Category: Middle East

A captured Iraqi insurgent has confessed to contacts with neighboring Iran and Syria, two countries that have denied undermining the Iraqi government but have much to fear from success in the fledgling democracy.

An Iraqi militant suspected of involvement in beheadings and other bloody attacks told Iraqi authorities that his group has links with Iran and Syria, according to a tape aired Friday by an Arabic TV station funded by the U.S. government.

Moayad Ahmed Yasseen, leader of Jaish Muhammad, which is Arabic for Muhammad’s Army, was captured nearly two months ago in Fallujah, the former guerrilla stronghold west of Baghdad.

Alhurra television, which has its headquarters in Washington, said the tape of his purported confession was made Dec. 24 and provided to the station by Iraq’s Ministry of Defense.

Iraqi and U.S. officials, including President Bush, have accused Syria and Iran of meddling in Iraq’s affairs and aiding insurgents, a charge both nations vehmently deny. Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said last week that Iraq’s patience was running out with countries that support the insurgency.

Iran?

On the tape, Yasseen, a colonel in Saddam Hussein’s army, said two other former Iraqi military officers belonging to his group were sent “to Iran in April or May, where they met a number of Iranian intelligence officials.” He said they also met with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He said Iranian officials provided money, weapons “and, as far as I know, even car bombs” for Jaish Muhammad.

Check on contact and collusion.

Syria?

Yasseen also said he got permission from Saddam — while the former dictator was in hiding after his ouster by the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 — to cross into Syria and meet with a Syrian intelligence officer to ask for money and weapons. He didn’t say if the request was met.

Check on contact, unknown on collusion.

And what of Yasseen’s portion of the “patriots” lauded by some on the Left?

The U.S. military has said Jaish Muhammad appears to be an umbrella group for former Iraqi intelligence agents, army officers, security officials and members of Saddam’s Baath Party.

The group is known to have cooperated with Jordanian terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as well as other Saddam loyalists and al-Qaida supporters. Allawi has accused Jaish Muhammad of killing and beheading a number of Iraqis, Arabs and foreigners in Iraq.

Well, let’s just say they ain’t minutemen fighting for the good of Iraq.

Jordan has backed off delaying the Iraqi vote and now is beginning a Get-out-the-Iraqi-vote drive.

Jordan urged that Iraqi elections proceed as scheduled and called on all Iraqis to seize a “golden opportunity” and go to the polls Jan. 30 to elect an assembly that will write a constitution.

Jordan had previously backed postponing the elections, but Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani al-Mulqi opened a meeting Thursday of foreign ministers of Iraq’s neighbors by urging there be no delay in the landmark ballot.

“From this podium, I call on all factions of the Iraqi people, young and old, men and women, to go to the polls to choose their representatives and draw their own future,” Al-Mulqi said. Failing to do that “will leave the door open for others to choose for them.”

The vote, he said, is “a golden opportunity for all Iraqi men and women to contribute to putting Iraq on the right track, to build the state of law and return security and stability.”

Talk about ingratitude.

Kuwait has arrested up to four members of its armed forces who are suspected of plotting to attack allied troops, a Kuwaiti military spokesman said.

Kuwait has witnessed several small-scale attacks on U.S. troops and civilians in the past three years. But this is the first time in many years that serving members of the armed forces have been detained on such charges.

“The security apparatus in Military Intelligence is investigating some officers following information that they intended to work against friendly troops,” Brig. Youssef al-Mullah said Monday.

“They are fewer than five,” al-Mullah said, adding they were arrested late last week. “A number have been released after investigation.”

He would not say how many remained in custody. Nor would he identify the troops they were suspected of plotting against. But the targeted troops are believed to be American.

The United States stations several thousand troops in Kuwait and used the oil-rich country to launch its March 2003 invasion of Iraq. Kuwait continues to serve as a staging ground for U.S. troops and equipment going into Iraq.

