Category Archives: Terrorism

Al-Qaeda, Iraq, Salafi, Terrorism

Terrorism in Iraq: a Love-Hate Relationship with America, a Repossessed SOFA……..

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““The terrorists stopped the bus at gunpoint and killed 22 men,” said Maj. Gen. Abdul-Hadi Rizayig, the provincial police chief. The highway is protected by the Iraqi Army, he said. Shiite pilgrims have been a frequent target for Sunni insurgents who are trying to revive the sectarian violence that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war just a few years ago. The attack on Monday came less than four months before the remaining United States troops, who surged into Iraq in large numbers in 2007 to stem the sectarian violence, are scheduled to leave the country. In Anbar, a province with a heavily Sunni Muslim population, insurgents have launched many attacks while posing as soldiers or security guards. And on Monday, one of the women who was forced off the bus told officials that four gunmen dressed in military uniforms had stopped the bus at a fake checkpoint……………”

At some point a few years ago, Salafi (and perhaps Ba’athis remnant) terrorists in Iraq discovered the joys of leaving American forces alone. Possibly the fact that these terrorists, also called “insurgents” by more genteel Western people and some delusional Arabs, were defeated in almost every direct military confrontation had something to do with that. Or maybe it were the severe retaliations that ensued. Or maybe they discovered the ease with which to kill Shi’a (and often Sunni) civilians: getting more bang for their bucks donated by neighboring Arab Salafi potentates. Most likely it was a combination of both. And also the fact that many Iraqis stopped sheltering, feeding, and providing them with women.
Now their goal seems odd: on the verge of realizing one of their old ‘stated’ goals, getting rid of the Americans, they are escalating the violence. As the prospects of a renewal of SOFA fade, their attacks get fiercer and bloodier. It is as if they want the American forces to remain in Iraq. If it didn’t sound so ridiculous, I’d suggest that some uber-hawkish U.S senators like McCain, Lieberman (Joe not Avigdor, and wtf is he nowadays?) and Graham are behind these baboons.
Cheers
mhg


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Arab Revolutions, Iran, Libya, Persian-American Gulf, Racism, Terrorism, US Foreign Policy

On Libyan Aid, al-Megrahi Mystery, Schumer’s Chutzpah , Iran Air 655, and Billions of Money ………….

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“Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is calling for a halt to U.S. aid to the new Libyan government if it refuses to re-arrest Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was convicted of planning the 1998(sic) bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Schumer sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today calling on the State Department not to help the National Transitional Council (NTC) — which is struggling to stand up a government in the wake of the fall of Muammar al-Qaddafi — with either direct aid or by giving them access to frozen Qaddafi funds, unless it jails Megrahi. “If the new Libyan government continues to shield this convicted terrorist from justice, then they should not get one more cent of support from the United States,” said Schumer. “We put American lives and money on the line to help the Libyan people secure their freedom. It’s time the Libyan government lives up to its commitment to create a free and accountable society by handing over al-Megrahi so that justice can finally be done.” Megrahi was released by the Scottish government in 2009 on compassionate grounds………….”
(Actually it was 1988 not 1998)

It is tempting to say that Chuck Schumer had chutzpah, but that would be an easy shot. He is well known for that in New York and Washington.
The Western deals were done with Qaddafi. Libya gave up its search for WMD, billions were paid to families of the victims, al-Meghrahi was released by the British government (which claimed it was the Scottish regime that released him), Qaddafi’s sons were feted at the U.S. State Department, etc, etc. That is not all: some Western, and pliant Arab, media even started a little campaign of rewriting history, reviving old reports of possible Syrian and/or Iranian and/or Hezbollah and/or al-Qaeda involvement. Woops, scratch out al-Qaeda: it did not exist in 1988.
Now, with the “compensation” blood money safely in the bank accounts, with Qaddafi on the run, with a new regime in London, there is talk of “repatriating” al-Megrahi back to his Scottish homeland. After all, the Western governments and their doctors were “duped” by the Libyan tin-horn dictator into believing that Megrahi was dying. They were promised that he would die within months! Can’t trust them Arabs, even after the billions of dollars you wheedle out of them in compensation (in Arabic it is called ‘diyya‘: blood money that the killer pays to avoid execution).

