My Views on News

An editorial in Saudi Arabia's Al Riyadh said tension continued to mount in the Gulf, where raid alarms were being prepared by both the United States and Iran.

"The naval vessels are not in the Gulf to take a warm bath, to fish, or to sleep on the beaches," it said, adding that the military buildup warned of a new adventure that would have arduous results.

The semi-official daily speculated that the British decision to start withdrawing troops from Iraq might have been due to the fact London didn't wish to be embroiled in any looming war between Iran and the US.

It stressed that Iran was different to Iraq in terms of its strength, internal unity, and geographic area, making it difficult to predict the fallout from a US-Iran war, but warning, nonetheless, that it could be a very long conflict and one easily spread region-wide.

Source : metimes.com 

A commentary in Jordan's Al Rai said Thursday Iran did not need a US 60-day ultimatum to meet a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution to stop uranium enrichment because it would have done so in one day.

The deadline was also not necessary for the UNSC because its members knew Tehran would not agree to this demand, said the mass-circulation daily.

It suggested instead that the 60 days were actually for the US to finalize its preparations for a military strike against Iran, not only targeting its nuclear and vital installations, but also bent on inflicting serious damage to punish Tehran for hindering support to US occupying forces in Iraq, arming certain resistance militias and death squads.

The paper, partially owned by the government, noted, meanwhile, that while the 60-day deadline expired, the US military had dispatched more aircraft carriers to the Gulf as people waited for a "surprise."

It refuted Arab warnings that a US strike would ignite conflict in the Middle East given that the US had already launched two wars on an Arab country - Iraq - without inflaming the whole region.

"Jordan does not welcome another American strike because it is a [military] adventure [of which the] results and repercussions are unknown," it said, but added that "[Jordan] will not be greatly affected politically or economically" either way.

Source : metimes.com 

1. Sudan
2. Congo
3. Côte d'Ivoire
4. Iraq
5. Zimbabwe
6. Chad
7. Somalia
8. Haiti
9. Pakistan
10. Afghanistan

A number of families have fled the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, saying that if the government does not intervene, their city will end up like Kabul during the Taliban era.

The fleeing families say that extremists have renamed the city "the Islamic Emirate of Samarra, which is one of the emirates of the Islamic State of Iraq, declared by Al-Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers last year.

Abdul-Karim Sadi, 46, said: "We and our families have gradually fled our city leaving behind our possessions except for some money that will sustain us for a few months. The situation in Samarra and its suburbs has become intolerable because extremist groups have begun interfering in people's private lives to the point of interfering in private relationships between husbands and wives."

He pointed out that these groups "began arriving in Samarra specifically a year and a half ago. Most of their leaders hold Arab citizenships, including Syrians, Algerians, Egyptians, and Yemenis, along with some Iraqi tribesmen who assist them and offer them facilities. These groups have been given houses and farms to turn them into training camps. They will train the sons of the city who refuse to join them so that they will force them to join them in the future by threatening to kill their families if they refuse."

Muhannad al-Samarra'i, 31, a policeman in Samarra, said he received direct threats from these extremist groups to quit work for the police force in the city; otherwise, he will be killed along with his family if he continued to work with the government, which they described as collaborator. He added: "These groups are tightening their grip on the city and its people in the absence of government security establishments, which have weak presence, and only in the center of the city." He said that US forces look on what is happening in the city and on what those groups are doing without really intervening to eliminate them. US forces sometimes let these groups do what they want in the city and its helpless people."

Muhannad al-Samarra'i's wife, a mother of two, said: "These extremist groups have imposed particular conditions on women, such as wearing veil and robes." The wife, who was born in Samarra in the 1970s, added: "These groups have recruited some women to propagate extremist ideas and beliefs among other women of the city. They employ these women to spread takfiri ideas against anyone who does not get affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Islamic Emirate."

