Target Centermass

Author: Gunner

  • Sunnis Urged by Clerics to Join Military

    The Sunnis, by their own admission, missed the boat when they refused to rock the vote. A sizable portion of their religious leaders have decided to trace the breadcrumbs back to the fork in the road and venture down the path leading to the future of Iraq, telling their followers to cooperate with Iraq’s new security forces and oppose the terrorists.

    Dozens of influential Sunni Muslim clerics broke with a long-standing boycott Friday and exhorted followers to join Iraq’s fledgling armed forces.

    The edict, signed by 64 Sunni clerics and scholars, declared that joining the security forces was necessary to prevent the country from falling into “the hands of those who have caused chaos, destruction and violated the sanctities.”

    It was announced by Ahmed Abdul Ghafour Samarrae, a Sunni preacher and member of the Association of Muslim Scholars, which has stridently opposed the U.S. military presence in Iraq and discouraged Sunnis from cooperating with foreign occupiers or Iraqi institutions allied with them.

    The spiritual leader of Iraq’s far more numerous and cohesive Shiites, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, also called Friday for cooperation with Iraq’s new security forces, calling it “a religious duty.”

    […]

    The Sunni clerics’ recruiting call — which had the authority of a religious edict, or fatwa — marked their most open cooperation with Iraq’s leaders and foreign patrons since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-dominated government in April 2003. The Sunni clerical bloc had rejected the country’s post-Hussein leadership as irredeemably tainted by ties to the U.S. government and military.

    Many Iraqis welcomed the fatwa as a breakthrough that could accelerate efforts to build security forces capable of assuming responsibility for the country’s security. Sabah Kadim, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the new edict signals the Sunnis’ realization “that the security forces are acting on behalf of the people, and not the Americans.”

    Others, however, expressed concern that the Sunnis’ new stance toward the armed forces suggested the clerics sought less to ally themselves with rival Shiites and Kurds than to counter the dominance those groups have gained in Iraq’s new security forces.

    “This reflects . . . an attempt on their part to . . . have an influence in this growing military power, which in fact indicates a lack of faith in democracy,” said Wamidh Nadhmi, an outspoken Sunni who has been promoting a broad coalition government.

    He added, “This process should have proceeded by negotiations to enter the government, to have some sort of dialogue, which I don’t find at all.”

    Making the armed forces the principal means for overcoming divisions recalls the days of military rule and “the era of coup d’etats,” Nadhmi said.

    The fatwa authorized Iraqis to join the military and police as long as they are committed to serving the people and as long as they “should not be an eye to the occupier,” meaning U.S.-led forces, said Samarrae, the preacher who announced the edict at Friday prayers in Baghdad.

    Samarrae is a moderate in the Association of Muslim Scholars, but it was not clear if the edict had the endorsement of the group itself. The group’s deputy chief, Omar Ghalib, declined to comment, saying the association would make a statement Saturday.

    The clerics’ group was among several Sunni organizations that urged a boycott of Jan. 30 national elections. While enthusiastic Shiites and Kurds turned out by the millions to win control of the 270-seat parliament, Sunnis largely stayed away and won only 17 seats.

    No matter how one slices it, this is a clear sign of progress. Whatever their motivations, the clerics have realized that the strategy of non-participatory obstructionism is not working, only leaving the Sunni people as outsiders in a changing Iraq. Already regretting limiting their strength in the government from the elections, the Sunnis are now forced to realize that the terrorists do not have the support of the people and that opposing the bastards is the best step for the sect.

    At least until the next fork in the road.

  • North Korea Demands American Apology

    Apology denied.

    The chief U.S. delegate to multilateral talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons capability has sharply criticized Pyongyang’s demand for broader arms reduction talks. North Korea also wants a formal apology for what it considers an insult by the United States.

    U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill is flatly rejecting North Korea’s demand for a “more equitable footing” in six-party talks on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programs.

    In a lecture to South Korean students Friday, Ambassador Hill was stinging in his response.

    “It was not helpful. It was, frankly, not serious,” Mr. Hill says.

    Ambassador Hill is the top U.S. delegate to the talks, which also involve Japan, Russia, China, and South Korea.

    […]

    South Korean officials say they will respond to the statement after they have fully interpreted it. For now, they have been repeating Seoul’s position of zero tolerance for nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.

    Ambassador Hill, however, made it clear he has little patience for North Korean pronouncements.

    “I think they ought to come to the table, and if they want to make sarcastic statements, they can make them to me. And stop with these silly press announcements,” Mr. Hill says.

    Just in case you ever wanted to know how “Blow it out your ass” translated into diplo-speak.

  • Galactica Finale: Amazing and Amazing Shame

    Okay, I was looking forward to tonight’s season finale of SciFi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica, and it was abso-freakin’-lutely phenomenal. I agree with Will Collier over at Vodkapundit that the new Galactica is far and away the best thing on television right now. Similarly chiming in is Axinar, who commented on my 10K post that the show deserves an Emmy.