Which brings me to the curious case of Iran Air Flight 655, shot down over the Persian-American Gulf in August of 1988 by a U.S warship. It was flying from Iran to Dubai with 290 civilians on board, 66 of them children. All on board were killed. Not much compensation was paid for those civilian victims, nobody was jailed or even threatened with prison. The Iranians are not even whining nearly as much about it, or maybe they are but we don’t read about it or see in or CNN, Fox, etc. No interviews with teary relatives. Besides, they were all Middle Eastern people on Iran Air 655: mostly Iranians with a few Arabs and other expendables.
I bet nobody is willing to give back the money in exchange for sending Al Megrahi back to Britain.
Cheers
mhg


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Arabian Peninsula, Human Right, religious police, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism

Saudi Anti-Terror Law subject to Revision? About U.S. Bible Belt Worries………..

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“Saudi Arabia has revised an anti-terrorism law and made it less severe than a leaked version that was heavily criticized by human rights groups, a Shura Council spokesman said on Saturday. “The draft that was published is not the final one,” said Mohammed Almohanna, spokesman for the advisory parliament. “It was discussed in a Shura Council session. It was a draft and some changes were made to it to ensure that the law is compatible with Sharia (Islamic law) and does not violate citizens’ rights or the country’s existing laws,” he said. He said the Shura would amend the draft further when its summer recess ends in mid-September before sending it to the king for approval. Amnesty International, which published a draft of the Penal Law for Terrorism Crimes and Financing Terrorism on its website, said on July 22 that the authorities could use the law to stifle dissent…………”

This spokesman for the Shura Council talks as if it has any power. The Shura is an appointed advisory council, just like the cabinet, and takes its orders from the ruling family. They basically rubber-stamp whatever is sent over by the princes, which usually is not much. It doesn’t matter what they have on the law books, provided there are any: they do what it takes not just to stifle dissent, but to crush it.
On the bright side, they don’t chop the heads of dissidents anymore. They arrest them and throw them in prison for long periods of time, some without charges or trial.
(Also these guys should not mention the Shari’a Law to the Western press. The folks in places like Oklahoma and Tennessee and Texas get panicky and start voting to ban “Sharia Law”, wtf that be in their own Bible Belt context).
Cheers
mhg


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Al-Qaeda, Salafi, Terrorism, Women 100, WTF

Al-Shamikha of Al-Qaeda: Salafi Women Discover Victoria’s Secret………

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“The 31-page glossy, Al-Shamikha, which translates loosely as “The Majestic Woman”, features a niqab-clad woman posing with a sub-machine gun on its cover. Much like Elle or Cosmopolitan, it includes advice on finding the right man (“marrying a mujahideen”), how to achieve a perfect complexion (stay inside with your face covered), and provides tips on first aid and etiquette. Alongside sisterly advice such as “not [to] go out except when necessary” and to always wear a niqab for protection from the sun, the magazine runs interviews with martyr’s wives and praises those who give their lives in the name of the editors’ interpretation of Islam. “From martyrdom, the believer will gain security, safety and happiness,” it says. For those readers not quite ready for such a drastic step, it argues the pros and cons of honey facemasks and lobbies against “towelling too forcibly”.……”

Don’t knock it. Women are women (just as men are men). They probably have everything that others do, under that black Salafi tent. Victoria’s Secret included. (No, I probably draw the line at things like leather and S & M and bondage). I liked the part about “not [to] go out except when necessary”, I thought it means “go out” as in “going out”, a.k.a “dating”. For a moment there I thought I had missed a Salafi fatwa allowing “going out on dates” when necessary. I thought of all the poor saps al-Qaeda that were sent to certain death and mayhem with a promise of all those delayed pleasures in Paradise, how these frustrated young men went partly because they could not see all the beauty around them, all the Victoria’s Secrets hidden under the dark attire. The least the master terrorists could have done was send them out to do “God’s work” in couples, couples with matching “belts”. That would have been an explosive date, the date of a lifetime, going with a bang, the puns intended.
Dommage….
(al-Shamikha also means dignified or proud, which apparently applies only to Salafi women who cater to Salafi men).
Cheers
mhg


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Iran, Terrorism, US Foreign Policy

Tehran Holds Counter-Terrorism Conference: United States Unlikely to Attend……..