“It is just an investigation,” al-Mullah said. “The military judicial proceedings will take their course.”

Al-Mullah gave no further details.

The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait warned American citizens Dec. 15 that it had “credible information that terrorist groups are developing near-term plans for attacks against unspecified targets in Kuwait.” The embassy urged nationals to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity.

Kuwait has stepped up its internal security in recent days, stationing armed military and police vehicles at street junctions, hotels and embassies.

Seriously, the world of Islam is a festering sore right now.

That is not a condemnation of the religion, but rather a statement on the Arab world that has been built in its name. Radicalism went too long unchecked, generations were raised on poisonous words, blame for self-inflicted suffering was always scapegoated outward.

That an ally would have such snakes in their midst is no surprise and is only more evidence why the Mideast needs an opportunity to embrace democracy, freedom and civilization.

Or die before it can savage all of humanity.

More blood to halt democracy in Iraq.

Insurgents shot and killed Baghdad’s provincial governor and struck at the headquarters of an elite police unit yesterday in a series of attacks against Iraqi government targets aimed at disrupting the January 30 elections.

With only four weeks to go, the increase in violence, particularly in the capital, led to renewed calls for the poll to be delayed. Ghazi al-Yawer, interim president, suggested that the United Nations should decide whether elections would be held on time. However, a senior US state department official said that “absolutely” the elections would go ahead as planned. The security situation was not deteriorating and was actually “a little better” than six weeks ago.

….

Iraq’s electoral commission has also insisted that the Transitional Administrative Law governing the elections states they must be held before January 31, with no mechanism for delay.

The growing insecurity has already diminished participation in the elections. There are virtually no activists out canvassing in the capital and some parties have not even announced a candidate list for fear their members will be targeted.

The shooting of Ali al-Haidari, provincial governor, was the latest in a string of assassinations of local officials that appears to be deterring influential Iraqis, particularly in the Sunni Arab areas, from seeking high-profile political roles. Witnesses said three cars loaded with gunmen pulled alongside Mr Haidari’s four-car motorcade as he drove through the north-east part of the city and then opened fire.

Insurgents associated with the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the killing, warning that “every traitor and supporter of the Jews and Christians” would suffer the same fate.

Do. Not. Delay. The. Vote.

To do so now would trumpet the message that assassination can prevent putting the government into the hands of the Iraqi people.

The U.S. continues to wrestle with detritus of human civilization, that collection of terrorists and pondscum currently being detained at Guantanamo Bay. Neither prisoners of war nor criminals of any real value, what is to be done with them and those to be similarly detained in the future?

A reported plan by the Bush administration to keep some suspected al-Qaeda members imprisoned for a lifetime without trial has come under attack.

The Washington Post newspaper says the Pentagon and the CIA have asked the White House to decide on a more permanent approach for those it was unwilling to set free or turn over to domestic or foreign courts.

Some detentions could potentially last a lifetime, the newspaper said.

Influential senators quickly denounced the idea as probably being unconstitutional.

“It’s a bad idea. So we ought to get over it and we ought to have a very careful, constitutional look at this,” Republican Senator Richard Lugar said.

Democratic Senator Carl Levin, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, cited earlier US Supreme Court decisions.

“There must be some modicum, some semblance of due process… if you’re going to detain people, whether it’s for life or whether it’s for years,” he said.

I have little problem with achieving a “semblance of due process,” assuming there’s any actual applicable definition of the status of these pigs.

The story claims the Defence Department, which holds 500 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, is about to ask Congress for $25m to build a new, 200-bed prison, dubbed Camp 6.

The newspaper said its purpose will be to hold detainees who are unlikely to ever go through a military tribunal due to a lack of evidence.

The new prison would allow inmates more comfort and freedom than they have now, and would be designed for prisoners the government believes have no more intelligence to share, the newspaper said.

“Since global war on terror is a long-term effort, it makes sense for us to be looking at solutions for long-term problems,” Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, was quoted as saying.