    I look forward to checking out the review tomorrow on the Unofficial Battlestar Galactica Blog.

    Now, to the shame. While blogging afterwards, I had the rebroadcast of episode 10, “Colonial Day”, on in the background. While listening, I discovered that, much to my dismay, I had missed a quote lifted from one of my favorite movies in my initial viewing. I hang my head in shame for not catching the echo of the greatness that is Patton when Richard Hatch‘s Tom Zarek states the following:

    Pity. ’cause I shaved very close this morning in preparation for getting smacked by you.

    I suck. But only for a couple of weeks.

  • Zarqawi Aide with U.S. Citizenship Held in Iraq

    At least this traitorous scum wasn’t American born and bred like that bastard John Walker Lindh.

    The U.S. military in Iraq has detained a U.S. citizen who is thought to be a top aide to wanted Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

    The man, who has dual U.S. and Jordanian citizenship, was seized following a raid on a Baghdad home late last year. He is believed to be the first U.S. citizen caught in connection with Iraq’s two-year-old insurgency.

    “He is being held at an internment facility in Iraq,” said Lieutenant Colonel Guy Rudisill, spokesman for detainee affairs. “He’s being held along with other detainees.”

    Rudisill said he had no details on the man’s age or where he was from in the United States. He said he was born in Jordan and received U.S. citizenship later, but it was not known when. He has been interrogated by U.S. forces.

    “We do know from interrogation that he has strong ties to the al-Zarqawi network,” Rudisill said.

    Legal action against the detainee will be taken in coordination with the Iraqi government, he added, leaving open the possibility that he could be handed over to the U.S. Justice Department.

    Legal action should begin with all haste, as I suspect we’ve now gleaned any and all useful information this crapbag held.

    Rudisill said the fact an American had been held in connection with the insurgency was only emerging now because no one had asked about it previously.

    This was rather poorly played by Lt. Col. Rudisill and could mushroom to be another PR blunder. Perhaps we’re taking way too long in the interrogation process, but the kid gloves our intelligence is forced to use has to be expected to eventually come back and bite us.

    Zarqawi, who is al Qaeda’s leader in Iraq, is the most-wanted man in the country. His group has claimed responsibility for many of the worst suicide attacks in Iraq, as well as the capture and beheading of several foreigners.

    The detention of the American echoes the case of John Walker Lindh, a U.S. citizen who was captured fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan in late 2001.

    And what of Little Johnny Jihad, is that poor misguided soul still alive? Well, I guess he is. Now that’s a damn shame.

    As for our new American jihadist villain, Dr. Rusty Shackleford at the Jawa Report is, as expected, on the case and of like mind as I am on the matter: end this traitor.

  • A Quiz on Honor

    Compare and contrast the character of the following:

    A) Those who recently vandalized the Medal of Honor Memorial in Indianapolis (hat tip to jcrue at doubleplusgood infotainment)

    B) The Medal of Honor recipients remembered by that memorial, the only one in the nation paying tribute to all who have earned our military’s highest distinction.

    For extra credit, examine the cowardly nature of the vandals’ criminal act and how it differs from the courage shown by our nation’s latest Medal of Honor recipient, Sergeant First Class Paul Smith.

  • Looking at the Ol’ Sitemeter

    Target Centermass finally reached its 10,000th hit this morning. Thanks to all who have visited over the last nine months and eight days — I’ve enjoyed the company.

    More later after the season finale of Battlestar Galactica.

  • Wrapping up a Crappy Day

    Death

    The long, sorrowful struggle over Terri Schiavo’s life ended Thursday morning when she died in her hospice bed almost two weeks after the removal of her feeding tube, her parents and siblings absent, the husband they reviled at her side.

    Deaths

    A U.S. military transport plane crashed in central Albania while on a training mission Thursday, and nine American personnel aboard were believed to have been killed, Albanian officials said.

    Pushing Death

    A frail and pained Pope John Paulwas battling on Friday to overcome a fever and urinaryinfection after his health took a dramatic turn for the worse,sending waves of anxiety around the Roman Catholic world.

    A Vatican official said the condition of the 84-year-oldPontiff had stabilized during the night thanks to antibiotics,but medical sources said the next 24 hours would prove crucial.

    Italian media reported that John Paul received on Thursdayevening the sacrament for the sick and dying commonly known asthe Last Rites. It is given to the very seriously ill but doesnot necessarily mean death is imminent.

    And the one that hit me closest, my favorite comedian.

    Death

    Thanks again for the laughs, Mitch.

    Tomorrow should be a better day, with an expected milestone for Target Centermass and the season finale for SciFi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica (hint: expect cliffhangers). Goodness knows, the day couldn’t be much worse. At least I hope not.

