Armies of Liberation

Yahoo

A series of bombs killed 35 children and seven adults Thursday as U.S. troops handed out candy at a government ceremony to inaugurate a new sewage treatment plant. Hours earlier, a suicide blast killed a U.S. soldier and two Iraqis on the capital’s outskirts….The explosions killed 42 people and wounded 141, including 10 U.S. soldiers. The wounded included 72 children under the age of 14, said Dr. Mohammed Salaheddin. The day of violence across Iraq, including insurgent attacks and U.S. airstrikes in Fallujah, left a total of 46 people dead and 208 wounded.

Apparently Zarqawi added a question to tonight’s presidential debate, and both candidates better answer it right, because these are little kids killed for publicity, exploded for a headline and slaughtered for the question.

The correct answer is: “In the name of those children and all innocent Iraqis killed by the terrorists, American will stand with Iraq until it is free and their sacrifice is not in vain.”

Another Editor in Yemen Targeted

In another development concerning the press in Yemen, the Press and Publications Attorney interrogated on Tuesday the Editor-in-Chief of Al-Wasat Newspaper, Jamal Amir, for allegedly causing harm to Yemen-Saudi relations.
Upon completing the interrogation, Jamal Amir said that the issue was raised by the Ministry of Information in relation to a number of articles and news reports that damage relations between the two countries.

The sentencing against the Yemeni perpetrators of the USS Cole bombing is a hollow victory for democracy while Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani remains in prison for an article he wrote and now Jamal Amir has been targeted as well. If a democratic country in the Middle East is in US national security interest, why is the US so silent on this crackdown in Yemen while making statements regarding China and Indonesia? Could it be that old 9/10 thinking that as long as President Saleh continues to cooperate against al-Qaeda, the US will turn the other way as he squashed a budding democracy? Prior to this point Yemen was moving forward with liberalizing reforms, unlike almost every other state in the ME which has become stuck in “partially liberalized autocracies”. But without freedom of speech- and a free press- democracy is doomed. Where is the future of hope now?

I feel Yemen oped number five coming on. My motto is: at least the editor has to read it and maybe some one will start paying attention.

This editorial in the Kuwaiti Arab Times

ARAB satellite channels, some radicals and nationalists refer to the wanton murder and slaughter in Iraq as resistance and Jihad…! Even France, a great country, recently called for a conference on Iraq with the participation of the Iraqi insurgents and opponents to the occupation.

just gets better, read on.

what sort of resistance do the supporters clap for?

that I wouldn’t have known was there, except John at Crossroads Arabia sent me an email, and it is the one you guys liked already:
Profiling a Bush Voter

While I am recovering from the flu, take a gander at these fine blogs:

American War Monger
Big Dick’s Place
CaribPundit
Cranky Neocon
Dreams into Lightning
KdeWeb
LegalXXX
Loose Coins
Memento Moron
My Pet Jawa
The Redhunter

Oh and Vote for Bill: I have been nominated and matched up against my potty-mouthed, left-wing, light-weight, strawberry-blonde nemesis and certainly much worse, a man that derives grim satisfaction from the death and mutilation of Americans in Iraq.

But common sense seems to be in short supply at CBS News these days since Rather and his associates have done the exact same thing in less than a month.

Three weeks after he denounced the internet as being “filled with rumors,” the embattled CBS anchor ran a story on his Tuesday “Evening News” program hoping to stir up fear of an impending military draft.

In a story that was a textbook example of slipshod reporting, CBS reporter Richard Schlesinger used debunked (by the nonpartisan FactCheck.org) internet hoax emails and an unlabeled interest group member to scare elderly “Evening” viewers into believing that the U.S. government is poised to resume the draft. Rather Biased

It’s become obvious over the past couple of years that large swaths of the CIA oppose U.S. anti-terror policy, especially toward Iraq. But rather than keep this dispute in-house, the dissenters have taken their objections to the public, albeit usually through calculated and anonymous leaks that are always spun to make the agency look good and the Bush Administration look bad. Opinion Journal (Read on …)

More than a dozen countries (Colombia, Peru, Malaysia, the Philippines, Algeria, Egypt, etc.) have experienced similar terrorist movements in recent decades. In every case, the terrorists, having pushed the limits of brutality as far as they could, were ultimately defeated….

The bitter tone of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan when he declared the liberation of Iraq “illegal” shows that it is not the future of Iraq but the vilification of the United States that interests him….

Add to this the recent bizarre phrase from French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. The head of the Figaro press group went to see him about the kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq; Raffarin assured him they would soon be freed, reportedly saying, “The Iraqi insurgents are our best allies.” …

Amir Taheri

If the Salvadorans can do it, the Iraqis can do it.

