Kate's Winds of War: 2003-10-02

Welcome! Our goal is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by Venomous Kate of Electric Venom.

TOP TOPICS

• Have the Kuwaitis found the missing Iraqi WMDs or not? At this point, the rumors are flying. What fun. Trent Telenko notes that the common source appears to be an AP report, which in turn came from a story at Kuwait News Agency. Trent says it was on the front page - where it has gone since, who knows.

Other Topics Today Include: Free markets in Iraq; the latest Saddam sighting; Iran's impending nuclearization; Iranian teachers fomenting Iraqi unrest; List of Iranians blogging in English; Los Alamos security woes; More Guantanamo; CAIR's comeuppance; Al-Qaeda's new Gulf leader; Hezbollah thinks they're winning; Bill Clinton's ties to 9/11; and what Tony Blair would tell the Brits if he could speak his mind.

IRAQ BRIEFING

• Speaking of WMDs... President Bush's $87 billion budget request for supplemental spending in Iraq and Afghanistan includes $600 million ear-marked to fund the search for the missing weapons, an amount which indicates the administration's intention to keep looking for the elusive WMDs despite the House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee declaring that evidence of an ongoing Iraqi arms program was deficient even prior to the war.

• Iraq's governing council has backed off its initial plan to permit 100% foreign ownership in most economic sectors. Dan Drezner - writing before the Governing Council's decision - has some excellent advice on why they need to stop waffling, and start embracing investors.

• Meanwhile, the Governing Council is preparing a war crimes tribunal to try members of Saddam's regime as well as Saddam himself, if he's taken alive.

• The hunt for Saddam continues. Latest Saddam sighting reports claim he was seen as recently as five days ago in Northern Iraq.

• As American casualties in Iraq continue to mount, the Feyadeen attacking our troops claim they aren't terrorists - they just want to kill Americans here, there and everywhere. Someday, perhaps, the peaceful members of Islam will speak out.

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

• 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 August 19, 2003]

IRAN REPORTS

• The window to shut down Iran's nuclear weaponization may be as short as 6 to 9 months. Iranian Girl reports that the calls for U.S. intervention are mounting.

• JK: Hippercritical has an interesting set of Iran-related links and news.

• Iran's political oppression continues unabated. The latest: three men have been sentenced to death for having contacts with outlawed political organizations.

• Iran's mullahs are forming a spy network of their own, it seems, with agents posing as teachers being dispatched to foment unrest in Iraq.

• Looking for information on what's going on in Iran by those with first-hand knowledge? Check out the listing of Iranians blogging in English.

U.S.A. HOMELAND SECURITY BRIEFING

• It's one step forward and two steps back in security at Los Alamos as the security chief who was forced to resign has now returned to work.

• So what's CAIR been up to lately? Apparently, getting their just desserts. Couldn't wish it on a nicer bunch of idiots.

• Tuesday's arrest of a civilian translator at Guantanamo Bay may have come as a surprise to some. Daniel Pipes says it shouldn't have given the long list of Islamic infiltrators in the recent past.

THE WIDER WAR

• Dan Darling has an in-depth look at the man alleged to be al-Qaeda's new leader in the Gulf region, and the larger meaning behind this transition in the organization's grand plan.

• Hezbollah is winning? Apparently, they think so: "These "martyrdom operations," as Hezbollah prefers to call them, are often seen in the West as a tactic of desperation. But the leaders of this Lebanese Shiite militia view them as a successful weapon that has put Israel on the defensive."

• Experts are increasingly in agreement: the 9/11 WTC attacks could have been prevented. Why weren't they? Because ten years ago, Bill Clinton shrugged.

• JK: Medienkritik notes von Deutschland that the terrorist organisation Al Queida had connections to the Saudi financed King Fahd Academy (König-Fahd-Akademie/Elementary School) in Bonn, Germany, as revealed by the German TV programm "Panorama".

• We try to close on a lighter note if possible, and this time Tony Blair is handling the honors for us - sort of - with the speech he'd give if he could really speak his mind.

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