Muhannad al-Samarra'i stressed that the mujahidin organizations and the Islamic Army, which are linked to Al-Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers, "have extended their control throughout the city and its suburbs. There are large areas in the city where US forces cannot enter or even pass through after having been exposed to repeated assaults that inflicted big losses in lives and equipment."

Raed al-Samarra'i, 33, Muhannad al-Samurai's eldest brother, said that members of the security and intelligence services of the former Iraqi regime and of the Baath Party have joined these extremist groups and work closely with them under a leader of an Arab nationality. He added: "Families that do not declare their allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq or to these groups and to those working with them face death, eviction, or the confiscation of their properties and estates." He noted that these groups impose "protection money on shop owners and professionals on the pretext of aiding resistance attacks against US and Iraqi security forces. They attack even citizens who refuse to declare allegiance to the Islamic Emirate."

Muhannad said that large areas of the farms around Samarra have been transformed into camps like those of Al-Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan. Arab fighters, who were trained in Afghanistan many years ago, supervise the new camps in Samarra. Other interlocutress agreed with Muhannad that the city of Samarra "is becoming like the Afghan cities of Qandahar and Kabul in the era of Taliban." They said that these groups will rule the city publicly unless the Iraqi government intervenes strongly and ends the existence of these groups and their shelters and eliminates any person or party that offers them support."

Source :  Asharq Al-Awsat-

Iraq's vice president escaped an apparent assassination attempt Monday after a bomb exploded in municipal offices where he was making a speech, knocking him down with the force of the blast that left at least 10 people dead.

Adel Abdul-Mahdi suffered bruises in the fall and was hospitalized for medical exams, an aide said. Police initially blamed the attack on a bomb-rigged car, but later said explosives were apparently planted inside the building.

Adbul-Mahdi is one of two vice presidents. The other, Tariq al-Hashemi, is Sunni.

The attack sent another message that suspected Sunni militants could strike anywhere despite a major security crackdown across the capital.

We forget that Iraq had an army and intelligence network. After the fall of Saddam, all these people melted away in the public.

American and Iraqi officials give the wrong impression that the situation is under their control.

My Queen , God bless you.

We Muslims are responsible for this menace. And We have to correct it without the help of non-Muslims.

The cause of revolt of  our youth is poverty and oppression. Muslims leaders have  proved to be ruthless and oppressive. They have to change their attitude.

I appreciated King Abdullah's action, when he ordered the release of political prisoners.

I request you to help the poor Muslim brothers and sisters around the world.

My blood boils , when I see my Somaili sisters living in camps. Arabs have wealth, they should share it with their Muslims brothers and sisters. This will help in stabilizing our society.

Regards.

On the third day of the Six Day War in 1967, General Mordechai Gur arrived at the area of the Noble Sanctuary. He was on top of the world as he saw Israel's so-called Temple Mount finally falling into Israel's hands. What happened to Gur may be of interest to researchers of political affairs but the fall of the eastern part of Jerusalem, which had always inspired the imaginations of Jewish politicians, archeologists and clerics, paved the way for such imagination to be tested on the ground.

After Gur managed to reach the al Aqsa mosque, General Moshe Dayan and Ben-Gurion arrived at the Moroccan Quarter [Harat al Magharbah], and specifically at the Western Wall of al Aqsa mosque, which Muslims call al Buraq and Jews dub the Wailing Wall. Overexcited, Ben-Gurion removed an Arabic engraved plaque that provided information on the history of the site and Dayan confiscated the key to the Mugrabi Gate, the western gate of al Aqsa mosque. Israel is yet to return the key.

