Iraq: A Fatwa on your carp!

It does sound pretty gross. River's abundance of corpses ruin Iraqis appetite for fish.

Dead bodies frequently pulled from the River Tigris have dulled the Iraqi capital's appetite for masqouf, its popular dish of grilled carp, after it was reported that clerics had warned that the fish dined on rotting corpses."

They spread rumors about the fish, that they eat the bodies of drowned people, but this is just a rumor," said fisherman Hussein Ahmed, 62, after setting his nets within sight of the heavily fortified Green Zone compound on the banks of the Tigris.

Scores of corpses turn up every week in Baghdad, victims of unrelenting violence between majority Shiites and minority Sunni Arabs.Many are dumped in the Tigris, which flows through the heart of the city and was once lined with restaurants specializing in the masqouf people loved to eat on Friday nights.

Most riverfront eateries closed after they became magnets for insurgents' bomb attacks.

A fatwa, or religious edict, forbidding Iraqis to eat fish from the Tigris was reported by Iraqi media recently, but tracing its original source has been tricky. Prominent Shiite clerics in the holy southern city of Najaf yesterday denied any knowledge of the edict. Officials from the government office representing imams who run Iraq's Sunni mosques were not available for comment.

Glasgow: Bomber so burnt his mobile melted into his body.

That's hot!

Kafeel Ahmed - 1986

or so says The Times of India.

They also keep throwing the word "allegedly" around when they describe the actions of this evil idiot. Like we didn't all see him doing it! Sometimes they really carry this presumed innocent business too far especially when it comes to acts of terror. It if walks like a duck, etc.

Kafeel Ahmed, the Indian engineer who allegedly drove a blazing jeep into the Glasgow airport, had left a suicide note at his house, a media report said on Sunday amid claims that he had links with a senior Al-Qaeda operative.

Old Kafeel was "allegedly" radicalized by Hizb ut-Tahrir back in 2004 while he was doing research at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. He's chummy with Al Qaeda bombmaker Abbas Boutrab and they may have belonged to the same AQ cell in "the quiet base" of Ireland. Oh and he also had jihadi materials in his possession.

More juicy bits at the link, including this:

...The disclosure will raise fresh questions over the extent of information held by Mi5, the British Intelligence Service, on suspects involved in the attempted car bomb attacks.

... Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command SO15 is understood to have uncovered evidence that in the months leading up to the attacks one or more of the suspects communicated by telephone or e-mail with terrorist leaders in Iraq.

....Details of the Al-Qaeda role in the three failed car bombings are expected to emerge over the next few days.

...The development suggests that intelligence received by Mi5, British Intelligence Service, earlier this year about a possible Al-Qaeda attack to mark Blair's departure was accurate. A report in April by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) warned that a senior Iraqi Al-Qaeda commander had outlined details of a big attack in Britain. The report said the commander "stressed the need to take care to ensure the attack was successful and on a large scale". It was aimed "ideally" to take place before Blair stepped down. It said JTAC which is based at Mi5's London headquarters, was "aware that AQ-I (Al Qaeda in Iraq)... networks are active in the UK".

Joe Lieberman calls Iran on the Persian carpet for their proxy wars

From the WSJ via Iran Focus. Yeah, what he said.


While some will no doubt claim that Iran is only attacking U.S. soldiers in Iraq because they are deployed there -- and that the solution, therefore, is to withdraw them -- Iran's parallel proxy attacks against moderate Palestinians, Afghans and Lebanese directly rebut such claims.


Iran is acting aggressively and consistently to undermine moderate regimes in the Middle East, establish itself as the dominant regional power and reshape the region in its own ideological image.


The involvement of Hezbollah in Iraq, just revealed by Gen. Bergner, illustrates precisely how interconnected are the different threats and challenges we face in the region.


The fanatical government of Iran is the common denominator that links them together.


No responsible leader in Washington desires conflict with Iran. But every leader has a responsibility to acknowledge the evidence that the U.S. military has now put before us: The Iranian government, by its actions, has all but declared war on us and our allies in the Middle East.


Gen Bergner's claims.
Iranian outrage and denial.

Sadr puts off march to Sunni Samarra

Big bad Mookie al Sadr has evidently decided not to march to Samarra. Why not?

BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT WOULDN'T SECURE THE ROUTE.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha.

Hey Mook. Why don't you go hide in a cave someplace? That's what all you big brave Mohammedan warriors usually do....

Chemical Ali to hang in Halabja

And I couldn't be happier.

The people of Halabja got really screwed - judicially speaking, that is. Their village suffered many casualties at the hands of Chemical Ali but for some reason they were left off the judicial complaint. So many genocides, so little court time, I guess. It is now poetic justice that Hajalba will be known throughout history as the place where Chemical Ali had his genocidal necktie party. God bless them.

Ali? I spit on you. Halabja: The legacy of Chemical Ali. (warning: graphic images.)

As The Religion of Peace says, "Hanging this bastard just isn't enough."

Iran getting busy in the region, US politely ignores it.

Iran sure is getting busy over there. They're busy in Iraq. They're busy in Afghanistan. They're busy in Gaza. Hijole! They're even getting busy against Spanish UN soldiers in Lebanon! (courtesy of Spanish Pundit and a sassy hat tip to Lady V.)

Now they're getting busy in the Gulf? Iran seizes three UAE boats.

What are WE doing about it???? Politely ignoring it, I guess. That good talking to we gave them last month sure worked.

Update: 8:20 pm. Even Investors Business Daily has noticed.

Reports of Iranian forces crossing the border into Iraq have gotten a bit of — though not enough — media attention this week. But this is nothing new for a regime with a nasty habit of meddling in the region.

AQ in Iraq claims Baghdad hotel bombing.

Bastards.

Yon: Drilling for Justice

Drilling for Justice: Michael Yon's latest from Baquba and Operation Arrowhead Ripper, an operation that might have gotten ripped because of remarks made by senior military officials. Unfortunately, it sounds like they were ours. The 24 hr media and satellite dishes and all. There's a question of how many of the AQI leadership escaped because of it...there are also incredible stories like these:

Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) had tarnished its name here by publicly attacking and murdering children, videotaping beheadings, all while imposing harsh punishments on Iraqi civilians found guilty of violating morality laws prohibiting activities like smoking. The AQI installed Sharia court had sanctioned the amputation of the two
“smoking fingers” for those who violated anti-smoking laws. In part because local sentiment was shifting against it, AQI synthesized with other groups and undertook an image makeover, christening itself “The Islamic State of Iraq.” But the new name was just lipstick on a pig here.

On the evening of the 24th I spoke with a local Iraqi official, Colonel Faik, who said the Muftis would order the severance of the two fingers used to hold a cigarette for any Iraqis caught smoking. Other reports, from here in Diyala and also in Anbar, allege that smokers are murdered by AQI. Most Iraqis smoke and this particular
prohibition appeared to have earned the ire of many locals. After an American unit cleared an apartment complex on the 23rd, LTC Smiley, the battalion commander, reported that residents didn’t ask for food and water, but cigarettes. In other parts of Baqubah, people have been celebrating the routing of AQI by lighting up and
smoking cigarettes.

Other AQI edicts included beatings for men who refused to grow beards, and corporal punishments for obscene sexual suggestiveness, defined by such “loose” behavior as carrying tomatoes and cucumbers in the same bag. These fatwas were not eagerly embraced by most Iraqis, and the taint traveled back to the Muftis who sat in supreme judgment. Locals, who are increasingly helpful in pointing out and celebrating the downfall of AQI here, said that during the initial Arrowhead Ripper attack the morning of the 19th, AQI murdered five men. Townsend’s men found the buried corpses behind an AQI prison, exactly where they’d been told to look for the group grave. Locals also directed Townsend’s men to a torture house. Peering through a window, American soldiers saw knives, swords, bindings and drills. AQI is well-known for its macabre eagerness to drill into kneecaps, elbows, ribs, skulls, and other parts of victims.

There's so much more at the link. God bless the troops.

Operation Arrowhead Ripper

Michael Yon checks in with his latest dispatch Surrender or Die where he's hooked up with a 3-2 Stryker Brigage in Baqubah.

This Brigade has much recent combat experience, and is expertly commanded. A
person does not need to even meet the commanders (though I do each day) to know they are running a tight ship. The professionalism of 3-2 is particularly high, and they are very competent fighters who are maximizing their assets, including the incredible Stryker vehicles.

He adds this. Save our Strykers!

