THE US, THE UN AND IRAQ VI

U.S. Raids Iraqi Party Headquarters, Council Says (Update3)
May 20 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police today raided the headquarters of the Iraqi National Congress party in Baghdad, according to Hamid al-Kifai, spokesman for the country's U.S.-appointed Governing Council.

Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the Governing Council, founded and heads the party. Chalabi's home is in the same building as the party headquarters, al-Kifai said by telephone from Baghdad. Chalabi condemned the raid and said that, while no one was arrested, those who entered his home took items including computer equipment, files, papers, a Koran and prayer beads.

``When America treats its friends this way then they are in big trouble,'' Chalabi said in comments aired by Cable News Network. ``My relationship with the Coalition Provisional Authority now is non-existent.'' He said he wasn't threatening the U.S.

U.S. soldiers raided Chalabi's house to look for INC officials wanted by coalition authorities, the Associated Press said, citing Haidar Musawi, one of Chalabi's aides. The agency cited unidentified neighbors as saying members of Chalabi's entourage were taken away. Iraqi police accompanied American forces in surrounding the building, AP said.

The raid comes as attacks continue against coalition soldiers across Iraq. Two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate attacks in Baghdad and in Samarra, north of the capital, the military said. Spanish troops were ambushed in the south of Iraq, Spain's defense ministry said.

Funds Cut

Chalabi said he was calling for Iraqis to get ``complete control'' over the country's finances and armed forces.

``I'm calling for policies that would liberate the Iraqi people and give them full sovereignty now,'' Chalabi said. ``I'm doing this in a way they don't like,'' he added, referring to the coalition. Some of Chalabi's remarks were made in Arabic and translated on CNN by an interpreter.

U.S. funding for Chalabi's party will be ended ``by mutual consent,'' Chalabi said earlier this week. The U.S. says it's cutting off monthly payments to the INC as part of the process of handing over power. The New York Times said the INC receives $340,000 a month from the U.S.

U.S. funds were used to pay for an INC team of analysts in Washington that distributed a stream of reports on Saddam Hussein to the U.S. government before last year's war, the New York Times reported in February, citing government officials.

``We felt it was no longer appropriate for us to continue funding in that fashion, Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Tuesday, referring to the funding of the INC. ``There has been some very valuable intelligence that's been gathered through that process that's been very important for our forces, but we will seek to obtain that in the future through normal intelligence channels.''

Troops Attacked

Chalabi was once backed by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to lead the Iraqi government. He has since said Iraqis don't want to be occupied. The United Nations' top envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, said Chalabi is likely to be excluded when the U.S. hands over power to an interim leadership on June 30.

In the latest attacks on coalition forces, one U.S. soldier was killed and three were wounded early today in a hand-grenade attack on their unit in the center of Baghdad, the military said.

Another was killed, and one wounded when their patrol was attacked at about 5:30 p.m. yesterday in Samarra. A second soldier was wounded in Samarra while trying to put out a fire caused by an explosion during the attack, according to a military statement.

This is a confirmed quote from Hermann Goering, speaking as he was interviewed in his jail cell by a German-speaking U.S. Army intelligence officer, Gustave Gilbert, during the Nuremberg trials.

The following conversation is from Gilbert's journal: ...

"All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.

"It works the same way in any country."

Not discussed in this particular conversation is the other half of their technique applied with great success by the Nazis: They convinced the people in the neighboring countries which they were planning to invade that their leaders fears of Nazis invasion were unjustified. It worked like a charm. Their neighbors were easy or easier pickin's as a result.

Reality is a harder sell!

... the Nazis: They convinced the people in the neighboring countries which they were planning to invade that their leaders fears of Nazis invasion were unjustified. It worked like a charm. Their neighbors were easy or easier pickin's as a result. ...

Nice, a tactic used by Bush to invade Iraq......

While Bush was secretly planing to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, he convinced the Afghan and Iraqi people that their leaders' fears of US invasion of their countries were unjustified.

Bush did this by declaring to the UN that the US was going to invade those nations with or without UN support and destroy the Taliban and Baathist sponsors of TMMs (i.e., Terrorist Murderers and Maimers).

This completely fooled the people of Afghanistan and Iraq because they rationally reasoned from their own experience that no leader of any nation or group ever meant what she/he said.

The result was that the Taliban and the Baathist leaders were easy or easier pickin's.

The result of that was the Syrians and Iranians invaded Iraq because they were enraged at Bush's blatant disgusting deception.

Bush actually had the audacity to do what he repeatedly said he was going to do -- fully knowing it was a clear deception to behave that way -- because no leader had previously done what she/he repeatedly said she/he was going to do.

This kind of thing has got to be stopped.