The two men questioned what could be done with the populated Moroccan Quarter that had existed for over one thousand years with its mosques, Zawiyas, shrines, monuments and shops. The answer soon came and was put into effect at midnight on June 10 when bulldozers moved in to knock down the Moroccan Quarter even with some of its residents still inside their homes, refusing to evacuate their residences after having received a three-hour notice. The result was the eviction of approximately 700 Palestinians from the Moroccan Quarter and three thousand Palestinians from the neighboring al Sharaf Quarter, which came to be called the Jewish Quarter. Some of the most important Ayyubid and Mamluk antiquities and distinguished Moorish heritage were reduced to rubble, including al Madrasa al Afdalia and al Buraq Mosque.

According to researcher Tahir al Namri, the Moroccan Quarter extended to over 16,000 square meters and comprised of 136 houses, four mosques, a modern school and Zawiyas, the most famous of which is the Bou Medyan Zawiya.

The world did not react to this archeological and humanitarian massacre. The Israelis dealt with the matter arrogantly to the extent that the hero of the demolition process, Etan Ben Moshe, who was a senior officer with the occupying army's Engineering Corps at the time, and who was later promoted to be its commander, gave a statement to the Israeli newspaper Yorshalim on 26 November 1999 in which he acknowledged that he killed a number of Palestinian residents of the Moroccan Quarter who were buried under the rubble, that is, beneath the present-day Wailing Wall where Jews worship. He stated that he took the bodies of three residents to the Israeli Bikur Cholim Hospital.

It should be highlighted that many Israeli archeologists refused to accept the results of excavations that were conducted by foreign missions in Jerusalem before occupation, as they failed to unearth what the Israelis hoped for. The dreams of glory for Israeli archeologists remained as such a discovery would confirm the words of the Torah. Their dreams converged with the designs of the Hebrew state for the largest illegal excavation process to begin without supervision after Israel had revoked licenses from and expelled the foreign excavators who had worked under Jordanian administration. It is difficult to trace the excavations, demolition, destruction and construction that took place in Jerusalem over 40 years ago, and even the Palestinians do not know what happened and what continues to take place.

Excavations triggered heated reactions from the Palestinians in the form of demonstrations, uprisings and armed activity. This was not paralleled by any professional scholarly effort that can present a Palestinian, Arab or even an independent account of what is taking place, which can be dubbed the archeological crime of our time.

Archaeologist Eilat Mazar appeared on the scene. She is the granddaughter of Benjamin Mazar, the former president of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem who failed to realize any of his dreams regarding the excavations in which he participated around and beneath the Noble Sanctuary.

In 2006, Mazar published a book in which she clearly stated that she sought to dig nine meters below the Mugrabi Gate to Ain Salwan to unearth Barclay's Gate—that "if actually discovered, would be the world's largest monument," according to her.

But Mazar took it further than that and used the image of the “hypothetical” gate as the front cover of her book – and it became the starting point of her work. More accurately, one could say that the work never ended for it to begin and it is not limited to the Mugrabi Gate but also includes most of the Old City of Jerusalem.

What is certain is that Mazar and her colleagues have worked over the past four months in the Salwan area and have unearthed the tunnel that will lead them to the supposed Barclay's Gate, however, this was only announced earlier this year.

To understand what has been happening recently, we should look at a number of key events. On August 13, 2006, the Jerusalem municipality published an invitation in a number of newspapers to demolish the Mugrabi Gate. The declared purpose was to rebuild the bridge that collapsed following an earthquake in February 2004. The Israeli bulldozers prepared for work on the Mugrabi Gate earlier this year, which coincided with the beginning of the construction of a synagogue on al Wad Road near one of the Al Haram al Qudsi al Sharif gates. While attention was directed to the construction of the synagogue, bulldozers seized the chance to demolish the rest of the Moroccan Quarter, razing Ayyubid and Mamluk houses with the aim of building the so-called Western Wall heritage center.

The archeological crime that has transpired can never be justified; however, in January 2007 the Israeli Antiquities Authority declared that it is responsible for the excavations carried out opposite The Noble Sanctuary and the Mugrabi Gate that leads to it. According to the authority, the significance of the excavations stems from the fact that there have never been excavations in that area before.

