A Saudi talks about fighting jihad in Iraq

From yesterday's Washington Post:

The last time Ahmed al-Shayea was in the news, he was in the hospital at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, being treated for severe burns from the truck bomb he had driven into the Iraqi capital on Christmas Day, 2004. . .

"My friend started telling me about Iraq, how Muslims are getting killed there and how we should go there for jihad," said al-Shayea. "He told me there were fatwas (edicts) and DVDs issued by Saudi and Iraqi clergymen that called for jihad."

"We didn't think of jihad as something that would lead to our death. It was a fight against occupiers," said al-Shayea.

Finally the friend told him he was going to Iraq, and invited al-Shayea to join him.

He was told to shave his beard and pack Western clothes to avoid looking like a would-be jihadist. He got a passport and an airline ticket to Syria. And he managed to save $1,600 _ travel fees, he was told, that would go to smugglers, weapons training and al-Qaida's coffers.

On a cool November night toward the end of the holy month of Ramadan, he donned a black T-shirt and jeans and told his parents he was going camping in the desert with his friends.

He and his friend flew to Syria, a favored transit point for Iraq-bound fighters because Syria doesn't ask visiting Arabs for visas, and its 360-mile border with Iraq is thinly policed. A network of al-Qaida operatives sheltered him in Damascus, Aleppo and the border town of Abu-Kamal, and about two weeks later he and 23 other men were smuggled into Iraq.

Four Iraqi teenagers guided them to the Iraqi border town of al-Qaim. They saw Syrian border guards in the distance who fired in the air. "They didn't try to stop us. We were already in Iraq," al-Shayea said.

At al-Qaim, the men were split into two groups. Al-Shayea said his group of 12 met an al-Qaida leader who had direct links with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida chief in Iraq who was later killed by a U.S. airstrike. He took the men's money and gave each $100.

"Then he asked us a question: 'Those who want to carry out martyrdom (suicide) attacks, raise your hands,'" said al-Shayea. "No one did."

Al-Shayea's group then spent a week at the Sunni fundamentalist stronghold of Rawa before al-Shayea and another Saudi man were taken to Ramadi and finally Baghdad.

Al-Shayea met his new "emir," or leader, an Iraqi who told him his first assignment was to take a fuel tanker to a Baghdad neighborhood to be collected by others.

"I felt scared. I didn't know Baghdad at all, and I also didn't know how to drive heavy vehicles," he said.

Also, he says, he was never told that the truck would contain 26 tons of butane gas, rigged to explode outside the Jordanian Embassy.

"That evening, we performed the last prayer of the day and had dinner _ a dish of chicken and aubergines," said al-Shayea. "The emir gave me a crude map of my route."

Two al-Qaida militants drove with al-Shayea, but then jumped out 1,000 yards from where he was supposed to park the truck and fled in a waiting car.

"I felt something bad was about to happen," he said.

The farther he drove, the more nervous he got until, 60 feet from the embassy, an explosion _ believed triggered from afar _ turned the back of the tanker into a fireball.

"I saw the fire and I started to scream and pray," he said.

"I looked around me and I saw everything had melted. My hands had turned black. I jumped from the window and started running without thinking of what I was doing."

The blast killed nine people.

To read about what he thinks of what he did now, and how the Saudis are trying to change the jihadist mentality, read the article.

Iraq beats Saudi Arabia to win Asian Cup

From the Associated Press:

"Those heroes have shown the real Iraq. They have done something useful for the people as opposed to the politicians and lawmakers who are stealing or killing each other," said Sabah Shaiyal, a 43-year-old policeman in Baghdad. "The players have made us proud, not the greedy politicians. Once again, our national team has shown that there is only one, united Iraq."

Here is the WSJ's perspective on Pakistan

The Wall Street Journal editors write:

Amid rising protests against the government--some of it by secular democrats, some by militant jihadis--it's easy to forget that Pakistan has prospered under Mr. Musharraf and his prime minister, former Citibank executive Shaukat Aziz. Annual GDP growth averaged 7.2% in the past three years, according to World Bank data; the inflation rate, which hovered at 23.8% in 2000, has fallen to single digits. International confidence is reflected in foreign direct investment, which rose to $2.2 billion in 2005 from $308 million five years earlier.

Relations with India may be as good as they've been since 1947. The government responded well to the devastating October 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, preventing what many thought would be a far worse humanitarian crisis. Pakistan was instrumental in capturing key September 11 plotters Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, among others. A.Q. Khan was put under house arrest, and his network rolled up. For his troubles, Mr. Musharraf has repeatedly been the target of jihadist assassination attempts, the most recent earlier this month.