By DAVID BROOKS

Conditions were horrible when Salvadorans went to the polls on March 28, 1982. The country was in the midst of a civil war that would take 75,000 lives. An insurgent army controlled about a third of the nation’s territory. Just before election day, the insurgents stepped up their terror campaign. They attacked the National Palace, staged highway assaults that cut the nation in two and blew up schools that were to be polling places.

Yet voters came out in the hundreds of thousands. In some towns, they had to duck beneath sniper fire to get to the polls. In San Salvador, a bomb went off near a line of people waiting outside a polling station. The people scattered, then the line reformed. “This nation may be falling apart,” one voter told The Christian Science Monitor, “but by voting we may help to hold it together.” (Read on …)

hundreds of them, have all changed their site names to Emrooz in defiance of the Iranian government’s crackdown on reformist news sites, says Nema.

(From what I can gather a website named Emrooz was shut down, among all the other media repression going on in Iran. )

MORE: Continuous discontent coupled with public disclosure and protest is the only way we can change Iran into democracy that protects human rights.

Bloggers united for freedom and in defense of another blogger. Cool. Any ideas how we could give them a hand?

UPDATE: RSF is inviting bloggers and other Internet users to show support for the two remaining jailed journalists by sending email messages to internet.persan@rsf.org. The messages will be forwarded to the families of the journalists and posted on RSF’s website.
Gee they’re making it awfully easy to stand for freedom and with our Iranian blogger brothers, just a click away.

There has been much debate and speculation in the media in the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere as the identity of the “Bush Voter.” The large majority of analysis has been wildly absurd, from the notion that a hard core of evangelicals wanting Armageddon is the true face, to the old theories that only a stupid and manipulated American electorate could support President Bush.

It is important to remember that the election of 2000, highly disputed, complicated and seemingly unending, awakened the American electorate, who were riveted by the twists and turns of the contentious process. This politically alert public then faced together 9/11, and together emerged stronger. They endured two wars and emerged focused. (Read on …)

Saddam to run for president of Iraq, Turkish reports say via Chris at the incomperable LegalXXX. From the linked article: Stefano said that there was no law that prevented Saddam from appearing on the ballot. He added that Saddam hopes to regain his presidency and palaces via the democratic process. I’m sure Saddam hopes for a lot of things, one of which is the return to his palaces. It’s not going to happen.

Israeli Millionaire to purchase 50% of Al-Jazeera shares, read it all at Doug’s who notes: it was Media Group Saban Entertainment which unleashed the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers on an unsuspecting world.

“Won’t You Come See Me, Queen Jane” by Bob Dylan was written just for me.

accusing the Republicans of undemocratic practices in Florida: “It was obvious that in 2000 these basic standards were not met in Florida, and there are disturbing signs that once again, as we prepare for a presidential election, some of the state’s leading officials hold strong political biases that prevent necessary reforms. ”

NYP: Long after most former presidents have settled down into an honored elder- statesman role, Jimmy Carter keeps chugging along like that battery bunny.

Jeremy has an important update on the Kerry campaign’s new tactic: Vote Swapping.

(Boy is it hard getting any attention on Yemen and away from Dan Rather and the campaigns, even though a free press in Yemen is clearly in the best interests of the US by being in the best interests of the Yemeni people. )

President Bush has said: “A vibrant, successful democracy at the heart of the Middle East will discredit (terrorists) radical ideology of hate.” OK, how about Yemen?

It’s in the Middle East. It’s democratizing: Yemen is one of the very few Arab countries moving forward with power sharing. Almost all the rest are “stuck in the widespread regional syndrome of political blockage or the trap of liberalized autocracy,” according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

So Yemenis really don’t like US Middle East policies and President Saleh has said: “We are not allies of America or collaborators, but we cooperate with the Americans within the framework of the international community in order to combat the world’s evil, terrorism.” But since when is popularity a prerequisite for promoting democracy?

Iraq is costing billions of dollars and worse yet the lives of our beloved patriots in the quest for a better world. And there on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula is Yemen, with a partially elected (partially appointed) rather effective parliament. It has twelve political parties. There’s even a Children’s Parliament, and Yemen already has elections.

Despite 35% unemployment, with half the population literate, Yemenis are forging ahead, hungry for self determination.

The US could be a little more supportive, if for no other reason than to enrage bin Laden, who often tries to recruit Yemenis directly: “Youth of Islam everywhere, especially in …Yemen, jihad is your duty.” How about as a tribute to the 17 military members who lost their lives in the port of Aden in the attack on the USS Cole?

For example, the State Department could vocally support the Yemeni media, which has been a leading force driving the democratization process. Even school children know that an unfettered media is the linchpin of an informed electorate, that a free press balances the power of the people with that of the government.