According to this authority, there have been discoveries of a section of an aqueduct that channeled water from Solomon’s Pools to the Noble Sanctuary [which the authority always refers to as Temple Mount]. Other discoveries include a colonnaded street, described by many as magnificent, from the Roman-Byzantine era.

Source : Asharq Al-Awsat-

The real cause of the tension according to Iranian author Amir Taheri, is that “Iran intends to reshape the Middle East after its own fashion” (New York Post, August 8).

Ahmadinejad stated clearly his vision for the future of the region in his election campaign: “The Middle East can have either an American future or an Islamic one led by Iran.”

This kind of rhetoric has frightened the Arabs rulers. They are of the opinion that Israel is the devil they know, but Iran is the growing threat.

Muhammad Ibrahim Qassem Ubeid, senior operative on the wanted list of Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in Judea and Samaria, who dispatched the suicide bomber to Israel (from the PIJ Website, February 22).

The suicide bomber was Omar Abu Roub , 23, a resident of Jalboun. A preliminary interrogation revealed that he reached Rishon Letzion (south of Tel Aviv) in the early afternoon hours of February 20 carrying a backpack with an explosive device he claimed he would detonate, in Tel Aviv . For a reason which is still unclear, possibly a technical fault, he decided to throw the device into a Dumpster in Rishon Letzion. He then went to an apartment in Bat Yam where he knew he could hide and remained there until he was detained. He was then taken to the center of Rishon Letzion and showed the police the Dumpster where he threw the device.

In the Jenin refugee camp the following day the Israeli security forces killed Muhammad Ibrahim Qassem Ubeid (Abu Jahim) as he was riding in his car. He was armed with an M-16 and the IDF spokesman reported that a number of explosive devices were found in the vehicle. He was one of the most wanted operatives of the PIJ in northern Samaria and had dispatched the suicide bomber whose attack was prevented on February 20. He was responsible for the recruitment of potential suicide bombers, manufactured high-quality explosive devices and was involved in dozens of attacks using explosives against IDF forces in the Jenin area.

The PIJ, directed by its headquarters in Damascus and sponsored and supported by Iran and Syria , continues to be the organization responsible for the greatest number of suicide bombing attacks carried out in Israel . The last, carried out in collaboration with elements within Fatah, was at a bakery in the southern city of Eilat on January 29. As opposed to Fatah and Hamas, the PIJ does not regard itself as committed to restraining its activities in view of political considerations or taking into account the needs of the Palestinian population. Its policy of attacks originating in the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria, have continued to escalate and have led to the deterioration of the security situation, despite the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip reached by Israel and Palestinian Authority chairman Abu Mazen.

In a new report, he points to what he describes as the 'unashamed discrimination' against Palestinians in favour of Israeli settlers.

Mr Dugard also says that Israel is imposing a policy of 'controlled strangulation' that is helping to give rise to a failed state on its doorstep.

Mr Dugard is a South African professor of international law assigned to monitor Israeli human rights abuses.

On Feb. 9 the Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that a truck carrying 60 Grad rockets and 240 mortar shells of different callabers, intended for Hezbollah's use, was intercepted in Beirut by the Lebanese Army. 

Many of Hezbollah's missiles caches were destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) after the group bomarded Israel's northern border with hundreds of Katyusha rockets. But because of Syria's aid in rearmament, Hezbollah has "returned to its pre-war capabilities and has even become stronger," said IDF Brigade-General Yossi Baidatz, head of the Military Intelligence Research Division, in a breifing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Feb. 20. 

Hezbollah's growing weapons stockpile is also enabling it to smuggle rockets and anti-tank missiles to Gaza-based Sunni terror groups, including Hamas' military wing (Izzedeen al-Qassam Brigades) and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

On Feb. 20 Israeli Police prevented a PIJ terrorist from conducting a large-scale terrorist attack in the Tel Aviv area.   Palestinian Islamic Jihad also claimed responsibility for the Jan. 29 suicide bombing in Eilat, which left three Israelis dead and also orchestrated the April 17, 2006 suicide bombing  that killed 11 in Tel Aviv.

