Pakistan "Next US Nightmare"
munaeem | 30 December, 2006 19:53
A hard-hitting article by one of Australia's major broadsheets - The Sydney Morning Herald, says the "Talibanisation" of Pakistan itself is now a looming worry for the West.
Published today, as if to coincide with Saddam's hanging, who by the way, according to reports, refused to wear a mask, and carried Koran in his hands, the article is punctuated with slant opinions and contextual observations on Pakistan affairs, and is headlined "Pakistan could become next US nightmare".
The article, which carries no byline, and therefore safe to say it is the newspaper's own opinion, accuses Musharraf and his government of being deeply ambivalent in their commitment to supporting the Western campaign, (so-called war against terrorism) in return for which about $US4 billion ($5 billion) in US aid has flowed their way over the past five years.
It also accuses him of relying on Islamists for domestic political support.
Given that almost every ominous move made by the West for its "strategic" and/or "national" interests, is subtly actually launched first by its media, it isn't surprising that the said article could be an indicator of what's cooking.
Some time back (Sept 24, 2006) I had written that some analysts think stage is being set by the U.S. to "enter" Pakistan - it's the backyard of Iran after all. It will be easier to take out Iran's nuclear assets and reduce its increasing clout in the region. Bugti's removal from the scene and Bush's insistence that U.S. forces will "absolutely" be sent into Pakistan to capture or kill Bin Laden if they have actionable intelligence, are some of the significant moves in that direction. (
Here's the latest article by the Australian Newspaper:
IT HAS more than twice as many people as Iran, six times more than Iraq, many primed for Islamic extremism by a legacy of poverty and illiteracy left by decades of misrule by corrupt secular leaders, civilian and military.
It already has nuclear weapons, and ballistic missiles made with North Korean help. It shelters jihadists battling Western forces across its border, and fanatical cells training Muslim youth in Western countries to put bombs on buses and metros.
If Iraq has turned into a nightmare for the US President, George Bush, think about Islamists gaining power in Pakistan, population 166 million, and their hands on its nuclear arsenal.
Across the border in Afghanistan, 31,000 US, Canadian, European and Australian troops are fighting a resurgent Taliban in the country's south.
The British-led forces can outbattle the Islamist fighters, but the constant fighting and presence of foreign troops is steadily undermining local support for the government of President Hamid Karzai. Frustratingly for the British and Afghan commanders, the Taliban are able to operate out of neighboring Pakistan with little hindrance.
The Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, is said to live in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's Baluchistan province, hold his "shura" or council meetings openly in the city, and train his fighters at two camps on the city's outskirts.
Before an attack by 1500 Taliban fighters in early September, the Taliban streamed across the border into Afghanistan cheered on by Pakistani border guards.
Pakistan's President and army chief, Pervez Musharraf, has been confronted several times this year, by Karzai, the British and the Americans, who have supplied addresses and phone numbers for Omar and his cohorts in Quetta.
Musharraf throws up unconvincing bluster. He claims that Pakistan has done all it can to prevent cross-border military activity, with its army losing 750 killed in campaigns since September 11, 2001, along its frontier with Afghanistan.
Yet Musharraf and his government are deeply ambivalent in their commitment to supporting the Western campaign, in return for which about $US4 billion ($5 billion) in US aid has flowed their way over the past five years.
With the leaders of the country's two main secular parties, former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, in exile and opposing military rule, Musharraf relies on Islamists for domestic political support.
Principal among these is the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, which explicitly supports the Taliban and reinforces it with recruits from its madrassas (Koranic schools), and which the Pakistan Army and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency helped join ruling coalitions in both Balochistan and the North-West Frontier Province.
As its founding patron, the ISI is said to be highly protective of the Taliban, keeping it in reserve in case Pakistan needs to regain control of its northern neighborhood and transport corridors as "strategic depth" against India.