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“High-ranking officials from more than 60 countries, including several heads of state, have accepted Iran’s invitation to attend the Global Campaign against Terrorism Conference, conference secretary general Bahman Taherian-Mobarakeh stated at a press conference in Tehran on Monday. The conference is scheduled to be held in the Iranian capital from June 25 to 26. Taherian-Mobarakeh stated that the United Nations, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Asia Cooperation Dialogue, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Economic Cooperation Organization, and Interpol are among the international and regional organizations which have been officially invited to send representatives to the conference. He said that the list of officials who plan to participate in the conference will be released later. However, Taherian-Mobarakeh did not name the countries which have decided to send representatives to the conference. It is expected that more countries will announce their interest in attending the event ………” Mehr News

Shouldn’t they know by now who or what and from where is attending ?
This whole thing is mysterious: nobody knows who will attend from where. I know one thing: the United States government will not be represented at this meeting. I also know at least one other country that will not be represented. But then it all depends on one’s definition of ‘terrorism’: the countries that claim to be the most concerned with ‘terrorism’ will not be attending. Most likely al-Qaeda will not attend, nor will George W. Bush or Dick Cheney.
I also suspect that most terrorists will not attend.
Cheers
mhg


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Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Terrorism

Mullah Omar and Bob Dylan on SNL………

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“Afghanistan on Tuesday said it has received reports of reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar being killed, but they have not been confirmed. “As spokesperson of our security office announced, we received that kind of reports but they are not confirmed,” Afghanistan’s Minister for Information and Culture Sayeed Makhdoom Raheem on Tuesday said. The Afghan intelligence agency had on Monday said that Omar disappeared from a suspected hideout in Pakistan and has been out of contact with his commanders for days…..….”

The Taliban have denied that their leader, Mullah Omar is dead. I suspect that they are right. A death requires certain ceremonies and procedures that can’t be hidden except maybe in North Korea. If Mullah Omar is dead, and not in North Korea, we will know. But there is speculation about his fate, as there has been in past years, especially in late 2001. I suggest that Mullah Omar, if he is alive, end all this speculation at once by appearing on Oprah or The View. If these venues are considered unmanly chick shows (they are), then he can go on Piers Morgan to prove that he is alive. If he objects to Piers Morgan, then maybe he can do an SNL skit (Sarah Palin did). It would be sad if his death is confirmed on Bob Dylan’s birthday. Although I doubt that he ever was a fan.
Now if he had a Twitter account……
Cheers
mhg


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Al-Qaeda, Iran, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, Terrorism

Ahamadinejad as Oliver Stone, Osama au masque de fer……….

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“Tehran: Al Qaida founder Osama Bin Laden was a prisoner in US custody for “sometime” before he was killed by the American military, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday. “I have exact information that Bin Laden was held by the American military for sometime… until the day they killed him he was a prisoner held by them,” the hardline president said in a live interview on Iranian state television. “Please pay attention. This is important. He was held by them for sometime. They made him sick and while he was sick they killed him,” Ahmadinejad added. He accused US President Barack Obama for announcing the Al Qaida leader’s death for “political gain”. “What the US president has done is for domestic political gain. In other words, they killed him for Obama’s election and now they are seeking to replace him with someone else,” Ahmadinejad said without elaborating……”