Neocon supreme, Paul Wolfowitz recently said: “One of the worst possible ways that power can be abused is to take away the freedom of the press and thereby remove one of the most important mechanisms for ensuring that government respects the rights of its citizens.” All of America would agree with Paul on this one. All of Yemen would too.

Until a few weeks ago, the Yemeni press had been perhaps the least restricted in the Middle East. Then one newspaper got a little too critical of President Saleh. Contravening the law prohibiting retribution against journalists, the West Sana’a Court sentenced Abdulkareem Al-Khaiwani, the editor-in-chief of Al-Shura Weekly, to prison for a year.

Al-Khaiwani received a quick, secretive trial, without full legal council, during the judicial vacation. He was convicted of incitement, insulting the president, publishing false news and causing tribal and sectarian discrimination. The paper was banned for six months.

The Yemeni Public Forces Union believes the sentence “reflects the excessive influence of the executive authority, and its disrespect for the separation of authorities.” A statement from the Joint Meeting Parties said: “Civil rights will not be equally attained unless the executive authority stops controlling the judicial authority.” President Saleh is the Supreme Judicial Council Chairman.

Can the US really bear to let this stand without protest? One Yemeni noted: “What we are facing is an extreme challenge, to defy the outdated and backward mentality that wishes us to regress to a state of dictatorship and oppression. This we resist and will never accept. But if we are alone, we will soon find ourselves in jail.” It appears in Yemen the “rescue ship” is taking on water and may go down altogether.

If it is worth all the effort to move Iraq from a dictatorship to a democracy, isn’t a little effort on the behalf of the Yemeni free press a good investment? The noble Yemeni people are a people hungry and working hard for their democracy. A strong statement from America in support of their freedom of the press is warranted. Colin, Richard, I’m looking at you.

Works Cited

LOOK DOUG CLICKABLE LINKS:

Bin Laden Message to the Iraqis: Bin Laden

Bush quote: Bush

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Working Papers. Middle East series. Number 39, June 2003. pages 6 and 7.

Children’s parliament: Kids Parl

CIA fact book Yemen: CIA

IFEX official charges: IFEX

Joint Meeting Party Statement: Party

Salah democracy statement: Salah

Salah collaborator statement: Salah

Saqqaff editorial: editorial

Wolfowitz: Wolfowitz

Reports suggest that a Middle Eastern State tipped Israel on the location of Hamas leaders: “An intelligence agency belonging to an Arab state supplied Israel with intelligence on Hamas leaders living in Beirut, Damascus, Tehran and Khartoum at the request of Mossad head Meir Dagan.”

hmmmm, who could it be and why…..

Thanks to A Cranky Neocon for the heads up.

This is a statement (published by the Daily Star) by 40 leading Middle Eastern and North African civil society groups who met in Beirut on Sept. 5. The text was to have been presented yesterday, Sept. 24, to foreign ministers from the G-8 and Arab countries meeting in New York. The proposals feed into the Forum for the Future that was set up at the G-8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia, last June. It begins by proposing “three imperatives” - freedom, democracy and justice - and “seven programs” - equality, rule of law, free expression and organization, inquisitive education, economic inclusion, transparency, creative artistic and literary expressions.

This editorial was written by the editor of the Yemen Times. And I draw your attention again to the FDR quote on my sidebar which pays homage to our unseen allies. As any regular reader of this blog knows, I do not write off the Arab world but rather stand with those who stand for liberty, as many of you do as well.

Currently in Yemen, an unprecedented repression of the free press is ongoing and I salute those in Yemen who at personal risk have chosen to stand against an oppressive regime for the future of their children and their country.

This is the editorial. It says that the author as an Arab, a Muslim and a Yemeni can’t begin to comprehend the mind of the people who perpetrated the horrible act, and this we have in common.

I had the chance last week to stand near ground zero in New York City, and imagine the grief, the horror, and feelings of Americans screaming and running from the terror after the horrible attacks of 9/11 three years ago. I insisted on coming to see how the place is, how it was, and interviewing a number of people who remember the attack as if it were yesterday.

Looking at the scene on TV, and looking at it in person, provides two very different views. In the first case, from the comfort of your home, lying on a bed or a sofa, you see live pictures of the bodies of dead people, victims throwing themselves from the upper floors of the towers, smoke covering every living and unliving thing in the area, but that is all. But when you are there, you truly feel the devastating impact of the explosion, you live the memories, you see the roses on the floor, thrown in memory of loved ones lost in the attack, and you thank God for not being there to witness the horror - not knowing if you’d make it safe home again.

I felt my body shaking as I approached, and I recalled the old snapshots that I had seen on TV. This was the exact location that underwent the attack of that day, and here I was, walking near the place that on September the 11th 2001 was called ‘Hell on Earth’. I had tears in my eyes when I saw pictures of the horrific attack, and the devastation it caused to more than two thousand innocent people. I wanted to scream saying, ‘this is not Islam and these are not Muslims’ but I am sure it was said over and over again.