As the editors conclude:

Though the Bush Administration is glibly mocked for making Mr. Musharraf an "exception" to the Bush Doctrine, the U.S. has no interest in destabilizing a nuclear-armed government already under a jihadist threat. Jimmy Carter made that mistake with the Shah of Iran....

What the U.S. can do, however, is nudge Mr. Musharraf toward a compromise with his non-radical opposition that would restore genuine democracy while strengthening his ability to challenge the jihadists. It is the best option the general has.

As to what this compromise might look like:

If he agrees to resign his military commission, he could strike a power-sharing agreement with non-religious opponents (he has reportedly held secret meetings with Ms. Bhutto). This could allow him to remain in power past parliamentary elections later this year.

Pakistan Militant Leaders: You're getting closer to Paradise by the day

Pakistan Militant Leader, originally uploaded by BHowdy.

This Abdullah Meshud, the former Gitmo detainee who became a Taliban commander in Waziristan, in fact, just made it.

The vehicle you see here was his chariot to heaven.

That would explain, I suppose why nobody is weeping. But how to explain the clean clothes if these local tribes are all supposed to be jihadists?

Oh, that's right, the Taliban uses mercenaries to fight their jihad - that is, Uzbeks. Think of them as Al Qaeda's Blackwater.

Who is a better Muslim ?

Who is a better Muslim ?, originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1.

And this was the poem that accompanied this photo:

The Killing Fields Of Islam

Using little children Men women as shield
Lal Masjid the new Islamic Killing field
A misguided Jihad
Emptiness
Unnecessary deaths
Allah Ho Akbar
A wrong message to the world
Nothing else yield
The Islamic World Life as Usual
Lips stitched Beautifully dutifully sealed
Wounds of Karbala ever fresh unhealed
yazidiyat the serpent seed
through the bleeding head of Hussain revealed
to go and live among the Hindus of Hindustan
who are more human he had once appealed
Terrorism its beginnings In Karbala
unconcealed
Misguided Martyrdom
Muslims love killing Muslims
Through a Mosque where Principles of Islam
Lay besieged
The heritage and legacy Of Yazeed
Lal Masjid
A file that finally
God Did delete
You can cheat fate once
but the God above
you cannot cheat
Abdul Rashid Ghazi
A Terrorist Thug
in a winding sheet


If you click on the link below the photo, you can see what else this Flickr poet had to say.

The Killing Fields Of Islam

The Killing Fields Of Islam, originally uploaded by flickr photographerno1.

This poem was posted along with the above photo of the Lal Masjid on Flickr:

Using little children Men women as shield
Lal Masjid the new Islamic Killing field
A misguided Jihad
Emptiness
Unnecessary deaths
Allah Ho Akbar
A wrong message to the world
Nothing else yield
The Islamic World Life as Usual
Lips stitched Beautifully dutifully sealed
Wounds of Karbala ever fresh unhealed
yazidiyat the serpent seed
through the bleeding head of Hussain revealed
to go and live among the Hindus of Hindustan
who are more human he had once appealed
Terrorism its beginnings In Karbala
unconcealed
Misguided Martyrdom
Muslims love killing Muslims
Through a Mosque where Principles of Islam
Lay besieged
The heritage and legacy Of Yazeed
Lal Masjid
A file that finally
God Did delete
You can cheat fate once
but the God above
you cannot cheat
Abdul Rashid Ghazi
A Terrorist Thug
in a winding sheet

Yep, there is a backlash going on.

On Al Qaeda's vulnerabilities

The bad news for Al Qaeda - that is if what James Clapper, Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence testified before the House Armed Services and Intelligence Committee has any basis in reality. Here are some excerpts from his written statement.

First, something of a preamble:

A war is not an engineering project, in which all the tasks and challenges can be laid out ahead of time and accomplished according to a pre-determined schedule. As the troops say, “the enemy gets a vote.”

Then a defense of Pakistani President Pervez Musharaff and his apparent lack of ability or interest in controlling the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border - that is, the area where Al Qaeda is supposed to be hiding:

This is a wild and remote area over which the government of Pakistan (and the British before them) has never fully gained control. President Musharraf has tried various approaches to dealing with this problem, and has lost about 500 personnel in the process of trying to establish law and order in the FATA. Musharraf has also tried political measures to eliminate al Qaeda and the Taliban from the FATA, including making a deal with the local tribal leaders in one of the agencies under which they prevent the use of their territory as a launching pad for attacks into Afghanistan. This agreement, the North Waziristan Agreement, has not been successful, as the Pakistani government admits. While one could debate the wisdom of trying to conclude such agreements, I don’t think it is fair to charge Musharraf with being ignorant of the problem or being unwilling to deal with it. If only because of their various attempts to assassinate him, and the loss of hundreds of his soldiers, he clearly understands the extremist threat.