While the name “Stryker” is on the table, apparently controversy is brewing back
home whether Strykers should be in our arsenal. The answer is YES: we need all
we can get. The Stryker might be the finest all-around combat vehicle in Iraq.

More on the fighting can be found here: Al Qaeda fight to death in Iraq bastion.

Iranian Weapons, Agents and Terrorists in Iraq

In Iraqi schoolyard. A schoolyard.
Coalition forces uncovered half a dozen Iranian-made rockets in a Baghdad schoolyard earlier this week, the U.S.-led military said on Monday.Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers and aviation assets discovered the six rockets in a schoolyard in the Iraqi capital’s Rashid District on June 17, the Multi-National Corps – Iraq (MNC-I) said in a statement.

In Kirkuk, an Iranian agent with Mookie al Sadr connections is detained.
Iraqi security forces have arrested an individual in the northern city of Kirkuk for facilitating the travel to and from Iran of insurgents belonging to the al-Mahdi Army, the armed militia of firebrand Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

And the Coalition has put the kibosh on 20 terrorists smuggling weapons from Iran...
“Coalition Forces killed at least 20 terrorists, wounded six suspected terrorists and detained one suspected terrorist during operations targeting Secret Cells operating in Amarah and Majjar al-Kabir”, said a statement by the Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I).

Hold up. Those aren't terrorists, says Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Hosseini. Heck no. They're undocumented pilgrims! I kid you not.

Iraq: Bodies of Tae Kwan do team found

Another crying shame courtesy of the Religion of Peace.

The remains of 13 members of an Iraqi tae kwon do team kidnapped last year have been found in western Iraq.

The team had been driving to a training camp in neighboring Jordan in May 2006, when their convoy was stopped and all 15 athletes abducted along a road between the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, in Anbar province.

Members of the Anbar Salvation Council, a group of Sunni tribal leaders who have partnered with U.S. and Iraqi officials to fight al-Qaida influence in Anbar, found the 13 bodies Friday west of Ramadi, near the main highway leading to Jordan, said Anbar police Col. Rashid Nayef. Two of the athletes remained unaccounted for.

Bombs Away, Dream Babies

I've always respected and admired Senator Joe Lieberman and upon hearing him say this my admiration grew by leaps and bounds. We can't continue to let the Iranians get away with killing our troops or supplying the materials to the bad actors in Iraq...200 US soldiers are estimated to have been killed as a result of the Iranian interference.

Lieberman: Bomb Iran If It Doesn't Stop.

The United States should launch military strikes against Iran if the government in Tehran does not stop supplying anti-American forces in Iraq, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday

Rock on, Joe.

Another day, another Muslim attack on Christians

The religion of peace strikes again. This time in Iraq. Two attacks in Dora. One church is forcibly turned into a Mosque. Attacks coincide with funeral for priest slain after celebrating Mass last Friday. Per the Catholic News Agency:

According to the AINA news agency, two churches were attacked in the Baghdad district of Dora. At St. John the Baptist’s in Hay Al-Athoriyeen, several security guards who protect the church were killed, and St. Jacob’s in Hay al Asya was vandalized and forcibly turned into a mosque. St. Jacob’s had previously been attacked in October of 2004.

The attacks coincided with the funeral Mass for Father Ganni which was being celebrated in Karamles by Archbishop Faraj Rahho of Mosul amidst tight security.

Wacking Christians - it's just not for al-Qaeda in Kurdistan anymore.

Yon: Death or Glory

This you gotta read. You simply must.

Death or Glory: Part I of IV: A Special Dispatch for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

In hiding since Feb, sissy pants boy Mookie al Sadr shows his face

Sadr appears in public after long absence

KUFA, Iraq, May 25 (Reuters) - Anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has not been seen since the start of a major U.S.-backed crackdown in Iraq in February, appeared at Friday prayers in the holy Shi'ite city of Kufa.

The U.S. military has said he went into hiding in Iran in January to escape the crackdown, but aides to the young cleric, who led two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004, say he never left Kufa. A Reuters witness saw him enter Kufa mosque, surrounded by bodyguards and close aides.

Update: I'm watching tape of Mookie in the mosque making a speech. His devotees are throwing up an arm salute, ala the Third Reich. Alas, Mookie's outing was spoiled by the fact that his top Mahdi Army guy, the guys brothers and two of his aides were taken out by the Brits in Basra. Top Shiite Army Militant Killed.

