Target Centermass

Day: April 12, 2005

  • U.S. Indicts Three in Terror Plot

    The U.S. has brought charges against three potential terrorists who are alleged to have been aiming at key American financial targets.

    Federal authorities unsealed an indictment Tuesday against three men in British custody in connection with scouting financial targets in the United States as preparation for a possible terrorist attack.

    Officials have identified the targets as the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup Center in Manhattan, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, and Prudential headquarters in Newark, New Jersey.

    The three men — all British nationals — were arrested in England in August. At the time, U.S. law enforcement officials raised the terror threat level, citing evidence from “multiple sources” that al Qaeda members were planning another attack on the United States before Election Day.

    It will happen here again, though we stand a better chance now of catching grandiose schemes such as this than previously. The tragedy of 9/11 has objectively been more of a defeat than a victory for the radical Islamist terrorists, both in its enticement to them for greater acts more easily detected and in its spurring our bringing the war to them. That said, as I’ve repeatedly posted before, I believe it will happen here on a smaller, more personal scale.

    We need to steel ourselves to that eventuality. Also, we must remember that, no matter the effort, a huge tragedy could get through the defenses. We have to be right one hundred percent of the time; they only have to slip through once for a wealth of evil glory.

  • Poland Sets Date for Iraq Pullout

    There’s no real news here, other than a fairly certain timetable for the Poles’ withdrawal from their involvement on the ground in Iraq.

    Ending months of uncertainty over the precise timing, Poland announced Tuesday that it would withdraw all its troops from Iraq once the United Nations mandate for the multinational force expires in December.

    Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said the cabinet had decided to bring home the 1,700 troops, but he left open the possibility that the mission could be extended if the United Nations mandate were renewed.

    “At the time of the expiry of the Security Council’s mandate, meaning at the end of 2005, the operations of the Polish stabilization mission should be finished,” Szmajdzinski said after the cabinet meeting. He said that Prime Minister Marek Belka’s government would not in the meantime be committing troops to any new missions.

    This has been expected for some time. When a planned withdrawal was first announced, I expressed my gratitude for the Poles’ strong contribution (and have repeatedly called for them to be rewarded as a true ally). Now I thank them for withholding a timetable until significant progress had been made on the ground and in the Iraqi government.

    Today’s article goes on to show why I admire the Polish commitment and efforts — the motives have been as noble as the service.

    Poland’s decision to support the U.S.-led war in Iraq and then provide military assistance annoyed several of its European Union partners. But similar to other former communist countries, Poland said its own experiences of living under dictatorship influenced its decision to back the ousting of the former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, and later provide military assistance and training.

    Additionally, the central and east European countries, some of which joined the NATO military alliance in 1999 and others last April, were much more Atlanticist than some EU countries, particularly France and Germany, which led opposition in Europe to the war in Iraq.

    What’s more, the Poles aren’t washing their hands of the matter, realizing that success in Iraq has long-term implications for Europe and the globe.

    But Poland said it would continue to be involved in helping NATO train Iraqi officers both inside and outside Iraq. A NATO spokesman said Tuesday that more than 1,000 Iraqi officers would be trained by the alliance inside the country during this year and a further 500 officers trained outside in military academies in several countries, including Germany.

    “All NATO countries in one way or other are involved in the training,” said the spokesman.

  • Rummy Warns Iraq Not to Purge Security

    Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld cautioned the new Iraqi government to not go the route of a mass purge of Sunnis and those affiliated with the Ba’ath party from the country’s fledgeling security forces.

    The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, delivered a thinly veiled warning to Iraq’s government yesterday not to purge the security forces or abuse its power for patronage.

    On a visit to Baghdad Mr Rumsfeld signalled US disapproval of any attempt to sweep Arab Sunnis and former members of the Ba’ath party from the police and army.

    The Shia and Kurdish blocs that will dominate the new administration want to install their supporters in the security services and oust those who served under Saddam Hussein. But Mr Rumsfeld said, in effect, that such people were among the best qualified to tackle the insurgency.

    “It’s important that the new government be attentive to the competence of the people in the ministries and that they avoid unnecessary turbulence.”

    […]
    Mr Rumsfeld used his visit to lobby the newly appointed Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani, and Shia prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, over key issues. Having won the election and sealed their political ascendance after decades of oppression many Shia and Kurdish politicians want their rebel militias to take a leading role in the state security forces.

    They mistrust interior and defence ministry officials left over from Saddam’s time and accuse some of them of leaking intelligence to an insurgency drawn largely from the Arab Sunni minority.

    Critics say the “deba’athification” process could become a sectarian witchhunt against Sunnis who have the experience lacking in the hastily recruited security forces.

    With the interior and defence ministries offering vast scope for patronage there is also concern that a purge could be an excuse to dole out jobs and contracts to cronies.

    “We have an opportunity to continue to make progress politically, economically … anything that would delay that or disrupt that as a result of turbulence, or lack of confidence or corruption in government, would be unfortunate,” said Mr Rumsfeld.

    Mr Jaafari responded politely but vaguely: “I am sure we are going to form very good ministries. So I think we can cooperate, all of us, and face these challenges successfully.”

    The leading paragraph, with its talk of a “thinly veiled warning,” comes across more harshly than the rest of the story, but that’s the best chance for a reporter to color the news.

    Rummy’s words seem wise — a mass purge or a move to squeeze out Sunnis would be a horrid move, both in terms of public stability and loss of competence. However, the Iraqi government has, to date, been extremely inclusive in its formation, and there is no reason yet to think that this will not continue. Admittedly, I am certain the security forces still contain many of questionable loyalty that should be investigated, watched and possibly removed. However, that does not conflict with Rummy’s wise cautioning against mass purges along religious or political lines.

  • Latest Blogroll Additions

    Sorry for the delay this evening but I’ve been busy as a pager-slave. It was my lousy luck to be oncall after a major software upgrade at work this weekend.

    Anyway, last night I finally got around to adding some blogs to my blogroll that I’ve been checking out for a while. Some of you may already be familiar with them; if not, I would encourage you to visit them. The new additions are as follows: