THE US, THE UN AND IRAQ, TENTH THREAD.

UN CHARTER Article 51
Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.

List of terrorist incidents
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2001
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2002
Terrorism against Israel in 2002.
Singapore embassies attack plot foiled.
January: Kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl.
March 27: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 30 and injures 140 during Passover festivities in a hotel in Netanya, Israel in the Netanya suicide attack.
March 31: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 15 and injures over 40 in Haifa, Israel, in the Matza restaurant massacre.
April 11: A natural gas truck fitted with explosives is driven into a synagogue in Tunisia by an al-Qaeda member, killing 21 and wounding more than 30 in the Ghriba Synagogue Attack.
May 8: May 8 Bus Attack in Karachi kills 11 Frenchmen and two Pakistanis.
May 9: A bomb explosion in Kaspiisk in Dagestan kills at least 42 people and injures 130 or more during Victory Day festivities.
May 13: 12 people are killed in the Jaunpur train crash in India, caused when Islamic extremists cut the rails.
June 14: Car bomb at US Consulate in Karachi kills 12.
July 4: An Egyptian gunman opens fire at an El Al ticket counter in Los Angeles International Airport, killing 2 Israelis before being killed himself.
September 10: A train derailment in India kills 130 people in the Rafiganj rail disaster. Naxalite terrorism is suspected.
September 25: Two terrorists belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed group raid the Akshardham temple complex in Ahmedabad, India killing 30 people and injuring many more.
October 2002: Beltway Sniper Attacks around the Washington metropolitan area kill 10 people and leave the region paranoid for weeks, caused by domestic terrorists.
October 6: Limburg tanker bombing in Yemen.
October 12: Bali car bombing of holidaymakers kills 202 people, mostly Western tourists and local Balinese hospitality staff.
October 17: Zamboanga bombings in the Philippines kill six and wounds about 150.
October 18: A bus bomb in Manila kills three people and wounds 22.
October 19: A car bomb explodes outside a McDonald's Corp. restaurant in Moscow, killing one person and wounding five.
October 23: Moscow theater hostage crisis begins; 120 hostages and 40 terrorists killed in rescue three days later.
November 28: Kenyan hotel bombing.
December 21: Kurnool train crash, Islamic extremists derail a train and kill 20 people in India.
December 27: The truck bombing of the Chechen parliament in Grozny kills 83 people.

2003
Terrorism against Israel in 2003.
Suicide attacks in Iraq in 2003.
February 7: Car bomb kills 36 and injures 150 at the El Nogal nightclub in Bogotá, Colombia; FARC rebels are blamed.
March 4: Bomb attack in an airport in Davao kills 21.

March 20: USA invades Iraq.

May 12: Bombings of United States expatriate housing compounds in Saudi Arabia kill 26 and injure 160 in the Riyadh Compound Bombings. Al-Qaeda blamed.
May 12: A truck bomb attack on a government building in the Chechen town of Znamenskoye kills 59.
May 14: As many as 16 die in a suicide bombing at a religious festival in southeastern Chechnya.
May 16: Casablanca Attacks by 12 bombers on five "Western and Jewish" targets in Casablanca, Morocco leaves 41 dead and over 100 injured. Attack attributed to a Moroccan al-Qaeda-linked group.
July 5: 15 people die and 40 are injured in bomb attacks at a rock festival in Moscow.
August 1: An explosion at the Russian hospital in Mozdok in North Ossetia kills at least 50 people and injures 76.
August 19: Canal Hotel Bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, kills 22 people (including the top UN representative Sergio Vieira de Mello) and wounds over 100.
August 25: At least 48 people were killed and 150 injured in two blasts in south Mumbai - one near the Gateway of India at the other at the Zaveri Bazaar.
September 3: A bomb blast on a passenger train near Kislovodsk in southern Russia kills seven people and injures 90.
October 4: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 21 and wounds 51 in a Haifa restaurant in the Maxim restaurant massacre.
October 15: A bomb is detonated by Palestinians against a US diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip, killing three Americans.
November 15 and November 20: Truck bombs go off at two synagogues, the British Consulate, and the HSBC Bank in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 57 and wounding 700 in the 2003 Istanbul Bombings.
December 5: Suicide bombers kill at least 46 people in an attack on a train in southern Russia
December 9: A blast in the center of Moscow kills six people and wounds at least 11.

2004
Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 2004.
Suicide attacks in Iraq in 2004.
February 6: Bomb on Moscow Metro kills 41.
February 27: Superferry 14 is bombed in the Philippines by Abu Sayyaf, killing 116.
March 2: Ashoura Massacre: Suicide bombings at Shia holy sites in Iraq kill 181 and wound more than 500 during the Ashura.
March 2: Attack on procession of Shia Muslims in Pakistan kills 43 and wounds 160. (See also: Ashoura Massacre in Iraq.)
March 9: Attack of Istanbul restaurant in Turkey.
March 11: Coordinated bombing of commuter trains in Madrid, Spain, kills 191 people and injures more than 1,500.
April 21: Bombing of a security building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kills five.
May 1: 2004 Yanbu attack kills six Westerners and a Saudi in Saudi Arabia.
May 29: Al-Khobar massacres, in which Islamic militants kill 22 people at an oil compound in Saudi Arabia.

Quote:

Al-Qaida Statement Warning Muslims Against Associating With The Crusaders And Idols June 09, 2004: No Muslim should risk his life as he may inadvertently be killed if he associates with the Crusaders, whom we have no choice but to kill.

Everything related to them such as complexes, bases, means of transportation, especially Western and American Airlines, will be our main and direct targets in our forthcoming operations on our path of Jihad that we, with Allah's Power, will not turn away from.

August 24: Russian airplane bombings kill 90.
August 31: A blast near a subway station entrance in northern Moscow, caused by a suicide bomber, kills 10 people and injures 33.
September 1 – 3: Beslan school hostage crisis in North Ossetia, Russia, results in 344 dead.
September 9: Jakarta embassy bombing, in which the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia was bombed, killing eight people.
October 7: Sinai bombings: Three car bombs explode in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 34 and wounding 171, many of them Israeli and other foreign tourists.
December 6: Suspected al Qaeda-linked group attacks U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing five local employees.
December 12: A bombing at the Christmas market in General Santos, Philippines, kills 15.

2005
The wreckage of a London bus, following the July 7 attacks.Suicide attacks in Iraq in 2005.
February 14: A car bomb kills former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 20 others in Beirut. See also: 2005 Lebanon bombings.
February 25: A suicide bomber in Tel Aviv kills five Israelis and undermines a weeks-old truce between the two sides.
March 19: Car bomb attack on theatre in Doha, Qatar, kills one Briton and wounds 12 others.
April: April 2005 terrorist attacks in Cairo – On April 7 a suicide bomber blows himself up in Cairo's Khan al Khalili market, killing three foreign tourists and wounding 17 others. In two further attacks on April 30, suspected accomplices detonate a bomb and spray a tourist coach with gunfire.
May 7: Multiple bomb explosions across Myanmar's capital Yangon kill 19 and injures 160.

Quote:

Al-Zarqawi: al Qaeda's Second Generation by Jordanian journalist, Fouad Hussein about: Al Qaeda's seven phase plan for world conquest.

June 1: A suicide bomber blows up in a mosque in Kandahar, Afghanistan, killing 20 people.
June 12: Bombs explode in the Iranian cities of Ahvaz and Tehran, leaving 10 dead and 80 wounded days before the Iranian presidential election.

Quote:

Booklet by Pakistani jihadist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of the Pure) ... the U.S., Israel and India as existential enemies of Islam and lists eight reasons for global jihad. These include the restoration of Islamic sovereignty to all lands where Muslims were once ascendant, including Spain, "Bulgaria, Hungary, Cyprus, Sicily, Ethiopia, Russian Turkistan and Chinese Turkistan. . . Even parts of France reaching 90 kilometers outside Paris."

July 5: 2005 Terrorist attack on Ayodhya – Six terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Toiba storm the Ayodhya Ram Janmbhomi complex in India. Before the terrorists could reach the main disputed site, they were shot down by Indian security forces. One devotee and two policemen were injured.
July 7: 7 July 2005 London bombings; Bombs explode on one double-decker bus and three London Underground trains, killing 56 people and injuring over 700, occurring on the first day of the 31st G8 Conference. The attacks are believed by many to be the first suicide bombings in Western Europe.

Quote:

Letter from al-Zawahiri to al-Zarqawi: A summary of Letter from al-Zawahiri to al-Zarqawi July 9, 2005.
*The war in Iraq is central to al Qa'ida's global jihad.
*The war will not end with an American departure.
*Their strategic vision is one of inevitable conflict with a call by al-Zawahiri for political action equal to military action.
*Popular support must be maintained at least until jihadist rule has been established.
*More than half the struggle is taking place "in the battlefield of the media.

