tajer Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 Iraq's new 'iron fist' threatens martial law Posted by: Editor on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 01:00 AM By Toby Harnden in Baghdad Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, cemented his credentials as a "strong man" yesterday by warning that he could impose martial law. He also welcomed US air strikes in Fallujah that killed up to 26 people. Mr Allawi, who will officially take charge of Iraq on June 30, announced a radical overhaul of the Iraqi security forces designed to take on insurgents determined to destabilise his government. "They are trying to destroy our county and we are not going to allow this, " he said. "This struggle is first and foremost an Iraqi struggle. We are prepared to fight and, if necessary, die for these objectives. "We might impose some kind of martial law in some places if necessary in accordance with the law and in respect to the human rights and the international law." But the promise of an iron fist was tempered by a velvet glove with an offer for Moqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand Shia cleric who leads the insurgent Mahdi army, to attend a political conference in July. "Moqtada Sadr has begun to transform his militia into a political organisation, which is considered a positive step and his movement has roots in the country," said Fuad Maasum, the official organising the forum. In a compromise reached with Mr Allawi's government last night, Saddam Hussein is to be legally transferred to Iraqi custody after June 30. But under the terms of the deal, the former dictator, who is facing the death penalty at a war crimes tribunal, will continue to be guarded by Americans. Mr Allawi is a secular Shia whose Iraqi National Accord received backing from the CIA while he was in exile before Saddam was toppled last year. He backed Saturday's attack on what the American-led coalition said was a "safe house" in Fallujah used by fighters loyal to Abu Mussab Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born terrorist mastermind linked to al-Qa'eda. "We welcome this hit on terrorists anywhere in Iraq," said Mr Allawi. He had been informed of the operation "a short time before the action took place". But Brigadier Nouri Aboud, a member of the Fallujah Brigade entrusted by the US military with the security of the city, said there was no evidence to suggest the site was anything but the home of an extended Iraqi family. "There is no sign of foreigners having lived in the house," he said. Mr Allawi's government has made clear it wants to take hardline, even repressive, measures to try to prevent violence increasing before planned national elections at the end of January 2005. Last week Hazem al-Shalan, the new defence minister, said those who had killed several dozen in a suicide attack outside an Iraqi army recruiting centre in Baghdad could expect no mercy. "We will cut off the hands of those people. We will slit their throats if it is necessary to do so." A senior Iraqi official said it was important that Mr Allawi showed he was capable of ordering the killing of Iraqis. "We should have killed Sadr last year," he added. "That would have solved the problem. We Iraqis have suffered and we can inflict suffering. But this time it will be about justice rather than oppression by Saddam." Coalition officials have played down such sentiments, although some fear that they could signal bloodletting that might undermine the potential for peace. "I think he's projecting an image of toughness," a senior official said of Mr Allawi. I don't think we should look at it too literally." Mr Allawi said the restructuring of forces would involve an Iraqi ministerial-level committee for national security and the establishment of a centre for joint operations to co-ordinate military actions with coalition forces. But he conceded that the Americans and British could continue to take the lead in security matters "until our forces are fully capable". Coalition officers feel that one of the major errors of the occupation has been the failure to train and motivate Iraqi forces adequately. In April, when twin Sunni and Shia risings threatened to overwhelm the Americans, half the Iraqi police and army either went home or joined the insurgency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted June 21, 2004 Report Share Posted June 21, 2004 But Brigadier Nouri Aboud, a member of