Target Centermass

Category: War on Terror

  • Report: Arab World no Closer to Democracy

    A report released yesterday by the United Nations stated that no significant progress had been made in efforts to spread democracy through the Arab nations.

    In a long-awaited report, intellectuals and reformers say they have seen no significant advances toward democracy in the Arab world in the past year.

    The third Arab Human Development Report, released yesterday under United Nations auspices, says most measures have been “embryonic and fragmentary” and have not amounted to a serious effort to end repression in the region, which has some of the world’s most authoritarian governments.

    The United States, which says it aims to promote democracy in the region, contributed to an international context that hampered progress through its policy toward Israel, its actions in Iraq and security measures affecting Arabs, according to the report.

    The report, covering the year from October, 2003, was written before the election in Iraq and street protests in Lebanon that Washington cites as evidence of change.

    […]

    “Some of the views expressed by the authors are not shared by UNDP or the UN . . . [but the report] clearly reflects a very real anger and concern felt across the region,” UNDP administrator Mark Malloch Brown wrote.

    The most controversial sections describe the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and the occupation of Iraq by the United States and its allies as violations of freedom and obstacles to development.

    During the launch address, Ms. Khalaf said that more than 10 per cent of Arabs live under occupation. “Occupation is a confiscation of rights by violence.”

    The report says occupation has given governments an excuse to postpone democratization, forces Arab reformers to divert their energies and strengthens groups that advocate violence.

    It accuses the United States of undermining the international system by repeatedly using or threatening to use its UN Security Council veto, enabling Israel to build Jewish settlements and extend its barrier in the West Bank.

    The U.S. response to the September, 2001, attacks on the United States added to the ambiguity in the Western attitude to human rights in the Middle East, it says.

    “The ‘war on terror’ has cut into many Arab freedoms. . . . An unfortunate byproduct in some countries has been that Arabs are increasingly the victims of stereotyping, disproportionately harassed or detained without cause.”

    As always, the failures of the Arab world are always spun to either be caused by or prolonged by the Israelis and the Americans. It’s never the fault of those actually opposing democracy.

    It’s a sign of the interesting times we live in when a brand new report is already shown to be obsolete and in great need of revision after events on the ground in Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere.

  • 18 U.S. Troops Killed in Helicopter Crash

    Bad news indeed.

    At least 18 American soldiers died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan yesterday, the biggest single loss of US life since Operation Enduring Freedom began in autumn 2001.

    The army Chinook came down in bad weather in featureless desert near the south-eastern city of Ghazni.

    Afghan officials said the bodies were all in US military uniform. The army said last night that 18 people, including crew members and passengers, were listed on the flight manifest and that two remained unaccounted for.

    Lieutenant Cindy Moore said that the Chinook was on a routine flight from the troubled south-east of the country to the main US airbase at Bagram, north of Kabul.

    A second Chinook on the mission arrived unscathed.

    Ghazni’s police chief, Abdul Rahman Sarjang, said that the weather at the time of the crash was cloudy with strong winds. Witnesses said one of the helicopter’s two sets of rotor blades appeared to be damaged before it hit the ground.

    There were no reports or indications of ground fire and no claim of responsibility from any militant organisation.

    Americas’s previous highest single loss of life was when eight soldiers died in an arms dump explosion in January last year.

    My gratitude to these soldiers for their sacrifices in a theater that, barring one election, only seems to receive attention in times of trouble. My sorrow and best wishes to the families for their losses.

    UPDATE, 7 APR 05: Per CNN, of the 18 aboard, 13 soldiers and 3 American contractors are confirmed killed. 2 soldiers are currently classified as missing.

  • Iraqi Parties Break Deadlock on Candidates

    I expected that, after Sunday’s artful compromise on a Sunni speaker for the National Assembly, the pieces of the next Iraqi government would quickly fall into place. And so they have.

    The major political parties of Iraq agreed Tuesday evening to appoint a president and two vice presidents at a meeting of the national assembly on Wednesday, breaking a two-month deadlock and taking the first significant step in forming a new government.

    The presidency council will have two weeks from its appointment to name a prime minister, who will select a cabinet. The new government would then have to be approved by a majority vote of the assembly, according to the interim constitution.