July 12: Islamic Jihad takes responsibility for a suicide bombing in Netanya, Israel, which kills five people at a shopping mall.
July 21: 21 July 2005 London bombings - Small explosions in three London Underground stations and one double-decker bus. This was pronounced as a "major incident" rather than an attack, and only minor injuries were reported. These 4 bombs were designed to cause as much damage as the 7 July 2005 London bombings, but the explosives had deteriorated and failed to detonate.
July 23: Sharm el-Sheikh bombings – Car bombs explode at tourist sites in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing at least 88 and wounding more than 100.
July 28: Jaunpur train bombing: 13 are killed when militants detonate a bomb on a communter train in India
August 4: Jewish settler in an IDF uniform opens fire on a bus in Shfaram, Israel, killing 4 Israeli Arabs and wounding 5.
August 17: 17 August 2005 Bangladesh bombings: Around 100 homemade bombs explode in 58 different locations in Bangladesh, killing two and wounding 100.
October 1: A series of explosions occurs in resort areas of Jimabaran Beach and Kuta in Bali, Indonesia.
October 13: A large group of Chechen rebels launched coordinated attacks on Russian federal buildings, local police stations, and the airport in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria. At least 137 people, including 92 rebels, were killed.
October 15: Two bombs exploded at a shopping mall in Ahvaz, Khuzestan in Iran. Six people died and over 100 were injured.
October 24: Multiple car bombs explode outside the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, killing at least 11. It is thought that the attacks were targeting journalists inside the Palestine Hotel and the Sheraton Ishtar. [5]
October 26: A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates a bomb near a falafel stand in Hadera, Israel that kills himself and six others. Twenty-six people were also wounded. [6]
October 29: Multiple bomb blasts hit markets in New Delhi, India, leaving at least 61 dead and more than 200 injured.
November 9: Three explosions at hotels in Amman, Jordan, leave at least 60 dead and 120 wounded.
December 5: A suicide bomb attack kills at least five people in Netanya in north-western Israel.
December 28: Two or more unidentified gunmen open fire at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, killing a retired professor of mathematics and wounding four others.

2006
Suicide attacks in Iraq in 2006.
February 22: Al Askari Mosque bombing ignites sectarian strife in Iraq.
March 2: Bombing in Karachi, Pakistan kills four, including a U.S. diplomat.
March 7: Bombings in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, India, leave at least 15 people dead.
April 11: A suicide bomber explodes himself in Karachi, Pakistan kills 57 Sunni worshippers.
April 17: Sami Hammad, a Palestinian suicide bomber, detonates an explosive device in Tel Aviv, Israel, killing nine people and injuring 70.
April 24: Bombings at three locations in Dahab, Egypt killed 20 Egyptians, 3 foreigners, and injured 62 others.

Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in New Orleans
By Jeremy Scahill and Daniela Crespo
t r u t h o u t | Report

Saturday 10 September 2005

New Orleans - Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms. They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force. Several mercenaries we spoke with said they had served in Iraq on the personal security details of the former head of the US occupation, L. Paul Bremer and the former US ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte.

"This is a totally new thing to have guys like us working CONUS (Continental United States)," a heavily armed Blackwater mercenary told us as we stood on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. "We're much better equipped to deal with the situation in Iraq."

Blackwater mercenaries are some of the most feared professional killers in the world and they are accustomed to operating without worry of legal consequences. Their presence on the streets of New Orleans should be a cause for serious concern for the remaining residents of the city and raises alarming questions about why the government would allow men trained to kill with impunity in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to operate here. Some of the men now patrolling the streets of New Orleans returned from Iraq as recently as 2 weeks ago.

What is most disturbing is the claim of several Blackwater mercenaries we spoke with that they are here under contract from the federal and Louisiana state governments.

Blackwater is one of the leading private "security" firms servicing the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. It has several US government contracts and has provided security for many senior US diplomats, foreign dignitaries and corporations. The company rose to international prominence after 4 of its men were killed in Fallujah and two of their charred bodies were hung from a bridge in March 2004. Those killings sparked the massive US retaliation against the civilian population of Fallujah that resulted in scores of deaths and tens of thousands of refugees.

As the threat of forced evictions now looms in New Orleans and the city confiscates even legally registered weapons from civilians, the private mercenaries of Blackwater patrol the streets openly wielding M-16s and other assault weapons. This despite Police Commissioner Eddie Compass' claim that "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons."

Officially, Blackwater says its forces are in New Orleans to "join the Hurricane Relief Effort." A statement on the company's website, dated September 1, advertises airlift services, security services and crowd control. The company, according to news reports, has since begun taking private contracts to guard hotels, businesses and other properties. But what has not been publicly acknowledged is the claim, made to us by 2 Blackwater mercenaries, that they are actually engaged in general law enforcement activities including "securing neighborhoods" and "confronting criminals."