the Fallujah Brigade entrusted by the US military with the security of the city, said there was no evidence to suggest the site was anything but the home of an extended Iraqi family. "There is no sign of foreigners having lived in the house," he said. Mr. Abood, is a former Saddam republican guards member, that is paid by CPA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Thomas Posted June 22, 2004 Report Share Posted June 22, 2004 But Brigadier Nouri Aboud, a member of the Fallujah Brigade entrusted by the US military with the security of the city, said there was no evidence to suggest the site was anything but the home of an extended Iraqi family. "There is no sign of foreigners having lived in the house," he said. Mr. Abood, is a former Saddam republican guards member, that is paid by CPA. That's true, however.... http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=117531 One resident contacted by telephone by The Observer, who had been to the scene of the explosion in the poor Shouhadda area, in the south west of the city, said that at least 22 people had been killed. Dr Fadhil al-Baddrani said the entire family of Mohammed Hamadi, a 65-year-old farmer, married with two wives, were killed. Among the dead where his wives and children. At least three women and five children were among the dead. 'The whole family is gone,' said al-Baddrani. 'The blast was so powerful it blew them to pieces. We could only recognise the women by their long hair.' .... Outraged residents accused America of trying to inflict maximum damaged by firing two strikes -- one first to attack and another to kill the rescuers. 'The number of casualties is so high because after the first missile we jumped to rescue the victims,' said Wissam ali-Hamad. 'The second missile killed those trying to carry out the rescue.' So, there *could* have been foreign fighters in the house who were blown to pieces to the point they couldn't be recognised at all. Hamadi could have allowed the foreign fighters to have a conference in his house while his family was there, the foreign fighters didn't have to live there. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...MNG6B79DIK1.DTL In Fallujah on Saturday, people pulling bodies out of the debris had said women and children were among the victims. An Iraqi official acknowledged that three Iraqis were among those killed and that two Iraqis were wounded, but did not provide further details. He said it was not clear whether al-Zarqawi was inside the small concrete- block homes when they were smashed to rubble by three 500-pound bombs dropped from a U.S. warplane. But he said U.S. intelligence was accurate and that the homes did not house civilians but terrorists. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0621/p06s01-woiq.html Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said a building reduced to rubble by a powerful American bomb was being used as a safe-house by "terrorists" and pointed to "numerous secondary explosions" at the site after the attack as evidence that bombs were being assembled there. General Kimmitt said the US had "strong, actionable" intelligence to strike at the house. Though the house was in a crowded neighborhood, Kimmitt said that precision weapons were used to hit the house and that "collateral damage estimates [were] well within our rules of engagement." So, who do we believe? If we believe Allawi? (off the record?) and Kimmitt, we hit the house with 3 precision 500-pound bombs that incidentally destroyed a second house and thoroughly damaged six others, and multiple secondary explosions lasting for twenty minutes prove there were explosives stored in the house. We had very good secret information about it, enough to tell the nationalities of some of the victims and to say that 20 out of the 23 dead were not iraqi. (Incidentally, if you live in iraq you should make sure that none of your neighbors might let terrorists come visit -- you and your entire family might become acceptable collateral damage.) If we believe the Fallujans, we hit a house containing an extended iraqi family, and there were no secondary explosions, only a second strike that killed rescuers. Dr. Allawi invited the americans to bomb terrorists anywhere in his country, so there is nothing you can do to avoid becoming collateral damage, but if you spread your family out into several different neighborhoods or even different towns then they won't get you all with