Pakistan's security agencies have been more active against elements of the al-Qaeda hiding out in its cities, notably by capturing the group's No.3 figure, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, in March 2003 and handing him over to the Americans.
But according to a new report by the International Crisis Group, the Brussels-based think tank headed by the former Australian foreign minister, Gareth Evans, the campaigns against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants operating into Afghanistan have failed.
Pakistani authorities have flip-flopped between excessive force, stirring up more resistance in the fiercely independent border tribes, and appeasement.
Accepting "empty pledges" from tribal maliks (headmen) to end attacks on Pakistani troops and curb foreign terrorists, Islamabad has effectively given the Taliban a free hand in this border region.
Musharraf is trying to shore up an administrative system left by the British based on government political "agents" supervising the traditional maliks, while the Taliban's parallel authority is spreading to "settled" areas of the North-West Frontier.
The "Talibanisation" of Pakistan itself is now a looming worry for the West.
Soon after he seized power in 1999 - ahead of being sacked by Sharif - The Economist magazine called Musharraf a "useless dictator".
Seven years later, he hangs onto power without having achieved much in the way of reform, largely because the US regards him as key to keeping the Islamists out of power.
That is turning out to be another big misconception in Washington
Baath party urges Iraqis to avenge Saddam execution
munaeem | 30 December, 2006 19:17
Execution prompts joy, martyrdom claims
munaeem | 30 December, 2006 19:04
Saddam Hussein's enemies rejoice, his defenders proclaim him a martyr, while others look ahead to impact Saturday execution would have on Iraq. 'This is the fair punishment for the one who executed our sons without trials,' says former information minister of Kuwait
His enemies rejoiced, his defenders proclaimed him a martyr, and others looked ahead to the impact the Saturday execution of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein would have on Iraq.
Kuwaitis and Iranians welcomed the death of the leader who led wars against each of their countries.
"This is the best Eid gift for humanity," said Saad bin Tafla al-Ajmi, former information minister of Kuwait, referring to Eid al-Adha, the most important holiday on the Islamic calendar, which began Saturday for Sunni Muslims.
Al-Ajmi heads a state committee that is searching for 605 people who disappeared during Saddam's seven-month occupation of Kuwait that began in 1990. He said the families of the missing were "ecstatic."
"This is the fair punishment for the one who executed our sons without trials," he said.
In Iran, which fought an eight-year war with Iraq that killed hundreds of thousands of people on both sides after Saddam invaded in 1980, most people thought he got what he deserved.
"Death was the least punishment for Saddam," said Hasan Mohebi, a fruit vendor in Tehran. "He destroyed the lives of millions of people in this region."
For university student Sareh Naghavi, Saddam's death came too soon. "He should have been made to answer why he invaded Iran and Kuwait and why he launched chemical attacks against Iranians and Iraqis," she said.
'Martyr remained fearless, honest and clear-minded'
While there was no official comment from Arab leaders, the government of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi announced a three-day official mourning period and canceled all celebrations for Eid.
The Yemeni government made last-minute appeals, sending a letter to President Bush and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, asking that Saddam be spared.
The legal team for Saddam, which is based in Jordan, issued a statement describing Saddam in his final moments: "The martyr remained fearless, honest and clear-minded."
Najeeb al-Nauimi, a Qatari member of the legal team, said "for Iraqis, he will be very well remembered. Like a martyr, he died for the sake of his country."
Another of Saddam's lawyers said the death penalty had been decided before Saddam's trial had ended.
"The farce execution was announced by Bush seven months ago, when he said that Saddam will be executed before the end of the year," said Issam Ghazzawi.
Mohammed al-Douri, who was Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations in the run-up to the US-led 2003 invasion, declared that "the Arab nation has lost a hero. So have all of those who are against Iran and Israel and for Arab unity."
A leading member of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, Jamil Abu-Bakr, warned the Bush administration that Saddam's execution would have dire consequences.