That raises a key question: under what authority are Blackwater's men operating? A spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department, Russ Knocke, told the Washington Post he knows of no federal plans to hire Blackwater or other private security. "We believe we've got the right mix of personnel in law enforcement for the federal government to meet the demands of public safety." he said.

But in an hour-long conversation with several Blackwater mercenaries, we heard a different story. The men we spoke with said they are indeed on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and the Louisiana governor's office and that some of them are sleeping in camps organized by Homeland Security in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. One of them wore a gold Louisiana state law enforcement badge and said he had been "deputized" by the governor. They told us they not only had authority to make arrests but also to use lethal force. We encountered the Blackwater forces as we walked through the streets of the largely deserted French Quarter. We were talking with 2 New York Police officers when an unmarked car without license plates sped up next to us and stopped. Inside were 3 men, dressed in khaki uniforms, flak jackets and wielding automatic weapons. "Y'all know where the Blackwater guys are?" they asked. One of the police officers responded, "There are a bunch of them around here," and pointed down the road.

"Blackwater?" we asked. "The guys who are in Iraq?"

"Yeah," said the officer. "They're all over the place."

A short while later, as we continued down Bourbon Street, we ran into the men from the car. They wore Blackwater ID badges on their arms.

"When they told me New Orleans, I said, 'What country is that in?,'" said one of the Blackwater men. He was wearing his company ID around his neck in a carrying case with the phrase "Operation Iraqi Freedom" printed on it. After bragging about how he drives around Iraq in a "State Department issued level 5, explosion proof BMW," he said he was "just trying to get back to Kirkuk (in the north of Iraq) where the real action is." Later we overheard him on his cell phone complaining that Blackwater was only paying $350 a day plus per diem. That is much less than the men make serving in more dangerous conditions in Iraq. Two men we spoke with said they plan on returning to Iraq in October. But, as one mercenary said, they've been told they could be in New Orleans for up to 6 months. "This is a trend," he told us. "You're going to see a lot more guys like us in these situations."

If Blackwater's reputation and record in Iraq are any indication of the kind of "services" the company offers, the people of New Orleans have much to fear.

-----

Jeremy Scahill, a correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!, and Daniela Crespo are in New Orleans. Visit www.democracynow.org for in-depth, independent, investigative reporting on Hurricane Katrina. Email: [email protected].

The Bush administration is alarmed, according to a Western intelligence official close to the administration. He said that while senior members of the administration consider the situation in Iraq to be not as bad as portrayed in the press, in Afghanistan the situation is worse than it has been generally portrayed.

May 3, 2006
Taliban Threat Is Said to Grow in Afghan South
By CARLOTTA GALL

[size=8]TIRIN KOT, Afghanistan, April 27 — Building on a winter campaign of suicide bombings and assassinations and the knowledge that American troops are leaving, the Taliban appear to be moving their insurgency into a new phase, flooding the rural areas of southern Afghanistan with weapons and men.

Each spring with the arrival of warmer weather, the fighting season here starts up, but the scale of the militants' presence and their sheer brazenness have alarmed Afghans and foreign officials far more than in previous years.

"The Taliban and Al Qaeda are everywhere," a shopkeeper, Haji Saifullah, told the commander of American forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, as the general strolled through the bazaar of this town to talk to people. "It is all right in the city, but if you go outside the city, they are everywhere, and the people have to support them. They have no choice."[/size]

The fact that American troops are pulling out of southern Afghanistan in the coming months, and handing matters over to NATO peacekeepers, who have repeatedly stated that they are not going to fight terrorists, has given a lift to the insurgents, and increased the fears of Afghans.

[size=8]General Eikenberry appealed for patience and support. "There has not been enough attention paid to Uruzgan," he said in a speech to the elders of Uruzgan Province gathered at the governor's house in Tirin Kot, the provincial capital. "I think the leaders, the Afghan government and the international community recognize this. There is reform coming and this year you will see it."

The arrival of large numbers of Taliban in the villages, flush with money and weapons, has dealt a blow to public confidence in the Afghan government, already undermined by lack of tangible progress and frustration with corrupt and ineffective leaders.

This small one-street town is in the Taliban heartland, and the message from the townspeople was bleak.

Uruzgan, the province where President Hamid Karzai first rallied support against the Taliban in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, is now, four years later, in the thrall of the Islamic militants once more, and the provincial capital is increasingly surrounded by areas in Taliban control, local and American officials acknowledge. A recent report by a member of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan shown to The New York Times detailed similar fears.