The news, Clapper says, isn't all bad in Pakistan:

The recent Red Mosque crisis has heightened the extremist Islamist threat in Pakistan, and brought the struggle between extremists and the mainstream to the fore.

At the same time, there are signs of a reaction against the extremists. On April 17, 2007, a convention attended by over 2,000 Pakistani religious figures in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's ethnically Pashtun North-West Frontier Province (which includes the FATA), proclaimed that suicide bombings were against Islam and condemned the forcible implementation and enforcement of Shari’a (Islamic Law). Also, internal disputes in Pakistan's tribal agency of South Waziristan recently erupted into conflict between Taliban-allied local tribes and al Qaeda-allied Central Asian groups, mostly Uzbeks. Uzbek forces offended local Pashtun groups by their criminal activity and insensitivity to local tribal customs, resulting in open warfare between locals and Central Asian fighters.

Clapper says that while Al Qaeda might be resourceful as the NIE recently suggested, it's also stupid (I'm paraphrasing here, Clapper actually said it has "weaknesses and vulnerabilities"). As he writes:

At the strategic level, I think his greatest weakness is his tendency to overreach; perhaps not surprisingly, a movement that fosters a cult of violence and death has difficulty restraining itself when violence is not in its best interests.

In Iraq, for example, al Qaeda in Iraq’s excessive violence – directed not only against Shi’a civilians but against fellow Sunnis, including insurgents, who failed to toe the al Qaeda line -- has resulted in a backlash. Iraqis in Anbar province made common cause with U.S. and Iraqi security forces against al Qaeda’s attempt to convince Iraq’s Sunni Arabs that its objective of an Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) is the only alternative to the Shia-dominated Iraqi Government. Even insurgent groups such as the Islamic Army in Iraq openly rejected the ISI and criticized them as a foreign terrorist group that has divided Iraqi society. Inspired by successes in the Anbar province, other provinces such as Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, mobilized against the ISI, who by then were on the run in Anbar.

Does Iran want to be a suicide terrorist nation?

From James Taranto's The Best of the Web in today's Wall Street Journal Online:

London's Independent, meanwhile, has this report on Iran's nuclear program:

"Another senior Iranian official said that with almost 3,000 centrifuges now running at Natanz, 'we have at the moment enough centrifuges to go to a bomb.' But the official added that Iran was barred by its own security and defence doctrine, by parliament, and by a religious fatwa issued by the Supreme Leader, from building a bomb. The official added that if Iran produced a single bomb 'what is it good for? If we attack Israeli with one bomb, America would attack us with thousands of bombs. It's suicide.'"

Why are we not reassured by a fundamentalist Muslim regime's promises not to build a bomb and use it to commit suicide?

Terrorism and Bin Laden falling in popularity

Who woulda thunk? The Financial Times reports:

Of the 16 majority Muslim countries included in the survey, 15 have shown waning enthusiasm for terrorism in general and suicide terrorism in particular, it says.

The most striking declines are in Lebanon, where in 2007 34 per cent of people say suicide bombings are justified compared with 74 per cent in 2002. There has been a similar decline in Pakistan from 33 per cent to 9 per cent and in Jordan from 43 to 23 per cent. Only among Palestinians, where 70 per cent say suicide attacks are sometimes or often justified, do a majority continue to support it.

The survey found a similar trend when it asked Muslims whether they had confidence in Osama bin Laden. Almost everywhere there has been a sharp decline in affirmative responses, with Jordan showing the biggest fall (from 56 per cent to 20 per cent). In Turkey, support has dropped from 15 per cent to five per cent since 2002.

"What is striking about these numbers is that support for terrorism has fallen by most in those countries that have experienced significant levels of domestic terrorism in the last few years – Pakistan and Lebanon being obvious examples,” says Andrew Kohut, president of Pew Global Attitudes.

No permament U.S. military bases in Iraq

It's official. The New York Times reports:

By a vote of 399 to 24, the House adopted a resolution that would limit federal spending intended “to establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq or to exercise United States economic control of the oil resources of Iraq.”