PIJ's leader, Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah, is listed on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's (F.B.I) website as one of the "Most Wanted Terrorists."   A $5 million dollar reward has been offered for his capture under the Rewards for Justice Program.

PIJ's violent military wing, Sayeret Al-Quds Brigades , have been responsible for firing most of the Qassam rockets from Gaza into Israel.

Iran also provides PIJ with an estimated $2 million in state-sponsored funding to PIJ annually.

Evidence of Hamas and Hezbollah Rearmament:

• Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the militant group responsible for launching many of the Qassam rockets from Gaza into Israel, announced on Feb. 8 that they developed a new Qassam launcher - from which three rockets were previously launched - that can fire up to six Qassams at once. Typical Qassam launchers can only fire one rocket at a time. 

• Under the control of the Hamas government, Palestinians are now capable of launching Qassam rockets into the coastal town of Ashkelon, which lies 13 km (8 mi.) from northern Gaza. Qassams usually can travel 3 -10 km (1.8 - 6 mi.).

• Palestinian militant groups are actively working to extend the range of Qassam rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. In July and August 2006, Qassam rockets firing distances were measured at 15 and 16.3 km (9.3 and 10.1). 

• Hamas' green light for continued terror against Israel has resulted in the development by its military wing of a new double-engine Qassam rocket, and the acquisition of Grad-style Katyusha rockets that can reach targets within 18-30 km (11-19 mi.). 

• On March 28, 2006, Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched a Grad-type Katyusha into Israel for the first time.  Four Grad-type rockets in total have been fired into Israeli territory.

• The IDF now believes that the Izzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades and other Palestinian military factions have Sagger anti-tank missiles in their possession. The Sagger AT-3 is an anti-tank missile that can pierce 400 mm of armor and hit a target up to 3 km (1.9 mi.). 

• Following the U.N. brokered cease-fire on Aug. 11, 2006, Al-Sharq al-AwsatIran and Syria were already working to rearm Hezbollah, and stockpiles of weapons were awaiting transport for the group in Syria. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards were specifically responsible for supplying those arms to militants in southern Lebanon.
  reported that

In addition, several Palestinian terrorist groups receive training, financial support and weapons from Iran and Syria. They also receive thousands of dollars in reward money for each attack on Israel, according to an Israeli Security Agency source. 

"Sometimes they are paid before the attack and sometimes they submit a bill to Lebanon afterward and the money gets transferred a short while later," according to the source. 

Security officials also said Hezbollah is directly involved in smuggling thousands of dollars into Gaza to pay for the attacks. Militants are paid based on the number of Israelis they kill or injure by Qassams they fire into Israel.

The Islamic Republic of Iran - the world's leading state sponsor of terror  - is the main source of financial support for these terrorist attacks against Israel.

Both Hezbollah and Hamas refuse to relinquish their arms.

On Feb. 18 Hezbollah cabinet minister Mohammed Fneish, who resigned his post in the Lebanese government in Nov. 2005, told the daily Al Mustaqbal that "We [Hezbollah] hold on to our weapons since their employment is not over yet ." 

Hezbollah was required to disarm in compliance with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 in August 2006. 

Weapons Found Recently by the IDF in Gaza:

In a briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Nov. 14, 2006 Israel Security Agency Director Yuval Diskin outlined that following Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, Palestinian terrorist groups have smuggled into the Gaza Strip: 

• 33 tons of military-grade high explosives
• 20,000 assault rifles
• 3,000 pistols
• 6,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition
• 38 long-range Qassam missiles
• 12 shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft guided missiles
• 95 anti-tank rocket launchers
• 410 anti-tank rockets
• 20 precision-guided anti-tank missile

Iranian and Syrian-Supplied Weapons in Hezbollah's Arsenal:

• Israeli military sources report that the majority of Hezbollah's rocket arsenal is comprised of 122-millimeter  Katyusha rockets with a range of about 19 kilometers. 