The new governor, Maulavi Abdul Hakim Munib, 35, who took up his position just a month ago, controls only a "bubble" around Tirin Kot, an American military officer said. The rest of the province is so thick with insurgents that all the districts are colored amber or red to indicate that on military maps in the nearby American base. Uruzgan has always been troublesome, yet the map marks a deterioration since last year, when at least one central district had been colored green, the officer said.

"The security situation is not good," Governor Munib told General Eikenberry and a group of cabinet ministers at a meeting with tribal elders. "The number of Taliban and enemy is several times more than that of the police and Afghan National Army in this province," he said.

Uruzgan is not the only province teetering out of control. Helmand and Kandahar to the south have been increasingly overrun by militants this year, as large groups of Taliban are reportedly moving through the countryside, intimidating villagers, ambushing vehicles, and spoiling for a fight with coalition or Afghan forces.

Insurgents also have the run of parts of Zabul, Ghazni and Paktika Provinces to the southeast, and have increased ambushes on the main Kabul-Kandahar highway.

The Bush administration is alarmed, according to a Western intelligence official close to the administration. He said that while senior members of the administration consider the situation in Iraq to be not as bad as portrayed in the press, in Afghanistan the situation is worse than it has been generally portrayed.[/size]

...
If they were so worried they shouldn't have diverted so much attention to Iraq in the first place by invading Iraq in the middle of the Afghanistan war.
...

The US shouldn't be starting wars we are unwilling to finish; that's what this administration (and many Americans) keeps telling us about Iraq.

cicerone imposter wrote:

The US shouldn't be starting wars we are unwilling to finish; that's what this administration (and many Americans) keeps telling us about Iraq.

More accurately, it is your opinion that: The US shouldn't be starting wars cicerone imposter and his like minded associates are unwilling to finish; that's what cicerone imposter and his like minded associates keep telling us about Iraq.

...
We didn't go into this with sufficient force to "win" the peace.
The USA went in with sufficient force to win the war in less than four weeks. Despite what the liebral opinion news media has reported repeatedly, President Bush told us repeatedly in both TV and radio broadcasts (I personally heard many of these broadcasts) that winning the peace was a much bigger job and would require our perseverance over a far longer time.

Bush knew Congress and the American people would not approve the kind of effort that was needed. It would have probably required a draft. From the beginning, the neo-con strategy was one that was destined for failure. That is no one's fault but t he Bush administration.
Nonsense! The Congress and the Administration did approve the kind of effort that was needed. The kind of effort that was and continues to be needed is that which is needed by the Iraqi people themselves to win their own peace. Had we gone in with a force of one million, the Iraqi people would be more resentful about being an occupied people than taking responsibility for securing their own liberty. It took the Japanese seven years to secure their own liberty after the USA removed their former government. It took the Germans seven years to do the same. I think it clear now that the Iraqi people will secure their liberty in less than four years.

Neither Iraq or Afghanistan are your childhood version of an eight week TV, radio or movie serial, in which the writer has some of his characters solve seemingly huge problems in a few hours.

Yes, I know! Your generation resents having to deal with reality. It much prefers superficial and simplistic analysis over real thinking.

Roxxxanne wrote:

...
We didn't go into this with sufficient force to "win" the peace.
The USA went in with sufficient force to win the war in less than four weeks. Despite what the liebral opinion news media has reported repeatedly, President Bush told us repeatedly in both TV and radio broadcasts (I personally heard many of these broadcasts) that winning the peace was a much bigger job and would require our perseverance over a far longer time.

Bush knew Congress and the American people would not approve the kind of effort that was needed. It would have probably required a draft. From the beginning, the neo-con strategy was one that was destined for failure. That is no one's fault but t he Bush administration.
Nonsense! The Congress and the Administration did approve the kind of effort that was needed. The kind of effort that was and continues to be needed is that which is needed by the Iraqi people themselves to win their own peace. Had we gone in with a force of one million, the Iraqi people would be more resentful about being an occupied people than taking responsibility for securing their own liberty. It took the Japanese seven years to secure their own liberty after the USA removed their former government. It took the Germans seven years to do the same. I think it clear now that the Iraqi people will secure their liberty in less than four years.

Neither Iraq or Afghanistan are your childhood version of an eight week TV, radio or movie serial, in which the writer has some of his characters solve seemingly huge problems in a few hours.

Yes, I know! Your generation resents having to deal with reality. It much prefers superficial and simplistic analysis over real thinking.