Democrats said the measure, the latest in a series of politically tinged war votes, was needed to make it clear that America had no plan for a permanent military presence in Iraq — a fear they said was fueling some attacks on American troops and building the insurgent resistance.

Not that there were plans for permanent bases in the making, as the Times goes on to acknowledge:

House Republicans offered little resistance, saying the plan essentially reflected current law and Bush administration policy. But they criticized Democrats for what they said was meaningless legislation since the administration had not called for permanent bases.

“The bill brought to the floor by the majority today represents yet another political stunt, and an intellectually dishonest one at that, because the United States has never proposed establishing a permanent base in Iraq or anywhere else,” said Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader.

But still, sometimes such theatre is necessary. Republicans might have known this was the case. I'm not sure most Americans did. And I'm certain most people in Iraq, the neighboring states, and many scholars who cover the region didn't.

Anyway, this should help refute at least some of the endless conspiracy theories.

A Moment of Soccer Joy, for Iraqis

A Moment of Soccer Joy, for Iraqis, originally uploaded by political barbay.

And then, naturally, the insurgents had to ruin it. Two car bombings that killed at least 50 brought the victory celebrations to an end.

On Sunday the Iraqi team faces Saudi Arabia in the Asian Cup finals in Indonesia.

Check out the New York Times photo coverage of the win - and the losses.

Look what the "American neocon" French president just said

CNN reports:

Sarkozy told reporters in Libya that to consider the Arab world "is not sensible enough to use civilian nuclear power" would, in the long run, risk a "war of civilizations".

"Nuclear power is the energy of the future," he said. "If we don't give the energy of the future to the countries of the southern Mediterranean, how will they develop themselves? And if they don't develop, how will we fight terrorism and fanaticism?"

And the neocons are supposed to be the Arabs' worst enemies?

This reminds me of what Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis, another notorious neocon, once said. As Peter Waldman reported in the Wall Street Journal:

Up on the podium, Mr. Lewis lambasted the belief of some Mideast experts at the State Department and elsewhere that Arabs weren't ready for democracy -- that a "friendly tyrant" was the best the U.S. could hope for in Iraq. "That policy," he quipped, "is called 'pro-Arab.' "

Others, like himself, believe Iraqis are heirs to a great civilization, one fully capable, "with some guidance," of democratic rule, he said. "That policy," he added with a rueful smile, "is called 'imperialism.' "

The cost of this tri-partite handshake in Israel

Finally, after having been paid to make peace for how-many-years, the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan visit Israel to promote the Arab League's new peace inititive.

As the New York Times reports:

The league’s initiative would grant Israel full recognition and normal relations with its Arab neighbors in return for withdrawing to its 1967 borders and accepting the creation of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

It also calls for “an agreed, just solution” to the issue of Palestinian refugees. The initiative was begun by Saudi Arabia and endorsed by the Arab League in 2002.

“We are extending a hand of peace on behalf of the whole region to you, and we hope that we will be able to create the momentum needed to resume fruitful and productive negotiations” among Israel, Palestinians, and the rest of the Arab world, the Jordanian foreign minister, Abdul-Ilah al-Khatib, said at a news conference with Mr. Peres, The Associated Press reported.

The Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said he hoped Israel would respond positively to the proposal.

Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries that have signed peace treaties with Israel. They have served as an official diplomatic bridge between Israel and the other Arab nations.

Israel was cool to the Arab initiative when it was first put forth in 2002, but more recently it has yielded to pressure from the United States to discuss the plan. The United States, in turn, was responding to pressure from Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Let's hope all this works out because here's is how much the U.S. has spent on this Middle East peace business so far, not even counting the War in Iraq:

Israel: $94 billion
Eypgt: 61
Jordan: 9

Total $164 billion (and that's just up through 2005)

Source: The Greenbook

So what kind of moral figure is running the Taliban's insurgency now?

Recall that on May 12, the Taliban lost their axe-murdering genocidal-maniacal commander, Mullah Dadullah. Now according to The Jamestown Foundation's analyst, Waliullah Rahmani, the person in charge of the Taliban-led insurgency in southern Afghanistan is none other than Mansoor Dadullah, the deceased's half-brother.

So when did Mansoor enter the picture? Well, after he was released by the Afghan government in the deal carved out with the Italians to win the release of journalist, Daniele Mastrogiacomo.

Oddly enough, a "well informed" source, Waheed Mujda, told The Jamestown Foundation that Mansoor wasn't the Taliban leader Mullah Omar's ideal candidate.

