weapons technology from US companies, the US Justice Department said. The technology they tried to smuggle to India included microprocessors and electronic components used in the development of ballistic missiles, space launch vehicles and fighter jets.
The businessman, Parthasarathy Sudarshan, entered a guilty plea in a federal court in Washington, admitting that he was part of the arms conspiracy.The plea suggests that the Indian government violated a ‘pledge’ made in 2004 that it would not try to bypass US export-control laws and regulations imposed after India tested a nuclear weapon in 1998.
Documents by the Justice Department showed that Mr Sudarshan worked closely with an Indian Embassy employee identified only as “co-conspirator A”.

Israel Air Force may buy vertical-takeoff planes to dodge Hizballah-Hamas rockets

Debka -- Israel’s southern and northern air bases have come within range of rockets from Hizballah in Lebanon and Hamas from the Gaza Strip, respectively, and possibly from the West Bank too. Air landings and takeoffs have therefore become hazardous. Israeli air bases and installations have been fortified against Palestinian rocket attack from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
This information has been kept from the Israeli public as the Olmert government continues to avoid proactive options for knocking out the increasingly dangerous Hamas and Hizballah’s rocket capabilities - boosted by Iran, and remains fixed in defensive mode. This fixation is not lost on Iranian, Syrian, Hizballah and Hamas in charting their assault scenarios against Israel.

Applying for NRA?

Qaeda says Austrian hostages have a week more

Reuters -- An al Qaeda affiliate holding two captured Austrians has extended by one week, to midnight on Sunday, its deadline for Austria to meet its demands, according to an Internet posting monitored on Monday.
Austria had said on Sunday the deadline had been extended for an unspecified time.
The U.S.-based terrorism monitoring service SITE Institute said Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb posted the note to Jihadist forums.
In a SITE translation, the group said the extension was "the final opportunity from the Mujahideen to absolve their responsibility before the families of the two hostages and the Austrian people, and to allow adequate time for the state of Austria to respond to the legitimate demands."

Palestinian stabs rabbi in Arab East Jerusalem

Reuters -- The Zaka emergency service said he was walking with a bodyguard in Jerusalem's walled Old City, where his seminary is located, when he was attacked. The bodyguard gave chase but the attacker escaped, leaving behind a blood-stained knife.
The rabbi, 49, was stabbed in the neck.

Mexico's indigenous minority converting to Islam

"I fought for my land against the US. Now I fight alongside them"

Times Online -- As a loyal officer under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi major never imagined that one day he would become an insurgent, but when Iraq fell five years ago he was left bitter, jobless and desperate to drive the invading forces out.
“I saw my country collapse right in front of my eyes,” said Abu Abdullah, who has since orchestrated countless attacks against the US military, spent time in the notorious Abu Ghraib detention centre and briefly joined forces with al-Qaeda.
Recalling the invasion, he told The Times: “I felt as though my freedom was being snatched from me. It was one of the darkest moments of my life.”

He, like many Sunni Arab officers and other Saddam supporters, resorted to guerrilla warfare to kill better-equipped US soldiers but gradually found that his nationalistic resistance had fallen under the control of the militant Islamists of al-Qaeda. Appalled at the cruelty of attacks sponsored by al-Qaeda, Mr Abdullah switched sides recently and is cooperating, albeit reluctantly, with the US military as part of a grassroots security drive that has spread across Iraq. More...

Al Dura - What Really Happened?

Chinese Security Forces Swarm Tibet

My Way News -- Soldiers on foot and in armored carriers swarmed Tibet's capital Saturday, enforcing a strict curfew a day after protesters burned shops and cars to vent their anger against Chinese rule.
In the Tibetan capital Lhasa on Saturday, police manned checkpoints and armored personnel carriers rattled on mostly empty streets. One Westerner who went to a rooftop in Lhasa's old city said he saw troops with automatic rifles moving through the streets firing, though did not see anyone shot.
There are military blockades blocking off whole portions of the city, and the entire city is basically closed down," said a 23-year-old Canadian student who arrived in Lhasa on Saturday and who was making plans to leave.
Preparing the public for tough measures, state-run television on the evening newscast showed footage of red-robed monks battering bus signs and Tibetans in street clothes hurling rocks and smashing shop windows as smoke billowed across Lhasa.

Hillary supporters boycotting Kos

Terror Net 2.0: Online 'Media Jihad'

Threats Watch -- Pay special attention to points 4, 8 and 9 as translated by MEMRI from an online posting of instructions for conducting ‘media jihad.’

4. Find out where you can purchase weapons, especially small ones that can be easily concealed. Buy as many as you can, but not more! Keep [the weapons] hidden… Do not take them out [of their hiding place] under any circumstances, until it is time…
5. Stay away from demonstrations… Know that demonstrations are held for one purpose only: in order to give citizens the feeling that they have done something significant, when [in fact] they haven’t. The only exception is violent demonstrations, which provide an opportunity to use the weapon…
7. Do not be too quick to judge people or things with which you are not familiar, the way some foolish people [judge] Al-Qaeda…
8. Do not wait for a call from an Islamic group like Al-Qaeda… so you [can] begin to receive orders and act. Act on your own, starting today. Create a secret media jihad cell… which will be ready to become operational at any moment, and will be like a time bomb [concealed] in your home, [waiting to strike] the enemies of Allah.9. When the day comes on which you can set forth [and fight] for the sake of Allah, do not waste [even] a second. Seek to be among those who carry out martyrdom operations…

Islam for Kids

Via Infidels are cool

New Religious City in Israel: Modiin Illit

Arutz Sheva -- Modiin Illit, popularly known as Kiryat Sefer, is now a city, having been granted approval by the Interior Minister and IDF Central Commander. The new city is virtually all-hareidi, along the lines of Beitar Illit and Elad. Located some 25 kilometers east of Tel Aviv, it straddles the Green Line border between pre- and post-'67 Israel, though most of it is well within the Samaria (Shomron) area. For this reason, its change in status required the consent of IDF Central Commander Gen. Gadi Shamni.
Mayor Rabbi Yaakov Guterman said, "Our city is considered Israel's third-largest Torah center [after Jerusalem and Bnei Brak - ed.], and is a drawing card for Torah institutions. It has long functioned as a city, and now it has received an official stamp of approval... Its great merit lies in its Torah scholars and the Torah and Hassidut insitutions that grace its streets."