    The main Shiite and Kurdish political blocs have agreed to name Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader, as president; Adel Abdul Mehdi, a prominent Shiite Arab politician as one vice president; and Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar, the Sunni Arab president of the interim government, as the other vice president, said Hussein al-Shahristani, a vice speaker of the assembly.

    The agreement breaks an enormous impasse between the main parties that had threatened to destroy the confidence built up during the Jan. 30 elections, when Iraqis defied insurgent threats to walk in droves to polling stations.

    A two-thirds vote by the 275-member assembly is required to install the presidency council, and so the Shiite and Kurdish blocs, which together can meet the two-thirds requirement, haggled for weeks over a range of issues, from control of oil revenues to the role of Islam in the new government.

    […]

    Shahristani, a nuclear physicist and prominent member of the Shiite bloc, said the presidency council could officially appoint the prime minister as soon as late Wednesday or Thursday. The leading candidate for that job is Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the head of the Dawa Islamic Party, a religious Shiite party.

    A government of the Iraqi people, by the Iraqi people, and for the future of the Iraqi people and, quite possibly, all of the people of the global community.

    Gee, no pressure there.

  • Anti-Terror Forces Ready for Pope Funeral

    Much like the recent Athens Olympics, one has to feel a tinge of angst at the pending gathering of luminaries and throngs of masses heading to pay their respects and show their love for the late Pope John Paul II. Obviously, the Italians are concerned about security.

    Italian air force jets are ready to scramble. Police are burrowing through the labyrinth of drains and aqueducts under the city looking for bombs. Snipers are staked out on strategic rooftops.

    The millions of people and the 200 foreign delegations expected for Pope John Paul II’s funeral Friday offer a tempting target for any terrorist group hoping to score a spectacular strike. Authorities insist they have taken all possible measures to prevent such an attack.

    “Precautions have been taken for airports, stations and all the other places where people gather,” said an official of the Rome prefect’s office, which is responsible for coordinating the security apparatus.

    Air traffic over central Rome likely will be banned Friday, the official said on condition of anonymity.

    The military-civilian airport of Ciampino may be closed to commercial flights, and traffic to and from the main airport at Fiumicino, 16 miles from Rome, may be curtailed, the official said.

    Radar is scanning the air for any irregular activity, ready to alert pilots on standby. Helicopters have begun regular patrols.

    Italy has not been a direct target of international terrorism in recent years. But in the 1970s and 1980s, the Italian Red Brigades cowed the nation, and Palestinian groups struck with devastating effectiveness.

    Methinks communists fighting the Cold War and Palestinians begging for international attention aren’t really the feared parties that are driving these measures. Could it be … ahem … Islamist terrorists?!!

    But like all European security networks, Italy has heightened its anti-terror efforts following the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States and last year’s train bombings in Madrid.

    The Europeans have strengthened their cross-border cooperation and the sharing of information, though many experts say it has not gone far enough.

    Italian authorities have arrested dozens of suspects, aided by a new international terrorism charge introduced following the New York attacks.

    In Milan, where prosecutors have investigated Muslim extremist cells based in the north of Italy, a judge handed down the first al-Qaida-related guilty verdict since the Sept. 11 attacks, convicting seven Tunisians for helping recruits for al-Qaida get fake documents.

    The suspects included Essid Sami Ben Khemais, the alleged logistics head of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist operations in Europe.

    Hmmm … an al-Quida presence is known in Italy and throughout Europe. However, I’m sure if you ask commie Italian journalist and part-time faux-hostage Giuliana Sgrena, she of the ever-morphing tale of horror (hat tip to the Jawa Report), the real danger is the expected presence of those dastardly Americans.

    Dozens of monarchs, presidents and prime ministers will attend John Paul II’s funeral, including President Bush, former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

    Authorities also are expecting as many as 4 million pilgrims, mourners and tourists. Poland’s Foreign Ministry said 2 million people were expected from that country alone.

    Such an inviting target of massed infidels for the Islamists. The pope’s fading health was no secret and his passing has been but an eventuality for some time, possibly adequate time to have laid groundplans for an action.