“This has been evolutionary, but we are at a point in time where we have to say, ‘How do you deal with them in the long term?’”

The paper said the outcome of a current review would also affect those expected to be captured in the course of future counterterrorism operations.

One proposal being discussed is transferring many Afghan, Yemeni and Saudi detainees – the majority of the 500 suspects at Guantanamo Bay – to new US-built prisons in their home countries.

Those countries would still run the prisons, but the US State Department, where this idea originated, would monitor them for compliance to human rights standards.

I agree with building more secure but humane facilities for the detainees. Perhaps we should also look for other isolated areas under U.S. control for future facilities.

As to the return of nationals to prisons in their homelands, I am skeptical as to the level of security available for this to be a viable option for any sizable number.

Human rights groups say there is little hard evidence against many of the Guantanamo Bay suspects.

But the Pentagon and the CIA argue that the post-September 11 era requires a new tougher approach and that many of the suspects are hardened terrorists who, if released, would plot fresh atrocities.

In fact, this has already been seen from previous detainees thought harmless enough for release.

The U.S. Department of Justice has revised its 2002 stances on torture, tightening restrictions on what is acceptable during interrogations.

American troops in Iraq will no longer be allowed to inflict “severe pain” while interrogating suspects after US justice officials broadened their controversial definition of torture in the wake of the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal.

The Justice Department has quietly revised a previous legal memorandum which held that mistreatment amounted to torture only “if it produced severe pain equivalent to that associated with organ failure or death”.

The memorandum signalling the U-turn was posted unannounced on the Justice Department’s website on Thursday night. Human rights groups say the change amounts to a tacit admission that the previous definition was too loose and paved the way for the abuses of Iraqi prisoners by American troops at Abu Ghraib last year.

Trent Duffy, a spokesman for George W Bush, said that the Justice Department sought comments from the president’s office of legal counsel before pressing ahead with the changes. He said it was to “reiterate the president’s determination that the United States never engage in torture”.

I think the description “u-turn” is quite an exaggeration of what actually amounts to a scope change.

In fact, the president goes further than I personally would. I am against torture as being generally counter-productive and unwarranted but, were the situation dire enough, I would say all bets were off. I guess I’m not a fan of the word “never” when its usage places restrictions that may eventually have tragic consequences. This ties in with my opposition to ever taking the nuclear option off the table during any conflict or ruling out putting boots on the ground as needed.

Michael Ratner, the president of the US-based Centre for Constitutional Rights, which has sued the Bush administration over its interrogation policies, said that the redefinition “makes it clear that the earlier one was not just some intellectual theorising by some lawyers about what was possible. It means it must have been implemented in some way,” he said.

“It puts the burden on the administration to say what practices were actually put in place under those auspices.”

I disagree with Ratner here. It does not necessarily follow, though it is possible, that anything now restricted was actually implemented as policy, nor is there any requirement on the Bush administration to spell out any actual application of the now-altered policy.

In the original memorandum, which is devoted to a US convention against torture, officials from the Justice Department say that torture should cover only “extreme acts and severe pain”.

It adds: “When the pain is physical, it must be of an intensity akin to that which accompanies serious physical injury such as death or organ failure. Severe mental pain requires suffering not just at the moment of infliction but it also requires lasting psychological harm.”

The new memo revises the definition to say that torture could include “severe physical pain” and “severe physical suffering”. It notes that physical suffering is difficult to define.

It also rejects an assertion in the original memo that torture could be said to occur only if the interrogator intended to cause the harm that resulted.

David Scheffer, a senior human rights official in the State Department during the Clinton administration, said that while the Justice Department’s revision exercise was commendable, it still left too many judgments in the hands of interrogators.

We are still fighting a civilized war against an uncivilized foe. That’s fine — let’s proceed with one hand potentially tied behind our back. However, if things go poorly, I’d rather a few later suffer the anguish of their actions than we willingly surrender our society for the sake of niceties.