According to Mujda, Mullah Omar wasn't exactly thrilled about Mansoor because he apparently opposes the overuse of beheadings and executions. Given the familial relationship, he felt Mansoor would be just as ruthless.

But as Mujda went on to tell The Foundation, apparently the OBL crew's view of his qualities trumped any hesitation on the part of the Commander of the Faithful. As Mujda put it: "Al-Qaeda leaders think that Mansoor has his brother's qualities and therefore should be supported."

While Mujda said he didn't think Mansoor was, in fact, as ruthless as the brother was, no less than Mansoor himself went on record (Al-Jazeera) to state that rest assured, he would indeed continue with his brother's tactics. True to his word, suicide bombings and executions have continued apace in Afghanistan.

Now I wonder when the Commander of the Faithful will no longer be able to live with himself for protecting these monsters at his own peoples' peril. And when will the Italian government issue their final report about the ultimate cost of their hostage release? Now I guess they'll have to wait until Mansoor is taken out of action for the final numbers.

On the AKP victory in Turkey

Photo by Traces in the Sand

The National Review, a conservative American publication for those of you who don't know it, says the outcome of Sunday's election in Turkey seems to be on balance 'delightful' news. The editors write:

The AKP’s victory was also deserved. The economy has performed well after years of instability; as a government the AKP carried out a series of sensible reforms; and as a party the AKP championed the interests of a class of provincial (and often Muslim) entrepreneurs who felt excluded from political life. Its victory thus confirms the “broadening” of Turkish democracy that has been gradually happening outside the Kemalist establishment since the death of Turgut Ozal. . .

Some observers, including some National Review Online friends and contributors, fear that Erdogan is mounting a silent coup by quietly appointing Islamists to key legal, educational, and military positions. We don’t dismiss their fears as absurd. But when an Islamic conservative party wins almost half of the popular vote, it is hard to argue that its supporters should be excluded from other branches of government. And the evidence that Erdogan has moved the AKP away from Islamism towards a Muslim version of social conservatism — notably his push for Turkish membership in the European Union — is rather stronger than signs of creeping Islamism. . .

It will need to be carefully managed and skeptically watched to ensure that the legitimate claims of secularism are protected. If it succeeds, however, it would be a useful demonstration to the entire Muslim world that democracy and Islam are not such odd bedfellows.

Now break time from lesser jihad

Surf's up in Yemen!

More great fashion - and again from Saudi Arabia

Uploaded on September 18, 2006 by xarag

Too bad the black abaya became the official outer garment of Saudi women. I wonder what the world would be like now had these traditional outfits been made the standard.

More great kid style

Asir Girl Saudi KSA, originally uploaded by Mr Saudi.

This time from Saudi Arabia of all places.

Areas of concern in Pakistan

Below is the map of the areas in Pakistan that are supposed to be under the control of the Taliban now - and where Bin Laden et al may be hiding.



And below are the persons of concern in Pakistan - that is if you are the Taliban.

The little girls pictured are persons of concern to the Taliban because girls' education is un-Islamic according to their interpretation of things, and thus, girls who go to school should be eliminated.

But given that girls schools are still operating - and well attended - in spite of the Taliban suggests to me that the locals might be very helpful should there be an solid opportunity to get rid of them.

Uploaded on December 21, 2006 by tj.devine

And look, not only are there girls' schools operating in the area, but co-ed schools too. The pictures above and below were both taken in Balakot.

Uploaded on December 21, 2006 by tj.devine

And not only does there seem to be a pervasive rationality in this region - there's even terrific style. The girl's lace chunni couldn't be cuter - and check out the boy wearing the leopard coat. And what about that backpack in the front row? Is whoever it belongs to carrying it by choice or necessity? I'd love to know what these kids want to be when they grow up.

Evaluating the National Intelligence Estimate: Al Qaeda's stronger position

The London Times reports from Baghdad:

Fed up with being part of a group that cuts off a person’s face with piano wire to teach others a lesson, dozens of low-level members of al-Qaeda in Iraq are daring to become informants for the US military in a hostile Baghdad neighbourhood.

As the Times continues:

“People in al-Qaeda come to us and give us information,” said Lieutenant Scott Flanigan, as he drove past a line of fruit and vegetable stalls near a shabby shopping street in Doura, where people were buying bread and other groceries.

The informants were not seeking an amnesty for crimes that they had committed. “They just do not want to be killed,” Lieutenant Flanigan said.

Makes sense to me that such an organization would be losing popular support. But wait, didn't the CIA just come out with a report saying Al Qaeda is supposed to be more popular now?

See posts below.