Kiryat Sefer existed as a flourishing Jewish village during the Second Temple period, 2,000 years ago. It was abandoned when the Romans destroyed the Temple and the Jewish commonwealth in 66-70 C.E, was later briefly resettled, and was totally destroyed during the Roman suppression of the Bar-Kokhba Rebellion in the 130's C.E.

The city today numbers over 36,000 people.

Camera on Apache helicopter

Laos 'lost tribe' in plea for help

Al Jazeera's correspondent Tony Birtley travelled in secret to the jungles of northern Laos in search of the last fighters of the CIA's "secret army", a remnant from the days of the Vietnam War. This is his account of his journey. More...

Germany's First Suicide Bomber?

Russia Amps Up Support for Two Georgian Breakaway Regions

NYSun -- Russia withdrew its support for weapons sanctions against Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which are seeking independence from Georgia. The prospect of Russia sending arms to its allies in those regions is "most alarming," the American ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, told reporters.
Moscow also made clear yesterday that it would provide more support to two regions if Georgia becomes a member of NATO. "As soon as Georgia gets some kind of prospect from Washington of NATO membership, the next day the process of real secession of these two territories from Georgia will begin," the Russian ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said, Reuters reported.

Mumbai police: Jihadists intended to target stock exchange, atomic research center

Jihad Watch -- The Pune and Mumbai anti-terrorist units carried out the joint operation after intelligence reports emanated that two Islamic terrorists of Bangladeshi origin had crossed the border into India and entered the financial capital, Mumbai with a plan to strike at sensitive installations.
The Bombay Stock Exchange was among the 12 places where RDX-triggered bombs exploded on March 12, 1993. The 14-year trial wound up last July.

Priest attacked in church... in London!

God Help Britain -- A priest has been attacked in the grounds of his church, in what police described as a "faith-hate" crime. Canon Michael Ainsworth, 57, was injured by two Asian youths at the church, in Tower Hamlets, east London. Canon Ainsworth said a third youth watched as he suffered cuts, bruises and black eyes in the assault at the church of St George-in-the-East.

Rioting and fires in Tibet

UPDATE: Tibetan exile group says about 100 protesters killed in Tibet

Saddam supported at least two al-Qaeda groups: Pentagon

Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced that an investigation into over 600,000 documents captured at the end of the invasion of Iraq showed no operational links to al-Qaeda — or at least, that’s how the media reported it. After a strange few days in which the Pentagon delayed the report, it finally hit the internet last night — and it’s clear that the analysis done by the media was superficial at best. If no operational “smoking gun” could be found, the report still shows that Saddam Hussein had plenty of ties to all sorts of terrorist groups, including radical Islamist jihadis.
For instance, how about their support for The Army of Muhammad, a known al-Qaeda subsidiary operating in Bahrain? On pages 34-35 of the report, we find communications between their Bahrain agent and IIS headquarters confirming Army of Mohammad’s loyalty to Osama bin Laden. What is the response from Baghdad? More

Captured Taliban

Acid Attack On Two Turkish Girls For Wearing Short Skirts

Christians Under Attack -- A high school senior and an elementary school student were attacked in the Mediterranean town of Mersin (Turkey) with strong acid spray. In two separate incidents within the same hour both girlswere approached from behind by a group of young men who commented on the length of their skirts and told them it was too short. The girls were sprayed with acidic substance that burnt and melted their stockings and caused deep lacerations on the back of their legs. The girls were treated in the hospital. The police is searching for the culprits that are believed to be the same ones, in both incidents.
According to media reports, uncovered women in Mersin, who wear shorter length skirts, are in fear of similar attacks.

Via Atlas Shrugs

Has Israel Lost the Will to Live?

I have written a great deal about the anti-Semitic psychopathology of the Palestinians. I have described their illness as self defeating and self-destructive. I have pointed out that every nation that has attempted to destroy the Jews has failed and been destroyed in turn. I have also written about the dangerous fecklessness of the Israeli government and the Israeli Left, which believes that, against all historical evidence, this time the Palestinians really are committed to Peace. The evidence to the contrary continues to accrete, yet Palestinian genocidal threats, and similar threats from their supporters in Iran, Hezbollah, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, et al, fall on deaf ears. This is all well documented and dispiriting.Yet recently an additional suspicion has been insinuating itself into my awareness. It is much more troubling and my initial reaction is to dismiss the notion; yet even the most disturbing ideas must be examined and considered if the worst is to be avoided...

Via Gates of Vienna

Mohamed Shehadeh's last interview - surrounded by children as human shields.

Besieged Iraqi Christians Need A Safe Haven

AINA -- The best thing the church worldwide can do for Iraq's beleaguered Christians is support a push for a secure province for the community. A province in the north of the country -- the original homeland of Assyrians is a rural area near Mosul known as the Nineveh plain -- would provide the protection needed to persuade those many Christians who have left Iraq to return home, said Ken Joseph.
Joseph, an ethnic Assyrian, commented after the body of an archbishop was found in Mosul on Thursday, less than two weeks after gunmen abducted him at his church and killed three men with him. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed al-Qaeda and said his government was committed to protecting Christians.
Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, is the most senior Iraqi Christian to have been killed in what many believe is a concerted effort by Islamic extremists to drive Christians, a mere three percent of the population, from the country.
Iraqi Christians are being targeted by jihadists who "seek to drive them from their ancestral homes and create a pure Islamic caliphate," said Faith McConnell, director of the Institute on Religion and Democracy's religious liberty programs.