Long an exporter of terror, in all reality if not officially, Saudi Arabia is increasingly having to deal with the Islamist bastards that it has allowed to spawn coming home to roost.

Islamic extremists set off bombs and battled with police in the Saudi capital Wednesday night, leaving nine militants and one bystander dead and causing oil prices to jump as the insurgents signaled they will keep up attacks despite the kingdom’s crackdown on al-Qaida.

A car bomb was detonated by remote control near the Interior Ministry in central Riyadh — killing a bystander, according to Saudi TV — followed soon after by an explosion when two suicide attackers tried to bomb a troop recruitment center.

The gunmen who set off the ministry blast fled, but then engaged in a gunbattle with police in northern Riyadh that killed seven militants and wounded an undetermined number of officers, police said.

The attacks came two weeks after al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden called on his followers to focus attacks on his homeland. While damage to the Interior Ministry was minor, it was a bold assault on the government body at the center of Saudi Arabia’s war on other Islamic extremists.

Prince Ahmed bin Abdel Aziz, the deputy interior minister, told Saudi TV the attackers were all Saudis. He said they were “terrorists (who) took a great risk, because they know that their end is imminent.”

Trust me, the end of Saudi terrorists is very far from imminent.

The first explosion went off around 8:30 p.m. near the Interior Ministry, a huge modern high-rise in a complex that includes a luxury hotel. Two militants set off a car bomb by remote control in a traffic tunnel near the ministry, police said. A limousine driver was killed, Saudi TV said.

….

A half hour later, a second explosion shook the city. Two suicide bombers tried to drive into a troop recruitment center about five miles away, but they came under fire from police and set off their explosives prematurely. The two bombers died, but there were no other reports of casualties.

The two militants behind the ministry blast, apparently joined by accomplices, later fought with police in a northern district of the capital. The gunmen, armed with automatic weapons and grenades, holed up in a building and were killed while fighting with officers who surrounded the structure, police said.

….

The explosions took place at night, when few employees were at the ministry or the recruitment center. Past militant attacks, including some claimed by al-Qaida, appeared designed to maximize casualties, but drew heavy criticism when many of the dead were Arab and Muslim.

It is interesting to see the extremists buckle slightly under public pressure. Perhaps they should employ some pollsters and focus groups.

Extremists have staged a number of attacks recently, but none on the scale of dramatic operations early this year and last year that killed dozens.

Early Wednesday, a suspected militant was killed in Riyadh after tossing a bomb and shooting at security agents, a security official said. On Tuesday, another suspect and a bystander were killed in a shootout in the same Riyadh neighborhood, an Interior Ministry official said. One suspect was captured in that incident.

The extremists’ biggest attack recently came Dec. 6, when militants said to belong to al-Qaida’s Saudi branch stormed the U.S. consulate in Jiddah, killing nine people.

Ten days later, bin Laden issued his audiotape — his first message in years directed specifically at Saudis. He praised those who carried out the consulate raid and urged his followers to attack the kingdom’s oil installations to weaken both the West and the Saudi royal family.

Saudi forces have cracked down on al-Qaida — killing and arresting a large number of its suspected top figures in the country — after the large attacks early in the year.

In May, gunmen attacked oil company compounds in Khobar, 250 miles northeast of Riyadh, and killed 22 people, 19 of them foreigners. Earlier the same month, attackers stormed the offices of an American company in Yanbu, 220 miles north of Jiddah, killing six Westerners and a Saudi.

On April 21, a suicide bomber struck a government building in Riyadh, killing five people. In November 2003, a suicide bombing at a Riyadh housing compound killed 17 people, most of them Muslims working in Saudi Arabia.

Long ago, the Saudis sold their souls, supporting terrorism abroad and allowing radicalism to fester at home. They now are seeing the bills coming due, and the longterm stability of the government must soon come into question if changes aren’t made at the very roots of Saudi society.