(Read on …)

Since we have had the good fortune of meeting John of Crossroads Arabia , I’ve left most of the Saudi analysis in his much more capable hands.

But I have to say today, what the heck is this garbage coming from the Arab News, nearly the official paper of the Saudi regime:

I write to you today because of the high regard with which I hold the Kurds of Iraq and other countries. I never forget that you are the people of the great Sultan Salahuddin Al-Ayubi who led the Muslims of his day to the liberation of the holy land from the invading Crusaders.

It is with great distress that I receive news of your collaboration with US forces in the occupation and colonization of your country, Iraq. It is with even more distress mixed with disbelief that I learn of your alliance with Israel in its war against your Muslim brothers in Iraq and other part of the Muslim world.

Truly, the late sultan would spit on you if he was alive today.

That’s just great, formenting greater unrest in Iraq. Perhaps the Kurds remember, and apparently they do, that the US was the country that protected them for a decade from Saddam at peril to our pilots in the no fly zone. The only place in the ME I’ve ever seen crowds of waving, not burning, American flags is in Kurdistan.

What is this new enraged attitude coming from the Arab News? I don’t think its the classification by the US as having no religious freedom. When you confiscate bibles from people on the way in to SA, you have to expect that.

Rather I think it might be rather humilating that Afghanistan, the supposedly backward country in the ME, and Iraq are both going to have presidential elections and establish a precident for a peaceful transition of executive power- something SA and the rest of the ME haven’t been willing to do-and they are making it look rather easy, just, and demonstrating the the legitimacy to govern rises from the expression of the will of the people, including women.

The big news in SA is next year there will be municipal elections. Women may or may not have the right to vote. The bigger news is this year Iraq and Afghanistan will have presidential elections. And I personally am expecting the Kurds to vote.

Here’s John’s take on it.

(OT: I remember today why I started writing opeds for the ME- the editors have to read the submissions.)

UPdate: I find it quite fulfilling that Afghanistan, often derided in the region as a backward country, will now be FIRST and the most progressive, when presidental elections are held, and future generations will remember their debt of graditude to the good people of Afghansitan for opening the door to liberty in a region of darkness. Then Iraq.

OR DO THEY THINK WE VOTERS ARE MORONS?

Dear Jane,

We all know the harsh realities of Iraq. Unfortunately, George Bush has no plan to get us out of Iraq. Now George Bush thinks the future of Iraq is brighter than the future of America. He actually said that yesterday, “I saw a poll that said the right track/wrong track in Iraq was better than here in America.”

Thank you,

Mary Beth Cahill
Campaign Manager

Dear Mary Beth,

A right track wrong track poll gives an indication of the electorates confidence in the general direction of the country. The poll reflects the belief of those who were polled. In this poll, Over 51% of Iraqis polled felt that their country is headed in “the right direction,” up slightly from IRI’s May/June poll. More telling, the number who feel that things are heading in “the wrong direction” has dropped from 39% to 31% over the same time period.
The poll also indicates that more Iraqi people believe their country is on the right track than Americans do, you idiot.

Sincerely,
Your sister in democracy,
Jane

Update: The new teams rapid response strategy in action: Script:

Bush: I saw a poll that said the right track wrong track in Iraq was better than here America.

Narrator: The right track? Americans are being kidnapped, held hostage, even beheaded. Over a thousand American soldiers have died. And George Bush has no plan to get us out of Iraq. John Kerry does. The Kerry solution: Allies share the burden. Train Iraqis to protect themselves. John Kerry. A new direction in Iraq.

John Kerry: I’m John Kerry and I approved this message.

(Excuse me John, did you read it before you approved it? Do YOU know what a right track/ wrong track poll is? If the majority of Iraqis believe their country is on the right track, why do you want change it to a new direction? ?)

BTW the Presidents Bush’s full response was this: Secondly, I saw a poll that said the right track/wrong track in Iraq was better than here in America. It was pretty darn strong. I mean, the people see a better future.

Talk to the leader. I agree, I’m not the expert on how the Iraqi people think, because I live in America where it’s nice and safe and secure.

But I’d talk to this man. One reason I’m optimistic about our ability to get the job done is because I talk to the Iraqi prime minister. I’m also optimistic that people will choose freedom over tyranny every time, that’s what I believe.

Bill Kristol

There is some chance, after all, that John Kerry will be president in four months. If so, what kind of situation will he have created for himself? France will smile on him, but provide no troops. Those allies that have provided troops, from Britain and Poland and Australia and Japan and elsewhere, will likely recall how Kerry sneered at them, calling them “the coerced and the bribed.” The leader of the government in Iraq, upon whom the success of John Kerry’s Iraq policy will depend, will have been weakened before his enemies and ours–and will also remember the insult. Is this really how Kerry wants to go down in history: Willing to say anything to try to get elected, no matter what the damage to the people of Iraq, to American interests, and even to himself?