"If Bush thought that he achieved victory with this move, he is wrong because the Iraqi resistance will be intensified and the hatred of America will increase in the region," he said.
Al-Douri shares the view that the execution was a false victory.
"They think this is a victory, the execution of President Saddam," he said. "They have no other victory to claim. There is no new Iraq, no new democracy, no example for the region."
Palestinians on Saddam: We lost a leader
munaeem | 30 December, 2006 18:51
Many in the Palestinian Authority on Saturday lamented the execution of Saddam Hussein, who received a special status among the Palestinians.
"Saddam was known for his ability to stick to his opinion and say 'no' to a world power," said Husni al-Ajal, 46, from a refugee camp near Ramallah.
The pictures of the "butcher from Baghdad" were hung in many places in the West Bank and Gaza. Some of the pictures featured both Saddam Hussein and former PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.
On Saturday morning, the citizens of Iraq and the entire world were notified that "the criminal Saddam was hanged to death." The Iraqi tyrant, who ruled Iraq between 1979 and 2003, died at around 5 a.m., at the presence of several witnesses from the Iraqi government and a Muslim cleric.
Saddam, on his part, did not forget the Palestinians also during his last moments. Just before the rope was wrapped around his neck, he shouted, "Allah is great. Long live the Iraqi nation. Palestine is Arab."
Iraqi sources who were present at the execution said that the prime minister's office employees began rejoicing and dancing around the body.
For fear of riots, a four-day curfew was imposed on Saddam’s place of birth, the town of Tikrit. The American military said it was prepared for any escalation of violence that would occur as a result of the Iraqi dictator’s death.
Blair and Bush : Two men on the wrong mission
munaeem | 29 December, 2006 14:05
Their tough talk suggests Bush and Blair may be preparing to attack Iran, says robert fox |  |
I hope George Bush and Tony Blair aren't about to do something daft over Iran. There are ominous signs that they are. On the last stop of his Middle East in Dubai, Blair named Iran as the number one destabilising force in the region. Iran's government, he said, is "openly supporting terrorism in Iraq to stop a fledgling democratic process, trying to turn out a democratic government in Lebanon and flouting the international community's desire for peace in Palestine." Blair and Bush are, in their different ways, like the G-men in the early days of the FBI. They love to have a public enemy number one. Sometimes the top slot has been taken by al-Qaeda, sometimes Hezbollah, Hamas or the Iraqi militia leader Moqtada al Sadr. And now they have the ramshackle regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to take on. To reinforce the sense of growing danger from Tehran, Bush has asked his new Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, to dispatch a second aircraft carrier group to the Gulf. This is needed to counter the threat of Iran mining the Straits of Hormuz in response to UN sanctions. To help out, the Royal Navy is sending two more minesweepers to join the international force there. "And yet," warned Blair, in best parsonical finger-wagging mode in Dubai, "a large part of world opinion is frankly almost indifferent. It would be bizarre if it weren't so deadly serious." The retiring UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has warned the US and the UK that war is no solution for resolving the differences with Iran. If they believe they are acting in support of democracy, the Bush-Blair axis is showing pretty bad timing in turning up the rhetoric against Tehran. In local elections this month, voters in Iran have turned away from Ahmadinejad. They have voted for moderate reformers led by the former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, for places on the council of guidance, and not for the faction of Ayatollah Yazdi, the president's main backer in the clergy. Moreover, students on the campuses are, at last, stirring and have been demonstrating actively against the autocratic ways of the current regime. The focus on Iran seems to be a distraction from the crunch fast approaching in Iraq. On January 10, Bush is due to announce his last big initiative to win 'success' - even 'victory' - in Iraq. The outlines of the plan are known: to take back security from the Iraqis and to 'clean out and hold' key trouble-spots. An extra 30,000 to 50,000 troops are to be flown in for the 'surge' programme. The proposal of James Baker's Iraq Study Group for US forces to pull back slowly, to accelerate Iraqi army training, and for most US troops to be out by spring 2008 has been rejected outright by the White House. So, too, has Baker's urging for negotiations with the troublesome neighbours Syria and Iran. Instead, these are to be confronted. The surge solution also goes against the wishes of Bush's most senior general