    Despite this, I have a good vibe about this, speaking strictly from a security point of view, for several reasons. First, it would have been extremely difficult to plan anything on a concrete basis, as actual timing was unknown. Second, despite all the talk of the American military’s being stretched thin, so too is the effective reach of the terrorists, who are slowly being forced to decide between exporting serious bloodshed or keeping any kind of credible threat in the current theaters of Iraq and Afghanistan. Third, Pope John Paul II was loved by a great many, and his life full of devotion and effort was respected practically across the board. To target this moment could spell the death knell of the radical Islamic movement.

  • And The Army Goes Rolling Along

    Sure, I was a treadhead, but even I know the Army needs wheels. And wheeled vehicles, specifically the Humvees and Strykers, have certainly been in the news as a result of their participation in the Iraqi theater. Let’s check the latest, shall we?

    U.S. Commanders Seek More Armored Humvees

    For the fifth time in the past year, U.S. commanders running the war in Iraq have told the Army to send more armored Humvee utility vehicles to protect U.S. troops.

    Just as the Army was reaching its target of 8,279 factory-built armored Humvees for delivery to Iraq, U.S. Central Command last month raised the bar again, to 10,079, Army officials disclosed Tuesday.

    The Army has been accused by many in Congress of lagging behind in providing armor protection for troops, hundreds of whom have been killed or wounded in ambushes and roadside bombs in Iraq. The Army says it has pressed the vehicle manufacturer for as many as possible, and it has been chasing a moving target set initially at 1,407 by commanders in Iraq in August 2003.

    When the war began in March 2003, few might have imagined that the all-purpose Humvee, the modern version of the unarmored Jeep, would need to be reinforced in large numbers. But soon they became a prime target of the insurgents’ roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades.

    By April 2004 the requirement for factory-built armored Humvees had reached 4,454, and commanders in Iraq subsequently raised it to 6,223 in June, 8,105 in August and then to 8,279 in December.

    Those are in addition to thousands of regular Humvees to which makeshift armor and ballistic glass have been added to reinforce their doors and windows against the blast from roadside bombs and land mines. Armor also has been added to supply trucks and older troop carriers.

    The new armored Humvee target of 10,079 is not expected to be achieved before July, according to Army projections based on the factory’s recently increased production rate of 550 vehicles per month. It will take a few additional weeks beyond July to ship the extras to Iraq.

    Will that delivery be the end of the prolonged controversy? I seriously doubt it. Hell, it probably won’t even be the end of the numbers game.

    Army officials acknowledge that putting armor on Humvees is not a perfect solution. For one thing, it has added to the wear-and-tear on the heavier vehicles and increased fuel consumption, thereby requiring even more supply convoys that are a common target of insurgents.

    “No amount of effort in armoring will make our soldiers completely invulnerable, but we owe it to them to provide the best possible protection,” Army Secretary Francis Harvey wrote in a letter to the editor of USA Today on Monday.

    Wise words, remaining true through every evolution of warfare.

    Soldiers Hail New Stryker Troop Transport

    For soldiers inside the U.S. Army’s newest troop transport vehicle, the armored combat Stryker rides like a cross-town bus as it sways softly atop its rubber tires, its brakes hissing quietly — before the back shoots open and troops leap onto the streets of one of Iraq’s most dangerous cities.

    Some 300 Strykers are patrolling northern Iraq after their September 2003 introduction — vanguard of a multibillion dollar program that commanders say boosts their chances in a largely hit-and-run battle with insurgents.

    Rank-and-file soldiers hailed the Stryker during recent patrols in Mosul as faster, quieter and safer than other combat vehicles — despite last week’s internal Army study that found numerous design flaws.

    “We’ve been hit with (roadside bombs) and rocket-propelled grenades several times. We have taken direct machine-gun fire,” said Spc. George May of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division based in Fort Lewis, Wash. “The Stryker has saved everyone’s lives at least once. It’s perfect for what we’re doing, which is urban warfare.”

    Strykers are designed to carry troops on patrols and into combat — like Bradley fighting vehicles, or the Humvees that have came under criticism for lacking proper armor. But while the boxy Strykers somewhat resemble tanks, they generally lack heavy cannons and are propelled by wheels instead of tracks.

    […]

    Soldiers say the Stryker is quieter, allowing them to sneak up on the enemy. And they say its partially jerry-rigged armor guards them better than Humvees.

    Unlike the tank-like, tracked personnel carriers that predominate across the rest of Iraq — such as the Bradley — the four wheels on either side of the 19-ton Stryker give it speed, stealth and mobility that allows it to outmaneuver insurgents, officers say.