Iraq pictures

Hamas admits that its fighters are trained in Iran

Iran Press News -- A senior commander interviewed by The Sunday Times said 300 of the group’s “best brains” had been secretly sent to Tehran.
Half are still being trained by Revolutionary Guards. They are learning how to make explosives from everyday items and produce deadlier rockets.
The rest have already returned from a Revolutionary Guard base in Tehran. Some have been trained as snipers. Others have learnt to use tunnels in attacks on Israeli forces.
“Iran is our mother,” the commander said. “She gives us information, military supplies and financial support.”
Seven separate groups of Hamas militants have spent up to six months in Tehran since the training began in 2005.

Egyptian cleric urges bin Laden to surrender

AKI - The Egyptian cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who is also a preacher on the Arab satellite television network Al Jazeera, has called on al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to surrender.
"I ask Osama bin Laden to surrender and to hand himself over to an international tribunal in order to respond to the charge that he ordered the attacks of September 11," said al-Qaradawi in an interview with the Arab newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat.
According to the well-known Muslim scholar, it is still not established "in a definitive way by the American secret services in their reports," of bin Laden's responsibility in the attacks that occurred in New York and Washington in 2001.
For this reason, he calls on bin Laden to surrender and allow himself to be judged.

Conservative Dutch Politician Fights to Air ‘Anti-Islam’ Documentary

Erdogan says German Turks scared

Reuters - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in a newspaper on Thursday that his relatives in Germany fear for their safety and criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel for backing out of an event with Turks last month.
Asked by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper about a house fire last month that killed nine people of Turkish origin in Ludwigshafen, Erdogan said he had seen Nazi symbols on the door of the house during a subsequent visit to the site.

Blackanthem - U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Joseph Aton clears a B-1B Lancer to drop six 500-pound GBU-38 bombs onto an al-Qaeda in Iraq torture house and prison in northern Zambraniyah, Iraq, March 10. Aton is a Joint Terminal Attack Controller, from Fort Hood, Texas, and is deployed with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Andy Dunaway)

Swedish Embassy in Syria Accused of Taking Bribes From Iraqi Refugees

AINA - Iraqi asylum seekers in Syria have been tricked into believing that they can bribe their way to a better place in line in the queue to the Swedish embassy. The first time I came across these falsifications, was when Marie-Jeanette Löfgren and I produced two documentaries for the program Kaliber on SR (the Swedish state owned radio station). Already on the second day after we landed in Syria, September 2007, I asked Chatarina Kipp, the Swedish ambassador in Syrian's capital city Damascus, if she had heard of the bribes. She dismissed it as rumour and hearsay. Yet a translator who has the pavement outside of the Swedish embassy as his office, claimed that it is true and that I only needed to sit with him for an hour before some of the Iraqis, who were extremely frustrated, would tell me about the bribes. More...

American jailed for attempted Iran weapons deal

Seyed Mostafa Maghloubi, 50, was arrested in early 2007 by police acting on a tip-off and pleaded guilty last August to violating the US trade embargo against Iran.
Prosecutors said Maghloubi admitted trying to buy up to 100,000 Uzi submachine guns and night-vision goggles, which he wanted to export to Iran through Dubai.
A Los Angeles court jailed Maghloubi for three years and five months.

Protests in Tibet, tear gas fired

Breitbart - Radio Free Asia said that up to 600 monks marched to a police station in Lhasa on Tuesday, demanding the release of fellow clerics who were arrested in previous demonstrations.
The report said the monks were surrounded by about 2,000 security personnel who used tear gas to try to disperse the demonstrators.
The monks returned to their monastery at 9:30 p.m. after staging a sit-down protest near the police station, the report said. It did not say if any of the monks was arrested or injured.

A government spokesman said police stopped an illegal march into the city by monks and broke up a small independence demonstration in the center of Lhasa, but no arrests were made.

UPDATE: Deaths reported in Tibet protests

The Global Implications of China's Military Expansion

The Tank - The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is pursuing comprehensive transformation from a mass army designed for protracted wars of attrition on its territory to one capable of fighting and winning shortduration, high intensity conflicts along its periphery against high-tech adversaries – an approach that China refers to as preparing for "local wars under conditions of informatization."
China's near-term focus on preparing for contingencies in the Taiwan Strait. However, analysis of China's military acquisitions and strategic thinking suggests Beijing is also developing capabilities for use in other contingencies, such as conflict over resources or disputed territories.

Austrian captives taken to Mali

Two Austrian tourists abducted in Tunisia and believed to be held by al Qaeda's north Africa wing have been moved by the kidnappers to Mali, an Algerian newspaper said on its Web site.
Ennahar quoted sources as saying the couple had been taken across the Sahara desert by an armed group from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and reached the Sahel region after a four day journey through the area between Algeria and Libya.
"Ennahar obtained information that the group has already returned to its bases in the Sahel on the territory of the republic of Mali," said the site.
Analysts said the fact the kidnappers had announced the abduction suggested they were ready to negotiate and pointed out that the group had seized hostages to raise money in the past.

Update: Al-Qaeda posts photo of Austrian hostages and issues ultimatum

Mohamed Sifaoui: "I Consider Islamism to Be Fascism"

Detained Blogger’s Daughter Calls Him on YouTube

Via Arab News

Nazi Landmines Block Egypt's Access to Oil and Gas

Egypt is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. The unexploded ordnance left lying in its desert from World War II battles ranks the country right up there with Afghanistan on this dubious list. Every year, Bedouins and farmers come across unexploded mines and shells, and it's not uncommon for undiscovered bombs to explode amid retrieved scrap metal. More...

Al-Qaida supporters lash out at Taliban for straying from global jihad

JPost - Al-Qaida supporters on the Web have unleashed an unprecedented flood of criticism of Afghanistan's Taliban, once seen by extremists as the model of an Islamic state.
Now extremists accuse the Taliban of straying from the path of global jihad after its leader Mullah Omar issued a statement saying he seeks good relations with the world and even sympathizes with Shi'ite Iran.
"This is the worst statement I have ever read ... the disaster of defending the (Iranian) regime is on par with the Crusaders in Afghanistan and Iraq," wrote poster Miskeen, whose name translates literally as "the wretched" and who is labeled as one of the more influential writers on an al-Qaida linked Web site.