the same bomb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_tajer Posted June 22, 2004 Report Share Posted June 22, 2004 The basic , very simple rule is : Any place where the Iraqi government isn't allowed to reach, should be considered as hostille and delt with accordingly. That should be our government policy, if really need to have the controll over the security file. I don't know which to believe though , but what ever the real scenario is, this would send a very strong message to all those who might think of harboring terrorist.. After the deal with Falouga Sadamee;'s , the terrorists had a big boost. I might not agree with the way of using air strike on a home, even it is really used by terrorists. First , it proves that the current policy is not right, second , this would make more people go to the other side. Siege the city and set a curfue and search from house to house , by Iraqi Governemnt, NOT the Americans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted June 22, 2004 Report Share Posted June 22, 2004 http://www.sotaliraq.com/newiraq/article_2...06_22_2954.html Very serious development .. In arabic.. Alzarqawee in coordination with local Saddamee clergy's , Aljanabi and Aldulaimy, started imposing Shria rule "Taliban style " on Falouga citizins.. وكانت مدينة الفلوجة قد شهدت في الآونة الأخيرة إجراءات صارمة على غرار ما كان يتخذه نظام ملالي طالبان في أفغانستان قبل انهياره، تمثلت في إقدام ملثمين مسلحين على جلد الناس على ظهورهم لمخالفتهم الشريعة. و تتم عملية الحدود أمام الأهالي المبهوتين. وتنقل عادة في الفلوجة سيارات مكشوفة، أشخاص معصوبي العين وحليقي الرأس حكمت عليهم محاكم الزرقاوي بالجلد وسط حراسة مشددة من قبل الملثمين المسلحين المزودين بالأسلحة الآلية وقاذفات ار بي جي، ويقف الأهالي على الأرصفة ليشاهدوا ببهت إنزال العقاب على "المذنبين" وسط إطلاق هتافات الله أكبر من قبل المسلحين الملثمين بلكنة غير عراقية! وتقول أنباء الفلوجة والتي تمتنع الفضائيات العربية كالجزيرة والعربية وأبو ظبي عن بثها عبر قنواتها وذلك لتفادي اتهامات توجه إليها بتأييدها لتنظيم القاعدة، إن مسلحي الزرقاوي قاموا بحملات تفتيش واسعة على المنازل والمحلات والأماكن العامة للقضاء على الممنوعات كالأقراص المدمجة وأشرطة الفيديو والمشروبات الروحية بحجة مكافحة المنكرات. كما طلبوا من صالونات حلاقة الرجال عدم حلق الذقون لزبائنهم تحت طائلة العقاب. ويحث المسلحون الأهالي بالامتثال لأوامرهم في كل صغيرة وكبيرة، ويستعمل عادة المسلحون الملثمون أسلوب لصق البيانات على جدران المحلات والمنازل والمساجد لإيصال أوامرهم للناس. وأضافت الأنباء أن موجة من الاعتقالات شملت العديد من أبناء الفلوجة مؤخرا بذريعة "العمالة للأمريكان" حيث تم على إثرها تصفية العديد من المعارضين للوجود المسلح المرتبط بالزرقاوي بعد تعذيبهم والتمثيل بهم ومن ثم رمي جثثهم في الشوارع.! ويقول أهالي الفلوجة المتخوفون من تفاقم الوضع داخل المدينة نتيجة ممارسات مسلحي الزرقاوي أن المسلحين يريدون فرض قوانينهم التي يقولون أنها قوانين الشريعة الإسلامية بأي ثمن حتى ولو على حساب حياة السكان!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_Tajer Posted June 22, 2004 Report Share Posted June 22, 2004 http://www.sotaliraq.com/newiraq/article_2...06_22_1827.html Inarabic.. The well known Iraqi writer commenting on the reaction by some Arab anti-Iraq freedom against the possibility of declaring state of emergency by Mr.Alawee to protect Iraqis. He was surprised that these governemntal propadistists are living under such state for decades with no any complains to their governements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted June 22, 2004 Report Share Posted June 22, 2004 http://www.elaph.com.:9090/elaph/arabic/index.html In arabic The list of the 99 members of the core Iraqi confrence .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted June 22, 2004 Report Share Posted June 22, 2004 http://www.sotaliraq.com/newiraq/article_2...06_22_5247.html An article by An Iraqi talking about some evidences that the house was related to Alzarqawee 1- The huge no. of Quran copies .. A normal house in Falouge don't have more than couple not tens.. 2- The Clergi of Fallouga prohibted the " fatiha" funiral of the killed, so as not to declare their idenedidty 3- The Aljazera wasn't allowed to phote the killed, so that their relatives don't recognize them 4- Many Treerorist web sites announced that some of their members were killed by bombing over the last days without mentioning where Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Thomas Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 The basic , very simple rule is : Any place where the Iraqi government isn't allowed