    “For what we’re doing, I think the Stryker is excellent,” said May, a 27-year-old native of Upper Dublin, Pa.

    The Strykers themselves have also not beem free of concern.

    Still, an Army report from the Center for Army Lessons Learned found the vehicle bogs down in mud and the engine strains under 5,000-pound armor added by the Army.

    The metal mesh armor, designed to deflect rocket-propelled grenades and large shrapnel from improvised bombs, has earned it a nickname: “the bird cage.”

    The report also said the armor’s extra weight has caused problems with the automatic tire pressure system, requiring crews to check the tires three times a day.

    “The Army should not put inadequately tested equipment in the field, as it creates a false impression that the troops are properly equipped to fight in combat,” said Eric Miller, who investigates defense issues for the oversight group.

    It is interesting to read of the future force the Army plans to field.

    The $7 billion Stryker program is intended as a stepping stone to the ultimate goal: a high-tech family of fighting systems known as the Future Combat System, expected to include unmanned ground and aerial vehicles.

  • Dying for Another Tet in Iraq

    The Islamists and the Saddamites wanted another Mogadishu, hoping to bloody the American nose and move in after the subsequent withdrawal. They failed. Badly.

    And so, they turned to an earlier model of American failure — Viet Nam. And the American Left and the media were so glad to help, as calls of quagmire and failure rang out, intertwined with moaning for an “exit strategy” and plantings of draft rumors.

    Iraq is George Bush’s Vietnam

    —Sen. Edward Kennedy (source)

    Unfortunately for them, things haven’t been going the way of the terrorists. The terrorists, despite vows to the contrary, had to watch an Iraqi citizenry give the finger to fear and vote for their own future. The attacks against U.S. troops have repeatedly failed and casualties are declining. It is time for the terrorists to turn back to the Viet Nam playbook — they need another Tet.

    And what better place than Abu Ghraib, a prison tragically more known internationally for a handful of rogue American atrocities (prosecuted or being prosecuted) than for countless thousands of murders and horrors committed previously by the Saddam regime (blank check in the global community from prosecution or even reputation). The terrorist movement had learned they couldn’t really hurt the American military effort. The Iraqis’ disgust with their victimization by the foreign Islamists, criminals and Saddamists was growing fast. Luckily for the murderous bastards, the American and international media remained fascinated with all things Abu Ghraib. Well, all things post-conflict.

    The scene was set for another Tet-like defeat of the Americans — make statement-type attacks and let the media take it from there. Target: Abu Ghraib.

    I didn’t have time Saturday to do anything other than post the link to the initial attack on the prison. Mark that, failed attack, as there were no American deaths and no prisoners freed. There were headlines, though.

    And believe me, the Islamist bastards tried to milk it for all it was worth.

    Al-Qaeda in Iraq, meanwhile, posted a second internet statement boasting that its fighters carried out the bold attempt on Saturday to force their way into the prison. The statement, posted late on Sunday, said two fighters were injured and 10 more were killed in battle, including seven suicide bombers.

    It said a group of about 20 militants scaled the prison’s walls, and that one reached a prison tower and yelled: “God is great!”

    Today, the scumbags continued in their efforts for another Tet.

    Another attack around Abu Ghraib

    A suicide bomber driving a tractor blew himself up Monday in the second attack in three days near the Abu Ghraib prison.

    I argue that the operative word in that lead paragraph is “near,” signifying that the terrorists get ink and a gold star from the press just for trying.

    Are they making a dent with this latest rush of bloody sacrifice? No, but unfortunately that may only be a matter of timing. I have no doubt that editors across America and around the globe would salivate over the headlines they could trumpet about the attempts by the terrorists to right all of the American wrongs at Abu Ghraib.

    What’s stopping them? Simply and sadly, probably only timing.

    Minor skirmishes that achieve nothing cannot help but be overshadowed by the passing of Pope John Paul II.

    Maybe the pope’s last great accomplishment will be to stop another Tet-like failure, just as progress is taking hold in a region thirsting for it.

  • Afghan Officials Urge Donors to Shift Focus

    Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai understandably wants to up the pace of progress for his people. In those hopes, he is asking for greater national control over the incoming assistance in hopes of spurring the economy and helping the people of his war-ravaged country.