    This is Gunner. Out.

  • U.S. Denies U.N. Claim Iraqis Malnourished

    Though the conditions of the Iraqi populace certainly are a concern, doubly so for the children, the U.S. has reacted to United Nations’ claims of increasing child malnutrition by calling them questionable and political.

    The U.S. human rights delegation Thursday rejected a U.N. monitor’s claim that child malnutrition had risen in Iraq and said, if anything, health conditions have improved since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

    Jean Ziegler, the U.N. Human Right Commission’s expert on the right to food, cited U.S. and European studies Wednesday in telling the commission that acute malnutrition rates among Iraqi children under 5 rose late last year to 7.7 percent from 4 percent after Saddam’s ouster in April 2003. Ziegler blamed the war for the situation.

    “First, he has not been to Iraq, and second, he is wrong,” said Kevin E. Moley, U.S. ambassador to U.N. organizations in Geneva and a member of the American delegation to the 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission.

    “He’s taking some information that is in itself difficult to validate and juxtaposing his own views — which are widely known,” Moley said, referring to Ziegler’s opposition to the U.S. military intervention in the country.

    Moley rejected the rate cited by Ziegler and said malnutrition in Iraq was notoriously difficult to gauge. He noted that some estimates had put it at 11 percent in 1996 and 7.8 percent in 2000, while Saddam was still in power.

    “The surveys that have been taken … have indicated that the recent rise in malnutrition rates began between 2002 and 2003 under the regime of Saddam Hussein,” Moley said.

    “If anything, vaccination, food aid … has improved dramatically since the fall of Saddam Hussein,” he added.

    Also taking the UN claims to task is Captain Ed at Captain’s Quarters, who uses the UN’s own figures against them.

    The report obviously aims itself at Washington, as the BBC reports. What the BBC fails to mention is that the report is dishonest, mathematically illiterate, historically inaccurate, and a terrific demonstration why the UN cannot be trusted with money or policy. Its timing appears to have been strategized to take the heat off of Kofi Annan and the massive and grotesque scandals wracking the United Nations.

    Okay, a show of hands if you’re not sick of the UN. Anyone? Anyone?

  • Palestinian Security Reeling into Chaos

    The last two days have seen attacks by Palestinians against their own government and police, underscoring the weak hand that Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas is holding.

    Palestinian gunmen went on a rampage in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, shooting at the office of the Palestinian Authority’s president and setting several restaurants and shops on fire, security officials said.

    The identities of the gunmen were unclear, but several reports indicated they were Palestinian security officers and militants affiliated with the Fatah political movement — the party of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas — who had been expelled from his headquarters.

    […]

    A spokesman for the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, denied the men were members of the group, saying they were common thugs. Some government officials described the fracas as a street brawl among criminals.

    In another example of the chaotic security situation in the West Bank, a group of angry Palestinians set fire to a Palestinian police checkpoint in the city of Tulkarm early Thursday after officers manning the post opened fire on a suspected stolen car, wounding at least one of its occupants.

    […]

    Some Fatah activists said the clash in Ramallah erupted shortly before midnight when Palestinian security officials ordered about six militants and officials to turn in their weapons or leave the presidential compound, known as the muqata. The men, along with other militants wanted by Israel, had been given shelter there for several years by the former Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, who died in November.

    Abbas, who was elected in January, also granted refuge to the men, but he has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks to make good on a pledge to begin disarming wanted militants.

    Trouble should be expected when thugs are invited to the party.

    As if a little gunplay in his direction wasn’t enough, Abbas now has to deal with an unexpected opening in his government after a key security official resigned in protest.

    A Palestinian security chief has resigned, complaining to President Mahmoud Abbas that too little was being done to halt lawlessness in the West Bank and Gaza, officials say.

    “I cannot work under these conditions,” Tawfik Tirawi, head of Palestinian Intelligence in the West Bank, wrote in a letter of resignation that he gave Abbas on Thursday after a meeting of security commanders at the president’s headquarters, the officials said.

    Tirawi, the most senior security official to resign since Abbas’s election in January, quit a day after half a dozen gunmen from the ruling Fatah faction fired at the presidential Muqata compound in Ramallah and then rampaged through the city.

    There was no immediate word if Abbas, who officials said gets along well with Tirawi, would ask him to reconsider.

    The officials said Tirawi complained that other heads of Palestinian security organisations had not done enough to impose the rule of law Abbas had promised after taking over from the late Yasser Arafat.

    Quagmire, anyone?

  • And the Laughter Fades Away

    Who’s the best stand-up comedian alive today? Well, tragically, I now need a new answer.

    Strangely enough, I just bought his Mitch All Together cd/dvd two weeks ago and have been introducing my coworkers to the off-beat entertainer.

    Thanks for the laughs, Mitch.