responsible for Iraq, General John Abizaid, who believes no extra troops should be deployed. This week it was announced he was retiring - and leaving his post early. Behind the chest-beating rhetoric on Iraq and Iran, there is a nightmare possibility, still only at the stage of informed rumour in the Middle East. Some suspect that a rough-and-ready deal is in the cooking involving Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, the US and Britain to tackle Iran head on with force before it becomes an even bigger menace when it actually gets nuclear weapons. I leave that one dangling. Israel is desperate for action. As for Bush, the January 10 announcement would be dramatic if its main topic were to be Iran and not Iraq. It could all be a huge diversion for a President snagged by dismal poll ratings and a Prime Minister with a nasty police inquiry about the sale of honours getting ever closer to the inner sanctum of No 10. |
A Web warning to U.S
munaeem | 29 December, 2006 13:51
On the day Hussein's death sentence was confirmed, the Baath party that he led warned it would retaliate against the United States and its interests, and against members of the Iraqi High Tribunal if the execution is carried out.
It said the United States will suffer "grave consequences" if Hussein is executed.
The party also vowed to shut down peace negotiations with coalition forces, according to a statement the group released on an Arabic-language Web site.
The Baathists have been operating as part of the insurgency against the U.S. and its allies since Hussein's regime fell in 2003.
In a farewell letter posted Wednesday on the former Baath Party's Web site, Hussein bid farewell to Iraqis and called on them not to hate the U.S.-led forces. (Watch Hussein try to get in the last word 
)
Calling Iraq a "loyal and honorable nation," Hussein says, "I bid you farewell and submit myself to the merciful and ever-faithful Lord." (Full story)
Bush’s man at the New York Times
munaeem | 29 December, 2006 02:48
Is there a Sunni Majority in Iraq?
munaeem | 28 December, 2006 19:34
By Faruq Ziada
The United States based its policy on Iraq on two primary so-called facts:
1. The Sunnis are a 20 % minority.
2. The Sunni minority and Saddam Hussein ruled the Shiite majority in Iraq.
(More)
Israel spies at odds on Syria peace feelers
munaeem | 27 December, 2006 19:04
Israeli government is confused over how to respond to the overtures from Damascus.
Her foreign intelligence agencies have given different assessments of recent diplomatic overtures from Damascus.
The Mossad's assessment is that Syrian President Bashar Assad is not interested in peace talks. While Israel’s Military says that Syrian President's offer is genuine . He wants to negotiate.
Mossad chief Meir Dagan last week accused Assad of trying to distract from Western scrutiny on his regional alliances.
Israel’s Military Intelligence, Brigadier Yossi Baidatz says that Syria is interested in talk and wants to get back the Golan heights. He said these while briefing Israeli law makers on Monday.
The conflicting attitudes made headlines in Israel and drew exasperated critiques from some seasoned ex-spies.
Update : Syria's president wants to resume peace negotiations with Israel, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter said yesterday after meeting with Bashar Assad.
Maliki's Indecent Proposal
munaeem | 26 December, 2006 19:30
The Seattle Times reports that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki proposed the following strategy to curb the sectarian violence in Iraq :"Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki — who, like most Iraqis, is Shiite — has devised a two-pronged plan in which U.S. for
"Iraqi forces would take over security of the center of the capital while al-Maliki works to contain Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia. Under such a plan, al-Maliki would accept an increase in U.S. troops in Baghdad."
The proposal put forward by the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is hazardous. Sunnis will accuse the Americans of being partial. Sunnis are already angered by the high-handedness of American forces and policies. If Americans carry out operations only against the Sunni insurgents. It will make the situation more volatile. It will hinder the reconciliation efforts of the U.S. administration.
