Thursday Winds of War: 20OCT05

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The Thursday Winds of War briefing is compiled weekly by Colt of Eurabian Times and Steve Schippert (aka USMC_Vet) of The Word Unheard.

Top Topics

• Jack Kelly notes that Syria is about to take center stage in the War on Terror with the coming UN report on the assassination of Rafik Hariri. With regard to the 'suicide' of the former Syrian chief intelligence officer in Lebanon, Maj. Gen. Ghazi Kanaan: "For those of you who don't know what 'committed suicide' means in Syria, it means someone committed it for him," said Anton Efendi, an American PhD candidate who lives in Lebanon. And Syria is not the sole source of Lebanese tension as Beirut wants Palestinian bases out. It appears that in Lebanon, it's becoming time to call a spade a spade.
  UPDATE: Mehlis' report (to be released Friday) "will include names of top Syrian officers, as well as tens of Lebanese suspects who have direct links to the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri," according to UN sources.

• Middle East News Line reports that a US military strike against Syria is not in the cards. Reuters conflicts with MENL covering the same story, arriving at the opposite conclusion. MENL is reaching a bit to arrive at such a concrete conclusion, and al-Reuters actually gets it right. Syrian operations are being held in reserve for the moment…apparently along with any bold strategy for dealing with Iran. Why held in reserve? Syria is the most easily influenced/affected by 'diplomatic' pressure and covert measures. That is not to say that either has had much of an effect on the human pipeline into Iraq, but that spigot is being addressed rather effectively from within Iraq. Long View: Why hammer at the client state while their Iranian masters continue to go relatively unaddressed? Of course, not that this thinking has anything to do with why State rejected Defense's OpPlans for Syria. State is about Carrots and Defense is about Sticks. So goes the American Foreign Policy Ballet.
  UPDATE: Arnaud De Borschgrave - Syria terror broker no more? ...more on Assisted Suicide, Syrian-style...

• It's a sick world & he's a happy guy. He should be. He’s not dead yet. Have you seen his attorney? Wretchard provides some appropriate historical perspective. And for what it’s worth, Betsy's right on the money regarding the judge.
  UPDATE: Defense lawyer in Saddam trial abducted in Baghdad.

Other Topics Today Include: Division continues in Gaza; Iraqi Vote reactions & (missing) pictures in the media; Living with a Nuclear-Armed Iran; Movement in Africa; Islamist rise in Bangladesh; China on ‘democracy’ and much more...

THE MIDDLE EAST & IRAN

• Gateway Pundit notes that there were a lot of images missing from American media coverage of the Iraqi Vote...Carl Rove probably handed them out...he's everywhere, you know.

• Speaking of the Iraqi Vote, Literal Thoughts: Iraq Will Shame Us Again....... should be read and shared widely. And in the event you wondered what Iraqi’s themselves think about it, you should go find out.

• Saddam Hussein's nephew was arrested in Baghdad after being forced to return by Syria. Yasir Sabhawi Ibrahim is believed to have been one of the top financiers of the insurgency.

• More internal division in Gaza as 240 Fatah members quit ahead of vote in a rift between 'the old guard' and younger members. Egypt will host a meeting in Cairo in December to bring the various Palestinian factions to the table. Now that their 'pie' is within sight, Palestinians have resorted to beating each other senseless to lay claim to their slice of it. Note to self: West Bank and Gaza infighting is a microcosm of what would occur if there were ever an Islamic Caliphate such as that sought by Islamist terrorists.

• A tanker blast at a US base in Kandahar is suspected to have been caused by a planted bomb.

• Leaving it to the IAEA, combined with a meek policy approach, has made Reassessing the Implications of a Nuclear-Armed Iran a necessary recognition of the current state of affairs. Putting the uncomfortable off long enough inevitably leads to living with the painful.

• Iran foils a "British plot" to blow up their largest refinery? Gotta love those whacky mullahs.

AMERICAN DOMESTIC SECURITY & THE AMERICAS

• The complete text of Curt Weldon's speech in the House of Representatives on Able Danger is available.

• That Chertoff needs to constantly and repeatedly defend his actions before and after Katrina is beginning to border on ludicrous. Get FEMA the #@!! out of DHS. We do not need Chertoff's position worrying about hurricanes. DHS needs a close relationship with FEMA, not supervisory responsibility. Let DHS worry about security risks stemming from terrorism and other forms of warfare, not forces of nature labeled with ladies' names.

• Here's a good read on the Freeh story. Freeh should consider himself lucky. He at least met with President Clinton more than CIA Directory NetZero Woolsey.

AFRICA

• In Algeria, GPSC Islamist terrorists killed 10 in an apparent Ramadan celebration.

• Is the Horn of Africa about to get hotter? Eritrea appears to be militarizing the demilitarized zone along its border with Ethiopia.

• New peace efforts in Uganda? The report seems a bit overly optimistic as it appears to greatly over-state the influence of the International Criminal Court.

• Chaos grows in Darfur as militias turn on government...a Jajaweed militia overran a police station, freed several of its jailed members and 'subdued' the police chief. Sudanese blowback?

ASIA

• A bomb factory was discovered in Bangladesh Mosque operated by the Jamiatul Mujahideen.

• Yet another look Bangladesh in Islamist turmoil. Keep your eye on Bangladesh. Robi Sen provided good insight in August.

• Rumsfeld rejects China's $30B defense budget claim (in China) and China promptly rejects Rumsfeld's $90B claim on the Chinese defense budget. Ahhh...now we're getting somewhere. Does this count as a 'military exchange'? Or is it cultural?

• China issued their first "white paper" on democracy. Next week, Hitler is to issue his first "white paper" on Judaism. Stay tuned.
  UPDATE: Democracy Project - China blocks Wikipedia?

EUROPE

• Britain still doesn't get it: Blair chooses the grandson of Hassan Al Banna (Founder, Muslim Brotherhood) as a member of a Post 7/7 committee to battle 'extremism'. Splendid strategy, chap. Can Britain muster another Margaret Thatcher?

• A Spanish judge has charged three US Soldiers with the murder of a Spanish cameraman, Jose Couso, who was killed when an M1A1 Abrams tank fired on the Palestine Hotel during the siege of Baghdad in April of 2003. These charges are borne of anger, not logic. With such a long delay since the incident, this smells of Judge Shopping (pdf).

THE GLOBAL WAR

• Authenticity of Alleged Zawahiri Letter Increasingly Questioned: Daveed Gartenstein-Ross notes the importance of whether the document is authentic or not. Chris Brown's observation of the mixed usage of the Islamic calendar and the Christian calendar is compelling.

• The UN Human Security report has been released and John Robb at Global Guerrillas drills it down to two concise paragraphs. Judging by the headline, The Christian Science Monitor's Howard LaFranchi didn't get the memo. Leave the UN Report on the UN servers unless you have an allotment of spare time on your hands. Go read Robb's translation, duly note it, and move on.

• Saudi Terrorism TV Show actors receive death threats after airing on Middle Eastern Broadcasting Corporation TV. The production intends to show that Islam is a religion of peace, aimed at "those who have not made up their minds about terrorism yet". Apparently, some who have already made up their minds have issues with the Dar al Islam message. Three cheers for the show and the courage needed by its actors. ...Baby steps in a troubled region.

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