Sunnis and Sadrist unite to fight al-Qaeda

Blogging on the way out the door to the WW2 Memorial....but hot damn - this is good news.


IRAQ: SUNNI TRIBES SEEK SADRIST ALLIES

Baghdad, 23 May (AKI) - A delegation of Sahwa al-Anbar, (Anbar Awakening) the tribal alliance in the restive Sunni province of Al Anbar, has made an unprecedented visit to Sadr City, the Baghdad stronghold of radical Shiite imam Moqtada al-Sadr, according to pan Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat.

"We have taken this step to place national interest ahead of any differences" said the head of the US-endorsed Sunni alliance Hamid al-Hayas. "This is an effort to bring closer together the Sunni and Shiite Iraqi points of view.

We want to deliver a message to all the political groups to put aside their differences and act for the common good" he said.

The whereabouts of Moqtada al-Sadr remain undisclosed, but he was represented in the meeting by three MPs from the 30-strong bloc in Parliament loyal to him and prominent individuals from the Sadr City area.

At the end of the meeting the two sides signs a joint document in which they vowed to fight the terrorism of al-Qaeda.

The group has become increasingly isolated within the Sunni insurgency because of its indiscriminate targeting of civilians. Al-Qaeda in Iraq has been seeking to impose its fierce Salafite philosophies and strategies and consolidate its power over the many resistance groups in the Sunni Arab galaxy, some of whom view foreign fighters and Wahhabis with suspicion.

In recent months the heads of the powerful al-Anbar tribes have coalesced in a big to counteract al-Qaeda in Iraq and have begun a tentative dialogue with some elements in the al-Maliki government about entering the political process.As well as coming under increasing pressure from US and Iraqi forces in Baquba and elsewhere, the al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters have been increasingly in clashes with other insurgent formations.

The latest dispatch from Michael Yon...

Searing and powerful as always. In a SMALL BATTLE IN THE MEDIA WAR, Michael Yon writes about the Brits 4/18 hand over of the Maysan Province to Iraqi control. An event that was lost in the mediasphere coming as it did during the Virginia Tech massacre.

"Some of the biggest battles in Iraq today are being fought not with bombs and bullets, but with cameras and keyboards. For whatever reasons—and there are many—today, when Western media is most needed here, it’s nearly gone."

Read it all, my friends.

Honor killing: It's not just for Muslims anymore.

From Arabisto: Her stoning took place over 30 minutes, police authorities were present and did nothing to stop it. Before her burial in an unmarked grave, her post-mortem examination revealed that she was a virgin. The Sunni response to her murder? 23 Yezidi workers were killed. Now that's what I call a peaceful religion.

Du'a Khalil Aswad, a 17-year old Kurdish girl from the Yezidi religion, was stoned to death on 7 April 2007 in an honor killing in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. Her murder was carried out by Du’a’s relatives and men from the Yezidi faith, Amnesty International reported in late April.

In response to Du'a’s murder, 23 Yezidi workers were killed by men from the Sunni Muslim faith.

Her stoning continued for 30 minutes and was captured on several cell phones. The video was then posted on the Internet, receiving widespread viewership from one video sharing website, YouTube.com. However, recently, YouTube.com took down the video. A 10-minute clip can be seen on Jebar.info. I must warn the viewer that this video clip is very graphic and contains disturbing images. (Sorry team, I couldn't bring myself to watch it.)

In this troubling video, one can see a large crowd of men, reported to be from the Yezidi sect, participating in the stoning and capturing it on video. Amnesty International also reported that, “The film reportedly shows that members of local security forces were present but failed to intervene to prevent the stoning or arrest those responsible.”

Kurdish women's rights campaigner Diana Nammi, according to The Daily Mail in the UK, explained that Du'a's body thereafter had been dispatched to the Medico-legal Institute in Mosul, Iraq for an assessment of her virginity prior to revisiting her “unmarked grave” in the Sheikh Shams cemetery. The test revealed she was still a virgin and innocent of her alleged crime.

Her crime? Forbidden love. Although there have been conflicting reports, it had been reported that Du’a had converted to Islam after having married a Sunni Muslim boy, which is prohibited by the Yezidi faith. While other news outlets have stated that she had been away from home one night, raising suspicion from her relatives.

