Dan's Winds of War: 2003-06-05

June 5/03: Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused.

Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you with the help of Dan Darling of Regnum Crucis. Topics include military action, demonstrations, found money, recommendations on next steps from a former human shield, and WMD in Iraq; plus Korean troop deployments, Iranian fragmentation, a Saudi "Qaeda Nostra" family, the Roadmap, Kashmir's dirty little secret, and efforts by al-Qaeda abroad to reconstruct itself - esp. in the Phillipines.

MUST-READ

Ken Joseph, the Assyrian Minister & human shield who changed his mind, is back in Iraq. What he's hearing is very different - and very interesting. His recommendations from Iraqis are sensible and urgent.

IRAQ BRIEFING

From The Front Lines...

Victor Davis Hanson comments on "Lessons of the War" - or at least an early view.

There was another attack on US forces in Baghdad today that injured 2 US soldiers outside of the Abu Hanifa Mosque. This latest attack may in fact have been commented on by Salam Pax.

The Americans are beginning serious shows of force in Ba'athist strongholds like Fallujah and Habaniyah.

On which topic, it seems rumours have their uses. Frank Zappa once gave the same advice to Ozzy Osbourne.

Ever wonder what's being done with all those found stashes of money? Armed Liberal has your report - from, of all places, a motorcycle magazine.

Which "cards" have we captured so far? The CENTCOM list. And the visual version of "Ba'ath Poker."

Donald Sensing on the controversy about troop levels, pre-war and post-war.

And Beyond...

As A.L. notes, Tom Friedman's latest column about the 4 reasons for the war on Iraq (the real reason, the right reason, the moral reason and the stated reason) is brilliant.

Re: the moral reason - a mass grave for children. Many of them still clutching their dolls when they died.

It appears at least some of the Iraqi WMD program was carried out through the application of dual-use facilities according to a former scientist.

CPO Sparkey has a whole series of links on the search for WMDs in Iraq, along with a reminder that the Clinton Administration strongly believed this too. Heretical Ideas explains why it all matters. Me, I say inspections should be given more time to work...

The former employees of the Iraqi Information Ministry aren't the only ones angry and unemployed. Thousands of former Iraqi soldiers and disgruntled tribesmen are protesting the US presence, now that the Iraqi Army has been disbanded.

The troops are still there. So is the Winds of Change.NET consolidated directory of ways you can support the troops. American, British and Australian. Anyone out there with more information, incl. the Poles and Czechs? [updated April 1, 2003]
THE WIDER WAR...

Certain names keep popping up in the most unlikely of places when it comes to al-Qaeda operatives. Like a bad penny, the Saudi al-Ghamdi name just keeps turning up - and Dan Darling brings you the goods on them.

Intel Dump has an very good analysis of the proposed military redeployments in South Korea. Spoken from someone who served there.

Interesting moves by NATO re: Iraq and Afghanistan.

Excellent RAND analysis of the fragmented decision-making in Iran. Makes for a complicated situation.

Rev. Sensing on the Israeli-Palestinian Roadmap: the 3 words from Bush that make all the difference.

The dilemma: do we believe Bassem Eid, or this Pew poll? (Hat tip: WATCH/) The success of the Roadmap depends entirely on which is true, and this Yahoo story about Palestinian children is not reassuring.

The trial of Jemaah Islamiyyah leader Imam Samudra is apparently quite a spectacle in Indonesia.

Intel Dump notes that more than just spectacle is going on the the Philippines. Dan Darling has more.

Kashmir's dirty little sectret: local warfare for fun and profit.

It appears that al-Qaeda is once again trying to reconstruct itself in an effort to attack the US, possibly using new training facilities to replenish its cannon fodder.

Meanwhile, American university student Oubai Mohammad Shahbandar has an open letter that's worth your time.

We try to close on a lighter note if possible. Vodkapundit's "Osama Bin Laden Swing Set" qualifies.If you find something here you want to blog about yourself (and we hope you do), all we ask is that you do as we do and offer a Hat Tip hyperlink to today's "Winds of War".

4 Comments

#1 from Snowleopard | June 5, 2003 8:04 PM | Reply

I read Lilek's column yesterday morning, and it is telling that I spent more than an hour searching before I could find coverage of the discovery of the children's grave. Today there are a few more articles, but only a few. As Lilek said, it doesn't appear very newsworthy. Here's a link, if anyone is interested. What he didn't mention was that it is believed that the babes were buried alive. Where was God? Where were we?

http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=3953

#2 from Joe Katzman | June 5, 2003 8:33 PM | Reply

G-d was there to provide comfort to both the children and the parents, if they wanted it. G-d was also there to tell us, long ago, that we cannot be indifferent in the face of evil. Finally, G-d was there to give us free will.

Comfort, teachings, free will. What we do with them is up to us. So indeed... where were we? This was something we could have stopped if we had acted earlier.

#3 from clue | June 5, 2003 10:12 PM | Reply

There are so many places in the world where this kind of thing continues, even today.

Cause for prayerful reflection on the previous comments. How much can we stop?

Probably somewhere far south of "all of it" but for north of "just in Iraq".

#4 from clue | June 5, 2003 10:12 PM | Reply

"far north", that is.

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