    President Hamid Karzai and his top ministers made an urgent plea to international donors at an annual aid conference in Kabul on Monday to shift their focus to helping the country’s struggling private sector and to let the Afghan government take a controlling lead in development planning.

    Mr. Karzai said his government considered building the infrastructure – including energy, aviation and telecommunications – to be an urgent priority to provide the foundation for private sector development. Urban development, completely neglected in the past three years, would be a priority too, he said.

    The conference follows months of debate and recriminations over why the billions of dollars in aid that have poured into Afghanistan since the former Taliban rulers were ousted more than three years ago have accomplished so little.

    The government contends that private aid groups, which control much of the donated money, have squandered it. Many business leaders say corruption and the lack of staff trained in government are largely to blame.

    The government will insist on a national unified budget for 2006, said the finance minister, Anwar ul-Haq Ahady. More than 93 percent of Afghanistan’s annual budget comes from international donors, but only a third of this year’s $4.7 billion budget will go through government hands, he said. “Let this government take full responsibility for our country’s development,” he told the donors.

    Muhammad Iashaq Naderi, the government’s chief economic adviser, said at the conference that the government would insist on greater control over foreign assistance flowing into the country and greater coordination with donors and private aid groups. Aid organizations will be monitored for the cost-effectiveness and impact of their programs, he said.

    Mr. Karzai said he had promised the Afghan people that he would raise the annual per capita income to $500 from $200 and reduce poverty during his five-year term. “We must now work together to overcome chronic poverty, and build Afghanistan into a stable and thriving economy in the region,” he said. “We are keenly aware of our people’s expectations, and our responsibility towards them.”

    Karzai seems reasonable and well-intentioned, as has been the norm, in this matter.

    For those individuals looking for ways to directly support the people of Afghanistan, I would recommend the fine programs at Spirit of America.

  • Iraq Assembly Names Speaker

    Progress was made today in the recently-elected Iraqi National Assembly, and this progress wasn’t of the baby step variety. Rarely is a blatant compromise such a huge stride towards the future. Then again, rarely has compromise even been seen in this country.

    Acknowledging that last week’s acrimonious and nationally televised failure to reach a deal had angered voters, Iraqi lawmakers moved quickly and calmly Sunday to elect a speaker for the National Assembly and clear the way for the formation of a transitional government.

    Much remains to be settled. But the appointment of Hajem al-Hassani is seen as a crucial step in recapturing the political momentum provided by Iraq’s extraordinary elections more than two months ago.

    Al-Hassani, 50, is a Sunni Muslim. His deputies will be a Shiite Muslim from the most dominant bloc in the parliament and a Kurd from the second-biggest group. And al-Hassani, a U.S.-educated economist who is the minister of industry, has good relations with the allies of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

    Though the speaker’s post is not expected to wield much power, the Sunni-Shiite-Kurd lineup is intended to send a message dear to Iraq’s incoming leaders: Everyone who wants to join the political process will have a voice in the new Iraq.

    “We passed the first hurdle,” said al-Hassani, who first rejected the speaker’s post in hopes of becoming defense minister but acquiesced under growing pressure for the parties to find a compromise candidate. “The Iraqi people have proved that they can overcome the political crisis that has plagued the country for the last two months.”

    The standoff hit its peak Tuesday, when the National Assembly’s first working session broke down amid shouted protests from the floor and finger-pointing along ethnic and sectarian lines.

    Despite having braved violence and intimidation to go to the polls Jan. 30, Iraqi voters were waiting for the men and women they elected to decide who should lead the assembly, who should be president and who should run the government as prime minister and Cabinet members.

    “There was public pressure from the people,” said Ali al-Dabbagh, a member of the Shiite alliance that dominates the National Assembly.

    “They showed their anger,” al-Dabbagh said, including Shiite pilgrims marching by the hundreds of thousands in the holy city of Karbala last week and chanting their demands for political action. “I think everybody got the message.“

    Read those last two paragraphs again. And again. Let it sink in — the new Iraqi government is answering to the Iraqi people.