The Phenomenon of Jihadism

Summary

A leading militant commander in Saudi Arabia has praised the May 1 attacks in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu. Details about the attack suggest that jihadism might be becoming a grassroots phenomenon. If so, the likelihood for and frequency of attacks against Western and government facilities in the kingdom and elsewhere will rise exponentially.

Analysis

Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin, Saudi Arabia's top jihadist leader, issued a statement May 6 praising the four Islamists who killed five Western employees of oil contracting company ABB Lummus in the Saudi city of Yanbu. Al-Mqurin urged other Saudis to follow their example and carefully plan, prepare and execute similar attacks.

Stratfor indicated last week that many independent jihadist groups had surfaced since the Sept. 11 attacks. The attack in Yanbu indicates that the phenomenon might be entering a new phase in which individuals acting alone or in small groups carry out attacks.

If true, the multitude of individuals influenced by al Qaeda and taking cues from other established groups will multiply, and Yanbu-style attacks are likely to become much more frequent.

The widespread belief has been that the loss of Afghanistan as a training ground put a dent into planning, preparation and execution of operations -- particularly by novices. A successful operation entails avoiding detection, engaging in surveillance
and training in weapons and explosives.

It appears that those at the helm of the Islamist militant movement had contingency plans prepared in the event they lost Afghanistan. Examining the behavior of the non-Afghan fighters during the U.S. military campaign in fall 2001, there did not appear to be much of an actual al Qaeda presence. Those who stood their ground and fought the Americans were either Taliban or non-Afghans foot soldiers. The veterans of al Qaeda training camps relocated into other states before and during the war.

There have been reports that hundreds of al Qaeda operatives made their way to other countries once they reached the Pakistani port city of Karachi. Those 600 or so in custody at the detention facility at Guantanamo, Cuba, appear to be mostly Taliban and al Qaeda rank and file, who are at best foot soldiers and the occasional seasoned operative. There are a handful of high-profile al Qaeda members -- such as Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Sheikh
Muhammad and Ramzi bin al Shibh -- who have been nabbed and are in detention at Bagram Air Base, Diego Garcia or other undisclosed locations.

Jihadist communiques from the Arabian Peninsula and statements from the Saudi and Yemeni governments show that many on their wanted lists are veterans of the Afghan camps. These men safely arrived at their destinations and might have started their own groups. They also appear to have improvised tactics by avoiding formal groups and staying away from training in the traditional manner.

Despite the loss of the operational hub, the phenomenon of jihadism is flourishing. In the interest of continued proliferation, highly trained veterans are trying to disseminate their tactical knowledge and experience through unorthodox means. The al Bataar newsletter, released weekly from the Arabian Peninsula, is one such outlet.

The authors of this publication have tried to simplify training for the uninitiated so that they gradually develop the knowledge, skills and abilities they would have acquired in Afghanistan. Al
Bataar offers crash courses on the particulars of planning a successful operation, training and methods of maintaining secrecy.

Stratfor sources say that some of the attackers had been employed inside the company for as many as seven years. They say one of the assailants during the shootout walked by a Philippine employee and said, "You are not what we are looking for," indicating they were targeting Westerners. Another source says two militants managed to escape from the scene.

Even a cursory examination of the Yanbu attack demonstrates that it does not take a lot of training, ability or experience to pull off such an operation. From the language used by al-Muqrin in his statement praising the attackers, Yanbu was the work of volunteers unaffiliated with any group. Three of them were employed at ABB Lummus -- further reinforcing the notion that the ideology of jihadism is being taken up by average Saudis, not
just social misfits.

The movement away from formal organizations by making training lessons available in the public domain has allowed the jihadist movement to sustain itself and tap into the grassroots of society. This bodes ill for the security of foreign companies in the kingdom -- and the future of the Saudi monarchy.

Stratfor indicated last week that many independent jihadist groups had surfaced since the Sept. 11 attacks.
...
It appears that those at the helm of the Islamist militant movement had contingency plans prepared in the event they lost Afghanistan. Examining the behavior of the non-Afghan fighters during the U.S. military campaign in fall 2001, there did not appear to be much of an actual al Qaeda presence. Those who stood their ground and fought the Americans were either Taliban or non-Afghans foot soldiers. The veterans of al Qaeda training camps relocated into other states before and during the war.
...
The movement away from formal organizations by making training lessons available in the public domain has allowed the jihadist movement to sustain itself and tap into the grassroots of society.

Muslim rage: 1) we occupy their country

2) we strip their citizens of human rights

3) we continue to kill innocent women and children

4) we terrorize the Iraqi prisoners most of whom are innocent

5) there is no independent Iraqi government.

ican711- You are one of the few who appears to understand that this is indeed World War III. Professor Bernard Lewis, one of the leading scholars on Islam in the United States made it clear as far back as 1990 in a seminal essay entitled-"The Roots of Muslim Rage". ...