to reach, should be considered as hostille and delt with accordingly. Agreed. That will be easier when it is an elected government whose security forces answer to elected officials. I don't know which to believe though , but what ever the real scenario is, this would send a very strong message to all those who might think of harboring terrorist.. After the deal with Falouga Sadamee;'s , the terrorists had a big boost. I can't tell what causes what. There was a boost after that deal. There was a big boost in US casualties before the deal. We said it was only 10 soldiers who died in all of Fallujah but maybe it was a lot dying in ambushes on the road. Was the increasing terrorism just a growing organisation increasing its activity independent of Fallujah? Did the insurgents get extra support because the USA was doing collective punishment? Or because the USA quit and looked weak? I don't know what to think. I wish more terrorists/insurgents/whatever-name would talk to the media about it. I might not agree with the way of using air strike on a home, even it is really used by terrorists. First , it proves that the current policy is not right, second , this would make more people go to the other side. Yes, that is my big concern. The israelis claim great success using this approach against palestinians. They kill palestinian leaders and think they have won something. The palestinians don't seem to run out of leaders, though. Also the israelis may think some of their success comes in attacking people with training. Kill doctors, engineers, soldiers, anybody who knows how to do something important, and the remaining people will be less capable. But it looks bad for the US to be using blunt israeli tactics. Siege the city and set a curfue and search from house to house , by Iraqi Governemnt, NOT the Americans. There is the problem that we (US anyway) accepted this Ba'athist general as official. We don't trust him to do the search, but we also don't want to throw him out. How soon will the iraqi army be ready to do a siege and then capture Fallujah block by block, fighting the troops that held off the americans? If Fallujah does not surrender quickly, how many would you be willing to kill? 70,000? They are probably armed much better than the US plans to arm the iraqi army. So how would it look if the iraqi army goes in and does the house-to-house fighting and takes heavy casualties while the americans provide air support? We could bomb hundreds or thousands of houses for you. I think if it comes to that it would be better with an elected iraqi government directing it. But that isn't planned until the end of january. So try something less? Say you did a siege and did not try to enter Fallujah. You would have the terrorists raiding your positions. They are experienced at that now, and your troops would not be -- except maybe some who had a lot of training and experience under Saddam. Could you maintain a siege long enough to starve out Fallujah? Let the women and children leave, and let the men leave whenever they surrender, then you can interrogate them and find out what you can about them. Arrest the foreigners, detain the others until you get a better sense which ones are important. Would the general population accept that if it was Allawi doing it? If the argument is that the terrorists are there, but while Fallujah is sealed off the terrorism doesn't get less, what would people think then? My own suggestion would be in line with your idea of punishment. Trials for the top guys, no punishment for crimes that were legal when they were committed. Let them know they are defeated or at least cannot have a military victory. Let them vote. Let them even bring back the Ba'ath party if they want to, and see how many votes they get. If most of the Fallujans get the idea that the days of glory are over but they can still have peace and freedom to go into business, it will reduce their desire to fight. Especially when the alternative is to fight and lose for no benefit. They might calm down if they see they have an alternative where they survive. They probably think they are fighting against desperate odds where the alternative is to lose everything. You can attack them militarily too, but it's important they see a better choice than to try their best to win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tajer Posted June 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 I think the issue in