The Yezidi religion forbids one from marrying outside of the religion and do not allow any converts. It is pre-Islamic and is dated before the Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The estimated population is 500,000 although the exact amount is not known as the Yezidis practice a religious tradition of privacy. They believe to be descendants of Adam, not Eve. (I guess Adam was getting busy on the side.)

Oh, really? Honor killing should not be attributed solely to any faith? Well then, the Yezidi religion must be the exception that proves the rule: Muslims invented the honor killing.

One must note that the murder of women in the name of honor in Kurdistan, Iraq, and elsewhere is not unique and should not be attributed solely to any faith. Amnesty International stated, “While the Kurdish authorities introduced legal reforms to address “honour killings” they have, however, failed to investigate and prosecute those responsible for such crimes.”

Four men, two of whom are relatives, have been arrested for her murder and the chief of police will be substituted, CNN reported on 21 May 2007.

Iran's secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq

A sneak summer preview from al-Guardian: Read it all at the link.

Iran is secretly forging ties with al-Qaida elements and Sunni Arab militias in Iraq in preparation for a summer showdown with coalition forces intended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting for full military withdrawal, US officials say.

"Iran is fighting a proxy war in Iraq and it's a very dangerous course for them to be following. They are already committing daily acts of war against US and British forces," a senior US official in Baghdad warned. "They [Iran] are behind a lot of high-profile attacks meant to undermine US will and British will, such as the rocket attacks on Basra palace and the Green Zone [in Baghdad]. The attacks are directed by the Revolutionary Guard who are connected right to the top [of the Iranian government]."

The official said US commanders were bracing for a nationwide, Iranian-orchestrated summer offensive, linking al-Qaida and Sunni insurgents to Tehran's Shia militia allies, that Iran hoped would trigger a political mutiny in Washington and a US retreat.

Baghdad tribes close to fighting al Qaeda?

Now THIS is good news....Following the lead of tribes in Anbar and Diyala, the Baghdad tribes are coming together against the evil doers. Yee-haw!

Baghdad tribes close to fighting al-Qaida

TAJI, Iraq — Mirroring a nationwide trend, tribes near Baghdad are on the verge of banding together against al-Qaida and have met with U.S. military officials seeking aid and guidance in fighting the terrorist network.

Acceptance of — if not outright support for — al-Qaida among the tribes eroded after the strict Islamic law imposed by insurgents clashed with the authority of the sheikhs, according to U.S. military officials.

On Saturday, a group of local chieftains met with military commanders and a representative of the State Department at Camp Taji, about 20 miles northwest of Baghdad, and tentatively agreed to form a council that would oversee the creation of a provincial security force similar to the tribal militia created in western Iraq.

“I think we all agree that our common enemy are extremists and that’s who we must defeat,” Col. Paul E. Funk II said to the roughly dozen sheikhs at the gathering. Funk, commander of the 1st “Ironhorse” Brigade Combat Tam, 1st Cavalry Division, presided over the meeting.

With the fledgling alliance still in its early stages, the gathering at times resembled a negotiation. Several sheikhs asked for improvements in water treatment and electricity service as well as for inquiries into the detention by Iraqi security forces of relatives and tribal members.
“Are you going to support us, or do we have to go knock on someone else’s door,” one sheikh asked.

But even while U.S. commanders courted tribal support, they were wary of creating a new, separate fighting force and potentially further complicating the crowded battlefield around Baghdad that includes not only al-Qaida, but also Shiite militias.

“We are not here to build another militia,” Funk said. Volunteers from the tribes must cooperate with the Iraqi government’s security forces, he said.

The fragile, emerging alliance is being handled carefully by the military. No photographs were allowed at Saturday’s meeting, a nod toward security concerns and possible retaliation against the sheikhs.

Lt. Col. Kurt Pinkerton, who commands the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment in Abu Ghraib, has been on the forefront of the military’s outreach to the tribes in the area. He said that the turning point in the struggle for the sympathies of the region came last September when al-Qaida in Iraq declared the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq.

The shadow government clashed with the centuries old tribal system, establishing Islamic sharia courts and often punishing dissention with kidnappings and death sentences.

“Throughout history the tribes have been seen as a challenge and have been targeted. At one point Saddam tried to put them down, al-Qaeda tried, and now we need to keep the coalition from making the same mistakes,” Pinkerton said. “If you understand the [tribal] culture, you can understand the country better. Why not use tribal influence to meet your goals and objectives?”