Since the fall of the Saddam Hussain Shiites used Americans to settle their scores with the Sunnis. Instead of pardoning the community which repressed them. If Shiites do not rethink their policies, then Iraq will slip into a civil.
Media has wrongly portrayed the situation of Iraq. Saddam was a secular person. We saw many Shiites in his Supreme Council. Iraq's army also consisted of large number of Shiites, who fought against the Iranians during the Gulf War.
U.S. Plans to Found Palestinian State in 2007
munaeem | 25 December, 2006 21:18
The New York-based Jewish daily 'Forward' says that Palestinian State will come into existence in 2007.
The paper says that the Bush administration has made a request to the congress to release $100 for this purpose.
This initiative is taken to win back the support of moderate Arabs states. The present Administration alienated these moderate states , because of its wrong policies in the Middle East.
It will be based on the 'Road Map' defined by the international community.
Commentary : Arab Hypocrisy
munaeem | 25 December, 2006 14:42
Jameel Theyabi writes in his Op Ed :" Al-Hayat' recently reported Sudanese Islamic groups warning against a great scheme orchestrated by Iran; a scheme which is part of the Iranian expansion. This was particularly evident after the Sudanese observed that
It is wrong to blame Iranians for this new development.
Why did Arabs remained unmoved by the atrocities committed by the Arab Sudanese tribes against the Sudanese tribes of African origin (both of them are Muslims)?
Instead they minimized the extent of the crimes perpetrated perpetrated by Arab-dominated government in Sundan.The Arab League raises hue and cry over the UN intervention in Sudanese affairs.
Did they ever try to save the lives of these Muslims of African origin, who were massacred and left homeless!?
They are converting to Shiite version of Islam because of desperation and security reasons. They know Iran will definite interfere.
Commentary : Is Iraq a sovereign country?
munaeem | 25 December, 2006 13:10
AP reports :"U.S. troops detained two Iranians who were in Iraq at the invitation of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a presidential spokesman said Monday."
The detention of the Iraqi president's guests indicates that the present Iraqi regime is a puppet. The U.S. administration and the western propagate that Iraq has been transformed into a democracy. But this action belies their claim.
Hiwa Osman, President Talabani's media adviser says, "The president is unhappy about it."
While The U.S. military declined to comment on this.
Palestinians : Displaced and unwanted
munaeem | 24 December, 2006 20:21
- The number of registered Palestinian refugees (those displaced from their homes in 1948 or their descendants) grew from 914,000 in 1950 to more than 4.3 million last year
(More)
Bush signs anti-Hamas law
munaeem | 23 December, 2006 23:01
The Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act allows exceptions for aid to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, elected separately from the Hamas government and viewed as a partner by Washington. The law, signed by Bush Thursday, also denies US visas to Hamas officials, but allows US aid to help the 'basic human needs' of Palestinians.
(More)
UK army raids 'rogue' Iraq police
munaeem | 22 December, 2006 22:08
BBC Reports :
"Hundreds of British troops backed by tanks have seized seven Iraqi police officers suspected of corruption and leading a death squad in Basra."
(More)
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim : A political incendiary and a threat to Iraq
munaeem | 22 December, 2006 19:53
Sudarsan Raghavan writes in The Washington Post:
"In the quest to create a new Iraq, two powerful clerics compete for domination, one from within the government, the other from its shadows."
(More)
Swearing on the Koran
munaeem | 22 December, 2006 00:25
Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode Issues Warning After First Muslim Elected To Congress
According to The New York Times, Representative Virgil H. Goode Jr. (R-VA), in a letter to his constituents, said that voters must "wake up" or else there will "likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran." Of course Congressman Ellison will be allowed to take the oath of office.
The question should be whether Congressman Goode will be allowed to take his oath and sit in his elected office. He has, after all, violated his oath of office, in which he promised to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States," which intentionally and emphatically prohibits any and all religious tests.