Falouga is of two folds.. One Internal to Falouga, the second is external. As for the internal.. Most of Alflouga citizens are against the terror.. I am saying this relying on my personal contacts within Falouga.. Indeed they had been sieged by the terrorist. Especially after the claimed victory and the turn over city security to the Saddamees. There are a small portion but well armed and trained of those who are pro salfees and the old baath and security members who terrorize the city. The external, is the support both in media and finance to all those who are willing to stop the process of free Iraq. In both cases , seiging Falouga without invading it might the right solution. Seiging doesn't mean blocking supplies from the city.. It is just blocking the terror from getting in and out. Within Arab tradition, defeding your self from harm is fully supported, however, being aggresive might not be the same. That is why Saddam kept claiming that he never started the war and it was a defensive one. Such peacefull seige by the Iraqi forces , would , first keep other regions from the harm of the terrorists. Second , would send a strong message to the Falougaians that they can't stay while other areas are prospering the freedom and the economic progress. I was on talk with one of these Falougians four months ago. He was very ungry that while Falouga is bussy with all the fighting, the Kurds are building their places. We need to emphazise this by send a strong message: You have the right to choose to live under Saddamees and Salafees, but don't force us to live under such.. I am sure there will be another French revolution in Falouga within two months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 علاوي يعلن أنه لا يأبه بتهديد الإرهابيين بالاعتداء عليه Jun 23, 2004 بقلم: سوا قال متحدث في مكتب رئيس الوزراء العراقي إياد علاوي إن رئيس الوزراء لا يهتم بتهديد الإرهابيين بالاعتداء على حياته وسيواصل عمله من أجل إعادة إعمار العراق ونشر الحرية والديموقراطية والعدل والسلام، حسب قوله. جاءت تصريحات المتحدث ردا على تهديد جماعة "التوحيد والجهاد" التي يتزعمها أبو مصعب الزرقاوي باغتيال علاوي. فقد أعلن موقع إلكتروني إسلامي على شبكة الإنترنت باسم "أبو مصعب الزرقاوي" الحكم بالإعدام على رئيس الوزراء إياد علاوي. ويخاطب شريط صوتي يمكن سماعه على الموقع المذكور علاوي قائلا لقد نجوت، دون أن تعرف، عدة مرات من محاولات خططنا لها تخطيطا دقيقا. ويضيف الشريط الصوتي الذي يستغرق 16 دقيقة قائلا :"إننا نعاهدك بأن نذهب حتى نهاية الطريق دونما وجل حتى تلاقي نفس المصير الذي لحق بعز الدين سليم." Alawee threatened in person by Teeror.. Alzarqawee issued a 15 min message threatening Alwaee life.. Alawee replied , he will not be scared by the thugs and will continoue his struggle to build the new free Iraq. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_tajer Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 http://www.sotaliraq.com/latest-press-news...06_23_3544.html In arabic.. One of the Alqaeda web site announcing the death of twenty of "Mujahdeens" in Falouga while gaurding two buildings that were bombed by the Americans.. The site didn't mention when or where.. I don't know how the Al Sahaf " Mr. Aboud" would explain his claims of having no Foriegn fighters in the city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Thomas Posted June 23, 2004 Report Share Posted June 23, 2004 http://www.sotaliraq.com/latest-press-news...06_23_3544.html In arabic.. One of the Alqaeda web site announcing the death of twenty of "Mujahdeens" in Falouga while gaurding two buildings that were bombed by the Americans.. The site didn't mention when or where.. I don't know how the Al Sahaf " Mr. Aboud" would explain his claims of having no Foriegn fighters in the city. There are many layers of lies that could be told here. First, are we sure it is an al qaeda website? Could it be a CIA or Mossad website posing as an al qaeda websited? If it used to be a real al aqaeda website could the CIA etc take it over and use it themselves? I haven't seen the site myself, and I am suspicious that a real al qaeda would announce their losses that way. What would be their purpose? How would it help their cause to announce bad news? When Saddam lost his last war his information minister never admitted bad news even at the very end. Why would terrorists tell us this? On the other side, it makes perfect sense to me that the current rulers of Fallujah would invite foreign fighters there. The US Army wants to conquer them totally, and they have a temporary