The cost of a Kerry victory may be the future of Iraq, the US and the wider world, but Kerry is determined to win at all costs. A victorious Kerry would find himself in a much meaner world than even President Bush has faced.

published in Baghdad and London, online, and translated to English.

Sample:
Baghdad Stock Exchange reports active trade despite mounting violence If volume of trade at the Baghdad Stock Exchange is a measure, then many Iraqis will still have confidence in a bright future…. more 23/09/2004

More projects implemented in southern city
There has been a flurry of construction in the southern city of Nasiriya in the past few months, according to municipal officials…. more 23/09/2004

Iraqi TV viewers switch to stations with domestic programs, study reveals
Newly launched Iraqi channels with a focus on domestic affairs now seize more than 20% of the television viewing in Iraq, according to a survey…. more 22/09/2004

Emirates to speed up release of Iraq donation
The United Arab Emirates has agreed to release the $215 million it had pledged for Iraqi reconstruction, according to Minister of Electricity Ayham al-Samarrai…. more 22/09/2004

Editorial:
The first to have their heads chopped off are the hostage-takers and not their innocent victims. Those abducting foreigners are lackeys and traitors because through their barbaric actions they block the reconstruction of the country by delaying return of stability. The abductors pursue a blind theory which makes the shedding of the blood of all foreigners and those cooperating with the US-led occupation justified…..Who is then a lackey of the foreigners? Arent the kidnappers and the groups behind them the real foreign agents?

UPDATE /9/25/04: THE ITALIAN EMBASSY BELIEVES THE WOMEN ARE STILL POSSIBLY STILL ALIVE AND IN THE HANDS OF A CRIMINAL GANG NEGOTIATING TO SELL THEM TO A TERRORIST GROUP. ITS NOT TO LATE TO PRAY FOR THEIR SAFE RETURN.

Pray for their families and all the families, American and Iraqi, that these monsters have devastated.

All I can say is I hope they were shot.

My sincere sympathies to the Italian people as well.

Rusty has the updates.
Also see: In the Bull Pen
In Search of Utopia
Ramblings Journal
Right on Red

Update: During a news conference President Bush delivered a message to Zarqawi: You cannot drive us out of Iraq by your brutality.

Update: Six Meat Buffet links a Reuters report that the women were beheaded.

From Rezwan: Madrassa refers to an Islamic school for Muslims, just as parochial schools for Catholics or yeshivas for Jews. All of these institutions are responsible for general education, but also have the purpose of teaching children about religion, in the case of Madrasas, Islam. At least four million poor children (many of them are orphans) are studying in more than 50,000 of these religious schools across Bangladesh. The Madrassas offer a 16-year course divided into three levels. The primary level known as Forkania Madrassa teaches the Koran, Arabic, Bengali and Mathematics. Students, who pass exams here, graduate to the Hafizia Madrassa. The Kowmi Madrassa is the final level that issues degrees claimed as equivalents of a Masters level. Such degrees are provided by over 3,000 such Madrassas…..For above reasons the Madrassa students are encouraged to involve in these organizations out of poverty even more than the religious zealots, which are fed up by the politically motivated teachers.

But it would be unwise to undermine Madrassas’ contribution in the society. Many Madrassas have been virtually acting as orphanages for the poor. If there was a uniform syllabus, computer education and vocational training it would establish a centralized link between Madrassa and modern education, thus making these large numbers of students really educated and established in the society.

The whole thing is worth a read.

Question 1
Select the statement that best presents this fact:
60% of Americans express confidence that the economy is improving.
1. 60% of Americans express confidence that the economy is improving.
2. 30% of Americans have “little or no” confidence in the American economic “recovery”
3. Noted economist Paul Krugman calls “recovery” a “sham.”

Take the Test and see how well you’d fit into the MSM. (I got: Stay in the basement with your Warblogger buddies, we cannot help you.)

Yemen

Update on this.

International pressure on the Yemeni authorities to release journalist and editor of al-Shoura, Abdulkareem Al-Khaiwani, is mounting by the day. A letter of protest, issued by the New York Based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), was sent to President Saleh and other copies were sent to the White House and to several international institutions concerned with freedom of the press. (Read on …)

(Yemen Times)It seems that a group of people practice this new career. They kidnap children and blackmail the parents for their childs safe return. However, Often parents don’t receive their sons, informed the criminal investigator who accompanied the father to the place they had agreed. Afterwards, the kidnapper told the father that his son had been smuggled into Saudi Arabia. The kidnappers use these children as sellable commodities - without even having to pay customs duties! These gangs smuggle our children to neighboring countries and then they sell them or use them for begging. Is that to say that in Yemen we have an overabundance of children? (Read on …)

Here
It has a graph wizard.

against terrorism.