It is starting, predictably. It is tempting for me to explain this as Ahmadinejad being just a ….Middle Easterner. Conspiracy theories and all that. But then there is another possible explanation. Maybe the Pakistani military or ISI leaked this tidbit of gossip to the Iranians, just to muddy the waters, and counter American anger. Okay, that in itself is also a conspiracy theory. I have another one: old Papa Bin Laden had many wives, many sons; suppose there was another man who looked exactly like Bin Laden, but without wearing an iron mask……..
(FYI: Alexandre Dumas is dead, actually both are dead; no copyright, no nothing).
Cheers
mhg


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Al-Qaeda, Terrorism, US Foreign Policy

Two Futile Speeches: Obama and Osama……

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I am expecting two much-publicized speeches on the Middle East this next week. My advice to both speakers (I prefer speechifiers in this case) is or would have been: don’t bother. But one of them is dead. Bin Laden reportedly has an audio tape prepared for after his death. I wonder if we will hear it as we watch some of reported porno tapes found in his hideout in Pakistan (some say they were under his bed). Okay, like many of us he can watch almost all the porn he wants, there are no religious injunctions against it because in the old days they had no video recording and Arabs did not draw lewd figure on walls like the Romans and Greeks.
Osama’s speech will be a waste of time because it will not turn the tide and make his movement any more attractive to many Arabs and Muslims, especially outside the Arabian Peninsula.
The other speech, by President Barack Obama, will be as useless. Mr. Obama’s hands are tied behind his back by the coming elections and by the powerful Israeli lobby that has a veto power over American Middle East policy. He must know his speech will be useless at this time, for it will avoid or evade the Palestinian-Israeli issue. He will make some general statements about the Palestinian issue and his support for democracy in Libya and Syria but not in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. I wrote here about two years ago or so when the US administration introduced a Middle East initiative and said it expected a solution within a year: I said fohgetaboutit. As did others, and we were all right.
Cheers
mhg


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Al-Qaeda, Iraq, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, Religion, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism

Al-Qaeda Finances: Have Money, Will Travel………

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“This puts people like Abd al-Hamid al-Mujil in an uncomfortable position. Described by fellow jihadists as the “million-dollar man” for his successful fundraising on behalf of al Qaeda and other jihadi groups, Mujil directed the office of the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), a charity in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Both he and the IIRO office he headed were designated as terrorist entities by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2006. But even if being “named and shamed” forced Mujil out of the terror-finance business, there are many others just like him. Just this week, David Cohen, the head of the Treasury Department’s Terrorism and Financial Intelligence branch told CNN that major donors from the Gulf states remain the key sources of funding for the al Qaeda core. There are no doubt dozens of radical funders now worrying that their names, bank accounts, or addresses will comes up in bin Laden’s spreadsheets — or “pocket litter” — and for good reason.……..”

I have always argued that all these terrorist operations from Iraq to Pakistan must cost a lot of money. More money than the locals could provide. I have always written here that following the money trail from Iraq or Pakistan or Yemen will lead so a huge field of petroleum, an oil well. This is part of someone’s ‘foreign policy’, at least the Iraq part is. Bring pressure on Iraq by sending suicide terrorists across the border and finance them (the money is peanuts for the deep pocketed princes). Bring pressure on Pakistan and others the same way. Meanwhile, the money and the Salafi fatwas will keep the bombers away from the home front. As for the Western allies, and the other Arabs who fall victim? Oh, well, there is such a thing as collateral damage.
Cheers
mhg


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Middle East, Terrorism

Hamas and Bin Laden……………

     
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Al-Qaeda and other Salafis never cared about the Palestine issue, at least not publicly. Salafis are too obsessed with killing “the infidel” and with worshipping living, well-paying, kings to worry about the thorniest problem of our region. During the 2006 Israeli attack on Lebanon, al-Qaeda and other Salafis joined the absolute tribal Arab monarchs in siding, nearly openly, with the Israelis against the Lebanese.
Now Hamas, a somewhat milder, even gentler, fundamentalist organization, never a friend of al-Qaeda, comes out condemning the killing of the Salafi master terrorist and mass murderer. They sure know how to shoot themselves in the foot.
Cheers
mhg

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