A woman walks past a poster featuring portraits of (L-R) Israeli military intelligence chief General Amos Yedlin, Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Defence Minister Ehud Barak during an anti-Israeli ceremony in Tehran. Iranian hardline students have offered rewards totalling a million dollars for the “execution” of the three Israeli military leaders.

Via Little Green Footballs

Iran Unveils Hezbollah Commander Stamp

Iran issued a stamp in commemoration of a top Hezbollah commander wanted by the U.S. who was killed in a car bombing in Syria last month, the official news agency IRNA reported.
The stamp, which features a smiling picture of Imad Mughniyeh wearing a military uniform, was unveiled at a ceremony attended by Iran's minister of post and communication, Mohammad Soleimani, and Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, former chief of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards.

Grand Ayatollah Montazeri attacks Ahmadinejad - 'We have lost international trust'

Montazeri, who is married to the sister of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Musawi Khomeini - the leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, presided over the commission which drafted the Iranian constitution.

Although he was considered the natural heir to Ayatollah Khomeini, Montazeri was "disinherited" by his brother-in-law and was instead placed under house arrest, up until four years ago, for having criticised the repressive actions in the middle of the 1980s.

Montazeri stressed that "all governments and people have to have access to technology and nuclear energy." More...

Al Farris looks like a model Soviet city up close and a rounded square from the sky. Saddam Hussein built it to house workers in the now-defunct weapons factory to the east, and they live in neighborhoods called City 1, City 2, City 3, City 4, and City 5.

Yeshiva Teacher: Students Coping With Tragedy

Following last week's terrorist rampage that left eight innocent teenagers dead, many people in the media have asked if the murderer succeeded in "breaking" the souls of those kids who survived the tragedy. To be sure, friends and colleagues of the latest victims of Arab violence will need love and strength to deal with the tragedy, but one of their teachers said those who say the attack "broke" the yeshiva simply do not know the flagship home of religious Zionism.

American Muslims Celebrating the Massacre of Jews: Video

Syria 'intensely' arming itself

Syria is in the midst of "intensely" arming itself, placing into position rockets and missiles capable of striking the entire Jewish state, according to an assessment presented to the Knesset today by multiple Israeli security agencies.
Syria, aided by Russia and Iran, has been furiously acquiring rockets and missiles, including projectiles capable of hitting any point in Israel. The officials listed anti-tank, anti-aircraft and ballistic missiles as some of the arms procured by Syria.
According to Israeli and Jordanian officials, Syria recently quietly struck a deal with Russia that allows Moscow to station submarines and war boats off Syrian ports. In exchange, Russia is supplying Syria with weaponry at lower costs, with some of the missiles and rockets being financed by Iran."The Iranians opened an extended credit line with Russia for Syria with the purpose of arming Syria," said one Jordanian security official.
"Russia's involvement and strategic positioning is almost like a return to its Cold War stance," the official said. More

Israel places Lebanese, Syrian, Gaza borders, its cities and highways on high terror alert

Israeli intelligence has warned that in the interim Hamas and Jihad Islami would make every effort to ignite the Gaza front in order to unite the Arab rulers behind a dramatic Arab resolution in support of the Palestinian Islamists. This tactic would transfer the Gaza issue’s center of gravity from Cairo, which is brokering a Hamas-Israel ceasefire deal, to radical Damascus.
Egged on by Syria and Iran, Hamas keeps on stalling this track and raising its demands.
the coming Arab League summit will for the first time host an Iranian head of state. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be seated beside Syrian president Bashar Assad as guest of honor to parade the Tehran-Damascus axis’ pre-eminent role in Arab Middle East affairs, with Iran setting the pace. More...

32,000 Former Officers In Saddam's Army Join New Iraq Army

Alqaeda Launching Mortars

Obama's Syrian Connection

Most politicians try to keep their financial backers un-indicted until after the election. But Obama’s biggest early sponsor, dual U.S.-Syrian citizen Antoin ‘Tony’ Rezko, is already indicted by a federal grand jury. Now he is going to trial in a Chicago federal court.
Rezko, along with co-defendants Ali Ata and Abdelhamid Chaib, face federal grand jury charges presented in October 2006 by the U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald. The case revolves around allegations of fraud between 2000 and 2004 in the sale of 17 Papa Johns’ Pizza parlors in Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee. The case may begin with pizza, but it leads to Europe, Syria, Iraq, and the UN Oil for Food program. More...

Hezbollah, Hamas & Fatah Co.

The Jerusalem shooting massacre that left eight Jewish seminary students dead yesterday was planned on behalf of the Hezbollah terrorist group by an activist from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah organization, according to senior Israeli and Palestinian security officials speaking to WND.
Israel, coordinating with Palestinian intelligence services, has specific information the bloody massacre was financed by Hezbollah and was planned in the West Bank city of Bethlehem by Muhammad Shehadi, a Fatah activist who ran as a Fatah candidate but lost in the 2006 Palestinian elections.
The attack reportedly was carried out by an Arab who worked as a driver at the rabbinical seminary and lived in the Jerusalem village of Jable al-Mujabre.

World Net Daily via Infidels are Cool

Turkey’s army chief warns Pakistan’s nuclear arms could fall into Taliban hands

DEBKA - Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, the Turkish chief of staff, said if President Pervez Musharraf lost his grip, Pakistan could fall into Taliban hands and a terrorist organization gain control of nuclear arms for the first time. The general was addressing an international terrorism conference in Ankara Monday, March 10. Sunday, the two parties in opposition to Musharraf forged a power-sharing alliance to govern Pakistan, vowing to evict him from the presidency. Islamist groups have also stepped up their attacks since the Feb. 18 general election.

Who leaked the details of a CIA-Mossad plot against Iran?