• According to a report by The New York Times, the Fajr-3 and Fajr-5 rockets have ranges of 40 and 72 kilometers and sizes of 240-millimeters and 333-milimeters respectively.
  
• Israeli security officials suspect that Syria has also begun to provide Hezbollah 222-millimeter rockets with a range of 19-29 kilometers.
  
• According to an Iranian army official, Iran transferred to Hezbollah four types of long range missiles and rockets: Fajr missiles (100 km/62 miles), Iran 130 missiles (90-110 km/55.8-68.2 miles), Shahin missiles (150 km/93 miles) and 355 millimeter rockets (150 km/93 miles).

• Rockets and missles fired by Hezbollah into Israel last summer include :
  • 122 mm. long rockets (4 with a delay fuse)
  • 122 mm. rockets with enhanced range
  • 220 mm. rockets (Syrian)
  • 240 mm. rocket ("Katyusha")
  • 240 mm. ballistic missile (Fajr-3)

Nearly all of the terrorism-related statistics reported by the US Justice Department and the FBI from the September 11 attacks until early 2005 had some inaccuracies, the department's inspector general has said.

The findings drew immediate criticism from US senators, who said it raised serious doubts over how effectively the administration was fighting the terrorism threat.

"If the Department of Justice can't even get their own books in order, how are we supposed to have any confidence they are doing the job they should be?," said Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat.

"Whether this is just an accounting error or an attempt to pad terror prosecution statistics for some other reason, the Department of Justice of all places should be classifying cases for what they are, not what they want us to think them to be," Schumer said.

The report found that only two out of 26 statistics were accurate after reviewing the number of terrorism convictions in the 2003 and 2004 financial years, the number of convictions or guilty pleas from September 11, 2001, through February 3, 2005, and the number of terrorist threats tracked by the FBI in 2003 and 2004.

"We found many cases involving offenses such as immigration violations, marriage fraud, or drug trafficking where department officials provided no evidence to link the subject of the case to terrorist activity," the report said.

Inspector General Glenn Fine said the Justice Department should clarify the definitions it uses in its anti-terrorism categories, maintain adequate support for the numbers and improve internal controls to improve accuracy.

The report found the statistics were inaccurately reported for various reasons.

Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican and a judiciary committee member, said of the report: "The question I have now is whether the inaccuracies are an accident or if there was some other motive behind it."

The collection and reporting of terrorism-related statistics have been decentralised and haphazard, according to the report and most of the statistics were significantly overstated or understated.

Department officials failed to establish internal controls to make sure the statistics were accurately gathered, classified, and reported.

In response to the report, spokesman Dean Boyd said the Justice Department, with few exceptions, had already implemented the changes recommended by the inspector general.

Abdel Kareem Soliman's trial was the first time that a blogger had been prosecuted in Egypt.

He had used his web log to criticise the country's top Islamic institution, al-Azhar university and President Hosni Mubarak, whom he called a dictator.

A human rights group called the verdict "very tough" and a "strong message" to Egypt's thousands of bloggers.

Hafiz Abou Saada of the Egyptian Human Rights Organisation called the sentence "a strong message to all bloggers who are put under strong surveillance".

The UK-based organisation Amnesty International said the ruling was "yet another slap in the face of freedom for expression in Egypt".

Fellow blogger Amr Gharbeia told the BBC it would not stop Egyptian bloggers from expressing opinions as "it is very difficult to control the blogosphere".

There have been no reported comments on the sentence from the Egyptian authorities.

A reported Syrian troop build-up near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has fuelled speculation in Israel about a future conflict, more than three decades after the two enemies last went to war.

