<http://www.iris.org.il/blog.html> http://www.iris.org.il/blog.html
* Why Are Arabs Upset by Saddam's
Execution? *
A must-read by Efraim Karsh, summarized by the Daily
Alert:
While Saddam Hussein's execution was greeted with
delight by many of his victims - Iranians, Kuwaitis,
and Iraqi Shia - it also generated widespread criticism
among many Arabs and Muslims. This evokes one of the
more confounding paradoxes relating to Saddam - the
wide discrepancy between his actual track record and
the adulation in which he was held by non-Iraqi Arabs.
Saddam transformed Iraq into the most repressive police
state in the world, where a joke or a reported thought
could cost a person his life, where tens of thousands
of civilians were brutally murdered by their
government, and where millions starved while their
unelected ruler spent incredible sums of money on
monuments and palaces for himself.
Saddam embroiled his country in a string of
catastrophic foreign adventures that claimed more than
one million lives and wrought untold physical and
economic wreckage. Upon his ascendance in 1979, Iraq
was a regional economic superpower, boasting some $35
billion in foreign exchange reserves. Twenty-three
years later, it had been reduced to dire poverty and
underdevelopment, with tens of billions in foreign
debt.
Why has such an abysmal record been widely applauded by
Arabs and Muslims?
It is the Middle East's violent political culture that
has created and perpetuated the monstrosity of Saddam
(and his ilk). Only when this culture is fully
eradicated will the region's inhabitants be able to
look forward to a better future. Saddam's execution, at
long last, sets a precedent of holding a local tyrant
accountable for his crimes.
* Ex-PA Minister to Al-Qaeda: "We
Hate the Americans More than You" *
Fatah leader and former PA minister Abu Ali Shahin,
responding to a statement by al-Qaeda's deputy leader,
Ayman al-Zawahri, criticizing Palestinian Fatah leaders
for contacts with the U.S., addressed al-Qaeda on PA TV
on Jan. 1, saying:
"Do to Bush whatever you want, and we wish you
success... We are fighting the Americans and hate the
Americans more than you!"
Remember that Fatah, led by Mahmoud Abbas, has been
America's great white hope for for over a decade.
* Iran's Secret Plan for Mayhem *
Here is an important read from Eli Lake, which shows
that the Sunni-Shiite understanding of the Iraq
conflict is facile:
Iran is supporting both Sunni and Shiite terrorists in
the Iraqi civil war, according to secret Iranian
documents captured by Americans in Iraq. Iranians
captured by American forces were carrying documents
that offer insight into Iranian activities in Iraq. The
documents show how the Quds Force - the arm of Iran's
Revolutionary Guard that supports Shiite Hizbullah,
Sunni Hamas, and Shiite death squads - is working with
individuals affiliated with Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Ansar
al-Sunna. An American official said, "We found plans
for attacks [and] phone numbers affiliated with Sunni
bad guys."
While the Iranian plans do not extend to cooperation
with Baathist groups fighting the government in
Baghdad, the news that Iran's Quds Force would be in
contact, and clandestinely cooperating, with Sunni
Jihadists who attacked the Golden Mosque in Samarra
(one of the holiest shrines in Shiism) on February 22
could shake the alliance Iraq's ruling Shiites have
forged with Tehran. Many Iraq analysts believe the
bombing vaulted Iraq into the current stage of its
civil war.
_____
The IRIS mailing list is hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network
<http://shamash.org> , a service of Hebrew College
<http://hebrewcollege.edu> , which offers online courses and an online MA in
Jewish Studies <http://hebrewcollege.edu/online/> .
To unsubscribe email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For other options go to: http://listserv.SHAMASH.ORG/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
--------------------------
Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL
PROTECTED]
--------------------------
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.intellnet.org
Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods,
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,'
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