(CNN)

“France is one of God’s enemies,” said a letter addressed to “Islamic organizations, institutions and personalities” from the Islamic Army in Iraq.

There was no word Wednesday of the fate and whereabouts of journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot. The apparent aim of the note was to rebut those who call for the pair’s release and assert that France backs Arab and Muslim causes.

“It pained us to see and hear the heroism of Islamic organizations, institutions and personalities defending France and its position on Muslims and Arabs especially in Iraq,” the note said sarcastically.

“History is full of France’s wars on Islam and its people” and this reality “will be kept in the hearts of our sons,” according to the statement.

“With our martyrs’ blood we will weave for them clothes that will burn their bodies and prevent them from sleeping at night until the right is returned to its people.”

The statement mentions French attacks on Iraqis in 1991, during the Persian Gulf War era, the country’s meddling in “Syria-Lebanese affairs” and France’s “occupation of Tunisia and its fight against the Arabic language and Islam.”

It also mentions France’s involvement with other Asian and African nations, such as Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Palestine, Egypt and Afghanistan.

Maybe Hamas should write back.

Iraq is just a staging gound that must be won before the attack on Israel can begin. Memri

The London Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat interviewed an unidentified Islamist Arab who has recently met with Abu Mus’ab Al-Zarqawi in Fallujah. The following are excerpts from the interview:(1)

According to the source, Al-Zarqawi said: “We are fighting in Iraq but our eyes are raised not only to Iraq but also to other places, such as Jerusalem.” He added, “[Al-Zarqawi] has a strategy and an aspiration to expand the fighting to the entire region.”

The source reported that Al-Zarqawi “came to this arena only to expel the Americans from the Muslims’ country and to establish an Islamic government. This is part of the goal, because if this is not done, how will we be able to bring about coups d’etat in neighboring countries? How can we rescue Jerusalem when we have no base from which to set out? Rescuing Jerusalem and the neighboring countries will come only after the rise of an Islamic state from which the youth will set out to liberate the neighboring areas.”

Responding to “condemnation for the abhorrent murder of hostages by Al-Zarqawi’s Al-Tawhid Wa’Al Jihad organization,” the source said that Al-Zarqawi is convinced that his operations are permitted by Shari’a (Islamic law), and that the hostages “are not truly hostages. There is a difference between a hostage and a spy or a captive. The sentence for spies is death. But there is some dispute about how it is to be carried out - by the sword or by shooting.” (Read on …)

(I can say that because I live here.) From Ace:
48-48

The Kerry campaign insisted yesterday that it still considered New Jersey safe for the Democrats and had no plans to divert the candidates’ time or money from battleground states such as Pennsylvania. (Ignore us you fool, please!)
The Quinnipiac poll reflects a stark change from a month ago, when Kerry led by 10 points among registered voters in New Jersey and seemed a lock to carry the state, which has not voted Republican in a presidential election since 1988.

Like I said yesterday in a Note to Fausta: New Jersey, a bluest of the blue states, in a tie. McGreevy effect? naw. Really good employment figures? probably not. Seeing our neighbors vaporized and 736 funerals? I think so.

Besides New York, there was no state more devestated by the WTC attack than NJ: we share sports teams with New York, the Statue of Liberty, and a couple of tunnels. Now we share an unimaginable pain and the victory of discovering a new strength, of morphing into something new. Not forgetting but rather building on the pain.

Update: The Commissar has been moving states back and forth and reaches an interesting conclusion.

Update: Patterico discussed Arizona.

Update: Al-Jarallah take:Syria shouldn’t have spoiled its wise decision by tying it to the Al-Taif agreement because this gives the impression the Syrian regime is ashamed of getting along with the rest of the world.

Following up on Rusty’s post yesterday”, The Lebanese Daily Star has an editorial about the proposed withdrawal of some Syrian troops from Lebanon:

A full Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon is a widely shared goal….The Syrian government says the redeployment is not based on UN demands for the withdrawal of foreign forces, but on the 15-year-old Taif agreement that provides the legal basis for Syria’s military presence in Lebanon. The long-term presence of Syrian troops here since 1976 has been based on a complex convergence of political and military dynamics, most of which are nearing the end of their shelf life - which is why recent public calls for a full resumption of Lebanese sovereignty have been so strong…. By itself, though, it does not solve or even signal movement toward solving the major challenges that plague Lebanon and Syria alike, including promoting economic investment and growth creating jobs, reforming and modernizing the education system and deepening citizen participation in governance through greater accountability and transparency. Syria must continue to act in a manner and direction that indicate its awareness of the urgent need to continue addressing the many constraints, challenges and opportunities that face it. This means faster withdrawal from Lebanon, economic and political reform inside Syria, an honorable and legitimate peace agreement with Israel and constructive ties with its many regional partners. ..After the redeployment now under way, some 15,000 Syrian troops will remain in Lebanon, down from a high of 35,000 in 1989. Much work remains to be done, and redeploying troops is only the starting point, though a crucial one

I guess that US sponsored UN resolution on the continuing occupation of Lebanon might have had a little bite after all. Iraq effect #47.