James Risen, The New York Times reporter for national security and intelligence affairs, has been asked to testify as part of an investigation aimed at revealing who leaked apparently confidential information about the planning of secret Central Intelligence Agency and Mossad missions concerning Iran's nuclear program.
Risen included this information in his book, "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration," which was published in 2006. In the book, he discusses a number of ideas which he says were thought up jointly by CIA and Mossad operatives to sabotage Iran's nuclear capabilities.
One of these ideas was to build electromagnetic devices, smuggling them inside Iran to sabotage electricity lines leading to the country's central nuclear sites. According to the plan, the operation was supposed to cause a series of chain reactions which would damage extremely powerful short circuits in the electrical supply that would have led to failures of the super computers of Iran's nuclear sites.

Israeli students were shot dead by this man, identified as Alaa Abu Dheim.

Via aljazeera

illegal inmigrants arrested for leaving

Three illegal immigrants have been found stowed away on a lorry in Dover which was heading for France. They are now going to cost the tax payer money due to being processed and it is not definite that they will be forced to leave.

Via God Help Britain

Unrest in Shiraz University

For nearly two weeks, Shiraz University in central Iran has been paralyzed by a student demonstration that refuses to die and appears to be encouraging an atmosphere of protest on campuses around the country.

Shiraz students rising up and rebelling against Sadeghi, a former Revolutionary Guard Corps commander who was personally appointed by Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in an effort to crack down on campuses and rid them of non-Islamic influences.

The angry students are chafing at the restrictive environment on campus in which campus guards are permitted to enter their dorm rooms without any prior warning.

Via Kamangir

More Jewish residents attacked

For the second time in the past several months, there have been a string of assaults on members of the Orthodox Jewish community in southern Oakland County, prompting residents to once again meet with city officials to formulate a plan to stop the attacks.
Police said they believe teens committed the assaults, but no one has been arrested in either community. The incidents have prompted police in both cities to increase patrols in neighborhoods with heavy Orthodox populations.
Southfield Police Chief Joseph Thomas said there's no indication that the assaults last week were hate crimes, but added that the violent behavior has the department concerned.

A time to fight, a time to read.

MI5 targets four Met police officers 'working as Al Qaeda Spies'

Four police officers in Britain's top force are reportedly under close secret service surveillance after being identified as Al Qaeda spies, it emerged today.
MI5 are said to have homed in on the the “sleeper” agents passing secrets from Scotland Yard to the terror group only in recent weeks.
The suspected spies are believed to have used methods similar to those employed by the IRA in the 1970s as they infiltrated the police and the Army in Northern Ireland.
All four are understood to be Asians living in London and are feared to have links both with Islamic extremists in Britain and worldwide terror groups - including al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
MI5 chiefs reportedly believe the suspected moles have been planted as sleepers - agents under deep cover - to keep al-Qaeda informed of anti-terror raids planned by London's Metropolitan Police.

Hamas placed children on rooftops as human shields preventing Israeli attack on Qassam workshops and warehouses

Yediot Ahronot correspondent Itamar Eichner reports in today's edition that an officer in Israeli Military Intelligence revealed in a briefing by FM Livni to foreign ambassadors that "before the IDF attacks Qassam workshops or warehouses it distributes flyers asking the residents to evacuate the area. But Hamas exploits the flyers and places small children on the rooftops in order to foil the attacks. And thus because of this trick the IDF is forced to halt many such bombings at the last moment."
"We are working with our hands tied because of all these laws and because we are part of the free world and because this is part of our values," FM Livni said.

Via Jihad Watch

Rally Against CAIR 2008 - CAIR Comes Clean on Hamas

Now The Fun Begins With Russia Over Bout's Arrest

It did not take the Russian government long to the Russian government friends and lawyers for the recently-arrested Viktor Boutto begin working to protect him again.
The tactic now is to seek the extradition of Bout, arrested in Thailand in an elaborate sting operation run by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), back to Russia, rather than the United States.
Of course, Bout, who has armed rebels, criminals and terrorists from the Taliban in Afghanistan to the RUF in Sierra Leone to the FARC in Colombia, has always operated under the protection of Russian military intelligence.
Sending him home is setting him free, without ever going to trial. There are no charges against him in Russia. More...

Iranian Lesbian Who Fled to Britain Faces Deportation

An Iranian lesbian who fled to Britain after her girlfriend was arrested and sentenced to death faces being forcibly returned after losing the latest round in her battle to be granted asylum.
The case of Pegah Emambakhsh, 40, comes a day after The Independent reported on the growing public outcry over the plight of a gay Iranian teenager who fears he will be executed if he is deported to Iran. More...

Only interested in dead USA soldiers

Russian plane approaches US carrier

U.S. and South Korean fighter jets scrambled to turn back a Russian reconnaissance aircraft that approached a U.S. aircraft carrier during training exercises.
The Russian plane flew close to the USS Nimitz in waters off South Korea's eastern coast Wednesday, but retreated shortly after the allied warplanes approached, an official at the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
Yonhap news agency quoted an unnamed military official saying two F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters from the carrier and four South Korean F-16 jets were deployed to intercept the Russian plane. More...

A Chavez/Obama Axis?

The government of Colombia says that when it conducted a raid into Ecuador to destroy a terrorist camp there, it seized a laptop that contained a number of communications to and from the "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia."
In a Dec. 11 message to the secretariat, Marquez [FARC's contact with Chavez, who lives in Venezuela] writes: "If you are in agreement, I can receive Jim and Tucker to hear the proposal of the gringos." Writing two days before his death, Reyes [FARC's "foreign minister"] tells his comrades that "the gringos," working through Ecuador's government, are interested "in talking to us on various issues." "They say the new president of their country will be (Barack) Obama," he writes, saying Obama rejects both the Bush administration's free trade agreement with Colombia and the current military aid program.
Reyes writes that his response to the Americans was that the United States would have to publicly express these positions.

Troop Depression on Rise in Afghanistan

U.S. troop morale improved in Iraq last year, but soldiers fighting in Afghanistan suffered more depression as violence there worsened, an Army mental health report says.
And in a recurring theme for a force strained by its seventh year at war, the annual battlefield study found once again that soldiers on their third and fourth tours of duty had sharply greater rates of mental health problems than those on their first or second deployments.

