tearful member

WAR
* juancole: "The story put out by many in the Western press, that the guerrilla war was winding down after the successful elections, was never true. The guerrillas are unaffected by the elections, and work on their own timetable, in hopes of destabilizing Iraq and ultimately taking it over." LINK

* juancole: "Still no sign of a government in Baghdad. The Allawi faction is demanding 5 cabinet posts and a deputy premiership. I personally cannot understand why Ibrahim Jaafari is bothering with the Iraqiya list. It only got 14 percent of the vote..." LINK

* juancole: "Iraqi guerrilla groups have begun speaking of the need to hit the United States on its own soil in revenge for Fallujah and other operations." LINK
its amazing this hasnt yet happened. i dont get it.

* juancole: "A tearful member of the Iraqi parliament, Fattah al-Shaikh, stood up before other MPs and told the story of how he was attacked and detained by US troops when he attempted to enter the Green Zone... Al-Hayat reported that al-Shaikh, a member of the Muqtada al-Sadr bloc, said the US troops put their boots on his neck and handcuffed him. The Iraqi parliament was thrown into an uproar by the account, and demanded a US apology from the highest levels of government... The incident will seem minor to most Americans and few will see this Reuters photograph reprinted from al-Hayat (which is not the one featured at the Reuters story on the incident on the Web). But such an incident is a serious affront to national honor, and Iraqi male politicians don't often weep." LINK


* juancole: "The Badr Corps claims to be in military control of Muthanna province, including the city of Samawah. Regional Badr leader Hadi al-Amiri said Monday that Samawah is secure, and there is no need for Australian troops to be deployed there. " LINK

* Patrick Cockburn slips this odd comment into an article: "Al-Qa'ida in Iraq, which has no real connection with the al-Qa'ida of Osama bin Laden..." LINK
isnt 'Al-Qa'ida in Iraq' sposed to be zarq's crew? isnt zarq sposed to be obl's bestest buddy?

* "The head of the Turkish army hit out at the United States Wednesday for failing to curb Turkish Kurdish rebels hiding in northern Iraq and warned that Iraqi Kurdish attempts to take control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk could throw the entire region into turmoil." LINK

* "A retired Army general just back from a fact-finding trip to Iraq has warned the U.S.-led multinational coalition that insurgents may be planning spectacular large-scale attacks" LINK

* moonietimes: "Recurrent intelligence reports say al Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi has obtained a nuclear device or is preparing a radiological explosive -- or dirty bomb -- for an attack... Zarqawi has stored the nuclear device or dirty bomb in Afghanistan...
The reported threat of nuclear terrorism comes amid other intelligence indicating that Zarqawi is planning an attack on the United States. Still other intelligence says Zarqawi was planning a chemical weapons attack in Europe, officials said.
In February, U.S. intelligence and security officials said information showed bin Laden had asked Zarqawi to focus future attacks on targets inside the United States." LINK

* it turns out that abug really was just about a few bad apples. i apologise profusely for any prior suggestions to the contrary. LINK
(altho the aclu isnt happy. but they're just activist liberal elites)

* "Senator Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican who is chairman of the Intelligence Committee: " "I am fast losing patience with what appears to me to be almost a pathological obsession with calling into question the brave men and women on the front lines of the war on terror,"" LINK
best we dont investigate rape and murder and torture then.

* "In a country where things often turn out to be different from the way they at first seem (ed: iraq, not america), the retrieval of around 60 corpses from the Tigris River near al-Suwayra, south of Baghdad, is one of the murkiest and most complex stories to hit the headlines in recent months." LINK

* "Under Iraq's transitional law, Mr. Jaafari will automatically lose his position if he does not name a cabinet by May 7, a month after his appointment... A Western diplomat in Baghdad confirmed the effort to "filibuster" the negotiations." LINK
oh great news... thats another couple of weeks. and then the whole process can start over again... the iraqis will be totally pissed.

* juancole: "Resistance to seeing Australian troops come in to attempt to provide security in Samawah, al-Muthanna Province, continues to be expressed by local Iraqi officials. Samawah police chief Brig. Karim al-Zayadi is quoted by the Herald Sun as saying ' "My people need electricity and running water, not more security." ' The article ends:

Brig. Kareem warned that one of the most testing challenges for the Australians would be the complex and often-violent rivalries between local tribal groups. There were 12 main tribes, each of which could have up to six clan groups.

Everyone should please read this paragraph several times and think about what it means for US troops fighting these clans in the Sunni Arab heartland." LINK