Syrian armed forces appear to be moving closer to the armistice line as Damascus spearheads an unprecendented armaments drive, shrieked Israel's Haaretz newspaper from its front page Thursday.

"The Syrian armed forces are being strengthened in a way unprecedented in recent memory with the help of generous funding from Iran," wrote military affairs correspondent Zeev Schiff.

Brigadier General Yossi Beidatz, the head of military intelligence research, has also warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is preparing for conflict with Israel, possibly through Hezbollah, which fought a 34-day war with Israel last year.

Haaretz said the main thrust of Syria's armaments drive was missiles and long-range rockets, with its navy being bolstered by an Iranian missile similar to one fired by Hezbollah, killing four Israeli sailors last summer.

Syria is also close to concluding a deal with Russia to procure thousands of advanced anti-tank missiles, of the sort Hezbollah used to such lethal effect against Israeli armour last year, Haaretz reported.

"It appears that the Syrians have moved forces closer to the border (armistice line) with Israel on the Golan Heights," wrote Schiff, noting similar movements prior to the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Three decades ago, a coordinated Egyptian and Syrian assault caught Israel totally off guard on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, triggering its deadliest conflict since independence in 1948.

Syria has test-fired ballistic missiles, such as a Scud-D surface-to-surface missile, which would put most of Israel within range, Haaretz reported.

Osama Bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda network, has been silent for long. Since April 2006, his speeches and comments have been absent; missing much of what has been unfolding in the political arena during this period. His utter silence this time, in addition to that of his adversaries – mainly the US president’s – is baffling. Bin Laden remains mute about attacking Bush and the latter is comfortable with this absence from the news arena – after all, the US president has his hands full with Iraq.

Regarding the frequent dealing with media outlets, one of Bin Laden’s sons quoted his father as having repeatedly said, “Overexposure is burdensome”. Notwithstanding, observers will have noticed that al Qaeda’s leader did not comply with this saying – in fact, he was a media star since the mid-1990s until last year.

Is Bin Laden’s silence a result of his demise? Did the ‘mufti of death’s’ life end inside a cave rather than on the front, or in a suicide operation as he had prompted many Muslim youth? Would his death transform him into another enigma to satisfy the gluttony of the conspiracy theory-mongers?

The fear is that the man may be keeping silent as the calm before the storm as he prepares for another catastrophe, a new one that will lead the world into wider circles of conflict that claim other victims, bringing about greater international conflicts than the ones we witnessed after the 9/11 attacks in the US.

The war on terrorism, which has been launched in response to what al Qaeda and Bin Laden have done, has come to be epitomized in Iraq, which is immersed in terrorism and political frivolity from all the concerned parties in question. Bin Laden’s name is only causally mentioned in the American political- and media- discourse. The search efforts for him have certainly not ceased, but they have been brought out from under the spotlight. We no longer come across even intelligence leaks indicating Bin Laden's whereabouts, or the capture of any person linked to him.

The strange fact remains that Bin Laden’s deputy, [Ayman] al Zawahiri, has not yet designated a weekly time slot for his media appearance, with his transformation into political commentator on regional events, not letting anything escape without commenting on it – and issuing fatwas and instigating killing and destruction, of course. Evidently, Bin Laden's hypothesis about overexposure has not been relevant to him!

If they endure, Bin Laden’s silence and eerie disappearance will make a sumptuous meal for conspiracy theory-mongers who will capitalize on that greatly. His long absence will also prompt one to ponder the reasons and the motive behind al Qaeda leader’s silence this time. If he does emerge one day or another to deliver a speech or pass a comment, the reception will certainly be unwelcoming.

Source : www.aawsat.com/english

It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres.

The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment.

Today Rice admitted on CNN that Iran helped US in Afghanistan. It means that US and Iran has some kind of wroking relationshiop.  In my opinion these two Sattans are  united in destroying the Sunni dominated countries in the name of war on terror.

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