cease-fire. If I was them I'd accept help from anybody. That doesn't say anything about how many foreign fighters are there, or how many local people would see them there. If they only got a few then most people might not know about them. Could there be people supporting a foreign network that the rulers of the city didn't know about? It would need locals supporting it -- maybe religious people who hadn't particularly supported Saddam. It would have to be fairly small, if they had much effect on the fighting there people would have noticed them. It might be doing things like buying old cars and turning them into car bombs, and sending them out to be blown up in Baghdad. Is there some reason it would work better to do that from Fallujah rather than from someplace in Baghdad? The only reason I can think of offhand is that they might be mostly-foreign and Fallujah was where they happened to have local support, and they hadn't found anybody local to work for them in Baghdad. So it seems possible to have a secret foreign presence in Fallujah that the local government wouldn't know about, but it seems far more likely that there is a foreign presence that they do know about, and they like about it because they want to do whatever they can to delay the american attack. Whether the americans intend to attack again is beside the point, they will expect the americans to attack and would want to delay it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mustefser Posted June 24, 2004 Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 The World’s Most Dangerous Terrorist Who is Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi? And why are so many governments scared to death of him?By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball Newsweek Updated: 6:33 p.m. ET June 23, 2004June 23 - With his audacious threat to assassinate the new Iraqi prime minister, Jordanian terrorist Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi appears to have eclipsed Osama bin Laden as the single most dangerous threat to U.S. interests in the world today—and is proving just as elusive, according to U.S. intelligence officials. advertisement U.S. officials suspect that Zarqawi—who is believed to have orchestrated the recent beheadings of American contractor Nicholas Berg and South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il—is holed up with followers in the rebellious Iraqi city of Fallujah. Since last weekend, U.S. forces have launched a handful of missile strikes on suspected “safe houses” in the Sunni Triangle city in a major new campaign to finish off the terrorist and members of his gang. As in the ultimately futile bombardment of bin Laden’s former hideout in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, however, U.S. officials concede there are no indications they have hit or injured Zarqawi himself. Some officials privately acknowledge they are not positive Zarqawi is still in Fallujah. Indeed, while missile strikes in the radical Sunni stronghold continue, some U.S. sources officials say that Zarqawi may actually be directing or instigating events in the town by telephone from elsewhere in Iraq. His crucial role in the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, however, cannot be underestimated: a Pentagon official says Zarqawi appears to be behind an alarming number of homemade bombs which are being planted in Iraq; such makeshift bombs, known to the military as “improvised explosive devices,” or IEDs, are being discovered at the rate of 800 per month—or more than 25 per day, NEWSWEEK has learned. Even as the threat posed by Zarqawi increases, senior Bush administration officials concede that their understanding of who he is—and how he fits into the broader jihadi network exemplified by bin Laden—is evolving and may be more complex than was publicly presented 18 months ago in the run-up to the war in Iraq. The first high-level Bush administration references to Zarqawi came in October 2002 when President Bush, in a speech in Cincinnati, laid out the case against Saddam’s regime by emphasizing what he described as “high-level contacts” between the Iraqi government and Al Qaeda. One prominent example cited by the president was the fact that “one very senior Al Qaeda leader [had] ... received medical treatment in Baghdad this year”—a reference to Zarqawi. Then, in his February 2003 speech to the United Nations Security Council, Secretary of State Colin Powell described