(More)
Palestinian Boiling Pot
munaeem | 21 December, 2006 23:14
Dr. Elias Akleh writes : "
The Palestinian pot started to boil as soon as the political wing of Hamas (resistance group fighting against Israeli occupation) formed a Palestinian government after its victory in a free and democratic election as certified by all international observers.
(More)
Ahmadinejad: Britain, Israel, US to 'vanish like the pharaohs'
munaeem | 20 December, 2006 21:27
VIA Yahoo! News
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has predicted that Britian, Israel and the United States would eventually disappear from the world like the Egyptian pharaonic kings.
"The oppressive powers will disappear while the Iranian people will stay. Any power that is close to God will survive while the powers who are far from God will disappear like the pharaohs," he said Wednesday, according to Iranian news agencies.
"Today, it is the United States, Britain and the Zionist regime which are doomed to disappear as they have moved far away from the teachings of God," he said in a speech in the western town of Javanroud.
"It is a divine promise."
Ahmadinejad's comments were the latest salvo by the deeply religious president against the West and Israel. He has repeatedly predicted that Israel is doomed to disappear.
The remarks come amid mounting efforts by UN Security Council powers to agree a resolution imposing sanctions on
Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.
"They are threatening us with sanctions. But they have to know that nuclear energy is the desire of all the (Iranian) people and the people will insist on their right," Ahmadinejad said.
America : An occupying power in Iraq
munaeem | 20 December, 2006 19:41
David Ignatius writes in the Washington Post:
"America's security interests are not served by remaining indefinitely
as an occupying power in Iraq."
"This is precisely the trap the enemy laid when Bush invaded in 2003 --rawing U.S. forces into hostile terrain and then slowly picking awayat them. It's the classic guerrilla strategy, used in Algeria, Vietnam,fghanistan and a dozen other wars, and it works. That's becauseforeign expeditionary armies are rarely willing to insert enough troops to pacify a country in revolt."
David Ignatius's admission that America is an occupying power will be shocking to many Americans. But it is good to know that there are people in America, who admit that America has committed a mistake by invading Iraq.
There is no doubt America should not stay in Iraq indefinitely. The question is , how can America get of quagmire. There is no simple solution.
The administration's wrong policies have greatly aggravated the situation.If they take any wrong step, it will create a great upheaval in the region.
I believe that Iraq will prove to be another Vietnam for American.
FBI: Egyptian Sheik Hospitalized, Death May Trigger Attacks in US
munaeem | 20 December, 2006 10:15
Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman has been hospitalized. Rahman, who is known as the Blind Sheik, is serving a life sentence in the United States.
Americans allege that he inspired extremists to carry out the 1993 attack on the World Trade Centre.
In a bulletin, the Federal Bureau of Investigation says the 68-year-old was rushed to a hospital earlier this month.
FBI is predicting that his death could trigger possible terror attacks in the United States.
In 1998, Al-qaeda threatened the U.S. authorities that they would take revenge if he died in U.S. custody.
U.S. naval build-up off the coast of Iran
munaeem | 20 December, 2006 10:03
According to an unnamed defense department officials , the Pentagon is considering a buildup of U.S. Navy forces in the Gulf.
The Bush administration spokesmen refused to comment on this development, when asked about this.
The White House press secretary Tony Snow,, "We do not comment on tactical moves, reported or otherwise."
Iraq Prime Minister Wants U.S. To Target Sunni Insurgents
munaeem | 20 December, 2006 09:52
Iraq's Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has created a two-pronged security plan for Baghdad in which U.S. forces would aggressively target Sunni Arab insurgents instead of Shiite militias. (More)
Abbas Attempts A Political Coup
munaeem | 19 December, 2006 16:58
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has made an announcement of early elections. His call for elections has sparked off violence in the occupied territories. Hamas-led government has termed Mr. Abbas's move as a coup.
(More)