Several Palestinian terrorists open fire at students in Yeshiva

The incident occurred when at least three terrorists entered the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva in the neighborhood of Kiryat Moshe carrying weapons. The terrorists were not wearing a suicide-bomb belt as earlier reported.
The gunmen entered a dining hall where about 80 people were gathered, witnesses said, and opened fire. "There are at least seven killed and 10 people wounded," said Eli Dein, director of Israel's rescue service.
Approximately 50 ambulances were sent to the scene and a 16-year-old boy in serious condition and suffering from chest wounds was seen being evacuated from the scene.
In Gaza City, residents went out into the streets and fired rifles in celebration in the air after hearing news of the attack on the seminary.

Iraqi Christians cling to last, waning refuges

The bullets lay on the desk amid Bibles and rosaries. They're for two pistols owned by Father Ayman Danna.
"The only solution left for our people is to bear arms. We either live or die. We must be strong," says the Syriac Catholic priest at the Church of Saint George in Bartella, a northern Iraqi town in a swath of fertile land called the Nineveh Plain that now has the largest concentration of a dwindling Christian community. More...

Former US Navy sailor convicted on terrorism charges

Abu Jihaad, 32, was arrested in Arizona last year and accused of passing secret information, including the details of a US Navy battle group, to two British nationals from an organization known as Azzam Publications.
Abu Jihaad was stationed in the Middle East aboard the USS Benfold, a guided-missile destroyer in the battle group, and allegedly provided details of its movements as it headed for the Gulf in early 2001.
Hassan Abu Jihaad, born Paul Hall, was found guilty at a district court in New Haven, Connecticut. He is due to be sentenced on May 23 and faces a jail term of up to 25 years.

Cartoon In Bahraini Paper On Israel In Gaza: "Recycling History"

The Memri Blog

War in the Andes?

A new war among Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador would be inevitable this year but for the fact that its main promoter, Hugo Chavez, is having problems trying to make himself heard by his army and his people.
Sunday, in his TV show, he dictated orders to his Minister of Defense to send ten battalions (some 5,000 men) tanks and other weapons to the Colombian border. More than 24 hours later there are no signs that this order has been obeyed and one reason is that there might not be more than three battalions ready to march. Worse for Chavez, an alliance of opposition parties and organizations of civil society, including the student movement, has vigorously rejected his call to arms and has labeled him as a “traitor to the country.” More...

French "Youths" Kidnap & Brutally Torture Another Young Jew

Six youths from the southern Paris suburb of Bagneux, aged 17 to 25, are accused of locking up 19-year-old Mathieu Roumi in a storage room on February 22, beating and sexually tormenting him. More...

Gulf investors may not save Citigroup, Dubai executive says

Sameer Al Ansari, Chief Executive of Dubai International Capital told delegates at a private equity conference that it will take more than the combined efforts of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Kuwait Investment Authority and Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal to save the bank.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, or ADIA, a sovereign wealth fund owned by the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, last year bought a 4.9% stake in Citigroup.
The Kuwait Investment Authority also said in January it would invest $3 billion in Citigroup.
Dubai International Capital, an investment firm controlled by Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, owns a stake in HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA.LN), bought 3.12% in European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co last year. More...

Coalition targets al Qaeda's network in the Iraqi North

Osama bin London

The conviction in London this week of the Muslim fanatic known as “Osama bin London” and five of his followers is a significant blow to Islamist terrorism in the United Kingdom. In one of the biggest anti-terror trials in British history, Mohammed Hamid was found guilty of leading an al-Qaeda inspired terror cell and of running terrorist training camps on British soil with a view to sending recruits on to Afghanistan and East Africa.
According to Britain’s domestic intelligence service, MI5, there are over 2,000 identified al-Qaeda inspired terrorist suspects in the UK, with up to 200 terror networks in operation. In addition, there are an estimated 2,000 unidentified terrorists operating in Britain, giving a total of up to 4,000 al-Qaeda linked operatives based in the United Kingdom.

Qaradawi, Mughyiah and Qutb

In a recent letter to the leader of Hezbollah from the International Union of Islamic Scholars, led by al-Qaradawi and published on the organization's official website, declares Imad Mugnhniyah a martyred hero to be revered:

Truly, we are deeply sorry fo the death of the martyred hero and our sadness can only be paralleled with our joy that Almighty Allah selected him to be a martyr; granting him a status that is only attained by those who have been true to their covenant with Allah (they have gone out for Jihad), of them some have fulfilled their obligations (have been martyred), and some of them are still waiting, but they have never changed (betrayed their covenant) in the least.

Via Counterterrorism Blog

Muslim teachers TV interview in a BURKA

Release of New Book by Ayman Al-Zawahiri

On March 2, 2008, jihad websites, including Al-Ikhlas, posted a new 188-page book by Al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri. The book, titled A Treatise Exonerating the Nation of the Pen and the Sword from the Blemish of the Accusation of Weakness and Fatigue, is a polemical defense of Al-Qaeda against its most prominent Islamist critic, the imprisoned jihadist Sheikh Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif.
Sayyed Imam is one of Al-Zawahiri's oldest associates in the jihad movement and is considered one of jihadism's most influential scholars. He is the author of a shari'a guide to jihad that was used in training camps in Afghanistan. The central argument of his recently published Document of Right Guidance for Jihad Activity in Egypt and the World is that jihad should only be undertaken when there is ability to do so, and that Islamist groups today cannot be considered to be in a state of ability. It is to this argument that the title of Al-Zawahiri's book refers.
The Treatise Exonerating the Nation is of great importance for two reasons. First, it is, in effect, an official statement of Al-Qaeda's positions and of the Islamic legal justifications it provides for its activities.
Second, Al-Qaeda's decision to publish such a work is strong evidence that it is deeply worried that radical Islamists could be influenced by Sayyed Imam and abandon the jihad. More...