Zarqawi as “an associate and collaborator of Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda lieutenants.” But just last week, in little-noticed remarks, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld conceded that Zarqawi’s ties to Al Qaeda may have been much more ambiguous—and that he may have been more a rival than a lieutenant to bin Laden. Zarqawi “may very well not have sworn allegiance to [bin Laden]," Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon briefing. “Maybe he disagrees with him on something, maybe because he wants to be ‘The Man’ himself and maybe for a reason that’s not known to me.” Rumsfeld added that, “someone could legitimately say he’s not Al Qaeda.” Rumsfeld’s comments essentially confirm the contents of a German police document, first reported by NEWSWEEK last year, that quoted a terrorist defector from Zarqawi’s network in Afghanistan describing the group as operating in “opposition to Al Qaeda.” Whatever his relationship to Al Qaeda before the war, there seems little doubt that Zarqawi’s own terrorist network—which is believed to include Kurdish and possibly ethnic-Arab jihadi fighters—has coalesced into a persistent and growing menace to U.S. interests in the region and is acting in concert with, or in parallel to, bin Laden’s interests. . This week, a voice message purporting to be Zarqawi threatened to kill new Iraqi Prime Minister Awad Alawi with a “sure sword” because he was “a symbol of evil, an agent of infidelity and a hypocrite.” U.S. intelligence officials are now analyzing the tape to determine if it is in fact Zarqawi’s voice. Earlier voice analysis convinced the CIA that Zarqawi was the person who narrated the gruesome video in which a group of masked men beheaded American hostage Nicholas Berg several weeks ago, and that Zarqawi himself wielded the knife. TERROR WATCH Current Column | Archives • Terror Watch: A Legal Defeat for Bush? Justice Department lawyers, said to be pessimistic about winning upcoming Supreme Court cases on enemy combatants and Guantanamo prisoners, are now scrambling to bring a case against alleged 'dirty bomber' Jose Padilla • Are Latest Warnings Justified? Not everyone thought John Ashcroft’s warning was justified U.S. officials also say they believe that associates of Zarqawi carried out the beheading this week of Korean hostage Kim, who was shown in a previous video desperately pleading for his life. U.S. intelligence also believes that Zarqawi was behind several major terrorist attacks in Iraq last year, including the bombing of local U.N. headquarters and the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, an attack on a mosque which killed a pro-U.S. Shiite ayatollah and a bombing of an Italian paramilitary outpost. Zarqawi has also been linked to terrorist activities outside of Iraq. Jordanian TV recently broadcast a lengthy report in which terrorist suspects described how Zarqawi put together a plot to blow up American and Jordanian government targets in and around the capital, Amman, using what Jordanian authorities claimed was some form of chemical weapon. The Jordanians claimed that if the plot had succeeded it could have killed as many as 80,000 people. The Jordanians also alleged that Zarqawi was going to use a network of associates based in Syria to help set up the plot. Zarqawi was apparently born in 1966 to a family of Jordanian Palestinians who lived in the village of Zarqo not far from Amman. One of 10 siblings, he dropped out of high school to study the Qur'an, whose contents he learned by heart. Working for the municipality where his family lived, he married and started his own family. But in the l980s he left his family to join the Islamic mujahedin in Afghanistan fighting the Soviet occupation. He returned to Jordan a rabid jihadi, and soon after his return reportedly was imprisoned by the Jordanian government for more than seven years, apparently because of his extreme political and religious views. More radicalized then ever after his release from prison, he subsequently moved his family with him back to the Afghan-Pakistan border where he immersed himself once again in radical Islamic activities—initially working for Islamic charities and then forming his own militant group called Al Tawhid, based at its own training camp near Herat, Afghanistan. Its members had to be Jordanians who were willing to pledge themselves to overthrow the current Jordanian monarchy and replace it