    Several deputies said forming a government would take days, not weeks. Their next session is scheduled for Wednesday, with the goal of naming a president and two vice presidents. Sources with the Shiite and the Kurd coalitions said Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani remains on track to become president. Once that is done, the assembly will turn its attention to prime minister, and the Shiite alliance has set aside that post for Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

    This has been the expected shakeout — Kurdish president, Shiite prime minister — for some time now. With this bold showing of open arms by the elevation of a Sunni to head the national assembly, I would expect the other pieces to fall into place quickly.

    Now, what more of this Sunni, al-Hassani?

    Speaking to reporters, al-Hassani focused on the theme of one Iraqi voice – an ideal that got drowned out last week amid all the shouting.

    “I always say I am Iraqi before anything else,” said al-Hassani, whose family fled Iraq about 1979 and who spent most of the next two decades in the United States. “I am not going to talk in the name of Sunna or Shia or the Kurd. We will talk in the name of Iraqis, nothing else.”

    Unity, compromise, progress. Ya gotta love it. Well, at least you should if you actually share hope with the Iraqi people.

  • Mideast News Link Dump

    Besides the passing of Pope John Paul II, there are several other stories I would like to blog. Unfortunately, I have a prior social engagement to head out to so this will be without any analysis. I reserve the right to look at any or all of these in greater depth later.

    At Least 20 U.S. Troops Wounded in Terrorist Abu Graib Attack

    Using suicide car bombs and an array of weapons, scores of insurgents made the biggest assault yet on the American-controlled Abu Ghraib prison on Saturday evening, American military officials said. At least 20 American soldiers and marines were wounded.

    […]

    The assault appeared to be an attempt to break prisoners out of a part of the center that is controlled by Iraqi security forces, said Lt. Col. Guy Rudisill, a spokesman for the American detainee system in Iraq.

    The assault was so intense that the American troops at the prison called in three Apache attack helicopters and a Marine infantry company, the colonel said. The marines quickly secured the area around the prison. Of the 20 Americans hurt, 18 had only minor wounds, Colonel Rudisill said.

    Analysis: The Honeymoon is Truly Over for Abbas

    Both Abbas and the ousted security chief are aware that the use of drastic measures against the gunmen, most of whom are wanted by Israel, would play into the hands of their rivals, who would depict them as “collaborators.”

    Jaber was not prepared to be seen as doing Israel’s dirty work – a fact that led to his dismissal over the weekend.

    Neither does Abbas want to be in a similar position. That’s why, as of Saturday night, none of the Fatah gunmen who went on the rampage in the city last Wednesday had been arrested, although their identities and addresses were known to the PA security services.

    Related story here.

    Iraqi Sunni Clerics Deny Decree on Police

    Iraq’s Association of Muslim Scholars denied Saturday issuing a religious decree allowing Iraqis to join of the Iraqi police forces and army.

    The country’s only Sunni religious authority said in a statement that reports of 64 clerics issuing a fatwa, or edict, allowing or urging Iraqis to join national security and military forces to protect Iraqis and their property were not linked to the association.

    The statement did not specify the association’s position on the issue, insisting it will do so later.

    Related story here.

    Bombing Jitters Grip Lebanese Capital

    Even for the war-hardened Lebanese, four explosions in two weeks are too much to cope with. Once-vibrant cafes lie empty, shopping malls are virtually deserted and late-night dining has been put on hold. In a movie theater, a woman watching the Will Smith comedy “Hitch” gets a cell phone call about a blast and exclaims “Infijar?!” (“Explosion?!”), whereupon a dozen people quietly head for the door.

    Outside the United Nations offices, workers fill sandbags and erect barriers. At a Beirut mall, newly hired private security guards check vehicles’ trunks and engines and slide a mirror beneath the chassis looking for explosives. Restaurants put up roadblocks to keep cars from parking too close.

    Fear is gripping Lebanon following a recent spate of bombs placed under or near cars that have killed three people and injured 24. The sense of security built up over years of postwar calm has been shattered, with rumors of bombs and suspicion of unclaimed bags feeding the hysteria.

    See Robert Mayer’s examination of the Lebanese bombings at Publius Pundit.

    Now, besides all of the attacks being in Christian neighborhoods, there is one big similarity between all of these attacks, including the Hariri assassination. The economy.

    Now, I’m off to a evening probably filled with inane banter among people I barely know. I anticipate contributing with an occasional distracted sarcasm while sipping beer and watching some Final Four hoops. Should be fun.

  • 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.