The Psychological Asymmetry of Islamist Warfare

U.S. military lawyers acknowledge that "civilians may not be used … to render an area immune from military operations… [or] to shield a defensive position, to hide military objectives, or to screen an attack. Neither may they be forced to leave their homes or shelters in order to disrupt the movement of an adversary." Such restraint is not unique to the United States but also extends to Europe, Israel, and in the post-World War II era, many Asian countries as well. Increasingly, though, Israel's Arab foes and Islamist groups discount such constraints in order to seek psychological advantage against technologically superior foes. Western governments are challenged today by an enemy whose behavior is inspired by theological doctrines that not only disregard the Western concept of ethical combat but for whom the killing of civilians—on both sides of a conflict—also serves a vital purpose.
Policymakers and military officials often discuss asymmetrical warfare in the context of strategies weak states or terrorist groups adopt to confront stronger military powers.
The ideology of Islamism has created a paradoxical form of asymmetric advantage for terror groups and states: By rejecting the entire Western concept of the rules of war, Islamist groups turn the adherence of Western military powers to restrictions on battlefield conduct. More...

Muqtada Al-Sadr Comatose In Iranian Hospital

Shi'ite cleric and leader Muqtada Al-Sadr was secretly transferred a few days ago from Iraq to Iran for hospitalization as he was comatose.
It was reported that his illness resulted from food poisoning.
Al-Sadr is being treated by Iranian specialists, as well as by Russian doctors brought in to help the Iranian medical staff treat him.

Via The Memri Blog

Long-range rockets fired from Gaza are Iranian: Israel army

A senior military intelligence official said that over 20 Katyusha-type rockets, also known as Grad, were fired against Israel since last Thursday. "We are talking about regular Iranian-made rockets," an official quoted the intelligence official as saying.
The 122-millimetre rockets have a range of about 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) and carry a large payload which caused heavy damage to buildings in the southern coastal town of Ashkelon, which bore the brunt of the Grad rocket fire.
Israel believes that over 100 such rockets were smuggled into the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip through its porous border with Egypt in recent months following the Hamas violent takeover of the territory.

Marines Push Brainpower Over Firepower

Dichter: Human Shields for Terrorists are Also Terrorists

Arutz Sheva - "We are creating an atmosphere of ghost towns with our own hands, with our own policy," Minister for Public Security, Avi Dichter, told the cabinet Sunday. "The terrorists, unlike the IDF soldiers and the citizens of Israel, are a perishable product, that is to be stopped and killed," he said. "In a state of war with a terror entity we must not shirk from hitting terrorists who try to carry out a terror attack from within an envelope of civilians. Civilians who provide a human shield for terrorists are terrorists, plain and simple."

"The citizens of Israel are not a perishable product, neither physically nor mentally. I expect you to instruct the IDF to completely stop the rocket fire at Israel, at any cost," the former head of the Shabak (General Security Service) told Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

(Near) Lynching israelis in Jerusalem: video

Harvard Sets Women-Only Hours for Gym, Complying With Muslim Students' Request

Ola Aljawhary, a student and a member of the Harvard Islamic Society, said the women-only gym is needed. "These hours are necessary because there is a segment of the Harvard female population that is not found in gyms, not because they don't want to work out, but because for them working out in a co-ed gym is uncomfortable, awkward or problematic in some way," she told Boston University's Daily Free Press.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in Washington D.C., said modesty may prevent some Muslim women from exercising in a co-ed environment.
"If the women are dressed in a manner that makes it more comfortable to exercise, they may not feel it’s appropriate for them to be viewed by men in that particular attire," he said.

Americans Fire Missiles Into Somalia

NYT - Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman in Washington, said the target was a “known Al Qaeda terrorist,” and another American military official said the attack was carried out with at least two Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from a submarine.

New attack drone prototype

Via Hot Air

Russian Money Wins the Battle for Grozny

Even at temperatures of minus 6 degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit), workers are to be seen on the scaffolds of innumerable construction sites. Schools and hospitals are being built, and in the city center, the evening sun reflects off the windows of futuristic-looking apartment buildings.
The Chechen state university once again has around 16,000 students who are studying towards some 70 different professions. Russian cell phone providers are tapping into the Chechen market, promoting a calling plan that parents can use around the clock to reassure themselves that their children are well. Companies are courting customers who, just a few years ago, camped out in the cellars of a ruined wasteland. At long last, civilian life is returning to Grozny. More...

Message of Armenian President Robert Kocharian To The People

In order to prevent the immediate threat to the constitutional order in the Republic of Armenia and for the purpose of protecting the rights and legal interests of the population, I consulted with the Chairman of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister, after which I signed a decree guided by point 14 of Article 55 and point 6 of Article 117 of the Republic of Armenia Constitution, whereby a state of emergency is declared in the city of Yerevan from March 1, 2008, for a period of 20 days.
The following measures are foreseen by the state of emergency.
1) Ban on holding meetings, public rallies, demonstrations, marches, and other mass events.
2) Ban on strikes and measures to stop or otherwise suspend the activities of organizations.
3) If necessary, restriction by law-enforcement bodies of the movement of individuals, means of transportation, and implementation of inspection.
4) Publications of mass media concerning state and internal political issues can be implemented solely within the limits of the official information of state bodies.
5) Ban on leaflets and implementation of political propaganda by other means without permission of corresponding state bodies.
6) Temporary suspension of the activities of political parties and other nongovernmental organizations obstructing the removal of the circumstances serving as a basis for the declaration of the state of emergency.
7) Expulsion of individuals who break the regime of the state of emergency and not residing in a given territory at the expense of their means, and if they don’t have means – at the expense of the means of the Republic of Armenia state budget on the condition of the further return of the expenses made.
I urge all to show restraint and wisdom. Under this situation it is more than ever necessary to show consolidation, to implement the requirements of the law without deviation. I assure that the state of emergency will stop immediately after the circumstances serving as a basis for it are removed.

Via Radio Free Europe - Radio Liberty

Egyptian Chopper Strays Over Gaza

The pilot of an Egyptian helicopter lost in the fog found himself over the Gaza Strip and under fire from Hamas militants Monday until Israeli warplanes escorted his aircraft back across the border.
Hamas mistook the Egyptian aircraft for an Apache attack helicopter used by Israel in airstrikes and tried to shoot it down. The Israeli military said its radar picked up an unidentified aircraft crossing into Gaza airspace, which Israel controls. Fearing an attack, Israel scrambled jet fighters to investigate. After a few tense minutes, Israeli radio operators contacted the pilot, who said he had lost his way.
An Egyptian security official said the aircraft belonged to an oil company, while an Israeli defense official said it was a military helicopter.