with an Islamic regime. He showed up on the radar screens of Jordanian authorities again in late l999 when he was suspected of masterminding an elaborate terrorist plot to strike U.S. and Jordanian targets in Jordan during the Millennium celebrations. Zarqawi’s network of contacts is believed to extend as far north as London, as far west as the Iberian peninsula (where he may have had some influence over the militant cell that carried out the March 11 bombings of commuter trains in Madrid) and as far east as the wild-west Pankisi Gorge region of Georgia, which jihadi forces allegedly used as a major transit point for Islamic fighters heading to fight Russian forces in the rebellious province of Chechnya. The net effect of Zarqawi’s activities is to cast a mood of pessimism over U.S. officials in Iraq as they prepare to hand over “sovereignty” to the new interim government headed by Allawi on June 30. Officials note that, in what appeared to be a lengthy message to Al Qaeda leaders (found earlier this year in the possession of a captured terrorist suspect), a writer pleaded with Al Qaeda for help in the jihad against American invaders. The writer also expressed a desire to set Iraq’s minority Sunni population against its majority Shiites. That writer, officials say, was Zarqawi. Some U.S. officials think that’s exactly what the huge increase in the planting of homemade bombs signals. Zarqawi “wanted to get a Shia-versus-Sunni insurgency going—an open insurrection, the whole country blowing up,” says one U.S. official, adding that Zarqawi also seems to want credit for his handiwork. “There’s a great deal of ego here.” © 2004 Newsweek, Inc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mustefser Posted June 24, 2004 Report Share Posted June 24, 2004 Shia libanon suprem Ayatoulah Fadlelala condemn the killing in Iraq and Suadee.. He said that this terror barrberion acts are a non Islamic . Also Other Sunni Alzher clergy had similar statement.. In kerbala, the representative of suprem Ayatoolalla Alsystani, Mr. Kerbalaee, goes same way and ask Irais to cooperate with the government to get rid of the terrorists. فضل الله يدين قتل "المستأمنين والأجانب" في السعودية والعراقJun 23, 2004 بقلم: بيروت, القاهرة, كربلاء - الحياة, د ب أ الحياة دان المرجع الشيعي آية الله محمد حسين فضل الله "خطف المستأمنين والأجانب وقتلهم في البلاد العربية والاسلامية كما يحصل في المملكة العربية السعودية والعراق". وانتقد فضل الله في ندوته الاسبوعية أمس "العناصر التكفيرية المتخلفة التي تفسر الإسلام تفسيراً سيئاً, مما يجعلها تتحرك في خط العنف الارهابي الذي لا يقره الاسلام كما في قتل غير المسلمين من المستأمنين الذين لا علاقة لهم بما يجري في الواقع الاسلامي مما تقوم به اداراتهم السياسية والعسكرية والأمنية, كما حصل أخيراً في السعودية من خطف أكثر من رهـــينة ثم قتلهم بشكل وحشي وهمجي, الأمر الذي يشوه صورة الاسلام في العالم, ويعطي مبررات تحتاجها السياسة العدوانية الأميركية والاسرائيلية". وأكد فضل الله ان "هذه الأحداث الاجرامية عملت على مصادرة القضايا المصيرية الحيوية, كقضية التحرير من الاحتلال الاميركي والاسرائيلي, الأمر الذي يجعل الذين يمارسون هذه الأعمال الوحشية خداماً للمستكبرين من حيث يريدون أو لا يريدون". وانتقد عدم الاعتراف بالآخر وقال: "ان هذا الواقع هو المسؤول بطريقة أو بأخرى عن انتاج العناصر التكفيرية المتخلفة التي تفسر الاسلام تفسيراً سيئاً". وأكد شيخ الازهر الدكتور محمد سيد طنطاوي أن الازهر كان أول مؤسسة دينية في العالم دانت أحداث 11 أيلول (سبتمبر) "لأنها أدت إلى قتل عدد كبير من الآمنين اثناء تأدية وظائفهم", وشدد طنطاوي, اثناء استقباله وفداً اميركياً من مركز دراسات الشرق الاوسط برئاسة دينيس روس, رفضه لكل اشكال التطرف "الذي يمثل عدواناً على الغير بالقول او الفعل سواء صدر من المسلم او غير المسلم", موضحاً أن موقف الازهر من قضية فلسطين "يتمثل في ان من يدافع عن ارضه وحقه وكرامته لا يعد متطرفاً او معتدياً", مؤكداً في الوقت نفسه رفضه عمل "من يفجرون انفسهم في الآمنين من الرجال والنساء والاطفال الذين لا صلة لهم بالحرب". وأعرب شيخ الازهر عن اسفه "لأن بعض الناس يتلقى الحقائق من غير اهلها ولا يفرق بين مفهوم الجهاد في الاسلام وما يندرج تحت بند الارهاب وترويع الآمنين", موضحاً أن "الجهاد شرع في الاسلام دفاعاً عن النفس والارض والعرض والكرامة", وأكد أن الارهاب "ليس من السلام في شيء, وإنما نكبة ابتلي بها العالم أجمع". الى ذلك, دان الشيخ عبدالمهدي الكربلائي ممثل آية الله العظمى علي السيستاني في كربلاء عمليات القتل والاغتيال والخطف التي يشهدها العراق. ووصفها بأنها "حلقة من مسلسل إجرامي يستهدف العراقيين الابرياء". جميـــع حقــوق الطب Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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