Note- Right on Red’s take: The US & France (of all people) back a UN resolution pressuring Syria to get its dirty paws off of Lebanon, and it seems to be working - for now. Could it be that Syria fears unilateral US action to enforce a UN mandate? Nah, couldnt be.

More on the UN resolution here.

His wife spoke to CNN and other media several times whenthere was still hope :”His daughter, Sarah, would just like to say, ‘Daddy, I miss you and I love you, please come home,’ and me too,” said Patty Hensley, speaking from Atlanta, Georgia.

“We are putting a lot of strength in our belief that Jack was honestly there to help the people and because of that they should not harm him and hopefully will not,” Mrs. Hensley told ABC’s “Good Morning America” show.

The Tawhid and Jihad group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said in the footage of Armstrong’s killing it would behead the other two hostages within 24 hours unless female inmates were released from the Abu Ghraib and Umm Qasr jails.

The U.S. military says it does not hold women in either prison and has only two in custody in Iraq. Mrs. Hensley said she had received conflicting stories about this. Mrs. Hensley said she had spoken to the Armstrong family several times since the brutal killing of Eugene Armstrong.

“They are still in a great deal of shock and of course their prayers are now going out for Jack and Ken Bigley. They still don’t understand why. These were three very kind, benevolent men who were just trying to help the Iraqi people. They had no hidden agendas for why they were there.”

Our hearts go out to Pat and Sarah and the families of all the murdered. Its hard to abandon the expectation of rationality and morality when dealing with other humans, but nothing can be expected from Zarqawi that remotely resembles normal human behaivor.

For updates:
Check Rusty at My Pet Jawa: translation of statement: We have beheaded the second American hostage after the expiration of the deadline.. And we will release film footage soon, God willing..And we will execute the British hostage unless the British government pulls out unconditionally.
More updates to follow at My Pet Jawa.
Diggers Realm
Blogs of War
In Search of Utopia
Six Meat Buffet
Rooftop Report
Backcountry conservative: The fate of Briton Kenneth Bigley has yet to be decided but the same terrorist group has threatened to carry out his execution tomorrow if their demands are not met.
Rambling’s Journal notes he was a Marietta resident.
Jihadii statement from In the Bullpen:The nations zealous children slaughtered the second American hostage-after the end of the deadline, said the statement, posted under the pseudonym Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, who has posted past statements in the group’s name.

Statement of editorial postion: I blame this horrible inhumane attack on the vile Salafi Zarqawi and all the beastly jihadiis around the world, not on all Muslims or all Iraqis. Zarqawi murders Iraqi Muslim civilians on a nearly daily basis.

can we expect as Allawi expresses appreciation for the sacrifices of the troops, the determination of the Iraqi people to achieve democracy, appreciation to President Bush for his unwavering support, and that Iraq is actually succeeding on its path to democracy and is defeating the terrorists? 3 points overall? tipping those swing states on the fence? turning New Jersey into a red state?

Chirac: “The price of selfishness is rebellion,” he warned. “We should ensure that the world’s unprecedented wealth becomes a vehicle for the integration, rather than exclusion, of the most underprivileged.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Venemen: “A global tax is inherently undemocratic,” she said.

The document adopted after Monday’s meetings, but not signed by the Americans did not make specific anti-proverty proposals but said the time had come “to give further attention to innovative mechanisms of financing — public of private, compulsory and voluntary, of univeral or limited membership” to raise funds to fight poverty:FOXNews

Advice to France: try working a forty hour week and taking less than six weeks vacation.

Update: Bad Hair Blog: Jacques Chirac, arguably one of the most corrupt politicians of all time, yesterday gave a speech at the UN (that paragon of transparency) proposing to harness globalisation with a new “ethic for globalization”. The new ethic takes the form of a proposed $50 billion global tax on financial transactions, greenhouse gas emissions, arms sales, airline tickets and credit card purchases. (Read the rest.)

(Note to Fausta: New Jersey, a bluest of the blue states, in a tie. McGreevy effect? naw. Really good employment figures? probably not. Seeing our neighbors vaporized and 736 funerals? I think so.)