A man to emulate

Jesus was a religious leader.
Muhammad was religious leader and a military leader.

Jesus never killed anyone.
Muhammad killed an estimated 3,000 people, including beheading 700 Jews of the Banu Qurayza tribe in Medina.

Jesus never owned slaves.
Muhammad received a fifth of the prisoners taken in battle, including women. (Sura 8:41)

Jesus never married.
Muhammad had many wives.

Jesus never forced followers to continue believing. After Jesus made a difficult saying, "many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then Jesus said to the twelve, 'Will ye also go away?' Then Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.'" (John 6:31-69)
Muhammad forced followers to continue believing, "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him." (Hadith al-Bukhari, Vol. 9, Bk. 84, No. 57)

And more

The Iraqi Economy: From Shocks to Take-off?

Katyushas on Ashkelon: Not all children are palestinians.

Gunmen have destroyed two mobile telephone towers in southern Afghanistan, a police officer said on Sunday, after Taliban insurgents warned operators to shut networks at night or face attacks.
The Taliban last week ordered mobile phone operators to switch off their networks from five in the afternoon until seven in the morning, saying foreign troops in Afghanistan used mobile phones to track the militants.

Al Qaeda for Women

The U.S. military announced the capture of an insurgent leader who was recruiting and training women, including his wife, to wrap themselves in explosives and blow themselves up — the latest sign that Al Qaeda in Iraq plans to keep using women to carry out the deadly attacks.

U.S. Plan Widens Role in Training Pakistani Forces

The United States military is developing a plan to send about 100 American trainers to work with a Pakistani paramilitary force that is the vanguard in the fight against Al Qaeda and other extremist groups in Pakistan’s restive tribal areas, American military officials said.
Pakistan has ruled out allowing American combat troops to fight Qaeda and Taliban militants in the tribal areas. But Pakistani leaders have privately indicated that they would welcome additional American trainers to help teach new skills to Pakistani soldiers whose army was tailored not for counterinsurgency but to fight a conventional land war against India.

Israel aims to stamp out missile jihad by destroying Hamas rule of Gaza

DEBKAfile’s military sources report the Israeli military command is now targeting Hamas rule of the Gaza Strip as ultimately the only effective way of halting the Palestinian missile offensive against civilian locations. It therefore proposes to systematically destroy Hamas institutions one by one until its rule of Gaza caves in.
The IDF has now set itself the following targets:
Every Palestinian military and security installation belonging to Hamas, as well as its Al Dawa social welfare branches used as meeting places and the money changers’ places of business.
A series of ground operations on the same lines as the Sejayia raid will be launched to drive Hamas and its allied terrorist groups out of northern Gaza – the sites of most missile launches against Ashkelon and Sderot. Once this part of the territory is purged, Israeli military control can be exercised without reoccupation.
DEBKAfile’s Palestinian sources report that Hamas leaders are well aware of the IDF’s revamped tactics and have employed counter-measures.
1. Their heads of government, armed wings and clerical authorities have gone to ground.
2. Their rank and file have taken over an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 civilian homes around Gaza City active and set up a wall for the town’s defense. Each home is provisioned with sufficient ammo, water and food for three weeks’ combat.
3. All Hamas operatives have dumped their cell phones and all means of communication which could betray their whereabouts. Orders and messages are carried by courier, usually children.
4. Thousands of missiles and rockets of different types are stocked in private homes and schools inside Gaza City and its refugee camps to escape Israeli attacks. This stratagem allows Hamas to calibrate its missile barrages on Israeli civilians according to the intensity of Israeli strikes against them.

Attacks Widen: Netivot, Psagot and Jerusalem Under Fire

The city of Netivot, in the western Negev, as well as the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo came under fire Saturday night after midnight.
A Grad-type Katyusha rocket was fired from Gaza, landing in the Negev town of Netivot before dawn Sunday morning. It landed near the grave of famed Morrocan Jewish Kabbalist Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, the Baba Sali, in an open field.

Hundreds of Jewish families living in the temporary village of Nitzan have begun hearing the “Color Red” warning system, which has been put into use in coastal towns near Ashkelon. However, residents of the village continue to live in caravans, and have no sheltered space to run to in case of missile or rocket attacks. “There is no protection in the area and no option to hide. We are exposed to fire and to danger with no possibility to seek protection anywhere,” a spokesman for the community said Saturday. A rocket that landed on a caravan last week destroyed the caravan completely, he added.

USAF blocks blogs

The Air Force has determined that blogs are bad. Any site with the word “blog” in the URL or determined by content or layout to be a blog is now being blocked by the Air Force Network Operations Center.

AFNOC has imposed bans on all sites with “blog” in their URLs, thus cutting off any sites hosted by Blogspot. Other blogs, and sites in general, are blocked based on content reviews performed at the base, command and AFNOC level. More...

Via The Jawa Report

North Korean Inferno

Air Force Buys French Tanker

The Weekly Standard - Northrop Grumman and EADS have somehow managed to defeat heavy-favorite Boeing in the battle to replace the Air Force's aging fleet of aerial refueling tankers. The initial contract for 80 aircraft is valued at $40 billion, and the service has plans to purchase as many as 100 more at an as yet undetermined cost.
The Northrop KC-30, which is based on the EADS Airbus A-330 passenger jet, had been considered the more capable aircraft.
The KC-30 will be assembled in Mobile, Alabama, but much of the work will be done in Airbus's facility in Toulouse, France. There had been doubts as to whether the Air Force, and Congress, would award such a massive contract to a French firm, but a thaw in relations following the election of Nicolas Sarkozy may have eased concerns.

Armenia's president imposed a state of emergency on Saturday after protests against alleged fraud in last month's presidential elections turned violent.