US Newswire:”Because of rampant insecurity and the failure to address past abuses, those who have suffered say they do not trust the government. They say they don’t feel safe in the camps, they say they are filled with fear outside. Every person we spoke to in the camps was adamant that they do not feel safe enough to return to their villages,” said Samkelo Mokhine, chair of AI South Africa and a delegate on the mission. “In this situation the only solution is a massive increase in monitors. An international presence in every district is what is needed now to build the confidence of the people and improve security.”

“Indicators and benchmarks to judge progress on protection of human rights must be qualitative and not quantitative — it is not a question of numbers of monitors and observers but of their impact on the protection of civilians; it is not a question of simply having more policemen, but of them having the ability and willingness to protect people,” said Ms Khan. (Read on …)

Karl Rove Comments.

TKB:

Costa Rica deported two men who tried to enter the country over the weekend using false European documents and who officials fear may have links to terrorists, the country’s immigration director said Monday.

Badilla said the men had been turned over to officials in neighboring El Salvador on Sunday and would be sent on to Honduras _ where officials also promised to deport them.

“From here, we will deport them to Guatemala,” Honduran Immigration Director-General Ramon Romero told The Associated Press. Badilla said the men were supposedly headed to Canada.

Badilla said the men told officials they had flown from Jordan to Spain on Sept. 5, and then traveled to Cuba and Guatemala. They said they purchased false passports there and then went by road to Honduras.

“I don’t believe that version is reliable because the route is very complicated. What’s more, they said they paid $1,000 for the documents, but they were very fine work. It can’t be that they were charged that,” Badilla said.

He said he was also suspicious because they were “very calm, very cold,” and they tried to bribe agents at the airport so they could fly to Canada.

Jean-Pierre Morin, spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, said Canadian officials had not been informed of the case.

Badilla said officials had notified the U.S. government as well as the international police agency Interpol.

OK, they started out in Honduras, will end up back in Guatamala, but where will they go after that?

Horrible. Rusty has the details . He says: “I have the video. The victim is Eugene Armstrong. I am sick. I am in tears. I am enraged. God, strike down these sick bastards!!! Lord, where is justice??”

I can’t type more now.

Update: I shouldn’t have looked. Its a glitzy video that opens with a soundtrack and graphics. Then these hooded men read a statement while a curtain flutters in the wind off to the right. Then they saw this man’s head off and place it on his chest. I know this isn’t about me but I feel like I was just in a bloody traffic accident. I’m faint and ready to throw up. A son, a husband, a father

For more coherent posts see:
Diggers realm and
Ramblings Journal
and My Pet Jawa
and Wizbang
also Six Meat Buffet

Ok I had an emergency nap and am regaining some verbal capacity:
Blogs of War has a translation of the statement: the statement read before the murder: “Oh, you Christian dog Bush, stop your arrogance … the mujahideen will give America a taste of the degradation you have inflicted on the Iraqi people.”

Rooftop report says exactly what I was thinking before I passed out: “It consistently baffles and enrages me that the perpetrators of these crimes think they are doing God’s work. Disgusting.”

Big Dick: Well, those cowardly chickenshits did it.

BackCountry Conservative has a round up.

In Search of Utopia brings up the other two: “The fate of the two other hostages taken with him remains unknown, but there is little hope that they will not face the same fate.”

Right on Red quotes the Iraqi FM: “Iraq is on the front line of fighting these terrorists. And, God forbid, if Iraq is broken or the will of Iraq is broken, then London would be a target, Washington will be a target, Paris will be a target, Cairo will be a target, as we have seen in the past.” and points out to the press Zarqawi is not an Iraqi militant; he is a Jordanian terrorist.

Update: Now that I can stand again, I blame this horrible inhumane attack on the vile Salafi Zarqawi and all the beastly jihadiis around the world, not on all Muslims or all Iraqis. Zarqawi murders Iraqi Muslim civilians on a nearly daily basis.

Update: No mention in the Tehran Times. The Syria Times nothing. The Electronic Intifada which normally comments on Iraq has no story. The Arab News has a straight forward story outlining Zarqawis other crimes as well. They also noted “another group of militants freed 18 Iraqi soldiers after an appeal from Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr.” The Lebanese Daily Star has the beheading as the lead and includes this: “More than 300 Iraqis have been killed in violence over the past 10 days, casting doubt on whether elections can go ahead in January as scheduled.”

With all the attention on Dan Rather, there is another media story developing unnoticed by the American people that may have a far greater impact in the long run. Yemeni editor Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani, the editor-in-chief of Al-Shura Weekly, was sentenced to prison for a year at hard labor as punishment for a series of articles on corruption.

In an analysis of the gradualist model of democracy, Yemen, along with Bahrain and Morocco, is one of the few semiauthoritarian Arab regimes “still moving ahead wi